Dear brothers and sisters-In- islam,
Al-salaamu alaykum wa rahmat-Allaahi wa barakaatuhu (Peace be upon you,
and the mercy of Allaah and His blessings).

Thanks to brother madiba Saidy for forcing me into my achive to bring you
this piece by brother sanusi,who happens to be a banker and a muslim in
Nigeria..Now read on.

THE ADULTERESS' DIARY

BY

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

If you choose to read my diary you must forgive my often vulgar, some times
irreverent language. I hope you will also find the moral courage to give the
following entries wide circulation, my crude vocabulary notwithstanding. The
world should know what injustice is being perpetrated by northern Nigerian
Muslim males against their women in the name of Allah and under cover of
Shariah. You see, my name is Safiya Husseini, recently convicted for the
crime of having been born a woman by a Shariah court in Sokoto. I know you
have been told that my crime was adultery, not womanhood. I also know, being
a mere woman, that you think I am most probably talking rubbish. When you
finish reading this record of my own thoughts, possibly after my death, you
will make up your mind. My punishment is to be death by stoning at the hands
of men. I cannot tell you where I am, because I am hiding from the men of
the Hisbah corps, the fanatical Muslim militia saddled with the task of
bringing Shariah offenders to book. I have been told by the scholars, the
mallamai (who happen to be men), that I should give myself up and face death
like a good Muslim woman. Doing this is a patriotic duty that will cleanse
my society of corruption and purify me from my sins. You see our society has
become rotten. We are fast becoming like the Jews in the time of Christ. You
know Jesus called them a "wicked and adulterous generation". There is too
much adultery, fornication and homosexuality. Women, as our mallamai swear
our prophet said, are the source of all this evil and our scholars are
convinced that the only cure for the fitnah is to put us to death. I can
understand how men can accuse women of being the source of all adultery and
fornication. But what do women have to do with the widespread fitnah of men
chasing men? Surely it shows that men also are evil and need no women to
lure them? Do not mind me. I am but a woman-daft and senseless. Do the
mallamai not say that the prophet said that women are deficient in religion
and intelligence? Back to the point, it is believed that my death will lead
to a near-magical transmogrification of the caliphate’s ethical landscape.
Our holy land, the land of Dan Fodio, Abdullahi and Bello, will witness a
termination of the crepuscular routines of illicit carnality that regularly
take place in shadowy alleys, state houses, guest houses and five-star
hotels. Our men shall no longer be victims of temptation by evil women.
Their purity shall no longer be stained by erotic pursuits. In short every
man shall become as clean and sinless as our Shariah governors whom I am
told can each swear on the Qur’an never to have committed the capital sin of
adultery. This I am ready to believe. You see in Islamic Law it is the
governor, as the Imam of our state, who is expected to step forward and cast
the first stone. We will on that day prove to the Christians that we are
better than Jews. When the Jews wanted to stone a harlot, Jesus threw them a
challenge. "Let he among you who is without sin," said he, "cast the first
stone". They all sulked away, the hypocrites. If you heard our governor in
his BBC Hausa interview, in all his righteousness, then you know that he is
not like those hypocritical Jews. Allah ya sauwake! He will step up
majestically and after giving me a magisterial rebuke cast his stone. The
other sinless members of our society-the emirs, the mallamai, the
politicians- will follow. With my death, as you have heard often, the land
shall become cleansed of crimes of the flesh.
In addition to this service to the community, I am told on the authority of
no less than the prophet himself that submitting myself to this punishment
is my ticket to heaven. I shall no longer face the humiliation of being
treated like a lumpen-slut. I shall be transformed into a voluptuous,
voracious virgin in paradise. You laugh at this because you do not know the
value of virginity to our men. I too did not understand this obsession until
I read Jarasimus Mhanna’s Rasa’il al-Jahiz (The Letters of al-Jahiz). In one
of his letters, the African poet quoted the second Caliph ‘Umar as saying to
fellow men: "Marry young virgins; they have perfumed mouths and narrow
vaginas." Only Allah knows if ‘Umar actually said this, but I know our men
have taken this advice far beyond ‘Umar could ever have intended. They marry
the girls at too young an age when the opening is so narrow they end up with
VVF when giving birth, at which point the men abandon them. But this is not
my concern right now. I was saying that I will become a heavenly virgin. No
more menstruation, no more toileting, no more pregnancy and yes, I will
enjoy pure unadulterated sex. I like that word unadulterated. I suppose
unadulterated sex means sex that will not be called adultery. I know I am
probably murdering the English language but who cares at this point? I will
have my choice of men and believe you me I will ask for our shariah
governors whose own ticket to heaven is through whipping, stoning and
amputating the fornicatresses, adulteresses and common thieves in our
society. Their own sins are forgiven if they ensure that we poor sinners,
especially the women, are subjected to Allah’s laws. I am told not to grieve
over all those posh totties who hang around the high and mighty in this
world and laugh at us because they use condoms and pills and can have
abortions. Our illiteracy is in reality our saving grace. This is why we
were removed from school and married off at a young age. Now I also
understand why our mallamai have stoutly opposed sex-education. Those
so-called "educated" high-class whores may escape in this world but they
will pay in the hereafter. They are going to hell. Ditto the men who
fornicate and commit adultery with us but get away with it. Imagine that
twit Yakubu denying that he was the one who impregnated me! But the alkali
(bless his soul) could do nothing. His hands are tied. How could he take my
word, mere woman that I am, that Yakubu was the father of my baby? The law
says I should produce four male, honest, reliable witnesses who are to
testify to having visualized the twittering idiot’s you-know-what physically
embedded in my you-know-what like a kajal stick inside its hollow case!
Unfortunately we did not have sex in a nudist camp. And even if we did, the
term honest, reliable male is an oxymoron. No man can possibly be honest and
reliable, especially if his honesty would convict a fellow-man. How could I
ever produce four? Since I could not meet this order then I am a liar, like
all women. In the unlikely event that I speak the truth, Yakubu will pay on
the day of judgement. As for me, I shall have the honour of a union of sorts
with the holy governors. Forgive my language, but just imagine what I would
do on laying my hands on their collective genitals, with the angels looking
the other way! But that will be in heaven, if they manage to make it there.

I listened to the mallamai with all respect, but packed my things and ran
away the moment they left. You see I happen to believe that the law under
which I was convicted is not Allah’s law. It is true that the alkali, (Allah
bless him again), has told journalists this is Allah’s law and anyone who
questions it is not a good Muslim, perhaps not even a Muslim at all. Somehow
I have my reservations. It seems to me the law is what the alkali
understands of what some men living at some time in some foreign land claim
to be the Law of Allah. His understanding may be flawed. Other men may have
made different claims than these in the name of the same Allah. And of
course in all this we have not heard the voice of women. Surely if I suggest
that it is not Allah’s law I do not lose my faith? But you see I am only a
woman. So I tell myself to stop thinking and challenging these things. It is
not my place. Let me tell you a few of the thoughts that crossed my mind and
made me run away from this perverse judgement. Who knows, perhaps there may
be some sense in me, after-all.

You see according to press reports, my case started when some "unnamed
informants" told the police that I, Safiya the divorcee, was pregnant
without husband and "fingered one Yakubu Abubakar, a married man in the same
village, as being responsible for the pregnancy". Ya Salam! Any one who
knows Islamic Law knows this is not a case of adultery but of slander. These
"reliable sources" should have been arrested immediately and charged to
court. They are to produce four eye-witnesses to the crime of zina (illicit
sex) of which they accused a believing woman behind her back. This much is
clear from books of Law and Ibn Rushd, the Maliki jurist, stated in his book
al-Muqaddimat al-Mumahhidat that if anyone says "so-and-so is an adulteress"
he must produce four witnesses. It is not enough for us to have been seen
playing together, you know. In the time of the second caliph ‘Umar, some
companions reported one of his governors, Mughira Ibn Shu’ba, for adultery.
Three of them testified to having visualized the governor’s dinky in the
woman’s pinky but the fourth witness faltered. He said he saw some swinging
bum bums but as for the real thing he could not swear. So the three of them,
including one of the Holy Prophet’s closest companions ‘Ammar Ibn Yasir,
were given eighty bulalas for slander. This story is there in the books of
Law as a precedent. I hear even books of history, like Ibn Katheer’s
al-Bidaya wa ‘l-Nihaya have the record. Why was my case different? Why was I
called to defend myself when the charge of slander had not been prosecuted?
Point number one.

May Allah bless the companions of the prophet who gave women the benefit of
doubt. A woman was brought before ‘Umar with pregnancy and she said; "O
Caliph! I am a heavy sleeper and a man came upon me one night. I did not
wake up until he had finished and turned his back." He let her go. Another
woman said to ‘Umar: " I was thirsty and I asked a shepherd to give me water
to drink but he refused unless I lay with him so I did." ‘Umar said to ‘Ali,
"what is your view on her?" ‘Ali replied, "I think she was pushed by
necessity". So ‘Umar gave her a few lashes and asked her to go. In fact a
woman was brought to ‘Ali when he was caliph and he kept saying to her,
"perhaps he romanced you? Perhaps he merely rubbed himself between your
thighs? etc" until she took the hint and said "yes." It is not that the
Caliphs believed these incredible tales. But they believed that the gates of
Allah’s mercy were very wide. They knew that it is better for 1,000
adulteresses to escape stoning by man than for one innocent Muslim woman to
be so stoned. Those who escape can always repent and be of use to their
society and religion. Allah is a Most Merciful God. This much the Caliphs,
but not our generation of mallamai, understood. For this reason in every
Sunni School of Law today I can go back to court and say I lied, that I do
not know how I got pregnant, or that I was charmed or tricked or anything
and I am free. But not the Maliki school, which we insist on following in
this matter. Here, pregnancy is evidence of zina and I am presumed guilty
until I prove my innocence. If I say I was raped I must prove it. If I say I
made a mistake it will be accepted only if "reliable men" in my village
testify that I am a nice girl. It is a Law that contravenes the general
principle that I am innocent until proven guilty. The fact of pregnancy is
taken as proof of guilt even though zina requires, in addition to proof of
intercourse, proof of consent and knowledge. These points are documented in
books of Law. You can check Ibn Qudamah’s al-Mughni, or al-Jaza’iri’s
Kitabul Fiqh ‘ala ‘l-Mazahib al-Arba’. I know some Hanbali jurists, notably
Ibn Taimiya, support Malik’s view. Fortunately, our mallamai have always
taught us not to listen to that puritanical predecessor to the Wahhabiya and
‘Yan Izala. So who decides for me that I must be judged by Malik’s Law? To
ask me to prove my innocence contravenes Islamic Jurisprudence, Fundamental
Human Rights and the Nigerian Constitution. To bring me to court, even after
I ran away in terror the first time, nullifies my confession. It was clearly
extracted and not voluntary by virtue of the circumstances. This seems clear
from Shaikh Wahba al-Zuhaili’s work, al-Fiqh al-Islami wa Adillatuh. If my
confession is invalid, then my conviction is based on the fact of pregnancy
and valid under Maliki Law only. Why can’t I be judged by the Law of Shafii,
Abu Hanifa or Ibn Hanbal? If Malik’s Law is "Allah’s Law" then whose Law do
the Shafii Muslims (of Indonesia, Malaysia, East Africa etc), and the
Hanbali Muslims (of the Arab Gulf), and the Hanafi Muslims (of the Indian
sub-continent) operate? But you know I am a woman. I cannot argue with the
alkali.

There are other interesting points to note is that stoning to death, as
punishment for adultery, is not mentioned in the Qur’an. Believe me. The
Qur’an says in Chapter 24: Verse 2: "The woman and the man guilty of zina
flog each of them with a hundred stripes." This is what the Book of Allah
says and the word zina refers to sexual intercourse between a man and a
woman who are not married to each other. No verse of the Qur’an was revealed
abrogating this judgement or amending it ( If you discount the problematic
claim by some that ‘Umar said that such a verse existed at a point. Its text
was abrogated but its verdict remains!). However, Muslim jurists make a
distinction between fornication (or zina by one who has never been married)
and adultery (zina by one who has passed through Ihsan and become a Muhsan).
A Muslim becomes a muhsan once he/she consummates a valid marriage in a
state of adulthood and sanity. So if he/she is found guilty of zina the
punishment, according to jurists is stoning to death, based on the
Traditions of the Prophet, not the Qur’an. Most jurists of Sunni and Shiite
Islam accept this position. Some early jurists, particularly among
Kharijites, reject this distinction as a baseless innovation. In addition to
the verse quoted above, a second verse makes the matter most problematic. In
the Qur’an Chapter 4: Verse 25, Allah encourages Muslim men who cannot marry
free women to marry Muslim slaves with the consent of their families or
owners. He then adds: "If, after their Ihsan, they are found guilty of
indecency their punishment is half of the punishment of Muhsanat." Now if
the punishment of the free-born adulteress is 100 lashes then the punishment
of the slave adulteress is 50 lashes and there is no problem there. If
however we say the punishment for the muhsanah is stoning to death, what
does Allah mean by prescribing half of that for the slave? You must forgive
me, for I am a mere woman. I am unable to calculate half of stoning to
death. Is it stoning to half-death? Or half-stoning to death? Or stoning
half to death? The Kharijites gave our ulama a lot of trouble on this point.
One of our best brains, Ibn Qutaiba, wrote sp





With the very best of good wishes,
Musa Amadu Pembo
Glasgow,
Scotland
UK.
[log in to unmask]
Da’wah is to convey the message with wisdom and with good words. We should
give the noble and positive message of Islam. We should try to emphasize
more commonalities and explain the difference without getting into
theological arguments and without claiming the superiority of one position
over the other. There is a great interest among the people to know about
Islam and we should do our best to give the right message.
May Allah,Subhana Wa Ta'Ala,guide us all to His Sirat Al-Mustaqim (Righteous
Path).May He protect us from the evils of this life and the hereafter.May
Allah,Subhana Wa Ta'Ala,grant us entrance to paradise .
We ask Allaah the Most High, the All-Powerful, to teach us that which will
benefit us, and to benefit us by that which we learn. May Allaah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala grant blessings and peace to our Prophet Muhammad and his family
and
companions..Amen.

_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>

To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>