Verse of Jald

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Verse of Jald
Verse's Information
NameVerse of Jald
SuraSura al-Nur
Verse2
Juz'18
Content Information
Place of
Revelation		Medina
Topicjurisprudence
AboutIslamic punishment of a fornicator and a fornicatress


The Verse of Jald or the Verse of Fornication (Arabic: آيَة الجَلد - آيَة الزِنا) describes the Islamic punishment of a fornicator and a fornicatress. In this verse, the punishment for fornication is one hundred lashes, which must be administered in the presence of a group of believers. It is also forbidden to show compassion in performing the prescribed punishment on a fornicator/fornicatress. According to the jurists, this verse is about a fornicator/fornicatress who is not a slave or a muhsin (one who has access to lawful sex). According to some exegetes, this verse abrogates Qur'an 4:15 about fornicatresses.

Importance of the verse of Jald

Qur'an 24:2 is called verse of jald or verse of zina.[1] This verse is one of the verses of ruling, and the jurists have stated the punishment of a fornicator/fornicatress with reference to this verse.[2] It is stated in this verse:

According to some exegetes, it refers to three issues:

  1. Specifying one hundred lashes as the punishment for fornication
  2. Prohibition of showing unreasonable affection towards the fornicator/fornicatress
  3. Ordering some believers to attend the scene of the fornicator/fornicatress's punishment so that people learn a lesson.[3]

Application in Jurisprudence

The book Shara'i' al-Islam mentions that the punishment for fornication is one hundred lashes if the person is not a muhsin (one who has access to lawful sex). The punishment for a muhsin fornicator/fornicatress is stoning.[4]

In his book, Tahrir al-ahkam, al-Allama al-Hilli believes that a fornicator should be flogged naked; but his head, face, and private parts should be protected from flogging and with regards to the phrase "and let not pity for them overcome you in Allah's law", ruled that the flogging should be severe.[5]

Al-Shaykh al-Tusi referred to the phrase "and let their punishment be witnessed by a group of the faithful" and said that the governor should inform the people to attend the administration of the punishment of the fornicator/fornicatress to prevent others from committing such an act.[6] It is appropriate that those who attend the scene of punishment are righteous people.[7] According to al-Tabrisi, in Majma’ al-bayan commentary on the Qur'an, the exegetes considered the example of "ta'ifa" [a group of] in the verse to consist of one, two, three, or more people.[8]

Qur'an 24:2 has also been considered as the abrogation of the punishment for prostitution. According to Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, the author of al-Mizan commentary on the Qur'an, the verse of jald abrogated Qur'an 4:15, because it says in Qur'an 4:15 that “Should any of your women commit an indecent act, produce against them four witnesses from yourselves, and if they testify, detain them in [their] houses until death finishes them, or Allah decrees a course for them.”[9] He believed that the phrase "…or Allah decrees a course for them" indicates that this verse would be abrogated.[10]

Interpretation points

Al-Tabrisi, one of the Shiite exegetes of the Qur'an, mentions several points in explaining this verse:

  1. This verse is about a fornicator/fornicatress who is neither a slave nor a muhsin. According to Qur'an 4:25, if the fornicator/fornicatress is a male/female slave, he will receive half of the mentioned amount of lashes;[11] because it is stated in Qur'an 4:25 that "should they [slaves] commit an indecent act on marrying, there shall be for them [only] half the punishment for free women."[12]
  2. This verse is addressed to Imams (a) and those appointed by them; because no one other than Imams (a) and their vicegerents have the right to administer punishments.[13]
  3. This verse mentions "al-zaniyatu" (fornicatress) before "al-zani" (fornicator). Tabrisi has cited several reasons for this:
  • Fornication is uglier for women.[14]
  • Lust and its dominance is greater in women.[15]
  • Due to pregnancy, fornication is more harmful to women.[16]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ Khurāsānī, "Āyāt-i nāmdār", vol. 1, p. 380.
  2. ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 4, p. 137; Ḥillī, Taḥrīr al-aḥkām, vol. 5, p. 319; Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, p. 701.
  3. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 14, p. 359-360.
  4. ↑ Ḥillī, Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām, vol. 4, p. 137.
  5. ↑ Ḥillī, Taḥrīr al-aḥkām, vol. 5, p. 319.
  6. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, p. 701.
  7. ↑ Ṭūsī, al-Nihāya, p. 701.
  8. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 7, p. 220.
  9. ↑ Qur'an 4:15: Should any of your women commit an indecent act, produce against them four witnesses from yourselves, and if they testify, detain them in [their] houses until death finishes them, or Allah decrees a course for them.
  10. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, al-Mīzān, vol. 4, p. 235.
  11. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 7, p. 219.
  12. ↑ Qur'an 4:25.
  13. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 7, p. 219.
  14. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 7, p. 219.
  15. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 7, p. 219.
  16. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 7, p. 219.

References

  • Ḥillī, al-Ḥasan b. Yūsuf al-. Taḥrīr al-aḥkām al-sharʿiyya ʿalā madhhab al-imāmiyya. Edited by Ibrāhīm Bahādurī. Qom: Muʾassisat Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1420 AH.
  • Ḥillī, Jaʿfar b. al-Ḥasan al-. Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī masāʾil al-ḥalāl wa l-ḥarām. Second edition. Qom: Muʾassisa-yi Maṭbūʿātī-yi Ismāʿīlīyān, 1408 AH.
  • Khurāsānī, ʿAlī. "Āyāt-i nāmdār". Daʾirat al-maʿārif-i Qurʾān-i karīm. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb, 1382 Sh.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. 32nd edition. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1374 Sh.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-. Al-Mīzān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Second edition. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1390 AH.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1415 AH.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Nihāya fī mujarrad al-fiqh wa al-fatāwā. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya, 1400 AH.
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