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Question: The
Qur’an says married slave girls who commit fornication are to be
punished half of what is the punishment for a married woman (4:25). This
raises the question: Is stoning to death an Islamic punishment and is it
mentioned in the Qur’an because how can you half stone a person
to death? Please clear the confusion.
Answer: The punishment
of stoning to death (Rajm) is not mentioned in the Qur’an.
However, it is based on a Qur’anic verse*
which prescribes certain punishments for criminals who are guilty of creating
a law and order situation and spreading nuisance. One of these punishments
is Taqtil. The words ‘an yuqattalu’ are used for it. They
imply that not only should the criminals of this category be executed but
that they should be executed in a manner that serves as a severe warning
to everyone. The punishment of Rajm is one form of Taqtil. The Prophet
(sws) in his own times, in accordance with this directive, administered
this punishment to certain criminals guilty of adultery. Consequently,
we can still stick to it or leave it to give way to other severer forms
of punishment. The real thing is Taqtil, which, obviously, can have
many forms.
The second thing which needs to be
appreciated is that this punishment does not unconditionally relate to
married individuals who are guilty of adultery, as is generally understood.
The Prophet (sws), while taking into consideration the circumstances and
the nature of crime in his own times, granted remission to certain criminals
guilty of debauchery by exiling them; similarly, while obeying this verse
he stoned to death certain others who did not deserve any leniency. His
inquiry into the marital status of criminals guilty of fornication was
also based on this pretext ie, whether the criminal deserved any leniency.
Our jurists have erroneously inferred from the Prophet’s inquiry that the
marital status of a person was actually the basis of the punishment and
on this basis maintain that the directive of administering a hundred stripes
(the punishment of fornication as mentioned in Surah Nur) is only
for unmarried people. Actually, the Prophet (sws) while deciding the fate
of such criminals asked many questions to see whether they deserved any
mitigation. The question of an offender’s marital status was one such question,
but our jurists concluded it was the only question asked and, hence, made
it the basis of the punishment. They, thereby, incorporated in the penal
code of Islam a totally baseless addition, which is against the Qur’an
as well as the norms of sense and reason.
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