This study seeks to identify the major trends that have shaped the past history and present development of Shari'a ("Islamic Law") approaches to criminal justice and penology. It further attempts to show how the record of Islamic legal thought contrasts to the simplistic Western image of "Islamic law" as characterized by, or even limited to, harsh public punishments for minor offenses or sexual conduct of a sort no longer criminalized in the West.
The history and intellectual development of Muslim thought in the areas of criminal justice and penology are traced from early Islamicate times to the present day.1 The extensive development of Shari'a family, business, and other "civil" law through Islamicate history is contrasted to the general non application of Shari'a criminal law by Muslim rulers who judged it overly lenient and procedurally demanding for their needs, or even their subjects' protection. Only with the advent of the Western challenge which was felt in some parts of the Muslim world as early as the eighteenth century was renewed attention given to the study of Islamic criminology and penology. At the present date, no serious effort to codify and systematize Islamic criminal law has yet been made. The future development of an Islamic legal code, and the West's response, will be an important element in shaping the future relations of the Muslim world and the West.
1This usage, borrowed from Hodgson (1974) distinguishes features of Islam as a faith (called here "Islamic") from those which are characteristic of predominantly Muslim cultures, but are not part of Islam per se, which will be called here "Islamicate."
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
To most people in the West today, the phrase "Islamic justice" carries a negative connotation. In the popular Western mind, the image of "Islamic justice" is one of death, mutilation, or oth...