17. [al-Israa, Mecca 50]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَلاَ
تَقْرَبُواْ
الزِّنَى إِنَّهُ
كَانَ فَاحِشَةً
وَسَاء سَبِيلاً ﴿٣٢﴾
17: 32. Nor come nigh to adultery:
for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils).
C2215. Adultery is not only shameful in itself and inconsistent with any self-respect or respect for others, but it opens the road to many evils.
- It destroys the basis of the family:
- it works against the interests of children born or to be born;
- it may cause murders and feuds and loss of reputation and property, and also loosen permanently the bonds of society.
Not only should it be avoided as a sin, but any approach or temptation to it should be avoided.
Adultery
Pickthall’s Version:
17: 32
Pickthall And come not near unto adultery. Lo! it is an abomination and an evil way.
Transliteration Wa la_ taqrabuz zina_ innahu_ ka_na fa_hisyah(tan), wa sa_'a sabila_(n).
[[Ali’s note - 2215 Adultery is not only shameful in itself and inconsistent with any self-respect or respect for others, but it opens the road to many evils. It destroys the basis of the family: it works against the interests of children born or to be born; it may cause murders and feuds and loss of reputation and property, and also loosen permanently the bonds of society. Not only should it be avoided as a sin, but any approach or temptation to it should be avoided. (17.32) ]]
[[ Ruby’s note 17-32 – Many social turmoil, violence and even wars started with promiscuity and lusts of the leaders who dictated such actions. Lust-Greed and Ego are the real culprits and history reveals this pattern of human dark sides.]]
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24. [an-Nur, Medina 102]
Asad’s Version:
24:2 AS FOR the adulteress and the adulterer 2 - flog each of them with a hundred stripes, and let not compassion with them keep you from [carrying out] this law of God, if you [truly] believe in God and the Last Day; and let a group of the believers witness their chastisement. 3
24:3
[Both are equally guilty:] the adulterer couples with none other than an adulteress - that is, a woman who accords [to her own lust] a place side by side with God; 4 and with the adulteress couples none other than an adulterer - that is, a man who accords (to his own lust] a place side by side with God: and this is forbidden unto the believers. 5
(24:4) And as for those who accuse chaste women [of adultery], 6 and then are unable to produce four witnesses [in support of their accusation], flog them with eighty stripes; 7 and ever after refuse to accept from them any testimony - since it is they, they that are truly depraved!
(24:5) excepting [from this interdict] only those who afterwards repent and made amends: 8 for, behold, God is much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace.
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
الزَّانِيَةُ
وَالزَّانِي
...
24: 2. The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication --
C2954. Zina includes sexual intercourse between a man and a woman not married to each other.
It therefore applies both to adultery (which implies that one or both of the parties are married to a person or persons other than the ones concerned) and to fornication, which, in its strict signification, implies that both parties are unmarried.
The law of marriage and divorce is made easy in Islam, so that there may be the less temptation for intercourse outside the well-defined incidents of marriage. This makes for greater self-respect for both man and woman.
Other sex offences are also punishable, but this Section applies strictly to Zina as above defined. [Although Zina covers both fornication and adultery, in the opinion of Muslim justice, the punishment laid down here applies only to un-married persons. As for married persons, their punishment, according to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be on him), is stoning to death. (Eds.)]
... فَاجْلِدُوا كُلَّ وَاحِدٍ مِّنْهُمَا مِئَةَ جَلْدَةٍ...
flog each of them with a hundred stripes:
...وَلَا تَأْخُذْكُم بِهِمَا رَأْفَةٌ فِي دِينِ اللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ...
let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day:
...وَلْيَشْهَدْ عَذَابَهُمَا طَائِفَةٌ مِّنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ﴿٢﴾
and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.
C2956. The punishment should be open, in order to be deterrent.
الزَّانِي
لَا يَنكِحُ
إلَّا زَانِيَةً
أَوْ مُشْرِكَةً...
24: 3. Let no man guilty of adultery or fornication marry any but a woman similarly guilty,
...وَالزَّانِيَةُ لَا يَنكِحُهَا إِلَّا زَانٍ أَوْ مُشْرِكٌ...
or an Unbeliever nor let any but such a man or an Unbeliever marry such a woman:
...وَحُرِّمَ ذَلِكَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ﴿٣﴾
to the Believers such a thing is forbidden.
C2957. Islam commands sex purity, for men and for women, at all times,
- before marriage, during marriage, and after the dissolution of marriage.
Those guilty of illicit practices are shut out of the marriage circle of chaste men and women.
وَالَّذِينَ
يَرْمُونَ
الْمُحْصَنَاتِ
ثُمَّ لَمْ
يَأْتُوا بِأَرْبَعَةِ
شُهَدَاء...
24: 4. And those who launch a charge against chaste women, and produce not four witnesses, (to support their allegation) --
...فَاجْلِدُوهُمْ ثَمَانِينَ جَلْدَةً وَلَا تَقْبَلُوا لَهُمْ شَهَادَةً أَبَدًا...
flog them with eighty stripes: and reject their evidence ever after:
C2958. The most serious notice is taken of people who put forward slanders or scandalous suggestions about women without adequate evidence.
If anything is said against a woman's chastity, it should be supported by evidence twice as strong as would ordinarily be required for business transactions, or even in murder cases. That is, four witnesses would be required instead of two. Failing such preponderating evidence, the slanderer should himself be treated as a wicked transgressor and punished with eighty stripes. Not only would he be subjected to this disgraceful form of punishment, but he would be deprived of the citizen's right of giving evidence in all matters unless he repents and reforms, in which case he can be readmitted to be a competent witness.
The verse lays down the punishment for slandering "chaste women", which by consensus of opinion also covers slandering chaste men.
Chaste women have been specifically mentioned, according to Commentators, because slandering them is more abhorrent. (Eds).
...وَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ ﴿٤﴾
for such men are wicked transgressors --
إِلَّا
الَّذِينَ
تَابُوا مِن
بَعْدِ ذَلِكَ
وَأَصْلَحُوا
...
24: 5. Unless they repent thereafter and mend (their conduct):
C2959. The punishment of stripes is inflicted in any case for unsupported slander. But the deprivation of the civic right of giving evidence can be cancelled by the man's subsequent conduct, if he repents, shows that he is sorry for what he did, and that he would not in future support by his statement anything for which he has not the fullest evidence.
Secular courts do not enforce these principles, as their standards are lower than those which good Muslims set for themselves, but good Muslims must understand and act on the underlying principles, which protect the honour of womanhood.
Abu Hanifa considers that neither the stripes nor the incompetence for giving future evidence is cancelled by repentance, but only the spiritual stigma of being "wicked transgressors". This of course is the more serious punishment, though it cannot be enforced in the Courts.
... فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ ﴿٥﴾
for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
[[ Asad’s notes -
1 I.e., "the injunctions whereof We have made self-evident by virtue of their wording": thus, according to Bukhari (Kitab at-Tafsir), 'Abd Allah ibn Abbas explains the expression faradnaha in this context (cf Fath al-Bari VIII, 361). The same explanation, also on the authority of Ibn Abbas, is advanced by Tabari. It would seem that the special stress on God's having laid down this surah "in plain terms" is connected with the gravity of the injunctions spelt out in the sequence: in other words, it implies a solemn warning against any attempt at widening or re-defining those injunctions by means of deductions, inferences or any other considerations unconnected with the plain wording of the Qur'an.
2 The term zina signifies voluntary sexual intercourse between a man and a woman not married to one another, irrespective of whether one or both of them are married to other persons or not: hence, it does not - in contrast with the usage prevalent in most Western languages - differentiate between the concepts of "adultery" (i.e., sexual intercourse of a married man with a woman other than his wife, or of a married woman with a man other than her husband) and "fornication" (i.e., sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons). For the sake of simplicity I am rendering zina throughout as "adultery", and the person guilty of it as "adulterer" or "adulteress", respectively.
3 The number of those to be present has been deliberately left unspecified, thus indicating that while the punishment must be given publicity, it need not be made a "public spectacle". ]]
[[ Asad’s notes:
4 The term mushrik (fern, mushrikah), which normally signifies a person who associates in his or her mind all manner of imaginary deities or forces with God, or who believes that any created being has a share in His qualities or powers, is here evidently used in the widest metaphorical sense of this term, denoting one who accords to his or her desires a supremacy which is due to God alone, and thus blasphemes against the principles of ethics and morality enjoined by Him. The particle aw (lit., "or") which connects the word mushrikah with the preceding word zanjyah ("adulteress") has in this context - as well as in the next clause, where both these terms appear in their
masculine form - an amplifying, explanatory value equivalent to the expression "in other words" or "that is", similar to the use of this particle in 23:6. For a further elucidation of the above passage, see next note.
5 Some of the commentators understand this passage in the sense of an injunction: "The adulterer shall not marry any but an adulteress or a mushrikah; and as for the adulteress; none shall marry her but an adulterer or a mushrik." This interpretation is objectionable on several counts: firstly, the Qur'an does not ever countenance the marriage of a believer, however great a sin he or she may have committed, with an unbeliever (in the most pejorative sense of this term); secondly, it is a
fundamental principle of Islamic Law that once a crime has been expiated by the transgressor's undergoing the ordained legal punishment (in this case, a hundred stripes), it must be regarded, insofar as the society is concerned, as atoned for and done with; and, lastly, the construction of the above passage is clearly that of a statement of fact (Razi), and cannot be interpreted as an injunction. On the other hand, since adultery is an illicit sexual union, the verb yankihu, which appears twice in this passage, cannot have the customary, specific meaning of "he marries" but must, rather, be understood in its general sense - applicable to both lawful and unlawful
sexual intercourse - namely, "he couples with" . It is in this sense that the great commentator Abu- Muslim (as quoted by Razi) explains the above verse, which stresses the fact that both partners are equally guilty inasmuch as they commit their sin consciously - implying that neither of them can excuse himself or herself on the ground of having been merely " seduced" .
6 The term muhsanat denotes literally "women who are fortified [against unchastity] ", i.e., by marriage and/or faith and self-respect, implying that, from a legal point of view, every woman must be considered chaste unless a conclusive proof to the contrary is produced. (This passage relates to women other than the accuser's own wife, for in the latter case - as shown in verses 6-9 - the law of evidence and the consequences are different.
7 By obvious implication, this injunction applies also to cases where a woman accuses a man of illicit sexual intercourse, and is subsequently unable to prove her accusation legally. The severity of the punishment to be meted out in such cases, as well as the requirement of four witnesses - instead of the two that Islamic Law regards as sufficient in all other criminal and civil suits - is based on the imperative necessity of preventing slander and off-hand accusations. As laid down in several authentic sayings of the Prophet, the evidence of the four witnesses must be direct, and not merely circumstantial: in other words, it is not sufficient for them to have witnessed a situation which made it evident that sexual intercourse was taking or had taken
place: they must have witnessed the sexual act as such, and must be able to prove this to the entire satisfaction of the judicial authority (Razi, summing up the views of the greatest exponents of Islamic Law). Since such a complete evidence is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain, it is obvious that the purpose of the above Qur'anic injunction is to preclude, in practice, all third-party accusations relating to illicit sexual intercourse - for, "man has been created weak" (4: 28) - and to make a proof of adultery dependent on a voluntary, faith- inspired confession of the guilty parties themselves. ]]
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25. [al-Furqan, Mecca 42]
Asad’s Version:
25:63 And the servants of (God) most gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, “Peace !”
(25:64) and who remember their Sustainer far into the night, prostrating themselves and standing;
(25:65) and who pray: "O our Sustainer, avert from us the suffering of hell - for, verily, the suffering caused by it is bound to be a torment dire:
(25:66) verily, how evil an abode and a station!" -;
25:67 and who, whenever they spend on others, 51 are neither wasteful nor niggardly but [remember that] there is always a just mean between those [two extremes];
(25:68) and who never invoke any [imaginary] deity side by side with God, and do not take any human being's life - [the life] which God has willed to be sacred - otherwise than in [the pursuit of] justice, 52 and do not commit adultery. And [know that] he who commits aught thereof 3 shall [not only] meet with a full requital
(25:69) [but] shall have his suffering doubled on Resurrection Day: for on that
[Day] he shall abide in ignominy.
25:70 Excepted, however, shall be they who repent and attain to faith and do righteous deeds: for it is they whose [erstwhile] bad deeds God will transform into good ones - seeing that God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace, (25:71) and seeing that he who repents and [thenceforth] does what is right has truly turned unto God by [this very act of] repentance.
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
وَالَّذِينَ
إِذَا
أَنفَقُوا لَمْ
يُسْرِفُوا
وَلَمْ يَقْتُرُوا...
25: 67. Those who, when they spend, are not extravagant and not niggardly,
... وَكَانَ بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ قَوَامًا ﴿٦٧﴾
but hold a just (balance) between those (extremes);
C3127. In ordinary spending this is a wise rule. But even in charity, in which we give of our best, it is not expected that we should be extravagant, i.e., that we should either do it for show, to impress other people, or do it thoughtlessly, which would be the case if we "rob Peter to pay Paul".
We should certainly not be niggardly, but we should remember everyone's rights, including our own, and strike a perfectly just balance between them.
[[ Asad’s notes - 51 In the Qur'an, the verb anfaqa (and the corresponding noun nafaqah) has usually this connotation.
52 See surah 6, note 148.
53 Lit., "he who does that (dhalika)", i.e., any of the three sins referred to in this verse. (For my translation of zina as "adultery", see surah 24, note 2.)