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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Rights of Prisoners According To Islamic Teachings Chapter 3: Islamic Penal Law - Criteria For Implementation Chapter 3: Islamic Penal Law - Criteria For Implementation [^1] Introduction It is the responsibility of society that anyone who suffers from any illness, physical or mental, receives the required treatment, even if the individual concerned caused his own illness.

Equally, it is the responsibility of society (towards a criminal) to rehabilitate him. Therefore any punishment must be based upon two related issues: Protecting society from the reoccurrence of crime, Rehabilitating the criminal as far as possible. Muslims use the laws that are based on Islamic teachings, and they may not make laws that are in contradiction to those teachings. The Muslim judge may therefore legislate within the framework of Islamic teachings.

The judge may prescribe the punishments for those offences that have not specifically been outlined in Islamic Shari'ah. He may prescribe the penalties for offences relating to 'secondary' laws, such as traffic regulations. [These regulations are implemented on the basis of the principle “no harm may reach anyone[^2]”]. Also a judge may, for example, prescribe the penalties for the employee who is in breach of his employment contract.

According to Islamic law, punishment may be classified into two groups: Those defined by Islamic law, known as Hadd [plural Hodud][^3]. Those not specifically defined by Islamic law. This category of punishment is referred to as Ta'zir. A judge may prescribe the Ta'zir punishment either for offences for which no specific punishment has been prescribed in Islamic law (such as defrauding, e.g. giving short measure), or for secondary offences such as traffic law violation.

The rights of prisoners according to Islamic teachings prescription of the Ta'zir punishment is made on the basis of the criteria detailed in Islamic law. The author has detailed in some other of his works[^4] that those acts that are defined as 'offences' under Islamic law are far less than those defined under man-made law found in western democracies. The ratio is 1 to 100 or even less.

This is because of the vast number of freedoms that are naturally available under Islamic law (but are suppressed under man-made laws). Only those acts are punishable if they are recognised as offences under Islamic law.