The Law on Adultery in the Quran

 

By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam

24 Feb,2021

The law on adultery in the Quran is the only law laid down in the Quran prescribing a mandatory punishment of a hundred stripes for a proven case. The punishment cannot be increased, decreased, or waived. Every other law, while detailing the punishment, allows for decreasing or even waiving it.  The law on adultery is also the most detailed law prescribing the strength of the evidence required to establish the crime/sin as four unimpeachable eye witnesses to the act - a near impossibility, unless, the persons involved are brazen and open in committing the crime in a public place with many witnesses.

(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.

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Also Read: Ahadith (plural of Hadith) That Question Practice of Stoning the Adulterers

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The difference between sin and crime is that sin is against Allah while crime is against a human being or the society. A crime is also a sin while the reverse is not always so. A sin is punishable in the Hereafter and a crime in this world, and if not expiated, in the Hereafter as well.

Associating partners with Allah is the most heinous sin but not a crime. Going by the punishment for adultery and the detailed verses on the subject, adultery is considered as the most heinous crime in Islam - more heinous than murder since a murder may avert the death punishment by paying compensation to the family of the slain if they are willing to accept the same. Why is this so? Why adultery is considered the most heinous of crimes in Islam? Logically, it can be considered the most heinous of crimes only if it causes the greatest damage to the person(s) wronged by it and/or those guilty of it, and/or has the greatest potential to corrupt the society if exemplary punishment is not given. Adultery is considered a wrong in Islam that cannot be righted through paying compensation or a fine and must be punished in an exemplary manner to discourage others from indulging in the same.

To make sense of the rigid law on adultery in Islam in a world where consensual sex has been decriminalised and become open and common place, is not easy, except for a few. The Islamic law is unacceptable to most people who think that it is natural to enjoy unrestrained sexual freedom and that the people are mature enough to navigate through the turbulence caused by such freedom.

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Also Read: World Press on Death Penalty for Rape, Persecution of Uyghurs and China-US War: New Age Islam's Selection, 16 October 2020

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The Islamic law on adultery applies only to its Muslim population even in an Islamic country, and not to its non-Muslim population.  Islam does not impose its sexual morality on those who do not follow Islam. The Quran recognises the diversity in behaviour, norms, attitudes and beliefs governing sexual behaviour. There are a number of tribal societies even today, in which a woman cohabits with many men. According to the beliefs of such people, a child is not born from the sperm of a single man, but from the accumulation of sperm in a woman’s womb. A woman will therefore try to have sex with many men, especially when she is pregnant, so that she can collect enough semen in her body to produce the child. In such a society, it is virtuous women who sleep with many men. The behaviour of the people in such a society is because of their false beliefs and not from sexual promiscuity. It would be pointless to impose Islamic sexual norms on such a society and the Quranic law on adultery clearly exempts from its purview societies in which adultery as defined by Islam is not a crime. Adultery is therefore unlike other crimes such as theft, which are universally held to be worthy of being punished, and not tolerated. 

We must however recognise that monogamous relationships and nuclear families are the norm in the vast majority of cultures and men and women tend to be very possessive of their partners and children. It is sexual promiscuity that drives people to cheating on their partners in these societies. Even so, consensual adult sex has been decriminalised in much of the world.

Adultery has become common and widespread among a vast majority of the population and takes various forms such as single-encounters or one night stands, social sex or “friends with benefits, booty calls, recreational sex, hooking up for sex which has replaced dating. However, even in such a society, where on an average a person during his/her lifetime has many sexual partners, two persons in a relationship (without even being married to each other), expect their partner to remain faithful to them. If any one of the partners so much as dallies in a casual romantic encounter outside the relationship, the matter is considered serious enough to break the relationship, unless both are swingers and consensually open to recreational sex.  Lack of faithfulness in a relationship therefore continues to be a serious issue leading to breaking of the relationship and crimes of passion. A break-up is always traumatic for both the partners and leaves its toll. A society in which adultery is common is a stressful society where people look upon each other with suspicion and where the trust between partners does not last and gets broken. It is a recipe for mental illnesses on a pandemic scale and this is what we find to be true. Matters have deteriorated to such an extent that sex is no longer a culmination of love and desire for intimacy, but a bodily function outside of a relationship, as it exists between a sex worker and his/her client, except that this is now between two consenting adults neither of whom is a sex worker. This is the hook-up generation. We can expect mental illnesses in the society to intensify, suicide and crime rates to go up.

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Also Read: Marriage Is a Civil Contract — Adultery or Divorce Should Have Only Civil Consequences

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The Islamic law on adultery may sound anachronistic in this age, but the fact remains that every living being values love, intimacy, stability, and faithfulness in a relationship.  The infidelities that characterise modern relationships, the high rates of divorce, and the plethora of mental problems from which the children and adults suffer as a result of the broken relationships, should make every society crave for the Islamic norms. It is however almost impossible for a non-religious society to gain widespread support for laws that punish any consensual act between adults. All our morality comes from religion and there is widespread consensus in the society to frame “moral” laws covering non-consensual acts such as theft, murder, rape etc., but not for acts that are consensual.

The most heinous crime in Islam will therefore remain not a crime in non-religious societies. Muslims can remain in the pale of Islam by accepting and following Islamic norms or leave Muslim society and join any other society where these norms are loose and not observed. The Quran is very clear on the subject warning a Muslim from marrying an adulterer and an adulterous Muslim from marrying a non-adulterous Muslim.

The wider context to the law on adultery

There is a wider context to the law of adultery in Islam. It would appear that no morality is possible without sexual morality. Adam and Hawwa were expelled from the Heavens because they indulged in an act that made them aware of all their shame and the need to cover it.

(20:117) Then We said: "O Adam! Verily, this (Satan) is an enemy to thee and thy wife: so let him not get you both out of the Garden, so that thou art landed in misery.(118) "There is therein (enough provision) for thee not to go hungry nor to go naked,(119) "Nor to suffer from thirst, nor from the sun´s heat."(120) But Satan whispered evil to him: he said, "O Adam! shall I lead thee to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that never decays?"(121) In the result, they both ate of the tree, and so their nakedness appeared to them: they began to sew together, for their covering, leaves from the Garden: thus did Adam disobey his Lord, and allow himself to be seduced.

Another version of the story:

(7:20) Then began Satan to whisper suggestions to them, bringing openly before their minds all their shame that was hidden from them (before): he said: "Your Lord only forbade you this tree, lest ye should become angels or such beings as live forever."(21) And he swore to them both, that he was their sincere adviser.(22) So by deceit he brought about their fall: when they tasted of the tree, their shame became manifest to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: "Did I not forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy unto you?"(23) They said: "Our Lord! We have wronged our own souls: If thou forgive us not and bestow not upon us Thy Mercy, we shall certainly be lost."

Our genes live through our children forever. The verses above perhaps euphemistically mean that Satan enticed Adam and his wife to indulge in the sexual act that made them aware of the sexual nature of their bodies.

Verses covering sexual modesty

(7:26) O ye Children of Adam! We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment of righteousness (taqwa), - that is the best. Such are among the Signs of Allah, that they may receive admonition! (27) O ye Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you, in the same manner as He got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame: for he and his tribe watch you from a position where ye cannot see them: We made the evil ones friends (only) to those without faith.(28) When they do aught that is shameful, they say: "We found our fathers doing so"; and "Allah commanded us thus": Say: "Nay, Allah never commands what is shameful: do ye say of Allah what ye know not?"(29) Say: "My Lord hath commanded justice; and that ye set your whole selves (to Him) at every time and place of prayer, and call upon Him, making your devotion sincere as in His sight: such as He created you in the beginning, so shall ye return."(30) Some He hath guided: Others have (by their choice) deserved the loss of their way; in that they took the evil ones, in preference to Allah, for their friends and protectors, and think that they receive guidance.

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Also Read: Flogging of Women for Sex Outside Marriage Stands Brutal and Un-Islamic Today

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Just as raiment covers our shame (body) and is also an adornment, taqwa will be our raiment in the Hereafter which will both adorn us and cover our shame. Those without taqwa will be covered with shame. Taqwa means doing in the best possible manner what Allah enjoins and scrupulously avoiding what Allah forbids.

Spouses are each other’s garment

(2:187) Permitted to you, on the night of the fasts, is the approach to your wives. They are your garments and ye are their garments....

There is no shame between spouses just as there is no shame between us and our garments. Our spouses are our garments keeping us chaste outside the marital relationship while allowing full sexual freedom within the relationship.

Guarding even our gaze

(24:30) Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them: And Allah is well acquainted with all that they do.

(31) And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husband´s fathers, their sons, their husbands´ sons, their brothers or their brothers´ sons, or their sisters´ sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments. And O ye Believers! Turn ye all together towards Allah, that ye may attain Bliss.

The path to evil appears to be through loss of shame and begins with Satan stripping us of our raiment or shame. A sense of shame is essential to avoid every evil and without it a person will easily indulge in every temptation and evil. Morality thus begins with modesty. Without shame, a person will lie, cheat, defraud, steal, rape and give in to every evil impulse and temptation.

Adultery represents the height of evil. Besides being a forbidden sexual act, it is stealing from a rightful partner and deceiving your own partner. It is also betrayal of a solemn trust. It also entails lying and deception to cover up the relationship as long as possible. It is also self-indulgence and yielding to temptation. The harm is not only to the adulterers and their spouses but also to their children and families. When the act becomes public, it has the potential to corrupt society. This is why Islam is for guarding Muslim society from this evil.

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Also Read: Are Hudud Laws In Islam Or Quranic Punishments Barbaric?

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Islamic morality based on Allah’s laws in the Quran is the perfected Deen, best to ensure social justice, happiness, fulfilment, mental and physical health.

(39:18) Those who listen to the Word, and follow it as best as they can: those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding.

A frequent contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is an independent IT consultant after having served in both the Public and Private sector in responsible positions for over three decades. He has spent years studying Quran in-depth and made seminal contributions to its interpretation.

URL:  https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-sharia-laws/naseer-ahmed-new-age-islam/the-law-on-adultery-in-the-quran/d/124385

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France, Islam and the Muslim Response

 

By Arshad Alam, New Age Islam

23 February, 2021

In a debate on the place of Islam in France, the centrist French interior minister accused the far right leader Marine Le Pen of being ‘too soft’ on Islamism. Not only was Le Pen shocked and started fumbling, the left leaning daily Le Monde described this exchange as ‘unprecedented’ and called it an ‘unexpected gift’ for Pen to have been ‘portrayed as a moderate by a minister without having to change her poliمcies’. This political encounter not just highlights the confusion over how to deal with Islam but also how far the centre in France has traversed to the right.

Islamism and its associated political violence is not new to France. The country has been facing this problem for more than a decade now. The current debate within France is in the backdrop of the killing of Samuel Patty, a teacher who had discussed the issue of Charlie Hebdo with his students as an example of free speech. There is some evidence to suggest that parents who got upset over the content of this kind of teaching, had called for him to be punished. His beheading by an immigrant Muslim sparked a fresh round of talk about the place of Islam and Muslims in France. It must be recalled that the French president Macron had publically stated that Islam is going through a major crisis and that there was a need to curb foreign influences on this religion. He had talked about bringing in a new law to tackle this problem. That law is currently being debated in the French parliament and there are good chances that at the end of this debate, we will see a much stricter law than was envisioned by the president himself. Certainly the law will have the support of the right but not without making it more specific to Islam.

The proposed law has very nearly divided the French society. Those opposing the law are largely from the left who have been arguing that the attempt of the French state should be the integration of Muslims rather treating every one of them as potential terrorist, which this law intends to do. The left has been highlighting issues like racism and discrimination against Muslims, which they argue, leads to alienation, violence and terrorism. The problem of ‘Muslim separatism’, according to them, can be solved by putting policies in place which integrate more and more Muslims within the opportunity structure. This solution is extremely ill informed of the complexities of Islamism.

Research suggests that Islamism does not occur because of lack of opportunities but because it subscribes to a certain ideology. That ideology is one of establishing Islamic supremacy all over the world and making a particular interpretation of Islam as the master narrative. Certainly there is no racism and discrimination against Muslim in the Islamic world and yet we see some of these countries in the grip of Islamism and terrorism. Granted that Muslims in Europe are at the margins but this precariousness of their material situation must not be seen as the sole reason for the growth of Islamism. Moreover, the left, and not just in Europe, has been making the mistake of defending Muslim regressive practices like sexual segregation as a matter of communitarian choice. A community policing its women and children is not a matter of choice but simply a matter of political subjugation. The left, in turning a blind eye to a whole host of anti-libertarian practices within the Muslim community, is simply not being true to its own political philosophy.

That said, the law should not be open to misuse and an entire community should not be held guilty for the folly of a few. The law might create the impression that Islam is incompatible with France which might further stigmatise Muslims. One aspect of the proposed law is an increased surveillance on mosques in a bid to control radicalism. While not discounting the fact that one particular mosque was related to the killing of Samuel Patty, most radicalism now happens online and through international networks. One is not quite sure how an increased surveillance over mosques would be potent in controlling radicalism and terrorism. Moreover, the government should be seen to be just and fair when it comes to Muslim groups. While it has banned the Collective AgainstIslamophobia, which fights against discrimination of Muslims, the government hasn’t dealt with the far right Generation Identitaire in a similar fashion. Such double standards create the impression that the current French government is simply interested in stigmatizing Muslims rather than having an earnest interest in fighting Islamism.

At the same time, there are aspects of the law which should have been addressed by Muslims themselves. The law seeks to curb home schooling and allow it only in exceptional circumstances like medical condition. Part of the reason why some Muslims are objecting to this provision is because they believe that the French schooling system promotes values which are antithetical to Islam and hence they want educate their children at homes. Parts of the legislation also seeks to crack down on any behaviour that violates the dignity of people, especially women. The provisions of the proposed law seek to ban ‘virginity tests’ and put stricter measures against forced marriages and polygamy. There is no justification today for schooling children at home simply because parents want to inculcate certain religious values in them. Fundamentally, this goes against the right of children. Similarly, the advocacy of sexual segregation in schools by certain Muslim groups should necessarily be seen as an attempt to control women’s sexuality and not celebrated as the choice of a community.    

In the first place, Muslims themselves should have come forward and put a stop to these practices. In not addressing issues such as forced marriages and segregation, they themselves have left the space wide open for intervention by the state. It is heartening to note that despite the brouhaha to the contrary, many Muslims in fact are welcoming such reforms. The voices of these Muslims need to be amplified for they sure tell us that there is nothing inherently antagonistic between Islam and the French state; that there is a meeting ground between the demands of the state and the reformist impulses of Muslims.

Arshad Alam is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com

URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-and-the-west/arshad-alam-new-age-islam/france-islam-and-the-muslim-response/d/124378

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Islam Does Not discourage Poetry

 

By S. Arshad, New Age Islam

22 February, 2021

One of the myths widely circulated in Islamic circles is that Islam condemns, disapproves or discourages poetry. The verses 224-226 of Surah Ash-Shuaraa are presented to fortify the myth. The verses say:

"And the poets, the erring follow them. Don't you see that they wander distracted in every valley, and that they say what they practise not."

The fact is that the verses do not condemn the art of poetry but only criticises those poets who speak imaginary things and absurdities in the name of poetry. In other words, the Quran is not against poetry that conveys constructive messages and spreads the truth. In fact, any beautiful speech is poetry and the Quran itself uses figures of speech to embellish or make its verses effective and powerful. It uses rhyming words to make the verses effective and appealing to the ears.

In addition, it uses a unique pattern like in Surah Al Rahman or in Surah Al Qamar in which a particular verse is repeated to create an effect. The Quran is not written in dry prose.

The holy Prophet pbuh also appreciated good and constructive poetry. And at the same time he discouraged poetry that did not serve any purpose. He pbuh praised the poetic skills of one of the greatest poets of pre-Islam era Imra’ul Qais though he did not approve of the content of his poetry. The holy Prophet pbuh also condemned absurdities in the name of poetry as it was only a waste of time.

Ibn Umar narrated that the holy Prophet pbuh said, 'if someone's stomach is filled with puss, it is better if it is filled with poetry."(Sahih Bukhari, Kitabul Adab:644)

In other words wasting most of the time by indulging in purposeless poetry is not appreciated.

On the other hand the holy Prophet pbuh encouraged true and constructive poetry that enriched the human mind and inspired the listeners to do good things.

Abi ibn Ka'ab narrated that the holy Prophet pbuh said, "some couplets are full of wisdom". (Sahih Bukhari, Kitabul Adab:1077)

The holy Prophet pbuh also praised a couplet by the poet Labeed saying it was true poetry:

"All except Allah is mortal"

(Sahih Bukhari, Kitabul Adab:1079)

According to Sahih Bukhari, the holy Prophet pbuh even said a couplet during a journey.

Jundub narrated that the holy Prophet pbuh was travelling during a jihad. While walking, he pbuh stumbled on a stone and one of his toes got injured and bled. The holy Prophet pbuh spontaneously said a couplet:

"Thou art only a humble toe, little does it matter if you got injured,

So what if you got injured in Allah's path."(Sahih Bukhari, Kitabul Adab:1079)

It is known to all that Hassaan bin Sabith was a famous poet who composed naat in praise of the holy prophet pbuh and the holy Prophet pbuh blessed him.

According to the Sahih Bukhari, the holy Prophet pbuh sometimes recited poetry of Muslim poets during battles.

All these hadiths point to the views of the holy Prophet pbuh on poetry. The Quran and the Hadith do not reject poetry as a whole but advocate the use of poetry or poetic tools and figures of speech for constructive purposes. Immoral or vulgar poetry is condemned and disapproved by the Quran and Hadith. Poetry that is full of wisdom and conveys constructive messages is appreciated by Islam.

URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/s-arshad-new-age-islam/islam-does-not-discourage-poetry/d/124367

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Ahadith (plural of Hadith) That Question Practice of Stoning the Adulterers

 

By S. Arshad, New Age Islam

19 February 2021

The issue of the punishment for adultery is debated by the scholars and jurists of Islam. A majority of jurists and scholars support Rajam (stoning) as a punishment for adultery. Their opinion is based on some hadiths which prescribe death for adultery. The stoning of a married young man of the tribe Aslam called Mayiz Aslami at the order of the holy Prophet (pbuh) is produced as an example.

But there is no verse in the Quran that prescribes Rajam (stoning) for adultery. There are some hadiths that say that the verses prescribing Rajam existed in the Quran in the earlier period of revelation and the holy Prophet (pbuh) ordered Rajam for adulterers according to the injunction of the Quran. Later the verse on Rajam was abrogated. The hadith on revelation of the verse on Rajam is as follows:

"Umar al Khattab gave an address saying Allah sent Muhammad (pbuh) with truth and sent down the Book to him and the verse of stoning was included in what He sent down to him. We read it and memorised it."(Sunan Abu Dawood, Book 40 Hadith 4404).

Surah Nur verse number 2 prescribes hundred lashes for adultery and not stoning to death.

"The woman and the man guilty of adultery and fornication -- flog each of them with a hundred stripes". (Al Nur: 2)

Therefore, scholars of the Quran believe that the verse on Rajam was abrogated and the verse of Surah Nur was revealed later prescribing hundred lashes for adultery. A hadith in Sahih Bukhari questions whether the holy Prophet (pbuh) ordered stoning (Rajam) even after the verse of Surah Nur was revealed:

"Ishaque bin Shaheen narrated to me; he quoted it from Khalid bin Abdullah Tahani; he quoted it from Sulaiman Sheebani; he quoted it from Abdullah bin Abi Awfa; he asked if the holy Prophet (pbuh) ordered Rajam?" He replied, "Yes". He then asked, “Before the revelation of Surah Nur or after it?" He replied, "I don’t know". (Sahih Bukhari, Kitabul Muharibeen No.964)

This hadith makes it clear that the holy Prophet (pbuh) did order Rajam but whether he (pbuh) ordered it even after the revelation of Surah Nur was not clear to the person inquired of. We can infer that the holy Prophet (pbuh) ordered Rajam as long as the verse on Rajam existed in the Quran. It remains to be ascertained if the holy Prophet (pbuh) ordered Rajam even after the verse of Surah Nur was revealed.

Since the incidents of stoning ordered by the holy Prophet (pbuh) have been recorded in books of hadith without recording the historical sequence of abrogation of the Rajam verse and revelation of Surah Nur, the hadiths on Rajam are constantly quoted to justify Rajam for adultery. Extremist groups like Taliban and a section of hardline ulema too cite these hadiths to support their belief in Rajam without giving much thought to abrogation of the rajam verse and revelation of Surah Nur.

 

Controversial: The film has been banned in Iran though some people have been able to obtain bootleg copies

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S. Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com

URL:   https://www.newageislam.com/debating-islam/s-arshad-new-age-islam/hadiths-that-question-practice-of-stoning-the-adulterers/d/124348

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