Pakistan: Couple stoned to death for adultery after Muslim cleric issues fatwa

The advocates of stoning can and do claim that they are simply implementing Islamic law. The caliph Umar, one of Muhammad’s closest companions, maintained that the punishment of stoning for adultery (this story doesn’t specify the method of punishment, but the outcome of the punishment is the same in any case) was originally in the Qur’an:

‘Umar said, “I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, “We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book,” and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession.” Sufyan added, “I have memorized this narration in this way.” ‘Umar added, “Surely Allah’s Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him.” (Bukhari, vol. 8, bk. 82, no. 816)

“Allah’s Apostle” is, of course, Muhammad, who did indeed carry out stonings. Here is the hadith in which he challenges the rabbis about stoning, and in which there is amidst the barbarism and brutality a final act of love and compassion:

The Jews came to Allah’s Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah’s Apostle said to them, “What do you find in the Torah (old Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?” They replied, (But) we announce their crime and lash them.” Abdullah bin Salam said, “You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm.” They brought and opened the Torah and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, “Lift your hand.” When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, “Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm. The Prophet then gave the order that both of them should be stoned to death. (‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar said, “I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones.” (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 829)

Even the monkeys practiced stoning, according to another hadith:

During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them. (Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 58, no. 188)

Muhammad’s example is, of course, normative for Islamic behavior, since “verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example for him who looketh unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembereth Allah much” (Qur’an 33:21).

“Couple stoned to death in Loralai village,” by Saleem Shahid for Dawn, February 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

QUETTA: A man and a woman were stoned to death in a village in Loralai district on Sunday after a cleric issued a fatwa against them, sources said.

A Levies Force official, Abdul Latif Jogezai, said the incident took place in Manzkai village early in the morning. “The people of the village stoned to death the man and the woman who were not married to each other. Rather, they were married to other people,” he said. He said the two were killed on suspicion of having illicit relations. No funeral prayers were offered for them.

The slain man, Daraz Khan, was buried in Katoti area and the woman in her village.

After hearing about the incident, personnel of the Levies Force reached Manzkai village and arrested the cleric who had issued the fatwa and six of the men who stoned the couple to death, Mr Jogezai said.

He said a case had been registered against the people of the village. Most of the residents fled from the village to avoid arrest, he added.

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Iranian news agency claims that Saudi cleric calls Shia non-Muslims and demands they pay jizya

Iran’s state-controlled Ahlul Bayt News Agency picked up this story without attribution from Shia Rights Watch, the “SRW” referenced in the article. It could be accurate, or it could be another example of the anti-Saudi propaganda that the Iranians produce with some regularity.

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Saudi Muslim cleric suggests that baby girls wear hijabs to prevent rape

Although this Opposing Views story is new, actually Sheikh Abdullah al-Daoud made his statements in 2012. He said: “The prevalent custom among Muslims of the countries of East Asia is to make girls start wearing the hi-jab in the second year of their lives. This has motivated us to compete with them, and we will start our girls wearing the hi-jab even earlier….We do not want to see revealing and shameful clothing, especially when girls start to develop and fill out, and show signs of beauty, and so on. You find that she is in a state of exposure and nudity. I think we know that there are fatwas that forbid this, even if they have not yet reached the stage of puberty. Whenever the girl is an object of desire, the parents have the duty to cover her up with a hijack.”
His comments reflect the assumption that underlies the mandatory covering-up of women of any age: that if a man is tempted, it is entirely the woman’s fault, and her responsibility to end that temptation by removing it from sight.
“Saudi Cleric Suggests Baby Girls Wear Burqas to Prevent Rape,” by Lina Batarags for Opposing Views, February 3 (thanks to Pamela Geller):
A Saudi cleric has proposed this solution to molestation of young girls: they should be required to wear burqas.
While no law or practice in Islam requires that baby girls wear burqas, Sheik Abdulla Daoud suggested that covering the babies in burqas would keep them from being raped. Daoud made the controversial comment on TV last year, stating that babies were being molested in Saudi Arabia.
The video recently surfaced on social media, and elicited shocked and indignant response from fellow Saudis.

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Nigeria: Jihad group murders Muslim cleric who opposed them

Why we don’t see more sincere Muslim reformers, part 37,509: “Nigerian Muslim cleric opposed to Boko Haram shot dead,” from Reuters, February 3 (thanks to Jayke):
(Reuters) – A Nigerian Muslim cleric who openly criticized Islamist sect Boko Haram has been killed in Zaria, hundreds of miles from where the military is fighting insurgents, police said on Monday.
Gunmen opened fire on Sheik Adam Albani’s car on Saturday evening as he drove home from preaching in a mosque, also killing his wife and young son, police spokesman Aminu Lawan said.
Western governments see prominent leaders like Sheik Albani playing a role in the long-term fight against Boko Haram and other al Qaeda-linked groups, in a deeply religious country of 170 million people.
The assassination of Sheik Albani in Zaria, the capital of Kaduna state in a central northern region, could discourage others from speaking out against Boko Haram, whose primary recruiting pool is the millions of uneducated youths in the north of Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan is struggling to end a four-and-a-half year insurgency by Boko Haram but a military push begun in May last year has largely confined bloodshed to the country’s remote northeast corner, where the group originates and has most support.
The sect has killed thousands in its attempt to carve out an Islamic state in a country split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims. It has attacked anyone who appears to oppose its insurgency, from security targets to schools, churches and mosques where its ideas are rejected.
Boko Haram, which has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, is considered the biggest security threat in Africa’s top oil exporter and second-largest economy.
More than a hundred people were killed last week in two attacks in northeast states under a state of emergency, including a siege at a packed church service.

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