What is the punishment under Sharia law for murder?

Answer 1

You either pay the "blood money" (in other words - an amount of cash which is acceptable to the relatives of the victim) or if you are unable to do so you are executed.
You can also be released if the relatives of the victim pardon you even without payment of blood money.
This is the law in Saudi Arabia.

Answer 2

Punishment For Murderers In Islam

Answer 3

The family of the murdered person have the right to chose the punishment. They can ask for money, execution, castration etc.
This is an extreme interpretation of the Sharia, not practised in all countries operating under the Sharia.

Answer 4

relies upon on the style of Shariah regulation being applied. Taliban might want to guage the Indonesian scarf whorelike, some Muslims argue that the Quran in basic terms asks females to disguise their chest & genitals. So even bikinis might want to be allowed. Punishment too might want to variety from gentle lashing to stoning.

Answer 5

Murder the victim

Answer 6

For murder should be punishment as murder.
But if the killer is forgiven by the family of victim- he has to pay them certain amount of money...

Answer 7

Under actual sharia law the forgiveness or blood money only applies for accidents and negligence! But under,retarded Saudi,law , wait Saudi doesn't have any laws! The,judges give whatever punishment they please

Answer 8

The Arabic word Sharia refers to the way of life encouraged by Allah, or God, in the Islamic holy text, the Koran. Though some people call Sharia Koranic law, Sharia is more an interpretation of religious practices outlined in the Koran.

Interpreted by strict, conservative Muslims and fashioned into legal code, Sharia calls for punishments such as the severing of limbs, stoning, hanging and flogging, or beating.

But scholars observe the code is more than just harsh sentences for crimes.

"When people think about Sharia law, they often think about the penalties for certain crimes," Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of Masjid al-Farah in New York City told Frontline.

"They don't think about the sum total of Islamic law and its jurisprudence, which means the underlying structure and philosophy and understanding of how you arrive at what we call the Islamically correct decision. You do not define Sharia law by just a couple of penalties."

Not all Muslim countries practice Sharia. In countries like Jordan in the Middle East and Mauritania and Morocco in North Africa, Nigerian school boysIslam pervades the culture and way of life of the citizens in areas such as education and dress, but not the legal codes. Turkey, another majority Muslim country, maintains a strict rule of secularism, or formal separation of government and religion, and turns away from Islamic law.

Countries that do practice Sharia include Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Malaysia. In Saudi Arabia, perhaps the most well known practitioner of strict Islamic law, moderate Saudis have called for a less extreme form of the law.

In Nigeria, the institution of Sharia in 1999 in 12 of the country's 36 states, led to violent clashes between the country's Christians and Muslims.

Christians and human rights groups accused Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo of ignoring the plight of citizens -- both Christian and Muslim -- subjected to Sharia law and called on the president to overrule state laws. To date, only one person has been put to death in Nigeria under Sharia, a man who was hung on murder charges.

Sharia law and women


Lawal's case drew international attention and led to protests in countries like South Africa, where hundreds of women marched through the streets. Their main argument was that Sharia courts, and the conservative male judges who decide penalties, discriminate against women. Though the father of Lawal's child also faced charges, he denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted earlier in the trial.

"We do not have in modern times any state which has Nigeria mapintroduced Sharia and has been able to respect women's rights," said Ziba Mir Hosseini, author of the book "Islam and Gender."

According to a BBC report, one human rights report in Pakistan showed that of the 1,800 women in jail in Pakistan, 80 percent of those were there for offenses under Islamic law. Far fewer men are in jail under the same laws.

Intersections of religion and law


While critics of Sharia are calling for the separation of mosque and state in some Islamic countries, critics of Western legal systems also question the separation of church and state in countries including England, which has a state church.

Some critics of America's use of the death penalty, including the United Nations and many European countries, argue that capital punishment is based on the biblical notion of "an eye for an eye."

During a 2002 discussion on religion and the death penalty, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who supports the death penalty, pointed out that, historically, people in Western societies believed that governments were empowered by God and therefore had the right to impose harsh penalties.

"The core of [St. Paul's] message is that government, however you want to limit that concept, derives its moral authority from Antonin ScaliaGod. It is the minister of God with powers to revenge, to execute wrath, including even wrath by the sword, which is unmistakably a reference to the death penalty," he said.

In arguing for the morality of the death penalty, Scalia said, "In the words of one of the Supreme Court's religion cases in the days when we understood the religion clauses better than I think we now do - 'we are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a supreme being.'"

Scalia added that the emergence of democracy - which heralded the idea of the separation of church and state - challenged traditional ideas of government and its ability to enforce harsh punishment.

One thing is certain, the diversity within both Western and Muslim countries ensures that the debate over the intersection of religion, law and punishment will continue.

Answer 9

Blood money for the victim's family... or death.

EDIT: as yoyoda said, you can also be pardoned by the family of the victim if they so desire.

Answer 10

And it was narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“A man will continue to be sound in his religion so long as he does not shed blood which it is forbidden to shed.”

If you killed a believer deliberately, then there are three rights which are connected to that: the rights of Allaah, the rights of the victim and the rights of the victim’s next of kin.

With regard to the rights of Allaah: if you repent sincerely to your Lord, then Allaah will accept your repentance, because He says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Say: “O ‘Ibaadi (My slaves) who have transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair not of the Mercy of Allaah, verily, Allaah forgives all sins. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” [al-Zumar 39:53]

With regard to the rights of the victim, he is not alive so you cannot put things right with him. The matter has to wait until the Day of Resurrection, i.e., the settling of scores with you on behalf of the victim will take place on the Day of Resurrection. But I hope that if your repentance is correct and is accepted by Allaah, then Allaah will compensate the victim with what He wills of His bounty until he is satisfied, and you will be reprieved.

With regard to the rights of the victim’s next of kin, which is the third right, you cannot be absolved of this until you hand yourself over to them. Therefore you have to hand yourself over to the victim’s next of kin, and tell them that you are the one who killed him, then they have the choice. If they want to they can exact vengeance upon you, if the conditions of qasaas are met; or if they want to they may take the diyah (blood money) from you; or if they want to they can forgive you.

Killing a non-Muslim when he is a mu’aahid (one of those who have a peace treaty with the Muslims) is a sin, one of the major sins. Al-Bukhaari narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas (may Allaah be pleased with them both) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever kills a mu’aahid will not smell the fragrance of Paradise, even though its fragrance may detected from a distance of forty days.’”

The expiation for accidental killing is to free a slave; if the person cannot do that then he must fast for two consecutive months, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“and if he belonged to a people with whom you have a treaty of mutual alliance, compensation (blood money — Diya) must be paid to his family, and a believing slave must be freed. And whoso finds this (the penance of freeing a slave) beyond his means, he must fast for two consecutive months in order to seek repentance from Allaah. And Allaah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise”

[al-Nisa’ 4:92]