Remembering Farkhunda Malikzada: Victim of Religious Extremism | On This Day

On March 19th, 2015: Kabul, Afghanistan
A 27-year-old Afghan Muslim woman was beaten and burned alive in the very heart of Kabul by a mob of angry Islamic men.
Hundreds of Muslims watched and took part in the slaughter of Farkhunda Malikzada, a student of the Koran and Islamic Shari’a law, while others participated in the rampage.
At the time of the attack, she had just finished a degree in religious studies and was preparing to take a teaching post
The mob’s outrage had been ignited by a false rumor that Farkhunda had blasphemed the Prophet Muhammad. Under Sharia, those who insult Muhammad or Allah are to be executed. So are those who desecrate the Quran or commit other acts of blasphemy. This tradition began with Muhammad, as recorded in the Hadith and by his biographers. There is also a Quranic basis for it.
Farkhunda had previously been arguing with the mullah Zainuddin in front of a Mosque where she worked as a religious teacher about his practice of selling amulets. During this argument, Zainuddin accused her of burning the Quran. She responded
"I am a Muslim, and Muslims do not burn the Quran!"
Hundreds of angry radicals flocked to the shrine upon overhearing the mullah's accusation.
The mob was able to drag Farkhunda into the street, where they knocked her to the ground and began beating and kicking her. She was bludgeoned with sticks and rocks outside the mosque, then placed into the road and run over by a car, dragging her body almost 100 m.
Police offered no resistance and directed traffic around the scene. The mob then dragged her body to the nearby bank of the Kabul River, took turns stoning her, and set her on fire.
Her body was soaked in blood and would not burn, so the crowd ripped off articles of their own clothing to ignite and maintain the fire.
The mob shouted the Islamic battle cry, Allahu Akbar, during the lynching, including after they were certain Farkhunda was dead. Meanwhile, these are the types of people we are importing into our countries. These radicals we are importing into your countries are the reason why so many Westerners are living under 24-hour government protections.
Islamic supremacists have put the whole world on notice; if you insult Muhammad, Islam, their holy books, or even fail to consider Islamic law (Sharia) in all things, they will harm you.