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Friday
August 10, 2001

Only 7 or 8 were stoned

Once again the issue of stoning has been discussed ["Virtually impossible"]. I'm just going to add some points.

1. Some people, though maybe not explicitly, hinted at the impossibility of the carrying out stoning. This is not correct. It is possible to carry it out, it just has tough conditions and requirements, i.e four just eye witnesses.

In Iran for example, with a population of 65 million, about 75 people were executed for various crimes last year. Among these, maybe 7 or 8 were through stoning. Of course, in a population of 65 million, there aren't 3 or 4 people who commit adultery! But the cases where the requirements where met, the punishment was carried out. Such as the pornographic movie actress stoned not so long ago. Obviously more than four eye witnesses could witness that.

2. Another person claimed that the law of stoning is man-made, and has no basis in the Qur'an. First of all, he has to get rid of his basic misunderstanding that the Qur'an is the SOLE basis for laws. All Muslims of all sects are in total agreement that the basis for the laws is the Qur'an & the Sunnah (example) of the Prophet. Examples:

"O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger and do not burn your deeds (by disobeying him)." (Quran 47:33)

"Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah." (Quran 4:80)

"And whatever the Messenger gives you, take it; and from whatever he forbids you, keep back." (Quran 59:7)

"(O prophet) tell (people) If you really love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins." (Quran 3:31)

"We have sent unto you a messenger from among you who recites unto you Our revelations and cleanses you, and teaches you the Scripture and wisdom, and teaches you that which you knew not." (Quran 2:151)

"Allah did bestow a great favor unto the believers when He sent among them an Messenger from among themselves reciting unto them the Signs of Allah sanctifying them and teaching them the Scripture and Wisdom while before that they had been in manifest error." (Quran 3:164)

I could continue with many more. But I think my point is made. Now, we don't have physical access to the Prophet, so how can we obey the Prophet and follow him? Of course through studying his life. As you see from some verses in the Qur'an, such as the top one, it says "Obey God, AND obey the Messenger..."

Qur'an is God's word and obeying the Messenger is following his example. Not that they contradict each other, but they complete each other. The Qur'an mentions Namaz (prayers) some 90 times if I remember correctly, but does not specify how it's practically done. For that, we refer to the Prophet.

God did not send the Qur'an alone from Heaven for a reason. Namely, that we are humans and we would have interpreted the verses very differently. So a Prophet was sent along the Book to show how all of the laws and commandments and the beliefs and practises work in practise.

3. Someone claimed the Jesus had abolished the law of stoning and believed it was incorrect. First of all, the Bible itself is without any sanad (chain of narrators) so it cannot be relied upon, in contrast to the Islamic traditions, so lies and truth can be separated.

Secondly, if we for the sake of discussion, accept that the Bible is the actual teachings and actions of Jesus, one would have to look closer at the verses which has so popularly been used to say "Jesus forbade stoning". A look at the scholarly research around these verses -- whose conclusion should be in the footnotes of these verses in any decent Bible edition -- shows us that these are infact a 5th century forgery.
//www.religioustolerance.org/chr_bibl.htm

Or the footnotes of your own edition of the Bible on verse John 8:1-11. Infact, Jesus is recorded by the very same Bible to have said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."(Mathew 5:17-18). Jesus says till the heaven and earth pass, not one iota shall be removed from the law.

4. Another person, spreading another unsubstantiated myth about relations of Iranians with Islam. Ofcourse he has no evidence whatsoever for his claims. For a refreshing and authorative study over this, one could start reading "Islam and Iran: A Historical Study of Mutual Services", a very good article written by Shaheed Mutahhari, about the Prophet's and Imam Ali's special love for Iranians and the Iranians special attachment to the Prophet and his Ahlul Bayt. //al-islam.org/al-tawhid/default.asp?url=iran/mutual.htm

If you're even more interested, there's an interesting article series about Iranians and Islam in the Mo'ud magazine, which can be read here:
//www.hawzah.net/Per/Magazine/MO/010/mo01010.htm (part 1) //www.hawzah.net/Per/Magazine/MO/012/mo01213.htm (part 2) //www.hawzah.net/Per/Magazine/MO/013/mo01312.htm (part 3)

Corr Chris

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