Following are the crimes for which penalties have been prescribed in Quran:

1. Muharabah

2. Murder and Injury

3. Fornication

4. Qadhf (accusing someone of Fornication)

5. Theft

Those who accepted God’s guidance and believed in His messengers, their case is not that of common criminals. It is known from the Quran that if they commit any major crime against life, wealth, honor or collective order, then God has decided that they will be punished in this world so that others will learn and see this punishment of God and get a reminder of the punishment of the Hereafter. Moreover, this punishment should also become a means of purification for criminals if they repent and reform.

These punishments have always been severe. The reason for this is that the purpose of these punishments is not only to exterminate the crime, but also to make all those people taste the punishment of God and make it a lesson for others through those who with full consciousness have turned towards God and His messengers, surrendered to them, pledged obedience to them, accepted their religion as their religion, and after that they became involved in such great crimes that God exposed them and the cases reached the court.

Quran has described these punishments in a way (through use of adjectives) which make it necessary that nature and circumstances of the crime must always be considered before giving these maximum punishments to the criminals. Therefore, in cases where the perpetrators do not deserve any leniency, they must be given these maximum punishments. Once a crime has been committed and criminal apprehended, then mere show of repentance can not become a reason for lenience, the only factors which may cause lenience are nature of the crime and circumstances of the criminal which led him to commit this crime.

For example, in case of crimes involving threft are concerned, if a child steals a few rupees from his father’s pocket, or a wife pinches some money from her husband’s purse, or if a person steals something very ordinary, or plucks some fruit from his neighbour’s orchard, or carries away something valuable which has been left unprotected, or drives away an unattended grazing animal, or commits this ignoble offence owing to some need or compulsion, then, no doubt all these are unworthy acts and should be punished, but, certainly, they cannot be classified as acts of theft which the relavnt Quran’s verses qualify. This shows that the amputation of hands is the utmost punishment and should only be administered when the criminal does not deserve any lenience as far as the nature and circumstances of his crime are concerned.

Islamic Penal Sharia:

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Discussions on some pertinent matters involving Islamic Punishments:

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All the other crimes like intoxication, sexual harrassment etc. are concerned, no Islamic punishment has been prescribed for them, instead such matters have been left to the state to decide whether any such acts result in violations of rights of others or not. Every state can discuss these matters in the parliament and once it proves its jurisdiction on a certain matter, it can most certainly make laws to punish those acts as well.

For domain of law making for a state and punishments of other crimes, please refer to the following threads:

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