Discuss the salient features of Islamic Criminal Law?
Answers
Although criminal law in other legal systems tends to be organized according to the nature of crimes, criminal offenses under classical Islamic law are categorized according to the nature and sources of punishments. Islamic criminal offenses are divided into three categories: (1) offenses and punishments fixed in the Qurʾan or Sunna (hudud); (2) offenses against the person, including intentional injury and homicide, which are considered matters to be settled between the offender and victim, and for which remedies include retaliation (qisas) and financial compensation (diya); and (3) Offenses not fixed in the Qurʾan or Sunna, for which punishments are discretionary (taʿzir). Islamic criminal law is not applied uniformly in all locations—interpretations of Sharia and hudud punishments in countries such as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, for example, can be very different. In Pakistan, hudud offenses have been incorporated into state legislation. In recent years, Islamic criminal law has been the subject of commentary and critique by scholars and activists within the international human rights community.