When Prophet of Islam was in Madinah, at that time he was head of the Mainah State. You know, at that time Madinah was a city-state. Then whole Arabia was Islamized, and Prophet of Islam became the head of the Arabian state. So, although Prophet of Islam was head of that state, he never issue such an order.

For example, some non-Muslims who were poets gave some derogatory comments on the Prophet of Islam, or blasphemous comment about the Prophet of Islam.

Then what happened? The Prophet of Islam never said: You have to kill these poets, not at all. Prophet of Islam said to Hassan ibn Thabit, who was his companion and himself a poet. So, Prophet of Islam said to Hassan ibn Thabit: You must meet this challenge. Hassan ibn Thabit composed some poems. In this poem, he gave answers to those non-Muslims poets. This was the way adopted by Prophet of Islam. Prophet of Islam took those poems that were composed against him, those poems were completely derogatory of the Prophet of Islam, But Prophet of Islam never took it as a crime. He took it as a challenge. And he said to Hassan ibn Thabit: Meet this challenge on an intellectual level. This is a clear example, a clear proof that shows us the way of Islam in such a situation. The crux of the matter is that you have to differentiate between the two — crime and challenge. If there are crimes, I mean specified crimes, then you have to take it as a crime, but when there is a challenge you have to take it as a challenge. And the response towards challenge is not punishment. It must be dealt on intellectual level, on rational level, on logical level. So these people have failed to know this difference.