Denmark’s own “imam law” has already been tested on a preacher advocating whipping and stoning for adultery. A parliamentary answer buried in the Folketing record shows just how hard it is to ban such speech under existing Danish and human rights law.
When a spokesperson for a recent Danish demonstration refused to rule out whipping as punishment for adultery, he walked into a legal minefield the Danish government has quietly been navigating for months. According to Folketing records, an MP submitted Written Question 215 to the immigration minister in 2025, asking why imam Abu Bilal, who has preached that adultery should be punished with whipping and stoning, can still preach in Denmark despite the imam law. The minister’s answer reveals a significant legal tension. Advocating traditional sharia punishments runs contrary to Danish values, but it does not necessarily meet the legal threshold for banning a preacher under the imam law or the European Convention on Human Rights.
The gap between immigration red flags and free speech
Denmark has already shown it can penalise such views where it counts. According to reporting by Berlingske, the Folketing’s Naturalisation Committee removed Hafiz Muhammad Idrees from a citizenship bill in 2024 because his written teachings endorsed sharia punishments, including stoning and whipping for adultery. That decision was political, not judicial, but it set a clear precedent. Support for sharia punishments, including whipping and stoning for adultery, has been cited in a citizenship denial case as evidence incompatible with Danish values. Yet the same view, expressed by a foreign imam in a Danish mosque, may be protected speech unless authorities can prove direct incitement to violence.
The result is a two-tier system. If you are applying for a residence permit or naturalisation, your religious beliefs about adultery can be scrutinised as evidence you lack Danish democratic values. But if you already hold a foreign passport and preach the same ideas as a visiting imam, Denmark’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights make it much harder to silence you. That gap frustrates MPs and worries internationals who see violent rhetoric go unchallenged while their own immigration files are combed for red flags.
What adultery actually means under Danish law
Under current Danish law, adultery is not a criminal offence. According to legal historians writing in Tidsskrift for Kriminalret, there is no paragraph in the Danish Criminal Code punishing consensual extramarital sex between adults. This was not always so. According to the same legal history source, in Reces 1537 paragraph eight, an unfaithful husband was to be beheaded and his wife drowned in a sack. Denmark itself once treated adultery as a capital crime, a reminder that harsh sexual morality codes are not uniquely Islamic but part of Europe’s own legal history.
Today, Danish criminal law focuses on non-consensual sexual offences like rape and coercion. Consensual adult sex outside marriage has been fully decriminalised. As reported by Politiken and AP, New York State repealed its adultery law in March 2024, more than a century after it was introduced. Governor Kathy Hochul signed the repeal to remove an obsolete moral offence from the books. The global trend has been to leave marital infidelity to civil courts, not criminal ones.
The benchmark figures that land the story
In contrast, a range of Islamic law systems still criminalise sex outside marriage. According to the Udlændingestyrelsen country report on Iran, illegitimate sexual intercourse by an unmarried man or woman is punished with 100 lashes under Iranian law. Adultery can carry stoning or 100 lashes, with extremely high evidentiary requirements. The same report notes that Iran’s Supreme Court has converted around 95 percent of death sentences in adultery cases to prison or whipping, while a moratorium has suspended stoning for several years. Whipping remains a practically applied punishment where stoning is politically sensitive.
According to religious sociologist Sherin Khankan, writing on Religion.dk, the Quran in chapter 24 verse 2 is interpreted by many scholars as prescribing 100 lashes for fornication, provided four eyewitnesses see the act. Khankan also notes that stoning is not mentioned in the Quran but stems from later hadith and jurisprudence. This internal Muslim debate is crucial context for readers otherwise assuming that whipping or stoning for adultery is universally accepted in Islamic theology. It is not.
Where expats and immigrants stand
For internationals living in Denmark, particularly Muslims or residents from countries with zina laws, the controversy raises sharp questions. Where exactly is the line drawn between protected religious expression, incitement to violence, and values that can cost you a residence permit or Danish citizenship? The Idrees case, as reported by Berlingske, shows that publicly supporting whipping or stoning for adultery can be treated as disqualifying evidence. Yet the imam law parliamentary answer shows that authorities face high legal hurdles to ban such advocacy outright.
No official Danish statistics track how many foreign residents or imams in Denmark publicly advocate corporal punishments for adultery. Based on available case evidence, this kind of stance is assessed individually in immigration and citizenship screening rather than measured systematically. The closest documented proxy is individual cases where religious leaders are denied Danish citizenship or face political scrutiny, such as the Idrees naturalisation rejection and the parliamentary question about imam Abu Bilal. Expat residents should be aware that their own stated views on such issues may be scrutinised if they apply for permanent residence or citizenship.
What you can actually do
If a sermon or demonstration crosses into direct incitement to violence, residents can file a complaint with the police. According to the Folketing imam law material, Danish law criminalises public incitement to violence and certain forms of hate speech. Even if doctrinal statements are protected, explicit calls for violent punishment here and now may face a different legal assessment. Information about foreign preachers who have advocated violent punishments can be submitted to the Ministry of Immigration and Integration, which assesses whether a ban under the imam law is legally possible.
Mosque boards and community organisations often govern who may preach on their premises. Internationals uncomfortable with certain sermons can raise concerns internally, support alternative leadership, or attend other mosques. Legal aid organisations and human rights NGOs can offer advice if you feel targeted by violent religious rhetoric or worry that complaining could affect your own status. Official guidance on rights and immigration obligations is available on borger.dk and nyidanmark.dk, with some English-language content for foreign nationals.
