Hudud

Hudud (Arabic: حدود Ḥudūd, also transliterated hudood; plural of hadd, حد) is an Arabic word meaning "borders, boundaries, limits".^[1] In the religion of Islam, it refers to punishments that under Islamic law (sharīʿah) are mandated and fixed by God as per Islam. These punishments were applied in pre-modern Islam,^[2][3] and their use in some modern states has been a source of controversy.

Traditional Islamic jurisprudence divides crimes into offenses against God and those against man. The former are seen to violate God's hudud or "boundaries", and they are associated with punishments specified in the Quran and in some cases inferred from hadith.^[4][5] The offenses incurring hudud punishments are zina (unlawful sexual intercourse such as fornication), unfounded accusations of zina,^[6][7] drinking alcohol, highway robbery, and some forms of theft.^[8][9] Jurists have differed as to whether apostasy from Islam and rebellion against a lawful Islamic ruler are hudud crimes.^[4][10]

Hudud punishments range from public lashing to publicly stoning to death, amputation of hands and crucifixion.^[11] Hudud crimes cannot be pardoned by the victim or by the state, and the punishments must be carried out in public.^[12] These punishments were rarely implemented in practice, however, because the evidentiary standards were often impossibly high.^[5][2] For example, meeting hudud requirements for zina and theft was virtually impossible without a confession in court, which could be invalidated by a retraction.^[13][5] Based on a hadith, jurists stipulated that hudud punishments should be averted by the slightest doubts or ambiguities (shubuhat, sing. shubha).^[13][5]

During the 19th century, Sharia-based criminal laws were replaced by statutes inspired by European models in many parts of the Islamic world, although not in particularly conservative regions such as the Arabian peninsula.^[3][14][15] The Islamic revival of the late 20th century brought along calls by Islamist movements for full implementation of Sharia.^[14][16] Reinstatement of hudud punishments has had particular symbolic importance for these groups because of their Quranic origin, and their advocates have often disregarded the stringent traditional restrictions on their application.^[14] In practice, in the countries where hudud have been incorporated into the legal code under Islamist pressure, they have often been used sparingly or not at all, and their application has varied depending on local political climate.^[14][15] Their use has been a subject of criticism and debate.

Hudud is not the only form of punishment under Sharia. For offenses against man—the other type of crime in Sharia—that involve inflicting bodily harm Islamic law prescribes a retaliatory punishment analogous to the crime (qisas) or monetary compensation (diya); and for other crimes the form of punishment is left to the judge's discretion (ta'zir).^[4] Criminals who escaped a hudud punishment could still receive a ta'zir sentence.^[3]

In the 21st century, hudud, including amputation of limbs, is part of the legal systems of Afghanistan,^[17] Brunei,^[18] Iran, Mauritania,^[19] Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,^[20] Yemen,^[21] and northern part of Nigeria.