Good news to gays and lesbians; they won't be scourged in intense heat or bitter cold

Published on 14 February 2020 at 17:36

o12.0 The penalty for fornication or sodomy

o12.5 An offender is not scourged in intense heat or bitter cold, or when he is ill and recovery is expected (until he recovers), or in a mosque, or when the offender is a woman who is pregnant, until she gives birth and has recovered from childbed pains.

The whip used should be neither new nor old and worn-out, but something in between.

The offender is not stretched out when scourged, or bound (O: as his hands are left loose to fend off blows), or undressed (O: but rather an ankle-length shirt is left upon him or her), and the scourger does not lay the stripes on hard (O: by raising his arm, such that he draws blood).

The scourger distributes the blows over various parts of the body, avoiding the vital points and the face. A man is scourged standing; a woman, sitting and covered (O: by a garment wrapped around her). If the offender is emaciated, or sick from an illness not expected to improve, then he or she is scourged with a single date palm frond (O: upon which there are a hundred strips, or fifty. If a hundred, such an offender is struck once with it, and if fifty, then twice), or with the edge of a garment.

o12.6 If the penalty is stoning, the offender is stoned even in severe heat or cold, and even if he has an illness from which he is expected to recover. A pregnant woman is not stoned until she gives birth and the child can suffice with the milk of another.