The Stoning of Soraya M. by Freidoune Sahebjam (1995, Paperback)

I have mixed feelings about this book. I didn't "enjoy" it, but who enjoys reading about stonings and murder and misogyny and injustice? It wasn't perfectly written. And, much of it is the victim's aunt's and the writer's interpretation of thoughts rather than Soraya's actual thoughts.

Still, it's a decent book and the stoning description is very graphic. That in itself, is good. For too long westerners have continued to close their eyes to the horrors of sharia law.

What I found to be the biggest fault with the book was the description on the back of the book. It reads, "She was punished to death by stoning-- a punishment officially prohibited by Islam but widely practiced." Nope. This isn't true. At all. It isn't true at all.

Stoning is part of sharia law. Sharia law is Islamic law and stoning is specifically permitted. From Muslim Hadith no. 4206: And when he had given command over her and she was put in a hole up to her breast, he ordered the people to stone her. Khalid b. al—Walid came forward with a stone which he threw at her head, and when the blood spurted on his face he cursed her . . .

And, from the Koran itself: Sura 24:2: The fornicatress and the fornicator, flog each of them with a hundred stripes. Let not pity withhold you in their case, in a punishment prescribed by Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a party of the believers witness their punishment. [This punishment is for unmarried persons guilty of the above crime (illegal sex), but if married persons commit it (illegal sex), the punishment is to stone them to death, according to Allah’s law.

So, if Muhammad did it, it's the perfect thing to do, according to Islam. Muhammad was the perfect example for humanity and must be emulated. That's the crux of this issue. No Muslim can criticize Muhammad nor Islam.

And, Muhammad did participate in stoning:

Volume 8, Book 82, Number 806:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

A man came to Allah's Apostle while he was in the mosque, and he called him, saying, "O Allah's Apostle! I have committed illegal sexual intercourse.'" The Prophet turned his face to the other side, but that man repeated his statement four times, and after he bore witness against himself four times, the Prophet called him, saying, "Are you mad?" The man said, "No." The Prophet said, "Are you married?" The man said, "Yes." Then the Prophet said, 'Take him away and stone him to death." Jabir bin 'Abdullah said: I was among the ones who participated in stoning him and we stoned him at the Musalla. When the stones troubled him, he fled, but we over took him at Al-Harra and stoned him to death.

Volume 8, book 82 of the Bukhari hadith is filled with stoning examples. Here it is, right on line: http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/bukhari/082.sbt.html

Volume 8, book8, number 817 is particularly long but, as narrated by Ibn 'Abbas, it says: "Allah's Apostle (Muhammad) did carry out the punishment of stoning and so did we after him."

So, as we can see, there is some misinformation on the back of the book. I find this troublesome, too, and I wonder why this book, in particular, is accepted and okayed by the multi-culturalists. . . is it because they can then believe that Islam condemns this practice and then state what they believe as if it's fact so they can argue all religions are equal? They can accept it as an anomaly rather than law. But, it IS law-- don't be fooled.