Death penalty is God’s law

THE EDITOR: On Wednesday night, during the news on one of the local television networks, a prominent attorney-at-law said, “we are stuck with the archaic law of the death penalty.” I believe that he said so because he is an advocate of the abolition of the death penalty. As a believer in God (Allah), I am convinced that “His Laws” can never be archaic. He commands that “the Law of Equality” must always be prescribed. In the case of murder it is a life for a life (Qur’an 2: 178-9). In Saudi Arabia the murderer is beheaded in public, and the hand of the thief is severed from the wrist in full view of the onlookers. As a result the majority of crimes occurring there are done by foreigners, and not by the Saudis. Even so the crime rate is negligible.

Punishment must be projected as a deterrent and a means of exacting justice. In the case of “willful murder” the bereaved family must get justice. In Islam, Allah commands the Muslims as follows: “Be just, as that is closer to piety (5:8). We ordained for the Children of Israel that, if anyone slew a person . . . it is as though he slew the whole of mankind. (5:32).” Crime continues to be on the rise because, among other things, the criminal feels “protected” by the State as a result of some of the man-made laws. So those who commit the crimes are fed by the State for some time and then freed. This is not exacting justice.

The murderer should be beheaded, the thief should have his hand chopped off, the adulterer should be stoned, the fornicator should be flogged, etc. And all of this should be done in the full view of the onlookers. Only then will there be any dent in curbing crime. It is interesting to know that in Islam the life of the murderer can be saved, if the family of the victim agrees to accept reasonable compensation from the murderer. But when one is convicted of willful murder, and in some cases pre-meditated, then the wheels of justice should roll quickly, and punishment exacted.

DR WAFFIE MOHAMMED
Claxton Bay