Islam and Human Rights — Page 134
Isl am and Hum an R ights 134 persecution (33:59), one particular species of calumny against a woman, namely, an imputation against her chastity, is condemned in much harsher terms and is made subject to a severer penalty. It is included among those few crimes for which the Quran itself specifies the punishment. “Verily those who make false accusations against chaste, unwary, believing women are cursed in this world and the Hereafter, and for them is a grievous chastisement, on the day when their tongues and their hands and their feet shall bear witness against them as to what they used to do. On that day will Allah mete out to them their just due, and they will know that Allah alone is the Manifest Truth” (24:24-26). “Those who make accusations against chaste women and bring not four witnesses in support thereof-flog them with eighty stripes, and never admit their evidence thereafter; it is they that are the transgressors, except those who repent there after and make amends, for truly Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful” (24:5-6). Islam recognizes that “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society” (Art. 16-3) and not only accords it the fullest protection but also shows how that protection can be made effective. It does not accept or endorse the attitude, more and more current in certain sections of society, that the sanctity of the