The Islamic religion and its laws have prescribed flogging as punishment for people who engage in fornication.
According to Chapter 24 Verse 2 of the holy Qur’an, any unmarried person found guilty of engaging in sexual intercourse is liable to 100 lashes in the full glare of a sizeable number of Muslims.
The holy book stipulates that the accused persons be taken through a trial process during which the prosecutors must produce 4 witnesses to the alleged act before such a punishment can be meted out.
In place of this, the persons allegedly involved in the act will have to plead guilty to the charge of fornication before the trial jury for it to pass a judgement and apply the prescribed punishment.
This was revealed by a devout Muslim, Sharhan Alhassan, who was speaking on the flogging of two lovers in Wa in the Upper West Region for allegedly filming themselves having sex and subsequently leaking the video.
“In Islam, we have what we called “Hudu”. “Hudu” is basically the kind of punishment that you mete out to people depending on the severity of the crime coupled with evidences. With regards to what they have done, that is if you have illicit sexual intercourse with someone you are not legally married to and then enough evidence is brought, in this situation, that is 4 people have to come out clearly and if those 4 people are not out, and the people in question both confessed to the act, then we can invoke Qur’an chapter 24 verse 2 which clearly states that the person who commit “Zina” (fornication) with another person, your punishment is to be flogged 100 lashes and the verse concluded by saying that that particular punishment should be witnessed by a portion of believers,” he revealed.
In a viral video, a young man and a woman alleged to be involved in the leaked sex tape are seen tied to a pole and being flogged by two men while people looked on.
They are said to have been arrested by some town folks following the leakage of the video and taken to the palace of the Wa Naa where they subjected to beatings as punishment for engaging in an act the people of the town consider disgraceful and affront to their Islamic religious beliefs.
The incident has since received wide public condemnation with the police launching an investigation into the matter and making some arrests.
Sharing his view on the incident on Accra-based Joy FM, Sharhan Alhassan, who hails from the town, justified the meting out of such punishment in a Ghanaian society.
He argued that, although Ghana is secular state and does not practice Shari’a (Islamic law), a predominantly Muslim community like Wa can integrate their religious beliefs and practices into their bylaws for the purpose of guiding the behavior of residents.
He, however, observed that the Shari’a law was not fully applied in this case since they were flogged 20 times each instead of 100 times.
“What I believe strongly in is that it is an Islamic law and it works. In this situation, was that what was meted out? I don’t think that was what was meted out. In the first, nobody made reference to the law and there is no conservation about them bringing witnesses. One of the panelists actually talked about they (the victims) confessing to it, absolutely, that is fine but if they were not lashed 100 times, I don’t think that is what they applied,” he argued.
He continued, “Upper West is a predominantly Muslim community specifically Wa. If you ask whether we practice Shari’a law, I will say no, I have not seen it being practiced but because of the volume of Muslims living there, can they integrate aspect of their religious beliefs into their own laws in what is termed as bylaws, yes they can. That is the situation here”.
