Friday, May 04, 2007

A Case for Adultery

Note: the following is based on my reasoning and life philosophy. I never claimed being a prophet or even wise. So beat it, before saying anything!

Sooo...
I cannot but feel your average neocon will enjoy this one. Or maybe not, as your average neocon Evangelical not only has managed interdicting abortion but would happily vote for stoning to death law against adultery. Which make them equal to the Wahhabi. I keep seeing similarities, the only difference is in dress, actually. A comment made by grega&gar on Further Left:

"...Since the very term "Al-Qaeda" is a term dreamed up by the neocons to describe their imaginary enemy as a terrorist network rather than the helter skelter, unallied terrorist pockets it was in 2000 in order to justify reentering the daily life of the middle east, I think the question is meaningless..."

Therefore...
My case here is, in a most paradoxical way, about Islam's acceptance of adultery. No, not an Islam advocate, far from it, but in this cycle of "Islamic Syria", I thought I should bring up the idea.
Been talking with an Abou El Nour theologist, or woman sheik (yes!) some days ago, and we brought up the subject. Now the woman is fanatic big time, and only speaks in tongues, therefore, I take her quoting Koran as true.
As it seems, the "adultery legislation" was included into Koran after a man came complaining to Mohamed about finding his wife in flagrante, and to his greater shock was sent away to bring witnesses to his claim. Now, legislation is pretty clear: for someone to be condemned for adultery, they should be first caught red handed, by no less than 4 eye witnesses, and be subjected to the "thread test", as in a tread should be passed between the two bodies to verify whether there is penetration.
So...
To put two and two together, my simplistic churl mind understands this: one can do as much adultery as one likes spending time in Hell, as long as it's done quietly, and as long as one isn't caught red handed by four eye witnesses. Knowing the average Syrian (I cannot guarantee Arab) man's mentality, four is a good number, as four are enough to hold him still without being too much beaten.
The second part about adultery: in the case a man and woman are caught red handed in the above mentioned way, no matter how impossible this might seem, they are given the chance to be forgiven, if they chose getting married. If not, to the lashes! Or stones, depending whether they're single or not.
So...
Back to my churl mind and interpretation: one can sin as much as one wants, and knowing your average Arab sangre caliente, I should say this is good, quite very good. As long as it's done discreetly.
Theory is a good thing, but facts are wholly different. Knowing both Syria and most of the neighbouring countries, I can pretty well draw a picture of the actual state of things regarding adultery.
In Syria: a couple is caught red handed, the witness is beaten to silence.
In Jordan: a couple is caught in flagrante, all the neighboring families kill their daughters to wash the dishonour.
In Saudi Arabia: a couple is caught in the act, the witnesses are invited to turn the thing into an orgy.
In Iran: a woman is suspected of sinning, she's stoned to death on the spot.
Again, I'm not an advocate of Islam, but since all the above mentioned countries (without Syria, we've been officially excommunicated last Feast) claim literal application of Sharia, why do they apply different laws to different cases? Or is it something with the blood and genes, as in once a Middle Eastern you must bugger all conventions, including ingnoring this last one?