by Stephen Greco

Created on: June 30, 2009   Last Updated: July 04, 2009

Islamic punishments are harsh. The Quran states non-believers should be killed if they will not convert, and Allah kills many unbelievers himself in numerous passages of the Quran. Harsh punishment is not limited to non-believers though. The Quran calls for harsh punishment for various crimes.

Quran 4: 34 "... So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from who ye fear rebellion admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. ..." Aside from being yet another example of unjust, unfair, and unreasonable sexism in the Quran, this passage contains a frightfully harsh bit of punishment. It states in plain that if women are disobedient, not only should you refuse to have sleep with them, but you should beat them. Physical violence is a clearly barbaric solution to marital problems.

Quran 5:38 "As for the thief, both male both male and female, cut off their hands." Cutting off a person's hand is a harsh punishment for thievery. Hands are a very important part of the human body, and removing them could result in death. Surely anyone can see this is an overly harsh punishment!

Quran 24:2 "The adulterer and the adulteress, scourge ye each one of them (with) a hundred stripes..." Adultery can deeply hurt the spouse of the adulterer/adulteress, but a hundred lashes with a whip? This punishment is barbaric and cruel, but Muslims believe this is Allah's divine punishment for adultery.

In 40:22, those who ignore the "clear proof" of Islam are seized and punished severely. 42:30 teaches that if bad things happen to you, it's your own fault. Let me tell you, some very nice people have lived some very miserable lives. 42:30 is both absurd and unjust, and suggest that Allah's punishments can be horribly harsh and cruel. The examples of inhumane punishments in Quran could go on and on. The punishments provided for different crimes in the Quran are almost always overly harsh, representative of the barbaric and brutal times the Quran was written in.

The governments of the Middle East continue to abide by the Quran's call for harsh and cruel punishments. Even recently, women who killed men who were trying to rape them were executed. Women who were raped were executed for adultery. Men and woman are executed for converting away from Islam. The punishments are so horribly unjust that they would laughable if it was not for the fact that this was happening to real people. Not all Muslims are violent, but their religion certainly is, and Muslim governments follow in suit. Is Islam a religion of peace? No, it invented Jihad and prescribes extremely harsh punishments. Upon looking at the Quran itself, it is no longer possible to deny the absolute terror of Islamic punishments.

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