Beyond the Headlines: The Truth About Islam's Divine Guidance System.

 

Let's say you hear the word' Sharia, what comes to your mind?

You'd probably imagine a dark, scary place with women in chains, bearded men carrying knives, and malnourished hands being cut off for stealing food. In reality, the Sharia is none of that. So, what is the Sharia? What does it mean? And why does it chop people's hands off? Let's get right into it. Sharia in Arabic literally means a flowing spring or a watering hole. Technically, Sharia is a body of law that governs not only religious rituals but also aspects of everyday life. In Islam, it's the idea of God's law, which aims to protect the faith, intellect, and wealth. Health and lineage of an individual and the society at large. And just like any other broad legal concept, the Sharia is a unified whole that contains within its tremendous diversity. Sharia can primarily be divided into.

Belief in Arabic Means AQEEDAH, like Belief in God and his prophets. Practical rulings, FIQH, such as laws about food and drink. Character and morals, AKHLAQ, like kindness to your spouse, kind treatment to your parents, and good character. Much of the Sharia deals with day-to-day rulings. With sometimes the odd question like, can I eat a crocodile, or can I bathe in tea? Now let's get to the hand-chopping part, shall we? In Islam, punishments are known as hudood, literally meaning prevention, restraint, or prohibition, and they fall under FIQH, comprising only. Less than 10% of it. The HUDOOD for a person who steals is to have one of their hands amputated.

Hearing this, you might imagine hands being chopped off for all kinds of petty theft. But the reality couldn't be more different, simply because whenever a crime occurs, Sharia law requires due process to take place. And the accused is innocent until proven guilty. Furthermore, there are more than 60 conditions that need to be fulfilled for the amputation verdict to be actually carried out. Some of these conditions are as follows. The item was stolen from a Secure Place, having a value of more than 10 dirhams in Mac and White. The Thief is an Adult of sound mind, not insane, and committed the crime out of his own free will. He was neither under duress nor was he drunk. Or motivated by hunger. The crime was witnessed by two witnesses of upright nature who do not disagree or retract their testimony. A month has not passed since the crime occurred. The thief. He or she is neither a uterine relative nor the spouse of the. Person, they stole from, and so on and on until all the 60-plus conditions are fulfilled.

The judges are also expected by law to take into consideration the examples set by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, to ward off capital punishments via ambiguities as a divine command. Any theft that does not meet all these conditions would receive a Taseer, A discretionary punishment. This is why most hudood punishments are actually very difficult to implement, and simply stealing a piece of bread would not call for an amputation. So why does the Sharia prescribe such punishments when it's so difficult to prove them? The answer lies in understanding the nature of hudood, which is to deter a person from committing a crime, as hudood punishments are daunting and intimidating. It helps potential criminals, people in general, to stay away from it, which is. Why? Historically, the lands in which Hudood was implemented in totality saw very little crime.

"The Quran says these are the limits set by God, so near them not". Jeremy Bentham's Theory of Utilitarianism provides a logical foundation for the matter at hand. He proposed the equation expected punishment or deterrent power equals the severity of punishment times the probability of getting caught. And caught E equals s *P. In simple words, if there is little chance of being caught, then the law has to be harsh enough to discourage a person from even thinking of committing a crime due to the severity of punishment, and therefore, frightening punishments are seen as a way to deter potential criminals. Subjecting thousands of petty criminals to her dude is not the intention. Scaring them into not breaking the law is.

Tough requirements for carrying out Hudood. The divine obligation to ward off punishments via ambiguities. Presumption of innocence and a fair and balanced court system are the essential pillars on which the Sharia is built. Given the alarming rate at which crimes are snowballing in the modern world, the Hudood punishments under the Sharia provide an alternative, proven solution to the conventional system, which is expensive. Time-consuming and ineffective at keeping a check on crime.