Why Is Stoning And Honour Killings Common?

[ummtaalib]

Why is stoning and honour killings common?

 

 

Answer

You enquire regarding stoning and honour killings. Sharī’ah promotes modesty.

 

Every sound religion promotes modesty. From amongst the most immoral and indecent acts is adultery and fornication. The abundance of immodesty is resulting in young girls merely in their teens falling pregnant. Adolescent boys are raping innocent girls in the schools and colleges. The aftermath of all this is that illegitimate children are being deprived of parenthood. Likewise, the large quantity of fornication and adultery is resulting in marriages breaking up, children being deprived and families falling apart.

Even the other scriptures condemned adultery. To the extent that in Christianity, adultery is synonymous to infidelity. If this is the condemnation and consequences of such actions, then surely they need to be impeded. If the current laws are effective, humane and a deterrent, then consider the following statistics:

 

Somewhere in America, a woman is raped every 2 minutes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Estimated number of men actually raped each year, according to the Dept. of Justice: 93,000
Number of women raped in 2007 under the UCR definition: 91,874
Number of sexual assaults in 2007–which includes rapes the FBI leaves out–according to the National Crime Victimization Survey: 248,300
Dept. of Justice estimate of how many women are actually raped each year: 300,000 [PDF]
Number of arrests for rape in 2007 (UCR): 23,307
Average number of rapes to every murder committed annually: 5 to 1.[ii]

 

According to a news report on BBC One presented in 12 November 2007, there were 85,000 women raped in the UK in the previous year, equating to about 230 cases every day.[iii]

 

What is more barbaric? Stoning or having a rape case every two minutes? The western countries have a thousand laws to combat crime, rape and adultery; is crime and violence decreasing or increasing? The facts clearly show the current laws are not successful in impeding the criminals. Neither are the women feeling secure in such countries nor are the crimes decreasing. Surely these countries need to rethink what they consider barbaric.

 

When such laws are a failure, one has to admit that the Sharī’ah has implemented the most effective deterrent. Imagine being stoned? The fear, embarrassment, pain and disgrace will clearly make a person rethink before he makes an evil move. Likewise, imagine watching somebody getting stoned to death. The fear, fright and terror experienced from such a scene will surely result in flashback. The moment the thought of committing adultery transpires in one’s mind, the flashbacks of witnessing someone being stoned will detain and seize these evil intentions.

 

Hence, stoning to death is a legal corporal punishment in Sharī’ah for committing adultery. There are stringent conditions for this corporal punishment to be established. For stoning to be carried out, it has to be decreed by a Muslim judge in an Islamic state. If stoning is being carried out without the correct protocol, it will be illegal and condemned by Sharī’ah, even if it was done in the name of Shari’ah. There are many actions performed in the name of many beliefs, philosophies and groups, does that mean it is endorsed by that philosophy or group?

 

Approximately 4-5 people were stoned in the time of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam.[iv]

 

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

 

Mawlana Faraz Ibn Adam,

Student Darul Iftaa UK

 

Checked and Approved by,

Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

www.daruliftaa.net

[Haya]

Question:

 

Assalamu Alaykum

 

Does Islam justify honour killing of a woman like Qandeel Bloch, who used to share her vulgar Images and videos on social media? What could possibly be the punishment for the actions like hers?

 

Answered by Mufti Ismail Moosa:

 

Wassalam,

 

No, such killings are not permissible. In an Islamic state, the government can precribe either jail, community service etc. or upto maximum 39 lashes for such actions.

 

And Allah knows best.