Stoning to death-How and Why is it a part of Islam?
Recently,we all read about a Somalian women being stoned to death for committing adultery..There are two versions of the same story..BBC says :
“Our sister Aisha,23 yr old, asked the Islamic Sharia court in Kismayo to be charged and punished for the crime she committed,” local Islamist leader Sheikh Hayakallah told the crowd.”She admitted in front of the court to engaging in adulterous sexual intercourse,” he added.”She was asked several times to review her confession but she stressed that she wanted Sharia law and the deserved punishment to apply.”
The other story follows..
`She ,13 yr old,had in fact been raped by three men and had attempted to report this rape to the al-Shabaab militia, which controls Kismayo,” Amnesty said. “It was this act that resulted in her being accused of adultery and detained. None of the men she accused of rape was arrested.”
I don’t know which story should I choose to believe..Whatever,that’s not of much concern to me,but the concept of stoning is indeed disturbing..I am trying to share my thoughts and findings ,that will help understand the whole framework..
Quran has 6236 verses,and there is no single verse about stoning..Interestingly,Allah talks about almost all aspects of life,from macro to micro concepts, and puts forward a way of life..Having said that,I find it hard to believe that Allah forgot to put the stoning verse into Quran,and hence,some men,who are more smarter than God himself,injected the concept of stoning into Islam..
In Islam,punishment for forcination/zina is 100 lashes
- 24.02 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.
And for slave women,it is half the number of lashes
- 4:25 “…They should be chaste, not lustful, nor taking paramours: when they are taken in wedlock, if they fall into shame, their punishment is half that for free women. This (permission) is for those among you who fear sin; but it is better for you that ye practise self-restraint. And Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful”
If stoning to death was the ‘real’ punishment,how can stoning to death be halved as said in this verse???
Punishment for Prophet’s wives ,if they committed adultery,is :
- 33.30 O ye wives of the Prophet! Whosoever of you committeth manifest lewdness, the punishment for her will be doubled, and that is easy for Allah.
Adultery is a serious crime and a judge cannot simply punish the person,unless four witnesses provide proof against him/her.And even if proved guilty, the punishment is to confine them to houses..
004.015 If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, Take the evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way.
Again,Allah talks about life ahead of adulterers,after punishement(lashes)
-
24.03 Let no man guilty of adultery or fornication marry and but a woman similarly guilty, or an Unbeliever: nor let any but such a man or an Unbeliever marry such a woman: to the Believers such a thing is forbidden
How can this happen if culprits are already stoned to death ???
Allah talks about repentance in a large amount of verses..
- 009.102 And others have confessed their faults, they have mingled a good deed and an evil one; (perhaps) Allah will turn to them (mercifully); surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
- 09.104 Do they not know that Allah accepts repentance from His servants and takes the alms, and that Allah is the Oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful?
- 039.053 Say: “O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
The whole story of Stoning to death is attributed to a hadith(saying of Prophet)..Hadiths were written 200 years after Prophet’s death and it all narrations from people closely linked to Prophet..Some are true, some are fabrications.. Hadiths are largely influenced by social, political and cultural environmental factors then.. Allah promised to guard Quran and not Hadiths.. Quran is definite, while Hadiths are probable.. There is no way that a hadiths can override a Quranic law.. If it does, as in case of stoning adulterers and killing apostates, it can be easily understood that it is man made invention and thereby injected into Sharia.. Interestingly, all those anti human rights laws in Sharia have their origin in hadiths.. And that sends some message out to those sensible people..The concept of stoning has its origin in bibilical times and is in Torah..Prophet prescribed to the same rules of Torah,until allah sent down the above said punishment rules for adultery.I don’t really understand why is that some muslims still want to cling to rules in Torah..
The Messenger of Allah came to “Explain” and “interpret” the Quran.. He didn’t came to set different rules or change its legislation.. So how come the Quran say “Lash” and the Prophet say: “Stone”!!! Those who claim that the prophet ordered to stone are attributing to the prophet the crime of “Disobedience of Allah”.. And I wonder why would those Muslims follow a disobedient Prophet ???
And in a very strong Hadith, we find the Prophet sending Moa’z Ibn Jabal to be a judge in Yemen and asking him:
“How would you decide”? Moaz said: “The Quran”, the Prophet said: “And if you didn’t find?” Moaz Said: “The Sunna” He said: “And if you didn’t find?” Moaz said: “My Ijtihad and opinion”.. The Prophet said: “Well said.. If your opinion is right, you get double the reward.. And if it’s wrong, you get one reward”…
So Moaz was ordered by the prophet to see in The Quran first and use its legislation…And If ,ONLY IF,if he didn’t find it in Quran, then the Sunnah(Prophet’s doings)….
Open the Quran and check if you find any law regarding adultery..Then why would you look elsewhere..Trying to be more smarter than the God himself uh?
And finally,I wonder why muslims don’t come forward to talk against this barbarous act,which has no base in true Islam..Whom are they afraid of?
P.S
A strong hadith Narrated by Tabari on the authority of Abu Hurayrah who said: “One night when I returned from the Prophet’s Mosque after offering Isha Prayers, I saw a woman standing outside my door. I said ‘Peace be on you’ and went into my room, closed the door, and began to offer nafl (supererogatory) Prayers. After some time, she knocked at the door. I opened the door and asked her what she wanted. ‘I have come to ask you a question. I committed adultery and became pregnant. Then a baby was born and I killed him. How I have come to ask you if there is any chance that my sin be forgiven?’ I said: ‘Absolutely not’. At this she went away grief-stricken, exclaiming: ‘Alas, this piece of beauty was created for the Hell-fire.’
“The next day, after the Fajr prayers, I narrated the whole incident to the Prophet (peace be on him). He said: ‘How wrong an answer you gave, O Abu Hurayrah! Have you not read those verses in the Quran:
“Those who invoke no other deity along with Allah nor take the life which Allah has forbidden – save justly; who do not commit unlawful sexual intercourse – and whoso does that shall meet its penalty, his torment shall be doubled for him on the Day of Resurrection and he shall abide in it in ignominy – unless he who repents and believes and does righteous works. For such Allah will change their evil deeds to good deeds. Allah is Ever Forgiving, Most Compassionate. Whosoever repents and does good, he returns to Allah in the manner he should” (Al-Furqan 25:68-70).
Upon hearing this answer from the Prophet (Peace be on him), I went out and searched for the woman. I met her after Isha Prayers and told her what the Prophet (peace be on him) had said. She prostrated herself and said, ‘Thanks be to God, Who has opened the door of forgiveness for me.’ Then she repented and freed a female slave and also the son of that slave.” (See Tabari, ‘Tafsir’, comments on Surah al-Furqan 25:68-70 Ed.)
Nimmy's Experiment with Blogging 
You claim stoning to be barbaric.
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stoned Maa’iz, the Juhani woman, the Ghaamidi woman, and the two Jews.
All of that is proven in saheeh ahaadeeth narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The scholars among the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them), the Taabi’een and those who came after them are also unanimously agreed on that.
Al-Bukhaari and Muslim narrated in their Saheehs from Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be pleased with him) that ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “Allaah sent Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) with the truth and revealed to him the Book, and one of the things that Allaah revealed was the verse of stoning. We have read it and understood it. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) stoned (adulterers) and we stoned (them) after him, but I fear that there may come a time when some people say: ‘By Allaah, we do not find the verse of stoning in the Book of Allaah.’ So they will go astray by forsaking an obligation that Allaah has revealed. According to the Book of Allaah, stoning is deserved by the one who commits zina, if he is married, men and women alike, if proof is established or the woman becomes pregnant or they confess…”
It is obligatory that the married fornicator be stoned and the unmarried fornicator receive lashes.
DON’T WRITE FALSEHOOD IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE TRUTH.
Allah says: “If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, take the evidence of four (reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way.”
[al-Nisa’ 4:15]
Ibn Katheer, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his Tafseer (explanation) of this aayah:
“At the beginning of Islam, the ruling concerning a woman who was proven guilty of adultery was that she was to be detained in a house and not allowed to come out until she died. So the phrase ‘If any of your women are guilty of lewdness’ refers to adultery. ‘Take the evidence of four (reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way’ – the ‘other way’ that Allah made for them was the abrogation of this. Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ‘This was the ruling until Allah revealed Surat al-Nur, then this punishment was abrogated and replaced with whipping or stoning.’ Something similar was reported from ‘Ikrimah, Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, al-Hasan, ‘Ataa’ al-Khurasani, Abu Saalih, Qutaadah, Zayd ibn Aslam and al-Dahhak, stating that this is abrogated, and this is agreed upon. Imam Ahmad said: ‘Muhammad ibn Ja‘far told us that Sa‘id told us from Qutaadah from al-Hasan from Hattaan ibn ‘Abdullah al-Raqaashi from ‘Ubaadah ibn al-Saamit who said: Whenever the wahy (revelation) descended upon the Messenger of Allah (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him), it affected him, the stress showed on him and his face would change. Allah sent a revelation to him one day, and when it was over, he said: ” Listen to me, Allah has made another way for them. (When) a married man (commits adultery) with a married woman, and an unmarried man with an unmarried woman, then in the case of married (persons) there is (a punishment) of one hundred lashes and then stoning (to death), and in the case of unmarried persons, (the punishment) is one hundred lashes and exile for one year.”’ It was reported by Muslim and other narrators of Sunan via Qutaadah from al-Hasan from al-Hattan from ‘Ubaadah ibn al-Saamit from the Prophet (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) with the wording: ‘Receive (teaching) from me, receive (teaching) from me. Allah has made another way for those (women). When an unmarried man commits adultery with an unmarried woman, (they should receive) one hundred lashes, and banishment for one year. In the case of a married male committing adultery with a married female, they should receive one hundred lashes and be stoned to death.’ Al-Tirmidhi said: This is a saheeh hasan hadeeth.”
Al-Qurtubi, may Allah have mercy on him, said in his tafseer of this aayah:
“This [confinement] was the first punishment for adultery, at the beginning of Islam. Ibn ‘Abbas and al-Hasan said: Ibn Zayd added: They would not be allowed to marry, until they died, as a punishment for them when they asked to marry someone else. This ruling applied for a while, then the Prophet (Peace & Blessings of Allaah be upon Him) said, according to the hadeeth narrated by ‘Ubaadah ibn al-Saamit: “Receive (teaching) from me, receive (teaching) from me. Allah has made another way for those (women). When an unmarried man commits adultery with an unmarried woman, (they should receive) one hundred lashes, and banishment for one year. In the case of a married male committing adultery with a married female, they should receive one hundred lashes and be stoned to death.” Some of the scholars said: the idea of punishment and shame was still there with the lashing, because there is no contradiction, and they are applied to one person. As for confinement, this is abrogated, by the consensus of the scholars. And Allah knows best.
YOU ARE OVERRIDING QURANIC LAW TO HOLD TAKE EVERYTHING THAT THE PROPHAT BRINGS.
PLEASE REPENT FROM THIS KUFR AND SEEK KNOWLEDGE FROM RELIABLE SOURCES. DO NOT SPEAK ACCORDING TO YOUR WHIMS AND DESIRES. O YOU WHO HAVE BEEN DECIEVED BY SHAITHAN! REMOVE THIS ARTICLE AND REPENT.
I do not know much about Islam, but I do know that every religion has passages which seem barbaric to us in the 21st century. Each religion is relevant only to those times and for that particular milieu. Also many things in each religion are subject to different interpretations…ofcourse I am not talking of Islam as such as I do not know anything about the Koran. When people try to follow religious texts to the letter, then people turn to atheism. That is why atheism is growing.
i haven’t read the post; only the heading. no patience to go through it.
whatever be the reasoning, i disagree to the death penalty.
human beings are having good and bad within. human beings go through transformation within a life span. criminal offence cannot be prevented through another mass crime by stoning to death.
death penalty prevail in United States, Saudi Arabia, Indonasia, China, and India. India is at the verge of abolishing it. do anyone think these nations could eradicate crime.
Hassan,thanks for your comment..But please do some research before making statements as “DON’T WRITE FALSEHOOD IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE TRUTH.” 🙂 I do more than enough reading before I write something because I hate sounding dumb..So please…
Islam is a very forgiving religion, but Muslims are not .The Prophet did stone the adulterers before the Quranic verse about punishment for zina was revealed,as following the jewish praticse in Torah..By after the relevation was made,this punishment is void.. This punishment is therefore voided by the Quran verse. 100 lash punishment for adultery is more to cause embarrassment and shame in the guilty, rather than physical pain which only makes a person more bitter…
And, don’t even try to get to the hadith where Allah actually did revealed the Rajam verse, but it was supposedly eaten by a goat. That is insulting Allah.Allah guards Quran and not hadiths ..Telling or deluding oneself into thinking that a holy goat ate a holy verse it atmost stupidity and doubting Allah..Do you believe in a God who is not even capable of protecting his own words? If you belive in goat story,pls,i am not interested in arguing as it is void and of no use..Our beliefs conflict..I believe Allah is the guardian of Quran and that Quran is intact..You are free to belive what you like-that a goat came and ate the paper..lol..Sorry,no offence meant,but do you know that Quran was not written in papers or whatever,but in minds and hearts of people then..Even if a goat ate it,there were many many people who had byhearted every single verse revealed and to say that goat ate their brains too sounds dumb and rubbish to me..Sorry,not my cup of tea…
I have no idea why some muslim brothers and sisters think that a hadith in Bukhari is more holier than Allah’s Quranic verse..Did you read in complete what I wrote,or was it a typical refutation…
Regarding stoning Jews,Torah,still to date,prescribes stoning to death for adultery,so I don’t know what is the need for Prophet to rely On Quranic verse to justify that..this again,makes me doubt if the hadith is a fabrication..
When quoting hadiths,pls quote reference numbers too so that I can cross check…
And about abrogation,I have made lot of study on this and I understand that if a verse of the Qur’an had indeed been abrogated, then it would have had a ripple effect. The Qur’an is such a book that each verse relies on another verse. Kind of like a pyramid. You pull out one of the bricks at the bottom, the whole thing comes crashing down. Therefore, if a verse had indeed been abgrogated in the Qur’an, then other verses should have shown to be contradictory, especially in this regard. When we study the punishment for adultary in the Qur’an, we do find that it is 100 or 80 lashings depending on the situation. What we do not find is any indication that punishment is death.
Arogation is the biggest lie against Islam
The Qur’an is clear that the punishment for adultery is 100 or 80 lashings depending on the situation. Should that other verse have existed, there must have been numerous references to it in numerous hadeeth along with a writing of the exact ayat, when it was revealed, whom wrote it down, and what number, etc. as well. I should assume none of these things are available until or unless someone can provide them.
If I am wrong,pls quote where am I wrong..Else,refrain from making vague and incorrect statements..Just be open-minded and take all this in, and yeah no hard feelings to you either but you have got A LOT to learn..
Peace..
Nimmi dear, sorry to use the comment space of a serious entry to say this- but you have been tagged 🙂
In that case you may as well go through and delete every post you have that claims to support women’s rights. In the first story the perpetrators claim a woman insisted someone torture her to death, which is either a miracle that has never happened in the entire history of the world, or a case of severe mental illness. The second story is something that happens every single day in muslim countries all over the world. And you can’t tell which to believe? And it’s of no concern to you? I’m really disappointed, Nimmy.
And speaking of severe mental illness, hassaan definitely has it, and I wouldn’t think it does much good to take him seriously.
its foolishness to find answers in religion ..
religions are slavery of Human soul .
Spritualism can be an option because it is based on your ability to ask questions to yourself .
Why is it that Quran is right and hadeeths are wrong as you say above? Even hadiths are taken as sacred scriptures by many Muslims in world, apart from Holy Koran. I suppose both are religious scriptures of Islam, and hadeeths narrate many life stories of prophet mohammad..
then why the distinction?
well at least you are speaking up about it. much power to you.
Cris,thanks for the tag,you gave me a great option to make a post before a break 🙂
Watercat,true,I should not have doubted as it happens in Muslim world..But then again,media is so biased that I doubt every piece of news I hear these days..Hope you get my point.
Raj,I agree..I am not trying to justify wrong doings..Evil is evil..Period.But then again,I think and belive that there is always an ‘otherside’..
ameyawaghmare,hadiths are narrations from people,written after 200 years of Prophet’s death..I am not a hadith rejector..But common sense and logical thinking helps me to distingush the difference between the spirit of Quran and hadiths..As far as I know all the inhumane and anti human rights rulings ahve their basis on hadiths..Hadiths are narrations of life then,under the social ecnomical and political scenario then..Also,as I said,under no circumstances,a hadith can override and act smarter then Quran ..I hope you get my point..Please feel free to share your thoughts..Good day
Thanks Roop 🙂
Yes, that’s true. There is aplenty of difference between both. Most of the allegations made against the prophet Mohammad’s life are sourced from the hadeeths.
And are the predictions of future given in hadiths?
quran is misread misunderstood and
just take it easy even if God or ilah or Allah said
now Allah is telling us please take it easy and do not forget
that time is not for me but for you dear mortals
so Muhammad PUH is already the past not the future
AllahuAkbar
Yes,Quran has been misunderstood..This happens bcoz,we are too lazy to read it by ourselves and understand it,so we ask mullahs and others to interpret it for us and they can easily interpret it in their own biased ways,and if smart enough,inject their own views into the verse..This has resulted in ruining our own and others lives around. This realization made me look into Quran all by myself..It is a simple book which can be understood by any dumbo,people are not willing and hence the chaos around us in the name of religion..People who can’t read and understand Quran for themsleves are not muslims..There is no priesthood in Islam and a scholar’s fatwa is just his view or opinion regarding this and we are not bound to follow it..
Err,sorry i went out of way ranting..Thansk for your comment..Do come again and share your thgouths on other posts..Peace..-Nimmy
nice work nimmy
I like how H-ASS-ann’s comment is made of idol-worship and AIDS.
Way to ignore the following verses shitting on the hadith and sunna, jackass…
45:6 “These are God’s revelation we recite to you with truth. In WHAT OTHER HADITH after God and his revelations will believe?” (and here we have traditional muslims, worthy of being called idol-worshippers, claiming laws in the Quran have been LATER ABROGATED by fabricated bullshit by Muhammad’s enemies who disguise themselves as “sahaba”)
33:62 “This is the SUNNA of God for those of the past, and you will find no alternative for the Sunna of God.” (Kinda odd for God to mention only his sunna and not Muhammad’s, anywhere in the Quran, if it’s such an “integral” part of God’s system).
17:77 “Such was the SUNNA of those whom We had sent before you of Our messengers. And you will not find any change in Our SUNNA.” (sunna again is here, and makes no mention of the fabricated one).
12:111 “In their stories is a lesson for the people with intelligence. It is not a narration that has been invented, but an authentication of what is between his hands and a DETAILING OF ALL THINGS, and a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe.”
39:23 “God has sent down the BEST HADITH, a Book that is similar with two paths. The skins of those who are concerned towards their Lord shiver from it, then their skins and their hearts soften up to the remembrance of God. Such is the guidance of God; He guides with it whoever He wills. And for whoever God misguides, then none can guide him.” (God here describes the Quran the best hadith but then right after describes it as a book, now read the following verse after this:)
68:36-37: “What’s wrong with you? how do you judge? Do you have a book in which you study?” (If the six sunni books were such an important part of God’s religion would he ask us what’s wrong with our judgement and say this is a result of judging from a book we have? Obviously this cannot include the Quran because the Quran is SAYING IT. It is so obviously referring to a book OTHER THAN the Quran.)
17:46 “We place shields around their minds, to prevent them from understanding it, and deafness in their ears. And when you preach your Lord, using the QURAN ALONE, they run away in aversion.” (The Arabic word “alone” refers to God in 7:70, 39:45, 40:12 & 84, and 60:4. However here it is deliberately putting “wahdahu” after THE QURAN and NOT GOD, but in their translations, sectarians had to distort it in order for it not to go against their additional fabrications and schools of thought. “Wahdahu” here refers to the Quran.)
The ONLY VERSES traditional muslims use to uphold the hadith and sunna are mistranslated and taken out of context. One very popular one is 59:7. They take only the latter part of this verse and shove it in your face because they’re scared of showing you the entire verse or verses preceding and following it. That is because the undeniable subject and context of this verse is regarding SPOILS OF WAR ONLY. This would then not be in contradictions to the verses I provided and anyone who believes in the one god will know he does not contradict himself, hence 4:82)
NO VERSE in the Quran upholds the fabricated-by-Shaitan hadith and sunna. It is the challenge disbeliving Jews and Christians took against the almighty God himself:
52:34 “Let them produce a HADITH like this, if they are truthful.”
You may have already read this book, Hadith a Re-evaluation (http://www.barry-baker.com/Articles/documents/HADITH.pdf). If not, it is a good read.
I wish Muslims can use critical thinking and challenge their traditions and the values they learned in their homes and schools. I wish they could ask, “could I be wrong?”, “what is the real truth?”, “does this really make any sense?” instead of lashing out in emotional outbursts.
That is why in the Quran God tells us not to follow the old ways. Unfortunately, Muslims interpret the “old ways” as everything other than their beliefs not realizing that they have built their own set of traditions and “old ways” which are deviant and broken.
The Quran is open for interpretation and re-interpretation. Social and scientific evolution are as fluid as water which continuously challenge our understanding of religion. They do not make religion a fallacy, but rather they guide us to achieve a more profound and truthful understanding of religion. They are the measuring stick of the values which we hold.
God bless you.