SELF-CONFESSED ADULTERY

There are some gruesome cases.  A fellow named MA�iz came to Muhammad and told him that he had committed adultery.  He repeated his confession four times.  Confessing four times stands for the four witnesses who are required to testify in case of adultery.  Upon finding that the man was married and also not mad, Muhammad ordered him to be stoned to death.  �I was one of those who stoned him,� says JAbir b. �Abdullah, the narrator of this hadIs (4196).

After this incident Muhammad harangued his followers: �Behold, as we set out for JihAd in the cause of Allah, one of you lagged behind and shrieked like the bleating of a male goat, and gave a small quantity of milk.  By Allah, in case I get hold of him, I shall certainly punish him� (4198).  The translator explains that by the metaphor of goat and milk, the Prophet means sexual lust and semen.

Similarly, a woman of GhAmid, a branch of Azd, came to Muhammad and told him that she had become pregnant as a result of fornication.  She was spared till she had given birth to her child.  An ansAr took the responsibility of suckling the infant and �she was then stoned to death� (4025).  Another hadIs tells us how it was done.  �She was put in a ditch up to her chest and he [Muhammad] commanded people and they stoned her� (4206).  Other traditions tell us that the Prophet himself cast the first stone.

author : ram swarup