Woman raped and sentenced for zina
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
assalamualiakum to one and all! first of all, i must say what a great website this is for all; muslims and non-muslims alike- to understand islam better and pose questions. my question is about a recent happening in Pakistan that truly sickened me ..... a woman accused her brother-in-law of raping her.now, instead of the man being convicted of rape, the woman was jailed and set to die by stoning for commiting adultry. they would not accept her accusations because she did not have the aliby of four male witnessess. what kingd of justice is this? in this sense, how can ignorant muslims take the word of the quran so literaly that they do not realise what they are doing is wrong? is there any way that this so called rule be bended? thank you so much for answering this!
(There may be some
grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
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Answer:
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can
misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We
bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no
prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Beloved Sister, we are aware of this case, as this was well publicized in the local
media. Obviously, we only know what has been said in the
media, and thus our comments and
opinions can only be based on the evidence presented by the media. Allah Alone knows what exactly transpired.
Allah and His Messenger (saws)
have decreed capital punishment for the heinous sin of adultery; and thus have kept very strict conditions
for one to prove or prosecute someone for adultery:
Four honorable and righteous
witnesses who actually eye-witnessed the actual act of adultery (not
heresay, not circumstantial
evidence, but the actual act of
insertion of the male organ into the female organ!)
or, self-confession.
If one of the above two are not
available, the Judge cannot sentence
the people for the crime of adultery!
Thus, from the evidence available in the quoted case in Pakistan, it is evident that the Judge, for reasons best known to him and
Allah, has severely erred!
If a woman claims she was
raped, there will be no punishment on
her in Shariah. If the woman claims
she was raped by so and so, then she
will have to produce the four witnesses to prove her claim that so and so raped
her for the man to receive the prescribed punishment. If she is unable to produce the witnesses and if the man does
not confess to his sin himself; only
on her accusation, the man will not be
punished; but rather the woman will be
punished for ‘slander’ because she could not prove her accusation.
In the above case, where the woman claimed she was raped by her
brother-in-law, but was unable to
produce four witnesses, or a self-confession
by the brother-in-law; the maximum the
Judge should have done was to prescribe the punishment for ‘kazaf’ or
slander, ie. 80 lashes in public, for
the woman.
But for the Judge in Pakistan to
prescribe the sentence of ‘zina’ on the woman,
who claimed that she was raped,
is definitely an error on part of the Judge! If she accused someone of raping her, then she will have to prove it by providing four witnesses, or a self confession by the rapist. In such a case, the Judge will sentence the man for adultery, and the woman will be blameless. But if the woman cannot produce the
evidence, then the Judge will have to hold
the man innocent, and the maximum he
can do is sentence the woman for the crime of ‘kazaf’ or slander, which is 80 lashes. In Shariah, under no circumstances can a Judge prescribe the punishment for
adultery on a woman who claims she was raped!
The above are all the scenarios
in the life of this world; in the life of
the Hereafter the Absolute Truth will be presented, and only The Absolute Justice will prevail.
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,