| Answer: The basic purpose of all punishments is to
prevent a criminal from committing the crime in future as well as to
discourage others from doing so. Islam prescribes the punishment of Qisās
for criminals who intentionally murder or hurt someone. Qisās is from Qisās,
which means to follow someone along his footsteps. From this meaning, the
word was used for the punishment in which the criminal is treated in the
same way as he himself had treated the other person while committing the
crime. While referring to the Torah in Sūrah Mā’idah, the Qur’ān says:
And We enjoined for them therein: life for life, eye
for eye, nose for nose, ear for ear, tooth for tooth, and similarly Qisās
for other wounds. Then he who forgoes [retaliation], his remission is an
atonement for the criminal. And those who do not judge according to what
Allah has revealed, it is they who are the wrongdoers. (5:45)
The verse alludes to a fundamental principle of the
Islamic penal code: Complete equality should be observed in exacting Qisās
from a criminal in all cases. Consequently, if in a certain case, due to the
nature of the wound, it cannot be guaranteed that the amount of damage
inflicted on the criminal will not exceed the damage he himself had caused,
a lesser form of the punishment should be administered, or the affair should
be settled by demanding Dīyah from the criminal.
In the light of these details, it is up to the judge
to decide whether, in the case of someone spilling acid on a person, the
criminal can be punished in exactly the same way. If he is satisfied with
the ‘equality of the outcome’, he can order for such a punishment. If this
equality cannot be guaranteed, a lesser form of the same punishment should
be given. |