Procedural Islamic Criminal Justice in Terms of Human Rights: Beyond the Zero-Sum Game

Abstract

This article discusses the main principles of criminal law substantially and procedurally under Islamic law. The essential features of Islamic criminal law are outlined and discussed.

Some scholars have argued that international human rights values should be interpreted, applied, and practiced by domestic cultural and religious ideals. Islamic criminal law is genuinely rooted in the revelations’ tests and as such is divinely based and driven, not to mention circuitously mingled with spirituality and ethics while instructing human dignity’s philosophies and life appreciation’s values. Given that the Islamic Human Rights Charter predates the Human Rights Declaration, we may not ask ourselves if Islamic law is compatible with human rights. Instead, this article asks which parts of Islamic criminal Shari’a (procedural) norms are similar to the Human Rights Declaration and how they are applied in each country.

As there is no way to truly know the detailed Islamic perspective on human rights, it is well established that the general norms support it. Instead of dwelling on an unwinnable debate, this article encourages moderate Muslim scholars to endeavour to prove the positive aspect that Islam does support human rights via moderate and flexible interpretation of the law.