By Khaled Mamdouh, IOL Cairo Bureau

FUNTUA, Nigeria, June 4 (IslamOnline) - In a clear cut proof Sharia (Islamic Law) does not hunt for criminal acts to subject them to penalties and it laid down certain conditions to carry out the punishment, an Islamic court Monday freed a young mother facing death by stoning to allow her to care for her child, raising hopes she would be cleared on appeal.

Amina Lawal, 30, will be allowed to return home to her village and stay there until January 2004 whatever the result of her appeal, the court ruled, fixing its next hearing for July 8.

If her adultery conviction is overturned, it will mark the end of the second stoning case to spark controversy in northern Nigeria since 12 states imposed Sharia.

If the Upper Sharia Court in Funtua, in Katsina State, upholds her conviction, in 18 months, she will become the first Nigerian woman to be stoned to death since the Islamic code was reintroduced.

Lawal's defense counsel interpreted the court's decision to allow her to leave a women's home and return to her village with her six-month-old daughter Wasila as a positive sign.

"We are optimistic our appeal will be successful," he said after the hearing. "I don't entertain any fears that my client will not be free at the end of the trial."

Lawal’s case brought the issue of applying Sharia back into spotlight, and necessitated clearing out a very important, rather a major element, of the Islamic code, namely its human side. Unfortunately, Western human rights groups always criticize the Islamic Law, without even giving themselves the chance to study it thoroughly.

For that purpose, IslamOnline contacted one of the most imminent Muslim scholars and asked him to clear the question marks.

Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, Deputy Chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research said Tuesday that Sharia rulings concerning the adulteress can be delayed until the infant is weaned, to be able to continue life without any difficulty.

“The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, actually stayed the execution of the punishment on an adulteress until she gave birth and then again delayed it until she weaned her baby,” Sheikh Mawlawi said.

Touching on a separately-related point, Sheikh Mawlawi explained that, unlike what Western human rights try to implicate, Islam was never against women’s rights, nor was it more lenient toward men, as far as the sin of adultery in concerned.

Sharia as a whole is justice. All its precepts indicate mercy, contrary to what the Westerners claim, brandishing Sharia as outdated and barbaric, forgetting the fact that it is not a man-made legal system. It’s the law revealed by the Merciful Lord, the Lord of the Universe.

As for the man, accused by the woman of adultery and she could not bring four witnesses, whereas he denied the charge. The legal ruling is sure to set him free, but this does not mean that he will escape the punishment on the Hereafter.

“It is up to the judiciary to decide, according to the evidence whether he committed the crime. He will be subject to discretionary punishment (Ta`zeer) left for the judge to decide according to the conditions of each case. According to some scholars, it may reach the level of the prescribed punishment.

“Therefore, the establishment of the crime and the punishment is subject to judicial discretion, not subject to mere accusation. This means that we should focus on the point of establishing justice. We need to know the significance of emphasizing on four witnesses before accusing the man of the crime. We need to ask: What if the woman in question, for any reason, accused another an innocent man, of being the one who committed adultery with her, without having any cogent proof on her side? Will justice be achieved by punishing the accused here for mere accusation without any evidence?

“The issue then is a matter of proving the crime beyond reasonable doubt. If it is proved, then the punishment must be implemented whether on the man or the woman. If the evidence is lacking, then the accused must be freed, regardless of whether he is a man or a woman.

“But the condition surrounding the crime of adultery makes it self-proved as regards the woman, by becoming pregnant and giving birth to a baby out of wedlock, i.e. illegitimate child. But as regards the man evidence to incriminate him is not somehow self-revealing; it must be shown and proved beyond reasonable doubt, to save people from injustice, for it’s easy for an adulteress to point an accusation finger to any man, without having any convincing proof,” Sheikh Malawi added.

“Therefore, the issue is connected with the conditions of proving the crime for the implementation of the punishment. It has nothing to do with the principle of equality between man and woman. The rule in Sharia and in all positive laws is that an accused person is innocent until he/she is proven guilty,” he concluded.

Reflecting Sheikh Mawlawi’s views, President of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, Dr. Datti Ahmed appealed, on March 28, 2002, to human right groups and international organizations to take time to study the Islamic law rather than attempting to deny Muslims their religious right to be administered under the divine law of the religion which they profess and practice.

In March, a second Nigerian woman, convicted for adultery and sentenced to be stoned, 35-year-old Safiya Huseini, was freed according to Sharia laws.

Lawal first married at the age of 14. She was divorced for the second time in June 2000 and started a relationship with a man in December that year.

The relationship lasted until last November, when she gave birth to Wasila.