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Rangila Rasul or Rangeela Rasool (meaning Promiscuous Prophet) was a book published during a period of confrontation between Arya Samaj and Muslims in Punjab during the 1920s. The controversial book concerned the marriages and sex life of Muhammad.
Contents
Content
It was written by an Arya Samaji named Pandit M. A. Chamupati or Krishan Prashaad Prataab in 1927, whose name however was never revealed by the publisher, Mahashe Rajpal of Lahore. It was supposedly a retaliatory action from Hindu community against a pamphlet published by a Muslim depicting the Hindu goddess Sita as a prostitute. On the basis of Muslim complaints, Rajpal was arrested but acquitted in April 1929 after a five-year trial because there was no law against insult to religion. After several unsuccessful attempts to kill Rajpal, he was stabbed to death by a young man named Ilm-ud-din on 6 April 1929. Ilm-ud-din was sentenced to death and the sentence was carried out on 31 October 1929.
Rangila Rasul had a surface appearance of a lyrical and laudatory work on Muhammad and his teachings; for example it began with a poem which went "The bird serves the flowers in the garden; I'll serve my Rangila Rasul", and called Muhammad "a widely experienced" person who was best symbolised by his many wives, in contrast with the lifelong celibacy of Hindu saints.
Originally written in Urdu, it has been translated into Hindi. It remains banned in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Response
The allegations of Rangila Rasul were addressed by the Muslim Qazi Maulana Sanaullah Amritsari in his book Muqaddas Rasool (The Holy Prophet).
In 1927, under pressure from the Muslim community, the administration of the British Raj enacted Hate Speech Law Section 295(A), a part of Criminal Law Amendment Act XXV. This made it a criminal offence to insult the founders or leaders of any religious community.