As Salaam Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu
Adultery and Fornication is gravest sins in Islam.
All praise is due to Allah, the One who said: “ And do not come near to the unlawful sexual intercourse…”. And peace and blessings of Allah be upon His slave and Messenger Muhammad (PBUH), who said: “When a person commits zina, Imaan (faith) leaves him, until it is like a cloud over his head…”.
Undoubtedly, all Muslims have some knowledge of the prohibition of Adultery and fornication, however we are living in a western society whereby this crime has become widespread and commonly accepted. This acceptable crime has even crept into some of the Muslim homes, to the extent we find those who are proud to see their son entering the house with a girl accompanying them. This article will define what is considered as adultery and fornication in Islam, its punishment, marriage to one who commits it, repentance, and how to protect yourself from it.
In today’s English, the word used for a married person who engages in unlawful sexual intercourse is adultery; the single person who engages in sexual intercourse is fornication. Unlike English, Arabic has only one word for both cases – zina. Throughout the history of the religions, zina has been prohibited, however its prohibition is more emphatic and forceful, and is regarded as one of the gravest sins of all the major sins in Islam. Over fourteen hundred years ago, Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) prophesied that from amongst the signs of the Day of Judgement is the prevalence of illegal sexual intercourse.
‘The Major Sins’ book, placed zina as the tenth major sin out of the seventy mentioned by him. However, we see in the following hadiths that zina is more likely ranked as the second major sin in Islam. The Prophet (s.a.w) said: “There is no sin after shirk (polytheism) greater in the eyes of Allah than a drop of semen which a man places in the womb which is not lawful for him.”. Thus we find that zina was mentioned after the two grave sins of shirk and murder. A person has committed zina if they voluntarily and deliberately perform sexual intercourse with other than one’s spouse. The act of zina has taken place when the full insertion of a male’s sexual organ has been inserted inside a female’s vagina, regardless of the number of times or whether contraception was used, such as a condom or separator between the couples organs.
Sister Fatima