ISLAM
AND CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
...Take
not life, which God has made sacred, except by way of justice and law. Thus
does He command you, so that you may learn wisdom
Qur'an
6:151
But
even though the death penalty is allowed, forgiveness is preferable.
Forgiveness, together with peace, is a predominant Quranic
theme.
Muslims
believe that capital punishment is a most severe sentence but one that may be
commanded by a court for crimes of suitable severity. While there may be more
profound punishment at the hands of God, there is also room for an earthly
punishment.
Methods
of execution in Islamic countries vary and can include beheading, firing squad,
hanging and stoning. In some countries public executions are carried out to
heighten the element of deterrence.
Each
case is regarded individually and with extreme care and the court is fully able
to impose more lenient sentences as and when they see fit.
Islamic
countries that practice a very strict Sharia
law are associated with the use of capital punishment as retribution for the
largest variety of crimes.
At
the other end of the spectrum are countries such as Albania and Bosnia, which
still retain the death penalty as part of their penal system, but are
abolitionist in practice.
In
Islamic law, the death penalty is appropriate for two groups of crime:
•
Intentional murder: In these cases the
victim's family is given the option as to whether or not to insist on a
punishment of this severity
•
Fasadfil-ardh ('spreading mischief in the
land'): Islam permits the death penalty for anyone who threatens to undermine
authority or destabilize the state
What
constitutes the crime of 'spreading mischief in the land' is open to
interpretation, but the following crimes are usually included:
•
Treason/apostasy (when one leaves the faith
and turns against it)
•
Terrorism
•
Piracy of any kind
•
Rape
•
Adultery
•
Homosexual activity
Whilst
Islam remains firmly retentionist, there is a small but growing abolitionist
Islamic view. Their argument is as follows:
•
The Ulamas (those who are learned in Islamic
Law, constitution and theology) do not always agree on the interpretation or
authenticity of the sacred texts. Neither do they agree on the social context
in which these texts should be applied.
•
Sharia law is often used by repressive powers
that attack women and the poor.
•
There are incidences of these states
summarily executing those who are accused whilst denying them access to a
lawyer. These acts are totally contradictory to the concept of Islamic justice.
In
Geneva, on 28th April 2005, there was a call for a moratorium on corporal
punishment, stoning and death penalty. This was, however, rejected by the Legal
Research Commission of the Al-Azhar University in Cairo, the world's leading
Islamic learning Centre.
Some
forms of Islamic law, as in Saudi Arabia, may require capital
punishment, but there is great variation within Islamic nations as to actual
capital punishment. Apostasy in Islam and stoning to death in Islam
are controversial topics. Furthermore, as expressed in the Qur'an, capital
punishment is condoned. Instead, murder is treated as a civil crime and is
covered by the law of retaliation, whereby the relatives of the victim decide
whether the offender is punished with death by the authorities or made to pay
diyah as compensation. Muslims
frequently refer to the story of Cain and Abel when referring to killing
someone. The Qur'an says the following:
"If anyone kills person– unless it be (a
punishment) for murder or for spreading mischief in the land— it would be as if
he killed all people. And if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saved
the life of all people" (Qur'an 5:32).
This
verse, in accordance with the Mosaic Law, maintains that the
punishment for murder is the death penalty. "Mischief in the land"
has been interpreted universally to refer to one who upsets the stability of
the entire nation or community, in that his actions seriously damage the
society, either through corruption, war or otherwise.
Although
many hard line and extremist Muslimsocieties
have adopted capital punishment for other than the crime of murder, this is in
violation of the Quraniclaw
mentioned above, and so is rejected by most orthodox commentators and scholars.
However,
there is also a minority view within some Muslims that capital punishment is
not justified in the light of Qur'an.
In
Islamic law, the death penalty is applied for a limited number of cases,
including murder and adultery. Adultery and murder fall into different categories of crime.
Adultery is a haddcrime, the most serious type of crime because
its punishment is clearly articulated in the Qur’an and thus there can be
no leniency. However, with this type of crime, the burden
of proof is incredibly high. Four people must witness the act of
penetration and agree on all the details. Moreover, circumstantial
evidence is not sufficient and pregnancy is not proof of adultery.
Murder,
on the other hand, is a qisas crime, which means it involves retaliation. This
is when there is intentional murder and the victim’s family has the right to
ask for the like to be done to the murderer: an eye for an eye. Unlike a
haddcrime, there is not one punishment. In other words, the death penalty can
be applied, but it does not have to be. The murderer can pay money to the
victim’s family called diya as a kind of compensation or they can forgive,
leaving ultimate judgment to God, and this is the higher moral
stance.
The
judge has a heavy responsibility to determine without a doubt that the
individual is guilty. Most often, this is impossible to do. The severe nature
of the punishments in Islamic law indicate these punishments should act as
deterrents, but in reality rarely are applied because of the burden of
proof required. It is for this reason that in a hadith the Prophet Muhammad
maintained that erring in forgiveness is better:
“Wherever possible, do not inflict
punishments (hudud; singular hadd) on Muslims; if there is a way out for
someone, let him go. It is better for the ruler (al-imam) to err in forgiveness
than for him to err in punishment.”
For
Ramadan, there is too much possibility for error in the current government
systems both in Muslim majority countries and in the United States for the high
level of proof to ever be attained. In Muslim majority countries, there are many examples of violations of Islamic
law where punishments have been meted out haphazardly and unjustly, and thus,
execution should be avoided until there is a guarantee that abuses will
not occur.
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