THE PUNISHMENT FOR FORNICATION AND SODOMY
All praise is due to Allah(swt) for prescribing punishments for the sinners and aggressors, so as to be a deterrent to other sinners and aggressors. I testify that there is no god worthy of worship except Alláh Alone, having no partner with Him. Verily, He is the King, and the Absolute Truth. I also testify that Muhammad(pbuh) is His slave and Messenger. Verily, he is the best of prophets and the leader of reformers. May the peace and blessings of Alláh be upon him, his family, his Companions and everyone that follows in their footsteps until the Day of Recompense.
O people! Fear Alláh, the Most High, and acknowledge Allah’s favor upon you when He chose for you this great religion that combines mercy with wisdom. The mercy is in rectifying people and the wisdom is in following the straight path that leads to the solemn goal.
O people! It is human nature to have tendencies and inclinations that differ from one person to another. Some would have an inclination to goodness and righteousness, and some to evil and falsehood. In this regard.
Allah says:
“Certainly, your efforts and deeds are diverse (different in aims and purposes).” (92:4)
In order to curb the wickedness of the soul, its perverted propensities, and the evil actions that result therefrom, Allah(swt), the Judge, the Merciful, the All-Acquainted and the Compassionate has prescribed several punishments as penalties for committing certain crimes. These penalties deter the aggressors, rectify the corrupted and straighten up the crooked. They are also prescribed to make amends for the crimes and the sins committed, as Allah(swt) does not gather two punishments against a sinner. His punishment in this life will make amends for the sin he committed and thus not be punished in the Hereafter. For almost every crime there is a penalty. A thief shall have his hand amputated, because he mostly uses his hands to steal with. The highway robbers shall be killed if a murder is involved in their operation. But if they only steal, their hands and feet shall be amputated in a way that the right hand and the left foot are cut. It is noteworthy to say that the punishment is connected to the limbs that are mostly used in the crime. In the case of the highway robbers, the feet and hands are the most used in the crime so the punishment involves their amputation. The penalty for slander and accusing someone in his honor is eighty lashes, so that the accuser will be deterred and the honor of people will be kept intact. The punishment for drinking wine (Khamr) that The Messenger of Allah(pbuh) described as “the mother of all sins” and “the key of all evil,” shall be a great deterrent to the drinker that wants to drink it. The two gruesome crimes that are destructive to the morality, hence to the society itself, are fornication and sodomy. Being very revolting and ugly, Allah(swt) has prescribed great penalties for both. The penalty for fornication is stoning to death if the perpetrator is Muhsan. A Muhsan is aman or a woman who is married by a legal marriage contract and has already had sexual intercourse through that marriage. After being stoned to death, the Muslim perpetrator is to be given a complete Islamic burial. On the other hand, a non-muhsan (who was not married at the time of the crime), should be lashed a hundred lashes and expelled out of the country for a whole year.
The above mentioned penalty is for fornication that involves penetration of the man’s member into the woman’s vagina. However, there are other types of fornication or adultery that are sinful and punishable in the Hereafter. Those types may also lead to the major one. They are the adultery of the limbs, and organs. That was indicated in a Hadith in which the Messenger of Allah(swt) says:
“The adultery of the eyes is to look (at what is forbidden). The adultery of the ears is the listening. The adultery of the tongue is the speech. The adultery of the hand is the striking. The adultery of the foot is the walking and the heart desires and wishes.”
Sodomy is the anal intercourse between two males. It is an obscene, disgusting and detested crime. It is destructive to both morality and manhood. It corrupts society and kills its morale. It is the cause for the demise of goodness and blessings on the one hand. On the other hand it brings about evil, calamities and catastrophes. It is the tool with which destruction, ruin, disgrace, and humiliation are being cemented. The reason is that I reject it. The intact human nature despises it. The laws of the heavenly religions prohibit it and warn against it. Sodomy is indeed a great detriment and oppression against the two parties of this crime and against the society itself. It is oppression against the dominant party, who is taking the rnasculine role, for the disgrace he brought to himself, and that led to his death and ruin. It is oppression against the inferior party, who is taking the feminine role, as he degraded himself and consented to put himself down and destroy his honor by ruining his manhood. He agreed to be perceived as a woman amongst men, so he has been and will be humiliated and disgraced until the day he dies. It is again oppression against the society at large, for the catastrophes and calamities this ugly crime brings to it. Allah(swt) mentioned what happened to the people of Lut in the Qurán. Their torment was sent down to them from the sky, as Allah(swt) turned their town upside down and rained on them stones of baked clay, thereafter, He said (referring to their torment, and how it is not far from befalling any people that do what they did):
“…and they are not ever far from the aggressors (and the wrongdoers).” (11 :83)
O Muslims! When the society in which sodomy has spread goes unpunished, it means that Allah(swt) is preparing a greater punishment than just being destroyed and demolished. This new punishment involves the deterioration of the hearts, the blindness of the insights, and the adulteration of the intellects, thereafter, each member of the society will see evil and obscenity as good and purity, and vice versa. However, if Allah(swt) appoints strong, trustworthy, and just governors and rulers for this society, they shall say the truth and abide by it; they shaIl also practice what Alláh has entrusted them with, without fearing any power or giving in to any special interest groups. Only then will the society be pious and well guided.
O Muslims! As sodomy is one of the most gruesome and detested crimes, the punishment for doing it, is also one of the harshest penalties; it is the capital punishment. The Messenger of Allah(pbuh) said:
“If you ever see anyone doing what the People of Lut used to do, then kill the two parties of sodomy.”
The companions of the Prophet had unanimously agreed on implementing this Hadith, as the scholar of Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah, had reported. He said that the Companions of the Messenger of Allah(pbuh) had never differed with each other on the ruling about the sodomites, which is to kili both parties. However, they only differed on how to kili them. Sorne of them said the two must be stoned with rocks, others said the two must be taken to the highest place in town and thrown down from there, or to be burnt to death. Nonetheless, both of them are to be executed if they did what they did willingly, regardless of being Muhsan (married) or not. The punishment is obviously hard, but the crime is of a harder effect on the society if the culprits are let go unpunished. They should not be let live in the society, for the epidemic they could spread is overwhelming. Imagine a society with a bunch of homosexuals and sodomites living in it. It will be a society without chastity, morality, or virtue, because these values will be executed and killed. Certainly, executing those sick and dangerous sodomites is much better and safer for the society than executing morality, chastity and virtue.
O Muslims! As members of an Islamic society, which is based on religious and moral values (Praise be to Alláh), we must strive to hold fast to our religion and to be endowed with the virtuous morals, All of us, whether citizens, authorities, or rulers, must strive to stop the corrupted people to safeguard the society from their corruption. We must take it all! precautions and purge the society from the places of corruption, where the corrupted meet and pollute. Every parent should watch out for his/her children, where they go and spend their time, and who their friends are. Every head of a family must prevent the women of his household from going out in indecent or ornamented clothes, or with perfume on, which attracts people to look at them. He should look after the members of his household not to socialize with people who have bad reputation regarding their behavior, for they might be influenced by it. Every neighborhood should make sure not to let any corrupt people live in it, and frequently check for the sources of corruption. All citizens must cooperate in preventing obscenity and corruption from dwelling in their society. Once every father safeguards his household, every neighborhood watches out to prevent corruption in it, every governor protects his country, then when all of this cooperation takes place, goodness and righteousness will prevail and happiness will settle. Yet, if they all neglect their duties and their trust, they will lack happiness and goodness as much as they neglect their duties. Allah(swt) says:
“And as to those who hold fast to the Book (i.e, act on its teachings) and perform As-Salát (Iqámat-as-Salats), certainly We shall never waste the reward of those who do righteous deeds.”(7: 170)
May Allah(swt) bless us all with His Book and benefit us with its Ayat and wisdom. By this, I conclude my speech and ask Allah(swt)to forgive all of our wrongdoings. So seek His forgiveness, as He is the All Forgiving, Most Merciful.
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John Doe
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