Is The Sharia Law Timeless?
I think the verses I quoted above are self-explanatory regarding their timeless nature. However, if you’re more inclined toward universal sadd-e-Zaria nature of all Quranic directives, then of course you’re free to opt that.
It’s a punishment to criminals of highest level of evil will, who do not deserve any commutation, reduction or mitigation in their punishment. However, no matter how brutal a crime one commits, his punishment can’t be more than the prescribed limited. In that sense it can be taken as a timeless guideline I agree. Since it’s up to the judgement of the court to determine if any underlying mental or physical disorder has caused the crime or it is due to some unfavorable circumstances to which the criminal was exposed, which led him to commit a crime, the court may end up giving a much lower punishment than what the criminal actually deserved. That wouldn’nt matter because Allah can always reward punishments to criminals in the hereafter no matter they are punished in this world or not. In other words, whether a person gets punished to the level he deserves in the eyes of God is not our concern. Our concern should be to make sure we do not end up punishing more than what one deserves as this would tantamount to zulm and injustice. In short, we should always use the modern knowledge and technology to explore causes of a crime that were beyond the reasonable control of the criminal so the courts can give him minimum possible punishment to avoid a possibility of zulm. In that sense, the maximum punishments become irrelevant in the modern world. The other point is defining limits or justice is actually Hikmah and therefore timeless. Our argument here is about those commandments that tell us how to deliver justice . this how to part is not time less that is time bond for culture s and times where abetter way of delivering justice is not available