In Islamic Sharia laws, there is an absence of imprisonment as a punishment for any crime. Instead, all punishments are physical, ranging from lashes to hanging, stoning, amputations, and beheading.
Why is this the case?
The explanation is straightforward. During Muhammad's era, the Arab society was considered ignorant and uncivilized, with no established prison system. Consequently, punishments had to be administered immediately, and the only feasible method was through physical penalties for all crimes.
Given the absence of an omniscient deity like Allah, it was Muhammad who formulated the Sharia punishments. Thus, he mirrored the mentality of his contemporary society, which was both ignorant and uncivilized, resulting in the imposition of various severe physical punishments.
In the commentary on the Quranic verse concerning theft (Verse 5:38), Ibn Kathir affirmed that such practices, including hand amputation, were prevalent in pre-Islamic Arab society and were incorporated into Islam. He wrote (link):
"During the time of Jahiliyyah, this (cutting of hands) was also the punishment for the thief, and Islam upheld this punishment."
It appears that Muhammad initially mandated hand amputation for even minor thefts, such as an egg or a rope (Reference: Sahih Bukhari, 6799). However, he later revised this to apply to thefts exceeding a value of 1/4th of a Dinar. This was the sole modification he made to the pre-Islamic laws. It is noteworthy that Muslim scholars are not unanimous on this change, with some believing that hand amputation should apply to any theft, regardless of value.
To provide context, a cloak cost 3 Dinars (i.e., 30 Dirhams) during Muhammad's era (Sunan Abu Dawud, 4394). Therefore, stealing goods worth 1/12th of a cloak's value was sufficient to warrant hand amputation.
Note:
Not only Islam, but ALL primitive Societies of the world have the exact same concept of immediate brutal physical punishments. For example, Genghis Khan made the following laws for Mongols (link):
The Yasa prescribes these rules: to love one another, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to give false witness, not to be a traitor, and to respect old people and beggars. Whoever violates these commands is put to death. [Mahak'ia]
The Purpose of Punishment
Please understand human psychology:
- Humans are not perfect, but they indeed make mistakes.
- Even the most pious people also make mistakes and indulge in wrongdoings.
- But humans also have the quality to feel guilty, repent, and reform themselves.
- Sometimes one needs some extra TIME to realize their mistakes.
Therefore, the most important purpose of punishment is to provide enough time for a person to think about their mistake, feel guilty, and then reform themselves.
The purpose of punishment is not only to spread FEAR, but the ultimate purpose is to provide a chance for a person to reform themselves.
But if a person gets no chance to repent, and is immediately killed, or the brutal physical punishment turns them into a disabled cripple, making them a complete burden upon society, then can such brutal physical punishments be labeled as wisdom from an All-Wise God?
How is such a person whose hands have been cut (or whose one hand and one foot have been cut) going to do labor work and feed themselves and their family? You are actually ultimately compelling that person to commit a crime once again in order to save their family from hunger.
What if you have stoned and killed a father or mother (or both) of a small baby in the name of adultery? By doing so, you are only showing cruelty towards the poor baby who will suffer badly too (indirectly) due to these Islamic brutal punishments.
As compared to the brutal Islamic physical punishments, we see that:
- One part of punishment consists of "fear" according to human psychology, and this part is present in the punishment of prison.
- The other part of punishment consists of a "chance to repent and to reform," which is also present in the punishment of prison.
Strange Islam: Punishment for Killing is reversible, but the Punishment of Stealing is irreversible
If there occurs a CONTRADICTION in the Sharia, then it is automatically a PROOF that the Sharia didn't come from any Allah in heaven, but Muhammad was making it on his own.
According to the Sharia:
- If someone kills another human brutally and intentionally, they can still pay the Diyah (i.e., compensation money for blood) and become free (even if the case is in court, or even if the court has already given the verdict).
- But on the other hand, if someone steals anything worth 1/4th of a Dinar, then there is no compensation money for that. Once the case enters the court, then the judge has to cut the hands of the culprit.
Narrated Safwan bin Umayyah: I was sleeping in the mosque on a cloak of mine whose price was thirty dirhams. A man came and pinched it away from me. The man was seized and brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He ordered that his hand should be cut off. I came to him and said: Do you cut off only for thirty dirhams? I sell it to him and make the payment of its price a loan? He said: Why did you not do so before bringing him to me?
Contradictions occur only due to human errors. And the Islamic Sharia has this contradiction, while Muhammad was making Sharia himself, and he was only a human.
Horrible Consequences of the Barbarian Islamic punishments
When you neglect human psychology completely and go only for extremely brutal physical punishments without any chance to repent and reform, then ultimately people will commit even more horrible crimes in order to hide their previous crimes.
For example, Islam punishes brutally with stoning in case of adultery. This ultimately compelled thousands of mothers in Pakistan to even strangle and kill their own newborn babies with their own hands, and then throw them in the rubbish, in order to save themselves from the brutal Islamic punishment and to safeguard their honour and that of their families.
Are you able to see any so-called divine wisdom in the killing of these poor newborn babies due to the extreme FEAR of extreme brutal Islamic punishments?
Compared to Islamic societies, the parents in non-religious western societies are not compelled to kill their own newborn babies with their own hands and then throw them in the garbage piles.
Why?
Because, even if they make love without marriage (i.e. so-called adultery according to religions), and get a baby, then:
- They can still keep their baby to themselves and neither is anyone going to punish them or humiliate that baby later as a Bastard.
- While according to Islam, not only the parents will be punished with lashes or stoning, but Islamic Sharia also punishes the innocent baby by calling him/her a Bastard (Arabic: Walad-al-Haram ولد ألحرام). And that baby is prohibited to get the name of his father, but he/she will get only the name of his/her mother so that later he/she could be easily recognised as a Bastard child and can be humiliated in Islamic society. Punishing an innocent baby by declaring him/her a bastard is one of the worst crimes of Muhammad against humanity.
Please also see this case in Pakistan, where a man committed illegal sex with her daughter-in-law. But 2 small grandsons saw them in that state. Upon that man killed both of those 2 small kids in order to save himself from the brutal Islamic punishment. And when the mother tried to save the children, then that man killed her too (link).
Although sexual frustration is much less in non-religious western societies, but of course, it is still possible that a man indulges in a sexual relationship with his daughter-in-law there too. But there is no brutal physical punishment for this in western countries. The maximum punishment is that husband will divorce the wife and also end his ties with the father. Therefore, if the same incident had happened in the West, then there would have been more chances that those small kids would not have been killed.
Please also remember that rate of incest relationships is very high in Islamic societies due to the sexual frustration which occurs due to unnatural restrictions upon the interaction between men and women.
Please watch the video below, where Miss Shandana Gulzar (Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from the ruling party PTI) is telling about a Study, which was done in hospitals and gynaecologist clinics, which revealed these figures.
Please also read our detailed article: Incest in Islamic Pakistan.
The Population Council is a famous organization, which published a report that Pakistani hospitals and clinics did 2.25 million cases of illegal abortions alone in the year 2012. These illegal abortions are done by non-married girls and underage girls while it becomes a matter of extreme danger to them due to Islamic brutal punishments and the Islamic honour system and the Islamic system where it punishes the innocent child for the whole of his/her life by calling him/her a bastard.
Actually, it is a huge blessing that despite being illegal, still Pakistani hospitals do abortions on a mass scale. Otherwise, thousands of more dead newborn babies would have been found in the garbage piles in Islamic Pakistan.
Moreover, look at this Islamic Ruling:
Muwatta Malik Book 41, Hadith 15:
Malik said, "The position with us about a woman who is found to be pregnant and has no husband and she says, 'I was forced,' or she says, 'I was married,' is that it is not accepted from her and the hadd is inflicted on her unless she has a clear proof of what she claims about the marriage or that she was forced or she comes bleeding if she was a virgin or she calls out for help so that someone comes to her and she is in that state or what resembles it of the situation in which the violation occurred." He said, "If she does not produce any of those, the hadd is inflicted on her and what she claims of that is not accepted from her."
And the largest Fatwa Website (run by Saudi Salafi Muftis) Islam Q&A writes in its fatwa (link):
Rape is essentially zina (fornication or adultery) and is proven in the same way as zina is proven, which is with four witnesses. The punishment is one hundred lashes if the man was a virgin and stoning if he was previously married ... Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: She is not to be punished if it is proven that he forced her and overpowered her. That may be known from her having screamed and shouted for help. (Al-Istidhkaar, 7/146 ) ...
It is very difficult for a raped woman (or a small child girl) to bring proof of her rape. There are no people present where she is raped who can hear her calls for help, and blood also does not always come. The biggest problem is, perhaps 100% of women don't even know about these Islamic Rulings about rape that they have to immediately present their blood in public. Their first reaction is to hide their face along with their rape. Their own families could kill them in the name of Ghairah.
Do you think that small child girls could act upon these Islamic rulings if they are being raped by their own fathers, brothers, uncles or the Mullah in the Quran schools?
Examples of some of the brutal physical punishments of Islamic Sharia
- If a slave flees: Strike his neck off in the ISIS style. A companion Ibn Jarir beheaded his slave for fleeing according to Muhammad's orders (Sunan Nisai, Hadith 4050, Grade: Sahih). Do you remember the Muslim excuse that Islam allowed slavery while they could not afford to live independently, but if any slave fled to live independently, then Islam beheaded him?
- Homosexuals: They should be killed in the following ways (1) Burn them in Fire (2) A wall should be made to collapse on them (3) They should be thrown down from a cliff (4) They should be first thrown down from a cliff, and then stoned. (Reference: Largest Fatwa Website Islam Q&A Fatwa1 & Fatwa 2). And two homosexuals were buried under the wall, and then bulldozed by the Taliban (link).
- Apostasy: Killing in case of a male apostate (An exception: A woman should be kept under house arrest for the rest of her life)
- Blasphemy: Killing at every cost (no repentance is allowed)
- Drinking: 80 Lashes
- Hirabah: (1) Crucifixion (تصليب) (2) Cross-amputation (amputation of the right hand and left foot)
- Fornication: 100 lashes, or stoning in case of a married person.
- Theft: Cutting the hands.
Muslim claim: Islamic punishments and rules are based on divine wisdom and compatible for all times, and cannot be changed
Muslims even deny today to change these brutal physical punishments of Sharia. They claim that:
- Islamic punishments are based upon divine wisdom.
- Thus, they are compatible for all times.
- And thus, they could not be changed till Qiyyamah.
But the reality is those brutal physical punishments of Sharia were not even compatible with that time of Jahiliyyah (ignorance), then what to talk of today. For example:
- We have pregnancy tests, DNA tests, and paternity tests today. It is absolutely no problem to find out the father. But Muslims still want to punish people with 100 lashes and stoning who want to make love in name of the parentage of the child.
- Not only this, but Muslims still want to compel women unilaterally to undergo the hardship of 'Iddah (i.e. waiting period) for 3 monthly cycles in case of divorce.
- Even worse, they still prohibit the divorced pregnant woman to remarry till the birth of the child. It was due to this reason that Muhammad falsely thought that another man can water what the previous man (the 1st husband) has sown (i.e. the fetus). Science is very clear if a woman has already become pregnant, then another man could do as much sex as possible, but his sperm is not going to have any effects upon the fetus (i.e. he is not going to water the fetus from the previous man).
- Islam didn't accept the witnesses of women in the Hudud cases (like rape, theft and robbery). These rules were not even compatible with the time of ignorance, then what to talk of today?
As far as killing innocent people in name of apostasy and homosexuality is concerned, then it is not only wrong today, but it was even wrong in that time of ignorance too.
And what to talk about beheading slaves for fleeing, this whole concept of Islamic Slavery is evil. It is evil today, and it was evil even in that time of ignorance too.
And as far as drinking is concerned, then Western countries have successfully restricted the use of alcohol for underage people. As far as drinking by adults is concerned, then it is tolerated while it is not such a big crime. Even more, people die from overeating than drinking, but no one punishes people for overeating.
Islamic States and punishment for theft
If an Islamic State changes the punishment of theft (i.e. it does not cut the hands anymore), or if changes the amount of money from 1/4th of a Dinar, then it becomes proof that Sharia laws are not compatible with the present time.
And with changing this single law, the rest of the building of Islamic Sharia also automatically collapses, while it was built upon the claim that Sharia punishments are compatible for all times till judgement day.
And the situation of the Islamic State is this all of them have already either completely abandoned cutting hands for theft, or even if they cut the hands, then they have changed the amount of money from 1/4th of the Dinar to a much bigger amount.
At moment, Saudi Arabia and Iran are the most religious countries. They indeed cut the hands of thieves, but still they are also unable to cut hands only for 1/4th of Dinar.
And what to talk about Saudia and Iran, none of any Islamic states of the last 1400 years was cutting the hands of thieves for 1/4th of Dinar.
All the barbaric Islamic punishments have already been present in Saudi Arabic for centuries, but still, much more corruption and other crimes are present in Saudia as compared to Japan and many other western countries. Zina was always present in Arabia, corruption was always present, and women are harassed during mixed gatherings of Hajj and 'Umra, So the question is, which Islamic punishment is not present in Saudia? Are people not lashed for fornication? Are their hands not cut off for theft?
The whole of Islamic history is witnessing of failure of this brutal system of punishments.
During the era of the caliphate of 'Uthman (the 3rd Caliph), his relatives were involved in corruption at a mega level. It was so huge that in the end Muslims themselves killed 'Uthman Ibn Affan in Medina and let her dead body to rot for 3 days and 3 nights. After that few of his relatives buried him in a Jewish graveyard in the darkness of night (link).
Islam apologists come up with an excuse that rate of crime is also high in the US. But the reality is that rate of crimes in the US is high only in areas which have low education and where immigrant foreigners live in large numbers. But as far as developed areas are concerned where educated people live, the rate of crime is very low there. Moreover, PEW research showed that the US society is becoming more educated and more civilized, and with that, the rate of crime is dropping significantly (link).
The most honest and non-corrupt people in the world are the non-religious people of Japan and Scandinavian countries
Muslim preachers cite only the example of the US for crime rate, but neglect other non-religious Secular countries, which have extremely low crime and corruption rates. This is only as deception and double standards by Muslim preachers. They have to openly admit that non-religious Secular society has produced much better results in controlling crimes and corruption than Islam, even without barbarian punishments of Islamic Sharia.
The citizens of Tokyo are the most honest people in the whole world. They returned the lost wallets and money and mobile phones in a record number to the police (link).
How did non-religious Japan control the "Hunger for Money"?
According to human nature, Japan first provided all its citizens with enough chances of employment and earning enough money for their needs and life. And then Japan also educated them morally, right from childhood. And after some time, the result came in the formation of such a society, which is not indulged in hunger and greed for money anymore, but this society is at the peak of humanity, and its citizens return the lost money on their own to the police.
And here is a List of the least corrupt countries in the world according to Transparency International (link). All the first 20 countries are non-Muslim countries with non-religion Scandinavian and European countries on the top.