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Bangladesh: Muslim cleric and three others arrested for
ordering a woman to be caned and stoned for adultery
APR 12, 2023 4:00 PM
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Jihad Watch
“Bangladesh has a secular legal system and applying Sharia in criminal cases is illegal.” The stoning was certainly in accord with Sharia. Stoning adulterers is not “extremist”; it is Islamic law. The caliph Umar, one of Muhammad’s closest companions, even maintained that it was originally in the Qur’an:
‘Umar said, “I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, “We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book,” and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession.” Sufyan added, “I have memorized this narration in this way.” ‘Umar added, “Surely Allah’s Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him.” (Bukhari, vol. 8, bk. 82, no. 816)
“Allah’s Apostle” is, of course, Muhammad, who did indeed carry out stonings. Here is the hadith in which he challenges the rabbis about stoning, and in which there is amidst the barbarism and brutality a final act of love and compassion:
The Jews came to Allah’s Apostle and told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual intercourse. Allah’s Apostle said to them, “What do you find in the Torah (old Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?” They replied, (But) we announce their crime and lash them.” Abdullah bin Salam said, “You are telling a lie; Torah contains the order of Rajm.” They brought and opened the Torah and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him, “Lift your hand.” When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was written there. They said, “Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm. The Prophet then gave the order that both of them should be stoned to death. (‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar said, “I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones.” (Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 829)
Even the monkeys practiced stoning, according to another hadith:
During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it, because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too, stoned it along with them. (Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 58, no. 188)
Muhammad’s example is, of course, normative for Islamic behavior: “Indeed in the messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for him who looks to Allah and the last day, and remembers Allah a great deal.” (Qur’an 33:21)
Cleric, three villagers arrested in Bangladesh on stoning woman
Pak Tribune, April 11, 2023
DHAKA: A cleric and three village elders were arrested in Bangladesh on charges they ordered a woman to be caned and stoned after she was accused of an extra-marital affair, police said on Monday.
Police said Hamida Sutana was “caned 82 strokes” and “stoned 80 times” with small brick pieces after an imam issued a fatwa punishing her last week.
Sultana said she was “a victim of terrible injustice”.
“I can’t express in language what they did to me,” the 30-year-old said.
Bangladesh has a secular legal system and applying Sharia in criminal cases is illegal.
The fatwa triggered an outcry, with feminist groups and rights activists staging protests to demand the perpetrators’ prosecution….
Police inspector Zakir Hossain said officers arrested four people, including the imam of the mosque in Habiganj…
U.N. tells Afghan employees to stay home after Taliban
bans women in workplace
Regime's decision affects 3,500 U.N. employees
By A.L. Lee
The ruling Taliban regime has banned Afghan women from attending public universities and from working for world peacekeeping organizations like the United Nations, while also limiting their access to many public spaces around the country. File Pool Photo by John Minchillo/UPI | License Photo
April 11 (UPI) -- The United Nations told its employees in Afghanistan to stay home Tuesday after the Taliban regime ordered all women in the country to stop working for non-governmental aid organizations.
In a statement, the U.N. said it instructed staff not to report to U.N. offices in response to last week's decision by the de facto government to cut off girls and women from access to education and employment opportunities.
While the ban applies to the entire country, it strikes a devastating blow to the U.N., which employs about 4,000 people nationwide -- 3,500 of which are Afghan.
The U.N. cited the United Nations Charter in declaring the country's ban on women illegal under international law.
"U.N. work in Afghanistan is driven by the humanitarian imperative to save lives and guided by the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence," the statement said.
The U.N. also accused the Taliban of trying to force the organization out of Afghanistan in an effort to derail its humanitarian mission in the absence of the U.S. military, which President Joe Biden ordered withdrawn in 2021 after two decades of war.
Initial dealings with the Taliban were relatively constructive when the regime returned to power. But since then, decisions by the fundamentalist leadership have banned women from attending public universities and from working for world peacekeeping organizations like the U.N., while also limiting their access to many public spaces around the country.
Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "strongly condemned" the ban on Afghan female colleagues and demanded the law be revoked.
"If this measure is not reversed, it will inevitably undermine our ability to deliver life-saving aid to the people who need it," Guterres said on Twitter.
The organization, which is charged with monitoring the country's deepening human rights crisis, said it planned to maintain communication with the ruling Taliban as required by the U.N. Security Council.
"United Nations engagement in Afghanistan, conducted extensively and in good faith, is anchored in the founding vision of the United Nations, that of peace, stability, and human rights for all peoples," the statement said.
Roza Otunbayeva, who serves as the U.N.'s special envoy to Afghanistan, was conducting an operational review to determine the agency's next move.
Otunbayeva will consult with U.N. staff in the country to ensure adequate operational adjustments and to develop contingency plans for other issues that might come up. The work includes assessing the scope and consequences of the ban, with the ability to pause any review activities as needed.
For now, only a limited number of U.N. employees will remain in place to perform critical tasks, while the agency did not provide a timeline for when or if full-scale operations would ever resume.
The latest ban comes five months after the regime announced a similar ban on U.N. partners working on the frontline of aid delivery in the country.
Doesn't this just create a picture in your mind of Taliban men sitting in the sand shooting their toes off, one by one?
Is it time to withdraw all aid to this country that is stuck in the middle ages? Is it time to aid any and all women to abandon Afghanistan?
Is the all-male Taliban government doing so well that they need neither the UN nor their women contributing to their survival? Are they the only ones blind to their own failures?
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