Cross-amputation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cross amputation survivors, Adam Ismaeel (left) and Ibrahim Osman (right), of the September 1983 Laws in Sudan, pictured in 1986

Cross-amputation (Arabic: قطع من خلاف) is one of the Hudud punishments prescribed under Islamic jurisprudence (Sharia law) and involves cutting off the right hand and left foot of the alleged transgressor..[1][2]

The scriptural authority for the double amputation procedure is in the Quran (surah 5.33-34) which stipulates:

"The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might for mischief through the land is execution or crucifixion, or cutting of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land. As for the thief, male or female, cut off their hands and feet from opposite ends in recompense for what they have committed."[3]

Practice[edit]

The severe punishment, for "highway robbery (hirabah, qat' al-tariq) and civil disturbance against Islam", is usually carried out in a single session in public, without anaesthetic and using a sword.[citation needed]

The punishment is still practised in Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia;[4] Sudan;[5] Somalia;[6] Mauritania, the Maldives;[7] Iran;[8] and Yemen;[9]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Tarabella, Marc. "Parliamentary question | VP/HR - Cross-amputation in Yemen | E-011050/2013 | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  2. ^ Peters, Rudolph (2005). Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-521-79226-4.
  3. ^ "The Quran, sura 5, verse 33". www.perseus.tufts.edu.
  4. ^ "Saudi Arabia: King urged to commute "cross amputation" sentences". Amnesty International. 2011-12-16. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  5. ^ "Sudanese man sentenced to cross amputation for committing armed robbery – African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies".
  6. ^ Rice, Xan (20 October 2010). "Somali schoolboy tells of how Islamists cut off his leg and hand". The Guardian.
  7. ^ "Shariah Punishments in the Islamic Republics of Mauritania and Maldives, and Islamic State of Yemen". academic.oup.com.
  8. ^ Pannier, Bruce. "Criminals Lose Hands And Feet As Shari'a Law Imposed". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty.
  9. ^ Staff, Newsweek (8 July 2010). "The World's Most Barbaric Punishments". Newsweek.