Zina

Zināʾ (زِنَاء) or zina (زِنًى or زِنًا) is an Islamic law concerning unlawful sexual relations between male and female. Historically, sexual relations with  concubines, who are known as “those whom your right hands possess” in the Qur'an, was permissible in Islam.

However, most modern Muslims believe that Islam no longer permits concubinage and that sexual relations are religiously permissible only within marriage. In modern times, the term zina often refers to sexual relations between males and females who are not married to one another through a nikah,R. Peters, Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman et al., Brill, , see article on Zinā  and includes extramarital sex, premarital sex,Sakah Saidu Mahmud (2013), Sharia or Shura: Contending Approaches to Muslim Politics in Nigeria and Senegal, Lexington, , Chapter 3 adultery (consensual,Ursula Smartt, Honour Killings  Justice of the Peace, Vol. 170, January 2006, pp. 4-6 fornication (consensual sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons),Z. Mir-Hosseini (2011), Criminalizing sexuality: zina laws as violence against women in Muslim contexts, Int'l Journal on Human Rights, 15, 7-16 and homosexuality (consensual sexual relations between same-sex partners).Camilla Adang (2003), Ibn Hazam on Homosexuality, Al Qantara, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 5-31

In the four schools of Sunni fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and the two schools of Shi'a fiqh, the term zināʾ is a sin of sexual intercourse that is not allowed by Sharia (Islamic law) and classed as a hudud crime (class of Islamic punishments that are fixed for certain crimes that are considered to be "claims of God").Julie Chadbourne (1999), Never wear your shoes after midnight: Legal trends under the Pakistan Zina Ordinance, Wisconsin International Law Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 179-234  To prove an act of zina, a qadi (religious judge) in a sharia court relies on an unmarried woman's pregnancy, the confession in the name of Allah, or four witnesses to the actual act of penetration. The last two types of prosecutions are uncommon. Most cases of zina in the history of Islam have been pregnant unmarried women.Kecia Ali (2006), Sexual Ethics and Islam, , Chapter 4M. Tamadonfar (2001), Islam, law, and political control in contemporary Iran, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40(2): 205-220 In some schools of Islamic law, a pregnant woman accused of zina who denies sex was consensual must prove she was raped with four eye-witnesses testifying before the court.  This has led to many cases where rape victims have been punished for zina.A. Quraishi (1999), Her honour: an Islamic critique of the rape provisions in Pakistan's ordinance on zina, Islamic studies, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 403-431Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), pp. 176-183  Pressing charges of zina without required eyewitnesses is considered slander (Qadhf, القذف) in Islam, itself a hudud crime.DeLong-Bas, Wahhabi Islam, 2004: 89-90 The punishment for zina is stoning the accused to death.Muhsan The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2012)Ismail Poonwala (2007), The Pillars of Islam: Laws pertaining to human intercourse, Oxford University Press, , pp. 448-457Al Muwatta Dr Azman Mohd Noor, Punishment for rape in Islamic Law, Malayan Law Journal Articles [2009] 5 MLJ cxiv

The above sense of zina is not to be confused with the woman's name Zina or Zeina (زينة). The name has a different linguistic root (Greek xen-). It also has a different meaning ("guest, stranger"), is pronounced differently (either Zīnah or Zaynah), and is usually spelled differently.

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Category:Islamic culture
Category:Sexual law