Sharia law and the death penalty

This report is designed for non-experts who want to understand more about Sharia law and Islamic jurisprudence as it relates to the death penalty.

Sharia law is used in some countries as a reason to retain capital punishment. However, there are schools of thought among Islamic scholars stating that Sharia law creates stringent conditions for the use of the death penalty and includes various opportunities to avoid or commute punishment, and that Sharia law explicitly encourages alternatives.

The report begins by explaining the primary and secondary sources and schools of Sharia law. It then looks at the categories of penalties in Sharia law (Qisas crimes, Hudud crimes and Ta’zir crimes) and explains what these comprise in relation to the death penalty. The book quotes sources of Sharia law related to these offences and analyses what this means for the application of the death penalty, including how Sharia law relates to international standards on the application of the death penalty. It ends by looking at ways in which Islamic jurisprudence has changed over the centuries in various aspects of law and punishment.