(The author of this
article is the Editor in Chief of Al-Balaagh, a bi-monthly published from
Lenasia, South Africa. He is a widely known Muslim writer, author, and
journalist. In August 2001 he received an Award of Honor fo4r his 50 years of
extraordinary service in the cause of Islam. He has written more than 30,000
letters in 50 years at the rate of 3 to 5 letters a night - to various people
around the world, answering their queries, or thanking them for something).
Apropos of the brouhaha surrounding the case of
the hapless Amina Lawal whom the Nigerian “Islamic Shariah Court” has sentenced
to death by stoning, certain aspects of this whole ugly “stoning to death”
scenario need to be clarified - aspects that are conveniently ignored by the
legists and jurisprudents who sit in judgment of people’s lives.
“Shariah” is defined as ‘a body of doctrines that regulate the lives of those
who profess Islam”. The doctrines are derived, inter alia, from two
principal sources: the dictates of the Divine Being as enunciated in the Holy
Quran, and the exemplary life of the Holy Prophet of Islam (S), referred to as
the “Sunnah”.
Stoning to death has been emphasized time and again
as the “Shariah” law. It most certainly is NOT! The punishment
prescribed by the Shariah of the Quran is ONE HUNDRED LASHES each to the
adulterer and the adulteress, in public. (24:2)
The
Quran makes no distinction whatsoever (as the “maulanas” do!) between
adultery and fornication, between married individuals and/or single
persons. Zina, in the Quran, refers to adultery (sex outside marriage),
and that’s that.
No
committer of adultery or fornication has - ever since the lexicological birth of
these two English words - come up with a PUBLIC declaration that he has found
any difference between the two! Such factitious distinction, such a semantic
convolution, has been “discovered” by, and exists only, in the fertile
imagination of the “maulanas” and Hadith writers - past and present. These
gentlemen are extremely fond of sexual hair-splitting, and have perpetuated this
misconception, this flapdoodle, ad nauseam! Such logomachy (argument
about words and their meaning) is the preoccupation of those who have nothing
better and positive to contribute to our deen!
The bottom line is that though the words may
be different, but the end experience from both operations is identical!
The idea of flogging the guilty couple in public is
to disgrace them for the shameful act they committed - and not to inflict
physical damage. The punishment may also be televised as the Americans do when
murderers are gassed or given the lethal injection.
For
a married slave-girl, the punishment is Half of that given to free women - that
is, FIFTY stripes (4:25). If a woman is to be stoned
to death, pray, how on earth can one HALVE this punishment? The silence
of the legists, jurists and Imams to this question is ear shattering! This, of
course, indicates absolutely, and without the slightest shadow of a doubt
whatsoever, that the Almighty NEVER prescribed stoning as punishment for
adultery, but FLOGGING A HUNDRED TIMES.
Stoning to death for adultery is Biblical Shariah -
NOT an Islamic Shariah. When a woman apprehended in adultery was brought to
Hazrat Eesa (AS). he pronounced the time-honored verdict, lie told the huge
crowd: “Let him who is without sin among you, be the first to cast a stone at
her.” (John-8). The entire crowd dispersed, realizing that not a single one
among them was without sin. But Jesus himself could have stoned her, because he
was without sin. But he did not. He told her to “go and sin no more”, thus
showing his exemplary mercy and incomparable compassion to the woman!
ALL-COMPASSIONATE, ALL-MERCIFUL
Now, the most important fact of this whole ugly
business of stoning to death to be remembered is that the Almighty Allah is
ALL-COMPASSIONATE, ALL-LOVINC, ALL-MERCIFUL. He says of Himself in the
Qur'an: “Your Lord has prescribed for Himself MERCY.“(6:54). If Allah is
so Merciful, so Forgiving, and so Compassionate, then how is it possible that He
cancels all these beautiful Attributes of His by enacting a law for punishing
adulterers (for a human weakness) that is so DREADFUL, so inconceivably
BARBARIC, and boggles the human imagination by its sheer SAVAGERY?
Does Allah Subhaanahoo Wa Ta ‘aala prescribe for
Him-self absolute Mercy on the one hand, and then immediately Contradicts
Himself by proclaiming a law that is so inhuman, so diabolical in its ferocity,
that it has few parallels, if any, in the annals of human history? Those who
have not abdicated their reasoning power and rationality will most certainly
KNOW that the enemies of Allah and the foes of our Deen have fabricated this
story to present our Merciful God in the worst possible light, depicting Him as
a Hydra-headed Monster bent mercilessly on exacting a dehumanizing revenge on
adulterers!
Yet another factor of paramount importance not to
be let out of sight is that the Divine Being does NOT (repeal NOT) allow
anybody - neither Moses, nor Dawood, nor Eesa, nor Muhammad (5) - to
“assist” Him in the formulation and legislation of His Laws. Allah works solo
all by Himself, ALONE! He states this fact in unambiguous terms in the
Quran: “And He (Allah) does NOT share His Command with any person
whatsoever.”(18:26) And again: “Command /Judgment belongs ONLY to
Allah.”(12:40)
It is thus perfectly clear that Allah’s Command,
Judgment and Decree is that an adulterous couple should be given one hundred
stripes. Who can now DARE to stoning to this Final Command of Allah?
Our Nabi (S) never dared to introduce his own
decrees, thus adding to, or superseding, Allah’s Law. The Almighty had issued a
very serious, grave warning to him that: “And if he (the Rasool) had fabricated
against Us certain sayings, We would most definitely have seized him by the
right hand, THEN CUT OFF HIS HEARI”S VEIN.” (69:44-46) In the light of
this verse, can the Nabi (S), or did he, bring forth his own (Biblical)
law of stoning to death? Did the Rasool (5) have that prophetic independence to
add to, subtract from, or interpolate Allah’s Final Judgment and Command?
He never did, because he was mighty AFRAID that he
(Rasoolullah Sallal laahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) of all people would be badly
PUNISHED if he ever DARED to add stoning to death to Allah’s already stipulated
and specified Command of 100 stripes! The Almighty instructs the prophet (S) to
tell his people: “Say (O Prophet!): It is NOT FOR ME TO CHANGE IT (THE QURAN) OF
MY OWN ACCORD. I FOLLOW NAUGHT BUT WHAT HAS BEEN REVEALED TO ME. INDEED I FEAR,
IF I DISOBEYED MY LORD, THE CHASTISEMENT OF A GRIEVOUS DAY”(10: 15)
Read this verse again. Analyze it. See how the Nabi
(S) expresses his grave fear that Allah will punish him terribly if he were ever
to add to Allah’s Final Decree. Allah’s Final Command on adultery is: 100
lashes. Can the Rasool (S) now, on his own accord, ADD to Allah’s judgment and
say in effect: “Although Allah has decreed 100 lashes, but I, Muhammad, your
prophet, am adding stoning to death also to this punishment!” Could he
have done this? Did he do this? He never did, as we shall indicate and clarify
this point further in our discussion on the contradictions in the entire Hadith
literature. Just a passing observation: Later Hadith-writers and the
Fiqh-fabricators manufactured all this stoning business and ascribed it to our
Holy Prophet (S).
THE PROPHET (S) A MERCY TO MANKIND
Allah (SWT) tells us in the Holy Quran that He did
not send the Nabi except as a MERCY unto mankind. The Nabi LOVED the
people, he LOVED children, he LOVED and had compassion for, animals. Now: could
the merciful Nabi of Allah have prescribed such a cruel, BARBARIC,
SOUL-DESTROYING punishment of stoning men and women to death? If the
Muhadditheen and Fuqaha insist that he indeed did, then this kind of cruelty de-
tracts completely from the compassion, tenderness and mercy of Rasoolullah (S)
to which Allah himself testifies! We are simply NOT prepared to believe it.
Islam, Allah (SWT) and the Rasool (S) had (and still have) plenty of enemies,
and this barbaric stoning punishment was introduced into the Hadith literature
by the Christians and Yahoods. It is called Israeliyyaat.
Another
point to ponder is the following. The Qur'an says:
“The adulterer cannot marry any but an adulteress
or an idolatress; and the adulteress cannot marry but an adulterer or an
idolater; it is forbidden to believers.” (24:3) The question is: how on
earth can the adulterer and the adulteress ever have a chance of marrying if
they are stoned to death? In order for marriage to take place, both the man and
the woman have to be ALIVE ... not DEAD (by stoning)! Can
the so-called “maulanas” and other
Upholders of the Hadith who do not pay much heed
and respect to Allah’s Word (the Qur'an) answer this question?
*********************************************
The
Quran is a Perfect Book. Allah (SWT) did not leave out anything in this Book of
books, as the following verses of the Qur'an testify: (i) “We have NOT neglected
anything in the Book.” (6:38); (ii) “Nor anything green or dry, but
(it is all) in a clear Book.” (6:59); (iii)
“And We have revealed the Book to thee (O Prophet!) explaining ALL things,
and a guidance and mercy and good news for those who submit.” (16:89);
(iv) “And certainly We have made clear for mankind in this Qur'an EVERY
KIND OF DESCRIPTION.”(17:89).
Now: since Allah (SWT) insists that He has made
EVERYTHING clear in the Qur'an, and has not left out ANYTHING, then how
come He did not, or had “forgotten” (Na-oozubillah) to include that
“all-important” (in the eyes of the Hadith-upholders) punishment of stoning to
death for adultery’? Or, (a thousand Taubahs!) in the vocabulary of the Divine
Being, the words “EVERYTHING” and “ANYTHING” do not carry the same meaning as
the normal, human vocabulary does? Can the “maulanas” explain this Divine
“forgetfulness”?
The
truth is that human minds conceive, and human hands interpolate, extrapolate,
mutilate, mangle, add to, subtract from, and embellish a clear-cut,
uncomplicated Law of Allah. Allah decreed 100 lashes. This is too simple and not
enough for the detractors of the Quran... so they ADDED this extra, un-Qur'anic
punishment of stoning to the Law of Allah. And in so doing, they VIOLATED the
following Command of Allah: “Say (O Prophet!): O People of the Book,
EXAGGERATE NOT in the matter of your religion unjustly, and follow not the
low desires of people who went astray.” (5:77). And again:
“O People of the Book, EXCEED NOT THE LIMITS in your religion, nor
speak about Allah but the truth.” (4:171)
Allah says: EXCEED NOT THE LIMITS in matters of the Deen/Shariah. But those who
love to throw stones at the holy Qur'an just would NOT accept the Quranic
punishment of 100 lashes, and added their own punishment of stoning to
death - thus EXCEEDING THE LIMITS demarcated by Allah!
Allah Almighty has explained and clarified
EVERYTHING in the Quran. But, in His infinite Wisdom, He knew that people, with
their puny minds, would still bicker, recriminate, argue, quibble, altercate,
DIFFER, and thus create conflicts among themselves unnecessarily, causing
commotion and confusion in the Ummah.
To this end, the Almighty gave IMPLCIT instruction
to the Prophet (S) in the Quran: “Surely! We (Allah) have revealed unto you (O
Muhammad) the Book with Truth, SO THAT YOU MAY JUDGE BETWEEN PEOPLE BY
MEANS OF WHAT ALLAH HAS SHOWN (REVEALED) TO YOU.” (4:105)
Allah (SWT) has decreed 100 lashes for the
adulterous couple. The legists were not satisfied with a mere 100 lashes, so
they created the controversy that the couple must also be stoned to death.
Therefore Allah (SWT) instructs His Messenger (S) that he must “judge
between people by means of what Allah has shown to you,” that is, follow
only the law of 100 lashes, and NOT stoning, or any other form of punishment!
Another verse also makes this point ABSOLUTELY
clear. Says Allah (SWT): “And We have not revealed to you the Book except
that you make clear to them that (matter) wherein they DIFFER. And
as a guidance and a mercy for a
people who believe.” (16:64)
People, who do not place their TOTAL, ABSOLUTE, UN-DIVIDED faith and Eemaan on
Allah’s Qur'an, will forever argue and debate and DIFFER. Allah’s Law on
punishment for adultery is CLEAR, unambiguous AND UNEQUIVOCAL - 100 lashes.
Period! But those who are weak in their faith on the Qur'an still DIFFER, and
maintain that stoning to death is also a punishment.
Therefore the Almighty says that judgment on this
“difference” and “conflict” in the Ummah on this vexing question of adultery
and its punishment MUST be given SOLELY from the Book of Allah -
and NOT from any Hadith or Fiqh books. And this Judgment in the Quran is
indisputably clear - 100 hashes, and NOT stoning to death! Can any
thing be clearer than this’?
RATLIKE
Those who took upon themselves to write the Hadith
books (in shameless DEFIANCE of the Rasool (S) who expressly said: “Do
NOT write down anything from me except the Qur'an, and if you have written
anything down, then ERASE It,”) left no turn unstoned, to gnaw,
ratlike, at the fabric of Islam, thus destroying it. They put words into the
mouth of the Rasool (S), thus presenting him in a very bad light - words that
our Beloved Rasool (S) could never, NEVER have uttered!
We must remember that the Rasool (S) was sent as a
Messenger to mankind in order to IMPLEMENT Allah’s Laws -NOT to COMPLEMENT
them, or infringe, violate or supersede them with his own instructions! The
Prophet (S) had made it abundantly clear that: “I FOLLOW ONLY THAT WHICH IS
REVEALED TO ME’ (6:50). Stoning to death for
adultery was NOT revealed to the Nabi (S), therefore he NEVER followed it! If
the Prophet (S) had decreed stoning to death in the face of Allah’s clear-cut
Law of 100 lashes for adultery, then Allah would have cut off his heart’s vein!
(69:44-46)
One of the most mystifying arid blatantly
incomprehensible aspects of this stoning business reported in the papers is
that in every case of adultery, it is invariably the WOMAN that is to be
stoned to death, and the man does not get so much as even a reprimand! This has
happened in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and now in Nigeria.
Why this sex discrimination? Is the man not guilty?
We all know that it takes “two to tango”. It seems, however, that in the Fiqh
and Hadith of the “maulanas” - past and present -adultery can be committed
unilaterally! The woman, being an ADULT, is perfectly capable of handling
ADULTERY on her own. The participation of man is redundant, not necessary after
all, he is a chauvinistic pig, and woman has liberated herself sufficiently
through bra-burning to achieve orgasmic nirvana -without man’s nettlesome,
insertional interference!
This is the “Shariah” of the Imams, mullahs,
jurists and Hadith writers who have made Islam a totally ILLOGICAL and SENSELESS
religion in the eyes of people who value reason. and whose faculty of
rationality is NOT paralyzed! These two “sources” of the Islamic Shariah — Fiqh
and Hadith-have made Islam the butt of ridicule and opprobrium in the eyes of
the non-Muslim world!
En passant, a very significant point to
ponder upon is the following. We say that stoning to death is Mosaic Law, Hazrat
Moosa (AS) was a major prophet of Allah, and Allah (SWT) revealed His
Commandments to him. So it is taken for granted that Allah decreed stoning to
death for adultery as part of the Mosaic dispensation in the Tauraat. Which
means that Allah was cruel and barbaric (a thousand Taubahs!) when He revealed
the stoning law to Moses. but later relented, realizing His “mistake”, and
expurgated this savage law, not including it in the Qur'an! (Astaghfirullah!)
Our contention is that Allah (always Merciful and
Benign), NEVER ever enacted this horrible law, as enshrined in the Tauraat, in
the first place! The stoning law was manufactured by the Jewish Rabbis, who
were masters of interpolations, additions, subtractions and expunction
(expurgation). They actually “manhandled” the original Tauraat, inserting their
own Rabbinical laws therein in their apostils, or marginal notes,
(Arabic: HAASHIYAAT). Thus it can he seen, with a little insight, that Stoning
to death is not even Mosaic law, but a law devised by the conspiratorial
machinations of the Rabbis of yore who were truly ollamhs (Arabic: Allamahs),
full of the wisdom of the ages, and nonpareil theologians. Their scholarly
learning was certainly enviable. So these “gentlemen of the cloth” inserted
scores of rules, regulations, exhortations, prohibitions and instructions in the
Divine book, passing them off as “Revealed’, that is, from God Almighty Himself.
Stoning to death for adultery is one of these laws, and it is therefore a
RABBINICAL law and not a REVELATIONAL law.
Allah (SWT) has been Merciful, Loving and
Compassionate from AZAL, from Eternity, from the very beginning of Time. Thus
he could not suddenly or progressively, at some point in Time, have lost His
Mercifulness when He revealed the Tauraat to Hazrat Moosa (AS) wherein He is
alleged to have promulgated the callous, inhuman, absolutely CRUEL law of
stoning to death for men and women guilty of adultery!
SUMMATION
Hadith is man made and thus fallible. The Holy
Qur'an is Allah’s unadulterated, Pure Word, and therefore it is Infallible. Are
we going to place our total, fanatical credence on man’s surmises and
conjectures in matters of Deen, or hold on solidly to the Commands of Allah in
the Qur'an? Remember what Allah (SWT) says: “Hold on solidly, all together. to
the Rope of Allah (the Qur'an), and do NOT become disunited.” (3: 102)
Allah has also PERFECTED His Deen for us. He says:
“This day have I PERFECTED for you your religion...“ (5:3). Allah did
NOT include that so-beloved-of-the-jurists’ “stoning to death” law in the Qur'an
- a law which the Hadith writers insist WAS originally a part of the
Quran, but somehow got lost. This means that Allah’s claim that He PERFECTED His
Deen is, then, false! (A thousand Taubahs!) Allah also says that: “We have
revealed the Reminder (Qur'an), and We are its Guardian” (15:9) How did
He guard His Book when so many verses, including the verses of’ Rajm (stoning
to death for adultery) are missing from His Book’?
Allah (SWT) insists that ALL judgments (and this,
of course, includes judgment on stoning) MUST be given from the Holy Qur'an,
Allah’s clear instruction to Rasoolullah (S) is: “And We have not revealed to
you the Book except that you may make clear to them (matters) WHEREIN THEY
DIFFER, and as a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe.” (16:64;
also 4:105), Muslims differ on the question of stoning to death. So
what’s the solution? REFER THE MATTER TO THE QUR'AN FOR ALLAH
TO DECIDE. And Allah has decided that there is NO stoning to death, but only
100 times flogging for adulterers. In spite of this absolutely unequivocal
Command of Allah, why are we still foolishly holding on to the hoary, toothless
and stoop-shouldered Hadithic belief in stoning to death?
Another straightforward aayat of the Quran states:
“O Prophet! Deliver that which has been revealed to you (the Qur'an) from your
Lord.” (5:67) Allah has revealed in the Quran that the
punishment for adultery is 100 stripes, and the Nabi (S) delivered it. Why are
we now compromising this judgment of Allah with our own untenable and tenuous
argument in favour of stoning?
Allah (SWT) insists that all judgments MUST
(repeat MUST!) be given from the Holy Qur'an - NOT from Fiqh books, NOT firm the
writings of Imams, NOT from Hadith books. He says: (if “And those who do not
give judgment from the Qur'an, are the WRONGDOERS (5:45);
(ii) “And those who do not give judgment from the Qur'an, are the
TRANSGRESSORS (5:47). And, finally, using a very strong term, the
Almighty says: (iii) “And those who do not give judgment according to the
Qur'an, are the DISBELIEVERS (Kaafiroon).” (5: 44)
Before we bring this article to a close, let us take a passing look at the
much-vaunted Hadith literature on which the mullahs- past and present - pin
their Eemaan, their devotion, their faith, their everything. One dare not
criticize a single Hadith, no matter how ridiculous it is, otherwise one becomes
a “Kaafir”, they asseverate.
In the entire corpus of Hadith, there are
scores of senseless, laughable, risible, absurd Ahadith that sorely tax one’s
reason and common sense. We shall give here just ONE single such Hadith, and
leave it to you to draw your own CONFUSION! This Hadith is very germane, very
relevant to our discussion on adultery and stoning.
“Amru bin Maymoon says that in the Days of
Jahiliyyah, he saw a whole lot of monkeys gathered around ONE monkey who had
committed Zina (adultery), and were stoning it to death. So he (Maymoon) also
joined the group (of monkeys) to stone that monkey to death.” (Bukhari)
NB. Please note that the Hadith says that it was
only ONE monkey who had committed Zina! What happened to the other monkey? The
Hadith does not specify whether the poor monkey caught in adultery was a male or
female. We bet our topi and kurta on the fact that it was a FEMALE monkey, the
poor thing, because the male always gets off scot-free after doing his job. We
wonder if those other monkeys who were stoning this hapless female, were not
some sort of members of the
"Shariah“ Court of the Day of Jahiliyyah!
Anyway,
this was just a digression. What we want to know is that since when have monkeys
(who are animals) become Mukallaf ( obliged) to follow religion?
Religion and religious laws are for HUMAN BEINGS ... NOT for animals! And what
would one think of a companion of the Rasool (S) who joins a group of
animals in an act that no sane person can ever believe?! There is
certainly some monkey business here!
An interesting fact here is that the Companion’s
name who reported this monkey-Hadith is, wait for it, MAYMOON! “Maymoon”
in Persian means a “monkey." . A strange coincidence, but we don’t think that
there is any simian connection here between human and animal.
When one comes across such Ahadith in Bukhari, which has been called “THE
MOST CORRECT BOOK AFFER THE BOOK OF GOD”, then one
wonders how much of truth is there in the other Ahadith ... the stoning ones
included. Can any rational being place any premium, credence or reliance on such
absurdities with which Bukhari and the other Hadith books abound’? You be the
judge!
Allah’s (SWT) verdict on Hadith:
The Almighty knew that human beings will give
greater respect and love - over and above the Qur'an - to the Hadith literature.
That is why He warned Muslims in the following words: “These are God’s
Revelations (Qur'an) that We convey to you, setting forth the Truth. In what
other HADITH, if not in God and His Messages, will they, then, believe.”
(45:6)
Allah (SWT) makes it clear in this verse that the Qur'an IS the Hadith. With
this verse, Allah has dismissed the contention of all the Hadith-worshippers who
give priority to books written by men, over Allah’s Kalaam.
Yet
another aayat explicates matters further: “Some people take vain, frivolous
HADITH (like this monkey-business Hadith) IN ORDER TO
LEAD OTHERS ASTRAY FROM THE PATH OF
ALLAH WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE ANDTO MAKE IT A MOCKERY.
For such there is a humiliating punishment.” (31:6)
Rasoolullah’s verdict on
the Hadith:
Three famous sayings of our Nabi (S) should be
remembered. In the Hadith books we find the following:
·
“Narrators will come to you from me
purporting (to narrate) Hadith, so examine and analyze it on the touchstone of
the Qur'an. If it accords with the Quran, then accept it, if not, then discard
it.”
·
“He is not from us who does not suffice on
the Qur'an.”
·
“Judge whatever Hadith is attributed to me
on the Book of Allah. If it agrees with it (the Qur'an), then it is from me, and
I have said it.”
* * * **
The Final Judgment on any matter in which the Ummah
differs and is in conflict with one another (as in this stoning case), then
NOBODY BUT ALLAH has the Final Say, as He has clearly indicated in this
aayat: “And if you differ in any matter among yourselves, then the Final
Judgment is with Allah.” (42:10) The Final Judgment on the
punishment for adultery has been given by Allah - which is 100 stripes. Are we
now going to dispute, quibble and contradict Allah and say: Sorry, 0
Allah. there is also that little matter of stoning to death for adultery
which You. Being so busy minding the Universe. Forgot to include it in your
Book. And about which we are humbly reminding You. Hope You don‘t mind!
Dare we question and debate with Allah (SWT)? But
the Hadith-writers and the Fuqaha had the contumely, the nerve, the temerity,
the contumacy, and the audacity to do so. In so doing, we think they have
reserved their permanent place in you-you know where!!
The apparatchiks of the Nigerian Shariah Court
should revamp their knowledge of Qur'anic laws, before they commit judicial
murders in the name of “Islamic Shariah” - which is not only an egregious
effrontery, but also a positive affront to mankind!
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