Adultery – Part II: Prostitution
In part one, we looked at the intersection of adultery and prostitution, an intersection that was imposed by heritage tafsirs that considered adultery and prostitution to be one and the same. The word “prostitution” is used only once in the Book of Allah, in Surah Al-Nur, the same surah in which adultery is mentioned, in the words of Almighty God:
And those who seek the Book from what you possess, write them down if you know they are good, and give them some of the money that Allah has given you, and do not force your girls into prostitution, if they wish to be fortified, so that they may seek the favor of the world. and do not force your girls into prostitution if they want to be fortified in order to gain the offer of this worldly life, and whoever forces them, then Allah is mercifully forgiving after forcing them (Al-Nur: 33).
While the fact that the two words (adultery and prostitution) appear in the same surah is enough to assert that their meanings are different, this did not help the advanced commentators who insisted that prostitution is adultery. Al-Tabari says in the explanation of the verse:
” And do not force your girls into prostitution, if they wish to be fortified, in order to seek the offer of this worldly life; and whoever forces them, Allah, after forcing them, is mercifully forgiving, says the Almighty: Marry the righteous among your servants and your women, and do not force your women into prostitution, which is adultery.”
Al-Tabari goes on to list dozens of sayings that confirm this one meaning, which is that prostitution is adultery. Although God dedicated the beginning of Surat al-Nur to talking about adultery, and only used the word “prostitution” in verse thirty-three, al-Tabari interpreted adultery as prostitution and prostitution as adultery, and that was that.
In Part 1, we mentioned that “prostitution” means seeking something corrupt or seeking corruption. So what is prostitution? Let’s look at the verse in which the word is used, and start by examining the context in which it is used. In the previous verse, God Almighty says
And marry those who are righteous among you and those who are righteous among your slaves and women, if they are poor, Allah will make them rich from His bounty.
In other words, do not make poverty a reason to prevent marriage, but rather make the condition righteousness: “Marry the orphans among you and the righteous among your slaves and your women.” The orphans are the single people. We note that the verse singles out the poor and does not mention the poor. We have already explained in previous articles that a poor person is one who has no income, while a poor person is one who has no income or is unemployed. The poor may be able to support himself and his wife, while the poor cannot support even himself, yet the verse stipulates only righteousness. The word “righteous” should not be understood to mean unemployed people who stay in mosques, but the righteousness of a man is related to the goodness of his mind, will, and endeavor in every good deed.
So, the context here is to encourage marriage and open the way for the poor and vulnerable classes in society. On the contrary, there is a command to help these groups financially. On the contrary, there is a command to help them financially. Because the next verse – which is the subject of our consideration – refers to the owners of oaths to allow those in their oaths to marry:
And those who seek the Scripture from what is in your possession, write them down if you know that there is good in them, and give them from the wealth of Allah that He has given you (Al-Nur: 33).
The verse then goes on to specialize in talking about girls, after talking about the king of the right hand (boys and girls):
And do not force your girls into prostitution if they want to be protected (Al-Nur: 33).
Let’s assume, as al-Tabari did, that prostitution is adultery. Here the first question arises: If prostitution is adultery, what is the significance of his saying: If they do not want to be fortified, does the owner have the right to continue forcing them to commit adultery? What is the role of society and the state in this situation? What is the position of the verses, Surah al-Nur, and all revelation on this coercion? The verses are silent about it.
In fact, how is it possible for the context to be about encouraging the owners of oaths to marry those in their oaths, and requiring the knowledge of goodness and charity in the candidates (boys and girls), and then turning to talk about the professional prostitutes who wanted to fortify themselves one morning? This explanation is not possible.
And the second question: If prostitution is adultery, and the owner is the one who forces his girls into it, how can the saying: Whoever coerces them, Allah, after forcing them, is forgiving and merciful to them, i.e. to those who are coerced? Isn’t the one who needs forgiveness and mercy the one who coerced his girls into adultery? As for the coerced, there is nothing wrong with him because he is coerced. If we assume that forgiveness and mercy are due to those who are coerced into adultery, shouldn’t the verse have threatened the coercers with torment and punishment in this world and the hereafter so that they refrain from the crime of human trafficking? The verses are silent about this as well, although the verses punish adulterers and set limits for them, so how come the limits are not set for those who force people into prostitution, if prostitution is adultery? This interpretation does not make sense.
In fact, we believe that the fact that the verses do not talk about the punishment of those who are forced into prostitution is evidence that prostitution is neither haram nor ugly, nor is it adultery. In the first part, we said that prostitution is asking and seeking something corrupt or corrupting, while prostitution is purely asking and seeking, as indicated by the root from which it is derived, “prostitution”, which means asking and seeking. Since the rightful girls serve their masters in and out of the house and seek to fulfill their needs, what they are doing is asking and seeking, i.e. prostitution.
So did the Arabs call the Handmaids: “prostitutes and prostitutes”? It says in Arabic tongue:
“Need” and “want”: It is said: I have no need in the sons of so-and-so, i.e., a need. It is said: I have no need in the sons of so-and-so, i.e., a need. He wanted the thing: He asked for it or helped him to ask for it, and it was said: He wanted it for him, and he gave it to him by helping him. Lahyani said: He asked the people for something, and they asked for it, which means they asked for it. And the prostitute: The one who asks for it, and the plural is prostitutes and prostitutes. I asked you for something: I asked for it; hence the poet’s saying:
How many hopeful people with wealth and kinship
to want him well, not a doer.
I made you want something: I made you ask for it.”
It is said: A prostitute is a woman, whether she is a prostitute or not: Prostitutes are women because they were prostitutes. Abu Ubayd said: The prostitutes are wives because they used to be immoral.
From the above, it is clear that the words “prostitute” and “prostitute”, plural of “prostitutes”, used to refer to the nation in general, and then specialized to the ungodly nation. The question arises: If a nation in general is called a “prostitute” and “prostitute” because she seeks and seeks her master’s need, this means that she is practicing the work for which she was bought, which is prostitution, i.e., seeking and seeking. Prostitution and prostitution is a source from “prostitute”, just as you say “water” and “watering” from “watering”.
We also see that the word “prostitute” and “prostitute” later came to be associated with sex, as masters often bought prostitutes for sex, so the later meaning overshadowed the original meaning.
Therefore, the saying:
And do not force your girls into prostitution if they want to get immunized in order to seek the offer of this worldly life, and whoever forces them, then Allah is mercifully forgiving after forcing them (Al-Nur: 33).
The meaning is that the owners of oaths should not force their girls to serve them once they reach the age where sex becomes desirable, and he expressed it by ” if they want to be fortified,” meaning when their desire for marriage appears and its absence becomes a reason for immorality and debauchery. Here is the meaning of his saying:
And whoever coerces them, then Allah, after forcing them, is merciful and forgiving.
In other words, those who force them to remain in their service are committing a sinful act, but once they end and allow them to marry, God is forgiving and merciful, which is why He said that forgiveness and mercy are due after the coercionis over, not during it.
By analyzing the Qur’anic texts and traditional interpretations, it is clear that the concept of prostitution in the Qur’an cannot be reduced to a mere synonym for adultery, as many interpreters have argued. The context of Al-Nur (33) indicates that prostitution relates to the issue of forcing women to perform certain acts for the benefit of their masters, especially when they wish to marry and be protected, which makes the traditional interpretation subject to revision and reconsideration.
In the next installment of this series, we will continue to explore the linguistic and historical roots of the concept of adultery, how its meaning has evolved over the ages, and whether there is a difference between its understanding in the Qur’anic context and its understanding in later Islamic societies. We will also discuss the role of jurists in shaping concepts related to social and economic relations in Muslim societies, and the impact of this on the interpretation of legal texts.
To be continued in part three…
