Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

Although the Islamic Sharī‘a [code] gives equal rights and duties to men and women, the criminal law violates the principle of equality when it comes to punishing the crime of adultery.



The legal defect prompted Member of Parliament Muhammad Mamdouh al-Gharabāwī to forward a draft law, which is currently being debated . This draft calls for equal rights for husbands and wives with regards to the punishment of adultery.



Dr. Nasr Farīd Wāsil, the former Muftī of the Republic, said that the Qur’ān has not differentiated with regards to the punishment of adultery as it reads that, “The adulterer and the adulteress, scourge ye each one of them (with) a hundred stripes. And let not pity for the twain withhold you from obedience to Allāh, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a party of believers witness their punishment.” [The Meaning of The Holy Qur’an by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, Chapter 24-The Light, Verse 2]



Any new legislation supposedly corresponds to the rules of the sharī‘a in accordance with the constitution. Wāsil said that he approves of this draft law.



Fawzīya ‘Abd al-Sattār, a law expert, said that the current penal code is flagrantly unjust to women as far as the crime of adultery is concerned. “The law incriminates a husband’s act of adultery if it took place only in the matrimonial house, while a wife’s adultery is incriminated inside or outside the house,” she said.



She noted that the law also punishes an adulterer husband by imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months, while an adulteress wife could be imprisoned for up to two years, although it is one and the same act.