CRIMES AND SENTENCES
Islam is not only a faith and spirituality: it is also a code of law, the Sharia, which governs Muslim societies. As such, Muslim jurists, called fuqahā’, have elaborated a set of texts that form Islamic law (in Arabic: fiqh). A true penal code, fiqh considers acts such as theft, apostasy, extramarital sexual relations, blasphemy, etc., as offenses. What sanctions are imposed on those found guilty of these crimes? In this section, we will scrutinize the punishments outlined by the fuqahā’ and examine their foundations, origins, methods of application, and so on.
