It is natural to want the Huddud (Laws of Qur’an and Sunnah) applied when one is experiencing so much death and tragedy as is happening in the Maldives.
But before the death penalty can be applied, the legal system must be absolutely objective. Unless there is a strong faith in the ability of the justice system, unless there is widespread faith that there are no incompetent judges or possibilities of bribery or subjectivity in the decision making procedure, it is a sin to implement Shariah Law which is a huge Amanah (trust) and MUST NOT BE TOYED WITH!
Before Maldives can implement Shariah, it MUST first establish widespread trust in the judiciary by through serious reform measures.
“O ye who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even as against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be (against) rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both. Follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest ye swerve, and if ye distort (justice) or decline to do justice, verily Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do.” [An-Nisa 4:35]
The law as we know it is believed by many to be a shocking betrayal of the Quran’s Amr (command) to ensure absolute objectivity. Adhaalath and Al-Qisas (social justice and equity for all) are a MUST before Hadd can be applied!
What if your children were put to death for a crime that was made up? False charges occur very frequently.
What if the drug dealers and corrupt ones who control court rooms in much of the world killed your son or daughter on charges of “terror” or manufactured charges of murder, zina or anything – but all your children really did was try to prevent the drug dealers from harming people? And were killed for that based on false charges made up that they committed zina?
As the Ummah is as one body, and one feels the pain of every other, I cannot but help fend for the potential victims of injustice under a system which sees the rich and powerful use the legal system to exterminate their enemies unjustly.
Think about all those who stood up against tyrants in world history, and imagine if they had of been killed by the State in the name of Islam even though they were fighting for True Islam which is Peace and Justice.
Real peace cannot exist in the absence of justice – how many crimes were manufactured against the activists of history?
It seems that in the system we have, to be a Muslim, which implies standing up for the downtrodden, sick and oppressed, is to sacrifice yourself. This is because truth suffers in this unjust world, but that suffering must be embraced for others if one is to be a person of true leadership, as a leader is called to be ‘a shield for others’ (in Sahih Muslim, Book of Government.)
In many societies, the real criminals walk away from the courts – and in fact control the courts, and that does not look like it can be changed!
So, the killers and the drug dealers will be killing the innocent and oppressed in the name of implementing Islamic Law. Does that sound like Islam to you? That is serious Fitnah (dissension) from Islam…
The Hukm (Law) is deeply sacred, it is a massive Amanah (trust) which must never be taken lightly or under estimated.
Allah is Al Quddus, the Holy, and every injustice is made right in the Qiyamat. Read the Hadith about what is in store in Jahannum for Muslim leaders who missapply the Shariah Law for political ends, or for the wrong Niyat.
A judge is to be held accountable for his motives, and it is a massive Zalim (darkness – injustice) to missapply the Shariah Law.
I do advise anyone wishing to implement the Law to be aware not to play politics with the Sacred Law.
On many occasions, the Prophet (SAW) did not implement the death penalty (Rajm) for certain Hadd level crimes although others frantically pushed for it to be implemented. This was because absolute objectivity could not always be guarenteed in the decision-making procedure.
For example, in the Hadiths of Bukhari and Muslim, as narrated through Sahih Isnad (a reliable chain of narration) we read about some Muslims killing other Muslims because they were ‘not Muslim…’
They said Shahada only at the edge of the sword, it was claimed. In response to the claim that their Shahada was not genuine, the Prophet (SAW) said, “Did you cut their hearts open to see the Niyat (the quality of intention) of their hearts?’
The point being, if there is any chance that there could be a mistake, then only Allah (SWT) can judge in the Qiyamath, the judgement which is in the Akhira – the afterlife. Unless absolute objectivity can be guaranteed, the Prophet did not implement or advise Hadd.
On other occasions, according to Sahih Isnad in Bukhari and Muslim, it was obvious that a child was not the child of the father who thought they were the father. For Malsahah (social utility) the Prophet (SAW) said the child belongs to whom’s bed on which it was born. It was not beneficial to prescribe Hadd though it was technically due.
The Merciful essence of Islam and the Islamic intent of social harmony, social justice, would be betrayed by Hadd in such circumstances although Hadd was technically due.
A Qadi must be a qualified Mujtahid and must investigate the issue extensively before making a decision. Notice the word Mujtahid, notice how this word for study and decision making about the Law requires Jihad – striving or struggle – as is contained in the word. If a Judge exhausts all avenues of possible doubt, only then will he be rewarded for decision making, and those doubts include ones own heart’s doubts!
Justice and truth must exist in the heart of the people before it can be applied to the courts and the system.
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In some Islamic states, women have been given harsh punishment under Shari’a and men have been imprisoned in addition. These cases have been integral to the opening up of issues relevant to ensuring and developing human rights, and to understanding them in ways that recognises and respects both local cultures and contexts, as well as international rights agreements. The tensions between conservative religious politics and crude antiterrorism policies which are often blatantly Islamphobic must be considered, which also involves local cultures containing a complicated mixture of ideologies and social practices, structured by power relations.
For example in Nigeria, Muslim communities reactions to Sharianization were varied – Ibrahim el-Zakzaky of the Muslim Brothers, who had previously called for the Islamization of Nigeria, opposed Sharianization on the grounds that passing and implementing harsh punishments without first ensuring just socioeconomic relations was not Islamic. Others were afraid of political abuse by those with power; as Muslims they did not want to oppose Sharia, but they did not feel they had the skills to criticize potential corruption without the ability to read Arabic or years of study of Islamic jurisprudence. Thus, there was an “uneasy public silence.” However, upon the passing of the laws there was much celebration, as many associated Sharia with morality. Morality was seen not only as sexuality, but also in terms of safety and anti-corruption, which the poor suffer most from.
Ben,Very true.
It is not the system of the law, sharia or not sharia that is important.
It is the education that we give to our sons.The morality that we, father and mother instill in the new generation of citizens. All remaining is rhetoric talking about.
We, the present generation have lost morality and our sons look at us and imitate us.
WE are the guilty one.
The eroticism of the Maldivian Justice system, the degrading porno ad the shameful secret
- women are sluts
- women is for the use of man
- women can pregnant by "dont know who"
- the judge is a sadomasochist who is legally authorized to rule the verdict
- women get flogged - sexual assault is legalized
- men flock to see women getting flogged - it excites them and they carry the memory and the sexual fantasy
- man flogging women is a masochist - he plays the macho in the porno
- and the legal scene of assault - Justice Ministry Grounds
Introducing shari'ah would certainly be the death of justice.
This is especially true for a country like ours with what I'm sure is the world's highest per capita Mullah ratio.
There is no lack of greedy quacks and 'sheikhs' in the Maldives who have repeatedly proven that they won't stoop to anything for the taste of power.
In other words, there's a pack of power hungry wolves that threaten to turn our beautiful country into the next backward jamalistan.. and some of our MPs (Muttalib. Gee. How surprising.) think this is a good idea.
You steal. You hands get amputated.
You fornicate: You get flogged and spend the rest of your life shamed, labeled, ostracized, etc.
You commit adultery: You get stoned.
You murder someone: You get beheaded.
Where is the room for repentance in Islamic Sharia?
I remember our esteemed Sheikh Ilyas (May the force be upon him) went ranting on this topic one whole night.
Isn't there a bit of a contradiction here when you there is repentance and capital punishments?
If Mr Ilyas, you tell me that the eternal world, namely the Heaven awaits me, having received the due punishments mentioned here, no... I will take my chances and do whatever I liked instead of going to your heaven and engage in all the sex all the shopping you believe is all that is there...
If ALL murderers are given their deserving sentences, even under the current penal code, we'd not have so many murders.
The fact is, the Police investigative techniques are stuck in the middle ages. They have no means to establish beyond reasonable doubt those linked with murder. Given this, the murderers know they can get away with their crime. Hence, our current situation.
Bring in outside expertise, train the Police or even get an outside Police force to be resident here for a while until our own force can deal with these cases properly.
Islamic Sharia must be implemented in a true Islamic or in Muslim society? I question if we are living in true Islamic society where rape and child abuse is common, killing and violence is common on the street, fraud and corruption is high among us. The society don't understand Quran nor are able to understand or judge Sahih hadith. Even prophets time it was not the punishments that come first but teaching and preaching of good and bad and then implementing such actions once it is implemented in the system then the punishments is given if anyone disobey or deviate from good. Thus we need to teach our society good and bad, educate them on it, then we need sever punishment, then we need to implement it and execute it. and such system must be fair and justice must be served.
There is no justice system in the world that can actually boast of delivering justice all the time.... there for death penalty is not appropriate anywhere.
Judges are human, they error & are corruptible... and if one innocent life is taken wrongfully due to the enforcement of the death penalty, it is an injustice to all.
Also it is no secret that there r different "justice" for different classes of people. The rich get away, while the poor and the less connected r the ones who face the supposed reality of "justice"... whether in regard to sharia law or any other law...
death penalty must be use only to the killers,criminals and drugs lords
Thank you Ben for your beautifully written and informative contribution. I hope our MPs will read this and take note.
...if some pedophiles toy with my son, hell with sharia, I rather kill him myself.
the current system can't even give punishment to true criminals and still some people are trying to protect criminals!
Lets see if Sharia can ever be removed from Maldives!! Secularist and Atheist COWARDS!! You can never Insha Allah secularize this country!! Cowards!! Hidding behind and trying to distory Maldives true identity!!
All excellent comments, will respond to each one individually when I have time... blown away by thoughts of all of you... you are Maldives hope...
@right on Wed, 6th Oct 2010 11:41 PM
I am not an expert on sharia law, but what you are looking for is more in-line with what sharia says. Refer up on retributive justice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retributive_justice) and
Qesas (http://muslim-canada.org/Islam_myths.htm) where victims or next of kin has the right to pardon or pursue for proportional justice.
Also there is some level of retribution in western legal systems, but this is quite minimal.
Of course there are criticisms from both sides, but there is considerable scholarly debate inside the legal theory profession.
@Ahilsum, love to know more about Ibrahim el Zakzaky's ideas, thanks for informing me that is informative
@saleem: Sukrun
@ogun river: your deep sense of responsibility is what is needed to further development and justice in yoour paradise, the blame game some seem to play is destructive...
@Aminath: Powerful language, wow, so true
@Yaamyn: reading you is like reading political philosophy with the provocative insights of geniuses like Saul Alinsky...The bravest often remain on the fringe of politics as activists because they are too honest to put on a mask to win power. You are more than smart enough to be a great politician, though I would feel sad for the potential loss of the spreading of truth achieve as an activist like blogger (hope you would not compromise that for power which you could do...)
@Ilyas: This probably does not help much, but according to the Hadith's, those who are punished in accordance to Shariah Law (for zina or for whatever crime) receive a special Mercy from Allah in the after life. Prophet said that he sensed the sense of Janna (paradise) on a woman who was being stoned (Rajm), when the Al-Qatl (murder) was carried out, Prophet ordered the people to be silent and reverent. That lady more or less demanded that she be killed as when she first tried to confess Prophet did not want to listen, which shows that first choice of the Prophet is Mercy (ArachmaniRaheem from Qur'an literally means MOST Merciful most Gracious), so if a merciful such as yourself can be merciful to a zinni or whatever, Allah is more merciful than you as he is Most merciful... Furthermore, there is a Hadith which says that anyone who had had a bit of faith anytime in their lives even as small as the size of a mustard seed who is in hell would be plucked out of hell and taken into heaven... no matter how evil they had been...Allah's Mercy is supreme over Allah's Justice, but the justice is there. I hope that helps... but I suspect it doesn't?
@Ahmed: important point, maybe we need to try and appeal to the government to get modern policing???
@aussie: yes, thats true... Prophet SallalahuAlahiwaSalaam and his Companions used to be tortured for delivering the truth, and endured it for the sake Of Allah. Qital (fighting) and harsh punishments did not come till all other means had been exhausted to eradicate murder, cruelty and the killing of children for fear of poverty or for shame of having a girl...)
@JL: Important aspect of Shariah is equality before the law, Prophet said he was amputate his own Daughter Fatima's hand for theft
@Ahmed Haveeru: Generally, right now, are the murderers and drug lords (the major ones) being even imprisoned at all? I think we have seen the way some rich and powerful Maldivians behave whilst the poor go to jail for having a little hashish or alcohol... Whilst what you say is truth, equality before the law is a MUST!
@Khadeeja: humbled... thankyou...
your MP's might not listen to reason or read it just because it is on minivannews, but it is up to the ppl to organize themselves and demand to be heard/read through activism... I believe you all can bring justice and safety through your efforts so Malddivians could enjoy their own paradise
@right: there is a Hadith which says to oppose a serious sin with your hand (sword or physically) when you can, speak out against it when you can, if you can't do so, hate it with your heart. The duty to command right and forbid wrong is encumbent on all Muslims. Whilst there is debate on who should carry out this duty, (should the rulers take care of justice or should justice be carried out by the ppl, should we take it upon ourselves to do justice) there are texts which imply that there is no sin on you if you take justice into your own hands for serious matters if you can't get justice for serious crimes, see Michael cook's Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong wonderful book...
@extremist my foot: This aggression for nothing calling your own Ikhwan cowards etc... is not the way of the Prophet (SAW) Dear Brother...Try to talk to your ppl with compassion as Qur'an asks you too, you will get a much better ear...
@meekaku: very controversial topic... but I myself will read up on what you linked, thankyou so much
@casanova: This probably does not help much, but according to the Hadith’s, those who are punished in accordance to Shariah Law (for zina or for whatever crime) receive a special Mercy from Allah in the after life. Prophet said that he sensed the sense of Janna (paradise) on a woman who was being stoned (Rajm), when the Al-Qatl (murder) was carried out, Prophet ordered the people to be silent and reverent. That lady more or less demanded that she be killed as when she first tried to confess Prophet did not want to listen, which shows that first choice of the Prophet is Mercy (ArachmaniRaheem from Qur’an literally means MOST Merciful most Gracious), so if a merciful such as yourself can be merciful to a zinni or whatever, Allah is more merciful than you as he is Most merciful… Furthermore, there is a Hadith which says that anyone who had had a bit of faith anytime in their lives even as small as the size of a mustard seed who is in hell would be plucked out of hell and taken into heaven… no matter how evil they had been…Allah’s Mercy is supreme over Allah’s Justice, but the justice is there. I hope that helps… but I suspect it doesn’t?
Before we discuss the implementation of 'shari'ah' laws in society, there are some key issues that need to be clarified. Firstly, what does the term 'shari'ah' mean? Are these the same as fiqh, Islamic law? Secondly what is the object of these laws? Are all formulations of these laws regardlees of their object immutable and universally applicable?
As regards its meaning, shari'ah laws must not be confused with fiqh (Islamic law). Shari'ah in its purely Qur'anic sense refers to the divine commands and prohibitions in their totality; these are primarily expressed in the Qur'an. Their articulation in the Qur'an is not always the same; most of the time they are in the form of guidelines and general principles and sometimes they are concrete and specific. These shari'ah laws were developed by early Muslims of the first two centuries of Hijra (7th/8th centuries CE) and codified into fiqh. Thus shari'ah laws and the fiqh laws are not exactly the same thing.
As regards their object, these laws relate to the individual as well as the social spheres. The laws related to the individual sphere do not consitute 'law' in the western sense of law as they are not enforcable. Thus when one talks about the shari'ah or fiqhi laws as solutions to societal problems they are referring to the latter. As for their immutablity, all shariah or fiqhi laws may not necessarily be immutable especially those related to the social sphere. What is most important as far as shari'ah laws related to the social shphere are concerened are the underlying principles and objectives these laws aim at achieving. Thus when we discuss any aspect of these shariah laws including the hudud and qisas laws, which belong to the social sphere, one needs first to delineate the form from the principle and second to see whether their existing form is in accordance with current societal values and, if not, to give a new form to those shari'ah principles.
Agar, thankyou,
Shariah literally means way or path, referring originally to a path to water implying the path to life. All conventional schools of Sunni thought agree that the the Shariah refers to the laws derived from Qur'an and Sunnah.
Fiqh literally means deep understanding and refers to the application of Shariah.
The different Fiqhs are different because they have a different understanding and application of the Foundation of Fiqh(usul al-fiqh)
Whilst all traditional schools believed in Qur'an and Sunnah, the way they were applied differed according to their different understanding of exactly what constitutes usul al-fiqh.
Imam Hanifa used a lot of Al-Rai and maslahah (reason and social utility) as at that time the Sunnah was not codified as comprehensively (the Sunnah or beaten path refers to the way of the Prophet (SAW) where as the Hadith actually refer to that which was narrated (literal meaning of Hadith is narrative) and what was narrated was not the only source of Sunnah, as also, the unnarrated practice of the Muslims, especially in Medina were considered Sunnah and some of that was not narrated...
I can't drag this thing out but to simplify things, Imam Abu-Hanifa relied alot on reason and was influenced by Aristotle's thought, Imam Malik relied on the decisions and practice of Medinah much more, Imam Al-Shaafi was the first to set out the conventional order of authority in usul al-fiqh as being, Qur'an, Sunnah, Ijma (consensus) of the Suhaaba and Tabiun who were the real Ulema (knowledged ones) and then ijtihad based on first an analogy (Al-Qiyas) derived from the Sunnah and Qur'an and only then should ijtihad using Al-Rai and Maslahah become involved.
Imam Hanbal, reacting to what he perceived to be the corrupt use of reason and social utility to justify corruption reacted strongly by a back to Qur'an and Sunnah movement. His main Usul Al-Fiqh was to trace the isnad (chain of narration) back as close as possible and he was interested in ascertaining the authenticity of Hadith.
Modern Usul Al-Fiqh involves the application of science and the re-opening of the gates of ijtihad in ascertaining Islamic rulings, and also involves looking at the meaning behind rulings from Qur'an and Sunnah and implying that (which is inspired by many Ayats which talk about Allah intending to benefit and elevate humanity (Prophet was a Mercy to the Worlds)... and so from this there are many reform movements within Islamic Law (Mohammed 'Abduh for example...)
Lets not forget that the Qur'an itself appeals to us to learn truth through observing the natural ayats...so reason and science are Qur'anic Usual Al-Fiqh.
the above was a very simplified explanation
Sharia punishments would be insane at any given state of judiciary except when in chaos.
As you know sharia punishment:
sexual intercourse - flogging
Apostesy - beheading
False accusation of sexual inter course - flogging
Theft - Amputations
alcohol and pork consumption - flogging
This punishments are not appropriate for this society. There is more peace and order and people are more civilized. Things are managed more sophisticated way. There track of records kept proper institution personal info to family history, personal wealth. Except theft, the other things are crime against god, god shall punish him
Judiciary is suppose to give justice according to law and constitution regardless gender class .But to function the system, selected judges who took oath are incompetent and corruptible. Its not the flaws in law.