In the Name of Allāh,

the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful

Praise is due to Allāh, Lord of the worlds, may the blessings and peace be upon our master Muḥammad, the last of prophets, on his family, and all his companions.

Resolution No. 192 (7/20)

Capital Punishment from an Islamic Perspective

The Council of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, holding its 20th session in Oran, People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, on 26 Shawwāl – 2 Dhū al-Qi’dah 1433h (13–18 September 2012),

Having examined the research papers submitted to the Academy concerning

Capital Punishment from the Islamic Perspective, Having listened to the discussions on the subject,

Having recalled that Islam, with its ethical values based on the preserva- tion of human rights as a core element, has played an influential historical role in keeping the application of the death sentence at a bare minimum level, at a time when other nations extensively adopted it. Such a fact is clearly mani- fested in terms of its legal maxims, which call for “immunity of human blood”, “warding off penalties with suspicions”, and “desirability of prudence in decid- ing blood penalties”,

Resolves

1. Capital sentence constitutes an element of the punitive system necessary for protecting supreme interests of human societies, and is considered quite suited with the crime a felon commits according to Shari’ah max- Therefore, the suspicions raised against this punishment and calls for its absolute abolishment have no legal or intellectual justification.
2. Capital punishment is the act of depriving the criminal of the right of living by a fair judicial sentence.
3. A verdict of capital Punishment should not be decided unless it is verified through Shariah-acknowledgeable procedures that the criminal has com- mitted a crime which makes him liable to it.
4. Capital Punishment can only be inflicted on the basis of an explicit leg- islative text derived from Shariah.
5. Sufficient guarantees must be provided to prevent severity in the execu-

tion of capital punishment or deciding it by mistake.

6. All possible safeguards should be adopted to mitigate crimes that entail capital punishment and, hence, leave no excuse for the criminal who becomes liable to it.
7. The suitable means through which capital punishment is to be executed is left to each Muslim country to decide within the boundaries of Shariah’s general rules and objectives.

Indeed, Allāh is All-Knowing.