How is Robert Mugabe viewed in Zimbabwe

Okay whoa that's a whole bunch. You really need to know the shariah to understand the punishments you mentioned. First of all, realize that Shar'iah is not codified. There have been attempts (the Ottomans and the Mughals come to mind) but none have been very successful. So interpretations on this will vary. However, the basis of the Shar'iah are :

  1. The Qur'an
  2. The Sunnah
  3. 'Ijma- this is a consensus of legal muslim scholars
  4. Qiyas- analogical deduction. This is where analogies are made to new situations.

So, if someone wants to bring something and claim it is Shar'iah, they must have evidence from these four categories. If someone says "it's my interpretation of the Shar'iah, I can interpret it how I like" they would be laughed out of the building. You must provide evidence from these.

now the 'scary issues' of sharia. I'll take stoning as an example. Let's look at stoning. The evidentiary standard for stoning as found in Ijma and Sunnah is extremely, extremely high. Four adult witnesses must see the male's penis penetrate into the vagina. Make sure you understand me, I'm not saying four people must see them committing adultery (side note: stoning is solely for adulterers, if the two are unmarried, stoning isn't the punishment). I'm saying four people must actually see the penetration occur. If four people walk into a room and see a man and a woman naked on the bed going at it but the angle is such that the penis isn't visible, it doesn't count. Needless to say, this makes it next to impossible for the standard to be met and I am not aware of any case in Islamic history where someone has been stoned by meeting this standard. The only other way for them to be stoned is to turn themselves in (which is emphatically discouraged in the sunnah). In the entire reign of the Ottoman caliphate, 1 stoning occurred.

You might ask, well then, what the heck is the purpose of a punishment when it can't be enforced? Two things. Most importantly, it serves as a deterrent. I'm sure as hell less likely to have a one night stand if there's even a 1% chance I'm going to get stoned. It also makes the seriousness of the crime apparent. There's a difference between saying "Don't commit adultery, you'll be punished in hell for a finite period of time. Unless you repent, because God forgives anyone who repents." and "Don't commit adultery, because if you get caught, you'll get stones pelted at you until you die." Finally, these punishments are setting the limits. If four people walked in on two people doing it, you can bet there would have been some punishment (called tazir punishments). Not stoning (since the standard can't be met) but perhaps a hefty fine or public humiliation.

there's a whole bunch of rules for everything else you mentioned but that would take me all day lol

/r/Zimbabwe Thread