An Overview Of Hudud

by | May 10, 2014 | Misc

One thing I noticed from the barrage of comments by non-muslims supporting hudud is that once it is implemented, there will be a lot of corrupted politicians who are amputated. It is a grave misconception as corruption is NOT a punishment covered by hudud

As I never received any formal education regarding the subject, I did what any reasonable person would do. I googled “hudud” and read up various articles by different Islamic scholars to gain an insight as to the topic at hand

As such, what I say is based on the different articles available online. Do feel free to verify what I am about to say by clicking on the links provided 🙂

The literal meaning of the Arabic word “hudud” is “limit” or “restriction.” (http://www.wikipedia.org/hudud). Muslims believe it is the punishment for crimes determined by Allah, stated in the Al-Quran as well as by Muhammad through his hadith (http://www.ustazabdulwahab.wordpress.com/jenayah/hukuman-hudud/)

A: Offences covered under hudud (in alphabetical order):

1. Apostasy (Irtidād)
2. Banditry/Highway Robbery (Qat’ al-Tariq)
3. Drinking alcohol (Syarbul Khamr)
4. False accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse/Slander (Qadhf/Qadzaf)
5. Rebellion (Bughah)
6. Theft (Sariqa) 
7. Unlawful sexual intercourse (Zina)

B: Punishments by way of Hadd are of the following forms (also in alphabetical order):

1. Amputation of a limb or limbs
– theft

2. Death
– apostasy, banditry/highway robbery, rebellion

3. Death by stoning
– unlawful sexual intercourse

3. Flogging by one hundred or eighty stroke
– drinking alcohol (80 lashes), false accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse (80 lashes), unlawful sexual intercourse (100 lashes)

(sources: www.iium.edu.my/deed/hadith/muslim/017_smt.html, www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e757)

C. Requirements for conviction

Only eye-witness testimony and confession are admitted. For eye-witness testimony, the number of
witnesses required is four, and only free, adult Muslim men are eligible to testify in hudud cases. (In non-hudud cases the testimony of women, non-Muslims and slaves could be admitted in certain circumstances).

A confession had to be repeated four times, the confessing person had to
be in a healthy state of mind, and he or she could retract the confession at any point before punishment.

However, while these standards of proof made hudud punishments very difficult to apply in practice, an
offender could still be sentenced to corporal punishment at the discretion of the judge (tazir), if he or she was
found guilty but the standards of proof required for hudud punishments could not be met (http://www.wikipedia.org/hudud)

For a much more detailed explanation on the elements of the crime, requirements of the witnesses, proof of the crime, how the punishment is carried out, etc, go to www.ustazabdulwahab.wordpress.com/jenayah/hukuman-hudud/