Justice in Law Flashcards
What are the three types of criminal law?
Hadd, Ta’zir and Qisas
What is Hadd?
Rules, which if they are broken there are set penalties. They are considered Crimes against God whose punishment is fixed in the Qur’an and the Hadith.
What is Ta’zir?
These are crimes not among the hadd and the punishment is discretionary and left up to the judge
What is Qisas?
The Islamic principle of “an eye for an eye”
How does Qisas work in practice?
Retribution. Set by law but the victim can waive such punishment by accepting blood money or financial compensation diyas or they can forgo this right altogether.
What does the Qur’an say about qisas and diya?
“A believer should not kill another believer unless it happens unintentionally. Whoever does so unintentionally must pay diya to the family.”
What five crimes are covered by Qisas?
Murder or intentional killing, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary killing, intentional physical injury and unintentional physical injury.
How does the Qur’an encourage forgiveness over Qisas?
“We have prescribed for you an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…but who so ever forgoes it by way of charity it will be for him an expiation.”
How did the Prophet encourage forgiveness over Qisas?
“Whoever receives an injury on his body, then pardons, his sins are atoned for the measure of his pardoning.”
What happened in the case of Ameneh Bahrami?
Blinded in an acid attack and demanded that her attacker also be blinded with acid. The perpetrator offered her blood money which she refused. The punishment was never carried out and she forgave and pardoned her attacker stating that she did so for her country.
What happened in Somalia?
A militia known as the Islamic Courts Union liberated the area and announced that Shari’a was in place. Its judges then gave permission for a 16 year old boy to avenge the murder of his father as long as the murder mirrored the original crime.
What are the advantages of Qisas?
Gives the citizens a right to be vindicated
Could minimise violence - stops at the act of retaliation
Acts as a deterrent
Forgiveness serves society well and stops the cycle of revenge
Diya can act to benefit both sides
What are the disadvantages of diya?
The rich can buy off the perpetrator with blood money
Life cannot be valued at a price
It is immoral to have different prices of blood money for men and women and then again non Muslims
What are the disadvantages of Qisas?
Rehman - the concept of qisas and blood money turn murder which is a crime against society into a private affair between the culprit and the victim’s family
Retaliation is not a call for justice but for brutality and revenge.
What is Maslaha?
Means public interest. It is a method using principles employed by Muslim jurists to solve problems that find no clear answer in the sacred religious text.
