• Are severe and harsh punishments not considered a sort of violence?

First: Studying the Philosophy of Penal Laws and Punishments There are narrations about the philosophy of execution of penal laws and punishments clarifying our insight into these Islamic punishments.

Consider the following two samples: 1) (S) says: اقامة حد خیر من مطر اربعین صباحاً “Execution of any penal law or punishment is better than forty days of rainfall.” (4) As you see, in this prophetic narration, penal laws and punishments resembled rain, and execution of any law (even the least form) is called better than forty days of rainfall.

The narration implies that as rain is a mercy of God, and God sends it down for the people of the earth, divine penal laws too are a sort of divine blessing. In fact, the execution of Islamic punishments washes away the filth from society like rain and purifies it from pollution.

For instance, if one disturbs public security in society, and violates people’s souls, wealth and honour such that a part of society is threatened, he will be an outlaw and the punishment of an outlaw will guarantee security in the society. It washes away terror, fear and insecurity from society.

Those who produce and distribute narcotics in an Islamic society, destroy the youths through this great crime, and corrupt the country for achieving their own personal interests and profits, shall be punished for corrupting the earth. Can we call the Islamic penal laws as resembled rain here? We believe that such individuals and groups are liable to Islamic punishments.

If they are not punished, God will not leave them, and they will be involved in the consequences and adversities caused by their corrupt activities.