Sharia Law literally mean “path to a watering hole.” Sharia law is Muslim or Islamic law of civil and criminal justice and personal and moral behavior of individuals. The Sharia law is based off the Koran and Sunna, the teachings, customs, and practices of the Islamic faith.
The Sharia Law serious offences, “Haram”, include “pre-marital sexual intercourse, sex by divorced persons, post-marital sex, adultery, false accusation of unlawful intercourse, drinking alcohol, theft, and highway robbery. Haram sexual offenses can carry a sentence of stoning to death or severe flogging.”
http://www.religioustolerance.org/islsharia.htm
In several countries that are theocracies Sharia is the government’s judicial system. Countries that use Sharia are Nigeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, parts of Pakistan, Sudan, and some parts of Indonesia, parts of India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, parts of Malaysia, and Libya. The most conservative and stricter forms of punishment, i.e. stoning to death for committing adultery, are carried out in courts of Sharia in Iran, Nigeria, parts of Malaysia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
There is no actual reference for stoning executions for those that have committed adultery. The Koran only states that people who had committed adultery should be whipped. However, the practice was introduced by a religious leader later.
A conviction for adultery usually requires four men to witness the crime or eight women (because women are only viewed as half a man’s worth) or a direct confession from the accused, or in a pre-martial case only proof of pregnancy is needed to be convicted of adultery.
It is very difficult under Sharia Law to prove that a woman is raped if there were no male witnesses. Because of this many women to not report rapes in fear that they may be accused of adultery. If the women claims she is raped she also risks the possibility of being convicted of adultery and false accusation; thus receiving a harsher punishment.
In some cases men have claimed that there wife had committed adultery when the wife wants to get a divorce. To scare and punish the wife for wanting a divorce.
This is a link to a fact sheet of punishments under the Sharia Law in Nigeria
http://www.now.org/issues/global/082202sharia.html
http://www.geocities.com/hammihanirani/ this link is an account of an Iranian woman being stone to death. I would strongly take caution if you have weak stomach to not read the account.
There is no actual reference for stoning executions for those that have committed adultery. The Koran only states that people who had committed adultery should be whipped. However, the practice was introduced by a religious leader later.
That goes to show the corruption in organized religions, especially when a religious leader has absolute, unquestioned power.
Your article also goes to show the abuses that can happen when a group of people (in this case, men) are given near-absolute authority over another group (women) by a theocratic source.
I think it should also be noted that several countries have formally rejected capital punishment for such acts, and a few countries no longer carry out the punishments that are still "on the books" as this show progression away from the gruesome executions as described in your link (which doesn't point to the article itself, by the way).
It would be interesting to see how the continued use of stoning corresponds to other civil rights violations and fundamentalist regimes in leadership positions of the countries you've listed, though, since it appears to me that at least some of the countries and areas of countries that still practice it are ruled by such regimes and have committed other crimes against the citizens (either individually or as a whole).
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge
Something that is also very interesting about the Sharia Law is the fact that non-Muslims cannot be convicted or tried at any courts under the Sharia Law.
that means a woman who is not muslim could commit adultery and go unpunished.
that is strange because i consider a law to apply for every person residing in the country that has the law i think this is a way to prevent muslims to converting to Western ideas, and also a way to isolate non-muslims in the community.( since they are not protected under the Sharia law)
you are correct that many civil liberities have been violated and corruption are abundant in the countries i have listed .
someone is accused of adultery, and chooses to denounce Islam? Do they get to escape being stoned because they aren't Muslim?
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
A woman that would denounce the religion Islam ( if she was born a muslim) would risk potential alienation, be condemned from the community and family ,and she would also probably be charged of blasphemy and adultery.
a muslim woman has no rights in these countries.
So wouldn't that actually being a Muslim a race or ethnicity? I ask because I just went through this with Judaism on my blog "Who Is a Jew?"
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
ahhh!!!!!!. i had a similiar debate about jews not being a race.
No i don't think this point makes the religion Islam a race or ethnicity.
this has more to do with a patriachical dominant society and a society that uses fear and force as why to exert authority.
I do believe that some muslims can be defined as an ethnicity, but not a race.
between a race and an ethnicity?
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
" race (n) a human population considered distinct based on physical characteristics."http://racerelations.about.com/od/skillsbuildingresources/g/racedef.htm
ethnicity (n) a term which represents social groups with a shared history, sense of identity, geography and cultural roots which may occur despite racial difference
http://racerelations.about.com/od/skillsbuildingresources/g/ethnicityrac...
perhaps it is anal of me to make the distinction, but race conotates physical appearences only.
"perhaps it is anal of me to make the distinction, but race connotates physical appearances only."
Not at all. You answered my question perfectly.
Thanks!
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
south korean actress who might be going to jail because of adultery
Skorea has a constitutional law against adultery
"I'm more like a fool for soul and passion....
I watch crash, and realize that we all survivors
no religion or race, whatever describe us." -Forever Begins, Common
http://www.progressiveu.org/012450-old-and-gold-times-change-my-immigran...
do you have a link to the article?
how interesting!!
http://celebrity.rightpundits.com/?p=4692
"The heart's memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good."
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Love in the Time of Cholera
http://www.progressiveu.org/012450-old-and-gold-times-change-my-immigran...
thanks for the link.
1.5 years in jail for adultery is insane!!!!
:yikes:
"A person doesn't die when he should but when he can."
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
"close your eyes, clear your heart..." A Muslim Girl's Plight<