Approaches to Respond to Ethical Challenges of Islamic Criminal Laws (Aḥkām)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Naser Zaker Shushtari ¹
• Hossein Naseri Moghadam ²
• Mohammad Taqi Fakhlaei ²

¹ PhD graduate, department of Fiqh and Fundamentals of Islamic Law, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

² Professor, Department of Fiqh and Fundamentals of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

10.22067/jfiqh.2022.73853.1234

Abstract

Criminal laws (aḥkām-i jazāʾī) constitute a part of the body of Islamic Sharīʿa. In the modern world, some claim that some of these rulings, such as the execution of apostates, harsh punishment methods, lūth and qasāma, retaliation punishment (qiṣāṣ) against the mother, etc. go against ethical criteria. Three main approaches can be identified regarding this issue: defensive and justificatory, critical and reformist, and ethical/rationalist. The first group entirely denies the existence of any challenges and considers religious rulings to align with religious ethics. The second group acknowledges the existence of the challenge and seeks reform regarding the issue. The rational approach, however, emphasizes the necessity for sharīʿa to align with ethical norms and propositions. Therefore, the third group supports fundamental changes to the foundations of criminal laws. The present essay employs a critical-analytical approach and seeks to offer practical solutions to resolve the discrepancy between criminal laws and ethical standards, aiming to make them more socially acceptable. The authors contend that when a criminal law goes against collective reason and conscience, ethical proposition should take precedence. Therefore, it is necessary to Review some of the criminal rulings in light of ethical and rational principles.

Keywords

• normative ethics
• Islamic criminal system
• criminal laws
• criminal justice
• philosophy of criminal jurisprudence

Main Subjects

• Philosophy of jurisprudence

---

References

Qurān-i Karīm.

Abū al-Ṣalāḥ Ḥalabī. Taqī ibn Najm. al-Kāfī fī al-Fiqh. researched by Riżā Ustādī, Isfahān: Maktaba al-Imām Amīr al-Muʾminīn(AS). s.d.

Aḥmadī Abharī, Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī. Nagsh-i Maqāṣid Sharīʻat dar Taʾthīr Muqtaḍīyāt Zamām bar Sīyāsat Kayfarī Islām. Tehran: Pazhūhishgāh Ḥawzah va Dānishgāh. Chāp-i Awwal, 2017/1395.

ʻAlam al-Hudā, ʻAlī  ibn Ḥusayn.  al-Intiṣār. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 1995/1415.

ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan  ibn Yūsuf. Irshād al-Adhhān ilā Aḥkām al-Īmān. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1990/1410.

ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan  ibn Yūsuf. Qawāʾid al-Aḥkām. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī1. Chāp-i Awwal, 1998/1419.

ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan  ibn Yūsuf. Taḥrīr al-Aḥkām al-Sharʿīyah ʻalā Mazhab al-Imāmīya. S.l. Imām Ṣādiq(AS). Chāp-i Awwal, 1999/1420.

ʿAmīd Zanjānī, ʿAbbās ʿAlī. Qawāʿid Fiqh; Bakhsh-i Jazāʾī. Tehran: Samt, Chāp-i Sivum, 2009/1387.

Anṣārī, Murtaḍā ibn Muḥammad Amīn. Farāʾid al-ʿUṣūl. Qum: Majmʻ al-Fikr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1998/1419.

Ardabīlī, Muḥammad  ʿAlī. Ḥuqūq Jazāy ʿUmūmī. Tehran: Mīzān, Chāp-i Hijdahum, 2008/1386.

Ashraf Dilfānī, ʿAlī. Mabānī Masʾūlīyat Kayfarī dar Ḥuqūq Islām va Farānsah. Qum: Būstān-i Kitāb, 2004/1382.

ʿAwdah, ʿAbd al-Qādir. al-Tashrīʿ al-Jināʾī al-Islāmī. Beirut: Dār Kutub al-ʻArabī. s.d.

Ayāzī, Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī. Aṣl Kirāmat Insān bi Musābih-yi Qāʿidih-yi Fiqhī. Tehran: Sarāyī. Chāp-i Awwal, 2022/1400.

Fāḍil Hindī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Kashf  al-Lithām ʿan Qawāʾid al-Aḥkām. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal, 2003/1424.

Fāḍil Miqdād, Miqdād ibn ʿAbd Allāh. Kanz al-ʿIrfān fī Fiqh al-Qurān. Tehran: Murtażawī. 1991/369.

Fakhr  al-Muḥaqiqīn, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Īḍāḥ al-Fawāʾid fī Sharḥ Ishkālāt al-Qawāʿid. Qum: Ismāʻīlīyān. Chāp-i Awwal, 1970/1389.

Falāḥīfard, Mihrdād, Masʿūd Bahrāmīyān. “Barrisī Siyr Taḥavulāt-i Manṣab Qāżī az ʿAṣr Jāhlīyat tā Sāl-i Chihilum”, Khurdādnāmah. No. 13, autumn and winter 2015/1393, 45-64.

Fanāyī, Abū al-Qāsim.  Akhlāq Dīnshināsī. Tehran: Muʿāṣir. 2014/1392.

Fanāyī, Abū al-Qāsim.  Dīn dar Tarāzū-yi Akhlāq. Tehran: Ṣirāṭ. Chāp-i Awwal, 2005/1384.

Farāhīdī, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. Kitāb al-ʻAyn. Qum: Dār  al-Hijra. Chāp-i Duwwūm, 1989/1409.

Fāsī, ʿAlāl. Maqāṣid al-Sharīʻa al-Islāmīya wa Makārimhā. Ribāṭ: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Panjum, 1993/1413.

Faṣīḥī, Amān Allāh. “Muʿżalāt Dunyā-yi Mudirn az Naẓar Max Weber”,  Nashrīyh-yi Maʿrifat Farhangī Ijtimāʻī. no. 6,  spring 2012/1390, 153-172.

Fawzī,  Ibrāhīm. Aḥkām al-Usrah fī al-Jāhilīya wa al-Islām. Beirut: Dār al-Kalama, Chāp-i Sivum, 1983/ 1403.

Fayḍ Kāshānī, Muḥsin. al-Maḥjja al-Bayḍāʾfī Tahdhīb al-Iḥyāʾ. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. S.d.

Fāżil Lankarānī. Muḥammad Javād. “Pāsukh bi Shubahāt Pīrāmūn Irtidād”. Sāyt-i Āyat Allāh Muḥammad Lankarānī. 2012/1390.

Fīrūzābādī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīṭ. Beirut: Dār Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya. 1995/1415.

Ghawth, Ḥasan, Ḥusayn Nāṣirīmuqadam, Muḥammad Mihrīzīsānī. “Taḥavulpazīrī Qarārdād Zimmah bā Piydāysh Ḥuqūq Shahrvandī Mudirn”, Fiqh va Uṣūl. no. 105, summer 2017/1395, 89-115.

Ghazālī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. al-Mustaṣfā. researched by Duktur Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Salām ʿAbd  al-Shāfī. S.l. Dār Kutub al-ʿIlmīyya. Chāp-i Awwal, 1993/1413.

Ghazālī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. Mīzān al-ʿAmal. Beirut: al-Hilāl. 1995/1415.

Ghazālī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. Shifāʾ al-Ghalīl fī Bayān al-Shabah wa al-Mukhīl wa Masālik al-Taʿlīl. Baghdād: al-Irshād. 1970/1390.

Gulbāghī Māsūlah, Sayyid  ʿAlī. Jabbār, Ḥusayn Nāṣirīmuqadam. “Rajm dar Tarāzū; Dirangī dar Naẓarīyah-yi Nafy Mashrūʿīyat Rajm Thubūtan wa Ithbātan”, Fiqh va Uṣūl. no. 98. autumn 2015/1393, 183-200.

Gulpāygānī, Muḥammad Riḍā. al-Durr al-Manḍūd fī Aḥkām al-Ḥudūd. Qum: Dār al-Qurān al-Karīm. Chāp-i Awwal, 1992/1412.

Ḥurr ʻĀmilī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Tafṣīl Wasāʾil al-Shīʻa ilā  Taḥṣīl Masāʾil al-Sharīʻa. Qum: Āl al-Bayt(AS). Chāp-i Duwwum,  1994/1414.

Ḥusaynī Shīrāzī. Muḥammad. al-Fiqh. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Fikr al-Islāmī. 1987/1407.

Ibn  Ḥamzih, Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī. al-Wasīlah ilā Niyl al-Faḍīlah. Qum: Maktaba Āyat Allāh al-Marʿashī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1988/1408.

Ibn  Qudāmah, ʻAbd Allāh  ibn Aḥmad. al-Mughnī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻArabī. s.d.

Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī. al-Muqniʿ. Qum: Imām Hādī(AS). 1995/1415.

Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʻAlī. Kitāb Man Lā Yaḥḍuruh al-Faqīh. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1984/1404.

Ibn Barrāj, ʿAbd ʿAzīz ibn Niḥrīr. Jawāhir al-Fiqh. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1991/1411.

Ibn Idrīs, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. al-Sarāʾir al- Ḥāwī li-Taḥrīr al-Fatāwī. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1990/1410.

Ibn Junayd Iskāfī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad. Majmūʻah Fatāwā Ibn Junayd. Girdāvarī ʿAlī Panāh Ishtihārdī. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. Chāp-i Awwal, 1995/1416.

Ibn Miskavayh, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. Tahdhīb al-Akhlāq va Taṭḥīr al-Aʿrāq. Qum: Bīdār. S.d.

Ilāhī, ʿAlī. Justār-hā-yi dar Maqāṣid Sharīʻat. Tehran: Nigāh Muʿāṣir. 2021/1399.

Jannātī, Muḥammad Ibrāḥīm. “Barrisī Mabānī Fiqhī  Rajm (Sangsār) Thubūtan wa Ithbātan”, Majallah-yi Fiqh. Durih-yi 17. no. 65-66, 2011/1389, 123-142.

Javādī Āmūlī, ʿAbd Allāh. Kirāmat Insān dar Qurān. Tehran: Rajā. 1990/1368.

Jawād ʿAlī. al-Mufaṣṣal fī Tārīkh al-ʻArab  Qabla Islām. Beirut: Dār al-ʻIlm. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1978/1398.

Kadīvar, Muḥsin. Ḥaqq al-Nās: Islām va Ḥuqūq-i Bashar. Tehran: Kavīr. 2008/1386.

Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim. Mabānī Takmilat al-Minhāj. Qum: ʻIlmīyya. s.d.

Khumaynī, Rūḥ Allāḥ. Ṣaḥīfah-yi Imām. Tehran: Mūʾassisah-yi Tanẓīm va Nashr-i Āsār-i  Imām Khumaynī. S.d.

Khumaynī, Rūḥ Allāḥ. Taḥrīr al-Wasīlah. Qum: Dār al-ʻIlm. Chāp-i Awwal, s.d.

Khvānsārī, Aḥmad. Jāmiʿ al-Madārik fī Sharḥ al-Mukhtaṣar al-Nāfiʿ. Qum: Ismāʻīlīyān. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1985/1405.

Kulīnī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. al-Kāfī. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyya. Chāp-i  Chāhārum. 1987/1407.

Malikīyān, Muṣṭafā. Maʻnavīyat Gūhar-i Adyān; Sunnat va Sikūlārīsm. Tehran: Ṣirāṭ. 2003/1381.

Mihrīzī, Mahdī. “ʿAdālat bi Masābah-yi Qāʿidih-yi Fiqhī”, Naqd va Naẓar. no. 10-11, spring and summer 1998/1376, 184-197.

Mīr Khalīlī, Sayyid Maḥmūd. “Khushūnat va Mujāzāt”, Kitāb Naqd. No. 14-15, spring and summer 2000/1379, 124-153.

Mīrzā-yi Qumī, Abū al-Qāsim. Jāmiʿ al-Shitāt fī Ajvibat al-Suʾālāt. Tehran: Kiyhān. 1992/1371.

Muḥaqqiq Ḥillī, Jaʻfar  ibn Hasan. al-Niḥāya wa Nukathā. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī,  1992/1412.

Muḥaqqiq Ḥillī. Jaʻfar ibn Ḥasan. Sharāyʿ al-Islām fī Masāʾil al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām. Qum: Istiqlāl. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1989/1409.

Mujtahid Shabistarī, Muḥammad. “Sih Gūnih Dānish dar sih Qalamrū”, Majallah-yi Naqd va Naẓar. Durih-yi 2, no. 5, 1996/1374, 296-300.

Muqaddas Ardabīlī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. Majmaʻ al-Fāʾida wa al-Burhān fī Sharḥ Irshād al-Adhhān. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. s.d.

Muqaddas Najafī, Muḥammad Hādī, Muḥammad Riḍā Gulpāygānī. Taqrīrāt al-Ḥudūd wa al-Qaṣāṣ. Narm Afzār  Kitābkhānah-yi Ahl-i Bayt(AS).

Muqrī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. al-Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr fī  Gharīb al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr. Qum: Dār al-Hijrah, Chāp-i Awwal,  1985/1405.

Murdoch, Iris. Muqaddamah-yi Sayṭarih-yi Khayr. Translated by Shīrīn Ṭāliqānī. Tehran: Shūr. Chāp-i Awwal. 2009/1387.

Mūsawī Ardabīlī, Sayyid ʿAbd  Karīm. Fiqh al-Ḥudūd wa al-Taʿzīrāt. Qum: Mufīd university. Chāp-i Duwwum, 2006/1427.

Muṭaharī, Murtaḍā. Islām va Muqtażīyāt Zamān. S.l.: Kitābkhānah-yi Madrisah-yi Faqāhat. s.d.

Najafābādī, Hādī, Sayyid Muḥammad Riḍā Āyatī. “Tabdīl va Jāyguzīnī Mujāzāt-hā-yi Islāmī (Ḥudūd wa al-Taʿzīrāt) Mutināsib bā Muqtaḍīyāt Zamām”, Pazhūhish-hā-yi Fiqh va Ḥuqūq Islāmī. yr. 13, no. 46,  winter 2017/1395, 89-112.

Naṣīrī, ʻAlī. “Ḥaqq Āzādī ʻAqīdih va Naqd Shubhi-yi Tanāfī Ḥukm Irtidād bā ān”, Nashrīyh-yi Sīyāsat  Mutiʻālīyah. Durih-yi 4, no. 12, 2017/1395, 83-100.

Nāṣirīmuqadam, Ḥusayn, ʻAbbās ʿAlī Sulṭānī. Kirāmat Insānī va Fiqh; Pishnīyāz-hā, Ẓarfīyat-hā va Chālish-hā. Mashhad: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Pazhūhīshkadih-yi Muṭāliʻāt Islāmī dar ʿUlūm Insānī. Chāp-i Awwal, 2021/1399.

Nūbahār, Raḥīm. “Aḥdāf  Mujāzāt-hā dar Jarāym Jinsī Mustawjib Ḥad dar Ḥuqūq-i Kayfarī Islām”. Nāmah-yi Mufīd. No. 23, autumn 2000/1379, 133-162.

Nūbahār, Raḥīm. “bi Sūy Mujāzāt-hā-yi Har chih Insānītar”. Majmūʻah Maqālāt Hamāysh-i bayn al-Millalī Ḥuqūq Bashar va Guftugū-yi Tamadun-hā. Qum: Mufīd university. 2002/1380.

Raysūnī, Aḥmad. Naẓarīya al-Maqāṣid ʿinda al-Imām al-Shāṭibī. S.l. al-Maʿhad al- ʿĀlimī li-l-Fikr al-Islāmī, Chāp-i Awwal, 1995/1416.

Sādātī, Sayyid Muḥammad Mahdī. “Sharāyt Iʻmāl Qāʿidih-yi Daraʾ  dar Fiqh Imāmīyya va Qānūn Mujāzāt Islāmī”, Muṭāliʻāt Fiqh-i va Ḥuqūq  Islāmī, yr. 8, no. 14, spring and summer  2017/1395, 113-146.

Ṣādiqī Tihrānī, Muḥammad. al-Furqān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān bi- al-Qurān wa al-Sunna. Beirut:  Aʻlamī, Chāp-i Duwum, 2011/1432.

Ṣadr, Muḥammad Bāqir. Iqtiṣādanā. researched by al-Muʾtamar al-ʿĀlamī li-l-Imām al-Shahīd al-Ṣadr. Qum: Pazhūhishgāh ʻIlmī Takhaṣuṣī Shahīd Ṣadr. 2004/1424.

Ṣāḥib Jawāhir. Muḥammad Ḥasan ibn Bāqir. Jawāhir al-Kalām fī Sharḥ Sharāyʿ al-Islām. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīya. Chāp-i Duwwum, 1985/1363.

Ṣalāḥī, Jāvīd. Kayfarshināsī. Tehran: Ārash. 1973/1352.

Salār, Ḥamza ibn ʿAbd ʿAzīz. Al-Marāsim al-ʿAlawīya fī al-Nabawīya. Muʿāvinat Farhangī Majmaʻ Jahānī Āl al-Bayt)AS). 1994/1414.

Ṣāniʿī, Parvīz. Ḥuqūq-i Jazā-yi ʿUmūmī. Tehran: Ganj-i Dānish. Chāp-i Shishum, 1996/1374.

Ṣāniʿī, Yūsuf. Fiqh al-Thaqalayn: Kitāb al-Qiṣāṣ. Tehran: Mūʾassisah-yi Tanẓīm va Nashr-i Āsār-i  Imām Khumaynī. Chāp-i Duwum, 2003/1424.

Ṣaymarī, Mufliḥ ibn Ḥasan. Ghāyat al-Marām fī Sharḥ Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. Qum: Dār al-Hādī(AS) Chāp-i Awwal. 1999/1420.

Shahīd Awwal, Muḥammad ibn Makkī. al-Qawāʾid wa al-Fawāʾid. Qum: Maktaba al-Mufīd, s.d.

Shahīd Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī.  al-Rawḍa al-Bahīya fī Sharḥ al-Lumʿah al-Dimashqīyah. Qum: al-Dāwarī. Chāp-i Awwal,  1990/1410.

Shāmbayātī, Hūshang. Ḥuqūq Jazā-yi ʿUmūmī. Tehran: Pāzhang. 1992/1371.

Subḥānī, Jaʻfar. Ḥusn va Qubḥ ʻAqlī yā Pāyih-hā-yi Akhlāq Jāvīdān. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Pazhūhishgāh-i ʿUlūm Insānī va Muṭāliʻāt Farhangī. 1998/1377.

Surūsh, ʿAbd al-Karīm. Dīn va Dunyā-yi Jadīd, Sunnat va Sikūlārīsm. Tehran: Ṣirāṭ. 2003/1381.

Ṭabarsī. Faḍl ibn Ḥasan. Majmaʻ al-Bayān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī. 1960/1379.

Ṭabāṭabāyī Yazdī, Muḥammad Kāẓim. al-ʿUrwa  al-Wuthqā. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī1. Chāp-i Awwal. 2002/1423.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad. Rīyāḍ Masāʾil fī Taḥqīq al-Aḥkām bi al-Dalāʾil. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī1. Chāp-i Awwal, 2001/1422.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān. Beirut: Chāp-i Duwum. 1970/1390.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Farāz-hā-yi az Islām. Tehran: Jahānārā. 1980/1359.

Ṭālibī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. “ Naqdī bar Maqālah-yi Zātī va ʿArażī dar Dīn”. Faṣlnāmih-yi Maʿrifat. no. 32, 2011/1389, 83-93.

Ṭāliqānī, Shīrīn. Sayṭarih-yi Khayr. Tehran: Shūr. Chāp-i Awwal. 2009/1387.

Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad. Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn wa Maṭlaʿ al-Nayyirayn. Qum: Markaz-i Nashr-i Farhang-i Islāmī. Chāp-i Duvvum, 1988/1408.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. al-Istibṣār fī mā Ikhtalafa min al-Akhbār. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīya. Chāp-i Chāhārum, 1985/1363.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. al-Khilāf. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 1987/1407.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Nihāya fī Mujarrad al-Fiqh wa al-Fatāwā. Qum: Quds Muḥammadī,  s.d.

Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Tahdhīb  al-Aḥkām fī Sharḥ al-Muqniʿa. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīya. Chāp-i Sivum, 1985/1364.

Valāʾī, ʻĪsā. Irtidād dar Islām. Tehran: Niy. Chāp-i Awwal, 2002/1380.

Weber, Max. Ravishshināsī ʿUlūm Ijtimāʻī. Translated by Ḥasan Chāvushīyān. Tehran: Markaz. 2003/1382.

Yazdīyān Jaʻfarī, Jaʻfar. “Taʾmulī bar Niẓām Hazīnih-Fāydih dar  Ḥuqūq-i Kayfarī”, Fiqh-i va Ḥuqūq. yr. 5, no. 20,  spring 2010/1388, 121-136.

Zhiks, Biran. Falsafah-yi Akhlāq; Ḥikmat ʿAmalī. Translated by Abū Qāsim Pūrḥusaynī. Tehran: Kitāb-hā-yi Sīmurgh Vābastih bi Intishārāt Amīr  Kabīr. Chāp-i Awwal, 1977/1355.

Zuḥaylī, Wahbah. al-Tafsīr al-Munīr fī al-ʿAqīda wa al-Sharīʻa wa al-Manhaj. Dimashq: Dār al-Fīkr, Chāp-i Awwal, 1991/1411.