Understanding Amina
Lawal's “crime”
(By RE (Bob) Burns, Grad Dip Islamic Studies)
The Qur'an mentions a man's “seed” a number of times, but there is no reference
to women's ova, egg cells. The womb is just a place for his seed to grow.
Consequently custody is given to the father by most schools of Sharia, Islamic
law after the baby is weaned.
A man can divorce a wife by saying “talaq, talaq, talaq” (A woman cannot
divorce her husband so easily). The man is free to remarry but not so the woman
as she might still be carrying his heir. For this reason Prophet Muhammad
stipulated an iddah, waiting period of three monthly periods before a
divorcee could remarry.
It may seem funny to us – not so to Amina – but Nigerian sharia considers it
possible for a man's seed to be latent for up to two years. Thus although
divorced, Amina was not considered a single woman and, unfortunately having
confessed to sex with a man, she was guilty not of fornication (pre-marital
sex) but of adultery. The punishment for the lesser crime of fornication is
“only” one hundred lashes of the whip but for adultery it is rajam, stoning
to death.