The Muslim world is rather divided on the practice of hudud laws for the punishment of crime. Islamic jurisprudence is drawn not only from the Quran but also from the whole body of related sources extraneous to it: the Sunna (additional teachings of the Prophet Muhammad not found in the Quran) and other sources (judges’ rulings and other legal precedents). The thought of corporal punishment is indeed difficult to accept. Is there really no retreating from this?
The cutting off of hands and feet is explicitly mentioned in Sura Al Maidah (The Table) 5.33, here quoted with ayat 34:
- Yusuf Ali: 33 The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter; 34 Except for those who repent before they fall into your power: in that case, know that Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.
Those familiar with the teaching found in the Injeel (the New Testament) will recall that some 500 years earlier Jesus, Isa Al-Masih had taught this:
- Matthew 18:8-9 8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. 9 “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.
Hudud حُدُود is plural for the Arabic word hadd, which means limit. The term ‘hudud laws’ is used rather loosely to refer to corporal punishment under Syari’a Law. The word حُدُود itself occurs 14 times in noun form in the Quran. It is always mentioned along with Allah SWT’s merciful compassion to forgive. (Note 1) The word is best understood when used in the context of describing those who live under the blessed hand of Allah SWT:
- Sahih International: [Such believers are] the repentant, the worshippers, the praisers [of Allah], the travelers [for His cause], those who bow and prostrate [in prayer], those who enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and those who observe the limits [set by] Allah. And give good tidings to the believers.[ Sura 9.112]
The basis for corporal punishment in Islamic law is Sura 5.33. For any law to be implemented it needs to be prescriptive. One will notice the Quran offers no further details as to how the punishment ought to be meted out – when to cut off, how to cut off, how much to cut off? Is it the whole arm or is it just ¾ or only ½ the arm? Is it to be done in public? Or privately? Who is to do the cutting off?
In fact, another fact springs up at us – this ayat is in the passive voice; the one doing meting out the punishment is not named.
The teaching of prophet Isa found in the Injeel, in contrast, is in the active voice. However, we will notice that this teaching is strangely self-prescriptive: “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut if off….”
When we put these scriptural observations together, we may want to look at the matter as a whole. What is the message of the Injeel? “Repent so that you may be saved!” And after a few hundred years, comes the message of the Quran: The Prophet Muhammad SAW is a warner; the Quran’s teaching as a whole is a warning. It is a dire warning for the punishment to come, if we do not repent.
After all, what is losing an arm – a good right arm will get limp with age anyway – what is losing an arm, or a leg or an eye or any part of my body – in order that I may no longer live in sin, that I turn from sin, and that I may, by the grace of God, enter into life everlasting?
For the one bent on evil, the presence or lack of limbs makes no difference – for sin stems from the heart of man.
Yet for those who would now turn from evil and seek the pleasure of Allah SWT, they are the ones who be prepared to exercise the strictest self-discipline of body and mind in order to walk the way of holiness.
[END OF ARTICLE]Note 1
1x 2.187, 6x 2.229-235, 2×4.12-14, 1x 9.97-99, 1x 58.2-4, 2x 65.1 = 13x
The 14th time is Sura 9.112
Sahih International: [Such believers are] the repentant, the worshippers, the praisers [of Allah], the travelers [for His cause], those who bow and prostrate [in prayer], those who enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, and those who observe the limits [set by] Allah. And give good tidings to the believers.
Note 2
Further questions that need to be addressed on Surah 9.112 which will be covered in future are:
How do we understand ‘the limits’ (hudud) in accordance to the Scriptures?
Any difference from being a Buddhist monk who is constantly trying to put away greed/passion & self? Is not this ‘limits’ very honorable/admirable? If it is, then how does this ‘limits’ able to give/produce ‘good tidings’ or has it got anything to do with ‘good tidings’?
Therefore, what does good tidings actually mean? Is it also a form of religious getaway, like the monks?