Regarding the Death Penalty… What does Islam say about the death penalty? Stephanie Letson Redding, Calif., USA Reply According to the Islamic injunctions, death penalty can be administered in two cases only. Firstly, if a person is physically harmed or injured by another, Islam directs the state to provide justice to the individual (or his relatives) by letting him/them harm or injure the guilty to the same extent, as he himself was guilty of, in the first place. This concept of punishing the guilty is known as “ Qisaas ”, which means “to follow suit” or to deal with a person in exactly the same manner as he himself did in the first place. Obviously, the principle of Qisaas when applied in the case of murder would translate to killing the murderer in the same manner as he himself killed his victim. Secondly, the death penalty may be administered if the criminal is guilty of “ Hiraabah ” or “ Fasaad fil Ardh ”. “ Hiraabah ” and/or “ Fasaad fil Ardh ” include crimes committed against the community, rather than an individual or crimes that are of the nature of religious persecution or crimes committed with the objective of spreading a wave of terror through the community or crimes committed against the state. In the case of “ Hiraabah ” and/or “ Fasaad fil Ardh ” the Qur’an has proposed four different punishments – of varying intensities, thus, giving a certain amount of leverage to the authority administering the punishment to be extremely severe or comparatively soft on the criminal, depending upon the nature of the crime committed and other related variables. Two of these proposed punishments shall most certainly amount to torturous death. These are the only two crimes for which the Qur’an has allowed to administer the death penalty, and to stress the fact that the death penalty cannot be administered in any other crime except these two, the Qur’an says: “Whoever kills a person – except as a punishment for murder or Fasaad fil Ardh – is as if he has killed the whole of mankind.” (Al-Maaidah 5: 32) However, it might be interesting to note that in the case of murder, Islam gives the relatives of the murdered the right to forgive the criminal. This really implies that if the relatives of the murdered want to forgive the murderer, the state shall then not administer the death penalty. The Qur’an has actually implicitly prompted the relatives of the deceased to forgive the criminal. I hope this helps. In case any aspect of your question remains unanswered or inadequately answered, please feel free in writing back to me at your own convenience. Regards The Learner Home Page Use this "Home Page" link only if you have opened this page by following an external link