Zina : The Punishment Of Zina and Minor Zina

Zina is an Islamic law corncerning unlawful sexual relations between muslims who are not married to one another through a nikah.

Narrated by Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, Messenger of Allah (SAW) said, "Whenever a man is alone with woman shaytan makes a third." (Al-Tirmidhi 3118).

Zina includes extramarital sex  and premarital sex such as 

• Adultery : consensual sexual relations outside marriage.
• Fornication : consensual sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons.
• Homosexuality : consensual sexual relations between same-sex partners.

The Process of Accusation and Punishment of Zina

Islam requires evidence before a man or a woman can be punished for zina.There are

• A confession by a Muslim of zina.However, the person has a right to retract his/ her confession; if confession is retracted , he/she is not punishable for zina ( barring the presence of four male Muslim witnesses), or
• The woman is pregnant but not married, or
• The testimony of four reliable Muslim adult male eyewitnesses, all of whom must have witnessed the penetration at the sama time.

Qur'an, Surah Al-Nisa ayah 15

" If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, take the evidence of four reliable witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death to claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way."

Qur'an, Surah An-Nur ayah 11 and ayah 13 also reveal  the four witnesses requirement for zina that applies in the case of an accusation against  man or woman.

There is disagreement between Islamic Scholars on whether female eyewitnesses are acceptable witnesses in cases of zina.Islamic scholars state the requirement of four male eyewitnesses were to address zina in public.

For the crimes, Sharia considers two female witnesses equal the witnesses of one male.

In Sunni Fiqhs of Islam, female Muslim, child, and non Muslim witnesses of zina are not acceptable.

Any uninvolved Muslim witness or victim of non consensual sexsual intercourse, who accuses a Muslim of zina, but fails to produce four adults, pious male eyewitnesses before a Sharia Court, commits the crime of false accusation ( Qadhf ), punishable with eighty lashes in public.

Some Fiqhs (School of Islamic Jurisprudence) created the principle of shubha (doubt), wherein there would be no zina charges if a Muslim man claims he believed he was having sex with a woman he was married to or with a woman he owned as a slave.

All Sunni Schools of Jurisprudence agree that zina is to be punished with lethal stoning if the offender is a married Muslim (Muhsan).The punishnent for zina by a muhsan is a hundred lashes followed by stoning to death in public.Persons who are not muhsan (unmarried muslim) are punished for zina with one hundred lashes in public.But their life is spared.

Pregnancy of unmarried woman is regarded as evidence of zina.

Maliki School of Islamic Jurisprudence considers pregnancy as sufficient or authomatic service.

Other Sunni Schools of Jurisprudence rely on early Islamic Schoolars that state that a fetus can sleep and stop developing for 5 years in womb, and thus a woman who was previously married but now divorced may not have committed zina even if she delivers a baby years after her divorce.These alternate fiqhs of Sunni Islam consider pregnancy of never married woman as evidence of her committing crime of zina.

The Maliki do not require Ihsan for the imposition of stoning.

According to Hanafis, Homosexual intercourse can only be punished on the strength of tazir.Minimal proof for zina is still the testimony of four male eyewitnesses, even in the case of homosexual intercouse.

Accusation process and punishment vary from country to country.Prosecution of extramarital pregnancy as zina as well as prosecution of rape victims for the crime of zina, have been the source of wordwide controvercy in recent years.

The Minor Zina

Thera are minor zina :

• The zina of the eyes is the lustful look.
• The zina of ears is the listening to voluptuous songs or talks.
• The zina of tongue is the licentious speech.
• The zina of hands is the lustful grip.
• The zina of feet is the walking to the place where he intends to commit zina.

Although there is no prescribed punishnent for the minor zina including the zina of eyes, the zina of ears, the zina of tongue, the zina of hands, and the zina of feet in the life of this world.If one dies without seeking taubah and repentance from Allah, he will be held severely countable for these acts of minor zina in The Presence of The Majestic Lord in the hereafter.