veiled4allah: Should Amina Lawal be put to death? Real Islamic law says NO veiled4allah: Should Amina Lawal be put to death? Real Islamic law says NOIn the case of Amina Lawal (and the earlier case of Safiya) the babies were delivered well within the gestation period. They could only be tried based on one of the following three possible events: 1.That the woman, being of sound mental health and fully aware of the consequences, voluntarily brings herself to the court and confesses to being pregnant from adultery. She is then convicted based on her confession, which she is free to withdraw at any point before or during the punishment. The partner is not convicted unless he confesses when asked or volunteers a confession as well. (This is based on sound traditions).I recommend reading the entire article, as it discusses several other aspects of the question.
2. That four male, reliable eye-witnesses testify to having caught her in the same act of sexual intercourse with a man other than her husband. (This is based on Quranic text).
Or
3.That the husband repudiates the child and takes an oath of Li-an to the effect that the woman is an adulteress and she fails or declines the counter oath affirming her innocence. (This is based on Quranic text).
It is the right of Amina, as it was the right of Safiya, that the men who alleged that she committed adultery be required to produce four eye witnesses to the act. If they fail then each of them should be given 80 lashes of the cane for slander. This is the law of Allah. The point is not whether Amina committed adultery De facto but if she committed it De jure. Adultery is committed every day, but only those against whom admissible proof is established are punished by law.
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And why not settle the whole business with a little blood test (which can eliminate possibilities although it cannot provide positive proof of fatherhood) or DNA. Yes, in this case, I know Nigeria is not a rich country (although it would be if its leaders weren't stealing everything not nailed down - endless natural resources) (and no, that was not a comment about Islam as I don't know the religion of those running the country). Anyway, I know Nigeria is not a rich country, but if you are going to execute someone, it seems to me you could spring for some science.
We have all heard time and time again about Islam's contributions to science in its golden age, but why does it apparently completely ignore modern science now, especially when it is truly a matter of life and death?
Inquiring minds want to know, especially this confused one.
I hope you had a joyful Eid al Fitr (see - I do pay attention).
Carol
As to your other question, my understanding of the context of the article is this. The author was asked (or decided on his own) to examine what the textual sources of Islam say about pregnancy and adultery. Obviously, the textual sources of Islam go back long before blood tests and DNA and therefore will make no mention of blood tests or DNA.
Additionally, the author's point is that this case should have been thrown out from the beginning for lack of sufficient evidence, and Amina Lawal's accusers charged with slander. Therefore, there would be no need to bring in blood tests or DNA evidence because there would be no case. In fact, what he is saying is that even if there were DNA evidence, if there weren't four witnesses or a confession, there would still be no case. It doesn't even get that far.
I hope you can see why the context in which the author wrote his article explains why he didn't bring up scientific issues. That wasn't the question he was asked.
As to why the Nigerian court doesn't use scientific evidence, I can only speculate. Money is obviously a factor. For another thing, that court obviously isn't interested in following even the standards of evidence set in the 600s C.E. so it would be surprising if they decided to follow the standards of evidence of the modern century.
I'm confused how you jumped from here to saying that "Islam" ignores modern science. On what basis do you make a sweeping generalization about an entire religion of 1.2 billion adherents based on the actions of a handful of people in a very poor and deeply troubled country? If you presented evidence that no court anywhere in the Islamic world used scientific evidence, or of a consensus of scholars that scientific evidence should not be used, then you might have some grounds for saying that "Islam" is against it.
Finally, as to the very long pregnancies, the overall intent in defining the minimum and maximum gestation period, as I understand it, is to be as generous as possible, to prevent people who have unusual medical conditions from being convicted for something they didn't do. In other words, the scholars would be looking around for the shortest possible pregnancy and the longest possible pregnancy that was reported and then set those as the limits.
If a woman has an extrauterine pregnancy, it's possible that the fetus may die and yet remain in the body for several years. I found some information about this here (there's surely more available if you search further; I grabbed the first one I found). It may be that these are the types of pregnancies that were being talked about.
Rob