[thechat] A balance of opinion. - Iran

[Madhu Menon]

At 02:10 PM 27-03-03, Syed Zeeshan Haider wrote:

>Yes it is! Consider a rapist being stoned to death. He is getting the 
>reward of
>what he did with his victim. Didn't he humiliate her?

"An eye for an eye" must be the same justification the Saudis use when they 
saw off people's hands for theft. [1]

But that's not the point. Stoning in most cases is for *adultery* or even 
engaging in sex outside marriage. There's no crime committed there. It's an 
action between consenting adults. Adultery may be morally wrong to some 
people, but it's not criminal.

How many rapists have been stoned to death?


>Anyhow, I have an open mind if any Islamic scholar provides me any solid 
>Islamic
>proof against it.

Proof against what? There can't be any "proof" for things humane or inhumane.
Perhaps it's time that certain provisions in the holy books were abandoned 
to reflect the progress in human civilisation. This is supposed to be the 
21st century.

They used to burn so-called witches once upon a time. They don't do that 
any more...


> > <sarcasm> Oh what a heinous crime! </sarcasm>
>
>No offence, it is your own (westernised) perspective of seeing such things.

Westernised? No, my perspective is my own. In my country, we don't stone 
anyone for sex outside marriage, and I don't live in a Western country.


> > (And as I understand it, *any* sex out of marriage qualifies. You don't
> > have to be married for that.)
>
>Please explain your point in detail.

OK, I'll explain.

If WomanX is not married and she has sex with another man, that too 
qualifies for the stoning punishment. No?
In other words, sex before marriage is a sin.

The Sharia law considers any sex outside marriage to be illegal, doesn't it?


>Ironically, it's right. Mostly, women are the victims of such punishments. One
>reason is that they provide the medical proofs of being engaged in sex.

Or maybe they are just regarded as inferior to men.

You want to see true irony, my friend? Read this:
http://tinyurl.com/4i9v

(I had posted this to thechat a long time ago.)

Summary: French woman gets gang-raped by four men. Reports rape to police. 
One of the men admitted to having "consensual sex" with the woman, which 
made her, in the eyes of Dubai's judiciary, guilty of both adultery and 
making a false rape accusation. So she's now being held by the authorities.

Oh yes, true justice.


>I am not a biologist. But I have read the articles of different scientists who
>strongly suggest that men's lust is generally more violent than that of women.

That's probably why all of us here on this list are a bunch of lusty, 
maniacal rapists - not! :(

There's a difference between feeling lust and actually acting on that lust. 
Just because I see a beautiful woman walk by doesn't mean I jump on her 
immediately and rape her. Hell, we'd have to shut down the beaches of the 
world if that were true. Bikinis? Oh God, no!

The fact that men and women seem to get along for the most part on this 
planet seems to indicate that these "scientists" need to do more research. 
The statistics are against you.

Regards,

Madhu

[1] Amnesty report on Saudi human rights violations: http://tinyurl.com/89ch