The Call for Abolition of Death Penalty: Islamic Law versus International Human Rights Law

摘要

An old and on-going dialogue between religion and international law which raises the question of whether both are foes or friends seems to have found a place in the global debate on the call for the abolition of death penalty. With respect to the debate, two opposing sides were identified.The first being the promoting secular bloc which is the Western-styled international human rights system, while the other is the opposing religious side which is the Islamic Law system. It is, thus, intriguing to ascertain whether the respective positions of the international human rightssystem; a secular law and that of the Islamic Law; a religious law on the abolition of death penalty are irreconcilable. This becomes particularly necessary since whenever any reference is made to the rejection of the call, the charge is usually and invariably directed against the religionof Islam. This paper, therefore, examines the various issues of divergence between the two opposing systems in order to have a proper grasp of the differing position as maintained by Islamic Law on the call for the abolition of death penalty and why it takes that side. Thus, the overall idealposition that should be objectively considered from the points of view of the two opposing sides whenever there is a dialogue on the matter is also put forth in the study.