The article “Can KSA abolish capital punishment?” by Dr. Zuhair Al-Harthi provoked me to write on this topic.
Abolishment of the capital punishment isn’t a new topic to be discussed. Since years, the Western countries have been thinking and working to stop the death penalties. Not only in their countries but also in the Muslim countries they want this step to be taken. According to them, implementation of capital punishment is a violation of human rights, inhumane and a vulgar way of killing people.
To answer this point of view of theirs, I must quote Dr. Zuhair’s line, “The capital punishment in the West is totally different from the Qisas (requital)system in Islam.” And what do they know about the teachings of Islam? Of course not much. They don’t know that there’s life in Qisas (capital punishment) for others. It’s the only way to keep the society free of extortion and the threats of crime.
Criminals are a threat to society. They must be done away with. The basic reason for this is that those who escape capital punishment aren’t necessarily reformed after a spell in prison.
If the West demands for the life imprisonment and thinks it to be less violated than the former, then they must know the fact that the later is more brutal. To drag out life from a soul slowly by imprisoning the criminal for many years is more inhumane as compared to the death given in some seconds by following the law of capital punishment according to the Islamic teachings.
I would end up my writing by telling people who are against the capital punishment that the faith-based instructions given by the Islamic Shariah are totally different from those written by the Western men. The misunderstanding should be removed now. —
Mohammad Muzammil, Karachi
