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Stoning in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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Added some details to intro which Muslims sometimes complain are missing, and added a section on recent ICMA analysis of relevent hadiths
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[[File:Stoning in afghanistan.jpg|right|thumb|190px|A public stoning carried out in Afghanistan. Rajm is the Islamic punishment for illegal sexual intercourse, as ordered by Muhammad himself.]] | [[File:Stoning in afghanistan.jpg|right|thumb|190px|A public stoning carried out in Afghanistan. Rajm is the Islamic punishment for illegal sexual intercourse, as ordered by Muhammad himself.]] | ||
'''Stoning to death''' (رجم ''Rajm''), according to traditional interpretations of [[Islamic law]], is a punishment for married adulterers as well as certain other unlawful sexual relations including [[Islam and Homosexuality|homosexual]] relationships | '''Stoning to death''' (رجم ''Rajm''), according to traditional interpretations of [[Islamic law]], is a punishment carried out by the authorities for married adulterers as well as certain other unlawful sexual relations including [[Islam and Homosexuality|homosexual]] relationships following a confession or four witnesses to the crime. It is one example of [[Abrogation|abrogation]] (naskh) being applied to Qur'anic text (which specifies lashing as the punishment for [[Zina|unlawful sexual relations]], but was interpreted as applying to unmarried fornicators). The criminals "hands are tied behind their backs and their bodies are put in a cloth sack." They are then "buried in a hole, with only the victims heads showing above the ground. If its a woman, she is buried upto her shoulders."<ref>[http://www.apostatesofislam.com/media/stoning.htm What happens in Stoning?] - apostatesofislam.com</ref> The stones which are to be thrown at the criminal "should not be so large that the offender dies after a few strikes, nor so small as to fail to cause serious injury."<ref>[http://www.iheu.org/node/262 Should Sharia laws be reconsidered?] - Sandhya Jain - International Humanist and Ethical Union, March 9, 2004</ref> | ||
==In the Modern World== | ==In the Modern World== | ||
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The implimentation of the punishment of stoning is relatively rare today, practiced primarily in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, and occasionally in the Islamic Republic of Iran. | The implimentation of the punishment of stoning is relatively rare today, practiced primarily in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, and occasionally in the Islamic Republic of Iran. | ||
Due to the Islamic laws on [[rape]] requiring four male eye witnesses before guilt can be ascertained, many rape victims end up being charged with '[[adultery]].' As was the case for 13-year-old ''Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow'' in Somalia<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7708169.stm Stoning victim 'begged for mercy'] - BBC News, November 4, 2008</ref> who in October of 2008 was buried up to her neck and stoned to death in front of more than 1,000 people in a football stadium. She was the victim of gang-rape. Another Somalian female who gave birth to a stillborn child, was also stoned to death in front of a crowd of 200 in November (one of at least four Somalians to be stoned for adultery in 2009).<ref>[http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/18/somali-woman-stoned-death-adultery.html Somali woman stoned to death for adultery] - The Jakarta Post, November 18, 2009 </ref> Her boyfriend received 100 lashes. | Due to the Islamic laws on [[rape]] requiring four male eye witnesses before guilt can be ascertained, many rape victims end up being charged with '[[adultery]].' As was the case for 13-year-old ''Aisha Ibrahim Dhuhulow'' in Somalia<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7708169.stm Stoning victim 'begged for mercy'] - BBC News, November 4, 2008</ref> who in October of 2008 was buried up to her neck and stoned to death in front of more than 1,000 people in a football stadium. She was the victim of gang-rape. Another Somalian female who gave birth to a stillborn child, was also stoned to death in front of a crowd of 200 in November (one of at least four Somalians to be stoned for adultery in 2009).<ref>[http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/18/somali-woman-stoned-death-adultery.html Somali woman stoned to death for adultery] - The Jakarta Post, November 18, 2009 </ref> Her boyfriend received 100 lashes. | ||
While the modern views of many contemporary Muslims scholars and believers are diametrically opposed to any implementation of such punishments, it is very much an accepted part of Islam for traditional scholars and millions of lay Muslims around the world. An August 2009 Pew survey<ref>Pew Report: [http://pewglobal.org/reports/pdf/265.pdf Pakistani Public Opinion - Growing Concerns about Extremism, Continuing Discontent with U.S.Religion, Law, and Society] Page 3</ref> revealed that 83% of Pakistanis believe that adulterers should be stoned. Another survey carried out in 2006 in Indonesia (the world's most populated Muslim country) found that "almost half the respondents back stoning as a punishment for adulterers."<ref>[http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/163989.php 50% Support Stoning for Adultery in 'Moderate' Muslim Country] - The Jawa Report, March 18, 2006</ref> | |||
Most countries have signed the UN Convention Against Torture, though stoning appears in the legislation of a [[w:Stoning|small number of countries]] (though never utilised in some cases). Most notably, this includes Iran, where 150 people were stoned to death between 1980 and 2009, though rarely since, and is also known to occur in tribal areas of Afghanistan.<ref>[https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2021/04/falqs-execution-by-stoning-and-privacy-laws-related-to-sexual-crimes-in-iran-and-afghanistan/ FALQs: Execution by Stoning and Privacy Laws Related to Sexual Crimes in Iran and Afghanistan] - Kelly Buchannan, Library of Congress blogs, 30 April 2021</ref> Incidents of stoning have also been reported in Iraq and Pakistan, and forms a part of Afghan, Iranian, Nigerian, Sudanese, Saudi Arabian, and United Arab Emirate law.<ref>[http://www.stop-stoning.org/faq_stoning Stoning - Frequently Asked Questions about Stoning] - stop-stoning.org</ref> | |||
==Modern academic views== | |||
Muslim academic scholar Seyfedden Kara has examined the hadith traditions relating to stoning in his open access book on the topic.<ref>Seyfedden Kara (2024) ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/jj.15478459 The Integrity of the Qur'an: Sunni and Shi‘i Historical Narratives]'', Edinburgh University Press</ref> | |||
Regarding stoning, Kara argues that it is likely Muhammad did implement the stoning penalty. Using using the modern academic technique of isnad-cum-matn analysis, he finds that al Zuhri is the common link for the hadith in which Muhammad rules that a man's wife be stoned in accordance with the "book of Allah".<ref>Ibid. Chapter 2</ref> However, another hadith, whose kernal seems historically credible in light of the Constitution of Medina and which Kara dates to the lifetime of Muhammad, has some Jews asking Muhammad to arbitrate the correct penalty for a Jewish man and woman who committed adultery, which he answers by means of the stoning verse in the Torah. Kara suggests that the "Book of Allah" in the other hadith may refer also to the Torah, but misunderstood later to mean an abrogated Quranic verse.<ref>Ibid. Chapter 3</ref> | |||
The hadith in which Umar states that the stoning verse was lost from the Quran does go back to Umar according to Kara's analysis. Kara speculates that Umar may have been confused in his old age.<ref>Ibid. Chapter 4</ref> | |||
The hadith in which a sheep ate the verses of suckling and stoning are doubtful according to Kara's analysis. He finds that one of the several hadith clusters containing the suckling traditions (the one which goes through Amra, as well as one variant of the cluster through Nafi) mentions the original presence of a sucklings verse in the Quran which was then changed (or "abrogated", as Malik glosses it). Only one of the Amra cluster's variants in turn includes the sheep story. Kara argues that the lost verse element is unlikely to be true as the inconsistent versions of that tradition seem to indicate uncertainty on the number of sucklings required, which he thinks should have been clear had there originally been a verse. He also argues that the lack of the sheep element in any other version does not allow that element to be dated with any certainty before the 3rd century when it appears in Sunan Ibn Majah.<ref>Ibid. Chapter 1.</ref> | |||
==Qur'an== | ==Qur'an== | ||
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However, '''the ruling was identical and remained: it is transmitted from al-Zuhri by eight of his students that `Umar said: "Rajm is firmly established in the Book of Allah."'''}} | However, '''the ruling was identical and remained: it is transmitted from al-Zuhri by eight of his students that `Umar said: "Rajm is firmly established in the Book of Allah."'''}} | ||
=== | ===Fatwas=== | ||
{{Quote|1=[http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503545902 Stoning: Does It Have Any Basis in Shari`ah?]<BR>Fatwa from Islam Online, March 29, 2005|2=....the prescribed punishment for adultery, which means an illegitimate sexual intercourse between a married man and a woman married to another man is stoning to death. But this offense must be proven either through a confession made voluntarily by the accused or by the testimony of four witnesses who state under oath that they have witnessed the commission of the crime. It's only after this legal procedure that the accused will be punished by lapidation. This punishment is agreed upon by scholars and there is no question about it.<BR>. . .<BR> | {{Quote|1=[http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503545902 Stoning: Does It Have Any Basis in Shari`ah?]<BR>Fatwa from Islam Online, March 29, 2005|2=....the prescribed punishment for adultery, which means an illegitimate sexual intercourse between a married man and a woman married to another man is stoning to death. But this offense must be proven either through a confession made voluntarily by the accused or by the testimony of four witnesses who state under oath that they have witnessed the commission of the crime. It's only after this legal procedure that the accused will be punished by lapidation. This punishment is agreed upon by scholars and there is no question about it.<BR>. . .<BR> | ||