RSB11Crime and Punishment: Justice, Crime, Good, Evil and Suffering

Justice means fairness: giving each person what they are due and putting wrongs right. Muslims believe Allah is al-‘Adl, the Just, and commands people to be just.

• Surah 4:135: ‘Be ye staunch in justice, witnesses for Allah, even though it be against yourselves or (your) parents or (your) kindred, whether (the case be of) a rich man or a poor man’ (Pickthall’s translation). Justice applies to everyone, even family and oneself.
• Surah 5:8: ‘let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly’ (Pickthall’s translation). Muslims must be fair even to enemies.
• Surah 16:90: ‘Allah enjoineth justice and kindness’: justice goes together with kindness.
• Why justice is important for Muslims: Allah commands it; it reflects Allah’s own nature; everyone is equal before Allah; it protects the weak; and Allah will judge every person with perfect justice on the Day of Judgement.
• Muslim scholars teach that Shari’ah aims to protect five things: life, religion, mind, family and property. Justice protects all of them.

Justice

Fairness: everyone receiving what they are due, and wrongs being put right.

al-‘Adl

‘The Just’: one of the names of Allah.

Shari’ah

Islamic law and way of life, based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

The spec asks why justice is important for victims, and how Muslims respond.

• Recognition: justice shows the victim was really wronged and their suffering matters. The Qur’an tells Muslims to stand up for justice even against relatives (4:135).
• Putting things right: stolen property should be returned (Allah commands ‘that ye restore deposits to their owners’, 4:58, Pickthall’s translation); in Islamic law the family of someone killed or injured may receive compensation (diyah).
• A voice for the victim: in cases of killing or injury, Shari’ah gives the victim’s family a say: they may ask for the legal penalty, accept compensation or forgive. The Qur’an teaches that a wrong may be answered by its like, ‘but whosoever pardoneth and amendeth, his wage is the affair of Allah’ (42:40, Pickthall’s translation).
• Safety: justice protects victims, and others, from further harm.
• Peace of mind: victims can move on, and trust that, even if human courts fail, Allah will judge with perfect fairness.
• Muslim responses today: supporting victims through the mosque community, giving practical and financial help, and encouraging forgiveness where the victim chooses it, never forcing it.

Victim

A person harmed by a crime.

Diyah

Compensation paid to a victim or their family in Islamic law.

The spec asks about non-religious attitudes (including atheist and Humanist) to why justice matters ‘regardless of religion and belief’, and how Muslims respond.

• Atheists and Humanists believe justice matters because it makes a fair, safe society where everyone can flourish. They base morality on reason, evidence, empathy and concern for others, not on God.
• Human rights: every person has equal rights and dignity, whatever their beliefs; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) says all are equal before the law.
• Social contract: some philosophers argue people agree to fair rules so that everyone is protected. Justice is a human agreement that can be improved by debate and democracy.
• Humanists UK campaigns for human rights and equal treatment for people of every belief and none, and trains non-religious pastoral carers who support people in prisons and hospitals.
• Muslim responses: agreement. Muslims agree that justice matters for everyone, believer or not: the Qur’an commands fairness even towards people one dislikes (5:8). Muslims can work with non-religious people for fair laws.
• Muslim responses: disagreement. Muslims believe justice comes from Allah, not just from human agreement, so its standards don’t change with opinion. Human courts can fail, but Allah’s judgement on the Last Day is perfect, so justice is never finally denied.

Humanist

A person who lives ethically using reason, empathy and concern for others, without belief in God.

Atheist

A person who believes there is no God.

Human rights

The basic rights and freedoms every person has, such as a fair trial.

A crime is an action that breaks the law of the land. A sin is an action that goes against Allah’s will. Many crimes, such as theft and violence, are also sins.

• The problem of crime: it harms victims, spreads fear, breaks trust in communities, costs society money and damages the offender’s own life and relationship with Allah.
• Shari’ah groups offences in three ways: hudud (fixed punishments for a few crimes named in the Qur’an), qisas (equal retaliation for murder and injury, where the victim’s family may accept compensation or forgive) and ta’zir (other offences, where a judge decides).
• Hudud punishments need very strict evidence and, in most Muslim-majority countries, are rarely or never used. Muslims disagree about how, and whether, they should be applied today (taught with punishment).
• Muslims in Britain follow UK law, made by Parliament. Most scholars teach that Muslims must keep their agreements and the law of the country they live in (the Qur’an commands ‘Fulfil the covenant of Allah when ye have covenanted’, 16:91, Pickthall’s translation).
• Some acts are sins but not crimes in the UK (e.g. drinking alcohol); Muslims avoid them for religious reasons, not legal ones.

How classical Islamic law groups crimes, and the place of UK law

Crime

An action that breaks the law of the land.

Sin

An action that goes against the will of Allah.

Hudud

Fixed punishments in Shari’ah for a small number of serious crimes named in the Qur’an.

Qisas

Equal retaliation for murder and injury; the victim’s family may accept compensation or forgive.

Ta’zir

Punishments a judge decides for offences without a fixed penalty.

Pearson asks about the causes of crime and Muslim teachings and responses to them.

• Surah 16:90: ‘Allah enjoineth justice and kindness, and giving to kinsfolk, and forbiddeth lewdness and abomination and wickedness’ (Pickthall’s translation).
• 16:91–92: keep your promises and oaths, and don’t be like a woman who unravels her thread after spinning it strong. Muslims read this as a call to honesty and to keeping the rules they have agreed to.
• Poverty: crime may come from need. Islam’s answer is Zakah and charity, so no one should have to steal to survive.
• Addiction: alcohol, drugs and gambling can lead to crime, which is one reason Islam forbids them (5:90).
• Greed and envy: wanting more than one has. The Qur’an warns against taking others’ property wrongfully (2:188).
• Upbringing, peer pressure and hatred: Muslims stress family, the mosque community and the equality of all people (49:13).
• Free will and Shaytan: Muslims believe humans choose, but Shaytan whispers temptation, so people must resist it.

Some causes of crime and how Muslims respond to each

Shaytan

The devil, who Muslims believe tempts humans to do wrong.

The spec says Muslims see crime as a distraction from a focus on Allah. Life is meant to be lived in remembrance of Allah; crime pulls a person away from it.

• Qur’an 5:91: ‘Satan seeketh only to cast among you enmity and hatred by means of strong drink and games of chance, and to turn you from remembrance of Allah and from (His) worship’ (Pickthall’s translation).
• Crime puts selfish wants, such as money, revenge or pleasure, in Allah’s place, which some Muslims compare to hidden shirk.
• It damages the habits that keep Muslims close to Allah: someone involved in crime may stop praying, feel ashamed to go to the mosque or lose their faith community.
• It harms others, and Muslims believe wrongs against people must be put right with them, not only confessed to Allah.
• The answer: Salah, which ‘preserveth from lewdness and iniquity’ (29:45, Pickthall’s translation); remembrance of Allah (dhikr); repentance (tawbah); and good company.

Dhikr

Remembrance of Allah, through prayer and repeating his names.

Tawbah

Repentance: turning back to Allah and asking forgiveness.

The spec asks what Muslim individuals and groups do to end crime, and names two organisations.

• The duty: the Qur’an praises a community that will ‘enjoin right conduct and forbid indecency’ (3:104, Pickthall’s translation). A saying of the Prophet in Sahih Muslim teaches that whoever sees a wrong should change it with their hand, or else their tongue, or at least hate it in their heart.
• The Muslim Chaplains’ Association: a registered charity (set up in 2009, based at HMP Feltham) that supports Muslim chaplains working in prisons. Chaplains lead prayers, teach and counsel prisoners, and help them prepare for release, aiming to reduce reoffending.
• Mosaic (Pearson’s spec calls it ‘the Mosaic Community Trust’): founded in 2007 by the then Prince of Wales to mentor young people, including young Muslim offenders near release from prison. It moved to The Prince’s Trust in 2016 and is now King’s Trust Mosaic, which mentors 11–18-year-olds in schools to build confidence and aspiration.
• Mosques and local groups run youth clubs, sports and homework clubs, and speak out against knife crime and drugs.
• Individuals give Zakah to reduce poverty, report crime, volunteer as mentors or prison visitors, and set an honest example to their families.

Chaplain

A religious leader who serves in a prison, hospital or other institution.

Reoffending

Committing another crime after being punished for one.

Muslims believe Allah created humans with free will, to choose between good and evil, and that every action will be rewarded or punished.

• Good actions obey Allah and help others: prayer, charity, honesty, kindness to parents and neighbours (4:36), and caring for the needy.
• Intention matters: a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim teaches that actions are judged by their intentions. A good deed done to show off is not truly good.
• Rewarded in this life: ‘Whosoever doeth right… him verily we shall quicken with good life’ (16:97, Pickthall’s translation): peace, contentment and Allah’s blessing.
• Rewarded after death: a good deed is multiplied ‘tenfold’, while a bad deed is counted once (6:160); the righteous enter paradise.
• Evil actions go against Allah’s will: shirk, injustice, cruelty, lying and crime. Muslims believe Shaytan tempts people to do them.
• Evil actions are punished on the Day of Judgement, but Allah forgives those who sincerely repent, and may even change their evil deeds into good (25:70). Even ‘an atom’s weight’ of good or ill will be seen (99:7–8).

Good action

An action that follows Allah’s will and benefits others, done with a sincere intention.

Evil action

An action that goes against Allah’s will and harms oneself or others.

Niyyah

Intention: Muslims believe Allah judges actions by it.

Muslims give different (divergent) explanations of why people suffer. Most hold several together.

• A test: ‘surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to the steadfast’ (2:155, Pickthall’s translation). Life itself is created to test ‘which of you is best in conduct’ (67:2).
• Surah 76: Allah creates humans ‘to test him’ (76:2) and shows them the way, ‘whether he be grateful or disbelieving’ (76:3). The righteous ‘feed with food the needy wretch, the orphan and the prisoner, for love of Him’ (76:8), and are rewarded ‘for all that they endured’ (76:12).
• Human choices: much suffering comes from what people do: ‘Corruption doth appear on land and sea because of (the evil) which men’s hands have done’ (30:41).
• Purification: a saying of the Prophet in Sahih al-Bukhari teaches that no hardship befalls a Muslim, even the prick of a thorn, without Allah removing some of their sins by it.
• Beyond understanding: Allah is wise and just, and humans can’t see the whole picture; with hardship comes ease (94:5–6).
• Sunni and Shi’a emphases: many Sunni scholars stress that everything, including suffering, happens by Allah’s decree; Shi’a teaching on Adalat stresses that Allah never does wrong, so evil comes from creatures’ choices, never from Allah.
• Response: patience (sabr), prayer, trust in Allah, and helping those who suffer, as Surah 76 describes.

Muslim and non-religious explanations of suffering

Suffering

Pain, loss or distress, caused by nature or by humans.

Sabr

Patience and steadfastness in hardship.

The spec asks about non-religious attitudes (including atheist and Humanist) to why people suffer, ‘including believing in religion’, and Muslim responses.

• Natural causes: earthquakes, floods and illness happen because of natural processes, not for a purpose.
• Human causes: war, crime, poverty and neglect come from human choices and can be reduced by human effort, science and fair laws.
• Chance: suffering is often bad luck; no one deserves it.
• Evidence against God: many atheists argue that so much suffering shows there is no all-powerful, all-loving God.
• Religion as a cause: some atheists and Humanists argue that religion itself can cause suffering, for example through conflicts between religious groups, guilt or fear of hell, or treating people unequally.
• Muslim responses: suffering is a test with a purpose, not random (2:155); much of it is caused by humans misusing free will, which Allah gives so that choices are real; this life is short compared with the Akhirah, where all wrongs are put right; people who do harm in the name of religion go against its teaching, while faith inspires huge amounts of charity and care.

Natural suffering

Suffering caused by nature, such as disease or earthquakes.

Human-caused suffering

Suffering caused by people’s choices, such as war or crime.