Zina (Arabic)
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- This is a sub-article to Islamic criminal jurisprudence and Islamic marital jurisprudence.
Zina (Arabic: الزناء) is extramarital sex in Islam. Islamic law prescribes punishments for men and women for the act of Zina. Zina is committed when a muslim man and women who are not married have any kind of sexual relations with each other. Zina does not just mean having sex with each other but according to hadiths looking into eyes of the person is also Zina. Anything leading to the actual of sex is considered Zina. Hence having any kind of such relation with a person of opposite sex is stictly forbiden in Islam. Islam does not allow you to have girlfriends or boyfriends irrespective of the fact of whether you are married or not.
This punishment is only for the protection of men and women and their rights to each other. Islamic culture highly respects marriage, and has all kinds of provisions to make it easy for us. But Islam forbids any relations out of marriage. Zina is consider amongst one of the biggest sins in Islam, whether it is before marriage or after marriage. In addition to the punishments rendered in this world, sinners will be given severe punishments after death as well. It should not be viewed as a restriction on human freedoms, but as the best way of protection of a culture and all human's self respect for each other.
Extramarital sexual intercourse may be punished by up to 100 lashes, while adultery is punished by Rajm (stoning), according to some interpretations of the Islamic law. Punishment by stoning is not specified in the Quran for any crime, and is based solely upon hadith.
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[edit] Conditions
Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi describes the following conditions traditionally held for the punishment to take place:
- The accused, before the accusation, must be known as a practising Muslim.
- The accused must possess common sense. The accused must not have been in an intoxicated state of mind while the act was committed.
- The accused must be an adult having well surpassed the age of puberty.
- The accused must have committed adultery of his/her own free will.
- There must be four male witnesses (or pieces of evidence) to support the accusation (of sexual penetration).
Additional fulfillment of the following requirements is necessary for an execution:
- The accused must be free and not a slave.
- The accused must be married (according to Islamic Law), and must enjoy normal sexual relations with his/her spouse (and therefore have a legitimate means of satisfying his/her sexual desires) prior to committing adultery.
- The accused (woman) must not be pregnant or be responsible for breast feeding a child.
[edit] Qur'an
The Qur'an forbids extramarital sex and regards it as the worst of the forbidden acts.
| “ | And go not nigh to fornication; surely it is an indecency and an evil way. | „ |
Moreover, the Qur'an considers extramarital sex as one of the major sins besides polytheism and murder:
| “ | And they who do not call upon another god with Allah and do not slay the soul, which Allah has forbidden except in the requirements of justice, and (who) do not commit fornication and he who does this shall find a requital of sin. The punishment shall be doubled to him on the day of resurrection, and he shall abide therein in abasement. | „ |
The punishment for Zina is explicitly stated in the Quran in verse 24:2:
| “ | The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment. | „ |
The Arabic word Zina makes no distinction between adultery and fornication. Zina describes any act of sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other.
[edit] Interpretations
The punishment for adultery by stoning is quite controversial. Many fundamentalist organizations call for a more modern interpretation, whilst others argue that stoning has not once been mentioned in the Quran, and is evident only from the hadith.[1]
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, a well-known Pakistani Islamic scholar, has examined all hadith related to Rajm in his book Burhan. Based on principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, such as the one from Shatibi, who writes that Sunnah is either explanation of the Qur'an or addition to the Qur'an. If it is an explanation, then its status is secondary otherwise, it will only be considered addition if it is not discussed by the Qur'an.[2][3] Ghamidi concludes that Quranic punishment for Zina in verse 24:2 does not leave a room for another interpretation.[3] He also writes that stoning can only be prescribed for someone who rapes or habitually commits fornication as prostitutes, as it constitutes hirabah (maleficence in the land) and punishable accordingly.[4] As it is attributed to Muhammad in following hadith:
- Acquire it from me, acquire it from me. The Almighty has revealed the directive about women who habitually commit fornication about which He had promised to reveal. If such criminals are unmarried or are the unsophisticated youth, then their punishment is a hundred stripes and exile and if they are widowers or are married, then their punishment is a hundred stripes and death by stoning. Sahih Muslim 1690
The former regulations (i.e. the steps taken for the punishment to occur) also make some Muslims believe, that the process' goal was to eventually abolish the physical penalties relating to acts of (fornication and) adultery, that were already present within many societies around the world when Islamic teachings first arose. According to this view, the principles are so rigorous in their search for evidence, that they create the near impossibility of being able to reach a verdict that goes against the suspect in any manner. [1]
[edit] Hadith
There are many hadith that outline capital punishment as a penalty for adultery, including two of the following:
- Imran b. Husain reported that a woman from Juhaina came to the Prophet Muhammad and she had become pregnant because of adultery. She said: I am pregnant as a result of Zina. Allah's Apostle said: "Go back, and come to me after the birth of the child". After giving birth, the woman came back to Allah's Apostle, saying: "please purify me now". Next, Allah's Apostle said, "Go and suckle your child, and come after the period of suckling is over." She came after the period of weaning and brought a piece of bread with her. She fed the child the piece of bread and said, "Oh Allah's Apostle, the child has been weaned." At that Allah's Apostle pronounced judgment about her and she was stoned to death.
- Reported by many companions that Ma'iz went before the Prophet Muhammad in the Mosque and said, "I have committed adultery, please purify me." (In another report, Prophet asked Ma'iz that the reports he heard about him are correct or not[5]) Allah's Apostle turned his face away from him and said "Woe to you, go back and pray to Allah for forgiveness." But the boy again came in front of Allah's Apostle and repeated his desire for purification. The act was repeated three times, until Abu Bakr, sitting close by, told the Ma'iz to leave, as the fourth repetition of the plea would get him stoned. But the man persisted. Allah's Apostle then turned to him and said "you might have kissed or caressed her or you might have looked at her with lust (and so assumed that you committed Zina)". Ma'iz replied in the negative. Allah's Apostle said "did you lie in bed with her?" Ma'iz replied in the affirmative. He then asked, "did you have sexual intercourse?" Ma'iz replied in the affirmative. Then Allah's Apostle got quite uncomfortable, and asked "Did your male organ disappear in the female part?" Ma'iz replied in the affirmative. He then asked, once more, whether Ma'iz knew what Zina means. Ma'iz replied "yes, I have committed the same act a husband commits with his wife." Allah's Apostle asked if he was married, and he replied "yes". Allah's Apostle asked if he took any wine, and Ma'iz again replied in the negative. Allah's Apostle then sent for an inquiry from the neighbors of Ma'iz, whether or not Ma'iz suffered from insanity. The replies all came in the negative. Allah's Apostle then said, "had you kept it a secret, it would have been better for you." Allah's Apostle then ordered Ma'iz to be stoned to death. During the stoning, Ma'iz cried out, "O people, take me back to the Holy Prophet, the people of my clan deluded me." When this was reported to Allah's Apostle, he replied "Why did you not let him off, he might have repented, and Allah may have accepted it."
- It is reported that the woman in the above case was not punished.[6] This makes Ghamidi believe that it was a case of rape and Ma'iz was given the punishment of hirabah and not adultery.[7][3]
For more examples, see Stoning to Death in the Hadith. In all traditions, stoning only occurred after one of the adulterers voluntary came to Muhammad and bore witness against him or herself.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Maududi (2002)
- ^ Imam Shatibi. Al-Muwafiqaat fi Usool al-Sharia, 5(4)
- ^ a b c Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Burhan, Al-Mawrid
- ^ Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Mizan, The Penal Law of Islam, Al-Mawrid
- ^ Sahih Muslim, 1693
- ^ Ibn Sa'd, The Book of the Major Classes, 4/324
- ^ It is reported that on that day, Muhammad said to everyone: Didn't it happen that whenever we go out for Jihad, one of us is left behind, who is tempted by his sexuality like a goat? Listen! It is obligatory for me to punish such person in an examplary manner. Sahih Muslim 1694
[edit] References
- Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi (2002). The Meaning of the Quran. Islamic Publications (PVT.) LTD.
