A JURISPRUDENTIAL REVIEW OF THE CONTROVERSIES ON THE PUNISHMENT OF ADULTERY IN ISLAMIC CRIMINAL LAW

Abstract

Adultery and fornication are both offences technically referred to as zina under the Islamic law.
Adultery and fornication are also both prohibited in Shari’ah through the use of the word zina (an Arabic term) in the text. However, it must be said that punishment attached to adultery by the Shari’ah is different from that of fornication. While the offence of adultery attracts rajm (stoning
to death), the offence of fornication attracts whipping with 100 lashes and an exile for a year. Hence, this paper, using a doctrinal research methodology looks into the offence of adultery vis-à-vis its concept, prohibition and its punishment under Islamic law, and the contradiction and confusion galore on the punishment of stoning to death by some contemporary scholars. The paper finds that the punishment for the offence of adultery is rajm (stoning to death), while that of fornication is whipping with 100 lashes and a year exile or imprisonment. Finally,
recommendations are made generally to the Muslims Ummah and specifically to those saddled with the responsibility of manning the court where applicable.