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Honor Killings Islam - Studies of Islam - Posted: 21st Oct, 2009 - 10:50pm
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Honour Murder
Honor Killings In Islam
Honor Killings in Islam
I would like to know what is the position of Islam concerning honor killings. Is it acceptable? Is it against it? I was searching about it and I found the following:
QUOTE Honor killing is forbidden in mainstream interpretations of Islam.[11] There is no specific mention of the practice in the Qur'an or Hadiths except in so far as the custom of killing baby girls to protect the family honor, which is specifically condemned in the Qur'an, was a form of honor killing. An honor killing refers specifically to extra-legal punishment by the family against the woman, and it is often argued that this is technically forbidden by the Sharia (Islamic law). Some modern Islamic religious authorities and Muslims disagree with extra-legal punishments such as honor killing and prohibit it, since they consider the practice to be a cultural issue.[12] They believe that since certain pre-Islamic cultures have influence over a number of Muslims, murderers of females use Islam to justify honor killing, even though there is no support for the act in the religion itself. The death penalty cannot always be applied in the Sharia as murders are a type of "qisas" ("retaliation") crime. This means that the deceased's family should be offered the choice of capital punishment or "diya" ("blood money") and no execution can take place without them opting for death. Because a relative(s) is usually responsible for the honor killing, it is unlikely that the deceased's family will punish one of their own for the crime.[13]. However other punishments can be legislated and the murderer cannot pardon himself [9].
The execution of the Saudi Arabian princess Misha'al is an example of a judicial honor killing, in which the execution did not follow any Islamic religious court proceeding, but was ordered directly by her grandfather.
Interpretations of these rules vary. Some Arabs regard it as their right under both tradition and Sharia (by the process of urf), though this contradicts the views of many Islamic scholars (fuqaha). For the Shias, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran has condemned the practice as "un-Islamic", though punishment under Iranian law remains lenient. In certain Muslim regions like Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, honor killings are little known, as also in parts of West Africa with majority-Muslim populations. [10] According to Sheikh Atiyyah Saqr, former head of the al-Azhar University Fatwa Committee (one of the oldest and most prestigious in the Muslim world):
  Like all other religions, Islam strictly prohibits murder and killing without legal justification. Allah, Most High, says, "Whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose, his reward is Hell for ever. Allah is wroth against him and He hath cursed him and prepared for him an awful doom." (An-Nisa": 93) The so-called "honor killing" is based on ignorance and disregard of morals and laws, which cannot be abolished except by disciplinary punishments. [12]
This opinion makes a clear distinction between "hudud" crimes, which have specified legal penalty in Islamic law, and "ta`zir" offenses, which can have a discretionary punishment decided by the judge. Honor killings are ta'zir crimes, not hudud ones, meaning that any punishment is either culturally defined, or is established by secular law.
The execution of the Saudi Arabian princess Misha'al is an example of a judicial honor killing, in which the execution did not follow any Islamic religious court proceeding, but was ordered directly by her grandfather.
Interpretations of these rules vary. Some Arabs regard it as their right under both tradition and Sharia (by the process of urf), though this contradicts the views of many Islamic scholars (fuqaha). For the Shias, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran has condemned the practice as "un-Islamic", though punishment under Iranian law remains lenient. In certain Muslim regions like Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, honor killings are little known, as also in parts of West Africa with majority-Muslim populations. [10] According to Sheikh Atiyyah Saqr, former head of the al-Azhar University Fatwa Committee (one of the oldest and most prestigious in the Muslim world):
  Like all other religions, Islam strictly prohibits murder and killing without legal justification. Allah, Most High, says, "Whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose, his reward is Hell for ever. Allah is wroth against him and He hath cursed him and prepared for him an awful doom." (An-Nisa": 93) The so-called "honor killing" is based on ignorance and disregard of morals and laws, which cannot be abolished except by disciplinary punishments. [12]
This opinion makes a clear distinction between "hudud" crimes, which have specified legal penalty in Islamic law, and "ta`zir" offenses, which can have a discretionary punishment decided by the judge. Honor killings are ta'zir crimes, not hudud ones, meaning that any punishment is either culturally defined, or is established by secular law.
Source 7
Why is it that different Muslims have a different opinion about it? Is it because there are different "branches" within Islam?
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Post Date: 31st May, 2007 - 12:46am / Post ID: #
Islam Killings Honor
I didnt see any different opinion stated in that article. Honour killings are murder and unislamic full stop. Only the state has the permission to carry out any punishment and extra-legal punishment is not allowed.
However there is a slight complication in islamic law for punishment.
Murder is normally punished through a process of Qisas (retaliation). The family of the deceased is given the option whether to exact revenge in the form of capital punishment or to accept blood money. However in the case of honour killings normally it is a family member who commits the crime it becomes complicated for the family of the deceased because they may choose not to carry out retaliation and accept blood money instead.
Honor Killings In Islam Islam Studies
Please elaborate on blood money. From Wikipedia I get:
| QUOTE |
| A common meaning in other contexts is the money-penalty paid by a murderer to the kinsfolk of the victim. These fines completely protect the offender (or the kinsfolk thereof) from the vengeance of the injured family. |
Does this mean that the injured family feels they have some sort of right to take vengeance on the murderer's relatives? Why is the word 'completely' used along with protection?
What is the amount normally paid?
Would an 'honor' killing wherein the husband of the victim whose in-laws were displeased and carried out the honor killing upon his wife, would the husband in this case be entitled to blood money?
Post Date: 3rd Jun, 2007 - 10:47pm / Post ID: #
Islam Killings Honor
Good questions:
Qisas or retaliation is only carried out on the murderer not on the relatives of the murderer.
If the family of the victim choose to recieve blood-money then the murderer cannot be retaliated against and hence he is immune from punishment by death.
Blood-money can be one of the following:
100 camels
200 cows
1000 sheep
1000 dinars (approx 1dinar = 3.51g Gold although this is imprecise since Dinars are ancient)
10000 Derachem (1 Derachem approx = 2.45g silver still quite imprecise)
In modern currency the equivalent of the above is used.
Entitlement of blood-money I think goes to the heirs of the murder. Im not sure if that includes the husband or not Ill have to look that up.
Islam Killings Honor
Karbala:
| QUOTE |
| If the family of the victim choose to recieve blood-money then the murderer cannot be retaliated against and hence he is immune from punishment by death.. |
Sounds very unfair. Unfair by the side of the relatives if they choose money over justice and unfair that if the murderer is very rich, he can get away with it quickly. Maybe I am missing something? A murder is a murder, needs to be punished...money should not be an option.
Honor Killings In Islam
I cannot fully digest that we are in 2007 and people still murdering others in such a savage and barbaric way. Can you imagine being buried up to your waist (arms as well) and not able to defend yourself and die in the most cruel manner? My goodness! There is not such thing as Forgiveness in Islam?
| QUOTE |
| TEHRAN, Iran - In a rare confirmation, Iran on Tuesday said a man convicted of adultery was stoned to death last week in a village in the northern part of the country, Iran's judiciary spokesman said. Jafar Kiani was stoned to death in Aghchekand village, 124 miles west of the capital, Tehran, on Thursday, Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters. It was the first time in years that Iran has confirmed such an execution. "This verdict was carried out Thursday," Jamshidi told reporters. Death sentences are carried out in Iran after they are upheld by the Supreme Court. Under Iran's Islamic law, adultery is punishable by stoning. Jamshidi didn't elaborate on how the stoning was carried out, but under Islamic rulings, a male convict is usually buried up to his waist while a female criminal is buried up to her neck with her hands also buried. Those carrying out the verdict start throwing stones and rocks at the convict until he or she dies... |
Honor Killings Islam
If we would only follow the wise words of a profit from many years ago...
| Rather off topic, but... Let he is that without sin cast the first stone. |
There would be a lot fewer rocks thrown in that village.
I understand the part that this is a grievance that is unforgivable in Islam, but I don't understand the justification of the execution. Eye for an eye doesn't really seem to have applied, as the adultry ended up in no ones death. Unless, she died by honor killing and that would be a strange circular logic.
Post Date: 21st Oct, 2009 - 10:50pm / Post ID: #
NOTE: News [?]
Honor Killings Islam Studies Islam
Jordanian Journalist Rana Husseini on "Murder in the Name of Honor: The True Story of One Woman's Heroic Fight Against an Unbelievable Crime"
According to the United Nations, 5,000 women around the world are murdered each year in the name of preserving their family honor and reputation. We speak to Rana Husseini, one of the world's leading advocates against these so-called honor killings. In 1994, she was a young journalist with the Jordan Times and began uncovering dozens of stories of women killed by their own family members. Husseini has continued to investigate and speak out about this form of violence, whether in Jordan or other parts of the world. She's just out with a book chronicling some of these stories, Murder in the Name of Honor: The True Story of One Woman's Heroic Fight Against an Unbelievable Crime. Ref. Source 7
TOPIC: Honor Killings In Islam