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by A. Abdul Aziz

According to Holy Quran (2:179), it is necessary to award proportionate punishment to all offenders without distinction, unless an offender is forgiven by the relatives of his victim under circumstances that are expected to lead to improvement and betterment of conditions.

The retaliation for the slain is not simply permissable but is obligatory. Failure to inflict the punishment prescribed by law on the offender would be tantamount to a violation of the commandment. The duty, however, of punishing the culprit does not devolve on the heirs of the murdered person but, on the authorities responsible for the maintenance of law and order.

On the one hand they are bound to punish the offender according to the requirements of law, having no right to pardon him of their own accord, and on the other hand, the heirs of the murdered person are not entitled to take the law into their own hands and inflict the punishment on the guilty person themselves.

Holy Quran emphasizes that any person, irrespective of his caste or creed and irrespective of his station, must be put to death for the murder of any other person, unless pardoned by the relatives of the victim and unless the pardon has the sanction of the authorities. The Holy Prophet himself ordered a Muslim murderer to be put to death for the murder of a non-belligerent non-Muslim.

The Quranic verses and the sayings of the Holy Prophet clearly establish the fact that the social position of a person or the sex of a party was never considered a bar to the application of this law.

In the meantime, according to the Quran, the infliction of Capital Punishment is not obligatory in all cases, for in special circumstances the murderer can be exempted from the extreme punishment by the heirs of the murdered person. Such exemption, means, that the heirs of the deceased may renounce their right to have the murderer put to death and may in place of that receive from him blood-money.

Or as the Holy Prophet has made it clear, the heirs may, in exceptional cases and with the sanction of the authorities, even grant full pardon, remitting blood-money as well (Masnad & Baihaqi). The murderer is also enjoined by the Quran to pay blood-money with good grace and without undue delay.

If after the matter has been amicably settled and the murderer granted a remission by the heirs of the murdered person, the heirs should take it into their hands to wreak vengeance on the murderer by killing him, they will be shown no mercy and will get Capital Punishment. Says the Holy Prophet: "I will allow no remission in case of one who kills the murderer after he has accepted blood-money from him".

The Islamic law of retaliation provides a very effective and practical means to put a stop to murder and safeguard human life. A man who shows a callous disregard for the life of a fellow-person loses his title to live as a member of human society. The option to pardon allowed to the heirs of the slain person should not be regarded as likely to encourage murder, for such option is not synonymous with exemption from punishment, as in ordinary circumstances the murderer will have to pay the blood-money.

Moreover, the would-be murderer possesses no means to know that the heirs of the person whose murder he contemplates will actually be persuaded to pardon him. So the fear of Capital Punishment will always be there to deter him from the commission of the crime. Again, pardon or remission is permissible only where the circumstances are such that pardon or remission is likely to improve matters and bring about good results of all parties concerned. Thus, while on the one hand, Islam has made due provision for the suppression of crime, it has, on the other, kept open the door for the display of the noble qualities of benevolence and mercy.

The way in which the Quran has upheld the ultimate necessity of the death penalty is indeed most significant. To prevent crime, Islam really aims at eliminating the conditions that produce it.

It seeks to remove the very root-cause of all crime by working a complete moral reformation in man. But it does not remain content with that. It also prescribes deterrent laws in conformity with the dictates of reason, justice and humanity. The fact that, despite efforts to the contrary, the death penalty is still found on the Statue Books of most countries in one form or another constitutes a sufficient proof of the wisdom of the Islamic teaching. As a matter of fact, even the most enthusiastic protagonists of the abolition of Capital Punishment have not yet been able to suggest a suitable alternative to it.

They have had to admit that a long term of imprisonment as an alternative is "horrible" and is "not an ideal substitute". The law of retaliation still remains the most effective deterrent to crime and an essential method to satisfy the demands of justice; and the Islamic law takes a further step to bring about reconciliation between the offender and the aggrieved party.

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