Hudud based on Ijtihad is not divine, says Dr Asri
Hudud extremely difficult to implement, equality paramount, cruel punishments may give rise to backlash
(Free Malaysia Today) –
While lawmakers continue to dispute the constitutionality of the Kelantan State Assembly’s attempt to enact and implement hudud law in the state, a Muslim scholar is disputing claims as to its divinity.
According to Perlis Mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin a distinction must be drawn between what is mentioned in holy scripture and interpretations by scholars.
“Hudud was barely mentioned in the Quran,” the Malay Mail quoted Asri as saying. “Whipping as the punishment for consuming alcohol and committing illicit sex was never mentioned.”
He said that some portions of hudud may be said to come from prophetic traditions, known as hadith, most of it was derived from views espoused by scholars after deliberation, known as ijtihad.
“Ijtihad is not divine,” he added, thereby rendering it open to criticism.
Asri has previously espoused the view that hudud cannot be implemented unless the syariah system was perfectly fair to all.
In a teaching which he gave at about the time Brunei was implementing its own version of hudud, Asri disclosed that leaders of early Muslim communities did not press for the implementation of hudud because by and large the people had not changed their ways in accordance with the teachings of Islam.
He also gave examples of various nations in the modern world which had attempted to introduce hudud without success. Pakistan, according to Asri, had enacted hudud law but were unable to implement it due to internal and external pressures. Libya decided against hudud law for fear of reprisals by the community to the crueler forms of punishment.
Citing John L Esposito’s book The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, he said that although Sudan and Nothern Nigeria implemented hudud law, its leaders resiled from it after a backlash from the community. In Nigeria this was said to have occurred after the public had witnessed a particularly inhumane stoning of one woman.
He said that the only country which has to date successfully implemented hudud was Saudi Arabia, where royalty and clerics come from separate and distinct family lines. Even then, he expressed his reservations whether the heavier punishments such as stoning were still being meted out there.
