Muslims for Progressive Values Strongly Condemns the Stoning of Rokhshana

LOS ANGELES - Nov. 18, 2015 - PRLog -- Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) strongly condemns the stoning of 19-year-old Rokhshana of Ghor Province in Afghanistan.

Rokhshana was stoned to death on October 25, 2015 after being accused of adultery. She was reported to have been married against her will and was seen in the presence of another man, who subsequently received the punishment of flogging.

MPV denounces the practice of all corporal punishments (such as stoning, lashing and flogging) and the death penalty in the name of Islam that is inflicted upon those accused of extramarital relations. While the Qur’an prohibits adultery, under no circumstances does it establish the death penalty of stoning as a form of punishment for adultery or for any prohibited acts. Stoning is a penal tradition that predates Islam. An example where Prophet Muhammad ordered the stoning was that of an adultery case of a Jewish couple punished according to Jewish laws as recorded in the Torah. (Sahih Al-Bukhari, No. 4.829)

Any Shari’a legislation stipulating punishments for adultery are not founded in Qur’anic scripture, but are rather drawn from hadith reports, written and compiled hundreds of years after the death of Prophet Muhammad, some of which are of debatable authenticity and value. In our view, adhering to a hadith that contradicts the Quran disqualifies that practice as “Islamic”.

In the spirit of our initiative #ImamsForShe, we expect Imams, Islamic scholars and Muslim community leaders in Afghanistan and the world over to vehemently denounce the stoning of Rokhshana as incompatible with Islamic principles. We call on the local authorities, the Central Government of Ghor Province and the Government of Afghanistan to take all appropriate measures to hold the perpetrators accountable and to ensure that stoning and other forms of inhumane treatment of women accused of adultery or “dishonour” to their family come to an end.