A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURAL RAJM MÁGÙN IN NIGERIA

Magun and rajm are two me ans o f b ringing to b o ok tho se who are guilty of adulte ry in the traditio nal Yo rub a so c iety as well as in so me reve aled sc ripture s re spe ctively . Magun is a means of checking unruly behavior of sexual moral laxities in the yoruba speaking area of Nigeria. It is a means of terminating the life of a man suspected to be having sexual interc ourse with o ne s wife . While magun is a means of killing he who engages in adultery among the yoruba, rajm (stoning to death) has religious connotation particularly in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible as well as in the Tradition of Prophet Muhammad. The fact that the two modes of punishment involve termination of life underscores how serious adultery is. Attempt is therefore made in this paper to consider the two concepts and analyse the differences therein. Historical, descriptive and comparative research methods were adopted for this study. Oral interviews were conducted to elicit response from some traditionalists on issues related to magun; while library sources were also used to digest scholars views on the concepts of rajm and magun. It was observed that there are elements of injustice in the mode of carrying out the two modes of punishment, while no consensus is reached by scholars on the application of rajm. It was then concluded that serious precaution needs to be taken in such a matter that involves lives of culprits while avenues for committing adultery are blocked as much as possible by those who wish to implement the two modes of punishment rather thancarrying out the punishment.