Re: The concept of being Stoned to Death
OKay, upon running a couple of other research I also came across some verses from the Quran suggesting that Prophet SAW indeed was allowed to make decisions and believers are supposed to follow them:
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Surah AL-AHZAB, verse 36: "It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision: if any one disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path"
Surah Nisa verse 59 "O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination."
Surah Hashr verse 7 "And whatsoever the messenger giveth you, take it. And whatsoever he forbiddeth, abstain (from it). And keep your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is stern in reprisal."**
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Surah Nisa verse 65 "But no, by the Lord, they can have no (real) Faith, until they make thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against Thy decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction."
**A small excerpt that i would also like to add from a site:
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We read in Surah al Hadeed "Oh you who believe, fear Allah and believe in his Prophet". The words "oh you who believe" illustrate that Allah is addressing the Muslims and in particular addressing the Companions of the Prophet during the time of the verse's revelation. Allah's command to the Companions to "believe in the Prophet" suggests that even during the Prophet's (s) lifetime there existed those who believed in Allah but did not possess a correct belief in the Prophet (s), hence necessitating the revelation of such a verse. Thus, as Muslims we cannot truly believe until we believe in the Prophet (s). Consequently if we have doubts in what the Prophet says and commands, then naturally our belief in the Prophet is flawed.
Amongst the Muslims a major difference of opinion is with regards to the exact nature of belief in the Prophet (s). One school asserts that obedience to the Prophet is unconditional in all circumstances, whereas the other attests that obedience is only obligatory when the Prophet (s) is speaking within his capacity as a Prophet (s). This is a major difference and in effect goes to the very heart of disunity; yet a Muslim does not have true faith until he has correct belief in the Prophet (s). For this reason is it is essential to clarify the truth of this matter.
*What does the Qur'an tell us? *
** In fact, there exist no verses in the Qur'an that prove the second thesis that obedience to the Prophet (s) is conditional and limited only to certain circumstances. On the contrary, the Qur'an makes clear that obedience to Allah (swt) can only occur if one obeys the Prophet (s) unconditionally - since the Qur'an deliberately excludes mention of any particular conditions in which obedience is not obligatory. Rather, the Qur'an commands us to obey the Prophet, and does not restrict our obedience to only a particular area. Allah (swt) is the absolute Judge, but sent Muhammad (s) to act on His behalf, so that humankind would seek guidance through the Last Messenger***.*
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All of this strongly supports the ideology that whatever Prophet SAW did, said, or decided is doubtlessly true and in harmony with the revelations. It is just like Quran ordered to pray and Prophet SAW showed us how to....,. Or Prophet SAW forbade to consume alcohol, however, nowhere in Quran alcohol consumption is forbidden (as far as my knowledge goes, PLEASE correct me if I am wrong)
Also, about the authenticity of Hadith as someone said earlier these Hadiths are handed to us by the same chain of people who compiled and handed us the Quran, so if one believes in Quran and doesn't question its authenticity, one should not question about the authenticity of Hadith either and should take them with same seriousness.
Now, what about stoning to death??? Be logical, sounds harsh but in fact targets one of the biggest evils of the society. And as i said earlier, the harsher the punishment the lesser would be chances for the crime to happen again in the future. Painlessly taking a criminal's life by lethal injection is not a punishment in my opinion... it's just like passing out after being anesthetized.... it is not setting any horrific example that would make people think twice before committing the crime in the future. Ever realized that killing oneself with a gun shot is just a matter of seconds, so it is a fun way of dying for some weirdos after carrying out a mass massacre.... what a less painful way of punishing oneself.
However, my understanding by putting all the things together is: Prophet SAW ordered adulterers (married) to be stoned to death --> Quran says to follow and obey Prophet SAW --> Islamic punishment for adulterers (married ones) is stoned to death.
But again, Islam, being the kindest religion of all, insists that the punishment should be prevented as much as possible. A’isha narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) said: **
‘Ward off punishment as much as you can. If you find any way out for a Muslim then set him free. If the Imam makes a mistake in granting forgiveness, it is better for him than that he should commit a mistake in imposing punishment.’ **
Thus any doubt about the evidence should prevent the punishment.
