Abstract

Chapter 5 analyses retaliation in kind, or qisas, in Islamic jurisprudence and the Islamic Penal Code. To this end, the theoretical bases of qisas punishment in the context of Shiite Islamic jurisprudence are discussed with respect to fundamental issues such as the philosophy and nature of qisas in the Quran and tradition, and the concept of life and its duality in nature. This chapter proceeds with a critical analysis of how qisas law categorically violates Non-Muslims’ and women’s rights to equal treatment and how the Islamic Penal Code empowers the public to administer justice at their discretion, namely the decriminalization of honour killing and homicide of so-called wasted-blood people. This chapter closes with principled criticisms of the authorization of ordinary people to enjoy the right to engage in honour killing and homicide of the wasted-blood people (extrajudicial killings) from the perspectives of fundamental principles of criminal justice and international human rights instruments.