This is a very interesting question and a question which stirs the minds of the modern Muslims as well as the non-Muslims of today. It is a very agitating question. The answer could not be understood unless I give the background. Without understanding the background, you will not exactly follow the answer. If I say yes or no, it will be meaningless to you. The fact is that Islam is not only a code of life, but it is a system of effort which creates a certain society.
Not only a theoretical code of life, but a code of life which is put into practice of people with great sacrifice and effort. Once you create a society that is befitting for that code of life, then there is no apparent contradictions and strange phenomena looking from outside. But if the society practically remains at the lowest level and there is no one to take pains to transform that society and still claim that the highest laws which are meant for a higher society should be forcefully applied to a society which is still low in order, that will be a cruelty to Islam. Before implementing these laws, A.S. took unimaginable pains and exerted such labor that it is very rare in history to observe such a phenomenon. He, along with his followers, sacrificed everything for the sake of creation of such a society, which would be so God-fearing and God-loving, as to accept a volition of their own free will.
All the restrictive laws of Islam, and they would prefer to live in this prison rather than to live in the heaven outside Islam. This is why A.S. is known to have said Ad-dunya as-sijnu lil-mu’mine wa-jannatu lil-kafir That imprisonment was not a forced imprisonment, as if walls were created and coercion was used for that imprisonment. It is a compliment for the Mu’mineen who, of their own goodwill, accept restrictions and begin to live within the four walls of Islamic teachings. That is the transformed society for which these punitive laws are made. If there is nobody to transform a society, and you find the real situation in a so-called Muslim country to be as close to any other non-Muslim country, if in reality the Holy Quran is not found in practice, if in reality Islam is just a name to be utilised politically and to hold the people subservient, such a society, if it receives this punishment, there will be so many other faults accompanying it, which will appear and Islam will be turned into a scapegoat of intrigues by the foreign powers.
They will play these things up, they will laugh at these things, yet they will promote the same authorities which are responsible for implementing Islam in such a stupid way. They will run with the hare and shoot it. Hunt with the hounds. They hunt with the hounds and run with the hare. This is the situation of the big powers vis-à-vis the Muslim countries. And this is one of the measures adopted by them. They encourage people like Numeri and such medievalists in Islam, who impose an Islam of Middle Ages, not of the time of the Holy Prophet ﷺ. They encourage them on the one hand, and when they indulge in atrocities, then the western press takes it up and plays it up against Islam.
So this situation is created because of the analysis I was making. That analysis applies to this situation. Another thing, it is impossible to impose the Islamic punishment on a society which is non-Muslim in character, in reality. For instance, the standard of testimony in Islam is so high, that you will hardly come across a single man, that with some difficulty too, in a Muslim country who is up to the mark according to Islamic standard of testimony. If you read those chapters by the jurists, Islamic jurists, you will be surprised to learn that if somebody is not quiet enough, as to restrain from making urine in the public site. Even the uriners in England, everybody passes urine in public site. That is to say, people can look from behind. This is what is meant. If somebody is shameless enough to do that, his witness will not be accepted.
His testimony will not be accepted according to Islamic standard. If there is ever a reflection on his ever telling a lie, his testimony will not be accepted, it will be below par. So, if that is the standard of testimony, how can you find witnesses, reliable witnesses, for implementation of Islamic penal code? There won’t be any witnesses. If again, it is true, that most of the witnesses nowadays, which appear in our courts, are liars, they have no hesitation in making false allegations against others and having sworn on Allah’s name and Allah’s book, that they will not tell lie, they still tell lies. If that is the case, then suppose, if there is a pious man in a society which is not liked by people around, anybody can buy four witnesses and allege that such and such person alleged in fornication or adultery and have him removed through the Islamic penal system. That is just possible. So, because it is possible and because this is cruelty and not implementation of Islam, that shows that the way the Islam is being implemented is wrong. Islam in itself is correct. The more important things of Islam, which should have been attended to before this, have been ignored.
No effort has been taken to create Islamic society, a real, pious, righteous society, which is God-fearing. And if such a society is created, then such instances would disappear from the sight, automatically. It will be a very real phenomenon. So, you will be surprised that at the time of the Prophet, those who were punished were most often than not those who came themselves forward and told the Prophet that we have committed such and such crime. There was no witness. Because the standard of witness is very high and such things generally are not done in public. So, most of the people who were punished were such as had come forward themselves, admitting a crime of which there was no evidence. So much so that the Prophet turned away from them when they first confessed the crime.
The second time, they did it coming from the other side as if he had not heard. But he was telling them that Allah is forgiving. It is not good for you to start telling about your own inner life and confess things when Allah has concealed those things from public eye. But he turned again to the other side. Then he appeared third time, you know, going back to the other side. And then he turned away. When four times he repeated the same thing and that shows that the Prophet was a very keen observer of Islamic law and understood the essence to the highest degree. When four times he repeated the same thing, then he said, all right, now you will be punished. Because if there is no evidence, you have to admit your crime at least four times before you are punished. So the first three witnesses as if were ignored. And when the fourth appeared, then he was punished.
Such incidents happen more than once. So if you create such a society, then you have a right to establish Islamic penal system. And in such a society which is so pious and so conscientious, number one, the possibility of such crimes is very remote and rare. And number two, the system of evidence is so difficult that it will most often than not be not obtained. So if very rarely one person is sacrificed for the sake of the society, there is no harm. Then it should be done. I stand for that. You understand?
