LET US PREVENT HARM IN ISLAM!: REPRESSION OF SEXUAL FREEDOM

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“Zina” refers to the act of having sexual relations outside marriage and is considered a grave sin. Both the Qur’an and the Hadith address this issue explicitly, condemning zina and establishing punishments for those who commit it.

QUR’AN

Qur’an 24:2:

“The fornicatress and the fornicator (that is, those who have sexual relations outside marriage), flog each of them with one hundred lashes. And do not let compassion for them restrain you from carrying out Allah’s law and on the Day of Judgment. And let a group of believers witness their punishment.”

Qur’an 4:15:

“And as for those of your women who are guilty of immorality, call four witnesses from among you against them. If they testify, confine such women to your houses until death takes them or Allah opens a way for them.”

HADITH

The Hadith are biographies that explain what Muhammad said and did. In traditional Islam, they constitute the second pillar of the religion after the Qur’an. We will highlight two:

Sahih Muslim, Book 17, Hadith 4196:

The Prophet said: “For those who have committed zina, flog them one hundred times, and then stone them to death.”

Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 88, Hadith 60:

“The Prophet said: “Whoever has sexual relations with a married woman, or with a slave woman who is engaged, or with an idolatrous woman, then he shall be flogged with one hundred lashes and stoned to death.”

For this reason, dozens of Muslim-majority countries punish, under the influence of sharia, sex outside marriage, including Tunisia and Lebanon, which are among the most liberal along with Turkey. The penalties include:

• Stoning in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Brunei, Nigeria, etc.

• Flogging, as in Pakistan, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Maldives, etc.

• Imprisonment, in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Malaysia, Mauritania, Oman, Yemen, Eritrea, Libya, etc. In Pakistan it can be up to 25 years.

In addition, there is social aggression and discrimination against those who exercise their sexual freedom and are discovered. In most Muslim communities, even in the most advanced countries, it is seen as a grave moral and religious sin, subject to harsh social punishments, especially toward women. Some of the wrongs committed against these innocent victims are:

• Social ostracism, with the victim losing virtually everything: family, friends, work, etc. For example, in Morocco, considered a moderate Muslim country, unmarried women who become pregnant are often repudiated by everyone and end up literally on the street and without resources. Therefore, they often have no choice but to engage in prostitution in order to survive. Even in the hospitals where they give birth, they are treated poorly quite often. To make matters worse, their children are called children of sin. Even before being born—and therefore before they could have done anything wrong—they are condemned by toxic societies, themselves poisoned by traditionalist Islam.

• Physical, verbal, and/or psychological abuse, including practices such as disfiguring women’s faces with acid.

• Murder as a way to cleanse the family’s honor.

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LET US DO SOMETHING TO END THIS GREAT INJUSTICE!

Fortunately, more and more modernist Muslims oppose this legal and social dictatorship characteristic of traditionalist Islam, offering more merciful and contextual reinterpretations of the Qur’an, in line with the principles of justice and compassion that are also central to the Islamic faith. Read more…

Let us help them spread this more flexible and tolerant vision within Muslim communities, so that they do not apply the texts above, and so that they influence politicians to repeal the crimes of adultery and fornication. How can we support them?

1.- By signing this campaign to abolish crimes of religious origin.

2.- By signing this campaign to call for the reform of Islam.

3.- By sharing these petition campaigns and this article with as many people as possible. Read more…

4.- By persuading the Muslims you know of the value of a respectful, accommodating, and liberal Islam.

If you do so, you will help achieve a kinder Islam, free of cruelty.

Thank you for taking action and lending a hand to help shape a happier world,