Zina

This article is about unlawful sexual intercourse in Islam. For extramarital affairs in general, see Adultery and Fornication.
For other uses, see Zina (disambiguation).

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Zināʾ (زِنَاء) or zinā (زِنًى or زِنًا) is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse.[1][2] According to traditional jurisprudence, zina can include adultery,[3][4][5] fornication,[3][4][5] prostitution,[6] sodomy,[3][7] incest,[8][9] and bestiality.[3][10] Zina must be proved by testimony of four Muslim eyewitnesses to the actual act of penetration, confession repeated four times and not retracted later.[11][2] The offenders must have acted of their own free will.[2] Rapists could be prosecuted under different legal categories which used normal evidentiary rules.[12] Making an accusation of zina without presenting the required eyewitnesses is called qadhf (القذف), which is itself a hudud offense.[13]

There are very few recorded examples of the stoning penalty for zinā being implemented legally. Prior to legal reforms introduced in several countries during the 20th century, the procedural requirements for proving the offense of zinā to the standard necessary to impose the stoning penalty were effectively impossible to meet.[2][14]

Zina became a more pressing issue in modern times, as Islamist movements and governments employed polemics against public immorality.[2] In recent decades several countries passed legal reforms that incorporated elements of hudud laws into their legal codes, and many modern Islamists have also disregarded the condition of strict evidence requirements.[15] In Nigeria, local courts have passed several stoning sentences, all of which were overturned on appeal or left unenforced.[16] In Pakistan, the Hudood Ordinances of 1979 subsumed prosecution of rape under the category of zina, making rape extremely difficult to prove and exposing the victims to jail sentences for admitting illicit intercourse forced upon them,[2][12] although these laws were amended in 2006,[14] and again in 2016.[17] According to human rights organizations, stoning to death for zina has also been carried out in Saudi Arabia.[18] Zina and rape are two different crimes under Islamic Law. Ordinances like the Hudood Ordinances are not Islamic, in terms of rape and zina.

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Semerdjian, Elyse (2009). "Zinah". In John L. Esposito (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001. ISBN 9780195305135.
  3. ^ a b c d Semerdjian, Elyse (2008). "Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo. Syracuse University Press. p. 53. ISBN 9780815651550. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b Khan, Shahnaz (2011). Zina, Transnational Feminism, and the Moral Regulation of Pakistani Women. UBC Press. p. 8. ISBN 9780774841184. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  5. ^ a b Akande, Habeeb (2015). A Taste of Honey: Sexuality and Erotology in Islam. Rabaah Publishers. p. 145. ISBN 9780957484511.
  6. ^ Meri, Josef W. (2006). Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z, index. Taylor & Francis. p. 646. ISBN 9780415966924.
  7. ^ Habib, Samar (2010). Islam and Homosexuality (1st ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 211. ISBN 9780313379031. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  8. ^ Clarke, Morgan (2009). Islam and New Kinship: Reproductive Technology and the Shariah in Lebanon. Berghahn Books. p. 41. ISBN 9781845454326. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  9. ^ Kamali, Mohammad Hashim (2019). Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: A Fresh Interpretation. Oxford University Press. p. 94. ISBN 9780190910648. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  10. ^ Ahmed, Syed (1999). Law relating to fornication (Zina) in the Islamic legal system: a comparative study. Andhra Legal Decisions. p. 3,71,142.
  11. ^ Peters, Rudolph (2006). Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. pp. 53–55. ISBN 978-0521796705.
  12. ^ a b A. Quraishi (1999), Her honour: an Islamic critique of the rape provisions in Pakistan's ordinance on zina, Islamic studies, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 403–431
  13. ^ Peters, Rudolph (2006). Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: : Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0521796705.
  14. ^ a b Semerdjian, Elyse (2013). "Zinah". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref:oiso/9780199764464.001.0001. ISBN 9780199764464.
  15. ^ Vikør, Knut S. (2014). "Sharīʿah". In Emad El-Din Shahin (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  16. ^ Gunnar J. Weimann (2010). Islamic Criminal Law in Northern Nigeria: Politics, Religion, Judicial Practice. Amsterdam University Press. p. 77. ISBN 9789056296551.
  17. ^ "Pakistan Toughens Laws on Rape and 'Honor Killings' of Women". The New York Times. Oct 6, 2016.
  18. ^ 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. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_8168.