From the Editor: We apologize for the graphic nature of this article. But in order to truly show the horrors of Radical Islam and Jihadist ideology, we felt it was extremely important to take this step. Such graphic photos are out of the norm for this weblog and will be done so, only on the rarest of occasions. -- Eric Dondero, Publisher

by Clifford F. Thies

Shocking news coming out of the war-torn region of Somalia...

From the London Daily Mail, Dec. 15:

This barbaric scene belongs in the Dark Ages, but pictures emerged today of a group of Islamic militants who forced villagers to watch as they stoned a man to death for adultery.

Mohamed Abukar Ibrahim, a 48-year-old, was buried in a hole up to his chest and pelted with rocks until he died. The group responsible, Hizbul Islam... The executions took place yesterday in Afgoye, some 20 miles south-west of the capital of Mogadishu.A woman who had confessed to fornication had been sentenced to 100 lashes, he added.

'This is their day of justice,' the judge, Osman Siidow Hasan, told the crowd. 'We investigated and they confessed.'

Al Shabaab, and to a lesser extent Hizbul Islam, are fighting the government to impose their harsh interpretation of Islamic Sharia law across the drought-ravaged country.

Al Shabaab clerics have banned movies, dancing at weddings and playing or watching soccer in the areas under their control, as well as carrying out executions and amputations.

The Jewish scriptures identify several offenses for which stoning is the punishment, for two examples: a rebellious son (Deut. 21:21) and the man and the woman who are engaged in adultery (Deut. 22:23-24). Yet, it is clear from Jewish practice even from ancient times, that this punishment was a euphemism. It actual meaning was to declare the person legally dead and, thus, stripped of all rights as a member of the family or as a member of the community. This is also clear from two of the most beloved teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

In the Parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), Jesus spoke of a father who had expelled a son who was engaged in riotous living. When the son repented of his ways and returned to his father, the father declared, "my son was dead and now is alive." We might insert the word "legally" into the phrase. "My son was [legally] dead and now is alive." Jesus was saying to parents that if you raise your children in the faith and they nevertheless behave badly so that you have to expel them, trust that they will return to the faith and be willing to then accept them back, and don't shun them forever. Jesus was also saying to us, both insofar as we are like the prodigal son and as we are like the faithful son, we can trust that will be forgiving of our sins and will honor our good works.

In the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), certain learned and holy men brought the woman to Jesus, as though he were a judge, and asked him to sanction her being stoned. Apparently, they thought Jesus was something of an ignorant country preacher who had only a superficial understanding of the scriptures. But, Jesus deflected their feigned righteousness, by saying "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," and, when they departed, he turned to the woman and said, "go and sin no more." Jesus upheld the Law exactly as it was intended. She, being an adulteress, no longer had any right to be supported by her husband but had to "go;" but, hopefully, she would repent of her evil ways "and sin no more."

The world is nowadays a spectator to the practice of stoning for offenses such as adultery and homosexuality in a small number of Islamic countries, mostly anarchic countries or ungoverned regions within larger countries. Famously, in Kabul, Afghanistan, the Taliban made a public display of stoning and other punishments in a sports stadium that was constructed with foreign aid. Today, soccer is played in that stadium; and, along with that, citizens are free to fly kites on the hillside adjoining the city (which had been forbidden by the Taliban).

Yes, there is a basis for the practice of stoning in the Koran, but scholars grapple with whether the verses are to be understood as literal or as allegorical. Islamic Jihadists do not grapple, though. They're minds are made up on the issue.

Notes - Dr. Thies is a professor of economics, and a Messianic Jewish scholar.

Photos are of actual recent stonings in the Muslim world, Iran, Sudan, and Somalia within the last year. (H/t Spencer at Jihad Watch for Somali photo).

Top Photo - The Stoning of Soraya, a 2008 film depicting the real life killing in a small Iranian village, of a women accused of adultery is now available on DVD at Netflix and other video outlets.