Abrahamic faiths have always had issues with sex and sexual morality, between toughening up laws to encourage abstinence and then finding ways to loosen things up when people turn their backs on people of religion. One would think that within that wide spectrum, the truth must be lying there somewhere. After all, faith was never about pleasing ordained people or scholars, and it would be absurd to think that God actually wants to confuse us or that his laws were originally made to be misleading.
Each book from the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran, can be individually open to vague interpretation and restricted presentation constrained by language and culture. However, the message behind the books has a common rhythm of meaning, that when collectively analyzed becomes self translative, language independent, culturally liberated, and logically fulfilling; like pieces of puzzle that when put together build a crystal clear image of the faith God wants us to follow.
God’s only word on Earth is his books, and it should come with no surprise that there’s a clear pattern between them all, one that if taken, would nullify the work of almost all priests, rabbis, and sheikhs; it goes against the teachings of all modern day Abrahamic scholars.
While pure forms of faith that research and follow divine scripture exclusively could be openly practiced and advocated within Jewish and Christian communities, Muslim nations are savagely deprived of that privilege, and they’ve taken on an agenda that looks at external, human composed sources for most of their guidance, instead of the Quran.
This article focuses on Quranic evidence to refute the false claims associating ‘fornication’ to the Abrahamic faith, to prove that it follows and reaffirms the exact findings of the nature of sexual sins entailed within the preceding holy books.
Fornication and Scripture
The word ‘fornication’ is simply taken to mean premarital sexual intercourse. It is a sin in none of the divine books, and the word is often a misrepresentation of terms like indecency and immorality from the original, untranslated text. There is an apparent consensus that fornication has no basis in the original five books of Moses, and premarital sex is never even mentioned, despite all kinds of prohibited sexual immoralities in the book. Therefore, premarital sex isn’t a sin in the Torah.
The Torah is also called the old testament, and is upheld by Christians as divine law, and in addition to the new testament, they form the biblical canon. The Bible has several versions with different translations and interpretations, of which some make use of the word ‘fornication’. However, the pre-translated, original text uses the same word to refer to idolatry. As proven using correctly translated verses, there is no mention of fornication; biblical fornication is a linguistic myth.
Despite the fact that pre-marital sex is never mentioned in the Quran as a sin, not even as an indecency, ‘hadith’ lunatics had the guts to claim that Adultery (زنا) could refer to both pre-marital sex and post-marital illicit sex, making up fornication on the way, and equating it to adultery - a sin they’re further fabricating, claiming stoning to death as a punishment for it in their hadiths. How could we follow such teachings, when God has reaffirmed to us that his book is fully detailed, and warned us from taking any external hadith (discourse):
تِلكَ آياتُ اللَّهِ نَتلوها عَلَيكَ بِالحَقِّ ۖ فَبِأَيِّ حَديثٍ بَعدَ اللَّهِ وَآياتِهِ يُؤمِنونَ ﴿٦﴾ {الجاثية}
{ These are the verses of God that we recite to you with truth. So, in which discourse after God and his verses do they believe? (45.6) }
Conveniently, the Quran has a single, unified version that is all in Arabic, which saves time when we’re absolving a holy book from falsely associated claims. There are two sexual sins mentioned in the book; indecency (فاحشة) and adultery (زنا).
Indecency (فاحشة)
Indecency is a general term referring to any sexual behavior that is prohibited within moral Quranic conduct, and it corresponds to ‘Arayot’ in the Hebrew Bible. It may refer to incest (4.22), sexual acts between more than two women (4.15), male to male anal intercourse (4.16), sexual relationships with gentiles (2.221), extramarital sex involving devoted women (4.19), among other forbidden sexual relationships in the Quran that would also amount to indecencies. Premarital sex is never mentioned in the book, not even as an indecency.
It is important to point out that homosexual indecencies do not forbid homosexuality for men or women, but these verses rather set the rules for it as explained in this article.
God uses the term indecency to refer to all sexual sins, including sexual misconduct involving devoted (or married) women, as mentioned in verses (4.19), (4.25), (33.30) and (65.1). Therefore, adultery is a rather circumstantial and non isolated sin in nature.
Adultery (زنا)
Adultery (Arabic: ‘Zinaa’, Hebrew: ‘Zanah'), is the common name for the highly weighted sexual sin that exists in God’s books. As the Quranic verses show, it doesn’t automatically apply to extramarital sex during commitment; that would still be an isolated indecency.
God makes a bridge between indecency and adultery in this verse, to clarify that adultery is essentially a higher type of indecency, and describes it as a path.
وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَا ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً وَسَاءَ سَبِيلًا ﴿٣٢﴾ {الاسراء}
{ And do not approach adultery. Indeed, it is an indecency, and a dreadful path (17.32) }
God uses the word 'path' to hint to something that has a continuous or repetitive nature, and since all the verses mentioning sexual acts involving devoted women deemed it an indecency rather than adultery, the conditions for adultery as a sin can’t meet by simply committing an isolated indecency.
Adultery isn’t exclusive to indecencies involving devoted or married women, but is also about any kind of indecency involving a woman and a man, including incest, or being sexually involved with a polytheist. All of these sins are similarly called indecencies, and therefore all of them can cross the bounds of indecency into adultery.
God also never mentioned any references to whether the sin involves sexual intercourse or not, and associating the sins to a specific act ourselves is especially foolish; not having intercourse wouldn't stop forbidden sex from being an indecency, and never having intercourse wouldn’t absolve persistent sinners from being deemed adulterers.
As with all sins prescribed in God’s scriptures, even adultery can be forgiven. Given the sinner repents to God and asks him for forgiveness, they are absolved can no longer be called adulterers.
قُل يا عِبادِيَ الَّذينَ أَسرَفوا عَلىٰ أَنفُسِهِم لا تَقنَطوا مِن رَحمَةِ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغفِرُ الذُّنوبَ جَميعًا ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الغَفورُ الرَّحيمُ ﴿٥٣﴾ {الزمر}
{ Say, O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of God’s mercy. Indeed, God forgives all sins. It is he who is the all forgiving, the merciful. (39.53) }
Given the harsh punishment of a hundred lashes for unrepentant adulterers, for which I will use the verse to explain the legal conditions, some of you might still be in doubt about God’s mercy, so here’s another verse where God specifies the only unforgivable sin of mankind:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَغفِرُ أَن يُشرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغفِرُ ما دونَ ذٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشاءُ ۚ وَمَن يُشرِك بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افتَرىٰ إِثمًا عَظيمًا (٤٨) {النساء}
{ Indeed, God does not forgive association with Him, and forgives (any sin) aside from that for whom He wills. And whoever associates (others) with God has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin. (4.48) }
So, aside from polytheism, God forgives all sins for his believers. Therefore, it would be ignorant and abundantly foolish to claim that punishing repentant believers for their sins is something God wants us to do.
Before explaining the conditions for the punishment for adultery and the reason behind it, I’d like to make mention of the verse to give you a chance to read it and grasp its details yourself:
ٱلزَّانِيَةُ وَٱلزَّانِى فَٱجۡلِدُواْ كُلَّ وَٲحِدٍ۬ مِّنۡہُمَا مِاْئَةَ جَلۡدَةٍ۬ۖ وَلَا تَأۡخُذۡكُم بِہِمَا رَأۡفَةٌ۬ فِى دِينِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمۡ تُؤۡمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡيَوۡمِ ٱلۡأَخِرِۖ وَلۡيَشۡہَدۡ عَذَابَہُمَا طَآٮِٕفَةٌ۬ مِّنَ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ (٢) {النور}
{ The adulteress and the adulterer, lash each one of them a hundred lashes, and no pity for them should prevail upon you in the matter of God’s religion, if you believe in God and the day of judgement, and you must bear witness to their punishment an assembly of believers. (24.2) }
The phrase “The adulteress and the adulterer” confirms that adultery can only be committed by people of opposite sex, and the association made between them in the verse demonstrates that it’s a sin that can be committed by two specific individuals; not an individual who has sex with different people. Hence, adultery is about a man and a woman who are in a state of being involved with one another sexually, despite the forbidden nature of their relationship.
As with other Quranic punishments, God uses a plural verb when addressing the subject, affirming the fact that it is a matter that needs to be decided publicly and collectively by believers. In this verse specifically, God also wants people to witness the punishment to further reaffirm that fact. People are less likely to vote to undergo the punishment if they’re unsure of the sin, or if they’re uncertain of the sinners’ deviancy or unrepentant nature.
Moreover, state governments will be forced to involve the community in the matter, given the fact that it should be witnessed upon. Hence, it is not matter to be decided by the state or a group of people, but by believers in the community in general, so that they assess the nature of the sinners, forbearing remorseful sinners as God would want them to, otherwise the whole community will have to answer to God for what they have decided and bore witness to.
The community must also deal strictly with malign accusers, false claims of adultery are a great deal to God; whoever accuses women and fails to bring forward at least four witnesses, is bound to receive eighty lashes as a punishment for slandering:
وَالَّذينَ يَرمونَ المُحصَناتِ ثُمَّ لَم يَأتوا بِأَربَعَةِ شُهَداءَ فَاجلِدوهُم ثَمانينَ جَلدَةً وَلا تَقبَلوا لَهُم شَهادَةً أَبَدًا ۚ وَأُولٰئِكَ هُمُ الفاسِقونَ (٤) {النور}
{ And those who accuse vitalized women, and then do not bring forward four witnesses, lash them eighty lashes, and accept no testimony from them ever again, those are the perversive people. (24.4) }
The verse refers to accusing devoted women, because vitalized women (المحصنات) are either single (manless) or devoted (committed to a man), and single women cannot commit adultery. Women who have sex with their right hand possessors are not vitalized, that is because they're in an uncommitted (albeit licit) relationship, and hence, like vitalized single women, cannot commit adultery. Women who are involved with a forbidden partner they can’t legally commit to are also not vitalized, which could be the reason they’re being rightfully persecuted.
There are exceptional guidelines to follow if the person accusing the woman is her partner. If the husband has no witnesses, he has to swear on oath that he’s truthful (verses 24:6-7), and his wife in this case can solely vindicate herself by swearing on oath that he’s a liar (verses 24:8-9).
Adultery is essentially a legal case against people committing indecency, brought forward by sufficient and credible witnesses, to a community that then decides the fate of the accused. If the community collectively decides that they're indeed adulterers, only then can the punishment be enforced. These are the laws that God has revealed to his people, to help them preserve their faith and keep them from hurting each other. To avoid sexual indecencies and accusations of adultery, a believer needs to steer clear sexually forbidden relationships. Women and men each have their different set of sexually forbidden partners.
Forbidden Sexual Partners
Both men and women are prohibited from sexually seeking legal relatives, but each of them have their own rules as to what defines a legal relative in Islam.
These verses comprise the male's female legal relatives, whom they are hence forbidden to seek:
حُرِّمَت عَلَيكُم أُمَّهاتُكُم وَبَناتُكُم وَأَخَواتُكُم وَعَمّاتُكُم وَخالاتُكُم وَبَناتُ الأَخِ وَبَناتُ الأُختِ وَأُمَّهاتُكُمُ اللّاتي أَرضَعنَكُم وَأَخَواتُكُم مِنَ الرَّضاعَةِ وَأُمَّهاتُ نِسائِكُم وَرَبائِبُكُمُ اللّاتي في حُجورِكُم مِن نِسائِكُمُ اللّاتي دَخَلتُم بِهِنَّ فَإِن لَم تَكونوا دَخَلتُم بِهِنَّ فَلا جُناحَ عَلَيكُم وَحَلائِلُ أَبنائِكُمُ الَّذينَ مِن أَصلابِكُم وَأَن تَجمَعوا بَينَ الأُختَينِ إِلّا ما قَد سَلَفَ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كانَ غَفورًا رَحيمًا (٢٣) {النساء}
{ And do not devote (to yourselves) those whom your fathers had devoted from the women, except what has passed. It is indeed an indecency, an obscenity, and a dreadful path. (22) Prohibited for you are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal aunts, your maternal aunts, brother’s daughters, sister’s daughters, your mothers who suckled you, your sisters through suckling, mothers of your women, your step-daughters under your care from your women whom you have had intercourse with, though if you have not had intercourse with them, there is no sin on you, and the wives of your sons from your loins, and that you combine two sisters (in wedlock), except what has passed. Surely, God is all forgiving and merciful. (4.23) }
In the next verse, God also forbids men from approaching vitalized (devoted or single women) except those within their right hand possession, because those are single women under their care and have given them consent. Moreover, God tells men how they approach women they want to be involved with; with devotion and not lust:
وَالمُحصَناتُ مِنَ النِّساءِ إِلّا ما مَلَكَت أَيمانُكُم ۖ كِتابَ اللَّهِ عَلَيكُم ۚ وَأُحِلَّ لَكُم ما وَراءَ ذٰلِكُم أَن تَبتَغوا بِأَموالِكُم مُحصِنينَ غَيرَ مُسافِحينَ ۚ فَمَا استَمتَعتُم بِهِ مِنهُنَّ فَآتوهُنَّ أُجورَهُنَّ فَريضَةً ۚ وَلا جُناحَ عَلَيكُم فيما تَراضَيتُم بِهِ مِن بَعدِ الفَريضَةِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كانَ عَليمًا حَكيمًا (٢٤) {النساء}
Also (prohibited) are vitalized women, except your right hand possessions, they are God's trusteeship upon you. And it has been permitted for you to beyond those (women) to seek through your wealth, vitalizing them, not taking them for lust. So, to those of them whose company you have enjoyed, give them their dues (dower), it is an obligation. There is no sin on you in what you mutually agree upon after the obligation. Surely, God is all knowing, wise. (4.24
Women have laws that define their legal relatives, whom they’re allowed to expose themselves to, but not allowed to be involved with, including relatives, men within their right hand possession and homosexual men:
وَقُل لِلمُؤمِناتِ يَغضُضنَ مِن أَبصارِهِنَّ وَيَحفَظنَ فُروجَهُنَّ وَلا يُبدينَ زينَتَهُنَّ إِلّا ما ظَهَرَ مِنها ۖ وَليَضرِبنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلىٰ جُيوبِهِنَّ ۖ وَلا يُبدينَ زينَتَهُنَّ إِلّا لِبُعولَتِهِنَّ أَو آبائِهِنَّ أَو آباءِ بُعولَتِهِنَّ أَو أَبنائِهِنَّ أَو أَبناءِ بُعولَتِهِنَّ أَو إِخوانِهِنَّ أَو بَني إِخوانِهِنَّ أَو بَني أَخَواتِهِنَّ أَو نِسائِهِنَّ أَو ما مَلَكَت أَيمانُهُنَّ أَوِ التّابِعينَ غَيرِ أُولِي الإِربَةِ مِنَ الرِّجالِ أَوِ الطِّفلِ الَّذينَ لَم يَظهَروا عَلىٰ عَوراتِ النِّساءِ ۖ وَلا يَضرِبنَ بِأَرجُلِهِنَّ لِيُعلَمَ ما يُخفينَ مِن زينَتِهِنَّ ۚ وَتوبوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَميعًا أَيُّهَ المُؤمِنونَ لَعَلَّكُم تُفلِحونَ (٣١) {النور}
{ And tell the (female) believers to lower their gazes and preserve their orifices and to not reveal their adornments except for what has been revealed of it, and to use their garments to cover their breasts, and to not reveal their adornments except to their partners or their fathers or their partners' fathers or their sons or their partners' sons or their brothers or their brothers' sons or their sisters' sons or their women or those whom their right hand possesses or male attendants with no primary sexual attraction or children who have not yet become conscious of women's privates, and to not stamp with their feet to draw attention to what they're hiding of their adornments. And repent to God all of you O' believers may you be winners (24.31) }
Women are monogamous by nature, devoting themselves to one man, which is why men can’t approach a woman involved with a man, and similarly, devoted women should not seek other men.
Married or committed women commit indecencies by involving themselves sexually with other men, as illustrated in verses like (65.1), (4.25) and (4.19), and are therefore forbidden from being involved with more than one man at a time. Women however are allowed to seek married men with no sin, but men are not allowed to seek committed women.
There is no mention of an indecency in the book that involves unmarried women, and they hence cannot be accused of indecencies for premarital sexual relationships, let alone adultery. The marriage covenant (الكتاب) is the final step of a relationship with which a couple’s marriage becomes official, and the Quran specifies no obligation for either men or women to write the covenant before being involved sexually, the only obligation is fulfilling the dues set by the woman, as expressed in verses (4.4) and (4.24).
