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Rajm
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- This is a sub-article to Islamic criminal jurisprudence and Stoning
Rajm is an Arabic term that means to stone.
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According to traditional Islamic law (Arabic: fiqh), stoning is prescribed as the proper punishment for married men and women who commit adultery when proof is established, or there is pregnancy, or a confession. It is worthy to note that the Quran does not mention stoning. The only punishment for adultery is lashings. The adultery is only proved when four eye witnesses testify that the man and woman have indeed gone further than just embracing and kissing, to have sex. The crime is also proved if one bears witness against his or her own self four times, or if there is a pregnancy[citation needed]. Though the Hadith allows stoning, the Quran does not explicitly prescribe stoning as a punishment.
There is disagreement among modernist Islamic thinkers as to the applicability of stoning for adultery, as religious texts often give examples with and without stoning, but the Quran makes no mention of stoning as punishment for any crime. However, traditionalists do not see this as a problem, since the Hadith can also establish laws which the Qur'an does not mention [1].
Among prominent hadith mentioning stoning is the Hadith of Umar's speech of forbidding Mut'ah and Hadith of the Verse of Rajm. There are also other Hadith regarding stoning.
The most common Muslim view is that stoning is the appropriate punishment for adultery (Arabic Zina) committed by a married man or woman with someone who is not legal to him/her. Another view is that it is only applicable to rapists and prostitutes. A minority of Muslims disagree entirely regarding its legality, arguing that it can not be found in the Qur'an, and the practice goes against some verses, such as those in Sura an-Nur.
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.[3][4] Ghamidi concludes that Quranic punishment for Zina in verse 24:2 does not leave a room for another interpretation.[4] He also writes that stoning can only be prescribed for someone who rapes or habitually commits fornication as prostitutes, as it constitutes maleficence in the land and punishable according to verses 5:33-34.[5] 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
- ^ http://www.livingislam.org/ps1-3_e.html
- ^ Kitab Al-Hudud|Book 017, Number 4192
- ^ Imam Shatibi. Al-Muwafiqaat fi Usool al-Sharia, 5(4)
- ^ a b Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Burhan, Al-Mawrid
- ^ Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Mizan, The Penal Law of Islam, Al-Mawrid