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Amina Lawal: Free at Last?

Started by Muhammad, September 26, 2003, 06:16:28 PM

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Muhammad

Assalamu Alaikum
For those that have been following the case of Amina Lawal closely, yesterday represents the culmination of a very testing saga of our history as Muslms.
For me, it shows how the Sharia is a practical tool for dispensing justice tempered with mercy. As of now, Amina is Free, free to live her life of ignominy or stardom (one may never know).
But what this shows us is that Sharia does work and the detractors of sharia (I will not mention names) should bury their head in shame because what they wished for, the humiliation of Islam, was not materialized.
What is your take on the verdict?
Please discuss.

Jack_Fulcher

Yes, Amina has been set free by the courts, and this is indeed good news.  But this is not a vindication of the Shariah laws, and the very harsh interpretation that put this poor woman in jeopardy in the first place.  She was set free, not because the court saw how barbaric it would be to stone her, but because of some technicalities.  And it was not even unanimous - one judge voted to kill her.

I think that those who let this silly thing get this far are the ones who should hang their heads in shame.  The people who support continued amputations and stonings should look around them and see how such behavior cheapens their society, just like widespread hangings in our old West in America in the 1880s slowed our own development.  Shariah has not been vindicated, at least not these interpretations of the law.  Others in your northern states are awaiting their own executions by stoning, and they may not have the luck to capture the world's attention the same as Amina.

I have been neglecting this fine board for the past couple of weeks, due to the pressures of my work.  I apologize, and will return with responses to the excellent posts in the Death Penalty thread soon.  Say a prayer for Amina and her baby.

Jack

Anonymous

 I'm not a Nigerian, I came to know this board from a link someone posted on Yahoo message board.
 While I want to conratulate to Amina Lawal for her acquittal, I also want to point out that this shows that our sharia court is working pretty well. It is not a rigid and outdated system some people claim. There are fair hearings, the defendant has right to defend his/her self, access to lawyer, etc. From the published majority/dissenting opinions of the judges, we also can see that they based their rulings on the book of law, not on  pure sentiment/emotion. Quite similar with western courts.
 Looking back, and linking with the new, much less publicised news about stoning(rajm) verdict for a man who sexually molested 3 children, I suspect that in this matter, western people are more concerned with the crime being punished (extra-marital sex) rather than the punishment (stoning). This explains why we heard more opposition to the case against Amina Lawal (whose accused crime is actually a common thing, not a crime in western society) rather than this man (whose crime is commonly despised in any country).  If this is the case, not much we can do than explain and explain and explain that common senses in one part of the world are not always common elsewhere.

Waziri

In my review o the discourse we had here sometime last year, between myself and Mallam Sanusi L. Sanusi, I said:

"I just don't know, may be I carry within me some sorts of intellectual naivety. But in the Maliki law we know, pregnancy unless if proven otherwise is always an evidence of zina. And for a widow or a divorced, the maximum gestation period is said to be five solid years. But when a widow or a divorced makes a da'awah that her pregnancy or issue as in the cases of Safiya and Amina is a product of an illegitimate relationship, the question of gestation period will not come. And the issue of withdrawing her confessions also will not arise, since she already carries something that proves the existence of an intercourse with a man. Unless if she makes another da'awah that the child belongs to her former husband which, neither Amina nor Safiya made. And as we may all know in any legal theory, that presupposition should not fall within the premise of a court of law. Especially in a case like that of Safiya where millions of people heard her through BBC Hausa service giving the detail account of how the "did" did happen with a different person apart from her former husband as she gave during the court session. This added to the fact that cases once brought into the court of law must be defended by reason, because laws are moralistic, logical and real in attribute. They shouldn't in anyway appear to be insulting the intelligence of people. Their significance is always in the loud pronouncement of the presence of justice and the primacy of its enforcement, than in the mere conviction or acquit ion of their victims. That is why they convict the innocent wherever his/her innocence cannot be proven even if the judge and the jury are sure of his/her innocence on a different count. They acquit the guilty wherever there is no proof against him/her even if the judge and the jury are sure of his/her crime on a different count."
http://www.kanoonline.com/cgi-bin/articles/template.php/iaw010.txt

Yes, our argument was and is Amina or whosoever is it that is accused of commiting such crime should not be freed just like that, without establishing the truth of the contrariness of the accusation. Because that will insult our intelligence.

Finally, Amina has withdrawn her confession, has made another Da'awah that the child belongs to her former husband and as such she is freed.

But what remains is whether the former husband will agree with that claim or not. Then their will be another scenario for us to decipher and   debate upon.

For now, I say my congratulations to all of us who find reason to learn and make others learn from this debate. I strong believe that the world will be a happier place if we were content to take ppl by their own words. Not only in courts of law but markets, streets, matrimonial homes and offices. This is the order of Islam. An order that  confers self appreciation to all and sundry. An order that provides the best of freedoms.

 

Anonymous

Hi
The question in my mind was not whether Amina had committed adultery (after all she admitted it ) but whether the barbaric practice of stoning to death was a proper or acceptable punishment for adultery.

Confusing sexuality, morality and legality is not confined to Islam. We Christians do it too. A poor divorced woman committing adultery with a coward has her own conscience and her own God to answer to for an act which does not soil anyone else but those involved in it. Her behaviour threatened no one and did little damage to anybody but herself and her own reputation. Why should any good person want to stone her to death?

Remember I was in Nigeria for many years. If all the men I knew who committed adultery were stoned there would be a lot of homes without fathers. As Jack Fulcher has already pointed out if you really love and value your wives, your sisters and your daughters you will make sure the laws are applied equally to men and women in Nigeria.
Sai angima  

al_hamza

yeah dave,
its realy sad,
i see no reason for the barbaric way of stoning,
but i do see its good to execute a criminal by electrocuting him in front of an audience, there to see how a person dies and watch it peacefully.


dave,
why cant you leave us alone?
why why why!!!!

you know what?
i have an idea to show you how wierd it sounds to us when you say such things.

this is just a fraction of how we feel.

lets say the muslim world becomes more powerful today,
then we gain the right to talk shamelessly about yur religion (which we wont with or without power)

AL-JAZIRA TV-
                        " Syria today has called on the uk and other christian nations to abandon thier centuries old traditions, according to a senior syrian diplomat, syria would break ties with the christian world if they go on with the tradition of not allowing thier nuns to have sexs. Sex the diplomat said, is a right of every human bieng, but selfishly the church has banned nuns for centuries from the pleasures of intercouse" Iran too today has joined on the call and has asked the christian world for "serious reforms" whereby, the main thing the irani government wants is, "allow men to have upto 4 wives" so that the rate of bastards born within the commuinity can be reduced all time low" in case the christian world refuses for these reforms, iran has decided to block all diplomatic ties and put sanctions on countries that refuse the reform, plus the aid packages for most countries will be grounded.
Al-Jazira News
Dubai.

you see dave?
this is the absurd thing, muslims trying to storm thier way in into the christian world, not only will this be unaccepted within the christian world, even the muslims will oppose such a thing happening.

so dave
Peace okay?
Chill, be a scotsman, (which i guess u are) and stop bugging us. Okay?
ABILUNAH? SABILUNAH? AL-JIHAD! AL-JIHAD!

Anonymous

Al Hamza

I have no problem with a man having four wives. It's up to the wives if they find that a satisfactory arrangement. There are many Christians in Nigeria with more that one wife because that has been the tradition of the society they live in. Who am I to question that? It does me or anybody else no harm.
Nuns chose voluntarily not to have sex. Nobody forces them to become nuns but that's a condition of the job. Personally I think it's silly (and I'm a Catholic) but who am I to question what they want to do. It does me or anybody else no harm.

I'm personally perfectly happy for you to discuss my religion and pass comment on it. I have been very careful not to discuss your religion as I do not know enough about it, though I have a number of Moslem relatives. I have no doubt however that Islam practised in the manner intended by its founder is a great force for good, order, education and lawfulness in society. I do not believe, however, that Islam is practised as well as it might be in some places and some posts in this forum support that view.

I have broken a resolution not to respond to your broadsides in writing this.

al_hamza

well, dave,
am very pleased that you gave a reply, because you had made a resolution not to write to me,
you see dave, in many of your posts you have pointed out that you have muslim relatives, by doing so, what do you want to proove? that you know alot about islam? by studying thier behaviour? or is it that you want to say that you dont hate islam? anyways, it got to be one of them

in the first case, if you have muslim relatives , it doesnt necessarily mean that they are practising islam in total, they might be muslims no doubt, but are they good muslims? not the good that you want to believe, but the good that is accepted in the muslims society.

in the second case, if you want to show us that you arent an ISLAM-HATER, then better think again,
what you come here and talk, you wont achieve anything if its with the intention that you'll learn something about us in return. If thats what you want..(to learn) or to know more about Islam, then i will recomend that you go see an Imam, am sure there's no shortage of them in the UK, ask him all the questions, get all the answers. None of us on this board are learned enough to guide you (including me).

secondly, if its to creat mischief, and to turn the weak hearts against thier own religion, so far you have only achieved one deciple, (the one that claimed Qur'an is mis-interpreted in many ways) your government is known for everything against islam, including giving refuge to Qadiyanis(known as ahmadiya in nigeria) and saving Salman Rushdie. These traitors of islam are more important to your government than the innocent refugees that are turned back by your government every year.

so, even though i wouldnt at this stage think that you'd give a reply, i would though say "think scotsman" Think!
ABILUNAH? SABILUNAH? AL-JIHAD! AL-JIHAD!