But AYO, don’t you think the punishment is extreme? Truly, your concerns are valid. But I want you to know that the word “extreme” is a relative term. It is not absolute. And you cannot define what is extreme until you establish the baseline you are measuring from. The reason you keep saying it is extreme is because you are using a Western ruler to measure an Islamic legal system. In the secular framework, the highest possible value is individual liberty and physical life. That is, liberty and life comes before the religion. From that baseline, taking a human life for a non violent sexual act is viewed as an extreme punishment. They believe that if there is no physical victim, the state has no business ending a life. However, in the Islamic legal compass, the highest priority is the protection and sanctity of the religion. Our servitude to the Almighty comes first, even before our own life. Islam believes we are not here on our own. We are here on a purpose, which is to worship the Almighty. Now when you compare these two worldviews, you will see the glaring difference in the moral compasses and why you feel the judgment is extreme. From the Islamic standpoint, it is the crime itself that is extreme. Read that again. This is because bypassing private hotel rooms to commit an act of severe sexual immorality right inside the most guarded sanctuary on earth is an extreme violation. It is an unthinkable level of spiritual treason. So, when an offender commits an extreme violation of a state ultimate sacred boundary, a competent court will mostly likely respond with the maximum deterrent. You only think the punishment is extreme because your secular moral compass refuses to accept the weight of the crime. When you understand the hierarchy of laws that I established above, you will realize the ruling based on their framework, is not extreme. It is proportional. This is the difference. You don’t agree. Fine. But that’s their legal view point. And do you think it is also fair to impose your own emotions on their jurisdiction?

Many people have tagged me to this news. I have gotten a lot of questions in my mentions. I understand why the punishment feels too severe for you. We live in a secular society where matters of the flesh are seen as private issues. It is normal to struggle with this news. I get where you are coming from.  First of all, I want you to separate a regular sin of fornication from the specific details of this event. Think of it this way: Think about a highly classified military installation or a sovereign border zone. If you trespass into a regular private farm, you get a warning or a fine. But if you bypass security warnings and trespass into a restricted military black site where the sign clearly says Lethal Force Authorized, the guards will shoot to kill. You are not being shot because walking is a crime. You are facing lethal force because you intentionally breached the ultimate red line of the state. The integrity of that boundary is more important than your life. This is the reality of what happened here. This is what the Haram of Mecca is. It is not just a city. It is the most sacred sanctuary on earth. It is a divine sanctuary with extreme boundaries. You can hunt an animal anywhere else in the world, but in the Haram, you cannot even point at a bird to scare it. You can clear a forest in your country, but you cannot pluck a leaf or uproot a plant in the Haram. You cannot carry a weapon. You cannot pick up a lost item on the floor unless you are actively looking for the owner to return it. There is also a deeper theological nuance to this. Mecca is a spiritual amplifier. We are taught that one prayer in the Haram is worth a hundred thousand prayers anywhere else. But that scale does not only weigh good deeds. When you bring a major sin into the very heart of the sanctuary, the weight of that sin is equally magnified. If this exact act had happened in a private hotel room outside the Haram, or other non-sacred places in Saudi Arabia, the punishment would have been entirely different. Islam conceals sins done in private human weakness and standard laws of jurisprudence would apply. But when these individuals, identified as Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Siti Akhtar, bypassed thousands of hotel rooms to bring a sexual act right into the public mosque, that is public defiance.  It is an intentional desecration of the sanctuary. It is an open rebellion against the boundaries set by the Creator. The law is built to protect the sacredness of our spaces. If the ultimate sanctuary is not fiercely protected, the religion loses its core boundaries. The ruling is very severe, yes. But it is there to ensure nobody ever thinks of defiling the house of God again. Allah knows best.