Boreal

LOVE, SEX & ISLAM

Sex in the Here-And-Now

Chantal

Chantal lost her mother to breast cancer when she was in her teens, perhaps earlier. I think Lucette reminded her of her mother, and Chantal reminded my Lucette of the daughter she never had. She got to know Lucette while working for me part-time in the two years I continued as a consultant after returning to Ottawa from Montréal. Most of that time, I worked out of my home office with Chantal helping out.

Lucette and Chantal enjoyed each other’s company and it showed. When Lucette would open the front door and announce her arrival with a joyous, “I’m home,” Chantal would bounce down the stairs, shouting, “Lucette’s home, Lucette’s home,” greeting her before she had a chance to close the door behind her.

Chantal would often help Lucette with dinner and then stay for part of the evening. Yes, this is the same Chantal that you have already met. Chantal thought her father would make a better husband for my Lucette and “maybe we should introduce them,” as I obviously did not deserve the woman who “absolutely adored me.” She was unable to suppress an expression of disbelief when she said that.

I adored Lucette too, though I did not realize just how much. I must admit to fantasizing about being the married man Chantal had been seeing the last few months that she worked for me. Who wouldn’t? I don’t think Chantal realized the effect she had on me when she stood next to me in shorts or tight jeans that drew attention to her nice round bum as I tried to focus on explaining the work that had to be done that day. The view was even more enticing when she curled up in the fetal position on the office couch to take a nap.

It was a nice distraction, I must admit. What I did not care for was her prattling on about who was enjoying what the seam of her strained white shorts, which now barely reached down to the top of her thighs, dug into while she slept. It was enough having to resist offering to scrub her back when she jumped in the shower before running to meet her adulterer (yes, I am aware of the irony) for a nooner. I asked her repeatedly not to talk about her sex life with that man.

In a Muslim country, she could have been stoned to death for having illegal intercourse. In Muhammad’s time it was a sure thing, especially if he was the judge. The married man Chantal was having sex with, a lawyer no less, could have easily talked his way out of a death sentence as God’s spokesman always looked for ways to spare stoning the adulterer, but not the adulteress.

The following are two cases of illegal intercourse adjudicated by Muhammad which illustrate this fact. The first involves a woman pregnant with another man’s child:

Malik related to me from Yaqub ibn Zayd ibn Talha from his father Zayd ibn Talha that Abdullah ibn Abi Mulayka informed him that a woman came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and in-formed him that she had committed adultery and was pregnant.

The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to her, "Go away until you give birth."

When she had given birth, she came to him. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to her, "Go away until you have suckled and weaned the baby."

When she had weaned the baby, she came to him. He said, "Go and entrust the baby to someone."

She entrusted the baby to someone and then came to him. He gave the order and she was stoned.

Malik's Muwatta 41.41.1.5

God’s mouthpiece was not as quick to condemn a man who con-fessed to committing illegal intercourse to be stoned.

Narrated Abu Huraira:

A man from Bani Aslam came to Allah's Apostle while he was in the mosque and called (the Prophet) saying, "O Allah's Apostle! I have committed illegal sexual intercourse."

On that the Prophet turned his face from him to the other side, whereupon the man moved to the side towards which the Prophet had turned his face, and said, "O Allah's Apostle! I have committed illegal sexual intercourse."

The Prophet turned his face (from him) to the other side whereupon the man moved to the side towards which the Prophet had turned his face, and repeated his statement.

The Prophet turned his face (from him) to the other side again.

The man moved again (and repeated his statement) for the fourth time.

So when the man had given witness four times against himself, the Prophet called him and said, "Are you insane?"

He replied, "No."

The Prophet then said (to his companions), "Go and stone him to death."

The man was a married one. Jabir bin 'Abdullah Al-Ansari said: I was one of those who stoned him. We stoned him at the Musalla (the praying area outside a mosque) in Medina. When the stones hit him with their sharp edges, he fled, but we caught him at Al-Harra and stoned him till he died.

Bukhari 63.196

In another account of the same event, it is clear that while he had no qualms about sentencing a female to be stoned, sentencing a man to the same fate left the Prophet somewhat moved. The chagrin that Muhammad experienced in having to sentence a man to be stoned to death is very much evident in his demand that the people who said he had died like a dog be punished by eating from the decaying corpse of an ass.

In addition, while stoning cannot purify a woman who has committed adultery, it seems to have that effect on a man guilty of the same offence. She is going to Hell, and he, to Paradise.

Narrated Abu Hurayrah:

A man of the tribe of Aslam came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and testified four times against himself that he had had illicit intercourse with a woman, while all the time the Prophet (peace be upon him) was turning away from him.

Then when he confessed a fifth time, he turned round and asked: Did you have intercourse with her?

He replied: Yes.

He asked: Have you done it so that your sexual organ penetrated hers?

He replied: Yes.

He asked: Have you done it like a collyrium stick when enclosed in its case and a rope in a well?

He replied: Yes.

He asked: Do you know what fornication is?

He replied: Yes. I have done with her unlawfully what a man may lawfully do with his wife.

He then asked: What do you want from what you have said?

He said: I want you to purify me. So he gave orders regarding him and he was stoned to death. Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) heard one of his companions saying to another: Look at this man whose fault was concealed by Allah but who would not leave the matter alone, so that he was stoned like a dog.

He said nothing to them but walked on for a time till he came to the corpse of an ass with its legs in the air.

He asked: Where are so and so?

They said: Here we are, Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him)!

He said: Go down and eat some of this ass's corpse.

They replied: Apostle of Allah! Who can eat any of this?

He said: The dishonour you have just shown to your brother is more serious than eating some of it. By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he is now among the rivers of Paradise and plunging into them.

Abu Dawud 38.4414

If it was a woman accused of illegal intercourse, God’s spokesman might not even bother hearing her side of the story before condemning her to death.

Narrated Zaid bin Khalid and Abu Huraira:

The Prophet said, "O Unais! Go to the wife of this (man) and if she confesses (that she has committed illegal sexual intercourse), then stone her to death."

Bukhari 38.508

***

It was a sunny summer morning; Lucette was away at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake with a girlfriend, a yearly tradition, when Chantal showed up for work. She went on and on about spending the weekend with her married man on his boat. She was happy and I couldn’t take it anymore.

I spoiled it for her, for me and for my Lucette: I fired her then and there, telling her to leave, and that was that. Like with Diane, there was no turning back, which may have been my way of avoiding falling any harder for Chantal and risking hurting my Lucette again.