Commander in Chief, Adultery, and Rajm

 

 I guess most of us have seen or heard the political drama series, Commander in Chief.  For Indonesian, the program can be seen in Metro TV channel (for free of course). The main story line dwell with the daily life of first American Female president,  Mackenzie Spencer Allen (Geena Davis) (if this happen in the real life, Morrissey will be pleased..haha) and introducing the first ever in (fictional) American History, the First Gentlemen instead of the First Lady, Mr. Rod Calloway (Kyle Secor). Overall, it’s a unique program and the storylines are quite realistic.

But, one episode caught my attention, which is the first episode entitled “Pilot”. The appealing part were not the story behind Mss. Aleen step in the line for Precidency, or how Congressman Templeton drewling for the throne, or how Teddy Bridges died, or how the personal family life of the new president, but it’s the foreign political issue caught inside the frame. It is how she try the best effort to release an Nigerian woman form stone to death execution as a result of her sexual behaviour, which is having sex outside marriage.

Okay, let’s scrutinize the topic of the foreign issues:

1. Nigerian, is a foreign country with their own sovereignty inside to implement their own choice of law. In this particular case, Sharia Law or Islamic Law is chosen by the Nigerian Government as fundamental legal system;
2. For the sake of human rights, freedom of choice, and feminism, the President refuse to compromise to the death sentences, and stated that US government will strife every effort including arm resolution to prevent the woman to be prosecuted to death;
3. The US government bluntly interfere with other countries’ legal system and governmental sovereignty, which action is a violation to International Law;
4. As a result to the issue, the Nigerians quietly hand their prisoner over to the U.S. military and she is flown out of the country, which action is considered to be an act of illegal extradition;

Apart form the (fictional & not so realistic) foreign political issue, now let’s talk about adultery in Shariaa Law and the punishment to the action.

1. Is Adultery a crime in Shariaa Law? According to Islam, adultery is a violation of a marital contract and one of the major sins. In Islam; adultery includes both pre-marital and extramarital sex. Fornication and adultery are both included in the Arabic word ‘Zina‘. As they belong primarily to the same category of crimes, entail the same social implications and have the same effects on the spiritual personality of a human being, both, in principle, have been given the same status by the Qur’an.;
2. What is the punishment in adultery? The Qur’an states that the punishment of adultery is lashing, Jald (Quran 24:2). The law is stated clearly and leave no room for interpretation. Of course, we have heard that some people consider stoning to death punishment is appropiate to punish person who commits adultery. Since the fact that stated in the Quran is just lashing, where can we find the ruling for stoned to death? Some site Sahih Muslim 1690 stated: “Acquire it from me, acquire it from me. The Almighty has revealed the directive about women who habitually commit fornication about which He had promised to reveal. If such criminals are unmarried or are the unsophisticated youth, then their punishment is a hundred stripes and exile and if they are widowers or are married, then their punishment is a hundred stripes and death by stoning“. This shows different perspectives on the issue and for the sake of clarity let’s go further;
3. Stoned to death (Rajm),  is it an Islamic heritage teaching? Since Quran does not speak anything about Rajm, then we can find the parctise of Rajm in Hadith. In one Hadith, tells a story of the Rajm in the time of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). At that time, the Jews brought a male and female jew accused of adultery before the Holy Prophet to be judged. The Holy Prophet then asked the Jews waht punishment for the crime according to the Torah. The Jews kept the truth in the forst place, but then Abdullah bin Salam said that the punishment is stoned to death (Rajm). Then the Jews affirmed the statement and admitting that the reason for them to bring the matter before the Holy Prophet was to have a wiser punishment. The Holy Prophet, based on the facts and rule of the Torah, sentenced the adultery couple to death by stoning (BU. 23:61, 81:26). From the Hadith, a preconclusion of Rajm practise can be set, that it is not an Islamic teaching stated in the Quran, it is a ruling inside the Torah for Jews. Another practise of punishment toward adultery can be found in Caliph Umar’s statement: “whenever Allah’s Apostle (may peace be upon him) received revelation, he felt its rigour and the complexion of his face changed. One day revelation descended upon him, he felt the same rigour. When it was over and he felt relief, he said: Take from me. Verily Allah has ordained a way for them (the women who commit fornication): (When) a married man (commits adultery) with a married woman, and an unmarried male with an unmarried woman, then in case of married (persons) there is (a punishment) of one hundred lashes. And in case of unmarried persons, (the punishment) is one hundred lashes and exile for one year” (A narration attributed to Ubada b. as-Samit);
4. How to prove an adultery? Accusation of adultery can be a serious crime, if it can not be proven before the Judge. It takes 4 potential witnesses besides other full force evidences to prove the said crime, less or none will cause punishment for the accusator. The false accusator will be punish with 80 lashes and their action is a impure as adultery itself (Quran 24:4). Weak testimonies and evidences will certainly be rejected by the Judge and the accusition is off;

Okay, let’s sum up all the above:

1. Eventhough the show, Commander in Chief is interesting, the program is lack of accuracy in certain issues and exploiting the plot of American Super Power by breaking International law in “Pilot” episode;
2. The issue of Islamic law concering Adultery and Rajm punishment is being mislead in the episode;
3. Adultery is a crime in Islamic Law and can be punished according to the law;
4. Lashing is the most profound punishment for adultery stated in Quran and Hadith;
5. Rajm punishment is not islamic heritage, it is Jews instead;
6. Be a smart viewer by don’t just believe in strange and opposing facts of cinema vice versa the real world.

Thank you for reading. Any critics and suggestions are higly accepted.

 Tomson

References:

1. Holy Quran and Hadith;
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Commander_in_Chief_episodes#Pilot;
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adultery;
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajm;
5. http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:bWO7ZLFuJJwJ:ahmadiyya.ws/indonesia/indonesianbooksislamahmadiyya/muhammadali/islamologireligionislam/p3c11hukumpidana.pdf+hukum+pidana+islam+filetype:pdf&hl=id&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=id;