An Islamic perspective against Terengganu's public caning

The controversial sentence of public caning by the Terengganu Shariah High Court against Mohd Afendi Awang for alleged khalwat is unacceptable and against the precepts of Islam. 

The sentence is to be carried out today, and if it is, no good will come of it for this country.

Firstly, whipping for the offence known as Khalwat is not Islamic. The reason is this.

The Terengganu Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment 2001 defines khalwat as an act preparatory to sex out of wedlock. It is considered an offence for a man and a woman who are not married or related to be found together in a secluded place under circumstances that may give rise to suspicion of immorality.

But "preparatory" to an offence is not the same as committing an offence.

Under Islam – having niat to commit a bad deed/offence is not counted but having niat to commit a good deed matters. 

In any case – under Islam – the punishment of hudud is specific for only five categories of offence – that includes zina (unlawful intercourse), qadhf (false accusation of zina), drinking intoxicants (shurb al-khamr), theft (sariqa), robbery (hiraba), apostasy (ridda), and rebellion (baqhy). 

Khalwat does not come close to  any of the above categories.

Going back to this planned public whipping which has become a national concern. What is the objective of conducting this publicly?  Of shaming Affendi publicly ?

This runs foul against a very important concept under Islam – which is to protect from shaming others ("buka aib") just as we should not expose our own aib, because Islam highly emphasises human honour. 

One should not be seeking out offences done in private, and ought to turn a blind eye to private misconduct. These concepts were rooted in the Quran, which forbids tajassus: 
"O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: And spy not on each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it...But fear Allah: For Allah is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful." (Quran 49:12)

The Prophet, peace be upon him, repeatedly ignores a man trying to confess to having violated one of the hudud. 

“If you seek out a people’s secret or shameful areas,” the Prophet warns, “You’ll ruin them.”

So many things are wrong here, including the fact that a non-adulterous deed is being treated as adultery, the sensationalist publicity and inviting the public to watch the spectacle of Affendi’s humiliation. What has this to do with the just, compassionate  religion of Islam?

It's a matter of great sadness that once again Islam is being given a bad name as being harsh and cruel; when in fact the philosophy behind shariah and hudud is all about justice, right conduct and human dignity. That philosophy is being subverted in the Terengganu case. 

Let me be very blunt about this. Matters related to Islam in this country have deteriorated into an endless political contest of "who is more Islamic than the other", waged between those in government now and the opposition. Both use Islam in a cynical contest for the Malay Muslim vote, and in the process victimise ordinary Muslims like Affendi.

Latheefa Koya is a lawyer and the former chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.