Hudud – It’s Definition and Scope of Implementations

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

As promised, here is my first article about understanding what is termed as the Hudud Laws of Islam and it’s definitions plus scope of implementations.

My sources are the Holy Al-Qur’an Al Kareem, the authentic Hadiths of Rasulullah Sallalahu Alaihi Wassallam and various other kitabs and resources from my library and relevant online Islamic sites.

Please take note that this article and its following related series are meant to be read and understood for the objectives of their content.

Those of you who aren’t Muslims or freethinkers aren’t being asked to subject yourselves to my views and explanations about Hudud and it’s relevance to us Muslims here.

You have the option of not reading it but if you do continue, please do so at your own will and volition. Coming to learn about Hudud doesn’t make or turn you into a Muslim.

It will naturally broaden your general knowledge about the subject matter which I am sure many amongst you are concerned about. There’s no harm in learning about it, right?

Please do understand that I am not a legal practitioner or advocate and solicitor.

I write and share about these important matters as I come to understand them and feel the need to share info about the Hudud is very much needed nowadays as there are many amongst the Islamophobes today who discuss and debate about Malaysia being an Islamic state or nation out of their worries as to whether they will be victimized by the ‘Islamic authorities’ etc?

Thus, it is incumbent upon us Muslims to share and discuss about such matters to inform and educate the masses as to what Hudud is and what it is surely not. The failure of our Syarie lawyers to educate the masses by way of writings and open discussions is also a contributive factor why a blogger like me has to attempt to do this. I leave it to Allah SWT to guide me.

If there is any mistakes that I inadvertently commit here in my sharing of these information, please inform me by email so as to allow me to edit and correct the error or errors immediately or within a reasonable time frame.

Thank you.

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Hudud

Refer to the above verses from the Surah An Nisa Chapter 4 Verses 13-14

It means ‘limits‘, or ‘forbidden‘ and also as definition. The root word is derived from the Arabic ‘hadd‘.

As rational human beings, naturally we understand that in life there is such a thing as limits to whatever we can do or experience in all that takes place upon ourselves or others for the matter.

No matter what particular matter or issue that we want to dwell upon or commit, we know that the law of nature always prevails over us or any circumstances.

How much can we eat? How much can we drink? How much can we carry? How fast can we go? How long do we want to live?

There are just so many things that I can keep asking each and everyone of you reading this and almost always you will agree with me that there is only a certain amount of things or eventualities that can take place.

History is the best teacher of us all where it concerns matters that mankind are so desperately after?

Power, strength, youth, beauty, libido, masculinity, femininity, authority, wealth, all the spoils of this earthly life that one can imagine and crave for?

Reflect back to our coming into being. From a embryo after being conceived by our mother as a result of the physical union of our parents, we develop from stage to stage and eventually become a fully formed human baby in our mother’s womb and at the appropriate time and moment decided by Allah the Almighty, we are born and delivered into this earthly realm.

If we had stayed any longer in our mother’s womb, there might be a danger both to our mother and to us as an infant ready to come out into this world.

There is a certain limit to pregnancy. That’s a form of ‘hadd’ @ ‘limit’.

If I were to dwell on just the many examples where we know that the matter of limit exists and even when compared to the vast oceans we have here on planet Earth, all these vastness of the oceans disappear when the Earth is viewed from outer space.

The Earth just becomes a small blue planet which if viewed from further afar from the universe, it too disappears from sight and is lost in the Creation of Allah, Azza Wa Jalla. Yet there too, in the vastness of space, remains a limit as decreed and decided by Him, our Creator.

Coming back to the main gist of this posting, we now have to understand what the Hudud in Islam means?

The ‘ulama of Fiqh define ‘hudud‘ to be a Code of Punishments to be implemented by the authorities in an Islamic nation upon criminal acts carried out by the offenders who are proven without a doubt to be guilty of such crimes and upon conviction be punished as decreed by the Almighty.

As we all know by now, human societies today all over the world are facing grievous harm and danger from the rising crime perpetrated by heartless criminals and felons amidst us and such viciousness gets worse and worse by each passing day.

A major contributing factor is the way certain elements of human rights activists go about fighting for the wrong cause in their campaigns against capital punishments and corrective procedures being implemented by various governments in nations around the world.

Guilty criminals caught with inviolable proof of their crimes against humanity at times get off scot free at the courts because of legal technicalities in the manmade justice and legal systems because of such human rights activism and prosecution’s slip ups.

Such human errors and slip ups in prosecuting vicious criminals almost always are the result of sidelining God’s Laws in favor of ineffective human decisions and fallible judgments.

If any Muslim nation worth its name is to truly implement the Hudud laws to the letter as decreed by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala, then surely the world will come to see how just and fair God’s Laws are for the whole wide world.

The irony is that not a Muslim nation here on Earth has actually practiced the Hudud in its entirety. Even if they attempt to do so, it is always a case where they practice only certain aspects of the laws and sideline the others.

As a result, the world has yet to see a practical and effective example of a Muslim nation that stands firm on implementing the true Hudud.

Apart from the term of hudud, there are several other related terms that are also used when dealing with criminal acts from the Islamic perspective.

‘Qisas and ‘ Ta’zir are two other definitions that form part of the penal code in Hudud.

Qisas is simply a retribution law similar to the biblical an ‘eye’ for an ‘eye’ punishment. Modern day justice systems are so clearly unfair at times that even clear cut cases where life’s have been taken and so much proofs are proven to the courts, because of legal maneuvering by the defense lawyers and sloppy prosecution work by the attorney general departments, many guilty criminals escape punishment by legal technicalities.

I don’t have to point out examples to you today. You know that we have had so many cases in our land be thrown out of court and the culprits are beaming widely, smiling from ear to ear after being cleared of any such wrongdoings by the powers that be.

Well, in a God fearing, true blue Muslim nation, such a scenario would be no more.

The guilty will taste retribution in it’s actual form no matter as to who they are and what their social status ?

Muslim authorities nowadays have fallen into the trap of minute definition of this and that legal aspect and mankind in whole have complicated legal prosecution to such a bewildering process that backpiling of case files in the justice systems have mired and bogged down the legal actions against the criminals in our midst resulting in them going about their ways as they please due to the legal quandary stifling prosecution from being taken against them promptly or in due process.

Back to the definition of hudud laws. The term ‘hadd‘ brings about a meaning of ‘punishments that are decreed by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala.

As such, there is no provision for any punishments decreed by Allah SWT to be reduced, added on or altered by Mankind.

The Hudud is Allah’s Rights upon us Mankind. Criminal punishments upon those found to be guilty according to the Hudud Laws can not be dropped against the criminal or criminals by any individual or society as a whole.

The Hudud Laws are meant to be a safeguard from the Almighty to protect human society from all forms of crime and to preserve peace, social orderliness and to ensure the safety of the general public.

Any form of wrongdoing committed by any individual or group is to be judged according to what has been laid down in the Supreme Constitution of Allah SWT in the form of the Holy Al Qur’an Al Karim and as per the Hadith’s of His Greatest and Final Messenger to all Mankind, the Blessed Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wassallam.

Failure to do so by almost all nations of mankind today has seen an unprecedented surge in all kinds of crime throughout the whole wide world and society today is reeling from the savagery brought about by human debauchery and anarchy.

Even in the so called civilized and developed nations such as the United States of America or European Union, the prisons and ‘correctional institutions’ are overflowing with millions and millions of convicts and felons who are repeat offenders and do not fear being caught or arrested again because they choose to repeat their crimes and make a mockery of the prevailing legal systems of the world.

Corruption permeates all levels of government in most countries of the world further aggravating the problem of crime and almost the entire world seems to be running out of ideas as to how best to deal with the situation?

To be continued.

* Bright Eyes! I approved your comment but it’s disappeared into cyberlalaland! Care to resend it? Gracias!

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