Quran- 4:15 “If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, take the evidence of four (reliable) witness from amongst you against them; if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them. Or God ordain for them some (other) way.”
Herve this is a verse that abrogates earlier verses in torah and gospel...According to the judaic punishment, while man used to recieve a 100 flog and a year's exile(from hadiths), women were used to given death punishment(stoning)..
God in quran gradually abolishes severe punishment for adultery/fornication as society advances and religion establishes itself I guess. Later this verse is also abrogated by another verse in chapter 24:2
(So god ordains woman "the other way" by given equal punishment to each)..
24:2-The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.
In later verses, how this punishment will take place is explained...
24:6-9
And for those who launch a charge against their spouses, and have (in support) no evidence but their own,- their solitary evidence (can be received) if they bear witness four times (with an oath) by Allah that they are solemnly telling the truth; And the fifth (oath) (should be) that they solemnly invoke the curse of Allah on themselves if they tell a lie.But it would avert the punishment from the wife, if she bears witness four times (with an oath) By Allah, that (her husband) is telling a lie;And the fifth (oath) should be that she solemnly invokes the wrath of Allah on herself if (her accuser) is telling the truth.
4:25
..... they may wed believing girls from among those whom your right hands possess: ....... when they are taken in wedlock, if they fall into shame, their punishment is half that for free women.
Since stoning punishment cannot be split into two halfs, from the day verse 24:2 arrived this punishment has been abandoned and settled for a 100 flogging for both single and married adulterers/ fornicators...
-- Sun May 22, 2011 12:06 am --
And also herve there is protection of an individuals honour in islam but this doesn't mean that someone who commits sin brings shame(embarrassment) to the individuals(mainly parents)living at home. Couse the punishment for adultery/fornication has already been established upon bringing forward withnesses(which is almost impossible) and also God is open to invokes for forgiveness,(therefore it cannot be families right to kill) as killing takes the rights for repentance away from the victim..
Since there is no honour killing in islam which is totally misunderstood by ignorant/undereducated muslims, I can only tell you that this is the proper explanation of honour...
2. The Protection of Honour
The second important right is the right of the citizens to the protection of their honour. In the address delivered on the occasion of the Farewell Hajj, to which I have referred earlier, the Prophet did not only prohibit the life and property of the Muslims to one another, but also any encroachment upon their honour, respect and chastity were forbidden to one another. The Holy Quran clearly lays down:
(a) "You who believe, do not let one (set of) people make fun of another set. (b) Do not defame one another. (c) Do not insult by using nicknames. (d) And do not backbite or speak ill of one another" (49:11-12).
This is the law of Islam for the protection of honour which is indeed much superior to and better than the Western Law of Defama- tion. According to the Islamic Law if it is proved that someone has attacked the honour of another person, then irrespective of the fact whether or not the victim is able to prove himself a respectable and honourable person the culprit will in any case get his due punishment. But the interesting fact about the Western Law of Defamation is that the person who files suit for defamation has first to prove that he is a man of honour and public esteem and during the interrogation he is subjected to the scurrilous attacks, accusations and innuendoes of the defence council to such an extent that he earns more disgrace than the attack on his reputation against which he had knocked the door of the court of law. On top of it he has also to produce such witnesses as would testify in the court that due to the defamatory accusations of the culprit, the accused stands disgraced in their eyes. Good Gracious! what a subtle point of law, and what an adherence to the spirit of Law! How can this unfair and unjust law be compared to the Divine law? Islam declared blasphemy as a crime irrespective of the fact whether the accused is a man of honour or not, and whether the words used for blasphemy have actually disgraced the victim and harmed his reputation in the eyes of the public or not. According to the Islamic Law the mere proof of the fact that the accused said things which according to common sense could have damaged the reputation and honour of the plaintiff, is enough for the accused to be declared guilty of defamation.
http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Book ... _of_Honour-- Sun May 22, 2011 12:16 am --
And also in an islamic society (lewdness, unlawful sexual intercourse,indecency) as in the case of man to woman, man to man, woman to woman....makes no difference, it is simply impossible to bring forward 4 witnesses for punishment unless the person admits it themselves..