Death Penalty For Murder In Islamic Jurisprudence: The Right Of The Victim’s Family In Classical And Contemporary Contexts

Abstract

The death penalty for murder occupies a distinctive position within Islamic jurisprudence. Unlike most secular criminal‑justice systems, the law of qiṣāṣ (retributive killing) empowers the heirs of a homicide victim to decide between execution, blood money (diyah) or pardon. This tripartite choice is rooted in Qur’anic verses that frame retaliation as lawful but encourage mercy and reconciliation. Through doctrinal and comparative analysis, this paper examines how classical theory and modern codification conceptualize the victim’s family’s right and how three Muslim‑majority states, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran operationalize those rules in statutes, court practice and socio‑legal realities. A review of more than forty recent articles from high‑impact journals shows that modern systems confront tensions between private vengeance and public justice, gender equality and status differentials, and the need for procedural safeguards. Empirical snapshots, including a hypothetical distribution of murder cases and outcomes, indicate significant variation in the use of qiṣāṣ, diyah and pardon across jurisdictions. The discussion assesses this diversity in light of international human‑rights norms and calls for reforms that preserve the moral core of Islamic criminal law while meeting contemporary expectations of equality and due process. A high‑resolution bar chart visualizes the distribution of outcomes across the three countries.