Beheading in Islam

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Beheading was a standard method of execution in pre-modern Islamic law. Its use had been abandoned in most countries by the end of the 20th century. Beheading is a legal method of execution in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, and was reportedly used in 2001 in Iran according to Amnesty International, where it is no longer in use.[1]

In recent times, non-state Jihadist organizations such as ISIS and Tawhid and Jihad have used beheading as a method of killing captives. Since 2002, they have circulated beheading videos as a form of terror and propaganda.[2][3] Their actions have been condemned by militant and other terrorist groups, as well as by mainstream Islamic scholars and organizations.

Beheading: background and context[]

Main article: Decapitation

The use of beheading for punishment continued well into the 20th century in both Islamic and non-Islamic nations.[4][5] When done properly, it was once considered a humane and honorable method of execution.

Beheading in Islamic scripture[]

There is a debate as to whether the Quran discusses beheading.[6] Two surahs could potentially be used to provide a justification for beheading in the context of war:[6]

When the Lord inspired the angels (saying) I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger. (8:12)

Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom 'til the war lay down its burdens. (47:4)

Among classical commentators, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi interprets the last sentence of 8:12 to mean striking at the enemies in any way possible, from their head to the tips of their extremities.[7] Al-Qurtubi reads the reference to striking at the necks as conveying the gravity and severity of the fighting.[8] For al-Qurtubi, al-Tabari, and Ibn Kathir, the expression indicates the brevity of the act, as it is confined to battle and is not a continuous command.[8]

Some commentators have suggested that terrorists use alternative interpretations of these surahs to justify beheading captives, however there is agreement among scholars that they have a different meaning.[6] Furthermore, according to Rachel Saloom, surah 47:4 goes on to recommend generosity or ransom when waging war, and it refers to a period when Muslims were persecuted and had to fight for their survival.[6]

Beheading in Islamic law[]

Beheading was the normal method of executing the death penalty under classical Islamic law.[9][2] It was also, together with hanging, one of the ordinary methods of execution in the Ottoman Empire.[10]

Currently, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which uses decapitation within its Islamic legal system.[11] The majority of executions carried out by the Wahhabi government of Saudi Arabia are public beheadings,[12][13] which usually cause mass gatherings but are not allowed to be photographed or filmed.[14]

According to Amnesty, beheading have been carried out by state authorities in Iran as recently as 2001,[11][15][16] but as of 2014 is no longer in use.[15] It is also a legal form of execution in Qatar and Yemen, but the punishment has been suspended in those countries.[11][17]

Historical occurrences[]

Modern use by non-state actors[]

Modern instances of Islamist beheading date at least to the 1990s. In First Chechen War (1994–96), the beheading of Yevgeny Rodionov, a Russian soldier who refused to convert to Islam, led some within the Russian Orthodox Church to venerate him as a martyr.[23] In 1997, the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria beheaded 80-200 villagers in Benthalia.[24][25]

The 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl by Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Pakistan drew international attention enhanced by the release of a beheading video.[26] Revulsion in the Muslim community led al Qaeda to abandon video beheadings.[27] Groups in Iraq led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Tawhid and Jihad and later ISIL, continued the practice.[28] Since 2002, they have been mass circulating beheading videos as a form of terror and propaganda.[2][3] One of al-Zarqawi's most publicized murders was that of American Nick Berg.[29]

Since 2004 insurgents in South Thailand began to sow fear in attacks where men and women of the local Buddhist minority were beheaded.[30] On 18 July 2005 two terrorists entered a teashop in South Thailand, shot Lek Pongpla, a Buddhist cloth vendor, beheaded him and left the head outside of the shop.[31] The founder of Bridges TV, a Muslim cable channel in originally based in Buffalo, NY that aimed to combat negative perceptions of Muslims that were allegedly dominating mainstream media coverage, beheaded his wife in 2009 in the offices of Bridges TV.[32]

According to Peter R. Neumann, Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King's College London, viral beheading videos are intended, and are at least somewhat effective, as a recruiting tool for jihad among both Western and Middle Eastern youth.[33][34] Other observers argue that while Al Qaeda initially used beheading as a publicity tool, it later decided that they caused Muslims to recoil from Islamism and that although ISIS/IS is enthusiastically deploying beheading as a tactic in 2014, it, too, may find that the tactic backfires.[35] Timothy R. Furnish, as Assistant Professor of Islamic History, contrasts the Saudi government executions, conforming to standards that minimize pain, with the non-state actors who have "chosen a slow, torturous sawing method to terrorize the Western audience."[36]

In 2020 a teacher was murdered and beheaded in France, apparently for showing his students cartoons of Muhammad.[37]

Over fifty people were beheaded by Islamic terrorists in the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique in early November 2020.[38]

ISIL beheading incidents[]

Main article: ISIL beheading incidents

In January 2015, a copy of an ISIL penal code surfaced describing the penalties it enforces in areas under its control, including beheadings.[39] Beheading videos have been frequently posted by ISIL members to social media.[40][24] Several of the videoed beheadings were conducted by Mohammed Emwazi, whom the media had referred to as "Jihadi John" before his identification.

The beheadings received wide coverage around the world and attracted international condemnation. Political scientist Max Abrahms posited that ISIL may be using well-publicized beheadings as a means of differentiating itself from Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and identifying itself with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda member who beheaded Daniel Pearl.[27] Beheadings represent a small proportion of a larger total of people killed following capture by ISIL.[41]

Condemnation by Muslims[]

Mainstream Islamic scholars and organizations around the world, as well as other organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Al-Qaeda have condemned the practice.[42][43][44]

Impact on war coverage[]

Some analysts have argued that the beheadings of journalists and aid workers, along with other abductions and executions of independent observers in Syrian war zones, have forced international media to rely exclusively on reporting which is directly or indirectly influenced by rebel and opposition groups and in this way allowed the latter to dictate the coverage of events in areas under their control.[45][46]

In Khutbah, sermons and protest sloganeering[]

Gul Bukhari in 'The Nation (Pakistan)' says that, taking benefit of average Pakistanis not having expertise in the Arabic language, fanatic clergy regularly quote other ayat of the Qur’an that had nothing whatsoever to do with blasphemy and mistranslate them to the unsuspecting believers to mislead them that ‘sar tan se juda’ (head cut off from body) is the prescribed Islamic punishment for blasphemy.[47] In the TRT World, author Umer Bin Ajmal narrates own school experience in Pakistan, where in one of Urdu couplet for regular school assembly prayer was (Urdu:) “Sadarat mein, sifarat mein, wazarat mein, adalat mein; jo dekho deen ke dushman tou sar tan se juda kar do; (In presidency, in embassy, in ministry, in court; if you come across enemies of the faith, behead them).”[48] According to Sohail Khattak and Noman Ahmed of 'The Express Tribune, Pakistan', in 2014 Professor Dr Muhammad Shakil Auj, the then officiating dean of Islamic Studies Faculty at the University of Karachi was gunned down. Police investigators suspected likely involvement of his own colleagues in texting and circulating blasphemy charges with message 'sar tan se juda (Beheading is the punishment)' against Auj, being not happy with the orientation of his research.[49] According to Naila Inayat not only French President Emmanuel Macron’s defaced photos were pasted on the floors of a bazaars for people to step on, a female teacher in Islamabad based Islamic seminary Jamia Hafsa madrassa (of Lal Masjid) was recorded beheading an effigy of President Macron as teenage female students chanted ‘Ghustak-e-Nabi ki aik hi saza, sar tan se juda (Beheading is the only punishment for those who blaspheme the Prophet)’.[50]

According to Safdar Sial of Pak Institute for Peace Studies, traditional narratives of the Barelvis being followers of Sufism, peace-loving and moderate stands negated when it comes blasphemy-related issues.[51] Pakistan Sunni Tehreek, came into being in 1990 to contest take over of the mosques and madrasas of the Barelvi school of thought by Deobandi and Ahle Hadith groups, then there slogan was “Jawaniyan lutaain gai, masjidain bachayein gai [We will sacrifice our lives to protect our mosques]” with anti blasphemy protest newer radical slogan adopted by them is "Tauheen rasalat ki ek saza, sar tan se juda (There’s only one punishment for a blasphemer and that is beheading). [51] According to Zia Ur Rehman's geo.tv news report, Barelvi groups are politically exploiting the issue of blasphemy to exhibit their strength to counter the growing influence of Deobandi and Ahle Hadith groups and started trend of radicalisation, making it difficult to differentiate between them and jihadist groups.[51] According to the Pakistan's law enforcement official, they are sectarian group with background of organised network of criminals mainly involved in extortion cases and targeted killings, turned into a extremist group.[51] According the Reuters' news report by Gibran Naiyyar PeshimamIn ,in April 2020, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs of Pakistan, Ali Muhammad Khan defended a later-deleted Tweet post in which he said: “There is only one punishment for insulting the Prophet - chopping off the head”, Ali Khan insisted that, he believed in “legal procedures and court proceedings” for anyone accused of blasphemy and said he deleted post since Twitter had asked him to delete the post.[52] Subsequently in April 2021 European Parliament specifically expressed displeasure over the minister Ali's remarks saying, "..strongly rejects the reported statement by Pakistan’s Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Khan, calling for people who commit blasphemy to be beheaded..", the EU parliament adopted resolution also stated that, it is concerned by the fact that blasphemy laws in Pakistan are frequently abused to make false accusations having various incentives, including settling personal disputes or seeking economic gain; and called on the Government of Pakistan, therefore, to take due heed of the resolution and to repeal the blasphemy laws accordingly.[53][54]

In another incident in Karnataka India, in November 2020, a inflammatory graffiti using similar text “Gustak-e-Rasool ki ek hi Saza, Sar Tan se Juda (There is only one punishment for offending the Prophet, severing the head from the body)” was observed on walls of a building at a township, intending to cause a social strife.[55][56]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Beheading was last used as a method of execution in 2001....beheading is no longer in use." Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Death Penalty Worldwide: Iran
  2. ^ a b c Sara Hussein and Rita Daou (3 September 2014). "Jihadists beheadings sow fear, prompt Muslim revulsion". Yahoo! News. AFP. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b James Watson, Anne Hill (2015). Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 325. ISBN 9781628921489.
  4. ^ Cliff Roberson, Dilip K. Das (2008). An Introduction to Comparative Legal Models of Criminal Justice. CRC Press. p. 156. ISBN 9781420065930.
  5. ^ Nina Rastogi (20 February 2009). "Decapitation and the Muslim World". Slate.
  6. ^ a b c d Rachel Saloom (2005), "Is Beheading Permissible under Islamic Law – Comparing Terrorist Jihad and the Saudi Arabian Death Penalty", UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs, vol. 10, pp. 221–49.
  7. ^ Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Dagli, Caner K.; Dakake, Maria Massi; Lumbard, Joseph E.B.; Rustom, Mohammed (2015). The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary. HarperCollins (Kindle edition). p. Commentary to 8:12, Loc. 23676–23678.
  8. ^ a b Nasr, Seyyed Hossein; Dagli, Caner K.; Dakake, Maria Massi; Lumbard, Joseph E.B.; Rustom, Mohammed (2015). The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary. HarperCollins (Kindle edition). p. Commentary to 47:4, Loc. 59632–59635.
  9. ^ Rudolph Peters (2006). Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 36.
  10. ^ Rudolph Peters (2006). Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 101.
  11. ^ a b c Hood, Roger; Hoyle, Carolyn (2015). The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective. Oxford University Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-19-870173-6.
  12. ^ Janine di Giovanni, "When It Comes to Beheadings, ISIS has Nothing Over Saudi Arabia", Newsweek, 14 October 2014.
  13. ^ Russell Goldman, "Saudi Arabia's Beheading of a Nanny Followed Strict Procedures", abcnews.com, 11 January 2013.
  14. ^ Justine Drennen (20 January 2015). "Saudi Arabia's Beheadings Are Public, but It Doesn't Want Them Publicized". Foreign Policy Magazine.
  15. ^ a b "Death Penalty Database: Iran", deathpenaltyworldwide.org, Cornell Law School, accessed 13 June 2016.
  16. ^ "Iran / death penalty A state terror policy" (PDF). International Federation for Human Rights. 16 March 2010. p. 38. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  17. ^ Kronenwetter, Michael (2001). Capital Punishment: A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576074329.
  18. ^ Watt, W. Montgomery (2012). "Ḳurayẓa". In P. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C.E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W.P. Heinrichs (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_4535.
  19. ^ Newman, Sharan (2007). The Real History Behind the Templars. Penguin. p. 133. ISBN 978-0425215333.
  20. ^ Bunson, Matthew. "How the 800 Martyrs of Otranto Saved Rome". Catholic Answers. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  21. ^ Nancy Bisaha (2004). Creating East And West: Renaissance Humanists And the Ottoman Turks. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 158. Recently, though, historians have begun to question the veracity of these tales of mass slaughter and martyrdom. Francesco Tateo argues that the earliest contemporary sources do not support the story of the eight hundred martyrs; such tales of religious persecution and conscious self-sacrifice for the Christian faith appeared only two or more decades following the siege. The earliest and most reliable sources describe the execution of eight hundred to one thousand soldiers or citizens and the local bishop, but none mention a conversion as a condition of clemency. Even more telling, neither a contemporary Turkish chronicle nor Italian diplomatic reports mention martyrdom. One would imagine that if such a report were circulating, humanists and preachers would have seized on it. It seems likely that more inhabitants of Otranto were taken out of Italy and sold into slavery than were slaughtered.
  22. ^ Byron Farwell, Prisoners of the Mahdi (New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, 1989), pp. 156-7.
  23. ^ [1] "Boy soldier who died for faith made 'saint'", The Daily Telegraph, 24 January 2004.
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  28. ^ "The Terrorist as Auteur"
  29. ^ "'Zarqawi' beheaded US man in Iraq". BBC News. 13 May 2004.
  30. ^ "Reuters - Thai Buddhist beheaded, another shot in Muslim south". Reuters. 15 June 2009. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  31. ^ "Beheadings Raise Tensions in Thailand". Archived from the original on 11 December 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  32. ^ "Beheading Moderate Islam".
  33. ^ [2] From Daniel Pearl to James Foley: The modern tactic of Islamist beheadings, Adam Taylor, 21 August 2014, Washington Post/Chicago Tribune.
  34. ^ [3] Islamic State steps up propaganda videos, beheading another captive, Videotaped atrocities in an attempt to spread fear are nothing new for IS. But it appears to be stepping up its propaganda as world powers start to engage in halting its spread, Dan Murphy, 29 August 2014, Christian Science Monitor.
  35. ^ [4] Why Beheading Videos Are Back With ISIS, and Why They Went Away, Katie Zavadski, 21 August 2014, New York Magazine.
  36. ^ Timothy R. Furnish (2005). "Beheading in the Name of Islam". Middle East Quarterly. 12 (2): 51–57.
  37. ^ "Suspect in teacher's beheading in France was Chechen teen". AP.
  38. ^ "Militant Islamists 'behead more than 50' in Mozambique". Yahoo. 26 August 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  39. ^ Saul, Heather (22 January 2015). "Isis publishes penal code listing amputation, crucifixion and stoning as punishments - and vows to vigilantly enforce it". The Independent. London.
  40. ^ "Staffer, Crisis, and Jake Hume. "Balance of Powers: Syria." (2014)" (PDF). Retrieved 4 March 2015.
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  43. ^ Alia Brahami (2010). Sibylle Scheipers (ed.). Terrorist Beheadings: Politics and Reciprocity. Prisoners in War. Oxford University Press. p. 551. ISBN 9780191610387.
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  46. ^ Patrick Cockburn (16 December 2016). "There's more propaganda than news coming out of Aleppo this week". The Independent.
  47. ^ Bukhari, Gul (15 April 2017). "Mashal". The Nation. Retrieved 25 November 2021. "...Taking advantage of the Arabic language being alien to Pakistanis, the Alims-Jamatias-Oryas-Rizvis etc. also regularly quote other ayat of the Qur’an that have nothing whatsoever to do with blasphemy and mistranslate them for the unsuspecting believers to give them the impression that ‘sar tan se juda’ (head cut off from body) is the prescribed Islamic punishment for blasphemy...." ~ Gul Bukhari in The Nation (Pakistan) Date April 16, 2017
  48. ^ Ajmal, Umer Bin (6 September 2021). "Pakistan's complex relationship with religious extremism". Pakistan’s complex relationship with religious extremism. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2021. "...The school I completed my matriculation from belonged to a chain of dozens of schools run and administered by the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), a political party leaning to the right of the political spectrum...A ritual every day during the assembly was the recitation of some verses from the Quran, followed by a poem, and Pakistan’s national anthem to conclude. ...One of the poems, that in the day was quite popular at my school, had these lyrics in Urdu: “Sadarat mein, sifarat mein, wazarat mein, adalat mein; jo dekho deen ke dushman tou sar tan se juda kar do; (In presidency, in embassy, in ministry, in court; if you come across enemies of the faith, behead them)....” By Umer Bin Ajmal at TRT World
  49. ^ Khattak, Sohail; Ahmed, Noman (18 September 2014). "Targeted: KU Islamic Studies dean shot dead". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  50. ^ Inayat, Naila (5 November 2020). "French President, shampoo, cosmetics are all haram in Pakistan. Just not French defence toys". ThePrint. Retrieved 25 November 2021. "...While the social media teams trend ‘Shame on you Macro’, there was a ‘Macron-cutting’ ceremony on display at the notorious Jamia Hafsa madrassa (of Lal Masjid fame) in Islamabad. A teacher was recorded beheading an effigy of President Macron as young female students chanted ‘Ghustak-e-Nabi ki aik hi saza, sar tan se juda (Beheading is the only punishment for those who blaspheme the Prophet)’.." By Naila Inayat in ThePrint Dated 5 November 2020
  51. ^ a b c d Rehman, Zia Ur (2 April 2016). "Ditching the tag of mysticism, Barelvi militancy rears head in form of Sunni Tehreek". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  52. ^ Peshimam, Gibran Naiyyar (7 May 2020). "Pakistan excludes religious sect from minority commission". Reuters. Retrieved 26 November 2021. ""State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan...Khan defended a now-deleted Twitter post in which he said: “There is only one punishment for insulting the Prophet - chopping off the head”....He stressed he believed in “legal procedures and court proceedings” for anyone accused of blasphemy and said Twitter had asked him to delete the post.." as appeared in Pakistan excludes religious sect from minority commission ~ Reuters dated May 7, 2020
  53. ^ "opean Parliament resolution of 29 April 2021 on the blasphemy laws in Pakistan, in particular the case of Shagufta Kausar and Shafqat Emmanuel (2021/2647(RSP))". europarl.europa.eu. 29 April 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  54. ^ Hamdani, Yasser Latif (2 May 2021). "Pakistan's moral compass". Daily Times. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  55. ^ Swamy, Rohini (29 November 2020). "Mangaluru Police find two 'inflammatory' graffiti in three days, suspect 'pro-terror' groups". ThePrint. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  56. ^ "Two secured in graffiti case". The Hindu. Special Correspondent. 6 December 2020. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 November 2021.CS1 maint: others (link)
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