Punishment

Punishment is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular action or behaviour that is deemed undesirable or unacceptable. The reasoning may be to condition a child to avoid self-endangerment, to impose social conformity (in particular, in the contexts of compulsory education or military discipline), to defend norms, to protect against future harms (in particular, those from violent crime), and to maintain the law—and respect for rule of law—under which the social group is governed.

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Seyed Ali Shobayri, Seyed Ali Shobayri is of mixed Iranian and Scottish descent who found the path of the Ahlul Bayt (a) by his own research. He holds a BA in Islamic Studies from Middlesex University through the... Answer updated 6 months ago

Bismillah, 

Asalamu Alaykom, 

The concept of stoning isn't mentioned in the Quran but is mentioned in the ahadith. 

Stoning is also found in various passages in bible such as the following: 

"20 If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, 21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you."

Deuteronomy 22:13-21

Therefore, no one from the Christians or Jews can try to argue that such a punishment is evil or wrong since they all believe that God legislated it at one point or another. 

As for the Islamic view, stoning is among the various Islamic penalties (hudūd) however, such punishments have different conditions in order for them to be implemented. It is not a simple matter for such punishments to be implemented and not any random person can do so. 

In the case of stoning, 4 upright and just witnesses must have witnessed the sexual penetration occur at the same time. This is stated in ahadith such as from Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (as) where he gives the analogy of the act being seen like how a pencil is dipped in a pot of ink. 

Now such a condition is very difficult to be achieved and this leads one to believe that such a punishment, is meant to be more of a deterrent and highlight how grave the sin of adultery is.  

So adultery if not proven by witnesses, would then be proven by admission of the person or both parties. We find that narrations show that whenever a punishment of stoning was carried out, this would have been done due to multiple admissions by the ones who did it. The philosophy of Islam however encourages one to not expose their sins and that they should instead, sincerely repent.

Some of the ulema would also state that such punishments can only be administered under the government directly led by the ma’soum and that within our current time, these punishments, wouldn’t be able to be carried out due to the absence of ma’soum. 

Such punishments are meant to also be a purifier in this world and the punishment of the world, is way lighter than that of the akhira. 

May Allah grant you success

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 8 months ago

Zina (fornication) is a major sin and the punishment of majors sins is hellfire if the sinners does not repent and sincerely seek forgiveness. Allah says in Quran: And come not near Zia, a transgression and an evil way. Sura Al-Israr', verse 32.

Zina is mentioned along with Shirk, and killing as most dangerous sins which must be avoided by the servants of Allah ( Sura Al-Forman, verse 68).

Wassalam.

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Zaid Alsalami, Shaykh Dr Zaid Alsalami is an Iraqi born scholar, raised in Australia. He obtained a BA from Al-Mustafa University, Qom, and an MA from the Islamic College in London. He also obtained a PhD from... Answered 10 months ago

Bismihi ta'ala

This would depend on the method of how it was set. Was it a vow, recited in the shar'i formula, or not? 

If it was a vow, your father is able to release you from it. Please refer to detailed Ahkam books for further explanation.

And Allah knows best

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 1 year ago

Victim of rape is never blamed for being a victim of rape unless she had some role in causing the crime e.g. deliberately going to dangerous places or exposing her body to outsiders etc. Proving the crime of rape is similar to proving any other crime.

Rape crime is a major sin in Islam which leads the rapist to hell fire. 
Wassalam.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 1 year ago

Mistreating any of the parents is very dangerous and it is a major sin which leads the sinner to hellfire beside causing misery in his life in this world. Parents need to study the reasons of this misbehaviour and try their best to make their children understand what is right and what is wrong. One of the possible reasons can be bad friends or watching bad films etc.

It is really a big challenge for the parents and they need to take advice from specialists beside seeking help from Allah (SWT).

Wassalam.

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Hassanain Govani, Hassanain Govani is based in Sweden and has an MA in History of Religion from Uppsala University and an MA in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College of London, and has also studied Arabic in... Answer updated 1 year ago

Salaamun Alaykum

I do not belive the exact phrase "marital rape" occurs in Islamic sources. That, however, does not mean that Islam condones rape within a marital context. 

The Quranic command is for husband and wife to live with each other honourably and kindly. A number of ahadith further put emphasis on this. Husbands are ordered to treat their wives with fairness, kindness and patience. They are not to harm them. 

As for sexual intercourse, husbands are further ordered to take care of their wives' needs and the husband is not to proceed with the actual coitus until the wife is ready.

Again, we remind ourselves that husbands are not allowed to mistreat and/or harm their wives. 

Hence, although the terminology "marital rape" does not occur in the sources (as far as I know), I believe one must conclude that the act as such is not allowed.

In need of your prayers

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 2 years ago

We as Muslims should have clean and loving heart. Even those who harm us, we should pray to Allah (SWT) to guide them and forgive them.

If we face an enemy of Allah, then we are allowed to pray to Allah to punish him. We must have full evidence that he is an enemy of Allah and not just of our difference with him.

Wassalam.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 2 years ago

Allah is The Most Merciful, The Forgiver. Those who repent their sins and sincerely seek forgiveness with giving back the rights of others and firm decision not to commit the sin again have been promised by Allah in Quran: Say, O My servants who have transgressed  against themselves (by sinning), Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, Verily, Allah forgives all sins, Truly He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Sura 39, Verse 53).

The Hadeeth says: The repenting believer from his sin is like a person with out sin. التائب من الذنب كمن لا ذنب له.

Repenting and sincerely seeking forgiveness and fulfilling the missed rights have definite effect in our life and spirituality.

Wassalam.

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Allah is The Most Merciful, The Most Compassionate. We are been ordered to recite and repeat these names of Mercy at least forty times in our daily obligatory Prayers ( Sura Al-Hamd contains four times of remembering the Mercy of Allah in Arrahmaan Arraheem, and it it must to recite Al-Hamd at least two times in the first and second Rak'ats in each of the five obligatory daily Prayers)

Allah The Most Merciful never punishes His creatures whom He created to shower on them His Mercy. Allah's Mercy is much greater than our imaginations. All of us are overwhelmed by His Mercy in every moment. Enemies of Allah are those who damage the life of others and insist on their crimes ignoring and rejecting Allah's continuous invitations to them to repent and leave their criminal behaviour, will be entitled to be punished. Punishment for such enemies of humanity is mentioned in Quran and Hadeeth. Eternal torment is the result of their evil intention to continue committing the crimes against humanity as far as they can. We don't know the limits of the Mercy of Allah and how He will deal with them. What we know for sure is Allah is the source of Mercy and does not punish but only those who are the worst enemies of humanity who committed worst crimes and insisted and remained criminals till death and had the intention to go on in their evil acts.

Wassalam.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 2 years ago

Ignorance can be unavoidable and can be avoidable. Unavoidable ignorance is of those who have to access to knowledge like those who live and die in far away forests or remote areas with out any access to learning or asking knowledgeable persons. Unavoidable ignorance  is not entitled to punishment because it was imposed on the ignorant and he had no choice.
Avoidable ignorance is a result of laziness or not caring to gain knowledge. Such ignorance is not pardoned. The narration states that sinful person will told on the Day of Judgement : Why did you fail to do good? He replies: I did not know. He will told: Why did you fail to learn? Then he will be punished.

'This means that gaining compulsory knowledge is also compulsory and those who were able to gain it,byte they opt to ignore or don't care for gaining the compulsory knowledge are responsible about their ignorance, unlike those ignorant who had no access at all to knowledge.

Wassalam.

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It can be very difficult to judge whether something happens due to divine punishment, versus due to natural cause and effect. It is often better to look at the situation in front of you and see what you can do about it.

There are often surprises after marriage, and being picky does not guarantee that one will be happy. People (especially younger people) also often don't know what they want until they find out, through experience, what they don't want. 

Anyway, I agree that it would be good to identify why you are not happy, and see if there is anything you can do about it. 

All you can do is your best, keeping in mind that a marriage has two sides, and if the other person is unable or unwilling to try to improve things, you can't fix it alone.  

With du'as!

Zaid Alsalami, Shaykh Dr Zaid Alsalami is an Iraqi born scholar, raised in Australia. He obtained a BA from Al-Mustafa University, Qom, and an MA from the Islamic College in London. He also obtained a PhD from... Answered 2 years ago

Bismihi ta'ala

What you did previously in rejecting marriage proposals of suitors, even though they met all the requirements that a woman should need for marriage was wrong.

Making wrong decisions also tends to affect all of us when we grow up and become more mature. We regret our immaturity and realise how negatively influenced we were by our false ideas or unrealistic expectations. Islam points this out in many hadiths, stressing on what the criteria needs to be for spouse selection, and if one neglects these recommendations, they will face many problems. 

It's very sad how we have distanced ourselves away from the teachings of Islam. 

Allah ta'ala also reminds us every once in a while how we need to mould our lives around our religion, and not turn our backs against Him. If we turn away we become miserable. We start to become negative, and even though we are surrounded with blessings, we do not see any of them. 

That being said, you should not blame your current situation on the past. You have free-will, and you choose your direction in life. You create your own mental state, and with your reliance on God and adherence to religion, you are able to have the best level of mental tranquility.

Do not think about punishment, or this unhappiness you are experiencing being because your past decisions creeping up on you, or karma, etc... This kind of thinking is not going to remove your unhappiness. 

Try to focus on why you are not happy with your husband. Is it solvable. Are there things that you or him or both of you can do to keep the marriage. What are you able to do to make your relationship survive?

Maybe both of you should visit a marriage counsellor who can teach both of you skills to improve your marriage. Maybe you should see a therapist who can give you tips on how to become happy in your life and in marriage. 

In any case, although you might have made wrong decisions in the past, it should not define who you are now, and you should not think of what you go through only as punishment from Allah ta'ala. Take control of your life and do the right thing.

Turn your previous mistakes into something positive and beneficial for others. Try to guide those around you and share your experience by informing others about marriage and spouse selection. All this will not just be forms of mental atonement, but also give you comfort that you are contributing to something good that other people can benefit from. 

With prayers for your success.