Understanding Islam — Page 190
WHAT IS SHARIAH? 188 insignificant in nature. The reality is that none of these punishments can be meted out in a corrupt society, as the extremists have wrong-headedly done. Further, many of these punishments such as death by stoning for adultery do not even have any basis whatsoever in the Holy Quran. The extremists tend to follow the self-styled stern opinions of some of the medieval scholars, on many occasions, to mete out their arbitrary punishments that have no grounds in the Holy Quran or the practice of Prophet Muhammad sa. This short treatise is not the place for a lengthy note on each of these punishments. However, in order to shed some light on this issue, let us take the example of the punishment for theft in Islam. The Holy Quran says: And as for the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands in retribution of their offence as an exemplary punishment from Allah. And Allah is Mighty, Wise. 7 To fully understand the purport of this verse, the Islamic philosophy of punishment has to first be