Hudud
Hudud (Arabic: حدود Ḥudūd, also transliterated hudood; plural of hadd, حد) is an Arabic word meaning "borders, boundaries, limits".[1] In the religion of Islam, it refers to punishments that under Islamic law (sharīʿah) are mandated and fixed by God as per Islam, i.e. prescribed punishments, as opposed to Ta'zeer. These punishments were applied in pre-modern Islam,[2][3] and their use in some modern states has been a source of controversy.
This article is about the concept in Islamic law. For the series of laws concerning this topic in Pakistan, see Hudood Ordinances.
Traditional Islamic jurisprudence divides crimes into offenses against God and those against man. The former are seen to violate God's hudud or "boundaries", and they are associated with punishments specified in the Quran and in some cases inferred from hadith.[4][5] The offenses incurring hudud punishments are zina (unlawful sexual intercourse such as fornication), unfounded accusations of zina,[6][7] drinking alcohol, highway robbery, and some forms of theft.[8][9] Jurists have differed as to whether apostasy from Islam and rebellion against a lawful Islamic ruler are hudud crimes.[4][10]
Hudud punishments range from public lashing to publicly stoning to death, amputation of hands and crucifixion.[11] Hudud crimes cannot be pardoned by the victim or by the state, and the punishments must be carried out in public.[12] These punishments were rarely implemented in practice, however, because the evidentiary standards were often impossibly high.[5][2] For example, meeting hudud requirements for zina and theft was virtually impossible without a confession in court, which could be invalidated by a retraction.[13][5] Based on a hadith, jurists stipulated that hudud punishments should be averted by the slightest doubts or ambiguities (shubuhat, sing. shubha).[13][5]
During the 19th century, Sharia-based criminal laws were replaced by statutes inspired by European models in many parts of the Islamic world, although not in particularly conservative regions such as the Arabian peninsula.[3][14][15] The Islamic revival of the late 20th century brought along calls by Islamist movements for full implementation of Sharia.[14][16] Reinstatement of hudud punishments has had particular symbolic importance for these groups because of their Quranic origin, and their advocates have often disregarded the stringent traditional restrictions on their application.[14] In practice, in the countries where hudud have been incorporated into the legal code under Islamist pressure, they have often been used sparingly or not at all, and their application has varied depending on local political climate.[14][15] Their use has been a subject of criticism and debate.
Hudud is not the only form of punishment under Sharia. For offenses against man—the other type of crime in Sharia—that involve inflicting bodily harm Islamic law prescribes a retaliatory punishment analogous to the crime (qisas) or monetary compensation (diya); and for other crimes the form of punishment is left to the judge's discretion (ta'zir).[4] Criminals who escaped a hudud punishment could still receive a ta'zir sentence.[3]
In the 21st century, hudud, including amputation of limbs, is part of the legal systems of Afghanistan,[17] Brunei,[18] Iran, Mauritania,[19] Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,[20] Yemen,[21] and northern part of Nigeria.
The offences subject to hudud punishment:
There are a number of differences in views between the different madhhabs with regard to the punishments appropriate in specific situations and the required process before they are carried out.[4] There are also legal differences (ikhtilaf) over the term limitation of pronouncing the punishment. Hanafite scholars assert that punishment for hadd crimes other than qadhf (false accusation of illegal sex) have to be implemented within a month; except for witnesses with a valid legal justifications for delayed testimony or in cases of self-confession.[36]
Marja' following Shia jurisprudence generally believe that hudud punishments can be changed by appropriately qualified jurists.[37][38]
Murder, injury and property damage are not hudud crimes in Islamic criminal jurisprudence,[39][40] and are subsumed under other categories of Islamic penal law, which are:
Efficacy[edit]
Amputation[edit]
Those arguing in favor of that the hudud punishment of amputation for theft often describe the visceral horror/fear of losing a hand as providing strong deterrence against theft, while at the same time the numerous requirements for its application make it seldom used and thus more humane than other punishments. Supporters include Abdel-Halim Mahmoud, the rector of Azhar from 1973 to 1978, who stated it was not only ordained by God but when implemented by Ibn Saud in Saudi Arabia brought law and order to his land — though amputation was carried out only seven times.
[66] In his popular book Islam the Misunderstood Religion, Muhammad Qutb asserts that amputation punishment for theft "has been executed only six times throughout a period of four hundred years".[67]
However, according to historian Jonathan A.C. Brown, at least in the mid-1100s in the Iraqi city of Mosul the Muslim jurists found the punishment less than effective. Faced with a crime wave of theft the ulama "begged their new sultan ... to implement harsh punishments" outside of sharia. The hands of arrested thieves were not being cut off because evidentiary standards were so strict, nor were they deterred by the ten lashes (discretionary punishment or tazir) that Shariah courts were limited to by hadith.[66][68]