Portal: Islamic Law: Difference between revisions

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==Crime and punishment==
==Crime and punishment==
Islamic scripture explicitly lists a number of particular punishments, most corporal, for the violation of the various rules it contains. The crimes for which scripture provides its own punishments tend to be those which are considered the most severe. Advocacy against these explicit scriptural injunctions is itself considered an act of apostasy, and thus traditionally merits the death penalty, as outlined in scripture. Beyond the well-known prohibitions on and punishments for sexual activity, the practice of free speech, and drinking alcohol, Islamic law traditionally also outlawed a great many forms of recreation, such as music and games that involved chance. In many cases, the particular prohibition is not clear - the most eminent example of this is, perhaps, the prohibition on Riba, as the precise meaning of the 7th century Arabian financial concept has long been lost to history.
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Islamic scripture explicitly lists a number of particular punishments, most corporal, for the violation of the various rules it contains. The crimes for which scripture provides its own punishments tend to be those which are considered the most severe. Advocacy against these explicit scriptural injunctions is itself considered an act of apostasy, and thus traditionally merits the death penalty, as outlined in scripture. Beyond the well-known prohibitions on and punishments for sexual activity, the practice of free speech, and drinking alcohol, Islamic law traditionally also outlawed a great many forms of recreation, such as music and games that involved chance. In many cases, the particular prohibition is not clear - the most eminent example of this is, perhaps, the prohibition on Riba, as the precise meaning of the 7th century Arabian financial concept has long been lost to history.<div class="articleSummaryColumn">
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{{PortalArticle|summary=|title=Islam and Freedom of Speech|image=Images-cfiv-0004.jpg|description=According to Islamic law, it is a criminal offense to speak ill of Islam, its Prophet, and its holy Scriptures (Qur'an and Hadith). Blasphemy is punishable by death. Sufficiently unorthodox perspectives constitute blasphemy just as well as ''only partially'' orthodox perspectives (that is, those perspectives that affirm some tenants of blasphemy while denying others).}}{{PortalArticle|title=Islam and Homosexuality|summary=|image=Homophobes.jpg|description=The four Sunni schools of jurisprudence all agree that practicing homosexuality is an egregious crime that earns an especially harsh punishment, although the schools vary regarding what exactly this punishment should be. Punishments range from execution by beheading, execution by stoning, execution by being thrown off a tall building, and imprisonment until death.}}
{{PortalArticle|summary=|title=Islam and Freedom of Speech|image=Images-cfiv-0004.jpg|description=According to Islamic law, it is a criminal offense to speak ill of Islam, its Prophet, and its holy Scriptures (Qur'an and Hadith). Blasphemy is punishable by death. Sufficiently unorthodox perspectives constitute blasphemy just as well as ''only partially'' orthodox perspectives (that is, those perspectives that affirm some tenants of blasphemy while denying others).}}{{PortalArticle|title=Islam and Homosexuality|summary=|image=Homophobes.jpg|description=The four Sunni schools of jurisprudence all agree that practicing homosexuality is an egregious crime that earns an especially harsh punishment, although the schools vary regarding what exactly this punishment should be. Punishments range from execution by beheading, execution by stoning, execution by being thrown off a tall building, and imprisonment until death.}}
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==Jihad==
==Jihad==
Jihad, which literally means ''struggle'', refers in Islamic law exclusively to military activity intended to spread and preserve the Islamic empire. Islamic literature does, however, often avoid this terminological use in order to use it in its literal sense. In this usage, the word Jihad is sometimes used to metaphorically allude to and describe the ''internal struggle'' one must at times engage in ''against oneself''. This alternative, metaphorical usage of the word Jihad does not, however, have any legal implications. The legal doctrines of Jihad are rather straightforward: the Muslim ''ummah'', or peoples, must, as the Quran states fight the unbelievers "until religion is all for Allah".<ref>{{Quran|8|39}}</ref> Although a military struggle is envisioned and described by these and similar statements in scripture, they have be employed rhetorically and metaphorically as encouragement for personal, spiritual struggles. There are also rules set out for how to conduct Jihad. On the one hand, wildlife, innocents, and enemies should not be needlessly maimed. On the other, all those who refuse to convert or submit to financial, social, legal, and various other forms of subjugation, be the innocents or combatants, must either be executed or enslaved (this includes sexually, in the case of women and girls).
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Jihad, which literally means ''struggle'', refers in Islamic law exclusively to military activity intended to spread and preserve the Islamic empire. Islamic literature does, however, often avoid this terminological use in order to use it in its literal sense. In this usage, the word Jihad is sometimes used to metaphorically allude to and describe the ''internal struggle'' one must at times engage in ''against oneself''. This alternative, metaphorical usage of the word Jihad does not, however, have any legal implications. The legal doctrines of Jihad are rather straightforward: the Muslim ''ummah'', or peoples, must, as the Quran states fight the unbelievers "until religion is all for Allah".<ref>{{Quran|8|39}}</ref> Although a military struggle is envisioned and described by these and similar statements in scripture, they have be employed rhetorically and metaphorically as encouragement for personal, spiritual struggles. There are also rules set out for how to conduct Jihad. On the one hand, wildlife, innocents, and enemies should not be needlessly maimed. On the other, all those who refuse to convert or submit to financial, social, legal, and various other forms of subjugation, be the innocents or combatants, must either be executed or enslaved (this includes sexually, in the case of women and girls).<div class="articleSummaryColumn">
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{{PortalArticle|image=Jihadistsig.jpeg|summary=|title=Jihad in Islamic Law|description=Jihad has been a central imperative in Islamic law throughout history and remains one today. Although the doctrine of global religious and imperial conquest has proven controversial in recent times, particularly when groups have attempted to implement it, the basic contours of the doctrine have remained static since rise of first Islamic caliphates.}}{{PortalArticle|title=Invitation to Islam Prior to Jihad|summary=|image=Muhammad-Letter-To-Heraclius.jpg|description=The practice of inviting non-Muslim nations to join Islam or pay the Jizyah prior to engaging in offensive Jihad was first initiated by the Prophet Muhammad. His example was then followed by the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the leaders of Islamic empires, codified within the Islamic Shari'ah. Where radical Islamists have today tried to emulate Muhammad and implement this well-established practice, they have generally been faced with widespread criticism.}}
{{PortalArticle|image=Jihadistsig.jpeg|summary=|title=Jihad in Islamic Law|description=Jihad has been a central imperative in Islamic law throughout history and remains one today. Although the doctrine of global religious and imperial conquest has proven controversial in recent times, particularly when groups have attempted to implement it, the basic contours of the doctrine have remained static since rise of first Islamic caliphates.}}{{PortalArticle|title=Invitation to Islam Prior to Jihad|summary=|image=Muhammad-Letter-To-Heraclius.jpg|description=The practice of inviting non-Muslim nations to join Islam or pay the Jizyah prior to engaging in offensive Jihad was first initiated by the Prophet Muhammad. His example was then followed by the Rightly-Guided Caliphs and the leaders of Islamic empires, codified within the Islamic Shari'ah. Where radical Islamists have today tried to emulate Muhammad and implement this well-established practice, they have generally been faced with widespread criticism.}}
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==Ritual==
==Ritual==
A great part of the body of Islamic law regulates the particulars of ritual practices ranging everything from precisely how one should twiddle one's index finger during the daily prayers to how the the throats of cattle should be split and drained dry of blood during ritual sacrifice. Whereas scripture provides usually clear outlines on the basic workings of rituals, jurist differ endlessly in the details. The great majority of ritual law regards benign practices of the finger-twiddling variety which, despite being a potential and sometimes actual source of social discord, have generally become topics of lesser concern among the wider Muslim population. Ritual laws regarding the large-scale sacrifice of hundreds of millions of animals to Allah, on the other hand, have attracted growing international attention. Similarly troubling have been the pilgrimage rituals conducted at Mecca which, when practiced by millions of persons all at once, have repeatedly resulted in hundreds of deaths by stampede and contagion. While some of these challenges such as those with pilgrimage rituals, Islamic jurists contend, can be overcome through logistical and architectural innovation, other, often moral, challenges, such as those face by animal sacrifice in the face of growing concern for animal rights, have been cause for lesser optimism.
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A great part of the body of Islamic law regulates the particulars of ritual practices ranging everything from precisely how one should twiddle one's index finger during the daily prayers to how the the throats of cattle should be split and drained dry of blood during ritual sacrifice. Whereas scripture provides usually clear outlines on the basic workings of rituals, jurist differ endlessly in the details. The great majority of ritual law regards benign practices of the finger-twiddling variety which, despite being a potential and sometimes actual source of social discord, have generally become topics of lesser concern among the wider Muslim population. Ritual laws regarding the large-scale sacrifice of hundreds of millions of animals to Allah, on the other hand, have attracted growing international attention. Similarly troubling have been the pilgrimage rituals conducted at Mecca which, when practiced by millions of persons all at once, have repeatedly resulted in hundreds of deaths by stampede and contagion. While some of these challenges such as those with pilgrimage rituals, Islamic jurists contend, can be overcome through logistical and architectural innovation, other, often moral, challenges, such as those face by animal sacrifice in the face of growing concern for animal rights, have been cause for lesser optimism.<div class="articleSummaryColumn">
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{{PortalArticle|title=Eid al-Adha|summary=|image=Eidadha.jpg|description=Eid Al-Adha (عيد الأضحى, "the festival of sacrifice") is the biggest Islamic holiday, in which Muslims ritually sacrifice animals (usually sheep) in commemoration of Abraham's attempted child sacrifice of Isma'il (Ishmael). Of the two Islamic Eid festivals (the other being Eid al-Fitr, celebrating the end Ramadan), Eid al-Adha is the holier one. Eid al-Adha occurs on the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the final month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar, and lasts four days.}}{{PortalArticle|image=Udhiyya.jpg|summary=|title=Qurban (Ritual Sacrifice)|description=Qurban means "sacrifice" in Arabic. Islamic scriptures (the Qur'an and Hadith) recount at least two close instances of human sacrifice which were averted at last second and contemporary Muslims continue to engage in yearly animal sacrifice on عيد الأضحى "Eid Al-Adha", the Eid of the Sacrifice.}}
{{PortalArticle|title=Eid al-Adha|summary=|image=Eidadha.jpg|description=Eid Al-Adha (عيد الأضحى, "the festival of sacrifice") is the biggest Islamic holiday, in which Muslims ritually sacrifice animals (usually sheep) in commemoration of Abraham's attempted child sacrifice of Isma'il (Ishmael). Of the two Islamic Eid festivals (the other being Eid al-Fitr, celebrating the end Ramadan), Eid al-Adha is the holier one. Eid al-Adha occurs on the 10th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the final month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar, and lasts four days.}}{{PortalArticle|image=Udhiyya.jpg|summary=|title=Qurban (Ritual Sacrifice)|description=Qurban means "sacrifice" in Arabic. Islamic scriptures (the Qur'an and Hadith) recount at least two close instances of human sacrifice which were averted at last second and contemporary Muslims continue to engage in yearly animal sacrifice on عيد الأضحى "Eid Al-Adha", the Eid of the Sacrifice.}}
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