If a Muslim commits a sin that carries a mandatory punishment it is preferable to keep it private, repent and ask for God’s forgiveness. If he insists to be punished, then this should be referred to a Muslim ruler. 

Enforcing Mandatory Punishments in non-Muslim Countries

Similar Questions

• Enforcing mandatory punishments outside the Muslim world;
• Implementing rules of punishment in non-Muslim countries.

The Issue

When a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country commits a sin that carries a mandatory punishment, should he enforce this punishment on himself or should he ask someone else to do it?

Ruling

A Muslim who commits a sin that carries a mandatory punishment must repent and seek God’s forgiveness, even when he lives in a country that enforces such punishments. To keep the sin a private matter and genuinely repent and appeal for God’s forgiveness is much better. However, if he insists on being punished, as Ma'iz and the Ghamidi woman did, the ruler who wields authority is the one who sees to it that the mandatory punishment is administered. If such authority belongs to a non-Muslim, then repentance is all that is required.

This is the view expressed by the late Shaikh Muhammad ibn Uthaimeen in Fatawa al-Aqaliyyat al-Muslimah. It is also the fatwa issued by the European Council for Fatwa and Research.[1]

Evidence

The Islamic attitude is that anyone who commits a sin that carries a mandatory punishment should keep this private, repent, seek God’s forgiveness and do whatever he can of good deeds.

If he insists on being punished enforcing the mandatory punishment is up to the Muslim ruler, though this is not possible in non-Muslim countries. To keep the matter private is preferable, as is clear from the reports of the case of Ma'iz and the Ghamidi woman.

Sources

• Fatawa al-Aqaliyyat al-Muslimah, by a group of scholars.
• Abdullah Bin Bayyah, Sina'at al-Fatwa wa Fiqh al-Aqaliyyat.