Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (14/241)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

at all. Therefore, regarding adultery, Allah, Most High, says:

“Do not go near adultery. It is truly a shameful deed.” [al-Isra’ 17:32]

And Lot said to his people:

“Do you commit this shameful deed?”

Allah approved of this description and related his words with approval. The definite article indicates that this vile act encompasses every form of obscenity: that tremendous indecency, beyond which there is no greater indecency. People are agreed that sodomy is more heinous than adultery. So what is its prescribed punishment?

The author says, “Like that of an adulterer.” Thus, its prescribed punishment is that of adultery: if he is married, he is stoned until he dies; if he is unmarried, he is flogged and exiled. Their argument that its punishment is like that of adultery is that this is an indecent act, and Allah, Most High, has called adultery an indecent act. If that is so, then we treat this in the same manner as the other, and its punishment is that of the adulterer.

Some scholars said: Its punishment is execution. This is the most severe view stated on the matter. They then differed over how he is to be executed.

Others said: Rather, he is to be subjected to a discretionary punishment that does not reach the prescribed penalty.

Others said: He is not to be given a discretionary punishment, and there is no penalty upon him—not meaning that it is lawful, but that there is no punishment for it, since the inner deterrent is deemed sufficient; for people’s natural disposition finds it repulsive. If someone were to serve his lunch from excrement and urine—eating the excrement and drinking the urine with it—they say that he is not to be given a discretionary punishment, because one’s natural disposition is sufficient to deter such a deed. There is no doubt that this view is among the most invalid of views. Had it not been mentioned, we would not have mentioned it; but we have mentioned it so that we may know that some scholars adopt an extremely unsound position in what they say.

Did he forget that Allah, Most High, destroyed their lands and sent down upon them stones of

أبداً، ولهذا قال الله ـ تعالى ـ في الزنا: ﴿وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَى إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَاحِشَةً﴾ [الإسراء: ٣٢]، وقال لوط لقومه: ﴿أَتَأْتُونَ الْفَاحِشَةَ﴾ وأقره الله على ذلك، وحكى قولَه مرتضياً له، و «ال» تدل على أن هذه الفعلة الخبيثة قد جمعت الفحش كله، تلك الفاحشة العظيمة التي ليس فوقها فاحشة، وهذا أمر متفق عليه بين الناس، أن قُبح اللواط أعظم من قُبح الزنا، فما حده؟ قال المؤلف: «كزان» فحدُّه حَدُّ الزاني، فإن كان محصناً رجم حتى يموت، وإن كان غير محصن جلد وغُرِّب، وحجتهم في أن حده كزانٍ، يقولون: لأن هذه فاحشة، والزنا سماه الله تعالى فاحشة، وإذا كان كذلك فإننا نُجري هذا مجرى الثاني، ويكون حده حد الزاني. وقال بعض العلماء: حده أن يُقتل، وهذا أعلى ما قيل فيه، ثم اختلفوا كيف يقتل؟ وقال آخرون: بل يعزر تعزيراً لا يُبْلَغُ به الحد. وقال آخرون: لا يعزر ولا شيء عليه، ليس بمعنى أنه حلال، لكن ليس فيه عقوبة اكتفاءً بالرادع النفسي؛ لأن النفوس تكرهه، فلو أن أحداً قدم غداءه من عذرة وبول، يأكل العذرة، ويشرب عليها البول! فهم يقولون: لا يعزر؛ لأن النفس كافية في ردع هذا، ولا شك أن هذا القول من أبطل الأقوال، ولولا أنه ذُكر ما ذكرناه، ولكن ذكرناه لنعلم أن بعض أهل العلم يذهب مذهباً سيئاً جداً فيما يقوله. أَنَسِيَ أن الله تعالى دمر بلادهم، وأرسل عليهم حجارة من