Answered by: Maulana Mujahid Hussain

Question:
Do monkeys really stone their female adulterers like the hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari states

Answer

Perhaps the report you are referring to is the following one which Imam Bukhari mentions :

حَدَّثَنَا نُعَيْمُ بْنُ حَمَّادٍ، حَدَّثَنَا هُشَيْمٌ، عَنْ حُصَيْنٍ، عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ مَيْمُونٍ، قَالَ رَأَيْتُ فِي الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ قِرْدَةً اجْتَمَعَ عَلَيْهَا قِرَدَةٌ قَدْ زَنَتْ، فَرَجَمُوهَا فَرَجَمْتُهَا مَعَهُمْ‏

Husain reports from Amar Bin Maymoon who said that “During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a she-monkey surrounded by a number of monkeys. They were all stoning it because it had committed illegal sexual intercourse. I too stoned it along with them.”[1]

Firstly, this, as Hafiz ibn Hajar mentioned, is not a hadith and it is not a statement of the prophet or a sahabi [2], thus we are not bound to accept this statement of his or believe in it if we do not wish to. This is just an incident the Taabieen mentions he had witnessed.

Secondly, Amar bin Maymoon’s ( رحمه  الله )statement that this stoning took place on account of the monkey committing Zina is questionable in more ways than one.

1. Ibn Qutaibah in تأويل مختلف الحديث mentions that this was an assumption on the part of Amr. He could not possibly be sure that the other monkeys had stoned this monkey on account of Zina and not for some other reason. He could not possibly have understood the communication methods used by the monkeys nor could the monkeys communicate with him to inform him the reason behind their actions.[3]

2. Imam Qurtubi in his Tafseer under the commentary of the verse كونوا قردة خاسئين  discuses this narration and mentions that the words “the monkey had committed zina” may be a mistake because these words are not found in certain prints of Saheeh Bukhari but Imam Bukhari also narrates this narration in his other book التاريخ الكبير and he does not record these words over there[4]

3. Hafiz Ibn Abdul-Barr mentions in الاستيعاب that Allah ( سبحانه و تعالى ) has sent down the law for humans and Jinns only, this law does not apply to animals. There are no such things as sin and reward for animals, so how can they be commanded to carry out the punishments for sinful acts? If this story is correct then the monkeys must have been Jinns disguised as monkeys.[5                                    Finally, I would like to mention that throughout Islamic history Scholars have themselves held different opinions about this incident.

Imam Qutabah in the above book also quotes’s Hafiz Ibn Abdul Al-Barr as saying some of the scholars hold the view this story is incorrect and not established.

Ibn Taymiyya inclined to the view that this story is accurate as he mentions:

فإنه قد ثبت في صحيح البخاري { أن أبا عمران رأى في الجاهلية قردا زنى بقردة فاجتمعت عليه القرود فرجمته}. 
ومثل ذلك قد شاهده الناس في زماننا في غير القرود حتى الطيور 

“This is something the people have witnessed in our times with animals other than monkeys, even amongst birds”[6]

Only Allah Knows best.

Written by Maulana Mujahid Hussain.

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham.