# Does the Quran prescribe stoning for adultery?

*Primacy of the Quran in practice: the stoning penalty as a hadith law of biblical origin*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/s/3/
- Date: 2020-04-22 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Shaykh Dr. Shabir Ally | Juxtaposing the Quran, Jumbling Aisha's age & Jinn Possession | MindTrap#16 (6:20–11:34)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsQKsrXndNw&t=380s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/

**Topics:** Hudud and punishments; Sunnah versus hadith; Guest conversations

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** The Quran's penalty for adultery is flogging, not stoning, which the guest says entered Muslim law from hadith and is biblical in origin, so explaining Islam to the public must start from the Quran. Mufti Abu Layth says he agrees completely that the Quran must have primacy.

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says he is in a hundred percent agreement on the primacy of the Quran and asks the guest for examples where the dichotomy between the Quran and other narratives comes to the forefront. The guest says the examples hover around matters important in current discourse, which is why he could not leave them behind: speaking to Muslims and non-Muslims in universities and on television, he has to make sense to everyone, and the Quran points in a reasonable direction while other narratives point the opposite way. His example is the stoning of a girl in Nigeria found pregnant outside wedlock, reported with horror in British and Canadian newspapers. To reassure the public that Islam is a reasonable religion and Muslims decent citizens, he says, one must explain the origin of the law: the Quran's penalty for adultery is flogging, not stoning, and he is not calling for flogging but drawing the distinction. Stoning comes from the hadith, which Muslims have implemented to the detriment of the Quran; from his study of comparative religion he says stoning is a biblical law, so Muslims practising it are closer to the Bible than to the Quran without knowing it, and it is possible that what early Muslims observed of Jewish law came to be reported as from the Prophet through some mistake in oral transmission. He concludes that to show the public Islam is benign one must start with the Quran and show that it does not contain that law.

## Sources and names cited

- Dr Shabir Ally (guest)
- hudud (prescribed punishments)
- zina
- The Quran takes precedence over an isolated hadith

## Transcript (machine tier, 6:20–11:34)

[6:08] traditional spheres of discourse and they find themselves in a way trapped in those spheres of discourse so they cannot voice a contrary opinion of course some scholars live in dangerous circumstances so if they've voiced an opinion which is different from what the traditional populace in those circumstances think to be non-negotiables then then they might suffer harm to themselves and maybe to their families and so on so if they tend to not speak as clearly

[6:48] as we would expect about the issues which to us are so very clear sure you know on this primacy of the Quran now this is something which I you know weighing a hundred percent agreement what are some examples where you have felt that you have felt that this really this this dichotomy or this debate comes clearly to the forefront what some kind of I mean there's many but some that come to your mind as key kind of examples case studies yeah well in in fact most II saw the the examples

[7:28] actually hover around things which are very important in in current discourse and and this is why it was impossible for me to leave these issues behind because as I speak to the public I lecture in University halls to Muslims and non-muslims I speak on television again to Muslims and non-muslims I realize I have to make sense to everyone and a lot of times the the Quran would make sense but the other narratives would not make so much sense and more to the point the the Quran would be pointing in a direction that is quite

[8:06] reasonable whereas the other narratives would be pointing the direction that is contrary to where the Quran points so let me give some specifics here so let's let's say you know there is a stoning of of a girl in Nigeria who was found to be pregnant outside of wedlock and she's obviously accused of adultery and the traditional penalty is being applied to her of stoning and news of this would resound around the world probably it will be required Lee reported in the UK newspaper Daily Mail the independence and so on so - it'll be reported in

[8:44] Canadian newspapers Toronto Star and and Sun and what-have-you and these reports are not going to be very favorable towards Islam and classical Islamic law and any of this people will be horrified like why are you stoning a young girl like you know what what crime is makes her deserving of this kind to them a sort of horrific and they might say even barbaric punishment so now we want to speak to the public we want to assist assuage their fears we want to let them know that Islam is the reasonable religion Muslims are decent people committed citizens to the countries in which they live and and so

[9:22] on and if they have fears that Muslims are going to bring a law which is very different and apply it here in their faces then we want to explain to them what is the origin of this law where does it come from why is it like this so then we open up the Quran we ask okay well where in the Quran does it say that the adulterer should be stoned and the answer is as you know she know where the Quran penalty for adultery is is flogging yeah here - we're not saying that we should start flogging people now but where we're trying to make a distinction between what is mentioned in

[10:02] such a news report and what the Quran actually says so the Quran doesn't say anything about stoning so where did Muslims get the stoning law from it is in the Hadees and so it so happens then that Muslims have been implementing the Hadees it to the detriment of the Quran so the hadith law came to supersede that of of the Quran and and more interesting than this year in my study of comparative religion what I see is that this is a biblical law the law about stoning you know and Muslims by practicing the this law are actually

[10:40] closer to the Bible and they are to the to the Quran without knowing it to be the case and it's quite possible that Muslims in the first place observed the nature of the Jewish law and and what they thought should be the Jewish law came to be reported as though this was from our Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him through some mistake in communication and in transmission of the Hadi from one generation to another especially by oral reports in the early period so in a nutshell then if we wanted to

[11:19] explain to the public that Islam is something that is benign and even beneficial to them we need to start with the Quran and we need to show them that the Quran in fact does not have that law no sometimes when we speak like this some people say oh but why are you trying to please the Cofer and the answer to that is that we're not even if that was our intention to please the coffer in the end when we step back at this we have to say that ultimately what we want to do is to please Allah Azza WA JAL and to please allows our job we cannot misrepresent him enrich breatharian misrepresent his book and misrepresent his profit we have to tell

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment KsQKsrXndNw/s/3. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ksqksrxndnw/s/3/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.