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Crime (sex) and punishment (stoning)

By Alliance Alert

New York Times: "The punishment is rooted in Islamic legal traditions, known as hadiths, that designate it as the penalty for adultery. While the penalty may seem savage to Western eyes, scholars say it is consistent with the values of Arabian society at the time of Muhammad, Islam?s founding prophet . . . The move to implement severe penalties like stoning ? known collectively as 'hud' after the Arabic word for limits ? is ultimately a matter of policy, not religious orthodoxy. Even under the Ottoman empire, when secular and religious authority were combined, stoning and other penalties were viewed at times as crude remnants of the past . . . Iranian leaders are clearly uneasy about stoning, which has helped to darken their country?s reputation . . . In Afghanistan, by contrast, stoning seems to be on the rise, despite its unpopularity."

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on August 23, 2010 (boomark / email).