The United Nations documents the practice of predominately male family members murdering women to defend misconceived notions of family honor in Bangladesh, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, India, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Brazil, Ecuador, Uganda, and Morocco. This shameful practice is prevalent in, but not limited to, countries with a Muslim majority. Renown Islamic leaders condemn honor killings and insist the violent acts have no religious basis. Scriptures teach otherwise.
Ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth are ascribed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad (a supposed messenger of God – known in Arabic as Allāh) and are tools to understand the Qur’ān, which is the central religious text of Islam. Hadīths cite many honor killing examples, such as:
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (002:023-413) – A man and a woman committed adultery. The Prophet ordered them to be stoned to death.
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (006:060-079) – The Prophet ordered two adulterers to be stoned to death.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (017-4206) – A woman from Ghamid and said: “Allāh's Messenger, I have committed adultery, so purify me.” And she was put in a ditch up to her chest and the Prophet commanded people to stone her.
Muslims who practice honor killing are directly motivated or influenced by hadīths. The executions take place because people abide by strict Islamic ethical codes. To claim that such murders have no religious motivation insults the memory of the victims.
