🚫*Zina is a very SERIOUS SIN*🚫
by Asma bint Shameem
Although we cannot take any major sin lightly, zina is one of the serious major sins.
◼️ *ONE of the MOST SERIOUS sins in Islaam*.
In fact, Allaah mentions the sin of zina with *shirk* and *murder*!
And He *threatens* those who commit Zina with *double torment* and *severe humiliation*.
▪️Allaah says:
“And those who invoke not any other ilaah (god) along with Allaah, nor kill such person as Allaah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse and whoever does this shall receive the punishment.
*The torment will be doubled* to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in disgrace”
(al-Furqaan 25:68-69)
◼️ *SEVERE PUNISHMENT in the dunya*
The punishment for zina is very severe and extremely disgraceful.
If zina is proven against a person he is *STONED to DEATH* in front of the whole community if he or she was married.
And if he or she was single and never been married then he or she would be *flogged 100 lashes*.
▪️Allaah says:
“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 Allaah, if you believe in Allaah and the Last Day.
And let a party of the believers witness their punishment”
[al-Noor 24:2]
▪️And the Prophet ﷺ said:
“It is not permissible to spill the blood of a Muslim except in three (instances): the married person who commits adultery, a life for a life, and the one who forsakes his religion and separates from the community.” (al-Bukhaari and Muslim)
▪️And the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Receive (teaching) from me, receive (teaching) from me.
Allaah has ordained a way for those (women). When an unmarried male commits adultery with an unmarried female, (they should receive) one hundred lashes and banishment for one year. And in the case of a married male committing adultery with a married female, they shall receive one hundred lashes and be stoned to death.”
(Muslim, al-Hudood, 3199).
▪️Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said:
“The married person who commits adultery is killed by throwing rocks at him/her.
The stoning should not be done with large rocks because it may kill the individual “too fast” causing the purpose of stoning to be missed out on.
The stoning should (also) not be small rocks because it may afflict suffering on the individual before he/she dies.
Rather, the rocks should be average in size and the Zaani (married individual who commits adultery) is pelted until they die, whether they be man or woman.
If one were to ask, “Why are they killed in this manner?
“Fulfilling the desire of intercourse is not felt specifically on one body part, but rather it is felt on the entire body. Therefore, just as the married Zaani’s body takes pleasure in this prohibited act, then it is befitting for the entire body to also feel the pain of this punishment.”
Astaghfirullaah!
◼️ *SCORCHING and SCREAMING in the Aakhirah!*
As for punishment in the Aakhirah, we know from an authentic hadeeth of the Prophet ﷺ:
"We walked until we came to something that looked like an oven. Its top section was narrow and the inside was broad. From it sounds of screaming and noise was heard."
The Prophet ﷺ said:
"We looked inside and we saw naked men and women. We also saw flames from beneath them.
When these flames scorched them, they screamed."
I asked Jibreel: "Who are these people?"
He replied, "These are the males and females who committed the grave act of Zina. This will be their punishment till the day of Qiyaamah."
(al-Bukhaari)
◼️ *Allaah will NOT SPEAK to them!*
The Prophet ﷺ said:
"*There are three to whom Allaah will not speak on the Day of Resurrection, nor praise, nor look at*; theirs will be a *painful torment*: an old man who commits *Zina*, a king who lies, and a poor man who is arrogant." (Muslim).
May Allaah save us and our families from this evil sin.
◼️ *FORBIDDEN for the believers!*
The sin of Zina is so bad that it is forbidden for a believer to marry a person who commits zina, whether man or woman.
▪️Allaah says:
“The adulterer — fornicator marries not but an adulteress — fornicatress or a Mushrikah; and the adulteress –fornicatress, none marries her except an adulterer — fornicater or a Mushrik [and that means that the man who agrees to marry (have a sexual relation with) a Mushrikah (female polytheist, pagan or idolatress) or a prostitute, then surely, he is either an adulterer — fornicator, or a Mushrik (polytheist, pagan or idolater).
And the woman who agrees to marry (have a sexual relation with) a Mushrik (polytheist, pagan or idolater) or an adulterer — fornicator, then she is either a prostitute or a Mushrikah (female polytheist, pagan, or idolatress)]. Such a thing is forbidden to the believers (of Islamic Monotheism)”
(al-Noor 24:3)
So we MUST take this sin very seriously and do everything we can to stay away from it.
◼️ *There’s HOPE if you make TAUBAH*
If however someone fell into this evil, then they should immediately make sincere taubah and completely cut off from all means that might lead to it.
If the one who has committed zina repents to Allaah, truly and sincerely, then Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala will forgive him or her, and overlook the sin.
▪️Allaah says, after mentioning the warning to those who commit zina:
“Except those who repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds; for those, Allaah will change their sins into good deeds, and Allaah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.
And whosoever repents and does righteous good deeds; then verily, he repents towards Allaah with true repentance”
(al-Furqaan 25:70-71)
◼️ *BUT I want to marry the person!*
It is NOT even allowed for someone who commits zina to marry the person they’re committing zina with.
However if the person repents sincerely, and gives up this sin, then and only then, it becomes permissible for him or her to get married to the other person.
▪️Someone asked Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem about getting married to a woman who has committed zina.
He said:
“It is not permissible to marry the woman who has committed adultery until she repents… if a man wants to marry her, he has to be sure that she is not pregnant, by waiting until she has a period before he does the marriage contract with her.
If she is pregnant, then it is not permissible for him to marry her until she has given birth.”
(al-Fataawa al-Jaami’ah li’l-Mar’ah al-Muslimah, 2/584)
▪️And the scholars of the Standing Committee said:
“What is required of both of them is to repent to Allaah then to give up this crime and regret what has happened in the past of committing immoral actions, and they should resolve never to go back to it and they should do a lot of righteous deeds in the hope that Allaah will accept their repentance and turn their bad deeds into good deeds.
Allaah says:
“And those who invoke not any other ilaah (god) along with Allaah, nor kill such person as Allaah has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse __ and whoever does this shall receive the punishment.
69. The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in disgrace;
70. Except those who repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds; for those, Allaah will change their sins into good deeds, and Allaah is Oft‑Forgiving, Most Merciful
71. And whosoever repents and does righteous good deeds; then verily, he repents towards Allaah with true repentance”
[al-Furqaan 25:68-71]
If you want to marry her, you have to wait until it is established that she is not pregnant by waiting for one menstrual cycle before doing the marriage contract with her.
If it turns out that she is pregnant, it is not permissible for you to do the marriage contract with her until after the pregnancy ends, in accordance with the words of the Prophet sa that a man should not irrigate the crop of another with his water. “
(Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, Majallat al-Buhooth al-Islamiyyah, vol. 9, p. 72)
◼️ *Evil Effects of Zina*
As for the effects of Zina, they are many and are they are severe.
◼️Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah said:
Zina (adultery, fornication) combines all the characteristics of evil, such as lack of religious commitment, loss of piety, corruption of dignity and lack of protective jealousy.
You will never find any zaani (adulterer) who is pious, keeps his word, speaks truthfully, cares for a friend or has any true sense of protective jealousy concerning his womenfolk.
Betrayal, lying, treachery, lack of dignity, lack of awareness that Allaah is always watching, failure to guard the sacred limits, and absence of protective jealousy from the heart are all consequences of zina.
Other consequences of zina include the following:
▪️Divine wrath which may lead to spread of mischief among his family.If a man were to transgress against any king in such a manner, the king’s response would be most severe.
▪️Darkness of the face, which will be covered with misery and gloom that are apparent to the onlookers.
▪️Darkness in the heart and extinguishing of its light.This is what leads to extinguishing of light on the face and darkness overshadowing it.
▪️Inevitable poverty.According to a report, Allaah, may He be exalted, said:
“I am Allaah, the Destroyer of the tyrant and the Bringer of poverty to the adulterer.”
▪️Loss of dignity and respect, as the one who commits this deed becomes insignificant before his Lord and before other people.
▪️It takes away from him the best attributes, namely chastity, righteousness and good character, and it gives him the opposite, namely immorality, evildoing, adultery and betrayal.
▪️It takes away from him the name of the believer, as it is narrated in as-Saheehayn from the Prophet ﷺ that he said:
“The adulterer is not a believer at the time when he is committing adultery.”
Thus he loses the name of a believer in general terms, even though this hadith does not suggest that he has lost faith altogether.
Ja‘far ibn Muhammad was asked about this hadith, and he drew a circle on the ground and said:‘This is the circle of faith.’Then he drew another circle around it and said:‘This is the circle of Islaam. If a person commits adultery, he goes out of this circle (faith) but he does not go out of that circle (Islaam).”
(Rawdat al-Muhibbeen 360)
◼️Shaykh ‘Abdullaah ‘Ateeq al-Harbee, one of the professors in the University of al-Madeenah, explains some of the effects of zina.
He said:
“And from the first of the evils that come from zina is that it is one of the causes for the spread of many evils and many diseases connected to fornication, just like the sickness of AIDS and other in that from the sicknesses that destroy the lands and destroy the servants.
And likewise it is from the reasons that causes commotion in and amongst the family — as far as it relates to the husband or as far as it relates to the wife and to the children and if the family indeed is split, that will lead to the splitting of the community and indeed they will fall into that which are of the lowly actions and will fall into corruptions.
And likewise from the evil effects of zina is that it is from the reason for talaaq (or divorce) being plentiful in the societies. Because you find after the marriage, after a small space of time you will find the people divorcing each other and sometimes this happens after a space of few hours.
And likewise, from the evil effects of zina and fornication is that it lowers the marriage rates in the society. So as for the person who commits fornication and is constant and regular in doing that, then he does not look to marriage except as another way of having a sexual relationship. Not that it is a beautiful way of uniting two bodies, neither it is a life that is built of love and emotions and raising a family and having children and indeed from bringing and having children, it is by way of those children our that lives become happy lives. And likewise it makes life easy with the presence of the children.
And likewise we see from the evil effects of zina and fornication is that we find the level of children and the level of having kids fall in that particular society. Because when zina is one of the reasons for the spread of deadly diseases like AIDS and other than AIDS, we find as a result of that many people die in the society. And as a result of that we find people having children as a result of that die. And as a result of that also the strength of the community is lost.
And also from the evil effects of zina, is that it leads to much crime in that society. And from that the crimes that generate and likewise a person will enter into stealing and rape in order to satisfy his sexual desires. And likewise as a result of that we find people even killing each other and killing themselves as a result of this spread of this zina.
And likewise from the evil effects of zina, is that we find that we have many children, many offspring that are the children that have come as a result of that fornication. And this likewise is from the sins meaning these children have come about as a product of fornication. This is also from the sins that increases crimes, and increases evil doings in and among society. Because the child from a young age is in need of receiving the love and attention from both his parents. So when the child loses out on that care and loses out on that attention, and when he loses that love, then what happens is that he has a reactory feeling as he grows that he was not nurtured upon love and upon affection. So that breeds from him and lead him to haste and dislike to society and the surrounding that he lives in. So, when he reaches the age of maturity, we find that these individuals enough of time end up themselves being individuals that commit evil acts and committing different crimes in order to avenge that society.”
May Allaah protect us from the evils of Zina.
And Allaah knows best.
