APR 12, 2023 4:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER5 COMMENTS
“Cleric three villagers arrested in Bangladesh on stoning woman,” Pak Tribune, April 11, 2023 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
DHAKA: A cleric and three village elders were arrested in Bangladesh on charges they ordered a woman to be caned and stoned after she was accused of an extra-marital affair, police said on Monday.
Police said Hamida Sutana was “caned 82 strokes” and “stoned 80 times” with small brick pieces after an imam issued a fatwa punishing her last week.
Sultana said she was “a victim of terrible injustice”.
“I can’t express in language what they did to me,” the 30-year-old said.
Bangladesh has a secular legal system and applying Sharia in criminal cases is illegal.
The fatwa triggered an outcry, with feminist groups and rights activists staging protests to demand the perpetrators’ prosecution….
Police inspector Zakir Hossain said officers arrested four people, including the imam of the mosque in Habiganj…
More..
DHAKA: An Islamic cleric and three village elders in Bangladesh were arrested on charges they ordered a woman to be caned and stoned after she was accused of an extramarital affair, police said Monday.
Police said Hamida Sultana was “caned 82 strokes” and “stoned 80 times” with small brick pieces after an imam issued a religious decree, or fatwa, punishing her last week.
Sultana told AFP she was “a victim of terrible injustice”.
“I can’t express in language what they did to me,” the 30-year-old said.
The Muslim South Asian nation of 170 million people has a secular legal system and applying Sharia law in criminal cases is illegal.
The fatwa triggered an outcry, with feminist groups and rights activists staging protests to demand the perpetrators’ prosecution.
“They acted like medieval people,” Fauzia Moslem, the president of the country’s largest woman’s group, told AFP.
Police inspector Zakir Hossain said officers arrested four people, including the imam of the mosque in Habiganj in the northeast, after Sultana filed a criminal case on April 7 against 17 people.
“The village council ordered the caning and stoning in the name of Sharia law after she was accused of an extramarital affair,” Hossain told AFP.
The village elders “said it will absolve her from her sin and will redeem her honour”, he added.
Sultana’s husband Anwar Mia, who works in the Gulf country of Oman, returned after the incident, he added. “He also seeks justice for what happened to his wife.”
Decades ago, village councils in rural Bangladesh commonly used sharia to punish Muslim women accused of adultery.
In a 2011 ruling, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court allowed fatwas to be issued but prohibited their enforcement.
The decision effectively allowed sharia to be followed voluntarily but prohibited any kind of punishment in the name of Islamic law by clerics or village councilsMore:
“Bangladesh has a secular legal system and applying Sharia in criminal cases is illegal.” The stoning was certainly in accord with Sharia. Stoning adulterers is not “extremist”; it is Islamic law. The caliph Umar, one of Muhammad’s closest companions, even maintained that it 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: “Indeed in the messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for him who looks to Allah and the last day, and remembers Allah a great deal.” (Qur’an 33:21)
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