User talk:Jjacoby13

Islamic law establishes two categories of legal, sexual relationships: between husband and wife, and between a man and his concubine. All other sexual relationships are considered zināʾ (fornication), including adultery and homosexuality, according to Islamic law and exegesis of the Qur’an. From the story of Lot it is clear that the Qur’an regards sodomy as an egregious sin. The death by stoning for people of Sodom and Gomorrah is similar to the stoning punishment stipulated for illegal heterosexual sex. There is no punishment for a man who sodomizes a woman because it is not tied to procreation. However, other jurists insist that any act of lust in which the result is the injecting of semen into another person constitutes sexual intercourse.

Sodomy is often falls under that same category as sex between and unmarried man and women engaging in sexual acts. Male-male intercourse is referred to as liwat (literally, joining) while female-female intercourse is referred to as sihaq (literally, rubbing). Both are considered reprehensible acts but there is no consensus on punishment for either. Some jurists define zināʾ (fornication) exclusively as the act of unlawful vaginal penetration and hence categorized and punished anal penetration as a different act. Other jurists included both vaginal and anal penetration within the definition of zināʾ (fornication) and hence were able to extend the punishment of one act to other.

Religious discourse has mostly focused on sexual acts, which are unambiguously condemned. The Qur’an refers explicitly to male-male sexual relations only in the context of the story of Lot, but labels the Sodomites's actions (universally understood in the later tradition as anal intercourse) an "abomination," (Female-female relations are not addressed). Reported pronouncements by the prophet Muhammad (hadith) reinforce the interdiction on male-male sodomy, although there are no reports of his ever adjudicating an actual case of such an offense; he is also quoted as condemning cross-gender behavior for both sexes, but it is unclear to what extent this is to be understood as involving sexual relations. Several early caliphs, confronted with cases of sodomy between males, are said to have had both partners executed, by a variety of means. While taking such precedents into account, medieval jurists were unable to achieve a consensus on this issue; some legal schools prescribed capital punishment for sodomy, but others opted only for a relatively mild discretionary punishment. There was general agreement, however, that other homosexual acts (including any between females) were lesser offenses, subject only to discretionary punishment.

Currently sodomy is punishable by death in a number of Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as in Nigeria’s Sharia courts.