The Concept of Imprisonment and Prison in Islam

The Concept of
Imprisonment and
Prison in Islam

Prepared By:

Nisar Ahmed
AS, District Jail Astore
Gigit Baltistan.

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The Concept of Imprisonment and Prison in Islam

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
THE CONCEPT OF PUNISHMENT:.....................................................3
IMPRISONMENT IN ISLAM:..............................................................5
EARLIEST PRISON ON EARTH:.........................................................5
ISLAMIC WAY OF IMPRISONMENT:..................................................5
ISLAMIC STRESS ON REDRESS OF VICTIM GRIEVANCE:.....................7
SUPERIORITY OF ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES ON VICTIMOLOGY:................8
DIYYA :........................................................................................10
MAISIR:.......................................................................................14
QISAS :.......................................................................................15
QISAS AND NON-MUSLIMS:..........................................................17
RAJM:..........................................................................................18
TAZIR:.........................................................................................19
ZINA:..........................................................................................19
Other Islamic hudud punishment..................................................21
CONCLUSION...............................................................................21

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T
HE CONCEPT OF PUNISHMENT:
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The concept of punishment is very old. It has been started from the creation
of human being when devil had denied adoring before Hazrat Adam. Allah
Almighty punished the devil forever and set the example if any one violates
the law of land or rule who will be punished. So, he was first criminal on the
earth who got the worst punishment in the history of this earth. Actually it is
nature of human being that it will commit mistake so, with the passage of
time men felt to make a law to run the system smoothly and the citizens
were supposed to abide by law .if we cast a glance over history we feel that
every kingdom or every civilization has its own concept of punishment but
the older civilization and the king have their own criteria of punishment.
They were giving punishment to fulfill their sweet will .The oldest history of
civilization was Egyptian .the pharaoh was the superior king in the history of
Egypt. the holly Quran also explained the dialogue between Hazrat Ibrahim
and Namrood when Hazrat Ibrahim preached him and said you are not God
he said I am the great God. He said that what can your God does which I
cannot. Hazrat Ibrahim said the life and death of human being is in the hand
of my God. Namrood said I can also do it so he ordered to release a
condemned prisoner and a free man to execute and said it is not big deal for
me so it shows that they have prisons and prisoners. Hazrat Ibrahim said it
had been written in their destiny by the God so you did. The Ibrahim asked
another question that due to my Gods order the sun rises in the east and
sets in the west. If you are God you change its direction. Namrood confused.
In the history of Muslims empire we also see the imprisonment and prison
system. For example the king Akbar who was founder of Din-E-Elahi.who
sent in to prison the great scholar Hazrat Mujadad Alaf Sani in gawlayar Jail
and our great imam Hazrat abu Hanifa was also sent in to prison by Abbasid
caliph due to denial of the post of chief Justice and in jail he had died. The
difference between Islam and other religion is that Islam does not encourage
the imprisonment Islam emphasis the reformation and gives the serious
punishment for wrong doers so that other will get lesson and no one dare to
do crime. So this was the reason that the most prosperous period in the
history was Khulfa-E-Rashdeen a famous saying of the Great Umer was: if a
dog dies in hunger near the river Umer will be responsible and a famous
saying of Hazrat Ali Do not hate criminals hate crime shows the rule of
Law. The Holy Prophet declared first prisons as Masjide Nabve where the
prisoners were fastened with ropes and they are given time to reform their
selves to see the life style of prophet and his companions the holy Quran has

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already emphasized the punishment, imprisonment, Qasis , diyat and about

prisons thoroughly.

IMPRISONMENT IN ISLAM:
EARLIEST PRISON ON EARTH:
Sura-e-Yusuf of the Holy Qur'aan (Chapter XII) clearly reveals that about
3950 years ago Hadhrut Yusuf (Allah's pleasure be upon himjA.P.U.H.). Was
detained as an accused in a prison on face of-the earth, foundations of can
be seen near the Cairo city. He was bestowed Prophet Hood by Allah in
imprisonment. He preached fellow inmates as prison teacher to worship only
one Allah and to be pious to Him. 4 He interpreted dreams in the Jail. The
Egyptian Chief (Azeez-e-Misr) visited this Sijjan (prison) to get interpretation
of his own horrible dream. The king also patiently listened and adjudicated
the case of Hadhrut Yusuf (A.P.U.H) and settled his prison grievance on the
spot. He might be the first and-last king to have visited a prison. The word
Us-Sijjan used in the Holy Qur'aan 8 times means a big confinement on face
of the earth. This word. Accrues repeatedly to describe a corrective prison in
the Sura-e- Yusuf of the Holy Qur'aan in many contexts, repeatedly, to
describe a corrective prison, especially for inmate education in the prison by
inmate teachers.

ISLAMIC WAY OF IMPRISONMENT:

Islam does not prefer imprisonment but considers it as a necessary evil. An
Islamic state can establish prisons as detention houses for short termers till
they repent or it can be used to confine untried persons or suspects for
shortest possible time. The prison can be used to confine convicts for life for
habitual or recidivist criminality as it is a form of punishment under Islamic
Tazeerat (unfixed sentences) as a penalty for serious crimes, other than
Hudood (fixed sentences). Thus imprisonment is one of the method of
punishment. But prisons are exclusive places for correction, repentance,
remorse and humility as well- as reformation by piety.
Prisons are Islamic social re-education centers for resocialization of
convicted offenders. This fact about imprisonment in Islam is described by
following words of the Holy Qur' aan :

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(a) "Habs"--A confinement for undertrials as lock-up (Sura

V:106;XI:1);
(b) "Sijjan"--a prison on face of earth for convicts'
imptisonment and social re-education (Sura XII: 38);
(c) ''Yanfo Minal Ard"--Social banishment or externment for life in top
security prisons; (Sura V: 33);
(d)

"Assera" -- The imprisoned (Sura: LXXVI: 8);'

(e)

"Fir-Rikab"--Under yoke (Sura IX 60; II: 177);

(f)

"TohassanjHisan"-Detention (Sura-IV 24; XXIV:33) &

(g) "Fa Amseqohuunna Fil BoyootConfinement imprisonment at

residence (Sura IV: 15).
In view of this imprisonment can be awarded in Islam where Hadd is not
proved due to lack of evidence, although crime was committed. The Federal'
Shariat Court of Pakistan and the Islamic Ideology Council of Pakistan have
also accepted the establishment of prisons as places of detention for
rejuvenation of Islamic piety amongst the offenders, community
reIia6nitation, societal re-education and family re-induction of criminals.
The Holy Prophet, Sallalla-Ho-Alyhe-Wa-Sallam, (S.A.W) used his Masjid-eNabavi as first prison for confinement" of under trials of war of Badr. The
Holy Prophet's (S.A.W) Mosque was used as a treatment and psychiatric
rehabilitation center of offenders after conviction, as reported in his
Traditions.

Omar the Great, Allah is pleased with him (A.P.H) as 2nd Caliph of the Holy
Prophet S.A.W. established first regular prison in Islam in the Holy city of
Makkah. He purchased the sacred house made the first preaching house
(Darull- Tableeg) owned by Hadhrut Arkam (Allah is pleased with him) where
the Holy Prophet S.A.W.
Inculcated Islam exclusively for seven initial years. Hdhrut Omar (A.P.H.)
used it as first Islamic prison as Daruut-Tauba (repentance house). Hadhrut
Ali (A.P.H) established temporary Jails in each province which were
regularized into permanent prisons by Hadhrut Ameer Moavia. The same
were 'then fully reformed by Hadhrut Omar Bin Abdul Azeez (R.A.) followed
by reforms of lmaam Abu Yusuf (R.A.) in the Haroon-ur-Rasheed dynasty, in
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perusal of instructions of his great teacher and great jurist of Islam Hadhrut
Imaam Abu Hanifa (Rehmat Ullah) who was put to death in a prison in
Baghdad due to excesses of Khalifa Mansoor Abassi.l '

Islamic Academic Work on Prison Administration:

Thirteen 'hundred years ago the great jurist of Islam Hadhrut Imaam _ Abu
Hanifa introduced in Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) the chapter on prisonknown as Baab-ull-Habas as first academic work on prison management in
the history of mankind, All the books of great Jurists of Islam contain details
on Hudood/Tazeerat with a sepaia~e chapter on- prisons known as BabullHabas.

ISLAMIC STRESS ON REDRESS OF VICTIM GRIEVANCE:

Islam prescribes guidance for mankind for peaceful coexistence on
permanent footings. Its principles laid down in the Holy Qur'aan are
supreme. The model of criminal justice practices by the Holy Prophet of
Islam s.A.W. is the most perfect as supreme Judge of first Muslim ideal state.
Therefore, principles of
Victim ology laid down in Islam have all time superiority. The Anglo-American
penal laws, preventive procedures, law enforcement organs, criminal courts
and Institutions for final disposal of criminals (probation, prison and parole)
are set to run behind the offender only but the victim remain in neglect. It
appears that modern West (Europe/America) or the East (India, China or
Japan) in this modern age are primarily concerned with the prevention of
crimes. So their efforts end up in treatment of offenders. Up in arrest of
culprits by scientific methods but on proving guilt the state organs become
soft hearted for the accused to give benefit of doubt. After conviction the
system goes pro-offender.

Therefore, the West and the East were ultimately swayed to abolish death
penalty. This has accumulated the offenders in criminal justice process. As a
result the Anglo American system faces serious problem of recidivists,
habitual, repeaters, terrorists and professionals. This changing scene of
crime, criminals and their underworld has paved the way to terrorism,
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recidivism and desperate criminality not only in the West but also in the
East.

West has again accepted the old criminological theory of classical

Lambrosians into neoclassical methods of severe punishments and very hard
time to the criminals as "NOTHING WORKS". American prisons are
undergoing a big crisis of over-Institutionalization. There is great pressure to
build more prisons, make imprisonment more hard-timer to severely rediscipline the heinous crime offenders.

Solution lies only in Islamic criminal justice system with fixed punishments
for heinous crimes and state discretionary sentences subject to change by
legislators. But top priority is assigned to victim to' redress his/her genuine
grievances with his/her discretion to compromise through justice process.
Islamic Hudood, Qisas and Diyat measures of crime settlement are
permanent solution to human deviance against
SUPERIORITY OF ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES ON VICTIMOLOGY:
Islamic penology, being permanent source of social control for prevention of
crimes and treatment of offenders provides:
(a) Victim
opted
settlement by Qisas
(retaliation/restitution), as first preference;
(b)

or Diyat

Qur'aariic Hudood (fixed punishments) for heinous offences;

(c) Tazeeraat (flexible punishments) by state legislation for all other

offences; and
(d) Jinayaat for prevention of local, special and departmental law
infringements.

More than 60% offences fall in the category of crime against person or as
offences of public nuisance subject to victim settlement. It must be a
genuine grievance which is state guaranteed duty of law
Enforcers in Islam to be adjudicated against the law violator to redress the
damage ~ opted by victim.

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Neither the so effective prosecutorial Japanese-Chinese crime adjudication of

the East nor the Anglo-American precisely procedural criminal justice system
of the West have proper alternates for victim opted settlement. The perfect
redress of the grievances of the victim as law abider is the basic state duty
and constitutional responsibility of the criminal justice forums of a country
with full involvement of the aggrieved party. Only Islamic Victimology
legally, functionally and practically provides many alternates to the victim to
prevent retaliative criminality of the aggrieved. Islamic Victimology
incapacitates the unbridled offender by social control measures to prevent
him/her to become habitual or repeater law violator. Islamic Victimology
adopts personal, less procedural and speedier functioning of the law
enforcers for earliest redress of the victim grievances.

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DIYYA :
In Islamic Sharia law, is the financial compensation paid to the victim or
heirs of a victim in the cases of murder, bodily harm or property damage. It
is an alternative punishment to Qisas (equal retaliation). In Arabic, the word
means both blood money and ransom.
Diyya compensation rates, under Sharia, have historically varied based on
the gender and religion of the victim. Muslim women victims have typically
been compensated at half the rate as Muslim male victims, while nonMuslims compensation rates have varied between 1/16th to half of a Muslim,
for an equivalent case.
The Qur'an specifies the principle of Qisas (i.e. retaliation) and compensation
(Diyya) in cases where one Muslim kills another Muslim.

It is not for a believer [Muslim] to kill a believer unless (it be) by mistake.
He who hath killed a believer by mistake must set free a believing slave, and
pay the blood-money to the family of the slain, unless they remit it as a
charity. If he (the victim) be of a people hostile unto you, and he is a
believer, then (the penance is) to set free a believing slave. And if he
cometh of a folk between whom and you there is a covenant, then the
blood-money must be paid unto his folk and (also) a believing slave must be
set free. And whoso hath not the wherewithal must fast two consecutive
months. A penance from Allah. Allah is Knower, Wise.
Quran 4:92

The hadiths, similarly, have numerous sunnah relating to Diyya,

Narrated Abu Juhaifa: I asked 'Ali "Do you have anything Divine literature
besides what is in the Qur'an?" Or, as Uyaina once said, "Apart from what
the people have?" 'Ali said, "By Him Who made the grain split (germinate)
and created the soul, we have nothing except what is in the Quran and the
ability (gift) of understanding Allah's Book which He may endow a man, with
and what is written in this sheet of paper." I asked, "What is on this paper?"
He replied, "The legal regulations of Diya (Blood-money) and the (ransom

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for) releasing of the captives, and the judgment that no Muslim should be
killed in Qisas (equality in punishment) for killing a Kafir (disbeliever)."
Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:50

Narrated Hisham's father: 'Umar asked the people, "Who heard the
Prophet giving his verdict regarding abortions?" Al-Mughira said, "I heard
him judging that a male or female slave should be given as a Diyya." 'Umar
said, "Present a witness to testify your statement." Muhammad bin Maslama
said, "I testify that the Prophet gave such a judgment."
Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:42, see also Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:36, 9:83:41,
9:83:45

Yahya related to me from Malik that he heard that Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz
gave a decision that when a Jew or Christian was killed, his blood-money was
half the blood-money of a free Muslim.
Al-Muwatta, 43 15.8b
Application in Islamic law

Islamic law treats homicide and unintentional homicide (not just bodily injury
and property damage), as a civil dispute between believers,rather than
corrective punishment by the state to maintain order. The offender must
either face equal retaliation known as Qisas ("Life for life, eye for eye, nose
for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." Quran
5:45), pay Diyyat ("blood money") to the victim or heirs of the victim, or be
forgiven by the victim or victim's heir(s).

In all cases of death, injury and damage, under traditional sharia doctrine,
the prosecutor is not the state, but only the victim or the victim's heir (or
owner, in the case when the victim is a slave). Diyya is similar in practice to
"out-of-court settlement" in a tort case, but with important differences.
Under sharia practice, tort-like civil liability settlement is limited to property
damage, while in the cases of bodily injury and death, the "blood money"
Diyya compensation is fixed by a formula (such as the value of certain

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number of camels). The victim, victim's heir or guardian may alternatively

forgive the bodily injury or murder as an act of religious charity (expiation of
their own past sins).

The value of Diyya, under all schools of sharia, varied with the victim's
religion, sex and legal status (free or slave). For a free Muslim male, the
Diyya value of his life was traditionally set as the value of 100 camels. This
was valued at 1000 dinars or 12000 dirhams, corresponding to 4.25
kilograms of gold, or 29.7 to 35.64 kilograms of silver. The Diyya value in
case the victim was a woman, non-Muslim or slave varied in the sharia of
different schools of Islamic law. The Diyya must be paid by the murderer or
the estate of the murderer. In some cases, such as when the murderer is a
juvenile, the Diyya is owed by the family of the murderer ('Aqila). In other
cases, the group ('Aqila) that must pay Diyya to the victim or victim's heirs is
the tribe or urban neighbors of the culprit.

FOR WOMEN AND NON-MUSLIMS

Diyya is not same for Muslim women and Muslim men in sharia courts, with
Muslim woman's life and blood-money (Diyya) compensation sentence being
half as that of a Muslim man's life. Muslims and non-Muslims are treated as
unequal in the sentencing process, in cases of unintentional deaths.

In early history of Islam, there were considerable disagreements in Muslim

jurist opinions on applicability of Qisas and Diyya when a Muslim murdered a
non-Muslim (Dhimmi, Musta'min or slave). Most scholars of Hanafi School of
sharia ruled that, if a Muslim killed a dhimmi, Qisas (retaliation) was
applicable against the Muslim, but this could be averted by paying a Diyya.
In one case, the Hanafi jurist Abu Yusuf initially ordered Qisas when a Muslim
killed a dhimmi, but under Caliph Harun al-Rashid's pressure replaced the
order with Diyya if the victim's family members were unable to prove the
victim was paying jizya willingly as a dhimmi. The Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali
code of sharia have historically ruled that Qisas does not apply against a
Muslim, if he murders any non-Muslim (including dhimmi) or a slave for any
reason. A Diyya was payable instead. The early Hanafi and Hanbali Sunni

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jurists considered the payable Diyya for Muslim and non-Muslim male
victims to be same, while the Maliki school considered a non-Muslim male's
value of life as worth half of a Muslim, and the Shafi'i sharia considered it
worth a third. The Shia school of sharia considered a non-Muslim male
victim's value to be only 800 dirhams in contrast to 10000 dirhams for a
Muslim male victim. The compensation value payable to the owner of a
slave by a Muslim murderer, was the market price paid for the slave.[18]
The Diyya for a murdered woman was half than the Diyya for a murdered
man, in all fiqhs of Islamic law. Further, in Hanafi and Maliki sharia doctrines,
a Diyya was not payable to a non-Muslim from a murderer's estate, if the
murderer dies for natural or other causes during the trial.

If the victim was Musta'min (foreigner visiting), or an apostate (converting

from Islam to another religion), neither Qisas nor Diyya applied against the
Muslim who killed the victim.

Jurists of different schools of Islamic jurisprudence assign different values to

non-Muslims. According to the Hanbali sharia, the life of a Christian or Jew is
worth half that of a Muslim, and thus the Diyya awarded by modern era
Hanbali courts is half that awarded in case of Muslim's death. Hanafi and
Maliki fiqh also consider the life of a Christian or Jew to be worth half a
Muslim's life, but Shafi'i schools of jurisprudence consider it to be worth a
third that of a Muslim. The legal schools of Hanafi, Maliki and Shafi'i Sunni
Islam as well as those of Shia Islam have considered the life of polytheists
and atheists as one-fifteenth the value of a Muslim during sentencing.
Pakistan, which is predominantly Hanafi Sunni Muslim nation, introduced
Qisas and Diyat Ordinance in 1990, amending sections 229 to 338 of
Pakistan Penal code. The new Ordinance replaced British era criminal laws
on bodily hurt and murder with sharia compliant provisions, as demanded by
the Shariat Appellate Bench of Pakistan's Supreme Court. The Criminal
Procedure Code was also amended to give legal heirs of a murdered person
to enter into compromise and accept Diyya compensation, instead of
demanding Qisas-based retaliatory penalties for murder or bodily hurt. The
democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif, in 1997, replaced the
Ordinance by enacting the Qisas and Diyat sharia provisions as the law,
through an Act of its Parliament. The sharia-compliant Qisas and Diyat law
made murder a private offense, not a crime against society or state, and
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thus the pursuit, prosecution and punishment for murder has become the
responsibility of the victim's heirs and guardians.

The Diyat law of Pakistan has proven to be controversial, for a number of

reasons. First, a number of cases of honor killings of girls, initiated and
arranged with intent by families, have been later forgiven by the same
families under the Diyya law. Second, scholars have cited a number of cases
of intentional murder and bodily harm inflicted on the poor by the wealthy,
where the guilty escaped legal process and simply paid a compensation.

MAISIR:
In Islam, gambling (known as maisir, also maisira and sometimes called
qimar), is forbidden (Arabic: harm). According to investment-andfinance.net, the term "maisir" was "originally used" as a reference to a "preIslamic game of arrows in which seven persons gambled for shares
(portions) of an allotted prize". Maisir is prohibited by Islamic law (shari'a) on
the grounds that "the agreement between participants is based on immoral
inducement provided by entirely wishful hopes in the participants' minds
that they will gain by mere chance, with no consideration for the possibility
of loss".

Both qimar and maisir refer to games of chance, but qimar is a kind (or
subset) of maisir. Author Muhammad Ayub defines maisir as "wishing
something valuable with ease and without paying an equivalent
compensation for it or without working for it, or without undertaking any
liability against it by way of a game of chance", while qimar "also means
receipt of money, benefit or usufruct at the cost of others, having
entitlement to that money or benefit by resorting to chance."

It is stated in the Quran that games of chance, including maisir, are a "grave
sin" and "abominations of Satan's handiwork". It is also mentioned in
ahadith.

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They ask you about wine and gambling. Say: 'In them both lies grave sin,
though some benefit, to mankind. But their sin is more grave than their
benefit.'
Qur'an, 2:219 (al-Baqara)

O believers, wine and gambling, idols and divining arrows are an

abhorrence, the work of Satan. So keep away from it, that you may prevail.
Satan only deserves to arouse discord and hatred among you with wine and
gambling, and to deter you from the mention of God and from prayer. Will
you desist?
Qur'an, Sura 5:90-91 (Al-Ma'ida)

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Whoever swears saying in his
oath. 'By Al-lt and al-Uzz,' should say, 'None has the right to be
worshipped but God; and whoever says to his friend, 'Come, let me gamble
with you,' should give something in charity."
Sahih Bukhari, Book 78 (Oaths and Vows), hadith 645

QISAS :
Qisas is an Islamic term meaning "retaliation in kind" or revenge, "eye for an
eye", "nemesis" or retributive justice. It is a category of crimes in Islamic
jurisprudence, where Sharia allows equal retaliation as the punishment.
Qisas principle is available against the accused, to the victim or victim's
heirs, when a Muslim is murdered, suffers bodily injury or suffers property
damage. In the case of murder, Qisas means the right of a murder victim's
nearest relative or Wali (legal guardian) to, if the court approves, take the
life of the killer.

Qisas is one of several forms of punishment in Islamic Penal Law, others

being Hudud, Diyya and Ta'zir.

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The Qisas or equivalence verse in Quran is,

O ye who believe! the law of equality is prescribed to you in cases of

murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the
woman. But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain, then grant
any reasonable demand, and compensate him with handsome gratitude, this
is a concession and a Mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the
limits shall be in grave penalty.
Quran 2:178

The Hadiths have extensive discussion of qisas. For example, Sahih Bukhari
states,

Allah's Apostle said, "The blood of a Muslim who confesses that none has
the right to be worshipped but Allah and that I am His Apostle, cannot be
shed except in three cases: In Qisas for murder, a married person who
commits illegal sexual intercourse and the one who reverts from Islam
(apostate) and leaves the Muslims."
Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:17

Narrated Anas: The daughter of An-Nadr slapped a girl and broke her
incisor tooth. They (the relatives of that girl), came to the Prophet and he
gave the order of Qisas (equality in punishment).
Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:32

Qisas system of punishment is prescribed in Quran and Hadiths to any case

of unnatural death (murder, manslaughter), bodily injury or aggravated
assault suffered by a Muslim.[6] However, in the history of Islam, many
premodern Islamic scholars ruled that Qisas did not apply when the victim
was a non-Muslim dhimmi and to non-Muslim slaves owned by a Muslim.

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Narrated Abu Juhaifa: I asked 'Ali "Do you have anything Divine literature
besides what is in the Qur'an?" Or, as Uyaina once said, "Apart from what
the people have?" 'Ali said, "By Him Who made the grain split (germinate)
and created the soul, we have nothing except what is in the Quran and the
ability (gift) of understanding Allah's Book which He may endow a man, with
and what is written in this sheet of paper." I asked, "What is on this paper?"
He replied, "The legal regulations of Diya (Blood-money) and the (ransom
for) releasing of the captives, and the judgment that no Muslim should be
killed in Qisas (equality in punishment) for killing a Kafir (disbeliever)."
Sahih al-Bukhari, 9:83:50 see also Sahih al-Bukhari, 1:3:111 4:52:283
Sunan Abu Dawood, 39:4515
Islamic law treats homicide as a civil dispute between believers, rather than
corrective punishment by the state to maintain order. In all cases of murder,
unintentional homicide, bodily injury and property damage, under traditional
sharia doctrine, the prosecutor is not the state, but only the victim or the
victim's heir (or owner, in the case when the victim is a slave). Qisas can
only be demanded by the victim or victim's heirs.
Alternative to qisas

The Qur'an also allows aggrieved Muslim parties to receive monetary

compensation (blood money, diyya) instead of qisas, or forfeit the right of
qi as an act of charity or in atonement for the victim family's past sins.

We ordained therein for them: "Life for life, eye for eye, nose for nose, ear
for ear, tooth for tooth, and wounds equal for equal." But if any one remits
the retaliation by way of charity, it is an act of atonement for himself. And if
any fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (No
better than) wrong-doers.
Quran 5:45

Pardoning (in the name of God, f sabli llhi) and compensation for crimes
such as murder, have led human right activists to ask whether wealthy
offenders are unjustly favored when some money is offered in exchange
after the intentional murder or accidental death of a poor person.

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QISAS AND NON-MUSLIMS:

The principle of Qisas is available as a legal course, only when the victim is a
Muslim, but not to non-Muslims, according to historical Islamic jurist
literature of all Islamic doctrines of sharia except Hanafi.

Muslim jurists justified the discriminatory application of Qisas between

Muslims and non-Muslims by referring to the following hadith.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As: The Prophet said: A believer will not
be killed for an infidel. If anyone kills a man deliberately, he is to be handed
over to the relatives of the one who has been killed. If they wish, they may
kill, but if they wish, they may accept blood-wit.
Sunan Abu Dawood, 39:4491

Numerous Hanafi, Shafi'i and Maliki sharia jurists stated that a Muslim and a
non-Muslim are neither equal nor of same status under sharia, and thus the
judicial process and punishment applicable must vary.
Pakistan introduced Qisas and Diyat in 1990 as Criminal Law (Second
Amendment) Ordinance, after the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme
Court of Pakistan declared that the lack of Qisas and Diyat were repugnant
to the injunctions of Islam as laid down by the Quran and Sunnah.[43]
Pakistani parliament enacted the law of Qisas and Diyat as Criminal Law
(Amendment) Act, 1997.An offender may still be punished despite pardoning
by way of ta'zr or if not all the persons entitled to Qisas joined in the
compromise
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, Qisas is practiced as Vani and Swara , also
called Ba'ad wherein young girls are forcibly given away as a bride as part of
punishment and Qisas compromise settlement (Badal-i-Sulh) for a crime
committed by her male relatives.

RAJM:

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Rajm is an Arabic word that means "stoning". It is commonly used to refer to

the Hudud punishment wherein an organized group throws stones at a
convicted individual until that person dies. Under Islamic law, it is the
prescribed punishment in cases of adultery committed by a married man or
married woman. The conviction requires a confession from either the
adulterer/adulteress, or the testimony of four witnesses (as prescribed by
the Quran in Surah an-Nur verse 4), or pregnancy outside of marriage.

No mention of stoning/Rajm or capital punishment for adultery is found in

the Qur'an, which (in Surah an-Nur) prescribes lashing as punishment for
premarital and extramarital sex (zina). For this reason some minority Muslim
sects such as Kharijites found in Iraq, and Islamic Modernists such as the
Quranists disagree with the legality of rajm.

However, stoning is mentioned in multiple hadiths (reports claiming to quote

what the prophet Muhammad said verbatim on various matters, which most
Muslims and Islamic scholars consider an authoritative source second only to
Quran as a source of religious law[9][10]) and therefore most Muslim and all
Sunni and Shia schools of jurisprudence accept it as a prescribed
punishment for adultery.

TAZIR:
In Islamic Law, tazir refers to punishment, for offenses at the discretion of
the judge (Qadi) or ruler of the state.[1] It is one of three major types of
punishments or sanctions under Sharia Islamic law hadd, qisas and tazir.
The punishments for the hudud offenses are fixed by the Qur'an or Hadith
(i.e. "defined by God"), qisas allow equal retaliation in cases such as murder
or injury, and however ta'zir refers to punishments applied to the other
offenses for which no punishment is specified in the Qur'an or the Hadith.

ZINA:

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Zina is an Islamic law concerning unlawful sexual relations between Muslims

who are not married to one another through a nikah. It includes extramarital
sex and premarital sex, such as adultery (consensual sexual relations
outside marriage), fornication (consensual sexual intercourse between two
unmarried persons), and homosexuality (consensual sexual relations
between same-sex partners). Traditionally, a married or unmarried Muslim
male could have sex outside marriage with a non-Muslim slave girl, with or
without her consent, and such sex was not considered zina.

In the four schools of Sunni fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and the two schools
of Shi'a fiqh, the term zina is a sin of sexual intercourse that is not allowed
by Sharia (Islamic law) and classed as a hudud crime (class of Islamic
punishments that are fixed for certain crimes that are considered to be
"claims of God"). To prove an act of zina, a qadi (religious judge) in a sharia
court relies on an unmarried woman's pregnancy, the confession in the
name of Allah, or four witnesses to the actual act of penetration. The last
two types of prosecutions are uncommon; most prosecuted cases of zina in
the history of Islam have been pregnant unmarried women. In some schools
of Islamic law, a pregnant woman accused of zina who denies sex was
consensual must prove she was raped with four eyewitnesses testifying
before the court. This has led to many cases where rape victims have been
punished for zina. Pressing charges of zina without required eyewitnesses is
considered slander (Qadhf) in Islam, itself a hudud crime.
Zina (extramarital) Ordinance

Officially known as "The Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance

(VII of 1979)" refers to fornication, adultery and zina bil jabbar (rape). The
most controversial of the four ordinances,[5] it has several distinct
categories of sexual offences and assigned punishments for each:

zina liable to hadd; punishable by

stoning to death for the adulterer
public whipping of 100 lashes for a fornicator
zina liable to tazir; punishable by

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imprisonment for up to ten years

zina-bil-jabr liable to hadd;
zina-bil-jabr liable to tazir;

Further Zina offenses are (or as of 1991 were)

kidnapping
sodomy
enticement
attempted rape
abetment of zina crime
deceitful marriage
conspiracy to engage in prostitution

Other Islamic hudud punishment

Theft (Sariqa) stealing;

War against God, (Moharebeh, Hirabah), and Corruption on Earth (Mofsed-efilarz). Usually defined as highway robbery (Haraba, Qat' al-Tariq), or other
forms of mischief against the Muslim state;
Rebellion (Baghi (rebel), pl. Baghat). Withdrawing from the obedience of the
Caliph, or other Islamic religious authority. This is considered a violation of
Quranic verse 49:9
Apostasy (Riddah or Irtidad) leaving Islam for another religion or for atheism,
[not specific enough to verify] however opinion is not unanimous on this
crime.

CONCLUSION

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The main difference between Islam and the west regarding the
imprisonment and prison is that the west used it against its rivals whereas
Islam discourage the imprisonment but allows as last option. Islam has a
concept of serious punishment against wrong doers like Murderer, thief,
etc .the purpose of it is to eradicate the crime from the society.

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REFERENCES
Quran
Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahi Muslim
Abu Dawad
Mutta
Abdul Majeed Aulak, Pakistan Prison Rules.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Muammad Salm Aww (1982), Punishment in Islamic Law: A Comparative
Study, American Trust Publications, 2:23:413
Mohamed S. El-Awa (1993), Punishment In Islamic Law
K. ALI (2003), Progressive Muslims and Islamic Jurisprudence: The Necessity
for Critical Engagement with Marriage and Divorce Law, In: SAFI, O. (Ed.).
Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, Oxford: Oneworld,
pp. 163-189
National Commission on the status of women's report on Hudood Ordinance
1979
Weiss A. M. (2003), Interpreting Islam and women's rights implementing
CEDAW in Pakistan, International Sociology,
QURAISHI, A (1996), Her Honor: An Islamic Critique of the Rape Laws of
Pakistan from a Woman-Sensitive Perspective, Michigan Journal of
International Law, vol. 18, pp. 287-320

Nisar Ahmed AS, District Jail Astore, Gilgit Baltistan