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Rajm (Arabic: رجم; meaning stoning)[1][2] in Islam refers to the Hudud punishment wherein an organized group throws stones at a convicted individual until that person dies. Under some versions of Islamic law (Sharia), it is the prescribed punishment in cases of adultery committed by a married person which requires either a confession from either the adulterer or adulteress, or producing four witnesses of sexual penetration.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
The punishment of stoning/Rajm or capital punishment for adultery is unique in Islamic law in that it conflicts with the Qur'anic prescription for premarital and extramarital sex (zina)[9][1] found in Surah An-Nur, 2: "The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication — flog each of them with a hundred stripes."[10] For this reason some minority Muslim sects such as Kharijites found in Iraq, and Islamic Modernists such as the Quranists disagree with the legality of rajm.
However, stoning is mentioned in multiple hadiths[11] (reports claiming to quote what Muhammad said verbatim on various matters, which most Muslims and Islamic scholars consider an authoritative source second only to Quran as a source of religious law and rulings),[12][13] and therefore most schools of Islamic jurisprudence accept it as a prescribed punishment for adultery.[1] The punishment has been rarely applied in the history of Islam owing to the very strict evidential requirements stipulated by Islamic law.[1]
- ^ a b c d E. Ann Black, Hossein Esmaeili and Nadirsyah Hosen (2014), Modern Perspectives on Islamic Law, ISBN 978-0857934475, pp. 222-223
- ^ Rudolph Peters, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521796705, pp. 37
- ^ Muhsan The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2012)
- ^ Ismail Poonwala (2007), The Pillars of Islam: Laws pertaining to human intercourse, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195689075, pp. 448-457
- ^ Al Muwatta 41 1.8
- ^ "Rape in Islamic law: Establishing the crime and upholding the rights of the innocent". Al Hakam. 23 January 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
- ^ Peters, R. (2012). "Zinā or Zināʾ". In P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill.
- ^ Dr Azman Mohd Noor, Punishment for rape in Islamic Law, Malayan Law Journal Articles [2009] 5 MLJ cxiv
- ^ Cook, Michael (2000). The Koran, A Very Brief Introduction (PDF). Oxford University Press. p. 140. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
- ^ Quran 24:2, Quote - "The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment."
- ^ e.g. Sahih Muslim 17:4191 - 4209 and 17:4916 & 17:4194
- ^ OU Kalu (2003), Safiyya and Adamah: Punishing adultery with sharia stones in twenty‐first‐century Nigeria, African Affairs, 102(408), pp. 389-408
- ^ Nisrine Abiad (2008), Sharia, Muslim States and International Human Rights Treaty Obligations, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, ISBN 978-1905221417, pp. 24-25