THE ADULTRESS DIARY PART II BY SANUSI L.SANUSI

One of our best brains, Ibn Qutaiba, wrote spirited defences in two books,
Ta’weel Mukhtalaf al-Qur’an and Ta’weel Mukhtalaf al-Hadeeth. On this point,
though, I am not sure he answered more questions than he raised. It seems to
me he ended up saying that Ihsan does not mean consummating marriage so he
turned everything we read in Law on its head. He also resorted to drawing an
analogy between woman, on the one hand, and a cow or she-camel, on the
other, to wriggle out of the problem. Anyway all this is water under the
bridge. The reality is that this debate has been buried so deeply it cannot
be revived-certainly not before my sentence is due to be carried out. In any
event, the Kharijites are counted among the lost sects (al-firaq
al-dhaallah) so their view carries no weight with our scholars.

You see, dear reader, I remain faithful to our scholars. I do not challenge
them, even where I have my doubts. Ask the alkali. As he pronounced his
sentence on me, I said nothing to indicate I knew these things. I am a
woman, totally invisibilized behind the veil and inside kulle. I know my
place. But one thing I cannot accept is to die alone when I know and the
alkali knows I could not have made this baby alone. I mean I am not the
Virgin Mary! Even that inyamiri, Anyim Anyim, has said so. The jurists,
including Maliki jurists, who produced the body of knowledge called fiqh (or
law) lived at a point in time in history when there was no way of
establishing the paternity of a child. I can understand if they said
pregnancy is evidence of zina, even though it is a harsh verdict, but I know
the only reason they prescribed nothing for the man was because they had
nothing to go on apart from the woman’s word. Today the alkali has options.
Science can establish who is telling lies between Yakubu and I, and DNA
tests are used by courts all over the modern world to settle these matters.
Of course they are not 100% faultless but my guilt has also not been 100%
proven. At least he should take that one step of testing for paternity. But
no. This will not happen because men will also die. If we stick to the law
as inherited from the past, men of the present can impregnate us and deny
us. Brilliant, aren’t they, these men? They commit a crime in the 20th
Century with rooms and curtains and airconditioners available but can only
be convicted based on a Law of Evidence made for the 7th Century with people
doing it in the open desert or makeshift tents! Four eye-witnesses to sex in
the NICON Hilton in 2001? So Bariya was whipped, Safiya will be stoned, who
next? All the men escaped because of lack of evidence. So long as men are
not punished for impregnating women nothing will change. And herein lies the
injustice of the Law. I sleep with Yakubu and get pregnant. Because only I
will be punished, I insist that my crime is not adultery, but pregnancy.
Since only women can be pregnant this means that the real crime is being a
woman. The man will always commit adultery and escape. The woman is the only
one who can ever conceive, the unknowing depository of the traitor’s semen.
It is not Allah or his Prophet or even Malik who says so. It is our
scholars, our men, who hide behind the lie of being loyal to the past to
perpetuate the crimes of our present and escape. Now you know why I said I
was convicted of being a woman. Maybe it makes sense to you, maybe it
doesn’t. I have no illusions, for I am a mere woman.

I am glad Nigerians are talking. I have already filed an appeal. I am not
asking for my death and Yakubu’s. I want to be given the benefit that the
early Caliphs gave all those women. I want the chance to repent. Allah has
opened His doors to his servants who go astray and wish to repent, why
should men close that door in my face? I want the Law to be truly Allah’s
Law and not a concoction by men. And if men themselves differ on what Allah
means, who is to decide Allah’s true intent? With your help I may yet live.
I only pray I will not be back on trial for murder. You see, given my
experience with my husbands, my lover, my fellow-villagers, the police, the
judiciary and even my governor, I have come to see men in their true
colours. I have seen, first hand, the extent to which they have cheated
women, and the lies they have spun in the name of Allah and His Messenger.
Now this is my fear. If any man after this as much as winks at me, I will
most joyfully slice off his you-know-what.

November 2001






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.

_________________________________________________________________
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