A challenge about women and marriage in Islam

[Rayaan]

I disagree, I don't think anyone should be stoned to death or have their hands cut off. I don't need to see statistics on crime to know I don't believe in literally throwing rocks at someone until they are dead as a form of punishment.

I know you disagree, Paul. And that's fine because, ultimately, different people will have different opinions on what is or isn't a "correct" form of punishment, so this is subjective.

Muslims believe in the Shariah as a code of behavior and discipline that was divinely revealed through the Quran and the Hadiths (or the sayings of Muhammad), so that is the system that they follow. You don't believe in that, since you're an atheist, so you can follow or agree with whatever system that you feel is correct.

As I pointed out earlier, the reason that the punishments prescribed in Islam are so severe and harsh is to primarily act as a method of deterrence against crimes; The more severe a punishment is, the more effective it is in reducing crimes, and the more effective a punishment is in reducing crimes, the better.

The potential murderer who knows that he will be killed if he kills someone, or the potential thief who knows that he will have his hands cut off, or the potential sexual offender who knows that he will be stoned to death (or given a hundred lashes in some cases), will think twice (or perhaps more than a hundred times) before going out and committing the crime.

In the Western system of punishment, however, those who commit crimes are usually just put in a prison for a specified period of time and then they are set free again. And (unfortunately) many of the serial killers who are sent to prison do not reform after spending their time there. It's like removing them from society for a few months, only so that they can escape and then kill someone else. They probably don't even care that much if they have to stay locked in a prison for their entire lives.

Also, read the following about prisons and there is more at the link below:

It's breathtaking hypocrisy because the very prison officers who frisk you just might be trafficking the drugs with which the system is awash. Time and again addict inmates I've spoken to have told me that it's easier to obtain heroin in jail than out.

Contrary to the view of prison as a deterrent and a way of keeping criminals off the streets, almost all enlightened opinion now concurs in the following.

Not only does prison, for the vast majority of those who endure it, not work, either as punishment or as rehabilitation, but there is no escaping the conclusion that it functions as a stimulant to crime, rather than its bromide.

The current chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales recently warned that the latest pupils to enrol in these £30,000 per-annum malefaction academies are being recruited by criminal gangs, and will almost certainly reoffend upon their release - if not before.

Full article: A Point of View: Prisons don't work

Rayaan so you do think it's ok for 9 year olds to leave education if they want to and to become pregnant within a marriage?

Why not? Are they breaking any rules?

And it's not like it's a common thing to see that happening in Muslim countries nor that every 9-year-old wants to do that, which you failed to support, obviously.

And education is a choice; Islam doesn't prohibit anyone from getting an education if they want to, and the same goes for leaving education.

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And that is fascinating indeed, suggesting that it was a rather more common practice at the time

Yeah, that was exactly my point.

Now that's just selling yourself short! I'm a terrible arguer, focus too much on little pedantic things. Makes people angry at me, like they think I missed the point Dodgy But often, I feel that answering 'em straight just... isn't convincing.

Well, it might be true that you're a terrible arguer in some ways, but, at the same time, I think that you are also a great arguer.

I noticed that you are especially good at debating topics that you are more knowledgeable in than others (and/or have more experience in) such as topics that are related to sex or sexuality although I think that there are still other members who are way better at debating than you are, like theVoid (who sadly doesn't come here anymore) and DeistPaladin, for example.

But your style of arguing is very unique.