Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean
Date: Thu,  9 Apr 1992 14:14:22 -0400 
From: Azleena Salleh <as5h+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: just curious...

On 08-Apr-92 in just curious...              
user Cynthia Dawood@silver.uc writes:
>	Okey.. let's say the the proposed 'hudud' law really gets implemented in
>Kelantan. Then my question is ... will a thief be given any seduction to knock
>him unconcious before his arm is amputated..... I sure hate to hear him 
>(or her????) screaming at the top of his/her lung....... 

'Seduction'? 

Oh, well, I just wanted to comment about punishment in Islam,
particularly the amputation bit (don't shiver, this isn't a flame).  In
this particular topic, I totally agree with Firdaus Azharudding in his
posting :

On 08-Apr-92 in Re: Proposed Islamic Laws i..
user MFA109@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>it saddens me to see that whenever the topic of
>islamic law is discussed, most of the attention goes to punishment. there are
>several other sides to islamic law that needs to be explained such as islamic
>economics, welfare and education system.
> 
>i for one am not an expert in islamic law but i do believe that islam preaches
>prevention before punishment.
> 
>-firdaus azharuddin-
> castration??? eee.. next please.

It's true,  any group of Muslims who wants to implement Islamic laws in
their nation automatically gets labeled as 'radicals', 'extremists' and
'fanatics' by the Western press (in general, mind you... some sources do
a good job of unbiased and unopinionated writing... no hats off to Time
magazine in this matter).  For instance, take what's happening in
Algeria... I'm not a supporter of any particular party there, by the
way. The Islamic Salvation Front actually won the majority vote during
the last election, and yet the press (as well as the Algerian govt) has
been aggressive in attacking what they see to be a 'threat' towards
democracy and the modern world by the implementation of 'chilling'
Syari'ah laws that would be a step back into the Middle Ages (no
kidding, read Time, the first week of Jan '92).  Correct me if I'm
wrong, but isn't democracy about listening to the voice of the people??  

Anyway, I'm deviating ... about the issue of Islamic penal codes.
Syari'ah endorses the deterence of crime, rather than the punishment in
itself.  Amputation, as well as other forms of punishment are to deter
would-be criminals from committing the crime, as opposed to the modern
justice system's punishment of incarceration which does little to
threaten hard-core criminals from repeating their crimes (if they serve
much of their sentence in the first place).  The  penal codes in
Syari'ah are just a strict protection for the public against criminals
and crime.  

In case you're worried of those who have been wrongly-accused of crimes
and those who are repentent, or committed crimes out of necessity.... be
assured that the Islamic justice system (when implemented properly) does
not condemn a thief to amputation without trial.  As in the American
system where one is innocent until proven guilty, there has to be
sufficient proof before the sentence is made.  In addition to that,
there are many exceptions from receiving the punishment.  For example,
if the thief stole out of necessity (such as a poverty-stricken beggar
stealing food to survive), the punishment of amputation does not apply. 
From what I've heard, throughout the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh), only once had a thief been sentenced to amputation.  

The point of my article is not to condemn other justice systems, but to
encourage everyone to analyze what you hear of Islam with an open mind. 
The best sources of Islamic laws and science are not the Western media,
but the Islamic bboards and nets, and the numerous Islamic books that
are available on every aspect of Islam imaginable.  I might not have
done justice to this issue in particular because my knowledge itself is
limited, and would welcome those who are more knowledgeable to correct
my mistakes and to add their comments.

-azleena salleh
Carnegie Mellon Univ, Pittsburgh.
aurora@cmu.edu
as5h@andrew.cmu.edu