Killing on the grounds of honour, between sharia and custom

By Malek Abdo
Our Palestinian society needs a kind of change in its prevailing culture and a change in some customs and traditions, and the culture of shame must be erased from our lives and Islamic law must govern us. We as Muslims belong to the message of the master of the messengers, our master Mohammed, peace and blessings be upon him.
Our noble Messenger left no matter of life without giving us the best example of how to deal with life's affairs. Our master Mohammed, peace and blessings be upon him, was the best husband, the best friend, the best father and the best example.
The Messenger was devoted to his wives, loving to his wives and loving to his children and to the Muslims; the tender Messenger, the wise Messenger, the forbearing Messenger.
Our noble Messenger taught us not to rush matters and not to judge them as our own selves dictate, and to verify the truth of news before judging any person. The Almighty said: "O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one with information, investigate, lest you harm a people out of ignorance and become, over what you have done, regretful."
When a young man came to him and said: I have committed adultery, O Messenger of God, the noble Messenger did not say: take him and flog him, may God curse him; rather he said to him: have you been drinking? Are you in full possession of your senses? Perhaps you only touched, perhaps you kissed. The young man said: no, I committed adultery. So he carried out the prescribed penalty on him. Note the wisdom of the noble Messenger and how wise he was in judgment.
And when a woman came to him and said: I have committed adultery, O Messenger of God, and said she had become pregnant from it, the noble Messenger said: go and deliver the child and nurse him, then come back. After a year the woman returned and the Messenger carried out the penalty on her, and during it some blood fell on Omar ibn Al-Khattab, who reviled her, so the noble Messenger said: she has repented such a repentance that, were it distributed among seventy of the people of Medina, it would suffice them.
And when the incident of the slander occurred concerning the Messenger's wife, he acted only according to what was sent down from above the seven heavens.
The lesson of these stories is that the noble Messenger did not hear from someone that so-and-so had committed adultery and then carry out the penalty on them; rather the young man and the woman came to the Messenger and confessed their sin and wished to repent. Yet the noble Messenger did not carry out the penalty on them immediately upon their confession; rather he waited. Some commentators say the young man came to the Messenger four or five times before the Messenger carried out the penalty on him. And likewise the woman, for he did not carry out the penalty on her immediately upon her confession but waited until she had delivered the child in her womb.
Islam set conditions for carrying out the penalty for adultery, namely:
The testimony of four witnesses to the act of adultery requires, in addition to Islam, freedom and probity, a precise description of what was seen. A description of the general scene of a man and an unrelated woman together, even if naked, is not enough, and this too is among the characteristics of this testimony.
Ibn Rushd, may God have mercy on him, says:
"As for establishing adultery by witnesses, the scholars agreed that adultery is established by witnesses and that the number of witnesses required is four, unlike other rights. The Almighty said: 'And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses, lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after, and those are the defiantly disobedient. Except for those who repent thereafter and reform, for indeed God is Forgiving and Merciful.' (Surat Al-Nur, 4-5)
And that their quality must be that they are of probity, and that a condition of this testimony is that it be by direct sight of his private part in hers, and that it be expressed explicitly and not by implication.
Imam Al-Mawardi, may God have mercy on him, says:
"As for the manner of testimony in adultery, it is not sufficient for the witnesses to say: we saw him committing adultery, until they describe what they witnessed of the adultery, which is that they say: we saw his member enter her private part as the kohl stick enters the kohl pot, for three reasons:
The first: that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, sought confirmation from Maiz in his confession and said: did you insert that of yours into that of hers, as the kohl stick enters the kohl pot and the rope into the well? He said: yes. So he ordered him to be stoned.
And since he sought confirmation in the confession, it is all the more appropriate to seek confirmation in testimony.
The second: that when the witnesses against Al-Mughira ibn Shuba for adultery testified before Omar, may God be pleased with him, they being Abu Bakra, Nafi, Nufai and Ziyad, Abu Bakra, Nafi and Nufai stated it explicitly. As for Ziyad, Omar said to him: say what you have, and I hope God will not expose a companion by your tongue. Ziyad said: I saw breathing rising, or a backside moving, and I saw her legs on his neck like a donkey's ears, and I do not know, Commander of the Faithful, what lay beyond that. Omar said: God is greatest. So he dismissed the testimony and did not regard it as complete, and carried out the penalty on the three because the testimony was incomplete.
And the third: that adultery is a word with several meanings. It is narrated from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, that he said: the two eyes commit adultery and their adultery is looking, and the two hands commit adultery and their adultery is touching, and the private part confirms or denies that.
Therefore it is necessary in testimony to rule out this possibility by mentioning what was seen of the entry of the private part into the private part."
The third matter:
That singling out testimony for adultery with this severity contains additional caution and protection of honour, so that people do not take lightly either defamation or slander.
And with the requirement of evidence to this degree of precision, the penalty for adultery is hardly ever carried out on anyone unless he confesses; and whoever has it carried out on him because four men witnessed this precise sight, that is evidence of an audacity and shamelessness deserving a deterrent punishment.
Imam Al-Mawardi, may God have mercy on him, says:
"Testimonies grow more severe as the matter testified to grows more severe, and since adultery and sodomy are among the gravest and last of the prohibited indecencies, testimony in them is the most severe, so that it may better cover what is sacred and better remove disgrace."
The unmarried adulterer is flogged a hundred lashes, while the married one is stoned to death. Is there not wisdom in these conditions, since the accusation of adultery is not a light matter? Had these conditions not been set, many of those with sick souls would have begun slandering Muslim women and men.
Even the matter of carrying out the penalty may only be done by the guardian of the Muslims who is in charge of their affairs. So what of one who heard and did not see, and kills his sister, his daughter or his wife merely because he heard from a person whose grudges against you and your family you do not know?
Whoever kills must be killed under Islamic law and under the law as well. So what of one who kills one of his female relatives on the grounds of honour, when she is chaste in the first place? Is it not better that the penalty be carried out on him?
If there is no deterrent punishment for these human wolves, others will go further. The situation with some men has reached the point where a man rapes his sister or his daughter and then kills her on the pretext of honour, and there are girls who, after being killed, turn out to have been chaste and untouched. The motive is often on the pretext of honour, but in truth it may involve achieving personal interests or be motivated by confining inheritance to males and killing the woman so that she does not inherit.
Is it not more fitting, you officials, that you issue a law that condemns killing on the grounds of honour, and that the sentence be not reduced but increased, so that everyone whose soul drives him to kill may be a lesson to others?
Even if the girl has committed adultery, is it not better that we find the young man who did this with her, because other girls will fall into the nets of the human wolves ruled by their lust and not by conscience and mercy? This young man who did what he did and fled or disappeared will not stop at that; rather he will go on to every girl he can reach.
Even our noble Messenger enjoined in his last days in this world, saying: fear God regarding women, fear God regarding women, I enjoin you to treat women well.
Fear God regarding girls and raise them well, for you will be asked about them on the Day of Judgment. What will you say to the Lord on the day of standing before Him? For if a girl has committed adultery, the cause of her adultery may be poor upbringing, coercion or rape; it is not necessarily with her consent.
And God knows best what is intended