Editing Islamic sexual jurisprudence (section)

=== Sodomy ===
{{main|Islamic view of anal sex}}

[[Yusuf al-Qaradawi]], a contemporary [[Sunni]] [[List of modern-day Muslim scholars|Muslim scholar]], states that [[sodomy]] is [[Haraam|prohibited]].As the act is forbidden in the [[Islamic marriage contract]], a wife must abstain from it should her husband demand it and may seek divorce if her husband persists or tries to force it on her.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503543866 |title=When Husband Insists on Anal Sex with His Wife - ارشيف اسلام اونلاين |accessdate=11 December 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215054059/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaE&cid=1119503543866 |archivedate=15 February 2009 }}</ref> The act in itself, however, does not [[:wikt:nullify|nullify]] the marriage and the wife must seek divorce if she is to leave her husband.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503547172 |title=Anal Sex with the Wife: Does It Nullify Marriage? - ارشيف اسلام اونلاين |accessdate=11 December 2016 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215054251/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaE&cid=1119503547172 |archivedate=15 February 2009 }}</ref>

Muslim scholars justify the prohibition on the basis of the Qur'anic verse 2:223, saying that it commands intercourse only in the vagina (i.e. potentially procreational intercourse). The vaginal intercourse may be in any manner the couple wishes, that is, from behind or from the front, sitting or with the wife lying on her back or on her side.

There are also several ''hadith'' which prohibit sodomy.

From the story of [[Lot in Islam|Lot]] it is clear that the Qur'an regards sodomy as an egregious sin. The death by stoning for people of Sodom and Gomorrah is similar to the stoning punishment stipulated for illegal heterosexual sex. There is no punishment for a man who sodomizes a woman because it is not tied to procreation. However, other jurists insist that any act of lust in which the result is the injecting of semen into another person constitutes sexual intercourse.<ref name="Suad 2006"/>

Sodomy often falls under that same category as sex between and unmarried man and women engaging in sexual acts. Male-male intercourse is referred to as ''liwat'' (literally, "joining") while female-female intercourse is referred to as ''sihaq'' (literally, "rubbing"). Both are considered reprehensible acts but there is no consensus on punishment for either. Some jurists define ''zināʾ'' exclusively as the act of unlawful vaginal penetration, hence categorizing and punishing anal penetration in different ways. Other jurists included both vaginal and anal penetration within the definition of ''zināʾ'' and hence extended the punishment of the one to the other.<ref name="Omar"/>
Religious discourse has mostly focused on sexual acts, which are unambiguously condemned. The Qur'an refers explicitly to male-male sexual relations only in the context of the story of Lot, but labels the Sodomites's actions (universally understood in the later tradition as anal intercourse) an "abomination" (female-female relations are not addressed). Reported pronouncements by Muhammad (''hadith'') reinforce the interdiction on male-male sodomy, although there are no reports of his ever adjudicating an actual case of such an offense; he is also quoted as condemning cross-gender behavior for both sexes and banishing them from local places, but it is unclear to what extent this is to be understood as involving sexual relations. Several early caliphs, confronted with cases of sodomy between males, are said to have had both partners executed, by a variety of means. While taking such precedents into account, medieval jurists were unable to achieve a consensus on this issue; some legal schools prescribed capital punishment for sodomy, but others opted only for a relatively mild discretionary punishment. There was general agreement, however, that other homosexual acts (including any between females) were lesser offenses, subject only to discretionary punishment.<ref name="Rowson"/>