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The penal laws of Islam are called Hudud in the Hadith and
Fiqh. This word is the plural of Hadd, which means prevention,
hindrance, restraint, prohibition, and hence a restrictive
ordinance or statute of God, respecting things lawful and
unlawful.
Punishments are divided into two classes, one of which is
called Hadd and the other Ta'zir. The Hadd is a measure of
punishment defined by the Qur'an and the Sunnah. In Ta'zir,
the court, is allowed to use its discretion in regard to the
form and measure in which such punishment is to be inflicted.
Punishments by way of Hadd are of the following forms:
death by stoning, amputation of a limb or limbs, flogging by
one hundred or eighty strokes. They are prescribed
respectively for the following offences: adultery committed by
married persons, theft, highway robbery, drunkenness and
slander imputing unchastity to women.
The punishments described above are the maximum punishments
for the above mentioned crimes. These can be reduced keeping
in view the circumstances in which the crimes were committed,
the nature of the evidence, and the motive of the criminal
with which he committed the crime.
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