The ruling of musahaqah:
1- Musahaqah is a Shaytanic act which means for two women to rub their private parts to each other and is haram.[1]
2- It takes four just witnesses to testify that it has taken place for it to be proven, whether she is married or not, or whether she is Muslim or not.[2]
3- In the case of this act being repeated, and the hadd (specific punishment specified in Islam) being carried out for it every time, there is a difference of opinion among the maraje’:
a) As an obligatory precaution, she must be punished by ta’zir and on the third time she repeats it, she must be punished by the hadd.[3]
b) In the case of musahaqah being repeated, and the hadd being carried out every time, if she repeats it for a third time, the punishment is death.[4]
c) Some believe that death is the punishment on the fourth time.[5]
4- Before it is proven through four just witnesses, if the two who have committed such a sin repent, what is the famous fatwa amongst scholars is that the hadd is to be dropped.[6] But if it is first proven, and then they repent, it will be ineffective and the hadd still holds.[7]
5- If she admits to the sin and repents, the imam and Islamic governor can choose between waiving or upholding the hadd.[8]
A question that one may have in this regard is whether the brother of the girl that musahaqah has been done with becomes eternally haram to the girl doing it or not (as is the case in liwat; in liwat or sodomy, the sister, mother and daughter of the man/boy whom another man has penetrated become haram to the latter, meaning that he can never get married to any of them)?
The answer to this question is in the negative; musahaqah differs from liwat and the brother of the girl doesn’t become eternally haram to the other girl and they can get married in the future if they wish to.
[1] Majlisi, Muhammad Baqir, Hudud va Qisas va Diyat, pg. 22, Mu’assasah Nashr al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Qom, First edition; Bahjat, Mohammad Taqi, Jame’ al-Masa’el, vol. 5, pg. 176, first edition, Qom.
[2] Jame’ al-Masa’el, vol. 5, pg. 176; Imam Khomeini, Tahrir al-Wasilah, vol. 2, pg. 470, issue 9, Mu’assasah Dar al-Ilm, first edition, Qom; Sha’rani, Sheikh Abul-Hasan, Tarjomeh va Sharhe Tabsiratul-Mote’allemin fi Ahkamuddin, vol. 2, pg. 737, Manshurat Islamiyyah, Tehran, fifth edition, 1419 ah; Some though, put a difference in lashes between whether the woman is married or not, such as Ayatullah Khu’i: “If she is not married, whether she is a kafir or not, each of them is to receive a hundred lashes, but if she is married, she must be stoned.” (Khu’i, Seyyid AbolQasem, Takmilah al-Minhaj, pg. 40, issue 194, Nashr Madinah al-Ilm, Qom, 28th edition, 1410 ah).
[3] Tahrir al-Wasilah, vol. 2, pg. 471, issue 12.
[4] Takmilah al-Minhaj, pg. 41, issue 195.
[5] Such as Ayatullah Bahjat: “In the case of musahaqah being repeated and the hadd also being repeated, the one repeating it is to be killed on the fourth time, and is not to be killed on the third time as an obligatory precaution. (Jame’ al-Masa’el, vol. 5, pg. 176) and also in: Tarjomeh va Sharhe Tabsiratul-Mote’allemin fi Ahkamuddin, vol. 2, pg. 737.
[6] Jame’ al-Masa’el, vol. 5, pg. 177; Takmilah al-Minhaj, pg. 41, issue 196; Tarjomeh va Sharhe Tabsiratul-Mote’allemin fi Ahkamuddin, vol. 2, pg. 737.
[7] Jame’ al-Masa’el, vol. 5, pg. 177; Takmilah al-Minhaj, pg. 41, issue 196; Tarjomeh va Sharhe Tabsiratul-Mote’allemin fi Ahkamuddin, vol. 2, pg. 737.
[8] Jame’ al-Masa’el, vol. 5, pg. 177.