Ahadith (plural of Hadith) That Question Practice of Stoning the Adulterers
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
19 February
2021
The issue of
the punishment for adultery is debated by the scholars and jurists of Islam. A
majority of jurists and scholars support Rajam (stoning) as a punishment
for adultery. Their opinion is based on some hadiths which prescribe death for
adultery. The stoning of a married young man of the tribe Aslam called Mayiz
Aslami at the order of the holy Prophet (pbuh) is produced as an example.
But there
is no verse in the Quran that prescribes Rajam (stoning) for adultery.
There are some hadiths that say that the verses prescribing Rajam
existed in the Quran in the earlier period of revelation and the holy Prophet (pbuh)
ordered Rajam for adulterers according to the injunction of the Quran.
Later the verse on Rajam was abrogated. The hadith on revelation of the
verse on Rajam is as follows:
"Umar
al Khattab gave an address saying Allah sent Muhammad (pbuh) with truth and
sent down the Book to him and the verse of stoning was included in what He sent
down to him. We read it and memorised it."(Sunan Abu Dawood, Book 40 Hadith
4404).
Surah Nur
verse number 2 prescribes hundred lashes for adultery and not stoning to death.
"The
woman and the man guilty of adultery and fornication -- flog each of them with
a hundred stripes".
(Al Nur: 2)
Therefore,
scholars of the Quran believe that the verse on Rajam was abrogated and
the verse of Surah Nur was revealed later prescribing hundred lashes for
adultery. A hadith in Sahih Bukhari questions whether the holy Prophet (pbuh)
ordered stoning (Rajam) even after the verse of Surah Nur was revealed:
"Ishaque
bin Shaheen narrated to me; he quoted it from Khalid bin Abdullah Tahani; he
quoted it from Sulaiman Sheebani; he quoted it from Abdullah bin Abi Awfa; he
asked if the holy Prophet (pbuh) ordered Rajam?" He replied,
"Yes". He then asked, “Before the revelation of Surah Nur or after
it?" He replied, "I don’t know". (Sahih Bukhari, Kitabul
Muharibeen No.964)
This hadith
makes it clear that the holy Prophet (pbuh) did order Rajam but whether
he (pbuh) ordered it even after the revelation of Surah Nur was not clear to
the person inquired of. We can infer that the holy Prophet (pbuh) ordered Rajam
as long as the verse on Rajam existed in the Quran. It remains to be
ascertained if the holy Prophet (pbuh) ordered Rajam even after the
verse of Surah Nur was revealed.
Since the
incidents of stoning ordered by the holy Prophet (pbuh) have been recorded in
books of hadith without recording the historical sequence of abrogation of the Rajam
verse and revelation of Surah Nur, the hadiths on Rajam are constantly
quoted to justify Rajam for adultery. Extremist groups like Taliban and
a section of hardline ulema too cite these hadiths to support their belief in Rajam
without giving much thought to abrogation of the rajam verse and
revelation of Surah Nur.
Controversial: The film has been banned in Iran though some people have
been able to obtain bootleg copies
----
S.
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com
URL: https://newageislam.com/debating-islam/ahadith-(plural-hadith)-that-question/d/124348
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