Islam
Islamic scholars state that whilst the Qur'an professes the basic principle that everyone has the right to live, this principle allows for an exception when a court of law demands it. Their precept is "Do not kill a Soul which Allah has made sacred except through the due process of law". This exception authorises the administration of capital punishment when Islamic law dictates. This is the line taken by most countries in which Islam is the principal or state religion.
One notable characteristic of Sharia is that the family of a murder victim can pardon the murderer. In Islam the victim or the victim's family are the judges for all crimes; they decide what the punishment shall be under the supervision of a jurist who knows the Qur'an.
The Qur'an clearly illustrates the possibility of capital punishment in verse 5:32. "On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land-it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land." Other verses reinforce the idea that, for example, in a case of murder, the victim's family decides the punishment-with the death penalty as a possibility. Verse 5:32 notes that compassion is the best choice. "Mischief in the land" (e.g. treason) is also punishable by death. Verse 2:178 further discusses capital punishment, in the case of murder; “O you who believe! retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the slain, the free for the free, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female, but if any remission is made to any one by his (aggrieved) brother, then prosecution (for the bloodwit) should be made according to usage, and payment should be made to him in a good manner; this is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy; so whoever exceeds the limit after this he shall have a painful chastisement.”
Here, it is further clarified that capital punishment is only just with the rule of equality, and the idea of the victim's family receiving a payment to spare the murderer's life is presented. This payment, some Muslim thinkers hold, is more constructive in a case of a father being murdered-the murdered father's family has a better chance of survival without the breadwinner if there is monetary compensation.
The transgressor is required to be killed by well-established Sharia views in cases of murder and of fasaad fi al-ardh (spreading mischief in the land), which includes treason, terrorism, piracy and rape and, in some cases, adultery. Crimes that have fallen under this description have included: (1) Treason, helping an enemy of the Muslim community; (2) Apostasy, leaving the faith and joining the enemy in fighting against the Muslim community; (3) Land, sea, or air piracy; (4) Rape; (5) Adultery; (6) Homosexual intercourse.
Read more about this topic: Religion And Capital Punishment
Famous quotes containing the word islam:
“Sooner or later we must absorb Islam if our own culture is not to die of anemia.”
—Basil Bunting (1900–1985)
“Awareness of the stars and their light pervades the Koran, which reflects the brightness of the heavenly bodies in many verses. The blossoming of mathematics and astronomy was a natural consequence of this awareness. Understanding the cosmos and the movements of the stars means understanding the marvels created by Allah. There would be no persecuted Galileo in Islam, because Islam, unlike Christianity, did not force people to believe in a “fixed” heaven.”
—Fatima Mernissi, Moroccan sociologist. Islam and Democracy, ch. 9, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. (Trans. 1992)
“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)