{"id":412,"date":"2015-02-26T03:41:48","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T03:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/azmi.co\/cust\/ngba-wp\/?page_id=412"},"modified":"2021-08-28T15:58:01","modified_gmt":"2021-08-28T15:58:01","slug":"islam-adultery-flogging","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/?page_id=412","title":{"rendered":"Islam-adultery & flogging"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the name of All\u0101h,<\/span>
\nthe Beneficent, the Merciful.<\/span>
\nPeace and Blessings of All\u0101h on Mohammad.<\/span>
\nDEDICATED TO<\/span>
\nAll\u0101h\u2013the Glorious and the High,<\/span>
\nLord of the worlds<\/span>
\nAND TO<\/span>
\nMohammad\u2013who brought the world<\/span>
\nto our feet and eternity to our arms
\n<\/span>*<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ADULTERY-FLOGGING
\n<\/span>\u201cChastity, as a virtue, is not given the first place in modern civilized society, and hence adultery is not considered a sufficiently serious offence to subject the guilty party to any punishment except the payment of damages to the injured husband. The breach of the greatest trust which can be imposed in a man or a woman, the breach which ruins families, destroys household peace, and deprives innocent children of their loving mothers, is not looked upon even as seriously as the breach of trust of a few pounds. Hence the Islamic law seems to be too severe to a Westerner.\u201d1<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

There is no stoning <\/i>or sentence of death<\/i> in the Qur\u2019an for the sin of adultery. The Arabic word Zina<\/i> means sexual intercourse between people who are not married to each other \u2013i.e. adultery and fornication.<\/i>
\nThe punishment for adultery and fornication is lashes: \u201cThe adulteress and the adulterer, flog each of them (with) a hundred stripes\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 24:2). That flogging for the sin of adultery is the required punishment is verified in 4:25, where the punishment to married slave-girls guilty of adultery is stated that \u201c\u2026if they are guilty of adultery when they are taken in marriage, they shall suffer half <\/i>the punishment for free married women\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 4:25). Stoning to death \u201ccould not be halved;\u201d\u00a0<\/i>but flogging can be \u201chalved.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span><\/p>\n

The Qur\u2019an was revealed over a period of twenty-three years; during this long period, unless he received Divine Revelation in the matter, the Prophet followed the teachings of the Bible, which requires death to the adulterer, the unchaste bride, the apostate the blasphemer and the homosexuals; which Biblical laws were annulled by subsequent Qur\u2019anic revelations\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:106; 16:101. See Muhammad Ali\u2019s comm. His translation of the Qur\u2019an can be viewed online: www.muslim.org<\/a><\/span>).
\nHadith are to be understood as to the time frame they were given and the background. After revelation on the matter there was no going back to the old order. <\/span>Prophet Mohammad taught according to the Qur\u2019an\u2013(Qur\u2019an 10:15; 21:45; 46:9; 53:3-4). Whatever contradicts with the Qur\u2019an is to be discarded; the Qur\u2019an supersedes all other sources of guidance.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Most, if not all, secular laws do nothing to those guilty of adultery (and fornication) which could not only \u201cruin families, destroys household peace\u201d, and deprives children of their need for parental togetherness, and contribute to the moral decay of society; but which could multiply sexually transmitted diseases, genital warts, gonorrhea, syphilis, AIDS \u2013which may even become epidemic and even threaten chaste individuals (we\u2019ve heard of people contracting AIDS through tainted blood and infected needles), diseases which may affect the unborn who doubtlessly has the right to protection from diseases\u2013<\/span> may create unwed moms and dads; and perhaps abandoned children; traumatized individuals (traumatized by not knowing the identity of their biological parents); and which could perhaps cost millions of dollars to society to stem these diseases and to provide for pre and post-natal care for unwed mothers and children, and to provide for the welfare of these hapless children and even the unwed mothers; and if the fornicating couples have multiple sex-partners they may end up not knowing whose baby they are having, or who is having their baby, and if such babies are given up for adoption or abandoned then, depending on the age of these couples, a mother may end up having sex with her son, and a father with his daughter when these children are grown. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Thus, adultery and fornication, seemingly a personal affair, can and do have far-reaching effects in society. Should fornication and adultery then not be forcibly deterred? Islam allows that such persons be disgraced and identified. <\/span><\/p>\n

(Recently, I came upon a television show by chance and learnt one of the fallouts of adultery. A man denied his son for twenty-three years, believing that his wife had cheated on him, resulting in the birth of the son [who was raised by his sister]. It was unsettling to listen to the son\u2019s hurt at the rejection [even though in such a situation the child is blameless]. As it turned out, DNA evidence showed that the man was the boy\u2019s father. I do not recall if it was stated that the mother was alive or not; but imagine her heartaches at her innocence and her son being denied love by his father. This father and son [and sister and mother] might have gone to their graves with bitterness and pain and hurt and anguish if there was no DNA science or if no DNA test was done. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Islam is very strict where chastity of women is concerned; requiring four witness to the act; and those who bear false witnesses are to be flogged and their testimony not to be accepted again, unless they repent and act uprightly\u2013(Qur\u2019an 24:4-5): this requirement of four witnesses provides \u201can effectual restraint against slander and gossip, which so often bring disaster upon the heads of innocent women. Unless there is the clearest evidence of adultery against a woman, the slanderer is himself to be punished.\u201d2<\/span><\/sup> <\/span><\/p>\n

These laws of Islam\u2013dismemberment and flogging\u2013are not \u201ctorture.\u201d If the taking of painful injections for the containment of rabies, and suffering radiation for the treatment of cancer, and suffering deprivation to free oneself from addiction, are not torture \u2013but rather are the remedies for the diseases afflicting the individual\u2013<\/span> then flogging the adulterer and fornicator, dismembering the thief, and executing the murderer \u2013which are remedies for the diseases afflicting not only the individual but the society\u2013<\/span> could not be deemed as \u201ctorture.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Society is not to be hostaged (with cost and disease) by loose loins (sexuality); and overrun by criminals because man considers himself more humane than God. If individuals are brazen enough to transgress the law, be it religious or secular, they must suffer the consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 In Saudi Arabia, as noted by Ibn Warraq in his\u00a0<\/span>Why I am not a Muslim<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(p. 31), \u201cLovers\u2019 heads and robbers\u2019 hands are falling.\u201d
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0And in the West robbers are sent to prison; and most likely end up robbing again and may even commit acts of murder and rape; and lovers run the risk of contracting herpes, gonorrhea, syphilis and AIDS which they may in turn infect others.
\nIt is doubtful that a decent law-abiding citizen would not prefer a society where thieves are permanently removed from thievery, and promiscuity discouraged, but would prefer a society overwrought with the \u201cdead weight\u201d of robbers, rapists, murderers, drunkenness, gambling, drug-dealing, drug addiction, pimping and prostitution, pornography and child pornography, and sexually-diseased children.<\/span><\/p>\n

(The Toronto Star Tuesday, January 11, 2000, in its article \u201cAIDS crisis called major world threat\u201d, by Kathleen Kenna of the Washington Bureau, reports U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan as saying, \u201cNowhere else has AIDS yet become a threat to economic, social and political stability on the scale that it now is in southern and eastern Africa;\u201d that \u201cLast year, AIDS killed about 10 times more people in Africa than did armed conflict,\u201d he said. If people were following Divine injunctions to avoid illicit carnal relations, AIDS may not now be a \u201cmajor world threat.\u201d In fact there may not be AIDS).\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Flogging is \u201caimed more at disgracing the culprit than at torturing him. In the time of the Prophet, and even for some time after him, there was no whip, and flogging was carried out by beating with a stick or with the hand or with shoes. The culprit was not stripped naked, but he was required to take off thick clothes.\u201d (M. Ali, Qur\u2019anic comm. # 1736). Stripes are to be given \u201con different parts of the body so that no harm should result to any one part, but the face and the private parts must be avoided.\u201d(M. Ali, The Religion of Islam<\/i>, p. 731).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Public floggings serves to identify the guilty individuals so that chaste men\/women would avoid them as marriage partners: \u201cThe adulterer cannot have sexual relations with any but an adulteress or an idolatress, and the adulteress, none can have sexual relations with her but an adulterer or an idolater; and it is forbidden to believers\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 24:3). (This verse shows that there is no<\/span><\/strong> \u201chonor killing\u201d in Islam; then. those guilty of illegal sexual intercourse would not be left to have relations among themselves or with idolaters).<\/span><\/p>\n

Islam does not support oppression or sin. All\u0101h enjoins Muslims to fight oppression\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:191, 193; 8:39; 42:42); and to \u201chelp not<\/span><\/i> <\/strong>one another in sin and aggression\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 5:2; 58:9).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The believer in God who does not apply the law of God, thinking himself to be more humane than God or in trying to avoid the heat of popular opinion, is simply throwing the Book of God behind his back.
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cHell is hotter.\u201d And inescapable.<\/i><\/p>\n

Stoning and death is the Jewish and Christian law:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. (Apostasy<\/i><\/strong>): Those who \u201csecretly\u201d entice another to follow an unknown God are to be stoned to death:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death;<\/i> because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt\u2026.If thy brother\u2026entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers\u2026thou shalt surely kill him<\/i>\u201d\u2013(Deut; 13:5-16).
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIf there be found among you\u2026man or woman\u2026. And hath gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, either the sun or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded\u2026..Then thou shalt bring forth that man or that woman \u2026and shalt <\/span>stone them with stones, till they die<\/i>\u201d\u2013(Deut; 17:2-5).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. A \u201cstubborn and rebellious son\u201d is to be stoned to death\u2013(Deut. 21:18-21).<\/span><\/p>\n

3. (Honor killings<\/i><\/strong>): Married damsel without the \u201ctoken of virginity\u201d is to be stoned to death: \u201cBut if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity <\/i>be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father\u2019s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die:<\/i> because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father\u2019s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you\u201d\u2013(Deut. 22:20-21 Notably, the man with whom she played the \u201cwhore\u201d is not stoned).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

4. A virginal damsel who lies with a man other than her \u201cbetrothed,\u201d both are to be stoned to death\u2013(Deut. 22:23-24).<\/span><\/p>\n

5. A witch is to be put to death\u2013(Exodus 22:18).<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Who curses his father or mother is to be put to death\u2013(Lev. 20:9).<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Punishment for adultery is death\u2013(Lev. 20:10-12; Deut. 22:22).<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Homosexuals are to be put to death\u2013(Lev. 20:13).<\/span><\/p>\n

9. A man who takes a \u201cwife and her mother,\u201d both shall be burnt with fire\u2013(Lev. 20:14).<\/span><\/p>\n

10. Who commits bestiality is to be put to death\u2013(Lev. 20:15-16).<\/span><\/p>\n

11. (Blasphemy):<\/i><\/strong> \u201cAnd the Israelitish woman\u2019s son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed\u2026.And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying\u2026let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.\u2026And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death\u201d\u2013(Lev. 24:11-16, 23).<\/span><\/p>\n

12. The adulteress is to be stoned\u2013(John 8:3-5).<\/span><\/p>\n

(The Christian\u2019s claim that Jesus forgave the adulteress is baseless\u2013(John 8:1-11). Strangely, there is no mention of the man with whom the woman is said to have committed adultery. Neither did the woman confess to nor deny the charge, nor was she asked if the charge against her was true. (Some justice!)\u00a0<\/span>
\nJesus not only says \u00a0 that he came to fulfill the law,3<\/span><\/sup> he explicitly instructed his followers to \u201cobserve and do\u201d whatever the \u201cscribes and Pharisees\u201d bid hem to do, because they sit in Moses\u2019 seat;4<\/span><\/sup> and two of the Mosaic teachings are to take an eye for an eye<\/i>, and to stone<\/i> the adulterer\/adulteress. Jesus could not be said to have abrogated these Mosaic laws and yet tell his followers to observe them.
\nIt would be a contradiction \u2013Jesus\u2019 turn the other cheek<\/i>5<\/span> <\/sup>and that the one who is without sin to cast a stone<\/i> at the adulteress do not abrogate the Mosaic teachings of an eye for an eye<\/i>6<\/span> <\/sup>and to stone <\/i>those guilty of adultery.7<\/span>
\n<\/sup>To give the \u201cother cheek\u201d is not applicable to infractions against cardinal laws. Jesus\u2019 give the \u201cother cheek\u201d and to forgive seventy-times seven <\/i>were meant to reform his people into being more tolerant of one another (and his mission was\u00a0<\/span><\/span>only for Jews<\/a><\/span>). However, if any aggrieved Jew would have demanded \u201can eye\u201d in turn from his transgressor Jesus would have had no choice but to apply the law which he came to, and vowed to, uphold.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

If the woman was guilty and Christ did not stone her then Christ had simply failed to enforce the law of God.
\nJesus telling the Scribes and Pharisees, \u201cHe that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her,\u201d<\/span> does not mean Jesus forgave her or that this statement abrogated the law of stoning.
\nTo say that the law of\u00a0 stoning was abrogated because no man is without sin and therefore no one would be able to \u201ccast a stone,\u201d it would have been pointless for God to have given such a law that man could not have carried out.
\nFurther, there was no case to begin with; the woman\u2019s accusers had all left without \u201ccondemning\u201d her. Jesus, rightly, as he had no evidence in the matter, could not condemn her either; him telling the woman to \u201cgo, and sin no more,\u201d is not a reflection that a sin (adultery) was committed.\u00a0 While this may be the best advice that Jesus could have given, it certainly wasn\u2019t \u201cforgiveness.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Aside from that, not only did the Jews not accept Jesus, Jesus was in no official capacity to execute judgment in the matter, and, therefore the case should have been decided by the very scribes and Pharisees that brought the woman to Jesus. Jesus must have known that they were \u201ctempting him that they might have to accuse him,\u201d<\/span> as John 8:6 says, and was only being clever with them in saying \u201cHe that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.\u201d
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 It would have been interesting to note Jesus\u2019 response if the scribes and Pharisees had said to him that, since he, Jesus, was without sin, for him to first cast a stone at her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another observation. Jesus conversing with the Samaritan woman is not a sign of liberation of women. God decreed that woman be dominated by her husband; and this is what Paul taught.
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0All Jesus wanted from the woman was a drink of water: <\/span>\u201cThere cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water (from Jacob\u2019s well): Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink;\u201d <\/span>but she gave Jesus an argument as to why a Jew was seeking drink from a Samaritan seeing that \u201cJews have no dealings with the Samaritans\u201d\u2013(John 4:5-28).<\/span><\/p>\n

As prophet of God, Jesus could not turn anyone away; but he could avoid them, and which he did, as is evident from his admonition to his disciples to not preach to non-Jews (and even Samaritans who also were Jews) whom he regarded as \u201cdogs\u201d and \u201cswine\u201d and from his preaching in parables so they would not understand and be saved. Obviously, Jesus had no intention of indulging in argument with the Samaritan woman. But the woman was sharp. And Jesus was cornered into it. This is no<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>liberation<\/span>.<\/span> Jesus was on self-defense).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The Qur\u2019an abrogates these laws of stoning and death in the Bible. All\u0101h speaking about abrogating and changing of mess-ages\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:106; 16:101) does not mean that one verse of the Qur\u2019an abrogates another, as is believed by many. It refers to the replacing of laws\/messages of Scriptures previous to the Qur\u2019an. Muhammad Ali has dealt with this topic in his Qur\u2019anic commentary #152\u2013re: Qur\u2019an 2:106. His translation of the Qur\u2019an can be viewed online: www.muslim.org<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps it is because of his earlier practice of following the Biblical laws that were later abrogated by Qur\u2019anic revelations\u2013as well as a guard against sayings forged in his name, and which forgeries were done even in his lifetime\u2013 that the Prophet is reported to have instructed that whatever saying of his contradicts with the Qur\u2019an, to discard his saying and follow the Qur\u2019an. In Nahjul Balagha<\/i>, Sermon # 215, the Caliph, Hazrat \u2018Ali, is noted as saying: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the very lifetime of the Holy prophet (AS) many a false tradition was attributed to him. This continued till the Apostle of God got so vexed that he stood up and declared, \u2018Whoever deliberately and purposely tells a lie against me or attributes lies to me shall make a place for himself in the Hell.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Hazrat Ali also made a very interesting statement, he said: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOrders of our Holy prophet (AS) are of two kinds. Some are meant for special persons while others are for all Muslims and for all times.
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0There were many persons who could not fully understand the significance of what the prophet had said. They could remember all right, but could not grasp the true relevance of these traditions and began interpreting them as they desired.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 And Bokhari records the Prophet as saying: \u201cDo not tell a lie against me for whoever tells a lie against me (intentionally) then he will surely enter the hell-fire\u201d\u2013(Bokhari, Vol. 1; #106-109; Vol. 4; # 667).<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span><\/p>\n

NOTES<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Muhammad Ali, Qur\u2019anic comm. 1736 (Qur\u2019an 24:2).<\/p>\n

2. Ibid; comm. 1738 (Qur\u2019an 24:4).<\/p>\n

3. Matt. 5:17-18<\/p>\n

4. Matt. 23:2-3<\/p>\n

5. Luke 6:29.<\/p>\n

6. Exodus 21:24.<\/p>\n

7. Lev. 20:10\/John 8:5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the name of All\u0101h, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Peace and Blessings of All\u0101h on Mohammad. DEDICATED TO All\u0101h\u2013the Glorious and the High, Lord of the worlds AND TO Mohammad\u2013who brought the world to our feet and eternity to our arms * \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-412","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5247,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/412\/revisions\/5247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}