Sheikh HussainHalawa, the secretary general of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and imam of the Islamic Cultural Center of Ireland (ICCI) states: “The prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I have been given the Qur’an and another source (i.e. Sunnah).” So Sunnah is obliging provided it is authentic. The hadith of stoning is authentic and has been narrated by many chain of narrations. The Qur’an states the punishment of Zina of a non-married and the sunnah states the punishment of Zina of a married person. There are many Islamic rules that we only knew through authentic sunnah.
Moreover, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Member of the Executive Committee of the Fiqh Council ofNorth America and the Religious Director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, adds:
“There is a difference of opinion among some contemporary Muslim jurists about the Hadith of rajm or stoning. A great majority of them believe that the Hadith is authentic and that Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, implemented the rajm punishment himself. There are others, especially some contemporary jurists, looking into the Qur’anic evidence, question the authenticity of these reports. I would leave it to the Hadith scholars to decide about the authentic and non-authentic reports. I would advise us to focus more upon the Hadith which emphasize morality, kindness, and service to humanity. Capital punishments are implemented only in an established Islamic state and are practiced after thorough scrutiny of the circumstances involving the case. Those capital punishments are impossible to be implemented because Muslim countries are lacking in Shari’ah and its proper implementation.”
Editor’s Note: The disagreement in this matter is only found between some contemporary thinkers. Although, all previous scholars of Islam agree that the stoning penality is a part of the Islamic Shari`ah.