controversial email

i got a very graphic email in my inbox this morning. it describes an 8 year old boy, living in iran, who was caught for stealing bread. the email says that according to islamic law the boy is sentenced to have his arm crushed by a car. it then shows several very graphic images of an 8 year old boy being forcibly held down as a car crushes his arm. at this moment i am particularly furious with whoever sent it to me. however i must ask, is there some kind of explanation for this? i am ignorant of the laws of islamic countries but i have heard of atrocities similar to this. the email says "is this a religion of peace and love?". i don't even know if this email is accurate. i was hoping someone here might be able to explain why and how something like this can happen? is it the norm in a country like iran to permanently cripple small children for making a mistake? is this email just hate propaganda? is this an iranian law but not an islamic law?

most of the posts here promote a religion of peace and love, but unfortunately there is a lot of hate and violence associated with islam, especially in the media. i am trying to achieve understanding before i pass judgment. i hope the people here can help me understand. thank you.

i am saddened to realise that i posted this about two weeks ago and have received absolutely no response to it whatsoever. how am i to interpret this silence? there isn't even anyone saying "gee, that's pretty terrible, i don't know how to explain it" or "things like that are done in iran but it does not reflect islam" or even "that email you got is nothing more than hate propaganda". just silence. is there no explanation? does this just happen and people ignore it? is this sort of thing okay?

i would really, really like to know how anyone ever can justify permanently crippling an eight year old boy because he made a childish mistake. how can god/allah be inferior in compassion to human beings? does torturing and inflicting pain on a small child please him? i suppose this child's theft represents a huge danger to the welfare and peace of the community. i apologize if i am out of line here. the pictures of that poor little boy crying as men hold him down and drive a car over his tiny arm....the thought that he will probably never have the full use of that arm and will be branded as a thief for the rest of his life....well i find it outrageous. he could have learned his lesson with a simple spanking.

Welcome to the Forum.

We are sorry we did not notice your thread earlier.

In Islam, children are not held into account until they reach puberty. But for criminal offences, the rule might be slightly different.

The punishment for stealing is to chop off the hand, but it is not for minor stealing as mentioned in the story above. The punishment is for Robbery, Looting, Bank lifting, pick pocketing etc. Stealing bread, and and that too when someone is in need does not justify chopping off the hand. There must be some lighter punishment for it. And in case of children, they are usually taught and made aware of the harms of stealing rather than inflicting a major punishment on them.

I have never read about crushing the arm under a car in Islam.

Islam does not teach or advocate this kind of punishment. End of discussion.

The reason why people have probably not responded is because you come across like a troll. It's very common for someone to visit this site and their first post is about allegations towards Islam. While we're happy to answer them, it helps to first become part of the community instead of just upfront questioning us about everything you see in the media (as if you can trust the media!).

The reason I'm responding to you is in the chance that you are actually genuinely interested to learn about Islam and want to know what Islam is and is not. You deserve to know that Islam is a religion of peace and this type of punishment has no place in Islam. After all, when Muslims greet each other, we say: "May peace be with you".

Peace.

salam nlwright, I think lack of response may be to the post being swamped by other threads, forum has been busy, and people genuinely dont know what to say, I am aconvert so if get anything wrong I am sorry and may Allah correctme. First this is not an Islamic act, an 8 year old boy would not be sentenced to having his arm crushed by any Muslim I have ever met or heard of. I only hope that the perpertrators are severley punished in this life and the next. I felt physically sick when I read your post and I am sorry that you were subject to this image of sick brutality and child abuse, May Allah protect the boy from further attacks by gangsters masquerading as Muslims and may Allah also make their efforts to harm Islam be in vain. I dont know what else to say, it has made me incredibly angry that any human being is capable of this sick and revolting act. I am going to stop now. To repeat, this is not an Islamic act.:raging. Too add I would say that a true muslim would have fed the boy, and possibly his familly too

Greetings,

I'm sad to hear that you haven't had a response yet. Threads can sometimes just sink out of view during busy periods - I think that's a more likely explanation of what's happened. Give your thread a bump if you think you need to and you should get some responses.

The email you received sounds like propaganda - the person sending it just wants to spread a negative image of Islam. The truth is always more complex than this.

I'm fairly sure that shariah law does not prescribe crushing people's arms under cars as a valid sentence. However, I'm not qualified to comment, so I hope some of the Muslims here can offer a response.

Edit: I see they have. Thanks, guys.

Peace

That kid had his own circumstances of starvation and should not be cut off but as rules are rules for everyone...I think they openly cut it out not crush it by a car....

Yanal said:

That kid had his own circumstances of starvation and should not be cut off but as rules are rules for everyone...I think they openly cut it out not crush it by a car....

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I don't think we can make those kind of judgments. The rule for the cutting of the hand does not apply across the board: there are conditions. Being that this boy was 8 and below puberty, he should not have had this type of punishment applied to him (if this email is true).

you shouldn't pay heed to such drivel, there is nowhere in Islamic-inspired-law that minors be punished, or that the particular case you mention happen, rather this is as you just said hate mail.

to note:it was exam time when you posted this, or the start of summer, since many of us are students, it's only natural that at such times there will be very few members present to answer, I mean we do have a large community, but only a few post often, many go on hiatus etc,,

i received that mail months ago, and i received another one proving how it was a propaganda

Yanal said:

That kid had his own circumstances of starvation and should not be cut off but as rules are rules for everyone...I think they openly cut it out not crush it by a car....

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Ok, during the caliphate of Umar there was a famine. Those caught stealing food were not given the hudood of having their hands cut off; hukm must be used in meting out punishment. Also, Abdullah ibn Ubai ibn Salul was not given the hudood by the prophet for slandering Aisha because of inter-tribal political issues that would have arised by doing so. Sharia isn't as cold-cut and set in stone as islamophobes and, sadly, many lay muslims would have you believe.

There was a good lecture I listened to by Sheikh Ali at-Tamimi in this regard, I will see if I can find it and post it inshaAllah.

What a bunch of ignorant and misguided fools they were. Stuff like this, if true, infuriates me. These Muslims who did that damage the religion far more than any non-Muslim ever could. May Allah guide them before they are thrown in hell.

nlwright said:

i got a very graphic email in my inbox this morning. it describes an 8 year old boy, living in iran, who was caught for stealing bread. the email says that according to islamic law the boy is sentenced to have his arm crushed by a car. it then shows several very graphic images of an 8 year old boy being forcibly held down as a car crushes his arm. at this moment i am particularly furious with whoever sent it to me.
however i must ask, is there some kind of explanation for this? i am ignorant of the laws of islamic countries but i have heard of atrocities similar to this. the email says "is this a religion of peace and love?". i don't even know if this email is accurate. i was hoping someone here might be able to explain why and how something like this can happen? is it the norm in a country like iran to permanently cripple small children for making a mistake? is this email just hate propaganda? is this an iranian law but not an islamic law?

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I don't know about Iran's laws. I do know that if the event in the email actually happened, it has no place in Islam. As has been said, under Sharia law, punishments of amputation may not even be administered to children below puberty.

In any case, Islamic law does not prescribe amputation by 'crushing the limb with a car'. As that is retarded. The people who create this rubbish to send around don't tend to do any research whatsoever, nor do they seem to have working intellects.

In short, sounds like propaganda.

Sorry it took so long to answer. This is genuinely the first time I've seen this thread. It may have been pushed down the list by other threads.

That email is propoganda. The true story is that it was part of a magic trick but as usual the haters get hold of the pictures and put their propanda crapola all over it.

Second of all; their is NO PUNISHMENT for stealing BREAD in sharia

Thirdly; NO PUNISHMENT FOR CHILDREN STEALING BREAD in sharia

Fourthly; No punishment in sharia involves limb-crushing by CAR!

If you would like to learn more about sharia, there is a link in my sig (the first one that says book on sharia law), click on it and buy that product (it's about £13). It is a book on sharia law.

Apologies for not replying sooner, i wasn't aware of this threads existence,...

This is a common example of culture interfering with religion.People see this culture and blame it on religion.I dislike this interference so much.:raging:

you have no idea what a relief it was to get a response...i want to believe the best of all faiths and i usually do. i have actually been a member here for a couple of months. most of my questions have been posed and answered (very well, i might add) in the other threads. i am so very sorry if i came across as a troll. reading it now, and bearing in mind that this might be just the place for certain troll activities, i can see how that may have come across. again, i offer my apologies.

the email was indeed very graphic. my own son is 8 and makes many mistakes and so this story touched me in a particular way. i was angry and vehement with the person who sent it to me and i told them so. if i really believed such things are a way of islam i would not have asked about it here i just would have held that belief. but as i admit to ignorance of the ways of islam i wished to have it clarified if only to enlighten those who see fit to send me such things. at the time it was sent to me i had no response in behalf of islam, just my own disgust that such terrible things happen in the world. i was surprised at the lack of response because i felt that muslims would be keen to clear up such a charge.

a part of the research i am doing is to try to clarify misconceptions about various religions in general. there is a lot of hate going around just now against islam and that really bothers me. being non-muslim the only way i can find out what is truth is by asking.

thank you all for your responses. i find them very encouraging. now i have some actual information to give the individual who sent me the email. perhaps a small step to ending the spread of hate.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/gruesome/crushboy.asp

Snopes, it's your friend

Well at least you bothered to ask and find out the truth (many would just accept it....even though it's completely retarded). It's always better to ask a question, and I don't blame you for not knowing enough about the matter initially; it is propoganda after all.

aamirsaab said:

Well at least you bothered to ask and find out the truth (many would just accept it....even though it's completely retarded). It's always better to ask a question, and I don't blame you for not knowing enough about the matter initially; it is propoganda What are you saying after all.

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What are you saying, are you saying that the photo's are some kind of stunt and the car isn't really driving over the childs arm? (I'm not being sarcastic I really don't know what you are suggesting)

Thinker said:

What are you saying, are you saying that the photo's are some kind of stunt and the car isn't really driving over the childs arm? (I'm not being sarcastic I really don't know what you are suggesting)

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The snopes article gives the full story. But, in short, yes it is some sort of stunt.