Time for Mercy? A Reflection on the Death Penalty in Islam

Today is the day of inhumanity. It appears that over 1 million people have been killed in armed

conflict since the year 2000 including Iraq, Syria, Darfur, The Congo, Afghanistan, and more. There

are over 50 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, the highest since the records began, and

with no end in sight.

Islam holds the answer, a path to peace, say 2 billion Muslims, one quarter of the world's

population. Yet increasingly I hear from Muslims who are filled with vengeance and hatred following

their own pain, which further fuels the killing - the latest round taking place in Yemen as Saudi

coalition jets drop bombs on their Muslim neighbours. The Prophet pbuh taught us to return evil

with kindness, to practise forgiveness, to show mercy, and yet increasingly Muslims are turning to

revenge as their hearts are consumed with hatred for the other side, whoever that other side may

be.

Human life is devalued, as more and more we see mutilated bodies in our daily stream of social

media. Each new day I see even more dead kids; in the beginning these images used to have me

reaching for a bucket as I felt physically nauseous in horror, but now I'm starting to get used to

them. Such images mostly result in further hatred and yet even more killing. "These people are not

human" is a common cry I hear as we look on in bewilderment, yet the truth is we are all human,

and though we may refuse to believe this many of us would be driven to killing either directly or

indirectly if we were fed the same diet of bloodshed and hate propaganda that the killers consumed.

It is anger and hatred which overpowers us, which enables a human being to kill another human

being "without mercy". After being fed a daily diet of killing, eventually some people snap and an

extreme reaction may then follow, and increasing numbers join the holy fight and become killers

themselves.

I could talk about the hypocrisy of the West, about drone strike targeted killings or the 3000+ on

America's death row, or the thousands of people executed in secret in China each year, many of

whom are no doubt innocent. But I choose to look to our Muslim community for answers to the

problems of this seemingly heartless world, since it is we who were revealed The Recitation and

guided towards a path of mercy. But the Muslim dictators of this world are not doing anything to

promote peace, even though we were given the key to peace. Our Muslim oppressors promote the

message that greater punishment is required to kick the masses into order, to stop the 'fitna', but in

doing so they actually feed the hatred further and pour fuel on the fires that are burning. Their

disciplinary intolerant brand of Islam is seeing an increase in executions, limb amputations,

whippings, stonings, beheadings and in Saudi Arabia crucifixions even - yes that's right, crucifixion - I

can hardly bring myself to say the word so far distorted is it from the merciful message of Islam that I

love. What was set out in the Quran as an example of Pharaoh's barbarism, of those who transgress

and make corruption in the land was somehow taken out of context and twisted to become God's

law, and in so doing the so called leaders of our Islamic nation have become the ones sowing the

corruption - it's like the whole message of mercy has been turned on its head.

Speak out against the death penalty and I always hear the response "It's in the Quran - it's Islamic

law - how can you change God's law?". Slavery was also mentioned in the Quran - but that didn't

mean that Islam encouraged slavery. On the contrary, the freeing of slaves was encouraged in the

Quran throughout the life of The Prophet as indeed forgiveness and mercy was too.

One of the most frequently quoted surahs in the the Quran to justify the death penalty is 2:178-179

Translation from Sahih International:

"O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution for those murdered - the free

for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But whoever overlooks from

his brother anything, then there should be a suitable follow-up and payment to him with good

conduct. This is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy. But whoever transgresses after that

will have a painful punishment. And there is for you in legal retribution [saving of] life, O you

[people] of understanding, that you may become righteous." HQ 2:178-179

However, after considerable research I concluded that the phrase 'legal retribution' was an incorrect

translation, that should have been translated as 'narrations', as this verse was referring to the

previous narrated laws given to the Jewish people. I discuss my findings on this matter in depth here.

After careful research into these verses I feel concluded that this is a more accurate translation:

"O you who have been faithful, prescribed (written) over you were the narrations regarding

killing: the free man for the free man, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female.

Then whoever was forgiven by his brother for anything, then [there is] a following with

fairness, and [there is] a returning to him with goodness. This is a lightening [of load] for you

from your Lord and [it is] mercy. Then whoever transgresses after that, then for him is a painful

torment. And for you in these narrations is life, oh men of understanding, so that you may

become righteous."

These verses were explaining that mankind was previously given the 'life for a life' teaching to the

Jews, but then God brought mankind the teaching of forgiveness to lighten his load and to return his

fallen state back to goodness. This ties in perfectly with the Gospel (Good News) also brought to us

by the prophet Isa regarding the 'eye for an eye' teaching where he instead encouraged people to

'turn the other cheek' and practise forgiveness. In addition this message of mercy also fits perfectly

with the message transmitted in Surah 5:28 where Abel, "the better of Adam's two sons" says "If you

should raise your hand against me to kill me, I shall not raise my hand against you to kill you" and is

also confirmed in the following Hadith:

The word for 'retribution' in the Quran is 'intiqam' and it is revealed in these verses that God is 'The

Owner of Retribution', not man. Repeatedly we are reminded in the Quran of the judgement of God,

that His justice will come, and it is because of this that we can relieve ourselves of our own hatred

and anger, because we know that true justice is in His hands.

The executions we see taking place today are little to do with the promotion of justice, rather they

are implemented to promote fear, to stop anyone rising up against the corrupt and greedy 'leaders'

of this world that consume the world's riches for their own pleasure rather than sharing resources

with all the people as Islam guided us to do so. The Prophet pbuh lived like a poor man and gave

everything away that he could - how far removed are the leaders of today. Today's executions are

also used by corrupt governments to win popularity with their increasingly unhappy public who are

fed a diet of hate politics and calls for revenge. 'Support us, we are the rulers of order and stability

and we will give you the revenge you crave to heal your troubled souls' is the subliminal message

they transmit - yet the hunger for revenge is an appetite that will never be satisfied, but rather result

in more troubled souls calling for even greater killing.

But what about mercy? Where is mercy in Islam? Regarding Muhammad the Quran says:

"And not have we sent you except as a mercy to mankind." HQ 21:107

The Prophet demonstrated forgiveness of murderers throughout his life. There was a case of a lady

who tried to poison our Prophet, but when Muhammad realised what she had tried to do so he

asked her why she had done that, and she explained, and he listened. Muhammad's followers then

asked if they should kill her for plotting to take his life but he said no and instead he forgave her.

(There is one hadith that contradicts this account but numerous others confirm this story in its

entirety, with its message of forgiveness).

This wasn't the only time someone could have been punished for attempted murder of the Prophet,

there were actually a number of attempts on his life, but never did the Prophet punish those people.

In fact, Muhammad was so nice to those people who attempted his murder that sooner or later they

usually became his followers too.

Not only did the Prophet show mercy to those who tried to murder him, he also encouraged others

to show the same mercy too. This was one case of murder that was brought before the Prophet:

Here Muhammad did not order the man to show mercy, but he urged him to. Similarly the Quran

urges us to choose the right path, it provides guidance - it does not as some may think lay out a list

of black and white laws, dos and don'ts, but rather it teaches principles, encourages us to reflect and

offers guidance to the higher road. Here Muhammad urges the man to the right path, that of mercy,

not once, not twice or three times, but four times!

At the time of writing this blog post, I have the controversial case of Shafqat Hussain on my mind,

who was due to be executed on the 9th June. I just paused from writing this blog and took a short

break on Twitter, only to read the wonderful news that his execution has been halted, again, for the

fourth time. Is this coincidence? I came to learn that when you have faith, nothing is a coincidence. I

pray from the depth of my heart that Pakistan listens to this call to mercy - not just in the case of

Shafqat, but to all those 8,000 people now awaiting execution of death row, an estimated 800 of

whom are thought to have been sentenced to death when still children. This is an opportunity for

Pakistan to lead the way along the path of mercy, to halt these executions, and then maybe, just

maybe, the rest of the Ummah may follow, insha'Allah.

For sure the greatest act of mercy that our Prophet showed was towards the end of his life at what

could be argued was the pinnacle point of his mission, during the peaceful conquest of Mecca. As

10,000 Muslims were about to march into Mecca, many of the Muslims must have felt the urge to

revenge all the pain they had previously suffered at the hands of the Quraish, and one of them cried

out "this is the day of slaughter; when the inviolable shall be violated: the day of Gods abasement of

the Quraish". But Muhammad corrected him stating no, "this is the day of mercy, the day on which

God has exalted the Quraish" and gave strict orders to avoid bloodshed. They marched into Mecca

peacefully where he he looked straight in the face of the killers of his most beloved friends, and he

forgave them all, without exception. Subhan'Allah, what a victory indeed.

Every Surah (bar one) begins with the words Bismillah Alrahman Alraheem - in the name of God, the

Most Gracious, the Most Merciful - a constant reminder of the overriding quality of our Lord, that

we would be nothing without His mercy. In the Hadith Muhammad is stated to have said "When

Allah completed the creation, He wrote in His Book which is with Him on His Throne, 'My Mercy

overpowers My Anger.'"

We all need mercy, and we all expect mercy,but so many are willing to withhold it. And yet many

times in the Hadith we are reminded that "Allah will not be merciful to those who are not merciful to

mankind."

Muslims nations that refuse to show mercy should take heed, since it is also stated:

"The merciful are shown mercy by Ar-Rahman. Be merciful on the earth, and you will be shown mercy

from Who is above the heavens. The womb is named after Ar-Rahman, so whoever connects it, Allah

connects him, and whoever severs it, Allah severs him."

Isn't it time for us to start practising mercy? And until we practise mercy, how can we ever expect

mercy from Our Lord and a healing of our broken Ummah?

Muslims worldwide are eager to follow the profit in daily mannerisms, habits and dress, many men

growing a beard as our Prophet did, but less eager are people to adopt the same practises when it

comes to forgiveness. When I talk of the mercy shown by our Prophet I often hear the response 'that

was the Prophet and he was a perfect man - you can't expect me to do the same'. Instead of

encouragement towards mercy I hear Muslims making up their own version of the Quran. Here is

just one crazy tweet I received from a Muslim today on this topic: "Forgive the one who don't harm

and attack you But not the one kill your children Like the shia doing to sunni kids in Syria". Sadly I get

many comments like this, from many different Muslims, and no they are not all trolls, some of these

comments come from real people who really think like this. Let me say to these people: these

concepts of unforgiveness are not Islamic, they are not in the Quran, and they cannot be twisted

into the message of mercy without which our beloved Prophet would not have been sent.

I could argue that the evidence has clearly shown the death penalty does not work as a deterrent,

that to give any one person today a fair trial is extremely difficult and expensive, that in executing

any criminal you inflict even greater punishment on that person's family who have done no wrong,

and that thousands of people are and have been wrongly convicted and executed over the years. But

still even with these arguments that the death penalty simply does not make sense, to argue any of

this in a predominantly Muslim society you come up against the brick wall argument that 'This is

Islam - do not criticise it'.

But let me pause a moment to consider those innocent people on death row. In 2014, at least 2,466

people were sentenced to death worldwide - up 28% on 2013.I wonder how many of these people

truly had a fair trial? I wonder how many of these sentences were handed out to silence a political

opponent or to win public favour? In Islam everyone knows that to kill even one single innocent soul

is like killing the whole of mankind. And even when a fair trial is given, who can truly know the heart

of anyone? Let us remember when Muhammad said to Usammah who had killed a man in battle

who professed to be a Muslim 'Did you split his heart open to know whether he was saying the truth

or lying?'. For sure only truth can fully be determined by God, and we can never know for certain

what was is in a man's heart. We are prone to error despite our best intentions. Executing a person

in error cannot be undone. At least when you lock someone up for life then truth has the possibility

to emerge later, as has been demonstrated in many cases recently where dna has proven the

innocent of many people who were convicted of murder many years before. In the USA alone there

have been 329 people exonerated post conviction due to DNA evidence that was not previously

available, 20 of whom who had spent time on death row.

Here I put forward the case that the death penalty is not Islamic, any more than slavery is. Islam did

not outlaw the death penalty as it did not outlaw slavery either, but it guides us to a better path, and

that better path is that of mercy. And is it not time that we truly embraced that message, that we

took the high road, that we moved back to the path of mercy as demonstrated by our beloved

Prophet pbuh some 1380 years ago? And then insha'Allah, maybe Allah swt might bring his blessings

back to us.

I call on all Muslim leaders worldwide to reflect on our desperate condition, and to pray about this

matter, and to have the courage to demonstrate the mercy of which mankind is desperately in need.

We can start with this one act of mercy, to abolish the death penalty - please show mercy and then

mercy may be shown to us, and we might start to mend our broken land. Let's change this time of

inhumanity. Now is the time for mercy.

Thank-you for reading, your feedback is welcome. Allah knows best.

Jamila Hanan @jamilahanan

jamilahanan.blogspot.com

jamilahanan1@gmail.com

Below is a letter I wrote to Aftab Bahadur, an innocent young man who was wrongfully executed in

Pakistan on the morning of 10th June, 2015. You can read about his case here.

Wesdesday 10th June, 2015.

Dear Aftab,

This is a letter to the dead. Not you, I know you are alive. But really I am writing to the living dead:

the people who wrongfully arrested you when age just 15 for a crime you did not commit; the

people who tortured you and who said you could go free if you paid their bribe, but you did not have

the money to pay; the people who kept you locked up for 22 long years and who stole your life; the

people who showed no mercy but executed you for political gain whilst the real killer, whoever that

may be, walked free.

I knew of you just a very short time, maybe a few days at the most, before you were so cruelly

hanged in Pakistan in the early hours of this morning. But during that short period you touched my

heart and I know the hearts of thousands of other people too. I did what I think I could do in those

few days to help raise awareness about your plight, I'm sorry it wasn't enough. Maybe I could have

done something a little sooner, but maybe your fate was sealed a long time ago. Whatever the case,

we trust in Our Lord that all things happen for a reason and we will try to bring something good out

of your pain.

This is the first time I ever sat through a minute by minute countdown to an execution. It seems you

have gone through that many times, before they decided to complete their act of inhumanity. You

are one innocent soul, wrongfully executed, to join the many that went before you and sadly the

many yet to come. And throughout this world every day now innocent people are being killed, one

way or another. But every soul is important, and your life helped me to reconnect with that. When

they killed you, it's like they killed the whole of humanity, that's true.

Your words were in the newspapers and on YouTube too, they were profound. When I shut my eyes

to listen I didn't feel you were a stranger thousands of miles away in a different country, it was like

you were just there. Ah how I would have loved to meet you, and I hope one day I might have that

honour. I can imagine you now, so full of life, enjoying the beauty of God's perfect creation,

untainted by pollution, air so sweet, colours so vivid seen through eyes of perfect clarity. I can

imagine the peace you inhale that reaches deep into every part of your being. I can imagine you

smile now, after suffering for so long.

Twenty-two years in prison, oh that seems so very long. What did I do in twenty-two years? I started

a business, got married, had two children, 5 different cars, and can you believe I've lived in 9

different homes! What did you do every day, day after day, waiting to die? Your life was stolen from

you at the young age of 15, just as you were to become a man. And how your poor family must have

suffered, and are still suffering now, may God give them comfort and strength and peace that your

suffering is now over.

You are a Christian and I am a Muslim, you were born in Pakistan and I was born in England, we

speak different languages and our skin colour is of different tone, but I have no doubt we are

heading to the same destination where all our differences and misunderstandings will be explained. I

see no great divide between us, our differences are riches, we were born brothers and sisters in

mankind.

I don't know how they could kill you. I don't know how they can kill anyone but especially not you.

Your case was clear, your heart open, but still some people seem so blind. What makes a heart so

cold? Is it fear, or hatred, or greed? Is it that the truth is too painful to behold? I fail to understand,

but I must try. Understanding must be a key to healing our troubled world.

I don't know what happened to mercy, I don't know where it went. In Islam our Prophet Muhammad

came as a message of mercy to mankind, but it seems we lost that message somewhere along the

way. I was told this morning after your execution that campaigning for mercy is useless. Does that

sound funny to you? Because it sounds quite funny to me, that a Muslim should tell me such a thing,

since without mercy Muhammad peace be upon him didn't have a message - that's what it was all

about, the mercy, we were told. It says in our Hadith:

"The merciful are shown mercy by Ar-Rahman [The Merciful]. Be merciful on the earth, and you will

be shown mercy from Who is above the heavens. The womb is named after Ar-Rahman, so whoever

connects it, Allah connects him, and whoever severs it, Allah severs him."

So now honestly I am concerned for Pakistan, because there is a lot of hurt and resentment there

following all the violence and killings that have taken place especially over the past year. It seems a

lot of people want revenge, and it's the poor and vulnerable people like yourself that are at the

receiving end of this upset. It seems that the rich pay their way out of prison whilst the poor take

their place at the gallows, used as scapegoats so that corrupt leaders can say that they are delivering

'justice' - any poor scapegoat will do.

Worldwide there is growing unrest, growing pain resulting in ever increasing killing. At some point

people have to stop killing and learn how to forgive in their hearts and reconcile with their enemies

if we are to see peace. Reconciliation is so hard, but we must try, if we are to build a better future

for our children.

Some people ask me what my agenda is. This is another funny thing for me too. Why is it hard to

believe that some people dedicate their lives to the betterment of mankind? I guess I'm hard to trust

because I am British. Well I can't help that, that's just where I happened to be born, it doesn't make

me any less of a human being where I was born.

Some people are saying that the organisation Reprieve is corrupt or something like that - that's just

so crazy as well, I wish people would do their research before making such accusations. I wish people

would realise what an amazing man is Clive Stafford Smith who stands with people through their

darkest hour when the rest of the world has abandoned them. Reprieve is one of the most

honourable organisations I know of - and to suggest they have a Western agenda really is hilarious -

this organisation is like a thorn in the side to Western governments since they represent victims of

injustice in Western countries too and for the Muslim victims wrongly imprisoned and brutally

tortured in Guantanamo.

Just before you were executed I felt so nervous and sick, I can't imagine how much sicker and more

nervous you must have felt. Then when the appointed time arrived, 4.30 am, I imagined the hood

placed over your head and your body falling and jerking as your neck was strangled and your oxygen

was severed. Then I thought of you hanging still, and afterwards I felt so cold. And then I felt my

anger. But it's this anger that destroys the soul, I know that, so I resisted the anger, and writing this

letter has helped me channel that anger into action for change. Now we have a battle on our hands,

because there are 8,000 on the list to be executed in Pakistan and an estimated 800 of them are

thought to have been children when sentenced. And it is not just in Pakistan that the death penalty

has suddenly become fashionable, it is in many other countries too. I fear this is going to be a painful

year. But we will push on for mercy, in your memory, and I know that we do have God with us and

goodness will prevail in the end.

Thank-you for your life, may it shine forever in a better place where I hope to meet you one day,

insha'Allah.

Love and peace, from your new sister Jamila