This image is more than 30 years old but its shock value has not diminished one jot

THE image is more than 30 years old but its shock value has not diminished one jot. A woman, her face distorted in terror, is being buried up to her chest in preparation for her execution by stoning. It was taken in 1979 in the wake of the Iranian revolution which brought the Aya­tollah to power. This week footage was broadcast on the BBC showing the stoning of a girl of 19 named Siddqa. She was sentenced, along with her 25-year-old lover, after two mullahs declared her guilty of adultery. The images are grainy and indistinct but no less horrific for that. They were taken on a mobile phone as Siddqa was executed either last August or last October in the Dashte Archi district of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan. Stoning is illegal in Afghanistan but in that part of the country the Taliban hold sway and as their spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said: “Stoning is in the Koran. It is Islamic law.”

This image is more than 30 years old but its shock value has not diminished one jot

The people living in rural Kunduz are neither learned nor sophisticated - many are probably illiterate - but to say that such a repulsive act as the stoning of a young woman and man for the sin of having an illicit relationship could only happen in such a backward place is too simplistic. The Taliban, the extreme fundamentalist branch of Islam which adheres to the strictest possible interpretation of the Muslim faith, recognises only Sharia or Islamic law, not secular law. However the extremists have their following in Britain too among the 1.6 million Muslims who live here (many of whom were born and brought up in this country) and it is their avowed wish to see Britain ­subjected to Sharia law.

What is not mentioned in the Koran at all is that stoning is the punishment for adultery Imam Hasan

But if that were to happen are the Muslims of Britain prepared to accept scenes such as the stoning of Siddqa in this country? The question is not a fanciful one. If Sharia law were to become accepted in Britain it follows that the Sharia definition of crimes and misdemeanours would have to be accepted as would the Sharia prescription for the punishment of those crimes. The ultimate conclusion of such a situation is that killing people by pelting them with rocks would have to be regarded an acceptable penalty for adultery. Is this really what British Muslims want? Are they prepared to go that far? As one would expect of any person of his generation brought up in a liberal society Usama Hasan, 39, finds the images of the stoning horrifying and deeply disturbing. He also understands better than most about the poison that is spread by intolerance.

Born and brought up in North London, he has a physics degree from Cambridge and is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and before entering academia he spent six years in industry, working in the field of artificial intelligence. He is a father of four and an avid Arsenal fan. He is also imam at the al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton, East London. In a talk last weekend he tried to explain why acceptance of evolution is not incompatible with being a Muslim. It was a struggle. A video clip of the proceedings posted on YouTube shows him being shouted down ­during his address. At one point, someone is clearly heard calling for his execution. Since then he has received death threats and leaflets calling for his ­execution have been distributed among his congregation.

The question of what 21st century Muslims believe hinges on the interpretation of Sharia law. But there are some in­disputable specifics. Imam Hasan says: “The Koran does speak of chopping off the hands of thieves as a punishment. Flogging is mentioned as a punishment for fornication – that is sex between unmarried people. “The death penalty is both the punishment for murder and a deterrent; it stops the ­murderer killing more ­people and discourages others from killing. ‘There is life in this retribution’ is how the Koran phrases it. The method of execution is left open. What is not mentioned in the Koran at all is that stoning is the punishment for adultery.” Sharia law has existed for 14 centuries but unlike Western law, it is not – and never has been – codified.

G haffar Hussain, the head of outreach and training at the Quilliam Foundation, the counter-terrorism think tank, says: “It is a mistake to think of Sharia law as something written down like a statute or penal code. It is a set of principles which can be modified according to the context of an ­evolving society. “The Ottoman empire actually repealed a whole set of laws relating to punishment in the mid-19th century on the grounds that they were neither applicable nor approp­riate. “The most extreme interpretation of Sharia law is actually only practised by very few countries - Somalia, Afghanistan, possibly Saudi Arabia, and it’s very often fuelled by vindictiveness and petty tribal politics. You won’t find such thinking in Egypt or Morocco.”