hadd
Hadd (plural hudud, “limits”) are punishments fixed by the texts and regarded as the right of God, so the judge cannot reduce them and the victim cannot pardon. The offences commonly listed are zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), qazf (false accusation of zina), theft, highway robbery, and drinking wine; some jurists add apostasy and rebellion. Strict proof was required, and doubt (shubha) prevented the punishment.
Classical law also recognised qisas (retaliation for homicide and wounds, which the victim's heirs could commute to diyat) and tazir (discretionary punishment). In India none of these applies: criminal law is territorial and the same for everyone, and Muslim criminal law was replaced by British statutes, finally the IPC in 1862, now the BNS.
Example
Muslim criminal law, with its hadd punishments, was replaced in British India by the Indian Penal Code.
See also
qisas · diyat · tazir · sharia
Read more in the study notes
- Notion of punishment in law: meaning, history and purpose (Penology and Victimology)
- Islam: teaching, political thought and the Shariat (Political Science - Theory and Thoughts)