Execution of a Moroccan Jewess by Alfred Dehodencq

Capital punishment in Islam was traditionally regulated by Sharia, the religious law in Islam that comes from the

Hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...

that lists the sayings and practices of

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

.Samuel M. Zwemer, The law of Apostasy, The Muslim World. Volume 14, Issue 4, pp. 373–391 Crimes according to the Sharia laws which could result in capital punishment include murder,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

, etc. Capital punishment is in use in many Muslim-majority countries, where it is utilised for such as crimes as murder, rape,

apostasy Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...

, witchcraft,

, and publishing pornography.

Capital crimes and sentencing

Both the Hadiths and the Quran mention specific crimes for which capital punishment is a valid punishment. In the four primary schools of Sunni

fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...

(Islamic jurisprudence) and the two primary schools of Shi'a fiqh, certain types of crimes mandate capital punishment.

Qisas

Qisas is a category of sentencing where sharia permits capital punishment, for intentional or unintentional murder. In the case of death, sharia gives the murder victim's nearest relative or

Wali A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...

() a right to, if the court approves, take the life of the killer. hudud crimes, which are crimes against God, and are considered the most serious offences under sharia law, for which punishments are prescribed in the Quran. This includes banditry and adultery; and Further, in case of Qisas-related capital punishment, sharia offers the victim's guardian the option of Diyya (monetary compensation). Diyya is controversial, especially when paid to avoid trial for crimes such as murder. Concerns been raised that poor offenders face trial and capital punishment while wealthy offenders avoid even a trial by paying off Qisas compensation. The

Murder of Shahzeb Khan On 25 December 2012, university student Shahzeb Khan was murdered in a targeted revenge killing in Karachi, Pakistan. The initial lack of action from police in apprehending Shahzeb Khan's killers sparked countrywide outrage and protests against t ...

in 2012 brought particular attention to this issue in Pakistan.

Hudud

Certain hudud crimes, for example, are considered crimes against Allah and require capital punishment in public.Mohamed El-Awa (1993), Punishment in Islamic Law, American Trust Publications, , pp 1-68 These include

(leaving Islam to become an atheist or convert to another religion),David Forte
Islam's Trajectory
Revue des Sciences Politiques, No. 29 (2011), pages 92-101

fasad ''Fasād'' ( ar, فساد ) is an Arabic word meaning rottenness, corruption, or depravity. In an Islamic context it can refer to ''spreading corruption on Earth'' or ''spreading mischief in a Muslim land'', moral corruption against God, or dis ...

(mischief in the land, or moral corruption against Allah, social disturbance and creating disorder within the Muslim state) and

zina ''Zināʾ'' () or ''zinā'' ( or ) is an Islamic legal term referring to unlawful sexual intercourse. According to traditional jurisprudence, ''zina'' can include adultery, fornication, prostitution, rape, sodomy, incest, and bestiality. ' ...

(consensual heterosexual or homosexual relations not allowed by Islam, specifically pre marital or extramarital).

Modern applications

Muslim-majority nations carry out a large percentage of the world's executions. In the year 2020, an Amnesty International report found that 88 percent of all recorded executions took place in either Iran, Egypt, Iraq or Saudi Arabia. However, 'all recorded executions' did not include data from China, where the number of executions is classified information. In several

Islamic countries The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In ...

such as Sunni

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, as well as Shia

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, both hudud and qisas type capital punishment is part of the legal system and in use. In others, there is variation in the use of capital punishment. Several Muslim-majority nations have not performed an execution in several decades, though death sentences may still be given. Leaders in Algeria and Tunisia, which have not executed criminals since the early 1990s, have recently suggested a return to capital punishment.

Methods

Lethal stoning and beheading in public under sharia is controversial for being a cruel form of capital punishment. These forms of execution remain part of the law enforced in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iran and Mauritania. However no stoning has been implemented for many years. Quotations regarding stoning can be seen in hadiths including the following:

Decapitation

Decapitation was a standard method of execution in pre-modern

Islamic law Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

. The use of decapitation for punishment continued well into the 20th century in both Islamic and non-Islamic nations. When done properly, it was once considered a humane and honorable method of execution. Today, its use had been abandoned in most countries by the end of the 20th century. Decapitation is a legal method of execution in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, and was reportedly used in 2001 in Iran according to Amnesty International, where it is no longer in use.

Decapitation in Islamic scripture

There is a debate as to whether the Quran discusses decapitation.Rachel Saloom (2005), "Is Beheading Permissible under Islamic Law – Comparing Terrorist Jihad and the Saudi Arabian Death Penalty", ''UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs'', vol. 10, pp. 221–49. Two surahs could potentially be used to provide a justification for decapitation in the context of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

When the Lord inspired the angels (saying) I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger. (8:12)

Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom 'til the war lay down its burdens. (47:4)

Among classical commentators, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi interprets the last sentence of 8:12 to mean striking at the enemies in any way possible, from their head to the tips of their extremities.

Al-Qurtubi Imam Abū ʿAbdullāh Al-Qurṭubī or Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī ( ar, أبو عبدالله القرطبي) (121429 April 1273) was an Andalusian jurist, Islamic scholar and muhaddith. He ...

reads the reference to striking at the necks as conveying the gravity and severity of the fighting. For

al-Qurtubi Imam Abū ʿAbdullāh Al-Qurṭubī or Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Abī Bakr al-Anṣārī al-Qurṭubī ( ar, أبو عبدالله القرطبي) (121429 April 1273) was an Andalusian jurist, Islamic scholar and muhaddith. He ...

, al-Tabari, and Ibn Kathir, the expression indicates the brevity of the act, as it is confined to battle and is not a continuous command. Some commentators have suggested that terrorists use alternative interpretations of these surahs to justify beheading captives, however there is agreement among scholars that they have a different meaning. Furthermore, according to Rachel Saloom, surah 47:4 goes on to recommend generosity or ransom when waging war, and it refers to a period when Muslims were persecuted and had to fight for their survival.

Decapitation in Islamic law

Decapitation was the normal method of executing the death penalty under classical Islamic law. It was also, together with hanging, one of the ordinary methods of execution in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. Currently, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which uses decapitation within its Islamic legal system. The majority of executions carried out by the

Wahhabi Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...

government of

are public beheadings, which usually cause mass gatherings but are not allowed to be photographed or filmed. According to Amnesty, decapitation have been carried out by state authorities in

as recently as 2001, but as of 2014 is no longer in use."Death Penalty Database: Iran"
deathpenaltyworldwide.org, Cornell Law School, accessed 13 June 2016. It is also a legal form of execution in Qatar and Yemen, but the punishment has been suspended in those countries.

Historical occurrences

* The Islamic followers of Mohammed executed the men of the Jewish tribe of

Banu Qurayza The Banu Qurayza ( ar, بنو قريظة, he, בני קוריט'ה; alternate spellings include Quraiza, Qurayzah, Quraytha, and the archaic Koreiza) were a Jewish tribe which lived in northern Arabia, at the oasis of Yathrib (now known as ...

for an alleged treaty violation, with several hundred killed in 627. * After the Battle of Hattin (1187),

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

personally beheaded

Raynald of Châtillon Raynald of Châtillon (french: Renaud; 11254 July 1187), also known as Reynald or Reginald, was a Crusader knight of French origin but also Prince of Antioch from 1153 to 1160 or 1161, and Lord of Oultrejordain from 1175 until his death. He w ...

; a Christian knight who served in the Second Crusade and organized attacks against Islam's two holiest cities. *Forces of the

invaded and laid siege to the city of Otranto and its

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. I ...

in 1480. According to a traditional account, after capture, more than 800 of its inhabitants – who refused to convert to Islam – were beheaded. They are known as the "

Martyrs of Otranto The Martyrs of Otranto, also known as Saints Antonio Primaldo and his Companions ( it, I Santi Antonio Primaldo e compagni martiri), were 813 inhabitants of the Salentine city of Otranto in southern Italy who were killed on 14 August 1480 when ...

Historicity Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history instead of being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status. Historicity denot ...

of this account has been questioned by modern scholars. *

Muhammad Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad ( ar, محمد أحمد ابن عبد الله; 12 August 1844 – 22 June 1885) was a Nubian Sufi religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, as a youth, studied Sunni Islam. In 1881, he claimed to be the Mahdi, ...

declared himself

Mahdi The Mahdi ( ar, ٱلْمَهْدِيّ, al-Mahdī, lit=the Guided) is a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the end of times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad w ...

in 1880 and led Jihad against the Ottoman Empire and their British allies. He and his followers beheaded opponents, Christian and Muslim alike including the British general Charles Gordon.Byron Farwell, Prisoners of the Mahdi (New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1989), pp. 156-7.

References

{{Reflist Sharia Corporal punishments Punishments in religion Islamic ethics