Punishment

Punishment is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular action or behaviour that is deemed undesirable or unacceptable. The reasoning may be to condition a child to avoid self-endangerment, to impose social conformity (in particular, in the contexts of compulsory education or military discipline), to defend norms, to protect against future harms (in particular, those from violent crime), and to maintain the law—and respect for rule of law—under which the social group is governed.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 4 años ago

Financial security is one of the most important concerns of human beings every where and every time. Theft is a real danger which endangers human beings wealth and property. Human societies over the history till now, tried many ways to tackle and counter theft and robbery but no real success was achieved. Till today millions of innocent people suffer from those who steal their money in different ways. Those who steal do that because they do not fear real punishment, hence they steal whenever they find a chance.

Islam deals with this burning issue with inner treatment as well as outer action.

1. Inner treatment: is to warn that theft is a major sin and it leads the thief to hellfire. This will make good Muslims away from this sinful act.

2. Outer action: Those who do not care for religious teaching and insist on committing theft, must be punished in public to show them and others the miserable results of this crime and to protect people from similar crimes. 

Cutting the hand of the thief has conditions which insure that he deserves this type of punishment for the security of the people and society. Thief who was instigated by hunger is excluded from such punishment.

Cutting the hand of the thief (with all the conditions) does not mean cutting more than the fingers of one hand only. He will still be able to work and earn in lawful way.

Allah , The Most Merciful, Has ordained this punishment on the dangerous thief to provide the people financial security. It is a fact hat no other punishment could work all over the history to stop theft crime like this punishment. Where ever this punishment was applied in proper way with all its conditions, people enjoyed security on their wealth and property. Theft crime rates dropped to near zero in Muslim societies after proper implementation of the rules of Allah (SWT) which provide peace and justice to all and prevent evil doers to violate he rights of others.

Allah (SWT) says in Sura Al-Baqara, Verse 179 : AND THERE IS REAL LIFE FOR YOU IN APPLYING THE PROPER PUNISHMENT, O PEOPLE OF INTELLECT, SO  THAT YOU BECOME PIOUS).

After all, we believe that the Mercy and Wisdom of Allah is the best in all situations and for all human beings. Punishing one thief who deserves punishment is the real justice because it provides security to millions and saves their basic rights on their wealth and property.

Those millions of victims who suffer from theft, they suffer because of the failure of the non Muslim legal system to stop or counter the crime, and they  pay for that failure of the system to  protect them. Quran is very clear that proper life will be achieved by applying proper punishment, which means that with out applying the proper punishments, there will be no real life of security, peace and justice. 

Wassalam.

Zoheir Ali Esmail, Shaykh Zoheir Ali Esmail has a Bsc in Accounting and Finance from the LSE in London, and an MA in Islamic Studies from Middlesex University. He studied Arabic at Damascus University and holds a PhD... Answered 4 años ago

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. This punishment is after a number of stages which allow for the person to reform their ways and after which they would be aware that another instance of theft would result in such a consequence.

May you always be successful

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Zoheir Ali Esmail, Shaykh Zoheir Ali Esmail has a Bsc in Accounting and Finance from the LSE in London, and an MA in Islamic Studies from Middlesex University. He studied Arabic at Damascus University and holds a PhD... Answered 4 años ago

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. It is not true that rich Muslims will be punished for enjoying their wealth in this world. Rather, all Muslims will be rewarded and punished based on their good and bad deeds.

May you always be successful.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 4 años ago

Allah The Glorious, The Forgiver, The Most Merciful, Most Compassionate Has kept the gate of repentance open for all sinners who really and sincerely repent and decide not to commit the sin again. If they do it again, the gate of forgiveness will not be closed if they sincerely repent.

Keep on seeking forgiveness and never loose hope in The Mercy of Allah.

Wassalam.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 4 años ago

If the criminal gets his Islamic punishment in this life, no punishment will be on him in the Day of Judgment for that crime. 

If the criminal repents and compensates the victim and seeks forgiveness from hem and from Allah (SW), Allah is The Most Merciful and Best Forgiver.

Wassalam.

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Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour, Sheikh Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour is lecturer of Islamic Studies at the Islamic College for Advanced Studies, London, and a visiting lecturer at the University of Cambridge, Faculty of Oriental... Answered 4 años ago

The punishments of Allah are consequential not conventional. In other words, as the Quran mentions, they are the consequences of our actions, or as some believe they are the embodiment of our actions returned to us. Its pain is to change something in the heart and soul so that the evil doers can have a change of heart and attitude and be capable to accept the mercy and blessing of God and go out of hell. 

With such questions, it sometimes helps to think about our own selves and how we behave in this world. That can give useful insights on the Divine. There is a narration along the same lines that states that "Whoever knows himself knows his Lord".

So in that vein, let's think about a few realities of this world. We are on a rock that is spinning at a certain speed and revolving around the sun at a certain pace, while keeping a certain distance from it. We are alive, as biological creatures, because of these facts. Everything we do, even the atmosphere we breathe, exists because of such uncontrollable facts.

The fact that we can even drive a car on a motorway is a function of these and other uncontrollable facts, such as the various laws of physics and chemistry. Think speed, inertia, the combustion of fuel.

We didn't get asked about these laws and rules, and we don't seem to complain about them. We just accept them as, quite simply, laws of nature.

However, in such a world, we find we do have some choices. 

So now let's go for a drive on this motorway. Imagine you pick up pace in your car and get to a nice comfortable speed suitable for a motorway. You are probably cruising along, chatting to others in your car, listening to a nasheed. Happy and content.

Now imagine what would happen if you suddenly, for no reason whatsoever, decided from your own free will to twist that steering wheel around!

Death, destruction, both of your own vehicle and several others who are unable to avoid collision with the maniac who did that.

The impact of that crash is a result of the laws of physics, obviously. And chemistry - the fuel tank blows up. And biology - the fragile human bodies cannot survive the impact.

At this point, do you feel the laws of physics, chemistry and biology that govern your lives are unfair and should have been different?

Isn't it true that we take those uncontrollable facts as a given, unchallenged, and would place total blame on the terrible exercise of free will of the driver?

Why don't we feel the same way when we think of Divine laws? The horrific punishments are simply laws having their consequences when the driver on the motorway of life decides to do crazy things despite being warned not to do so by the Creator who set the rules.

Remember that there was no fear when you were on that motorway. Just a clear and constant awareness of the rules and the boundaries.

And just as the laws of nature in this world are there to nurture life here, the Divine laws of religion are there to keep us in the correct lane so we reach the right destination in the afterlife.

There is no need to be fearful of God in the meaning of being terrified and scared. But rather being in a state of awareness of the Divine rules and boundaries. And that is called Taqwa.

And there is no contradiction with God's Love or Mercy. The fact that He created us with free will so we can navigate His path, and then sent Books and Messengers, is a sign that He loves us and wants us to succeed.

I wish you a safe and pleasant journey, but do drive carefully :)

Abolfazl Sabouri, Abolfazl Sabouri is based in New Zealand and has an MA in Jurisprudence and Islamic Studies. He is a graduate of Elmiyeh seminary in Qom with more than 15 years of study and research where he has... Answered 4 años ago

To complete the answers:

To inter heaven the person must be pure and perfect. Punishment is because of the mercy of God to pure the one who has infected himself by his own will.

Therefore, in chapter al-Rahman, hellfire has been counted as one of the blessings of Allah. 

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 4 años ago

The Mercy of Allah is His main tribute (Al-Rahmaan , Al-Raheem) that is why we are been ordered to remember His Mercy at least 40 times every day in our obligatory daily Prayers. (Sura Al-Hamd mentioned His Mercy four times and we must recite Sura Al-Hamd in every Salah minimum two times 2x5=10x4=40)

His Mercy is the reason behind our creation (But because Mercy of your Lord, and for that He created them) (Sura Hood; 119)

His Mercy on us is mentioned in hundreds of places in Quran.

What do you think about a person who denys all the mercy of Allah and opposes Him and insists on doing wrong again and again. Anything but punishment should be his result? The sever punishment is a direct result of the severe arrogance and insisting to do it again and again.

Allah , The Most Merciful does not like to punish any one but those who insist on evil and wrong deserve punishment to drive people away from doing like them. In fact, it is part of His Mercy on people is to punish those who want people to do wrong like them. This punishment secures the Mercy on people.

Wassalam

Masuma Jaffer, Dr Masuma Jaffer is a qualified dentist, with a Masters in Islamic Studies and has also attended Hawza in Qum. She obtained a PGCE - teaching qualification – and has taught Hawza studies at the... Answered 4 años ago

Allah out of His love and mercy tells us what will happen if we do certain things in order to warn us - it's like as an adult I know that if I throw a rock up it will fall back down due to the law of gravity - a child may not  know this - as a loving parent would I not tell my child that if you throw the rock up it will come back down and hurt you.

There is a system of cause and effect and Allah is explaining this to us. So we know if we do somethin what the effect of it will be. 

It is important to fear disappointing Allah rather than fearing Him.