View source for Zina

{{Short description|Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse}}
{{About|unlawful sexual intercourse in Islam
|extramarital affairs in general|Adultery|and|Fornication}}
{{Other uses}}
{{italic title}}
{{Fiqh|criminal}}

'''''Zināʾ''''' ({{lang|sd|زِنَاء}}) or '''''zinā''''' ({{lang|ar|زِنًى}} or {{lang|ar|زِنًا}}) is an [[Sharia|Islamic legal]] term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse.<ref>Peters, R. (2012). "Zinā or Zināʾ". In P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill.</ref><ref name="Semerdjian">{{cite encyclopedia|first=Elyse|last=Semerdjian|title=Zinah|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0984|url-access=subscription|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=9780195305135}}</ref> According to [[Fiqh|traditional jurisprudence]], ''zina'' can include [[adultery]],<ref name="ill" /><ref name="shahnaz">{{cite book |last1=Khan |first1=Shahnaz |title=Zina, Transnational Feminism, and the Moral Regulation of Pakistani Women |date=2011 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=9780774841184 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9IfJl4J7MAgC&q=adultery+fornication+zina&pg=PA8 |access-date=13 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Habeeb">{{cite book |last1=Akande |first1=Habeeb |title=A Taste of Honey: Sexuality and Erotology in Islam |date=2015 |publisher=Rabaah Publishers |isbn=9780957484511 |page=145 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKyPCgAAQBAJ&q=adultery+fornication+zina&pg=PA145 |language=en}}</ref> [[fornication]],<ref name="ill" /><ref name="shahnaz" /><ref name="Habeeb" /> [[prostitution]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Meri |first1=Josef W. |title=Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z, index |date=2006 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9780415966924 |page=646 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LaV-IGZ8VKIC&q=prostitution+zina&pg=PA646 |language=en}}</ref> [[sodomy]],<ref name="ill" /><ref name="sam">{{cite book|last1=Habib|first1=Samar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9y_TyzK9_5oC&q=homosexuality+zina&pg=PA211|title=Islam and Homosexuality|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313379031|edition=1st|page=211|language=en|access-date=12 July 2019}}</ref> [[incest]],<ref name="clarke">{{cite book |last1=Clarke |first1=Morgan |title=Islam and New Kinship: Reproductive Technology and the Shariah in Lebanon |date=2009 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=9781845454326 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MwreDKOTXM8C&q=incest+zina&pg=PA42 |access-date=13 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Hashim">{{cite book |last1=Kamali |first1=Mohammad Hashim |title=Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: A Fresh Interpretation |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190910648 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNGaDwAAQBAJ&q=incest+zina&pg=PA94 |access-date=13 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref> and [[bestiality]].<ref name="ill">{{cite book |last1=Semerdjian |first1=Elyse |title="Off the Straight Path": Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo |date=2008 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=9780815651550 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cZzuBMnBKfUC&q=bestiality+zina&pg=PA53 |access-date=13 July 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="law">{{cite book |last1=Ahmed |first1=Syed |title=Law relating to fornication (Zina) in the Islamic legal system: a comparative study |date=1999 |publisher=Andhra Legal Decisions |page=3,71,142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N24mAQAAIAAJ&q=bestiality+zina |language=en}}</ref> ''Zina'' must be proved by testimony of four Muslim eyewitnesses to the actual act of penetration, confession repeated four times and not retracted later.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Peters|first1=Rudolph|title=Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521796705|pages=53–55}}</ref><ref name="Semerdjian" /> The offenders must have acted of their own free will.<ref name="Semerdjian" /> Rapists could be prosecuted under different legal categories which used normal evidentiary rules.<ref name="aquraishi">A. Quraishi (1999), Her honour: an Islamic critique of the rape provisions in Pakistan's ordinance on ''zina'', ''Islamic studies'', Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 403–431</ref> Accusing ''zina'' without presenting the required eyewitnesses is called ''qadhf'' ({{lang|ar|القذف}}), which is itself a ''[[hudud]]'' offense.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Peters|first1=Rudolph|title=Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: : Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521796705|page=63}}</ref>

There are very few recorded examples of the [[Stoning in Islam|stoning penalty]] for ''zinā'' being implemented legally. Before [[legal reform]] was introduced in several countries during the 20th century, the procedural requirements for proving the offense of ''zinā'' to the standard necessary to impose the stoning penalty were effectively impossible to meet.<ref name=Semerdjian/><ref name=Semerdjian2>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Elyse|last=Semerdjian|title=Zinah|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2013|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref:oiso/9780199764464.001.0001/acref-9780199764464-e-0406|url-access=subscription|doi=10.1093/acref:oiso/9780199764464.001.0001|isbn=9780199764464}}</ref>

''Zina'' became a more pressing issue in modern times, as [[Islamist]] movements and governments employed polemics against public immorality.<ref name=Semerdjian/> In recent decades, several countries passed legal reforms that incorporated elements of hudud laws into their legal codes, and many modern Islamists have also disregarded the condition of strict evidence requirements.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Knut S.|last=Vikør|title=Sharīʿah|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor=Emad El-Din Shahin|year=2014|url=http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226|access-date=2017-02-25|archive-date=2017-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202054116/http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226|url-status=dead}}</ref> In Nigeria, local courts have passed several stoning sentences, all of which were overturned on appeal or left unenforced.<ref>{{cite book|author= Gunnar J. Weimann|title=Islamic Criminal Law in Northern Nigeria: Politics, Religion, Judicial Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2joqx6vG74cC&pg=PA77|page=77|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|year=2010|isbn=9789056296551}}</ref> In Pakistan, the [[Hudood Ordinances]] of 1979 subsumed prosecution of rape under the category of ''zina'', making rape extremely difficult to prove and exposing the victims to jail sentences for admitting illicit intercourse forced upon them,<ref name=Semerdjian/><ref name=aquraishi/> although these laws were amended in 2006,<ref name=Semerdjian2/> and again in 2016.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/world/asia/pakistan-toughens-laws-on-rape-and-honor-killings-of-women.html|title=Pakistan Toughens Laws on Rape and 'Honor Killings' of Women|date=Oct 6, 2016}}</ref> According to human rights organizations, [[Stoning in Islam|stoning to death]] for ''zina'' has also been carried out in Saudi Arabia.<ref name="EI2">{{Cite encyclopedia|year=2012|title=Zinā or Zināʾ|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam|publisher=Brill|last=Peters|first=R.|editor=P. Bearman|edition=2nd|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_8168|editor2=Th. Bianquis|editor3=C.E. Bosworth|editor4=E. van Donzel|editor5=W.P. Heinrichs}}</ref> ''Zina'' and rape are two different crimes under Islamic Law. Ordinances like the [[Hudood Ordinances]] are not Islamic, in terms of rape and ''zina''.

==Islamic scriptures==
Muslim scholars have historically considered ''zinā'' a ''[[hudud]]'' sin, or crime against God.<ref>Reza Aslan (2004), "The Problem of Stoning in the Islamic Penal Code: An Argument for Reform", ''UCLA Journal of Islamic and Near East Law'', Vol 3, No. 1, pp. 91–119</ref> It is mentioned in both Quran and in the [[Hadith]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=How Islam Views Adultery|url=https://archive.islamonline.net/1027|website=islamonline.net|access-date=July 6, 2020}}</ref>

===Introduction and definition===
The Quran deals with ''zina''ʾ in several places. First is the Qur'anic general rule that commands [[Muslims]] not to commit ''zina'':
{{blockquote|Do not go near adultery. It is truly a shameful deed and an evil way.|{{qref|17|32|c=y}}}}

In the [[Hadith]]s, the definitions of ''zina'' have been described as all the forms of [[sexual intercourse]], penetrative or non-penetrative, outside of marriage.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

{{blockquote|text=Abu Huraira reported [[Muhammad|Allah's Apostle]] as saying: “Allah has decreed for every son of Adam his share of zina, which he will inevitably commit. The zina of the eyes is looking, the zina of the tongue is speaking, one may wish and desire, and the private parts confirm that or deny it.”|source={{Hadith-usc|usc=yas|bukhari|8|77|609}}, {{Hadith-usc|usc=yas|muslim|33|6421}}}}

===Adultery and fornication===
====Quran====

Stoning punishment, a form of capital punishment for adultery, is not mentioned in the canonical text of the Quran.<ref>Dmitry V. Frolov (2006). "Stoning". In Jane Dammen McAuliffe (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Vol. 5. Brill. p. 130.</ref> Most of the rules related to fornication, adultery and false accusations from a husband to his wife or from members of the community to chaste women can be found in Surah an-Nur (the Light). The [[surah]] starts by giving very specific rules about punishment for ''zina'':<ref>[[Khaleel Mohammed]],"Sex, Sexuality and The Family", appearing in The Blackwell Companion to The Quran edited by Andrew Rippin, Blackwell Publishing, 2006, p. 304.</ref>

{{blockquote|As for female and male fornicators, give each of them one hundred lashes, and do not let pity for them make you lenient in ˹enforcing˺ the law of Allah, if you ˹truly˺ believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a number of believers witness their punishment.|{{qref|24|2|c=y}}}}

{{blockquote|Those who accuse chaste women ˹of adultery˺ and fail to produce four witnesses, give them eighty lashes ˹each˺. And do not ever accept any testimony from them—for they are indeed the rebellious— except those who repent afterwards and mend their ways, then surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.|{{qref|24|4–5|c=y}}}}

According to [[Jonathan A.C. Brown]], Surah an-Nisa verse 4:25 prescribes punishment for a female slave guilty of a sexual offense as half of the punishment of a free woman:<ref>Brown, Jonathan A.C., <u>Slavery and Islam</u> OneWorld Academic, 2019, p. 70</ref>

{{blockquote | But if any of you cannot afford to marry a free believing woman, then ˹let him marry˺ a believing bondwoman possessed by one of you. Allah knows best ˹the state of˺ your faith ˹and theirs˺. You are from one another. So marry them with the permission of their owners, giving them their right of Mehar ( a compulsory gift to bride)  in fairness, if they are chaste, neither promiscuous nor having secret affairs. If they commit indecency after marriage, they receive half the punishment of free women. This is for those of you who fear falling into sin. But if you are patient, it is better for you. And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/4/25/ – Quran 4:25] }}

====Hadith====
The public lashing punishment for fornication and adultery are also prescribed in [[Hadith]]s, the books most trusted in Islam after Quran, particularly in ''Kitab Al-Hudud''.<ref name="zmh">Z. Mir-Hosseini (2011), Criminalizing sexuality: zina laws as violence against women in Muslim contexts, SUR-Int'l Journal on Human Rights, 8(15), pp. 7–33</ref><ref>Ziba Mir-Hosseini (2001), Marriage on Trial: A Study of Islamic Family Law, {{ISBN|978-1860646089}}, pp. 140–223</ref>{{nonspecific|date=January 2016}}

{{blockquote|text='Ubada b. As-Samit reported: Allah's Messenger as saying: Receive teaching from me, receive teaching from me. Allah has ordained a way for those women. When an unmarried male commits adultery with an unmarried female, they should receive one hundred lashes and banishment for one year. And in case of married male committing adultery with a married female, they shall receive one hundred lashes and be stoned to death.|source={{Hadith-usc|usc=yas|muslim|17|4191}}}}

{{blockquote|quote=Ma'iz came to the Prophet and admitted having committed adultery four times in his presence so he ordered him to be stoned to death, but said to Huzzal: If you had covered him with your garment, it would have been better for you.|source={{Hadith-usc|usc=yas|abudawud|38|4364}}}}

[[Hadith Sahih al Bukhari]], another authentic source of sunnah, has several entries which refer to death by [[stoning]].<ref>Hina Azam (2012), Rape as a Variant of Fornication (Zina) in Islamic Law: An Examination of the Early Legal Reports, Journal of Law & Religion, Volume 28, 441–459</ref> For example,

{{blockquote|text=Narrated 'Aisha: 'Utba bin Abi Waqqas said to his brother Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas, "The son of the slave girl of Zam'a is from me, so take him into your custody." So in the year of Conquest of Mecca, Sa'd took him and said. (This is) my brother's son whom my brother has asked me to take into my custody." 'Abd bin Zam'a got up before him and said, (He is) my brother and the son of the slave girl of my father, and was born on my father's bed." So they both submitted their case before Allah's Apostle. Sa'd said, "O Allah's Apostle! This boy is the son of my brother and he entrusted him to me." 'Abd bin Zam'a said, "This boy is my brother and the son of the slave girl of my father, and was born on the bed of my father." Allah's Apostle said, "The boy is for you, O 'Abd bin Zam'a!" Then Allah's Apostle further said, "The child is for the owner of the bed, and the stone is for the adulterer," He then said to Sauda bint Zam'a, "Veil (screen) yourself before him," when he saw the child's resemblance to 'Utba. The boy did not see her again till he met Allah.|source={{Hadith-usc|usc=yas|bukhari|9|89|293}}}}

Other [[hadith]] collections on ''zina'' between men and woman include:
* The stoning ([[Rajm]]) of a Jewish man and woman for having committed illegal sexual intercourse.<ref>{{Hadith-usc|usc=yas|bukhari|2|23|413}}</ref>
* [[Abu Hurairah]] states that the Prophet, in a case of intercourse between a young man and a married woman, sentenced the woman to [[stoning]]<ref name=bhala>[https://books.google.com/books?id=P8MuP_POzh0C&dq=punishment+for+zina+stoning&pg=PT979 Understanding Islamic Law] By Raj Bhala, LexisNexis, May 24, 2011</ref> and the young man to [[flogging]] and [[banishment]] for a year. (Sahih Muslim 17:4209) <ref>{{cite web | url=https://hadithcollection.com/sahihmuslim/sahih-muslim-book-17-punishments-prescribed-by-islam/sahih-muslim-book-017-hadith-number-4209 | title=Sahih Muslim Book 17, Hadith Number 4209 | date=2 July 2009 }}</ref><ref>Ismail Poonwala (2007), The Pillars of Islam: Laws pertaining to human intercourse, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195689075, pp. 448–457</ref>

===Rape===
{{main|Rape in Islamic law}} 
Rape has been defined as ''zina al-jabr'' (forceful illicit sex) in the traditional Islamic texts. Few [[hadiths]] have been found regarding rape in the time of Muhammad. The most popular transmitted hadith given below indicates the ordinance of stoning for the rapist but no punishment and no requirement of four eyewitnesses for the rape victim.<ref>{{cite book | title=Sexuality in Islam | publisher=Saqi Books | author=Bouhdiba, Abdelwahab | year=1985 | pages=288 | isbn=9780863564932}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Sex and Sexuality in Islam | publisher=Nashriyat | author=Khan, Muhammad Aftab | year=2006 | location=The University of Michigan | pages=764 | isbn=9789698983048}}</ref>
	
{{blockquote|text= Narrated 'Alqamah bin Wa'il Al-Kindi:
From his father: "A woman went out during the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) to go to Salat, but she was caught by a man and he had relations with her, so she screamed and he left. Then a man came across her and she said: 'That man has done this and that to me', then she came across a group of Emigrants (Muhajirin) and she said: 'That man did this and that to me.' They went to get the man she thought had relations with her, and they brought him to her. She said: 'Yes, that's him.' So they brought him to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and when he ordered that he be stoned, the man who had relations with her, said: 'O Messenger of Allah, I am the one who had relations with her.' So he said to her: 'Go, for Allah has forgiven you.' Then he said some nice words to the man (who was brought). And he said to the man who had relations with her: 'Stone him.' Then he said: 'He has repented a repentance that, if the inhabitants of Al-Madinah had repented with, it would have been accepted from them.'"|source=[[Jami` at-Tirmidhi]], [http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/17 17:37], {{Hadith-usc|abudawud|usc=yas|38|4366}}}}

The hadiths declare rape of a free or slave woman as ''zina''.<ref name=anisr>{{cite book|last1=Abiad|first1=Nisrine|title=Sharia, Muslim States and International Human Rights Treaty Obligations: A Comparative Study|date=2008|pages=136}}</ref>

====View of scholars====
{{blockquote|text=Malik related to me from Nafi that a slave was in charge of the slaves in the khumus and he forced a slave-girl among those slaves against her will and had intercourse with her. Umar ibn al-Khattab had him flogged and banished him, and he did not flog the slave-girl because the slave had forced her.|source={{Hadith-usc|bukhari|usc=yas|1|85|81|}},<ref>{{cite web | url=http://sunnah.com/bukhari/89/10 | title=Bukhari, Book: 89 – Statements made under Coercion, Chapter 6: If a woman is compelled to commit illegal sexual intercourse against her will | publisher=sunnah.com | access-date=14 August 2015}}</ref>{{Hadith-usc|muwatta|usc=yas|41|3|15|}}}}

{{blockquote|text=Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab that gave a judgment that the rapist had to pay the raped woman her bride-price. Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "What is done in our community about the man who rapes a woman, virgin or non-virgin, if she is free, is that he must pay the bride-price of the like of her. If she is a slave, he must pay what he has diminished of her worth. The hadd-punishment in such cases is applied to the rapist, and there is no punishment applied to the raped woman. If the rapist is a slave, that is against his master unless he wishes to surrender him."|source={{Hadith-usc|muwatta|usc=yas|36|16|14|}}}}

If a confession or the four witnesses required to prove a ''hadd'' crime are not available, but rape can be proved by other means, the rapist is sentenced under the ''[[Tazir|ta'zir]]'' system of judicial discretion.<ref name=irfi>{{Cite web|title = Rape against Muslim Women|url = http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_351_400/rape_against_muslim_women.htm|website = www.irfi.org|access-date = 2016-01-16}}</ref> According to the eleventh-century Maliki jurist [[Ibn 'Abd al-Barr]]:<ref name=irfi/>

{{blockquote|text=The scholars are unanimously agreed that the rapist is to be subjected to the hadd punishment if there is clear evidence against him that he deserves the hadd punishment, or if he admits to that. Otherwise, he is to be punished (i.e., if there is no proof that the hadd punishment for zina may be carried out against him because he does not confess, and there are not four witnesses, then the judge may punish him and stipulate a punishment that will deter him and others like him). There is no punishment for the woman if it is true that he forced her and overpowered her, which may be proven by her screaming and shouting for help.|source=Al-Istidhkaar, 7/146}}

===Homosexuality===
{{Main|Homosexuality in Islam}}
Islamic teachings (in the ''[[hadith]]'' tradition<ref name=somwr/>) presume same-sex attraction, extol abstention and (in the [[Qur'an]]<ref name=adang>Camilla Adang (2003), Ibn Hazam on Homosexuality, [[:fr:Qantara|Al Qantara]], Vol. 25, No. 1, p. 531</ref><ref name=somwr/>) condemn consummation.   
There are no reports relating to homosexuality in the best known and authentic hadith collections of ''[[Sahih al-Bukhari]]'' and ''[[Sahih Muslim]]'', other canonical collections record a number of condemnations of the "act of the people of Lut" (male-to-male [[anal intercourse]]).<ref name=iranica-law>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Rowson |first=Everett K. |title=HOMOSEXUALITY ii. IN ISLAMIC LAW |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/homosexuality-ii |volume=XII/4 |pages=441–445 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |location=[[New York City|New York]] |date=30 December 2012 |orig-year=15 December 2004 |doi=10.1163/2330-4804_EIRO_COM_11037 |doi-access=free |issn=2330-4804 |access-date=13 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517035334/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/homosexuality-ii |archive-date=17 May 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Some Quranic verses are used to propose a prohibition of homosexual activities, including:<ref name=adang/><ref name=somwr>Stephen O. Murray and Will Roscoe (1997), Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature, {{ISBN|978-0814774687}}, New York University Press, pp. 88–94</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Michaelson|first=Jay|title=God Vs. Gay? The Religious Case for Equality|year=2011|publisher=Beacon Press|location=Boston|isbn=9780807001592|pages=[https://archive.org/details/godvsgayreligiou00mich/page/68 68–69]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/godvsgayreligiou00mich/page/68}}</ref>

{{blockquote|And ˹remember˺ when Lot scolded ˹the men of˺ his people, ˹saying,˺ “Do you commit a shameful deed that no man has ever done before? You lust after men instead of women! You are certainly transgressors.”|{{qref|7|80–81|c=y}}}}

In another verse, the statement of the prophet Lot has also been pointed out,
{{blockquote|Why do you ˹men˺ lust after fellow men, leaving the wives that your Lord has created for you? In fact, you are a transgressing people.”|{{qref|26|165–166|c=y}}}}

Some scholars indicate this verse as the prescribed punishment for homosexuality in the Quran:
{{blockquote|And the two among you who commit this sin—discipline them. If they repent and mend their ways, relieve them. Surely Allah is ever Accepting of Repentance, Most Merciful.|{{qref|4|16|c=y}}}}

However, there are different interpretations of the last verse where the Quran refers to as "two among you". Pakistani scholar [[Javed Ahmed Ghamidi]] sees it as a reference to premarital sexual relationships between men and women. In his opinion, the preceding Ayat of Sura Nisa deals with prostitutes of the time. He believes these rulings were temporary and were abrogated later when a functioning state was established and society was ready for permanent rulings, which came in Sura Nur, Ayat 2 and 3, prescribing flogging as a punishment for adultery. He does not see stoning as a prescribed punishment, even for married men, and considers the Hadiths quoted supporting that view to be dealing with either rape or prostitution, where the strictest punishment under Islam for spreading "fasad fil ardh", meaning corruption in the land, referring to egregious acts of defiance to the rule of law was carried out.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}}

Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali jurists insist that anal sex between men is a [[hudud]] crime punished with death, however Hanafi jurists argue that the act is immoral and forbidden but does not qualify as a [[hudud]] violation.<ref>Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle (2003), "Sexuality, Diversity, and Ethics" in <u>Progressive Muslims</u> edited by Omid Safi, OneWorld Publications, p. 217</ref>

The Hadiths consider homosexuality as ''zina''.<ref name="hmy">{{cite web|author1=Mohd Izwan bin Md Yusof|author2=Muhd. Najib bin Abdul Kadir|author3=Mazlan bin Ibrahim|author4=Khader bin Ahmad|author5=Murshidi bin Mohd Noor|author6=Saiful Azhar bin Saadon|title=Hadith Sahih on Behaviour of LGBT|url=http://www.islam.gov.my/images/ePenerbitan/Hadis-hadis_Sahih_Berkaitan_Perlakuan_LGBT_BI.pdf|access-date=26 July 2019|website=islam.gov.my|publisher=[[Government of Malaysia]]|language=en}}</ref> For example, Abu Dawud state,<ref name=somwr/>{{nonspecific|date=January 2016}}<ref name=mohelawa>Mohamed S. El-Awa (1993), Punishment In Islamic Law, American Trust Publications, {{ISBN|978-0892591428}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2016}}
{{blockquote|text=From Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, the Prophet states that: "If a woman comes upon a woman, they are both adulteresses, if a man comes upon a man, then they are both adulterers.”|source=Al-Tabarani in al-Mu‘jam al-Awat: 4157, Al-Bayhaqi, Su‘ab al-Iman: 5075}}

The discourse on homosexuality in Islam is primarily concerned with activities between men. There are, however, a few hadith mentioning homosexual behavior in women;<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author1=Al-Hurr al-Aamili|author-link1=Al-Hurr al-Aamili|title=Wasā'il al-Shīʿa|title-link=Wasā'il al-Shīʿa|script-title=ar: وسائل الشيعة|trans-title=Things of the followers|language=ar|at=Hadith number 34467-34481}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Atighetchi|first1=Dariusch|title=Islamic bioethics problems and perspectives|date=2007|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|location=New York|isbn=9781402049620|page=149|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tdm9V89lW3IC&pg=PA149|access-date=13 July 2017|language=en}}</ref> The jurists are agreed that "there is no hadd punishment for lesbianism, because it is not zina. Rather a ta’zeer punishment must be imposed, because it is a sin..'".{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} Although punishment for lesbianism is rarely mentioned in the histories, [[al-Tabari]] records an example of the casual execution of a pair of lesbian slavegirls in the [[Harem (household)|harem]] of [[al-Hadi]], in a collection of highly critical anecdotes pertaining to that [[Caliph|Caliph's]] actions as ruler.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bosworth|first=C.E.|title=The History of al-Tabari Vol. 30: The 'Abbasid Caliphate in Equilibrium: The Caliphates of Musa al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid A.D. 785–809/A.H. 169–193|year=1989|publisher=SUNY Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqf1gwM9O58C&q=Tabari+lesbian+Caliph+al-Hadi&pg=PA73|isbn=9780887065644}}</ref> Some jurists viewed sexual intercourse as possible only for an individual who possesses a [[phallus]];<ref name="Omar"/> hence those definitions of sexual intercourse that rely on the entry of as little as the [[Corona of glans penis|corona of the phallus]] into a partner's orifice.<ref name="Omar"/> Since women do not possess a phallus and cannot have intercourse with one another, they are, in this interpretation, physically incapable of committing ''zina''.<ref name="Omar"/>

=== Anal sex ===
{{main|Sexuality in Islam#Anal sex}}
All Sunni Muslim jurists agree that anal sex is haram (prohibited), based on the hadith of Muhammad.<ref name="ifn">{{cite book |last1=Drissner |first1=Gerald |title=Islam for Nerds: 500 Questions and Answers |date=2016 |publisher=pochemuchka (Gerald Drissner) |isbn=978-3-9819848-4-2 |page=679 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odXkDwAAQBAJ&q=anal+islam&pg=PA679 |access-date=6 June 2020 |language=en}}</ref> In contrast, according to Twelver Shia Muslim jurists, anal sex is considered [[makruh]] (strongly disliked) but is permissible with the consent of the wife.<ref>{{cite web |title=From Marriage to Parenthood The Heavenly Path – Chapter 2: Sexual Etiquette |url=https://www.al-islam.org/marriage-parenthood-heavenly-path/chapter-2-sexual-etiquette |website=Al-Islam.org|date=30 January 2013 }}</ref>

Many scholars point to the story of [[Lot in Islam|Lot]] in the Quran as an example of sodomy being an egregious sin. However, multiple others hold the view that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was not specifically due to the sodomy practiced in those towns but as a combination of multiple transgressions. The death by stoning for people of Sodom and Gomorrah is similar to the stoning punishment stipulated for illegal heterosexual sex. There is no punishment for a man who sodomizes a woman because it is not tied to procreation. However, other jurists insist that any act of lust in which the result is the injection of semen into another person constitutes sexual intercourse.<ref name="Joseph 2006">{{cite book |last=Joseph |first=Suad |title=Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures |year=2006 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, Boston}}</ref>

Sodomy often falls under that same category as sex between an unmarried man and woman engaging in sexual acts. Male-male intercourse is referred to as ''liwat'' while female-female intercourse is referred to as ''sihaq''. Both are considered reprehensible acts, but there is no consensus on punishment for either. Some jurists define ''zināʾ'' exclusively as the act of unlawful vaginal penetration, hence categorizing and punishing anal penetration in different ways. Other jurists included both vaginal and anal penetration within the definition of ''zināʾ'' and hence extended the punishment of the one to the other.<ref name="Omar">{{cite web |last=Omar |first=Sara |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t349/e0010 |publisher=Oxford Islamic Studies Online |access-date=3 May 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150908183225/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t349/e0010 |archive-date=8 September 2015 }}</ref>

Religious discourse has mostly focused on such sexual acts, which are unambiguously condemned. The Quran refers explicitly to male-male sexual relations only in the context of the story of Lot, but labels the Sodomites's actions (universally understood in the later tradition as anal intercourse) an "abomination" (female-female relations are not addressed). Reported pronouncements by Muhammad (''hadith'') reinforce the interdiction on male-male sodomy, although there are no reports of his ever adjudicating an actual case of such an offence; he is also quoted as condemning cross-gender behaviour for both sexes and banishing them from local places, but it is unclear to what extent this is to be understood as involving sexual relations. Several early caliphs, confronted with cases of sodomy between males, are said to have had both partners executed by a variety of means. While taking such precedents into account, medieval jurists were unable to achieve a consensus on this issue; some legal schools prescribed capital punishment for sodomy, but others opted only for a relatively mild discretionary punishment. There was general agreement, however, that other homosexual acts (including any between females) were lesser offences, subject only to discretionary punishment.<ref name="Rowson">{{cite web |last=Rowson |first=Everett |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3403500196&v=2.1&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA |access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref>

===Incest===
Hadith forbids incestuous relationship (''zinā bi'l-mahārim''), sexual intercourse between someone who is [[mahram]] and prescribes execution as punishment.<ref name="clarke"/><ref name="Hashim"/>

{{blockquote|text=Narrated Ibn 'Abbas: That the Prophet said: "If a man says to another man: 'O you Jew' then beat him twenty times. If he says: 'O you effeminate' then beat him twenty times. And whoever has relations with someone that is a mahram (family member or blood relative) then kill him."|source=[[Jami` at-Tirmidhi]], [http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/17/46 17:46]}}

{{blockquote|text=It was narrated from Ibn`Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:“Whoever has intercourse with a Mahram relative, kill him; and whoever has intercourse with an animal, kill him, and kill the animal.”|source=[[Sunan Ibn Majah]], [https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:2564]}}

===Masturbation===
{{main|Islam and masturbation}}

Islamic scripture does not specifically mention masturbation. Like most people before the morals of the [[Age of Enlightenment]], pre-modern Islam faced masturbation mostly with indifference.<ref name="doi.org">Anchassi, O. (2022). The Churning in the Flogging of ʿUmayra: Or, Towards a History of Masturbation in Premodern Islamic Law. Studi Magrebini, 20(2), 213–246. https://doi.org/10.1163/2590034x-20220075</ref> A few ''hadiths'' underline this view. [[Muhammad]] is reported to have said that "it is your fluid, or your member, so do whatever you like, as it were."<ref name="doi.org"/> There are a few ''[[hadith]]s'' demonizing masturbation but these are [[Hadith terminology|classified as unreliable]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/Public/Login.html?url=%2Fapp%3Fservice%3Dexternalpagemethod%26page%3DArticleViewDispatch%26method%3Dview%26uri%3D%2Fopr%2Ft349%2Fe0011&failReason=|title=[Sexuality and Law]|last=Omar|first=Sara|website=www.oxfordislamicstudies.com|publisher=Oxford Islamic Studies Online|url-access=limited|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402145942/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t349/e0011|archive-date=2 April 2019|url-status=dead|access-date=7 July 2019}}</ref>

To prohibit masturbation, scholars (ulama) of ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence) may have invoked the Qur'anic proclamation (Quran 23:1–6) that Muslims must protect their sexual organs, except from their legal spouses (''azwājihim'') or what their right hands own.<ref>[[Kecia Ali]] (2010), ''Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam'', Harvard University Press, p. 180</ref> The [[Maliki|Mālikīs]] jurists follow suit and seem to categorically prohibit masturbation.<ref name="Jonathan A.C 2014 p.93">[[Jonathan A.C. Brown]] (2014), Misquoting Muhammad, OneWorld Publications, p.93</ref> [[Abū Bakr b. al-ʿArabī]] goes as far as to demonize this practise, stating that it was introduced by ''[[Shaytan|šayṭān]]'' (devil).<ref name="doi.org"/>  Imam [[al-Shafi'i]] states that male masturbation (''istimmā{{'}}'') runs afoul of the Qur'anic proclamation (Quran 23:1–6) that Muslims must protect their sexual organs, except from their legal spouses (''azwājihim'') or what their right hands own.<ref>[[Kecia Ali]] (2010), ''Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam'' Harvard University Press, p. 180</ref> The [[Shafi'i school]] agree with the Mālikīs, and some of them consider masturbation a lesser form of ''zinā''.<ref name="doi.org"/> The founder [[al-Shafi'i]] argued that this encourages men to neglect their wives and may cause the termination of family lineage.

The [[Hanafi|Ḥanafīs]] have mixed opinions. Most of them are rather critical about, but generally allow for unmarried people and even obligatory if the alternative is illicit sex.<ref name="doi.org"/> Similarly, diverse are opinions among the [[Hanbal|Ḥanbalīs]]. [[Ibn Taimiyya]]'s statement, a proto-Salaf Hanbalite scholar, states that the consensus of early and later jurists (salafan wa-ḫalafan) was to categorically prohibit masturbation, is clearly an overstatement.<ref name="doi.org"/> Due to a lack of concern about masturbation from Quran and ''hadiths'', Ḥanbalīs generally disliked (''makrūh''), but did not forbid masturbation. However, if one couldn't find a spouse, one would be encouraged to masturbate.<ref name="Jonathan A.C 2014 p.93"/>

Those who didn't adhere to any of these four major schools are often going into more detail. [[Ibn Ḥazm]] explains that "a woman who rubs something against herself (without inserting it) until she climaxes is not guilty of sin; the same is true of a man who masturbates. No scholar, he points out, disagrees that it is perfectly lawful for a person to touch their sex organ (specifying the use of the left hand for men), and since no scriptural text explicitly prohibits masturbation, it must be lawful". However, he adds that it is not appropriate for civilized people to do this.<ref name="doi.org"/>

===Bestiality===
According to hadith, bestiality is defined under ''zina'' and its punishment is execution of the accused man or woman along with the animal.<ref name="ill"/><ref name="law"/>

{{blockquote|text=Narrated Ibn 'Abbas: That the Messenger of Allah said: "Whomever you see having relations with an animal then kill him and kill animal." So it was said to Ibn 'Abbas: "What is the case of the animal?" He said: "I did not hear anything from the Messenger of Allah about this, but I see that the Messenger of Allah disliked eating its meat or using it, due to the fact that such a (heinous) thing has been done with that animal."|source=[[Jami` at-Tirmidhi]], [http://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/17/38 17:38]}}


{{blockquote|text=It was narrated from Ibn`Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:“Whoever has intercourse with a Mahram relative, kill him; and whoever has intercourse with an animal, kill him, and kill the animal.”|source=[[Sunan Ibn Majah]], [https://sunnah.com/ibnmajah:2564]}}

==Inclusions in the definition==
Technically, ''zina'' only refers to the act of penetration, while non-penetrative sex acts outside of marriage were censured by Muhammad as that which can lead to ''zina''.<ref name="EI2"/>

According to Sharia, the punishment for ''zina'' varies according to whether the offender is ''muhsan'' (adult, free, Muslim and married at least once) or not ''muhsan'' (i.e. a minor, a slave, a non-Muslim or never married). A person only qualifies as ''muhsan'' if he or she meets all of the criteria. The punishment for an offender who is ''muhsan'' is stoning. (''[[rajm]]''); the punishment for an offender who is not ''muhsan'' is 100 lashes. 
<ref>Rudolph Peters, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law, Cambridge University Press, 2005 {{ISBN|9780511610677}}, ch. 2</ref>

==Accusation process and punishment==
Islamic law requires evidence before a man or a woman can be punished for ''zina''. These are:<ref name=keciali>Kecia Ali (2006), ''Sexual Ethics and Islam'', {{ISBN|978-1851684564}}, Chapter 4</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2016}}<ref name=zmh/><ref>{{Hadith-usc|usc=yas|muslim|17|4194}}</ref>

#A Muslim confesses to ''zina'' four separate times. However, if the confessor takes back his words before the punishment is enforced or during the punishment, he/she will be released and set free. The confessor is, in fact, encouraged to take back their confession.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=al-Ikhtiyar li ta'lil al-Mukhtar|pages=2/311–316}}</ref><ref name="Sengupta">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/26/world/facing-death-for-adultery-nigerian-woman-is-acquitted.html|title=Facing Death for Adultery, Nigerian Woman Is Acquitted|last=Sengupta|first=Somini|date=2003-09-26|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-06-14}}</ref>
#Four free adult male Muslim witnesses of proven integrity. They must testify that they observed the couple engaged in unlawful sexual intercourse without any doubt or ambiguity. They are able to say that they saw their private parts meet "like the Kohl needle entering the Kohl bottle."
# Unlike witnesses in most other circumstances, they are neither legally nor morally obliged to testify, and in fact legal texts state that it is morally better if they don't.
# If any of the witnesses take back their testimony before the actual punishment is enforced, then the punishment will be abandoned, and the witnesses will be punished for the crime of false accusation.
# The witnesses must give their testimony at the earliest opportunity.
# If the offense is punished by stoning to death, the witnesses must throw the stones.

If a pregnant woman confesses that her baby was born from an illegal relationship, then she will be subject to conviction in the Islamic courts. In cases where there are no witnesses and no confession, then the woman will not receive punishment just because of pregnancy. Women can fall pregnant without committing illegal sexual intercourse. A woman could be raped or coerced. In this case, she is a victim and not the perpetrator of a crime. Therefore, she cannot be punished or even accused of misconduct merely on the strength of her falling pregnant.<ref name="Sengupta"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://en.islamtoday.net/node/1075|title=Pregnancy not proof of fornication {{!}} IslamToday – English|website=en.islamtoday.net|access-date=2016-06-13|archive-date=2016-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818082807/http://en.islamtoday.net/node/1075|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Al-Mughni|last=Qudamah|first=Ibn}}</ref>

The four witnesses' requirement for ''zina'' is revealed by Quranic verses 24:11 through 24:13 and various hadiths.<ref>{{qref|24|13|b=y}}, Kerby Anderson (2007), Islam, Harvest House {{ISBN|978-0736921176}}, pp. 87–88</ref><ref>{{Hadith-usc|muwatta|usc=yas|36|19|17|}}, {{Hadith-usc|muwatta|usc=yas|36|19|18|}}, {{Hadith-usc|muwatta|usc=yas|41|1|7|}}</ref> The testimony of women and non-Muslims is not admitted in cases of ''zina'' or in other ''hadd'' crimes.

Any witness to or victim of non-consensual sexual intercourse, who accuses a Muslim of ''zina'', but fails to produce four adult, pious male eyewitnesses before a sharia court, commits the crime of false accusation (''Qadhf'', القذف), punishable with eighty lashes in public.<ref>J. Campo (2009), Encyclopedia of Islam, {{ISBN|978-0816054541}}, pp. 13–14</ref><ref>R. Mehdi (1997), [http://wrrc.wluml.org/sites/wluml.org/files/import/english/pubs/pdf/dossier18/D18.pdf#page=101 The offence of rape in the Islamic law of Pakistan]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Women Living under Muslim Laws: Dossier, 18, pp. 98–108</ref>

These requirements made ''zina'' virtually impossible to prove in practice.<ref name=Semerdjian/> Hence, there are very few recorded examples of stoning for ''zina'' being legally carried out.<ref name=Semerdjian/><ref name=Semerdjian2/> In the 623-year history of the Ottoman Empire, the best-documented and most well-known pre-modern Islamic legal system, there is only one recorded example of the stoning punishment being applied for ''zina'', when a Muslim woman and her Jewish lover were convicted of ''zina'' in 1680 and sentenced to death, the woman by stoning and the man by beheading. This was a miscarriage of justice according to the standards of Islamic law: adequate evidence was not produced, and the correct penalty for non-Muslims was 100 lashes rather than death.<ref>Marc Baer, "Death in the Hippodrome: Sexual Politics and Legal Culture in the Reign of Mehmed IV," Past & Present 210, 2011, pp. 61–91 {{doi|10.1093/pastj/gtq062}}</ref>

Some schools of Islamic jurisprudence ([[fiqh]]) created the principle of ''[[shubha (Arabic)|shubha]]'' (doubt). According to this principle, if there is room for doubt in the perpetrator's mind about whether the sexual act was illegal, he or she should not receive the hadd penalty but could receive a less severe punishment at the discretion of the judge.<ref name=zmh/> Jurists had varying opinions on what counted as legitimate "doubt" for this purposes. A typical example is a man who has sex with his wife's or his son's slave. This is ''zina'' – a man can lawfully have sex only with his own slave. But a man might plausibly believe that he had ownership rights over his wife's or his son's property, and so think that having sex with their slaves was legal. The Ḥanafī jurists of the Ottoman Empire applied the concept of doubt to exempt prostitution from the hadd penalty. Their rationale was that since legal sex is legitimized, in part, by payment (the dower paid by the husband to the wife upon marriage or the purchase price of a slave), a man might plausibly believe that prostitution, which also involves a payment in return for sexual access, was legal.<ref>James E. Baldwin (2012), Prostitution, Islamic Law and Ottoman Societies, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 55, pp. 117–52</ref> This principle did not mean that such acts were treated as legal: they remained offenses, and could be punished, but they were not liable for the hadd penalty of 100 lashes or stoning.

===Sunni practice===
People who are not ''muhsan'' (i.e. a slave, a minor, never married) are punished for ''zina'' with one hundred lashes in public.<ref name=mohelawa/>{{page needed|date=January 2016}}<ref>Kecia Ali, Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press</ref>

[[Maliki]] school of Islamic jurisprudence considers pregnancy as sufficient and automatic evidence, unless there is evidence of rape. Other Sunni schools of jurisprudence rely on early Islamic scholars who state that a fetus can "sleep and stop developing for 5 years in a 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.<ref>JANSEN, W. (2000), Sleeping in the Womb: Protracted Pregnancies in the Maghreb, The Muslim World, n. 90, p. 218–237</ref> They also argue that the woman may have been forced or coerced (see section above, 'Accusation process and punishment'). The position of modern Islamic scholars varies from country to country. For example, in [[Malaysia]] which officially follows the [[Shafi'i]] fiqh, Section 23(2) through 23(4) of the Syariah ([[Sharia]]) Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 state,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Laws of Malaysia – Act 559 – Syariah Criminal Offences (Federal Territories) Act 1997 |url=http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%2012/Act%20559.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106042541/http://www.agc.gov.my/Akta/Vol.%2012/Act%20559.pdf |archive-date=Nov 6, 2015 |website=Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia}}</ref>

{{blockquote|text=
'''Section 23(2)''' – Any woman who performs sexual intercourse with a man who is not her lawful husband shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to whipping not exceeding six strokes or to any combination thereof.

'''Section 23(3)''' – The fact that a woman is '''pregnant out of wedlock''' as a result of sexual intercourse performed '''with her consent''' shall be '''prima facie evidence''' of the commission of an offence under subsection (2) by that woman.

'''Section 23(4)''' – For the purpose of subsection (3), any woman who gives birth to a fully developed child within a period of six qamariah months from the date of her marriage shall be deemed to have been pregnant out of wedlock.
|source=Islamic Laws of Malaysia<ref>[http://wao.org.my/file/file/Malaysian%20NGO%20CEDAW%20Alternative%20Report%202012%206MB.pdf CEDAW and Malaysia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305071127/http://wao.org.my/file/file/Malaysian%20NGO%20CEDAW%20Alternative%20Report%202012%206MB.pdf |date=2016-03-05 }} Women's Aid Organization, United Nations Report (April 2012), page 83–85</ref>}}

Minimal proof for ''zina'' is still the testimony of four male eyewitnesses, even in the case of homosexual intercourse.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

Prosecution of extramarital pregnancy as ''zina'', as well as prosecution of rape victims for the crime of ''zina'', have been the source of worldwide controversy in recent years.<ref name=hrwpakistan>"[https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k5/pdf/pakist.pdf Pakistan]", Human Rights Watch (January 2005).</ref><ref name=hrwafghan>"[https://www.hrw.org/features/afghanistan-moral-crimes Afghanistan – Moral Crimes]", Human Rights Watch (March 26, 2012); "Some women and girls have been convicted of zina, sex outside of marriage, after being raped or forced into prostitution. Zina is a crime under Afghan law, punishable by up to 15 years in prison."</ref>

===Shi'a practice===
Again, minimal proof for ''zina'' is the testimony of four male eyewitnesses. The Shi'is, however, also allow the testimony of women if there is ''at least one male witness'', testifying together with ''six women''. All witnesses must have seen the act in its most intimate details, i.e. the penetration (like "a stick disappearing in a kohl container," as the fiqh books specify). If their testimonies do not satisfy the requirements, they can be sentenced to eighty lashes for unfounded accusation of fornication ({{transliteration|ar|kadhf}}). If the accused freely admits the offense, the confession must be repeated ''four'' times, just as in Sunni practice. Pregnancy of a single woman is also sufficient evidence of her having committed ''zina''.<ref name=adang/>{{request quotation|date=July 2017}}

==Human rights controversy==
{{See also|Human rights in the Quran}}
[[File:Criminalization of premarital and extramarital sex as zina under sharia in Islam.SVG|thumb|360px|Muslim-majority regions with ''zina'' laws against consensual premarital and extramarital sex.<ref>Ziba Mir-Hosseini (2011), Criminalizing sexuality: zina laws as violence against women in Muslim contexts, SUR – Int'l Journal on Human Rights, 15, pp. 7–31</ref><ref>Haideh Moghissi (2005), Women and Islam: Part 4 Women, sexuality and sexual politics in Islamic cultures, Taylor & Francis, {{ISBN|0-415-32420-3}}</ref>{{page needed|date=January 2016}}]]

The ''zina'' and rape laws of countries under [[Sharia|Sharia law]] are the subjects of a global human rights debate.<ref>KUGLE (2003), Sexuality, diversity and ethics in the agenda of progressive Muslims, In: SAFI, O. (Ed.). Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, Oxford: Oneworld. pp. 190–234</ref><ref>LAU, M. (2007), Twenty-Five Years of Hudood Ordinances: A Review, Washington and Lee Law Review, n. 64, pp. 1291–1314</ref>

Hundreds of women in Afghan jails are victims of rape or domestic violence.<ref name=hrwafghan/> This has been criticized as leading to "hundreds of incidents where a woman subjected to rape, or gang rape, was eventually accused of zināʾ" and incarcerated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrcp-web.org/NCSW_Report.cfm|title=National Commission on the status of women's report on Hudood Ordinance 1979|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229095410/http://www.hrcp-web.org/NCSW_Report.cfm|archive-date=2007-12-29}}</ref>


Iran has prosecuted many cases of ''zina'', and enforced public stoning to death of those accused between 2001 and 2010.<ref>BAGHI, E. (2007) [http://www.iranhumanrights.org/2008/08/baghibloodiedstone/ The Bloodied Stone: Execution by Stoning] International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran</ref><ref>[https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/001/2008/en End Executions by Stoning – An Appeal] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, 15 Jan 2010</ref>

''Zina'' laws are one of many items of reform and secularization debate with respect to Islam.<ref>Rehman J. (2007), The sharia, Islamic family laws and international human rights law: Examining the theory and practice of polygamy and talaq, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 21(1), pp. 108–127</ref><ref>SAFWAT (1982), Offences and Penalties in Islamic Law. Islamic Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 149–181</ref> In the early 20th century, under the influence of the colonial era, many penal laws and criminal justice systems were reformed away from Sharia in Muslim-majority parts of the world. By contrast, in the second half of the 20th century, after respective independence, a number of governments including Pakistan, Malaysia and Iran have reverted to Sharia with traditional interpretations of Islam's sacred texts. ''Zina'' and hudud laws have been re-enacted and enforced.<ref>Weiss A. M. (2003), Interpreting Islam and women's rights implementing CEDAW in Pakistan, International Sociology, 18(3), pp. 581–601</ref>

Contemporary human rights activists refer to this as a new phase in the politics of gender in Islam, the battle between forces of traditionalism and modernism in the Muslim world, and the use of religious texts of Islam through state laws to sanction and practice gender-based violence.<ref>KAMALI (1998), Punishment in Islamic Law: A Critique of the Hudud Bill of Kelantan Malaysia, Arab Law Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 203–234</ref><ref>QURAISHI, A (1996), Her Honor: An Islamic Critique of the Rape Laws of Pakistan from a Woman-Sensitive Perspective, Michigan Journal of International Law, vol. 18, pp. 287–320</ref>

In contrast to human rights activists, Islamic scholars and Islamist political parties consider 'universal human rights' arguments as impositions of a non-Muslim culture on Muslim people, a disrespect of customary cultural practices and sexual codes that are central to Islam. ''Zina'' laws come under hudud{{snd}} seen as a crime against Allah; the Islamists refer to this pressure and proposals to reform ''zina'' and other laws as contrary to Islam. Attempts by international human rights to reform religious laws and codes of Islam have become the Islamist rallying platforms during political campaigns.<ref>A. SAJOO (1999), Islam and Human Rights: Congruence or Dichotomy, Temple International and Comparative Law Journal, vol. 4, pp. 23–34</ref><ref>K. ALI (2003), Progressive Muslims and Islamic Jurisprudence: The Necessity for Critical Engagement with Marriage and Divorce Law, In: SAFI, O. (Ed.). Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, Oxford: Oneworld, pp. 163–189</ref>

==In popular culture==
* ''[[The Stoning of Soraya M.]]''{{snd}} A 2008 [[Persian language|Persian]]-language American drama film adapted from [[French people|French]]-[[Iran]]ian journalist [[Freidoune Sahebjam]]'s 1990 book ''La Femme Lapidée'', regarding to a mistaken-punishment of a false ''zina'' accusation.

==See also==
* [[Islamic criminal jurisprudence]]
* [[Islamic family jurisprudence]]
* [[Islamic sexual jurisprudence]]
* [[Modesty in Islam]]
* [[Namus]]
* [[Nikah mut‘ah]]
* [[Nikah urfi]]
* [[Ma malakat aymanukum and sex]]
* [[Rajm]]
* [[Islamic views on sin]]
* [[Taqwa]]
* [[Repentance in Islam]]
* [[Sex and the law]]
* [[Concubinage in Islam]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Calder, Norman, Colin Imber, and R. Gleave. ''Islamic Jurisprudence in the Classical Era''. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge UP, 2010.
* Johnson, Toni, and Lauren Vriens, [http://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034 "Islam: Governing Under Sharia."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226012000/https://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034%20 |date=2018-12-26 }}, Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, Inc., 24 Oct. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. 
* Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, [http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/islam/gender/karamah_zina.pdf "Zina, Rape, and Islamic Law: An Islamic Legal Analysis of the Rape Laws in Pakistan."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121164948/http://globalwebpost.com/farooqm/study_res/islam/gender/karamah_zina.pdf |date=2011-11-21 }} 26 Nov. 2011. 
* Khan, Shahnaz. "Locating The Feminist Voice: The Debate On The Zina Ordinance." Feminist Studies 30.3 (2004): 660–685. Academic Search Complete. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.
* McAuliffe, Jane Dammen. [http://www.bandung2.co.uk/books/Files/Religion/The%20Cambridge%20Companion%20to%20the%20Quran.pdf The Cambridge Companion to the Qurʼān] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304184550/http://www.bandung2.co.uk/books/Files/Religion/The%20Cambridge%20Companion%20to%20the%20Quran.pdf |date=2012-03-04 }}. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2006
* Peters, R. [http://www.brillonline.nl/subscriber/entry?entry=islam_SIM-8168 "Zinā or Zināʾ (a.)"]. ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman;, Th. Bianquis;, C.E. Bosworth;, E. van Donzel; and W. P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2011. Brill Online. University of Texas at Austin. 17 November 2011
* Peters, R. (November 1994). "The Islamization of Criminal Law: A Comparative Analysis". ''Die Welt des Islams''. Vol. 34 (New Series), Issue 2.  246–74. {{JSTOR|1570932}}.
* Quraishi, Asifa (20 January 2001). [http://www.mwlusa.org/topics/marriage&divorce/islamic_legal_analysis_of_zina.htm "Islamic Legal Analysis of Zina Punishment of Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, Zamfara, Nigeria"]. Muslim Women's League.

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* [http://www.sharia-in-africa.net/media/publications/sharia-implementation-in-northern-nigeria/vol_5_4_chapter_6_part_III.pdf Zina prosecution in Katsina State, Northern Nigeria] Proceedings and Judgments in the Amina Lawal Case (2002)
* [http://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034 Sharia Law] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226012000/https://www.cfr.org/religion/islam-governing-under-sharia/p8034%20 |date=2018-12-26 }}get[https://web.archive.org/web/20100705191356/http://www.asmasociety.org///perspectives/article_8.html Articles and Opinions: American Muslims need to speak out against violations of Islamic Shariah law] (Asma Society)
* {{Google books|5ZS7EaHTQX8C|Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary – Zina Chapter|page=43}}, Hisham M. Ramadan
* [https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/05/21/afghanistan-surge-women-jailed-moral-crimes Afghanistan: Surge in Women Jailed for 'Moral Crimes'] Zina in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch (May 21, 2013)
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4620065.stm Mukhtar Mai – history of a rape case], Pakistan, BBC News
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/fate-of-another-royal-found-guilty-of-adultery-1753012.html Fate of another royal found guilty of adultery] Zina in Saudi Arabia, The Independent (2009), UK
{{The major sins in Islam}}
[[Category:Adultery in law]]
[[Category:Arabic words and phrases in Sharia]]
[[Category:Islamic criminal jurisprudence]]
[[Category:Sexual abstinence and religion]]
[[Category:Sexuality in Islam]]
[[Category:Sharia legal terminology]]
[[Category:Sin in Islam]]
[[Category:Women's rights in Islam]]