Punishment and its provisions in Islamic law

Abstract

Sharia’s definition of punishment: It is the penalty decided on the culprit due to disobedience of the command of the legislator achieving of the community’s benefit. It’s definition by man- made law, is the penalty decided by the law signed by the judge against whom held responsible on the crime. The punishment is legitimate by the holy book, Suna and is agreed upon. In the holy book, Allah says: ( And if you punish, punish as you have been punished).In the Suna, the Prophet peace be upon him says: ( No one should be whipped more than ten times, unless the wrongdoer abandons a religious obligation). The Muslim community agrees on the legitimacy of punishment. The punishment evolves with evolving of times and communities where it was initially the stage of primitive las such as Hammurabi’s code as well as the Egyptian law and the stage of heavenly laws such as Judaism Sharia’s, Arabs prior to Islam and the stage of emerging of Islam. The importance of the punishment arises in deterring the culprit and prevent him/ her from redoing and deterring others. The aims of punishment are crime prevention, reforming the culprit within the community and rendering him a good member. There are conditions for a punishment among which are that the culprit should be eligible for the punishment that he is wise and adult and that the action he/ she has admitted is prohibited, the culprit is aware of the crime and that the punishment should not be held without the permission of the Imam or his deputy. There are characteristics of a punishment, some of which are legitimacy, personal and publicity, etc. The punishment is divided into the following classes, 1- classification according to the form, 2- classification according to the crime type such as killing, whipping, cutting and exiling, etc. In the research, the relationship between the punishment and the community, organizing it and its stability and its effect on the community, etc. are discussed.