Capital punishment in Islam was traditionally regulated by Sharia, the religious law in Islam that comes from the Hadith that lists the sayings and practices of Muhammad. Crimes according to the Sharia laws which could result in capital punishment include murder, rape, adultery, and etc. Though punishments don't often come directly from the Quran, the ideas of certain types of punishments in accordance to crimes committed, can be brought up such as how Islamic ScholarNuman Ali Khan in a short YouTube video says, "there are many passages where certain things are highlighted more than other". The reason why there are capital punishments in Islam is to regulate and make sure that humanity is still intact with society which is why the forms of punishments have evolved as time changed to adapt to the ways of living in this life where Islam is also evolving and growing. In the modern era most Muslim-majority countries adopted criminal legal codes based on European models which has also caused controversy around the World because it was deemed as inhumane as the UN says. Legal forms of capital punishment vary among Islamic countries.
Examples
The Quran states, However, there are no Quranic verse that supports the method of stoning in Islam among humans as punishment, but it is presented as a metaphor in Surah 27, Ayat 58, "And We rained upon them a rain , and evil was the rain of those who were warned" translated by Sahih International which also warns Muslims about possible punishments for sinning/committing a crime. The roots of this method of execution are to be explored in pre-Islamic religions, especially in Judaism and Torah, in which stoning is a frequent method of execution. That said, capital punishment by stoning for zina is prescribed in Hadith, the books most trusted in Islam after Quran, particularly in Kitab Al-Hudud. In the four primary schools of Sunnifiqh and the two primary schools of Shi'a fiqh, certain types of crimes mandate capital punishment. Certain hudud crimes, for example, are considered crimes against Allah and require capital punishment in public. These include apostasy, fasad and zina. Qisas is another category of sentencing where sharia permits capital punishment, for intentional or unintentional murder. In the case of death, sharia gives the murder victim's nearest relative or Wali a right to, if the court approves, take the life of the killer. Further, in case of Qisas-related capital punishment, sharia offers the victim's guardian the option of Diyya. In several Islamic countries such as Sunni Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, as well as Shia Iran, both hudud and qisas type capital punishment is part of the legal system and in use. In others, there is a variation in the use of capital punishment. Capital punishment for apostasy in Islam and stoning to death in Islam are controversial topics. Similarly, the discriminatory option between capital punishment and monetary compensation for crimes such as murder is controversial as well, where jurists have asked if poor offenders face trial and capital punishment while wealthy offenders avoid even a trial by paying off Qisas compensation. Lethal stoning and beheading in public under sharia is controversial for being a cruel form of capital punishment. These forms of execution remain part of the law enforced in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iran and Mauritania.
