Islam and violence

{{Main|Sharia|Fiqh}}

Sharia law is the basic Islamic religious law derived from the religious precepts of Islam. The Quran and opinions of Muhammad (i.e., the Hadith and Sunnah) are the primary sources of sharia.{{cite web|title=Oxford Dictionar Definition of sharia in English|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sharia|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130226131422/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sharia|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 February 2013|website=OxfordDictionaries.com|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=22 March 2016}}John L. Esposito, Natana J. DeLong-Bas (2001), [https://books.google.com/books?id=MOmaDq8HKCgC&pg=PA2 Women in Muslim family law], p. 2. Syracuse University Press, {{ISBN|978-0815629085}}. Quote: "[...], by the ninth century, the classical theory of law fixed the sources of Islamic law at four: the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet, qiyas (analogical reasoning), and ijma (consensus)." For topics and issues not directly addressed in these primary sources, sharia is derived. The derivation differs between the various sects of Islam (Sunni and Shia are the majority), and various jurisprudence schools such as Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali and Jafari.Hisham M. Ramadan (2006), [https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZS7EaHTQX8C&pg=PA6 Understanding Islamic Law: From Classical to Contemporary], Rowman Altamira, {{ISBN|978-0759109919}}, pp. 6–21{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=John |year=1999 |title=The Oxford history of Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-19-510799-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofi00john }} The sharia in these schools is derived hierarchically using one or more of the following guidelines: Ijma (usually the consensus of Muhammad's companions), Qiyas (analogy derived from the primary sources), Istihsan (ruling that serves the interest of Islam in the discretion of Islamic jurists) and Urf (customs). Sharia is a significant source of legislation in various Muslim countries. Some apply all or a majority of the sharia, and these include Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen and Mauritania, respectively. In these countries, sharia-prescribed punishments, such as beheading, flogging and stoning, continue to be practiced judicially or extrajudicially.{{cite book | last=Otto | first=Jan | title=Sharia incorporated a comparative overview of the legal systems of twelve Muslim countries in past and present | publisher=Leiden University Press | location=Leiden | year=2010 | isbn=978-90-8728-057-4}}Nisrine Abiad (2008), Sharia, Muslim States and International Human Rights Treaty Obligations, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, {{ISBN|978-1905221417}} The introduction of sharia is a longstanding goal for Islamist movements globally, but attempts to impose sharia have been accompanied by controversy,Hamann, Katie (29 December 2009). [https://www.voanews.com/a/acehs-sharia-law-still-controversial-in-indonesia-80257482/369606.html "Aceh's Sharia Law Still Controversial in Indonesia"]. Voice of America. Retrieved 19 September 2011.

• Iijima, Masako (13 January 2010). [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-aceh-police-idUSTRE60D07420100114 "Islamic Police Tighten Grip on Indonesia's Aceh"]. Reuters. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
• [http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/02/08/aceh-sharia-police-loved-and-hated.html "Aceh Sharia Police Loved and Hated"]. The Jakarta Post. violence,Staff (3 January 2003). [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2632939.stm "Analysis: Nigeria's Sharia Split"]. BBC News. Retrieved 19 September 2011. "Thousands of people have been killed in fighting between Christians and Muslims following the introduction of sharia punishments in northern Nigerian states over the past three years".
• Harnischfeger, Johannes (2008).
  {{•}} p. 16. "When the Governor of Kaduna announced the introduction of Sharia, although non-Muslims form almost half of the population, violence erupted, leaving more than 1,000 people dead."
  {{•}} p. 189. "When a violent confrontation loomed in February 200, because the strong Christian minority in Kaduna was unwilling to accept the proposed sharia law, the sultan and his delegation of 18 emirs went to see the governor and insisted on the passage of the bill."
• Mshelizza, Ibrahim (28 July 2009). [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/fight-for-sharia-leaves-dozens-dead-in-nigeria-1763253.html "Fight for Sharia Leaves Dozens Dead in Nigeria – Islamic Militants Resisting Western Education Extend Their Campaign of Violence"]. The Independent. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20030809092546/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/nigeria/religous_violence.html "Nigeria in Transition: Recent Religious Tensions and Violence"]. PBS.
• Staff (28 December 2010). [http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2010/01/201012314018187505.html "Timeline: Tensions in Nigeria – A Look at the Country's Bouts of Inter-Religious and Ethnic Clashes and Terror Attacks"]. Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 19 September 2011. "Thousands of people are killed in northern Nigeria as non-Muslims opposed to the introduction of sharia, or Islamic law, fight Muslims who demand its implementation in the northern state of Kaduna.".
• Ibrahimova, Roza (27 July 2009). [https://web.archive.org/web/20090728100441/http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/07/2009727182749635965.html "Dozens Killed in Violence in Northern Nigeria"] (video (requires Adobe Flash; 00:01:49)). Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 19 September 2011. "The group Boko Haram, which wants to impose sharia (Islamic law) across the country, has attacked police stations and churches." and even warfare.[http://countrystudies.us/sudan/63.htm Sudan - Government]. Library of Congress Country Studies: Sudan:. "The factors that provoked the military coup, primarily the closely intertwined issues of Islamic law and of the civil war in the south, remained unresolved in 1991. The September 1983 implementation of the sharia throughout the country had been controversial and provoked widespread resistance in the predominantly non-Muslim south ... Opposition to the sharia, especially to the application of hudud (sing., hadd), or Islamic penalties, such as the public amputation of hands for theft, was not confined to the south and had been a principal factor leading to the popular uprising of April 1985 that overthrew the government of Jaafar an Nimeiri".
• Marchal, R. (2013), Islamic political dynamics in the Somali civil war. Islam in Africa South of the Sahara: Essays in Gender Relations and Political Reform, pp. 331–52
• {{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sudan/facts.html |title=PBS Frontline: "Civil war was sparked in 1983 when the military regime tried to impose sharia law as part of its overall policy to "Islamicize" all of Sudan." |publisher=Pbs.org |access-date=4 April 2012}}
• Tibi, Bassam (2008). Political Islam, World Politics and Europe. Routledge. p. 33. "The shari'a was imposed on non-Muslim Sudanese peoples in September 1983, and since that time Muslims in the north have been fighting a jihad against the non-Muslims in the south."

The differences between sharia and secular law have led to an ongoing controversy as to whether sharia is compatible with secular forms of government, human rights, freedom of thought, and women's rights.Encyclopædia Britannica, see article on [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shariah Shari'ah (Islamic law)], 2006

• Otto, J. M. (2008). [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/20694/Sharia%20and%20national%20Law%20in%20Muslim%20countries.pdf?sequence=1 Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries] (Vol. 3), Amsterdam University PressAbdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, "Islamic Foundations of Religious Human Rights", in Religious Human Rights in Global Perspective: Religious Perspectives, pp 351–56 (John Witte Jr. & Johan D. van der Vyver eds., 1996).Hajjar, Lisa. "Religion, state power, and domestic violence in Muslim societies: A framework for comparative analysis." Law & Social Inquiry 29.1 (2004); pp. 1–38Al-Suwaidi, J. (1995). "Arab and western conceptions of democracy"; in Democracy, war, and peace in the Middle East (Editors: David Garnham, Mark A. Tessler), Indiana University Press, see Chapters 5 and 6; {{ISBN|978-0253209399}}

{{Fiqh|state=collapsed}}

{{Main|Islamic ethics|Criticism of Islam|Early reforms under Islam}}

{{See also|Application of sharia law by country|Human rights in Islamic countries|Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam|Arab Charter on Human Rights|Islam and secularism|Islam and modernity}}

File:Muslim Conquest.sv.svg and the Rashidun]]

{{Campaignbox Campaigns of Muhammad}}

{{Main|Islam and war|Islamic military jurisprudence|Criticism of Muhammad#Points of contention|Early Muslim conquests|List of expeditions of Muhammad|Military career of Muhammad|Muhammad as a diplomat|Spread of Islam}}

The first military rulings were formulated during the first hundred years after Muhammad established an Islamic state in Medina. These rulings evolved in accordance with the interpretations of the Quran (the Muslim Holy scriptures) and Hadith (the recorded traditions of Muhammad). The key themes in these rulings were the justness of war (see Justice in the Quran) and the injunction to jihad. The rulings do not cover feuds and armed conflicts in general.{{cite book|last1=Aboul-Enein|first1=H. Yousuf|last2=Sherifa|first2=Zuhur|author-link2=Sherifa Zuhur|title=Islamic Rulings on Warfare|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5F-JEmNr9yUC&pg=PA3|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=978-1-4289-1039-3|pages=3–4|year=2004}} The millennium of Muslim conquests could be classified as a religious war.

Some have pointed out that the current Western view of the need for a clear separation between Church and State was only first legislated into effect after 18 centuries of Christianity in the Western world.[http://counterjihad.com/separation-church-state-west-sharia "Separation of Church and State: In the West and Under Sharia"] By Immanuel Al-Manteeqi. Counter Jihad. 17 August 2016. Downloaded 1 March 2017. While some majority Muslim governments such as Turkey and many of the majority Muslim former Soviet republics have officially attempted to incorporate this principle of such a separation of powers into their governments, yet, the concept somewhat remains in a state of ongoing evolution and flux within the Muslim world.

Islam has never had any officially recognized tradition of pacifism, and throughout its history, warfare has been an integral part of the Islamic theological system.{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=James Turner|title=Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IoEjpRsvuzUC&pg=PA20|date=1 November 2010|publisher=Penn State Press|isbn=978-0-271-04214-5|pages=20–25|chapter=1}}{{Cite web | url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300198171/islamic-imperialism |title = Islamic Imperialism | Yale University Press}}Lews, Bernard, Islam and the West, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 9–10 Since the time of Muhammad, Islam has considered warfare to be a legitimate expression of religious faith, and has accepted its use for the defense of Islam.Aboul-Enein, H. Yousuf and Zuhur, Sherifa, Islamic Rulings on Warfare, p. 22, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, Diane Publishing Co., Darby PA, {{ISBN|1-4289-1039-5}} During approximately the first 1,000 years of its existence, the use of warfare by Muslim majority governments often resulted in the de facto propagation of Islam.

The minority Sufi movement within Islam, which includes certain pacifist elements, has often been officially "tolerated" by many Muslim majority governments. Some notable Muslim clerics, such as Abdul Ghaffar Khan, have also developed alternative non-violent Muslim theologies. Some hold that the formal juristic definition of war in Islam constitutes an irrevocable and permanent link between the political and religious justifications for war within Islam. The Quranic concept of Jihad includes aspects of both a physical and an internal struggle.

{{main|Jihad|Offensive jihad|Defensive jihad|The Jihad verse (Al-Baqara 216)|Itmam al-hujjah|Jihadism|Salafi jihadism|Qutbism|Opinion of Islamic scholars on Jihad}}

Jihad ({{lang|ar|جهاد}}) is an Islamic term referring to the religious duty of Muslims to maintain the religion. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning "to strive, to apply oneself, to struggle, to persevere".{{cite book|author=Khaled M. Abou El Fadl|author-link=Khaled Abou El Fadl|title=The Great Theft|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fIrLjWF98FIC&pg=PA221|date=13 October 2009|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-174475-4|page=221}} A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid, the plural of which is mujahideen ({{lang|ar|مجاهدين}}). The word jihad appears frequently in the Quran,{{cite book|last=Al-Dawoody|first=Ahmed|title=The Islamic Law of War: Justifications and Regulations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bd5dAQAAQBAJ|date=15 February 2011|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-31994-3|page=56|quote=Seventeen derivatives of jihād occur altogether forty-one times in eleven Meccan texts and thirty Medinan ones, with the following five meanings: striving because of religious belief (21), war (12), non-Muslim parents exerting pressure, that is, jihād, to make their children abandon Islam (2), solemn oaths (5), and physical strength (1)}} often in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God (al-jihad fi sabil Allah)", to refer to the act of striving to serve the purposes of God on this earth.{{cite book|title=Essential Islam: A Comprehensive Guide to Belief and Practice|last=Morgan|first=Diane|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36025-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/essentialislamco0000morg/page/87 87]|url=https://archive.org/details/essentialislamco0000morg|url-access=registration|access-date=5 January 2011}}{{cite encyclopedia|editor=Wendy Doniger|editor-link=Wendy Doniger|encyclopedia=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions|title=Jihad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZP_f9icf2roC&pg=PA571|page=571|publisher=Merriam-Webster|year=1999|isbn=978-0-87779-044-0}}, Jihad.{{cite encyclopedia|editor=Josef W. Meri|editor-link=Josef W. Meri|encyclopedia=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia|title=Jihad|publisher=Routledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFZsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA419|page=419|year=2005|isbn=978-0-415-96690-0}}, Jihad. According to the classical Sharia law manual of Shafi'i, Reliance of the Traveller, a Jihad is a war that should be waged against non-Muslims, and the word Jihad is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, a mujahada is a war which should be waged to establish the religion.{{cite web|url=http://www.catheyallison.com/Reliance_of_the_Traveller.pdf |title=Reliance of the Traveller |author=Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri |author-link=Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri |author2=Nuh Ha Mim Keller |author2-link=Nuh Ha Mim Keller | page= Chapter O9.0: Jihad|date =1368|work=Amana Publications |access-date=14 May 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://dailyrollcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/the-reliance-of-the-traveller.pdf |title=A Classic Manual of Islamic Scared Law |author= Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri |author-link= Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri |author2= Nuh Ha Mim Keller |author2-link= Nuh Ha Mim Keller |date=1368| work=Shafiifiqh.com|access-date=14 May 2020}} Jihad is sometimes referred to as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it occupies no such official status.{{cite book|last=Esposito|first=John L.|author-link=John Esposito|title=Islam: The Straight Path|url=https://archive.org/details/islamstraightpat00espo|url-access=registration|year=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-504398-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamstraightpat00espo/page/95 95]}} In Twelver Shi'a Islam, however, jihad is one of the ten Practices of the Religion.{{cite web|title=Part 2: Islamic Practices|url=http://www.al-islam.org/invitation-islam-sayyid-moustafa-al-qazwini/part-2-islamic-practices|website=al-Islam.org|access-date=27 August 2014}}

Muslims and scholars do not all agree on its definition. Many observers—both Muslim[http://rissc.jo/index.php/english-publications.html Jihad and the Islamic Law of War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130818180319/http://www.rissc.jo/index.php/english-publications.html |date=18 August 2013 }} and non-MuslimRudolph Peters, Islam and Colonialism. The doctrine of Jihad in Modern History (Mouton Publishers, 1979), p. 118—as well as the Dictionary of Islam, talk of jihad having two meanings: an inner spiritual struggle (the "greater jihad"), and an outer physical struggle against the enemies of Islam (the "lesser jihad"){{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/jihad_1.shtml|title= Jihad|access-date=20 February 2012}} which may take a violent or non-violent form.DeLong-Bas (2010), p. 3 Jihad is often translated as "Holy War",{{cite book|last1=Lloyd Steffen|first1=Lloyd|title=Holy War, Just War: Exploring the Moral Meaning of Religious Violence|date=2007|publisher=Rowman& Littlefield|page=221|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRe_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA221|isbn=9781461637394}}cf., e.g., BBC news article [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8537925.stm Libya's Gaddafi urges 'holy war' against Switzerland]Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Medieval and Modern Islam (Brill, 1977), p. 3 although this term is controversial.Patricia Crone, Medieval Islamic Political Thought (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), p. 363Khaled Abou El Fadl stresses that the Islamic theological tradition did not have a notion of "Holy war" (in Arabic al-harb al-muqaddasa), which is not an expression used by the Quranic text or Muslim theologians. In Islamic theology, war is never holy; it is either justified or not. He further states that the Quran does not use the word jihad to refer to warfare or fighting; such acts are referred to as qital. (source:{{cite book|last1=Abou El Fadl|first1=Khaled|title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists|date=23 January 2007|publisher=HarperOne|isbn=978-0061189036|page=222|author1-link=Khaled Abou El Fadl}} According to orientalist Bernard Lewis, "the overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists", and specialists in the hadith "understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense."Bernard Lewis, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NXCTjv2oFtUC&pg=PA72 The Political Language of Islam] (University of Chicago Press, 1988), p. 72. Cf. William M. Watt, Islamic Conceptions of the Holy War in: Thomas P. Murphy, The Holy War (Ohio State University Press, 1974), p. 143 Javed Ahmad Ghamidi states that there is consensus among Islamic scholars that the concept of jihad will always include armed struggle against wrongdoers.{{cite book|last=Ghamidi|first=Javed|author-link=Javed Ahmed Ghamidi|title=Mizan|publisher=Dar ul-Ishraq|chapter=The Islamic Law of Jihad|chapter-url=http://www.javedahmadghamidi.com/renaissance/view/the-islamic-law-of-jihad-part-1-2|year=2001|oclc=52901690|title-link=Mizan}}

According to Jonathan Berkey, jihad in the Quran was maybe originally intended against Muhammad's local enemies, the pagans of Mecca or the Jews of Medina, but the Quranic statements supporting jihad could be redirected once new enemies appeared.{{cite book|last=Berkey|first=Jonathan Porter|author-link=Jonathan Berkey|title=The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800|url=https://archive.org/details/formationofislam0000berk|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58813-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/formationofislam0000berk/page/73 73]|quote=The Koran is not a squeamish document, and exhort the believers to jihad. Verses such as "Do not follow the unbelievers, but struggle against them mightily" (25.52) and "fight [those who have been given a revelation] who do not believe in God and the last day" (9.29) may originally have been directed against Muhammad's local enemies, the pagans of Mecca or the Jews of Medina, but could be redirected once a new set of enemies appeared.}} The first documentation of the law of Jihad was written by 'Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i and Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Shaybani.

The first forms of military Jihad occurred after the migration (hijra) of Muhammad and his small group of followers to Medina from Mecca and the conversion of several inhabitants of the city to Islam. The first revelation concerning the struggle against the Meccans was surah 22, verses 39–40:William M. Watt: Muhammad at Medina, p. 4; q.v. the Tafsir regarding these verses

The main focus of Muhammad's later years was increasing the number of allies as well as the amount of territory under Muslim control.David Cook, Understanding Jihad; University of California Press: CA, 2005

According to Richard Edwards and Sherifa Zuhur, offensive jihad was the type of jihad practiced by the early Muslim community because their weakness meant "no defensive action would have sufficed to protect them against the allied tribal forces determined to exterminate them." Jihad as a collective duty (Fard Kifaya) and offensive jihad is synonymous in classical Islamic law and tradition, which also asserted that offensive jihad could only be declared by the caliph, but an "individually incumbent jihad" (Fard Ayn) required only "awareness of an oppression targeting Islam or Islamic peoples."{{cite book|last1=Edwards |first1=Richard |last2=Zuhur|first2=Sherifa |title=The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History|page=553|publisher=ABC-CLIO|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YAd8efHdVzIC&pg=PA553|isbn=9781851098422 |date=12 May 2008 }}

Tina Magaard, associate professor at the Aarhus University Department of Business Development and Technology, has analyzed the texts of the ten largest religions in the world. In an interview, she stated that the basic texts of Islam call for violence and aggression against followers of other faiths to a greater extent than texts of other religions. She has also argued that they contain direct incitements to terrorism.{{cite news|newspaper=Jyllands-Posten|url=http://jyllands-posten.dk/indland/ECE5097347/Islam-er-den-mest-krigeriske-religion/|title=Islam er den mest krigeriske religion|date=9 October 2005|language=da}}{{cite book

| last1 = Magaard

| first1 = Tina

| year = 2007

| chapter = Fjendebilleder og voldsforestillinger i islamiske grundtekster [Images of enemies and conceptions of violence in Islamic core scriptures] |language=da

| title = Totalitarisme: venskab og fjendskab.

|editor = Mehdi Mozaffari |editor2=Hans-Jørgen Schanz |editor3=Mikkel Thorup

| publisher = Århus Universitetsforlag

| pages = 213–238 }}

According to a number of sources, Shia doctrine taught that jihad (or at least full-scale jihad) can only be carried out under the leadership of the Imam{{cite journal |url=http://www.meforum.org/357/what-does-jihad-mean |title=What Does Jihad Mean? |first1=Douglas E. |last1=Streusand |journal=Middle East Quarterly |date=September 1997 |pages=9–17|quote= Shi'i writers make a further qualification, that offensive jihad is permissible only in the presence of the expected Imam-and thus not under current circumstances.}} (who will return from occultation to bring absolute justice to the world).{{cite book|editor1-last=Coates|editor1-first=David|title=The Oxford Companion to American Politics, Volume 2|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_BMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA16|isbn=9780199764310}} However, "struggles to defend Islam" are permissible before his return.Kohlberg, Etan, "The Development of the Imami Shi'i Doctrine of Jihad." Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgen Laendischen Gesellschaft, 126 (1976), pp. 64–86, esp. pp. 78–86

File:Pir Gazi and his tiger in Sundarbans.jpg era illustration of Pir Ghazi of Bengal.]]

{{Main|Caravan raids|Ghazi (warrior)|Razzia (military)}}

Ghazi ({{lang|ar|غازي}}) is an Arabic term originally referring to an individual who participates in Ghazw ({{lang|ar|غزو}}), meaning military expeditions or raiding; after the emergence of Islam, it took on new connotations of religious warfare. The related word Ghazwa ({{lang|ar|غزوة}}) is a singulative form meaning a battle or military expedition, often one led by Muhammad.Aboul-Enein, H. Yousuf and Zuhur, Sherifa,"[https://books.google.com/books?id=5F-JEmNr9yUC Islamic Rulings on Warfare]", Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, Diane Publishing Co., Darby PA, {{ISBN|1-4289-1039-5}} p. 6.

The Caravan raids were a series of raids in which Muhammad and his companions participated. The raids were generally offensive and carried out to gather intelligence or seize the trade goods of caravans financed by the Quraysh.{{cite book|author=William Montgomery Watt|title=Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RV7uAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA105|year=1974|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=105|isbn=9780198810780}} The raids were intended to weaken the economy of Mecca by Muhammad. His followers were also impoverished. Muhammad only attacked caravans as a response against Quraysh for confiscating the Muslims' homes and wealth back in Mecca and driving them into exile.{{cite book|author=Richard A. Gabriel|author-link=Richard A. Gabriel|title=Muhammad: Islam's First Great General|url=https://archive.org/details/muhammadislamsfi00rich|url-access=registration|year=2007|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-3860-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/muhammadislamsfi00rich/page/73 73]}}

{{main|Violence in the Quran|Criticism of the Quran|Al-Anfal|At-Tawba 29}}

File:Berlin,_Pertsch_Persisch_1016_fol_17v_Islamic_Cain_carrying_dead_Abel.jpg of Cain carrying his murdered brother, Abel, to hide his corpse from God, a story often read as anti-murder.]]

Islamic doctrine and teachings on matters of war and peace have become topics of heated discussion in recent years. Charles Matthews writes that there is a "large debate about what the Quran commands with regard to the 'sword verses' and the 'peace verses'". According to Matthews, "the question of the proper prioritization of these verses, and how they should be understood in relation to one another, has been a central issue for Islamic thinking about war."{{cite book |title=Understanding Religious Ethics |first=Charles T. |last=Mathewes|publisher=John Wiley and Sons |year=2010 |page=197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyCsZE_iHp4C&pg=PA197|isbn=9781405133517 }} According to Dipak Gupta, "much of the religious justification of violence against nonbelievers (Dar ul Kufr) by the promoters of jihad is based on the Quranic "sword verses".{{cite book |title= Understanding terrorism and political violence: the life cycle of birth, growth, transformation, and demise |first=Dipak K.|last=Gupta|publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2008 |page=232 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5S8tAyPuQwC&pg=PA232|isbn=9780203930274}}

The Quran contains passages that could be used to glorify or endorse violence.{{cite web|last=Roy|first=Saberi|title=Islam, Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamic Terrorism|url=http://www.globalpolitician.com/print.asp?id=3084|publisher=Globalpolitician|access-date=17 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015005435/http://www.globalpolitician.com/print.asp?id=3084|archive-date=15 October 2013}}Sam Harris [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/who-are-the-moderate-musl_b_15841.html "Who Are the Moderate Muslims?"]

On the other hand, other scholars argue that such verses of the Qur'an are interpreted out of context,Sohail H. Hashmi, David Miller, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QOU9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PR7 Boundaries and Justice: diverse ethical perspectives], Princeton University Press, p. 197Khaleel Muhammad, professor of religious studies at San Diego State University, states, regarding his discussion with the critic Robert Spencer, that "when I am told ... that Jihad only means war, or that I have to accept interpretations of the Qur'an that non-Muslims (with no good intentions or knowledge of Islam) seek to force upon me, I see a certain agendum developing: one that is based on hate, and I refuse to be part of such an intellectual crime." {{cite web|url=http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~khaleel/ |title=Khaleel Mohammed- San Diego State University - Religious Studies Department |access-date=13 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080708102707/http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~khaleel/ |archive-date= 8 July 2008 }} Micheline R. Ishay has argued that "the Quran justifies wars for self-defense to protect Islamic communities against internal or external aggression by non-Islamic populations, and wars waged against those who 'violate their oaths' by breaking a treaty".{{qref|9|12-15|b=y}}{{qref|42|39|b=y}}{{cite book |author=Ishay, Micheline|title=The history of human rights |publisher=University of California |location=Berkeley |page=45 |isbn=978-0-520-25641-5 |date=2 June 2008 }} and British orientalist Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner stated that jihad, even in self-defence, is "strictly limited".[http://www.aaiil.org/uk/newsletters/2002/0302ukbulletin.pdf Article on Jihad] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305011945/http://www.aaiil.org/uk/newsletters/2002/0302ukbulletin.pdf |date=5 March 2016 }} by Dr. G. W. Leitner (founder of The Oriental Institute, UK) published in Asiatic Quarterly Review, 1886. ("Jihad, even when explained as a righteous effort of waging war in self defense against the grossest outrage on one's religion, is strictly limited..")

However, according to Oliver Leaman, a number of Islamic jurists asserted the primacy of the "sword verses" over the conciliatory verses in specific historical circumstances.{{cite book|author=Oliver Leaman|author-link=Oliver Leaman|title=Jewish Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DLLKcZuGCQ4C&pg=PA69|year=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-08868-5|page=69}} For example, according to Diane Morgan, Ibn Kathir (1301–1372) asserted that the Sword Verse abrogated all peace treaties that had been promulgated between Muhammad and idolaters.{{cite book |title=Essential Islam: a comprehensive guide to belief and practice |first=Diane |last=Morgan|publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2010 |page=[https://archive.org/details/essentialislamco0000morg/page/89 89] |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialislamco0000morg|url-access=registration |isbn=9780313360251 }}

Prior to the Hijra travel, Muhammad non-violently struggled against his oppressors in Mecca.Boulding, Elise. "Cultures of Peace: The Hidden Side of History", p. 57 It wasn't until after the exile that the Quranic revelations began to adopt a more defensive perspective.Howard, Lawrence. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=ctoPBr3UEwYC Terrorism: Roots, Impact, Responses]", p. 48 From that point onward, those dubious about the need to go to war were typically portrayed as lazy cowards allowing their love of peace to become a fitna to them.Churchill, Robert Paul. "Interpreting the Jihad of Islam: Muslim militarism vs. Muslim pacifism", 1995

{{Main|Jihad in Hadith}}

{{See also|Criticism of Hadith}}

The context of the Quran is elucidated by Hadith (the teachings, deeds, and sayings of Muhammad). Of the 199 references to jihad in perhaps the most standard collection of hadith—Sahih Bukhari—all refer to warfare.Muhammad ibn Isma'il Bukhari, The Translation of the Meaning of Sahih al-Bukhari, trans. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, 8 vols. (Medina: Dar al-Fikr: 1981), 4:34–204. Quoted in {{cite journal|url=http://www.meforum.org/357/what-does-jihad-mean |title=What Does Jihad Mean?|last=Streusand|first=Douglas E. |journal=Middle East Quarterly |date=September 1997 |pages=9–17 |quote=In hadith collections, jihad means armed action; for example, the 199 references to jihad in the most standard collection of hadith, Sahih al-Bukhari, all assume that jihad means warfare.}}

{{main|Quranism}}

Quranists reject the hadith and only accept the Quran. The extent to which Quranists reject the authenticity of the Sunnah varies,Richard Stephen Voss, [http://www.masjidtucson.org/publications/books/sp/1996/apr/page1.html Identifying Assumptions in the Hadith/Sunnah Debate], 19.org, Accessed 5 December 2013 but the more established groups have thoroughly criticised the authenticity of the hadith and refused it for many reasons, the most prevalent being the Quranist claim that hadith is not mentioned in the Quran as a source of Islamic theology and practice, was not recorded in written form until more than two centuries after the death of Muhammad, and contain perceived internal errors and contradictions.Aisha Y. Musa, [https://www.academia.edu/1035742/The_Quranists The Qur’anists], Florida International University, accessed 22 May 2013.

{{Main|Ahmadiyya view on Jihad|Ahmadiyya#Abrogation|Persecution of Ahmadis}}

According to Ahmadi belief, Jihad can be divided into three categories: Jihad al-Akbar (Greater Jihad) is that against the self and refers to striving against one's low desires such as anger, lust and hatred; Jihad al-Kabīr (Great Jihad) refers to the peaceful propagation of Islam, with special emphasis on spreading the true message of Islam by the pen; Jihad al-Asghar (Smaller Jihad) is only for self-defence under situations of extreme religious persecution whilst not being able to follow one's fundamental religious beliefs, and even then only under the direct instruction of the Caliph.{{cite web | url=http://www.whyahmadi.org/3_10.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414065050/http://www.whyahmadi.org/3_10.html | archive-date=14 April 2012 | title=Suspension of Jihad | access-date=3 September 2014}}{{cite book|author=Simon Ross Valentine|title=Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jama'at: History, Belief, Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MdRth02Q6nAC&pg=PA190|year=2008|publisher=C. Hurst & Co.|isbn=978-1-85065-916-7|pages=190–208}} Ahmadi Muslims point out that as per Islamic prophecy, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad rendered Jihad in its military form as inapplicable in the present age as Islam, as a religion, is not being attacked militarily but through literature and other media, and therefore the response should be likewise. They believe that the answer to hate should be given by love.{{cite web |url=http://www.reviewofreligions.org/2671/true-concept-of-islamic-jihad/ | title=True Concept of Islamic Jihad | publisher=Review of Religions | access-date=3 September 2014| date=15 October 2010 }}{{cite book|author=Maulana Muhammad Ali|title=The Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MFX1BjySNh8C|year=2008|publisher=A.a.i.i.l. (u.k.)|isbn=978-1-906109-02-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_MFX1BjySNh8C/page/n77 74]–79}} Concerning terrorism, the fourth Caliph of the Community writes:{{cite web|last1=Malik|first1=Mansoor Ahmad|title=Islam Condemns Terrorism|url=http://grapevine.is/mag/column-opinion/2015/11/27/islam-condemns-terrorism/|publisher=The Reykjavík Grapevine|access-date=29 November 2015|location=Reykjavík|date=27 November 2015}}

{{Blockquote|As far as Islam is concerned, it categorically rejects and condemns every form of terrorism. It does not provide any cover or justification for any act of violence, be it committed by an individual, a group or a government.}}

Various Ahmadis scholars, such as Muhammad Ali, Maulana Sadr-ud-Din and Basharat Ahmad, argue that when the Quran's verses are read in context, it clearly appears that the Quran prohibits initial aggression, and allows fighting only in self-defense.Ali, Maulana Muhammad; The Religion of Islam (6th Edition), Ch V "Jihad" p. 414 "When shall war cease". Published by The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement[http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/mali/religionislam/religionofislam.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223064650/http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/mali/religionislam/religionofislam.pdf|date=23 December 2015}}Sadr-u-Din, Maulvi. "Quran and War", p. 8. Published by The Muslim Book Society, Lahore, Pakistan.[http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/others/sadrdin/quranwar/quranwar.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200520015216/https://www.aaiil.org/text/books/others/sadrdin/quranwar/quranwar.pdf|date=20 May 2020}}[http://www.aaiil.org/text/articles/bash/quraniccommandmentswarjihad.shtml The Quranic Commandments Regarding War/Jihad] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180426223211/http://www.aaiil.org/text/articles/bash/quraniccommandmentswarjihad.shtml |date=26 April 2018 }} An English rendering of an Urdu article appearing in Basharat-e-Ahmadiyya Vol. I, pp. 228–32, by Dr. Basharat Ahmad; published by the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of IslamAli, Maulana Muhammad. The Religion of Islam (6th Edition), Ch V "Jihad". pp. 411–13. Published by The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. [http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/mali/religionislam/religionofislam.pdf link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223064650/http://www.aaiil.org/text/books/mali/religionislam/religionofislam.pdf |date=23 December 2015 }}

Ahmadi Muslims believe that no verse of the Quran abrogates or cancels another verse. All Quranic verses have equal validity, in keeping with their emphasis on the "unsurpassable beauty and unquestionable validity of the Qur'ān".Friedmann, Jihād in Ahmadī Thought, {{ISBN|965-264-014-X}}, p. 227 The harmonization of apparently incompatible rulings is resolved through their juridical deflation in Ahmadī fiqh, so that a ruling (considered to have applicability only to the specific situation for which it was revealed), is effective not because it was revealed last, but because it is most suited to the situation at hand.

Ahmadis are considered non-Muslims by the mainstream Muslims since they consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of Ahmadiyya, as the promised Mahdi and Messiah.{{cite book | url=http://www.alislam.org/books/3in1/chap2/index.html | title=An Enemy a Disbeliever a Liar, Claims of Hadhrat Ahmad | publisher=Islam International Publications | author=Naeem Osman Memon | year=1994 |isbn=978-1-85372-552-4}}{{cite book | url=http://www.alislam.org/books/truth/reflection.html | title=Truth about Ahmadiyyat, Reflection of all the Prophets |publisher=London Mosque | author=B.A. Rafiq | year=1978 |isbn=978-0-85525-013-3}}{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/revelationration00ahma | title=Revelation Rationality Knowledge and Truth, Future of Revelation | publisher=Islam International Publications | author=Mirza Tahir Ahmad | author-link=Mirza Tahir Ahmad | year=1998 | isbn=978-1-85372-640-8 }}{{cite book|author=Colin Lago|title=The Handbook of Transcultural Counselling and Psychotherapy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vREBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA312|year=2011|publisher=McGraw-Hill Education (UK)|isbn=978-0-335-23851-4|page=312}} In a number of Islamic countries, especially Sunni-dominated nations, Ahmadis have been considered heretics and non-Muslim, and have been subject to various forms of religious persecution, discrimination and systematic oppression since the movement's inception in 1889.[https://web.archive.org/web/20060819140154/http://www.theasa.org/conferences/asa04/panels/panel21.htm "Localising Diaspora: the Ahmadi Muslims and the problem of multi-sited ethnography".] Association of Social Anthropologists, 2004 conference panel.

{{Main|Islamic criminal jurisprudence|Hudud|Qisas|Tazir}}

The Islamic criminal law is criminal law in accordance with Sharia. Strictly speaking, Islamic law does not have a distinct corpus of "criminal law." It divides crimes into three different categories depending on the offense – Hudud (crimes "against God",{{cite book|last1=Dammer|first1=Harry|last2=Albanese|first2=Jay|title=Comparative Criminal Justice Systems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6qs5a_6EE8C&pg=PA60|date=4 January 2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-285-06786-5|page=60}} whose punishment is fixed in the Quran and the Hadiths); Qisas (crimes against an individual or family whose punishment is equal retaliation in the Quran and the Hadiths); and Tazir (crimes whose punishment is not specified in the Quran and the Hadiths, and is left to the discretion of the ruler or Qadi, i.e. judge).[https://web.archive.org/web/20081101103325/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0170 Criminal Law] Oxford Islamic Studies, Oxford University Press (2013){{cite book|author=Mohamed S. El-Awa|date=1993|title= Punishment in Islamic Law|publisher=American Trust Publications|isbn=978-0892591428|pages=1–68}}{{cite book|author=Silvia Tellenbach|year=2015|title=The Oxford Handbook of Criminal Law (Ed: Markus D. Dubber and Tatjana Hornle)|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199673599|pages=251–253}}Mark Cammack (2012), Islamic Law and Crime in Contemporary Courts, Berkeley J. of Middle Eastern & Islamic Law, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1–7 Some add the fourth category of Siyasah (crimes against government),{{cite journal|last=Tabassum|first=Sadia|title=Combatants, not bandits: the status of rebels in Islamic law|journal=International Review of the Red Cross|date=20 April 2011|volume=93|issue=881|pages=121–39|doi=10.1017/S1816383111000117|s2cid=56196822}} while others consider it as part of either Hadd or Tazir crimes.{{cite book|author=Omar A. Farrukh|date=1969|title=Ibn Taimiyya on Public and Private Law in Islam or Public Policy in Islamic Jurisprudence|oclc=55624054}}M. Cherif Bassiouni (1997), Crimes and the Criminal Process, Arab Law Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3 (1997), pp. 269–86

• Hudud is an Islamic concept: punishments under Islamic law (Shariah) are mandated and fixed by God. The Shariah divided offenses into those against God and those against man. Crimes against God violated his Hudud, or 'boundaries'. These punishments were specified by the Quran and in some instances by the Sunnah.Silvia Tellenbach (2015), The Oxford Handbook of Criminal Law (Ed: Markus D. Dubber and Tatjana Hornle), Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199673599}}, pp. 251–53 They are namely for adultery, fornication, homosexuality, illegal sex by a slave girl, accusing someone of illicit sex but failing to present four male Muslim eyewitnesses,Z. Mir-Hosseini (2011), Criminalizing sexuality: zina laws as violence against women in Muslim contexts, SUR-International Journal on Human Rights, 8(15), pp 7–33Kecia Ali (2006), Sexual Ethics and Islam, {{ISBN|978-1851684564}}, Chapter 4.Nisrine Abiad (2008), Sharia, Muslim States and International Human Rights Treaty Obligations, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, {{ISBN|978-1905221417}}, pp. 24–25 apostasy, consuming intoxicants, outrage (e.g. rebellion against the lawful Caliph, other forms of mischief against the Muslim state, or highway robbery), robbery and theft.Mohamed S. El-Awa (1993), Punishment in Islamic Law, American Trust Publications, {{ISBN|978-0892591428}}, pp. 1–68{{cite book|last=Otto|first=Jan Michiel|title=Sharia and National Law in Muslim Countries|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-8728-048-2|pages=663, 31|year=2008}}Philip Reichel and Jay Albanese (2013), Handbook of Transnational Crime and Justice, SAGE publications, {{ISBN|978-1452240350}}, pp. 36-37 The crimes against hudud cannot be pardoned by the victim or by the state, and the punishments must be carried out in public.{{cite book|author=Richard J. Terrill|title=World Criminal Justice Systems: A Comparative Survey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJaEzC1CBe8C&pg=PA629|date=7 April 2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-4377-5577-0|page=629}}

These punishments range from public lashing to publicly stoning to death, amputation of hands and crucifixion.[https://web.archive.org/web/20081121023601/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e757 Hadd] Oxford Dictionary of Islam, Oxford University Press (2012) However, in most Muslim nations in modern times public stoning and execution are relatively uncommon, although they are found in Muslim nations that follow a strict interpretation of sharia, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran.Oliver Leaman (2013), Controversies in Contemporary Islam, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415676137}}, Ch. 9, pp.124–127John L. Esposito (2004), The Islamic World: Past and Present, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0397512164}}, pp. 82–83

• Qisas is an Islamic term meaning "retaliation in kind" or revenge,Mohamed S. El-Awa (1993), Punishment in Islamic Law, American Trust Publications, {{ISBN|978-0892591428}}Shahid M. Shahidullah, Comparative Criminal Justice Systems: Global and Local Perspectives, {{ISBN|978-1449604257}}, pp. 370–372 "eye for an eye", "nemesis" or retributive justice. It is a category of crimes in Islamic jurisprudence, where Sharia allows equal retaliation as the punishment. Qisas principle is available against the accused, to the victim or victim's heirs, when a Muslim is murdered, suffers bodily injury, or suffers property damage.Tahir Wasti (2009), The Application of Islamic Criminal Law in Pakistan: Sharia in Practice, Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004172258}}, pp. 12–13 In the case of murder, Qisas means the right of a murder victim's nearest relative or Wali (legal guardian) to, if the court approves, take the life of the killer.Encyclopædia Britannica, [https://www.britannica.com/place/Iran/Government-and-society#ref783962 Qisas] (2012) The Quran mentions the "eye for an eye" concept as being ordained for the Children of Israel{{Citation | title = Qur'an | at = V: 45}}. in {{Citation | title = Qur'an | at = 2:178}}: "O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution (Qasas) for those murdered – the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. But whoever overlooks from his brother anything, then there should be a suitable follow-up and payment to him with good conduct. This is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy. But whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment." Shi'ite countries that use Islamic Sharia law, such as Iran, apply the "eye for an eye" rule literally.{{Citation | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7754756.stm | title = Court orders Iranian man blinded | publisher = BBC | date = 28 November 2008}}{{Citation | url = https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/14/acid-blinding-postponed-iran-outcry | title = Acid blinding sentence postponed by Iran after international outcry | newspaper = The Guardian | place = UK | date = 14 May 2011}}

{{Blockquote | In the Torah We prescribed for them a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, an equal wound for a wound: if anyone forgoes this out of charity, it will serve as atonement for his bad deeds. Those who do not judge according to what God has revealed are doing grave wrong. ({{Citation | title = Qurʾān | at = 5:45}})}}

• Tazir refers to punishment, usually corporal, for offenses at the discretion of the judge (Qadi) or ruler of the state.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100826014201/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2363 Tazir] Oxford Islamic Studies, Oxford University Press

{{Main|Capital punishment in Islam}}

{{Main|Beheading in Islam}}

Beheading was the standard method of capital punishment under classical Islamic law.{{cite book|author=Rudolph Peters|title=Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|page=36}} It was also, together with hanging, one of the ordinary methods of execution in the Ottoman Empire.{{cite book|author=Rudolph Peters|title=Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|page=101}}

Currently, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which uses decapitation within its Islamic legal system. The majority of executions carried out by the Wahhabi government of Saudi Arabia are public beheadings,Janine di Giovanni, [http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/24/when-it-comes-beheadings-isis-has-nothing-over-saudi-arabia-277385.html "When It Comes to Beheadings, ISIS has Nothing Over Saudi Arabia"], Newsweek, 14 October 2014.Russell Goldman, [https://abcnews.go.com/US/saudi-arabias-beheading-nanny-strict-procedures/story?id=18182757 "Saudi Arabia's Beheading of a Nanny Followed Strict Procedures"], abcnews.com, 11 January 2013. which usually cause mass gatherings but are not allowed to be photographed or filmed.{{cite news|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/20/saudi-arabias-beheadings-are-public-but-it-doesnt-want-them-publicized/|title=Saudi Arabia's Beheadings Are Public, but It Doesn't Want Them Publicized|date=20 January 2015|work=Foreign Policy Magazine|author=Justine Drennen}}

Beheading is reported to have been carried out by state authorities in Iran as recently as 2001,{{cite web|title=Iran / death penalty A state terror policy|url=https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/Rapport_Iran_final.pdf|publisher=International Federation for Human Rights|access-date=5 April 2016|page=38|date=16 March 2010}} but as of 2014 is no longer in use.[http://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm?country=iran "Death Penalty Database: Iran"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407144305/https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/country-search-post.cfm%3Fcountry%3Diran |date=7 April 2019 }}, deathpenaltyworldwide.org, Cornell Law School, accessed 13 June 2016.

It is also a legal form of execution in Qatar and Yemen, but the punishment has been suspended in those countries.{{cite book|last1=Hood|first1=Roger|last2=Hoyle|first2=Carolyn|title=The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7S-tBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA178|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-870173-6|page=178}}{{cite book|last1=Kronenwetter|first1=Michael|title=Capital Punishment: A Reference Handbook|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781576074329|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SOiuzOv061EC&pg=PA202|language=en|year=2001}}

In recent years, non-state Jihadist organizations such as the Islamic State and Tawhid and Jihad either carry out or have carried out beheadings. Since 2002, they have circulated beheading videos as a form of terror and propaganda.{{cite web |url=https://news.yahoo.com/jihadists-beheadings-sow-fear-prompt-muslim-revulsion-205000146.html |title=Jihadists beheadings sow fear, prompt Muslim revulsion |work=Yahoo! News |agency=AFP |author=Sara Hussein |author2=Rita Daou |name-list-style=amp |date=3 September 2014 |access-date=3 September 2014}}{{cite book|author=James Watson|author2=Anne Hill|title=Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|year=2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gJCOCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA325|page=325|isbn=9781628921489}} Their actions have been condemned by other militant and terrorist groups, and they have also been condemned by mainstream Islamic scholars and organizations.{{cite news | url=http://www.ibtimes.com/muslim-world-reacts-isis-brutal-tactics-beheading-us-journalist-james-foley-1665792 | title=Muslim World Reacts To ISIS Brutal Tactics, Beheading of US Journalist James Foley | work=International Business Times | date=22 August 2014 | access-date=24 November 2014}}{{cite book|author=Alia Brahami|title=Terrorist Beheadings: Politics and Reciprocity|volume=Prisoners in War|editor=Sibylle Scheipers|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_VGB9aX8NsC&pg=PT551|page=551|isbn=9780191610387}}{{cite news | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4971314 | title=Hezbollah, Hamas denounce beheadings | publisher=Associated Press/NBC News | date= 13 May 2004 | access-date=10 August 2016}}{{cite news | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4971314 | title=Even al-Qaeda denounced beheading videos. Why the Islamic State brought them back | publisher=Associated Press/NBC News | date= 22 August 2014| access-date=10 August 2016}}

{{Main|Rajm}}

Rajm ({{large|رجم}}) is an Arabic word that means "stoning".E. Ann Black, Hossein Esmaeili and Nadirsyah Hosen (2014), Modern Perspectives on Islamic Law, {{ISBN|978-0857934475}}, pp. 222–223Rudolph Peters, Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521796705}}, p. 37 It is commonly used to refer to the Hudud punishment wherein an organized group throws stones at a convicted individual until that person dies. Under Islamic law, it is the prescribed punishment in cases of adultery committed by a married man or married woman. The conviction requires a confession from either the adulterer/adulteress, the testimony of four witnesses (as prescribed by the Quran in Surah an-Nur verse 4), or pregnancy outside of marriage.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150122001300/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1587 Muhsan] The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (2012)Ismail Poonwala (2007), The Pillars of Islam: Laws pertaining to human intercourse, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195689075}}, pp. 448–57Al Muwatta {{Hadith-usc|muwatta|usc=no|41|1|8|}}

See below Sexual crimes

File:Ali Beheading Nadr ibn al-Harith in the Presence of the Prophet Muhammad. Miniature from volume 4 of a copy of Mustafa al-Darir’s Siyar-i-Nabi. Istanbul; c. 1594 The David Col..jpg, Ali beheading Nadr ibn al-Harith in the presence of Muhammad and his companions.]]

{{Main|Islam and blasphemy|Censorship in Islamic societies}}

Blasphemy in Islam is an impious utterance or action concerning God, Muhammad, or anything considered sacred in Islam.[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blasphemy Blasphemy] at dictionary.comWiederhold, Lutz. "Blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad and his companions (sabb al-rasul, sabb al-sahabah): The introduction of the topic into shafi'i legal literature and its relevance for legal practice under Mamluk rule."Journal of semitic studies 42.1 (1997): 39–70. The Quran admonishes blasphemy, but does not specify any worldly punishment for it.{{cite book|author1=Abdullah Saeed|author2=Hassan Saeed|title=Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HzFZKWc9SCgC|year=2004|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=978-0-7546-3083-8|pages=38–39}} The hadiths, which are another source of Sharia, suggest various punishments for blasphemy, which may include death. There are a number of surah in Qur'an relating to blasphemy, from which Quranic verses 5:33 and 33:57–61 have been most commonly used in Islamic history to justify and punish blasphemers.

• Siraj Khan, Blasphemy against the Prophet, in Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture (Editors: Coeli Fitzpatrick and Adam Hani Walker), {{ISBN|978-1610691772}}, pp. 59–67
• R Ibrahim (2013), Crucified Again, {{ISBN|978-1621570257}}, pp. 100–101Brian Winston (2014), The Rushdie Fatwa and After: A Lesson to the Circumspect, Palgrave Macmillan, {{ISBN|978-1137388599}}, pp. 74, Quote – "(In the case of blasphemy and Salman Rushdie) the death sentence it pronounced was grounded in a jurisprudential gloss on the Surah al-Ahzab (33:57)"{{cite book|author=Richard T. Antoun|title=Muslim Preacher in the Modern World: A Jordanian Case Study in Comparative Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_QsABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA194|year=2014|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-6007-4|page=194|quote=All the negative connotations of factionalism, social dissension, blasphemy, and their logical conclusions conspiracy, military confrontation and damnation - are captured in the title of this sura, al-Ahzab (The Confederates, Book 33)}} Various fiqhs (schools of jurisprudence) of Islam have different punishment for blasphemy, depending on whether blasphemer is Muslim or non-Muslim, man or woman. The punishment can be fines, imprisonment, flogging, amputation, hanging, or beheading.See the articles about Islamic jurisdictions under Blasphemy law.P Smith (2003), Speak No Evil: Apostasy, Blasphemy and Heresy in Malaysian Syariah Law, UC Davis Journal Int'l Law & Policy, 10, pp. 357–373; *N Swazo (2014), The Case of Hamza Kashgari: Examining Apostasy, Heresy, And Blasphemy Under Sharia, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 12(4), pp. 16–26

Muslim clerics may call for the punishment of an alleged blasphemer by issuing a fatwā.{{cite web|title=Blasphemy Salman Rushdie|work=Constitutional Rights Foundation|year=2009|url=http://www.crf-usa.org/america-responds-to-terrorism/blasphemy-salman-rushdie.html|access-date=10 July 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090818052403/http://www.crf-usa.org/america-responds-to-terrorism/blasphemy-salman-rushdie.html|archive-date=18 August 2009}}{{cite magazine|last=Doran|first=Michael Scott|title=The Saudi Paradox|magazine=Foreign Affairs|date=January–February 2004|url=http://www.udel.edu/global/agenda/2004/student/readings/FASaudi-Doran.html|access-date=27 July 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051204191437/http://www.udel.edu/global/agenda/2004/student/readings/FASaudi-Doran.html|archive-date=4 December 2005}}

According to Islamic sources, Nadr ibn al-Harith, who was an Arab Pagan doctor from Taif, used to tell stories of Rustam and Esfandiyār to the Arabs and scoffed at Muhammad.[https://books.google.com/books?id=js30HODt2aYC&pg=PA179 Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Volume 2, Part 2], p.179, Irfan Shahîd. Also see footnote{{cite book |last=Husayn Haykal |first=Muhammad |author-link=Muhammad Husayn Haykal |title=The Life of Muhammad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fOyO-TSo5nEC&pg=PA250 |year=2008 |publisher=Islamic Book Trust |location=Selangor |isbn=978-983-9154-17-7 |page=250}} After the battle of Badr, al-Harith was captured and, in retaliation, Muhammad ordered his execution in hands of Ali.The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Vol. VII, 1993, p. 872"Sirat Rasul Allah" by Ibn Ishaq, p.135-136{{cite book|author=Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman|title=The Meaning and Explanation of the Glorious Qur'an|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k8kH-dzOKFIC&pg=PA412|edition=2nd|volume=3|year=2009|publisher=MSA Publication Limited|isbn=978-1-86179-769-8|page=412}}

{{Main|Apostasy in Islam}}

{{See also|Kafir|Shirk (Islam)|Freedom of religion by country}}

File:Apostasy laws world map.svg

Apostasy in Islam is commonly defined as the conscious abandonment of Islam by a Muslim in word or through deed.Frank Griffel, Apostasy, in (Editor: Gerhard Bowering et al.) The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought, {{ISBN|978-0691134840}}, pp 40–41; Diane Morgan (2009), Essential Islam: A Comprehensive Guide to Belief and Practice, {{ISBN|978-0313360251}}, pages 182–183Hebatallah Ghali (2006), [http://dar.aucegypt.edu/bitstream/handle/10526/3405/GHALI%20000710037%20RIGHTS%20OF%20CONVERTS%20UPDATE%20FEB%202013.pdf?sequence=3 Rights of Muslim Converts to Christianity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904065937/http://dar.aucegypt.edu/bitstream/handle/10526/3405/GHALI%20000710037%20RIGHTS%20OF%20CONVERTS%20UPDATE%20FEB%202013.pdf?sequence=3 |date=4 September 2014 }} PhD Thesis, Department of Law, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The American University in Cairo, Egypt, page 2; "Whereas apostate (murtad) is the person who commits apostasy ('rtidad), that is the conscious abandonment of allegiance, and renunciation of a religious faith or abandonment of a previous loyalty". A majority considers apostasy in Islam to be some form of religious crime, and Al-Baqara 256 says that there is "no compulsion in religion".[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27424064 Sudan woman faces death for apostasy] BBC News (15 May 2014); Quote "There is a long-running debate in Islam over whether apostasy is a crime. Some liberal scholars hold the view that it is not (...), Others say apostasy is (...). The latter is the dominant view (...)."Peters & De Vries (1976), [https://www./stable/1570336 Apostasy in Islam], Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp 16

The definition of apostasy from Islam and its appropriate punishment(s) are controversial, and they vary among Islamic scholars.{{cite news|first=Magdi |last=Abdelhadi |date=27 March 2006 |title=What Islam says on religious freedom |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4850080.stm |work=BBC News |access-date=14 October 2009}} Apostasy in Islam may include in its scope not only the renunciation of Islam by a Muslim and the joining of another religion or becoming non-religious, or questioning or denying any "fundamental tenet or creed" of Islam such as the divinity of God, prophethood of Muhammad, or mocking God, or worshipping one or more idols.Peters & De Vries (1976), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1570336 Apostasy in Islam], Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, p. 3, quote – "By the murtadd or apostate is understood as the Moslem by birth or by conversion, who renounces his religion, irrespective of whether or not he subsequently embraces another faith".Peters & De Vries (1976), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1570336 Apostasy in Islam], Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp. 3–4{{cite web|url=http://www.catheyallison.com/Reliance_of_the_Traveller.pdf |title=Reliance of the Traveller |author=Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri |author-link=Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri |author2=Nuh Ha Mim Keller |author2-link=Nuh Ha Mim Keller |date =1368|work=Amana Publications |access-date=14 May 2020}}{{cite web|url=http://dailyrollcall.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/the-reliance-of-the-traveller.pdf |title=A Classic Manual of Islamic Scared Law |author= Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri |author-link= Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri |author2= Nuh Ha Mim Keller |author2-link= Nuh Ha Mim Keller |date=1368| pages= 596–598 Section O-8.7 | work=Shafiifiqh.com|access-date=14 May 2020}} The apostate (or murtadd مرتد) term has also been used for people of religions that trace their origins to Islam, such as those of the Baháʼí Faith founded in Iran, but who were never actually Muslims themselves. Apostasy in Islam does not include acts against Islam or conversion to another religion that is involuntary, due mental disorders, forced or done as concealment out of fear of persecution or during war (Taqiyya or Kitman).R. Ibrahim (2009, editors: J. Gallagher and E. Patterson), Debating the War of Ideas, Palgrave Macmillan, {{ISBN|978-0-23061-9364}}, p. 68-72, quote – "Muslims who were forced to choose between recanting Islam or suffering persecution were, and still are, permitted to lie by feigning apostasy" (p. 68).J.T. Munroe (2004), Hispano-Arabic Poetry, Gorgias Press, {{ISBN|978-1-59333-1153}}, p. 69

Historically, the majority of Islamic scholars considered apostasy a hudud crime as well as a sin, an act of treason punishable with the death penalty, and the Islamic law on apostasy and the punishment one of the immutable laws under Islam.Mansour, A. A. (1982). [https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=87487 Hudud Crimes] (From Islamic Criminal Justice System, P 195–201, 1982, M Cherif Bassiouni, ed.-See NCJ-87479).Lippman, M. (1989). Islamic Criminal Law and Procedure: Religious Fundamentalism v. Modern Law. BC Int'l & Comp. L. Rev., 12, pages 29, 263–269Rudolph Peters & Gert De Vries (1976), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1570336 Apostasy in Islam], Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 17, Issue 1/4, pp 1–3, 5–7, 1–25 The punishment for apostasy includes state enforced annulment of his or her marriage, seizure of the person's children and property with automatic assignment to guardians and heirs, and a death penalty for apostates,Ibn Warraq (2003), Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out, {{ISBN|978-1591020684}}, pp 1–27Saeed, A., & Saeed, H. (Eds.). (2004). Freedom of religion, apostasy and Islam. Ashgate Publishing; {{ISBN|0-7546-3083-8}}Forte, D. F. (1994). Apostasy and Blasphemy in Pakistan. Conn. J. Int'l L., 10, 27. typically after a waiting period to allow the apostate time to repent and return to Islam.{{cite book|author1=Mohammed Abu-Nimer|author2=David Augsburger|title=Peace-Building by, between, and beyond Muslims and Evangelical Christians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HvrDWka4iRgC&pg=186|date=16 February 2009|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-3523-5|pages=179–194}}{{cite book|author=Kecia Ali |author2=Oliver Leaman|title= Islam: the key concepts |publisher=Routledge|year=2008|page=10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5-CdzqmuXsC&pg=PA10|isbn=9780415396387}}{{cite book|author=John L. Esposito|title=The Oxford dictionary of Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|page=22|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&pg=PA22|isbn=9780195125597 }} Female apostates could be either executed, according to Shafi'i, Maliki, and Hanbali schools of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), or imprisoned until she reverts to Islam as advocated by the Sunni Hanafi school and by Shi'a scholars.{{cite encyclopedia|year=1993|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|editor1=C.E. Bosworth|volume=7|pages=635–6|isbn=978-90-04-09419-2|author=Heffening, W. |article=Murtadd|editor2=E. van Donzel|editor3=W.P. Heinrichs|display-editors=etal}}{{cite journal|last=Miller|first=Duane Alexander|title='Your Swords do not Concern me at all': The Liberation Theology of Islamic Christianity|journal=St Francis Magazine|date=April 2011|volume=7|issue=2|pages=244, 228–260|url=http://www.stfrancismagazine.info/ja/images/stories/11.%20Duane%20Miller%20SFM%20April%202011.pdf|access-date=16 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203032443/http://www.stfrancismagazine.info/ja/images/stories/11.%20Duane%20Miller%20SFM%20April%202011.pdf|archive-date=3 December 2013}} The kind of apostasy generally deemed to be punishable by the jurists was of the political kind, although there were considerable legal differences of opinion on this matter.Asma Afsaruddin (2013), Striving in the Path of God: Jihad and Martyrdom in Islamic Thought, p.242. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0199730938}}. There were early Islamic scholars who disagreed with the death penalty and prescribed indefinite imprisonment until repentance. The Hanafi jurist Sarakhsi also called for different punishments between the non-seditious religious apostasy and that of seditious and political nature, or high treason.{{Cite book| publisher= Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.| isbn = 978-0-7546-3083-8| last = Saeed| first = Abdullah| author2 = Hassan Saeed| title = Freedom of religion, apostasy and Islam| year = 2004|page=85}}{{Cite encyclopedia| edition = 1st| last=Saeed | first=Abdullah |publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-0-415-77529-8|editor= Oliver Leaman|display-editors=etal | encyclopedia = The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia| year = 2005| title = Ridda and the case for decriminalization of apostasy| page=551}} Some modern scholars also argue that the death penalty is an inappropriate punishment,Hassan Ibrahim in Editor: Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi (2006), The Blackwell Companion to Contemporary Islamic Thought, Blackwell Publishing, {{ISBN|978-1-4051-2174-3}}, pages 167–169Forte, D. F. (1994), Apostasy and Blasphemy in Pakistan, Conn. Journal of Int'l Law, Vol. 10, pages 27–41Kazemi F. (2000), [https://web.archive.org/web/20020909222846/http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~fisher/HST451/Readings/Kazemi1.html Gender, Islam, and politics], Social Research, Vol. 67, No. 2, pages 453–474 inconsistent with the Quranic injunctions such as Quran 88:21–22{{cite book|author=Khaled M. Abou El Fadl|author-link=Khaled Abou El Fadl|title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8GAlwEACAAJ|year=2007|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-118903-6|page=158}} or "no compulsion in religion";{{cite news|last1=ELLIOTT|first1=ANDREA|title=In Kabul, a Test for Shariah|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/26/weekinreview/26elliott.html?_r=0|access-date=28 November 2015|agency=New York Times|date=26 March 2006}} and/or that it is not a general rule but enacted at a time when the early Muslim community faced enemies who threatened its unity, safety, and security, and needed to prevent and punish the equivalent of desertion or treason,John Esposito (2011), What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, p.74. {{ISBN|978-0-19-979413-3}}. and should be enforced only if apostasy becomes a mechanism of public disobedience and disorder (fitna).{{efn|According to the interpretation of Turkish Muslim scholar Ahmet Albayrak regarding apostasy from Islam as a form of wrongdoing, punishment for leaving Islam is not a sign of intolerance towards other religions, and it is not aimed at one's freedom to leave Islam and to choose a different faith. In his opinion, it is more correct to say that the punishment is imposed as a safety precaution when conditions warrant the imposition of it; for example, the punishment is imposed if apostasy from Islam becomes a mechanism of public disobedience and disorder (fitna).{{cite book |editor-last=Leaman |editor-first=Oliver |editor-link=Oliver Leaman |year=2006 |title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isDgI0-0Ip4C&printsec=frontcover |location=London and New York |publisher=Routledge |edition=1st |pages=526–527 |isbn=9780415775298}}}}

To the Ahmadi Muslim sect, there is no punishment for apostasy, neither in the Quran nor as taught by the founder of Islam, Muhammad.{{cite book|author=Hadrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad|url=http://www.ahmadiyya-islam.org/dk/files/2013/05/Apostasy-in-Islam.-hadhrat-mirza-tahir-ahmad.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416191957/http://www.ahmadiyya-islam.org/dk/files/2013/05/Apostasy-in-Islam.-hadhrat-mirza-tahir-ahmad.pdf|archive-date=16 April 2014|title=The Truth about the Alleged Punishment for Apostasy in Islam|publisher=Islam International Publications|year=2005|isbn=978-1-85372-850-1|access-date=31 March 2014}} This position of the Ahmadi sect is not widely accepted in other sects of Islam, and the Ahmadi sect acknowledges that major sects have a different interpretation and definition of apostasy in Islam.{{rp|18–25}} Ulama of major sects of Islam consider the Ahmadi Muslim sect as kafirs (infidels){{rp|8}} and apostates.Khan, A. M. (2003), Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Community in Pakistan: An Analysis Under International Law and International Relations, Harvard Human Rights Journal, 16, 217Andrew March (2011), Apostasy: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199805969}}

Under current laws in Islamic countries, the actual punishment for the apostate ranges from execution to prison term to no punishment.[https://www.loc.gov/law/help/apostasy/apostasy.pdf Laws Criminalizing Apostasy] Library of Congress (2014)[https://web.archive.org/web/20140904042337/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e174 Apostasy] Oxford Islamic Studies Online, Oxford University Press (2012) Islamic nations with sharia courts use civil code to void the Muslim apostate's marriage and deny child custody rights, as well as his or her inheritance rights for apostasy.{{cite journal|last1=Zwemer|first1=Samuel M.|title=THE LAW OF APOSTASY|journal=The Muslim World|volume=14|issue=4|pages=41–43, Chapter 2|issn=0027-4909}} Twenty-three Muslim-majority countries, as of 2013, additionally covered apostasy in Islam through their criminal laws.[https://www.loc.gov/law/help/apostasy/index.php Laws Criminalizing Apostasy] Library of Congress (2014) Today, apostasy is a crime in 23 out 49 Muslim majority countries.{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/future-of-the-global-muslim-population-muslim-majority/|title=Muslim-Majority Countries|date=27 January 2011|work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|access-date=17 March 2015}} It is subject in some countries, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, to the death penalty, although executions for apostasy are rare. Apostasy is legal in secular Muslim countries such as Turkey.{{cite book | author = Zaki Badawi, M.A. | chapter = Islam | title = Encyclopedia of religious freedom | editor = Cookson, Catharine | publisher = Routledge | location = New York | year = 2003 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0000unse/page/204 204–8] | isbn = 978-0-415-94181-5 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=R0PrjC1Ar7gC&pg=PA206 | url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0000unse/page/204 }} In numerous Islamic majority countries, many individuals have been arrested and punished for the crime of apostasy without any associated capital crimes.{{cite web|url=http://iheu.org/content/fate-infidels-and-apostates-under-islam-0|title=The Fate of Infidels and Apostates under Islam|work=International Ethics and Humanist Union|date=21 June 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620231843/http://iheu.org/content/fate-infidels-and-apostates-under-islam-0|archive-date=20 June 2013 }}Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam by Abdullah Saeed and Hassan Saeed (30 March 2004), {{ISBN|978-0-7546-3083-8}} In a 2013 report based on an international survey of religious attitudes, more than 50% of the Muslim population in 6 Islamic countries supported the death penalty for any Muslim who leaves Islam (apostasy).{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/01/64-percent-of-muslims-in-egypt-and-pakistan-support-the-death-penalty-for-leaving-islam/|title=Majorities of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan support the death penalty for leaving Islam|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=17 March 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf|title=The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society|publisher=pewforum.org|date=30 April 2013|access-date=25 February 2016|archive-date=30 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030223449/http://www.pewforum.org/files/2013/04/worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-full-report.pdf|url-status=dead}} A similar survey of the Muslim population in the United Kingdom, in 2007, found nearly a third of 16 to 24-year-old faithfuls believed that Muslims who convert to another religion should be executed, while less than a fifth of those over 55 believed the same.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/jan/29/thinktanks.religion|title=More young Muslims back sharia, says poll|author=Stephen Bates|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=17 March 2015|date=29 January 2007}}

{{Main|Islamic sexual jurisprudence|Zina|Rajm}}

File:Criminalization of premarital and extramarital sex as zina under sharia in Islam.SVG

File:A map showing countries where public stoning is judicial or extrajudicial form of punishment.SVG is a judicial or extrajudicial form of punishment, as of 2013.Emma Batha, [http://news.trust.org//item/20130927165059-w9g0i/ Stoning – where does it happen?] Thomson Reuters Foundation, 29 September 2013]]

Zina is an Islamic law, both in the four schools of Sunni fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and the two schools of Shi'a fiqh, concerning unlawful sexual relations between Muslims who are not married to one another through a Nikah.Julie Chadbourne (1999), Never wear your shoes after midnight: Legal trends under the Pakistan Zina Ordinance, Wisconsin International Law Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 179–234Quraishi, A. (1997). [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1524245 Her Honor: An Islamic Critique of the Rape Laws of Pakistan from a Woman-Sensitive Perspective], Michigan Journal of International Law, {{vol.|18}}, {{No.|287}} (1997).Sidahmed, A. S. (2001). "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13530190120083077 Problems in contemporary applications of Islamic criminal sanctions: The penalty for adultery in relation to women]", British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 28(2), {{pp.|187|204}}.R. Peters, Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Edition, Edited by: P. Bearman et al., Brill, {{ISBN|978-9004161214}}, see article on Zinā It includes extramarital sex and premarital sex,Sakah Saidu Mahmud (2013), Sharia or Shura: Contending Approaches to Muslim Politics in Nigeria and Senegal, Lexington, {{ISBN|978-0739175644}}, Chapter 3 such as adultery (consensual sexual relations outside marriage),Ursula Smartt, [http://ursulasmartt.com/pdf/JustPeace%5B1%5D.HonourKillings.9.1.06.pdf Honour Killings] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126160259/http://ursulasmartt.com/pdf/JustPeace[1].HonourKillings.9.1.06.pdf |date=26 November 2020 }} Justice of the Peace, Vol. 170, January 2006, pp. 4–6 fornication (consensual sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons),Z. Mir-Hosseini (2011), Criminalizing sexuality: zina laws as violence against women in Muslim contexts, Int'l Journal on Human Rights, 15, 7–16 illegal sex by a slave girl,{{Hadith-usc|abudawud|38|4448|usc=yes}} and in some interpretations sodomy (anal intercourse between male same-sex partners).Camilla Adang (2003), Ibn Hazam on Homosexuality, Al Qantara, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 5–31 Traditionally, a married or unmarried Muslim male could have sex outside marriage with a non-Muslim slave girl, with or without her consent, and such sex was not considered zina.Z. Mir-Hosseini (2011), Criminalizing sexuality: zina laws as violence against women in Muslim contexts, SUR-Int'l Journal on Human Rights, 8(15), pp. 7–33M. S. Sujimon (2003), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3381986 Istilḥāq and Its Role in Islamic Law], Arab Law Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 117–43

• {{cite book|last1=Ali|first1=Kecia|title=Marriage and slavery in early Islam|date=2010|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=US|pages=161–72}};
• {{cite book|last1=Haeri|first1=Shahla|title=Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Shi'i Iran|date=1989|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0815624837|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lawofdesiretempo0000haer/page/24 24–32]|quote=Quote: Sexual intercourse with one's own slave girl continued to be legitimate until recently in most Islamic societies. Slave ownership should not be confused with slave marriage. Slave marriage involves marriage of a slave with another person, with the permission of the slave master. Marriage is not necessary between a male slave owner and his female slaves. His ownership entitles him to a right of intercourse.|url=https://archive.org/details/lawofdesiretempo0000haer/page/24}}

According to Quran 24:4, the proof that adultery has occurred requires four eyewitnesses to the act, which must have been committed by a man and a woman not validly married to one another, and consenting adults must have wilfully committed the act.{{cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/024-qmt.php#024.002|title=Translations of the Qur'an, Surah 24: Al-noor (the light) – 24:2|publisher=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|access-date=25 February 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818132125/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/024-qmt.php#024.002|archive-date=18 August 2016}} Proof can also be determined by a confession. But this confession must be voluntary and based on legal counsel; it must be repeated on four separate occasions and made by a person who is sane.{{cite book |title=Controversies in Contemporary Islam |last=Leaman |first=Oliver |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-67613-7 }} Otherwise, the accuser is then accorded a sentence for defamation (which means flogging or a prison sentence), and his or her testimony is excluded in all future court cases.{{cite book |title=Controversies in Contemporary Islam |last=Leaman |first=Oliver |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-67613-7 |location=New York |page=78}}{{qref|24|4|b=y}} There is disagreement between Islamic scholars on whether female eyewitnesses are acceptable witnesses in cases of zina (for other crimes, sharia considers two female witnesses equal the witness of one male).A. Engineer (2004), The Rights of Women in Islam, 3rd Edition, {{ISBN|978-8120739338}}, pp. 80–86

Zina is a Hudud crime, stated in multiple sahih hadiths to deserve the stoning (Rajm) punishment.Muḥammad Salīm ʻAwwā (1982), Punishment in Islamic Law: A Comparative Study, American Trust Publications, {{ISBN|978-0892590155}}KB Khan (2014), [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02564718.2014.949415 Versions and Subversions of Islamic Cultures in the Film The Stoning of Soraya], Journal of Literary Studies, 30(3), pp. 149–67 In others stoning is prescribed as punishment for illegal sex between man and woman,{{hadith-usc|usc=yes|Muslim|8|3435}} In some sunnah, the method of stoning, by first digging a pit and partly burying the person's lower half in it, is described.{{Hadith-usc|usc=yes|abudawud|38|4421}}, {{Hadith-usc|usc=no|abudawud|38|4429}}Z Maghen (2005), Virtues Of The Flesh: Passion and Purity In Early Islamic Jurisprudence, Studies in Islamic Law and Society, Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004140707}}, p. 155 Based on these hadiths, in some Muslim countries, married adulterers are sentenced to death, while consensual sex between unmarried people is sentenced with flogging a 100 times. Adultery can be punished by up to one hundred lashes, though this is not binding in nature, and the final decision will always be in the hands of a judge appointed by the state or community.{{cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/024-qmt.php#024.002|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818132125/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/quran/verses/024-qmt.php#024.002|archive-date=18 August 2016}}Hallaq, W. B. (1999). A History of Islamic Legal Theories: An Introduction to Sunni Usul al-Fiqh. Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-521-59986-3}}, {{pp.|70|71}}. However, no mention of stoning or capital punishment for adultery is found in the Quran and only mentions lashing as punishment for adultery. Nevertheless, most scholars maintain that there is sufficient evidence from hadiths to derive a ruling.Muhammad Qasim Zaman (2012), Modern Islamic Thought in a Radical Age, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-1107096455}}, pp. 30–31Neal Robinson (2013), Islam: A Concise Introduction, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0878402243}}, Chapter 7, pp. 85–89

Sharia law makes a distinction between adultery and rape and applies different rules.{{cite book |title=Controversies in Contemporary Islam |last=Leaman |first=Oliver |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-67613-7 |page=78}}Kamali, M. H. (2003), Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, Cambridge, UK (Islamic Texts Society).Guy Bechor (2012), Between Vision and Reality: Law in the Arab World, ISBN [?], {{pp.|105|110}}. In the case of rape, the adult male perpetrator (i.e., rapist) of such an act is to receive the ḥadd zinā, but the non-consenting or invalidly consenting female (i.e., rape victim), proved by four eyewitnesses, is to be regarded as innocent of zinā and relieved of the ḥadd punishment.{{Cite book|title = Feminism, Law, and Religion|last = Failinger|first = Marie A.|publisher = Ashgate|year = 2013|isbn = 978-1409444213|location = Farnham, England|pages = 328–29|display-authors=etal}}A. Quraishi (1999), Her honour: an Islamic critique of the rape provisions in Pakistan's ordinance on zina, Islamic studies, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 403–31Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), pp. 176–83 Confession and four witness-based prosecutions of zina are rare. Most cases of prosecutions are when the woman becomes pregnant or when she has been raped, seeks justice, and the Sharia authorities charge her for zina instead of duly investigating the rapist.A.S. Sidahmed (2001), Problems in contemporary applications of Islamic criminal sanctions: The penalty for adultery in relation to women, British journal of middle eastern studies, 28(2): 187–204M. Tamadonfar (2001), [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/0021-8294.00051 Islam, law, and political control in contemporary Iran], Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40(2): 205–20 Some fiqhs (schools of Islamic jurisprudence) created the principle of shubha (doubt), wherein there would be no zina charges if a Muslim man claims he believed he was having sex with a woman he was married to or with a woman he owned as a slave.Kecia Ali (2006), Sexual Ethics and Islam, {{ISBN|978-1851684564}}, Chapter 4

Zina only applies to unlawful sex between free Muslims; the rape of a non-Muslim slave woman is not zina as the act is considered an offense not against the raped slave woman but against the owner of the slave.{{cite book|author=Juan Eduardo Campo|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&pg=PA13|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-2696-8|pages=13–14}}

The zina and rape laws of countries under Sharia law are the subjects of a global human rights debate and one of many items of reform and secularization debate with respect to Islam.LAU, M. (2007), Twenty-Five Years of Hudood Ordinances: A Review, Washington and Lee Law Review, n. 64, pp. 1291–314Rehman J. (2007), The sharia, Islamic family laws and international human rights law: Examining the theory and practice of polygamy and talaq, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 21(1), pp. 108–27 Contemporary human right activists refer this as a new phase in the politics of gender in Islam, the battle between forces of traditionalism and modernism in the Muslim world, and the use of religious texts of Islam through state laws to sanction and practice gender-based violence.KAMALI (1998), Punishment in Islamic Law: A Critique of the Hudud Bill of Kelantan Malaysia, Arab Law Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 203–34QURAISHI, A (1996), Her Honor: An Islamic Critique of the Rape Laws of Pakistan from a Woman-Sensitive Perspective, Michigan Journal of International Law, vol. 18, pp. 287–320

In contrast to human rights activists, Islamic scholars and Islamist political parties consider 'universal human rights' arguments as the imposition of a non-Muslim culture on Muslim people, a disrespect of customary cultural practices and sexual codes that are central to Islam. Zina laws come under hudud—seen as a crime against Allah; the Islamists refer to this pressure and proposals to reform zina and other laws as 'contrary to Islam'. Attempts by international human rights to reform religious laws and codes of Islam have become the Islamist rallying platforms during political campaigns.A. SAJOO (1999), Islam and Human Rights: Congruence or Dichotomy, Temple International and Comparative Law Journal, vol. 4, pp. 23–34K. ALI (2003), Progressive Muslims and Islamic Jurisprudence: The Necessity for Critical Engagement with Marriage and Divorce Law, In: SAFI, O. (Ed.). Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, Oxford: Oneworld, pp. 163–89

{{Main|LGBT in Islam|Violence against LGBT people#Islam}}

The Quran contains seven references to the fate of "the people of Lot", and their destruction is explicitly associated with their sexual practices:Duran (1993) p. 179Kligerman (2007) pp. 53–54{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQuHFPKp8L0C&pg=PA88|last=Wafer |first=Jim |chapter=Muhammad and Male Homosexuality |editor=Stephen O. Murray |editor2=Will Roscoe |name-list-style=amp |title=Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History and Literature |page=88 |publisher=New York University Press |year=1997|isbn=9780814774687 }}

Given the fact that the Quran is allegedly vague regarding the punishment for homosexual sodomy, Islamic jurists turned to the collections of the hadith and the seerah (accounts of Muhammad's life) to support their argument for Hudud punishment.Ed. C. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Leiden, 1983

With a few exceptions, all scholars of Sharia or Islamic law interpret homosexual activity as a punishable offense as well as a sin. No specific punishment is prescribed, however, and this is usually left to the discretion of the local authorities on Islam.Duran, K. (1993). Homosexuality in Islam, p. 184. Cited in: Kligerman (2007) p. 54.{{cite book|author=Jim Wafer|editor1=Stephen O. Murray|editor2=Will Roscoe|title=Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQuHFPKp8L0C&pg=PA89|year=1997|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0-8147-7468-7|page=89|chapter=Muhammad and Male Homosexuality}} There are several methods by which sharia jurists have advocated the punishment of gays or lesbians who are sexually active. One form of execution involves an individual convicted of homosexual acts being stoned to death by a crowd of Muslims.The Hudud: The Hudud are the Seven Specific Crimes in Islamic Criminal Law and Their Mandatory Punishments, 1995 Muhammad Sidahmad Other Muslim jurists have established an ijma ruling which states that those persons who are committing homosexual acts should be thrown from rooftops or other high places,{{cite book|last1=Stonebanks|first1=Christopher Darius|title=Teaching Against Islamophobia|date=2010|page=190}} and this is the perspective of most Salafists.{{cite book|last1=Tax|first1=Meredith|title=Double Bind|date=2010|page=46}}

Today, homosexuality is not socially or legally accepted in most of the Islamic world. In Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, homosexual acts carries the death penalty.{{cite web|url=http://www.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_map_2009_A4.pdf|title=Lesbian and Gay Rights in the World|work=ILGA|date=May 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811114947/http://ilga.org/historic/Statehomophobia/ILGA_map_2009_A4.pdf|archive-date=11 August 2011}}Abu Dawud 32:4087Sahih Bukhari 7:72:774{{cite web|last=Ottosson |first=Daniel |title=State-Sponsored Homophobia: A World Survey of Laws Prohibiting Same-Sex Activity Between Consenting Adults |url=http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2010.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122235101/http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2010.pdf |archive-date=22 November 2010 }} In other Muslim-majority countries, such as Algeria, Gaza Strip, the Maldives, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria, it is illegal.{{cite journal|first=Ben|last=Anderson|url=http://www.africanajournal.org/PDF/vol1/vol1_6_Ben%20Douglas.pdf|title=The Politics of Homosexuality in Africa|journal=Africana|year=2007|volume=1|issue=1|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724225700/http://www.africanajournal.org/PDF/vol1/vol1_6_Ben%20Douglas.pdf|archive-date=24 July 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2013.pdf |title=State-sponsored Homophobia: A world survey of laws prohibiting same sex activity between consenting adults |last=Ottosson |first=Daniel |date=2013 |publisher=International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) |page=Page 7 |access-date=26 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717085454/http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2013.pdf |archive-date=17 July 2013 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4a16a9d92.pdf |title=Syria: Treatment and human rights situation of homosexuals |access-date=20 January 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/1860/actXLVof1860.html|title=Pakistan Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860)|publisher=Pakistani|access-date=12 February 2014}}

Same-sex sexual intercourse is legal in 20 Muslim-majority nations (Albania, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Lebanon, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Niger, Tajikistan, Turkey, the West Bank (State of Palestine), and most of Indonesia (except the province of Aceh), as well as Northern Cyprus). In Albania, Lebanon, and Turkey, there have been discussions about legalizing same-sex marriage.{{cite news|last=Lowen |first=Mark |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8177544.stm |title=Albania 'to approve gay marriage' |work=BBC News |date=30 July 2009 |access-date=22 April 2013}}{{cite book|title=Rough Guide to South East Asia|edition=Third|page=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetosout00vari/page/74 74]|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetosout00vari/page/74|publisher=Rough Guides Ltd.|isbn=978-1-84353-437-2|date=August 2005}}{{cite news| title = In response to anti-LGBT fatwa, Jokowi urged to abolish laws targeting minorities | date = 18 March 2015 | newspaper = The Jakarta Post | url = http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/18/in-response-anti-lgbt-fatwa-jokowi-urged-abolish-laws-targeting-minorities.html | access-date = 7 April 2015}} Homosexual relations between females are legal in Kuwait, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, but homosexual acts between males are illegal.{{cite web|author1=Lucas Paoli Itaborahy|author2=Jingshu Zhu|url=http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2015.pdf|title=State-sponsored Homophobia – A world survey of laws: Criminalisation, protection and recognition of same-sex love|publisher=International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association|date=May 2014|access-date=25 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629054502/http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2015.pdf|archive-date=29 June 2015|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://ilga.org/ilga/en/countries/KUWAIT/Law|title=Kuwait Law|work=ILGA Asia|date=2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719003347/http://ilga.org/ilga/en/countries/KUWAIT/Law|archive-date=19 July 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.legislationline.org/download/action/download/id/1712/file/a45cbf3cc66c17f04420786aa164.htm/preview |title=Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan on Enactment of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan |publisher=Legislationline.org |access-date=22 March 2016 |archive-date=18 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118011906/http://www.legislationline.org/download/action/download/id/1712/file/a45cbf3cc66c17f04420786aa164.htm/preview |url-status=dead }}

Most Muslim-majority countries and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have opposed moves to advance LGBT rights at the United Nations in the General Assembly and the UNHRC. In May 2016, a group of 51 Muslim states blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from attending a high-level meeting on ending AIDS at the United Nations.{{cite news |title=Islamic states, Africans walk out on UN gay panel|url=https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE82702T20120308?sp=true|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022151231/http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE82702T20120308?sp=true|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 October 2012|date=8 March 2012|first=Robert|last=Evans|work=Reuters|access-date=18 July 2012}}{{cite news|title=Historic UN Session on Gay Rights Marked By Arab Walkout |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/arab_states_leave_un_gay-rights_debate/24508579.html |date=7 March 2012 |first=Richard|last=Solash|publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|agency=Agence France-Presse|access-date=18 July 2012}}[http://mg.co.za/article/2012-03-09-sa-leads-un-on-gay-rights South Africa leads United Nations on gay rights | News | National | Mail & Guardian]. Mg.co.za (9 March 2012). Retrieved on 27 September 2013. However, Albania, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone have signed a UN Declaration supporting LGBT rights.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/es/documents/ior40/024/2008/es/ |title=UN: General Assembly statement affirms rights for all |work=Amnesty International (Public Statement) |date=18 December 2008 }}{{cite web|url=http://geneva.usmission.gov/2011/03/22/lgbtrights/ |title=Over 80 Nations Support Statement at Human Rights Council on LGBT Rights » US Mission Geneva |date=22 March 2011 |publisher=Geneva.usmission.gov |access-date=22 April 2013}} Kosovo as well as the (not internationally recognized) Muslim-majority Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also have anti-discrimination laws in place.

On 12 June 2016, 49 people were killed and 53 other people were injured in a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in the second-deadliest mass shooting by an individual and the deadliest incident of violence against LGBT people in U.S. history. The shooter, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Investigators have classified the act as an Islamic terrorist attack and a hate crime, despite the fact that he was suffering from mental health issues and he acted alone.{{cite web|first=Christopher|last=Ingraham|title=In the modern history of mass shootings in America, Orlando is the deadliest|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/12/in-the-modern-history-of-mass-shootings-in-america-orlando-is-the-absolute-worst/|newspaper=Washington Post|date=12 June 2016}}{{cite web|first=Eyder|last=Peralta|title=Putting 'Deadliest Mass Shooting in U.S. History' Into Some Historical Context|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/13/481884291/putting-deadliest-mass-shooting-in-u-s-history-into-some-historical-context|publisher=NPR|date=13 June 2016}}{{cite news | url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/investigators-turn-focus-omar-mateens-wife-criminal-charges/story?id=39867320 | title=Orlando Gay Nightclub Massacre a Hate Crime and Act of Terror, FBI Says | work=ABC News | date=15 June 2016 | access-date=17 June 2016 | last1=McBride | first1=Brian | first2=Michael | last2=Edison Hayden}} Upon further review, investigators indicated that Omar Mateen showed few signs of radicalization, suggesting that the shooter's pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State may have been a calculated move which he made in order to garner more news coverage for himself.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/06/18/482621690/investigators-say-orlando-shooter-showed-few-warning-signs-of-radicalization|title=Investigators Say Orlando Shooter Showed Few Warning Signs of Radicalization|website=NPR.org|access-date=20 June 2016}} Afghanistan,{{cite web|title=This Is How World Leaders Are Reacting to the Orlando Gay Nightclub Shooting|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/hayesbrown/world-leaders-express-condolences-in-wake-of-orlando-shootin?bffbnews|website=BuzzFeed|access-date=12 June 2016}} Algeria,{{cite web|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/201606130821.html |title=Algeria: Orlando Mass Shooting, a 'Barbaric Crime,' Says President Bouteflika|date=13 June 2016|website=All Africa|access-date=13 June 2016}} Azerbaijan,{{cite web|url=http://haqqin.az/news/72690 |title=Баку осудил теракт в США – Haqqin |website=Haqqin.az |date=13 June 2016 |access-date=23 June 2016}} Bahrain,{{cite web|url=http://www.mofa.gov.bh/Default.aspx?tabid=7824&language=en-US&ItemId=6283|title=Foreign Ministry of Bahrain gives condolences on Orlando shooting|date=13 June 2016|website=Ministry of Foreign Affairs|publisher=Bahrain MoFA|access-date=13 June 2016}} Djibouti,{{cite web|url=http://www.presidence.dj/article.php?ID=262|title=Présidence de la République de Djibouti|access-date=13 June 2016|archive-date=14 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614114318/http://www.presidence.dj/article.php?ID=262|url-status=dead}} Egypt,{{cite web|url=http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/Templates/Articles/tmpArticleNews.aspx?ArtID=104350#.V2AWZNJ97IU|title=State Information Services Egypt strongly condemns Orlando shooting|work=sis.gov.eg|access-date=22 June 2016}} Iraq,{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/pmu_english/status/742168309936717824 |title=Iraqi PMU English on Twitter: "Today we stand with the victims of the #Orlando attack on civilians by #ISIS. From #Iraq we #PrayForOrlando." |publisher=Twitter |access-date=23 June 2016}} Iran,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/orlando-nightclub-shooting-live-updates/iranian-official/|title=Statement by Iranian Foreign Ministry|date=13 June 2016 |access-date=13 June 2016}} Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,{{cite news |url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/06/13/Saudi-Arabia-condemns-Orlando-shooting.html |title=Saudi Arabia condemns Orlando shooting |date=13 June 2016 |access-date=13 June 2016}} Turkey,{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.gov.tr/no_-134_-12-june-2016_-press-release-regarding-the-terrorist-attack-in-orlando-city-of-the-us.en.mfa|title=No: 134, 12 June 2016, Press Release Regarding the Terrorist Attack in Orlando City of the US|access-date=14 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215185933/http://www.mfa.gov.tr/no_-134_-12-june-2016_-press-release-regarding-the-terrorist-attack-in-orlando-city-of-the-us.en.mfa|archive-date=15 February 2017|url-status=dead}} Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates condemned the attack.{{cite web|url=http://www.turkmenistan.gov.tm/?id=11236|title=Туркменистан: золотой век|access-date=13 June 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.mofa.gov.ae/EN/MediaCenter/News/Pages/13616-UAE.aspx|title=Foreign Ministry of UAE gives condemns Orlando shooting|date=13 June 2016|website=Ministry of Foreign Affairs|publisher=UAE MoFA|access-date=13 June 2016|archive-date=17 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617155948/http://www.mofa.gov.ae/EN/MediaCenter/News/Pages/13616-UAE.aspx|url-status=dead}} Many American Muslims, including community leaders, swiftly condemned the attack.{{cite news |last=Gunaratna |first=Shanika |date=13 June 2016 |title=Muslim Americans rush to condemn Orlando massacre |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/orlando-shooting-pulse-nightclub-muslims-condemn-attack/ |publisher=CBS News |access-date=13 June 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Cooke |first1=Kristina |last2=Ali |first2=Idrees |date=13 June 2016 |title=Muslim leaders condemn Florida massacre, brace for backlash |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-shooting-mosques-idUSKCN0YZ2K6 |work=Reuters |access-date=13 June 2016}} Prayer vigils for the victims were held at mosques across the country.* {{cite news |last=Lozano |first=Carlos |date=12 June 2016 |title=Several vigils are planned around Southern California for the Orlando shooting victims |url=http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-vigils-20160612-snap-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=13 June 2016 }}

• {{cite news |last=Mooney |first=Sean |date=13 June 2016 |title=Tucson mosque condemns shootings in Orlando |url=http://www.kvoa.com/story/32205011/tucson-mosque-condemns-shootings-in-orlando |publisher=KVOA |access-date=13 June 2016 |archive-date=14 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160614115026/http://www.kvoa.com/story/32205011/tucson-mosque-condemns-shootings-in-orlando |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite news |last=Warikoo |first=Niraj |date=12 June 2016 |title=Metro Detroit Muslims strongly condemn Orlando shooting |url=http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/06/12/area-muslims-strongly-condemn-orlando-shooting/85792084/ |work=Detroit Free Press |publisher=USA Today |access-date=13 June 2016 }}
• {{cite news |last=Galvez |first=Samantha |date=13 June 2016 |title=Harrisburg mosque holds prayer vigil for Orlando victims |url=http://abc27.com/2016/06/13/harrisburg-mosque-holds-prayer-vigil-for-orlando-victims/ |publisher=WHTM-TV |access-date=13 June 2016 |archive-date=13 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613234454/http://abc27.com/2016/06/13/harrisburg-mosque-holds-prayer-vigil-for-orlando-victims/ |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite news |author=Whitney Leaming |date=13 June 2016 |title=Orlando Muslims turn to prayer after shooting puts community 'on edge' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/orlando-muslims-turn-to-prayer-after-shooting-puts-community-on-edge/2016/06/13/9c1c8aec-3134-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_video.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=13 June 2016 }}
• {{cite news |last=DeAngelis |first=Jenna |date=12 June 2016 |title=Muslim and LGBT community hold vigil for Orlando victims in Hartford |url=http://fox61.com/2016/06/12/muslim-and-lgbt-community-hold-vigil-for-orlando-victims-in-hartford/ |publisher=WTIC-TV |access-date=13 June 2016 }}
• {{cite news |last=Morris |first=Walter |date=12 June 2016 |title=Local Muslim community condemns Orlando nightclub shooting |url=http://wsvn.com/news/local/local-muslim-community-condemns-orlando-nightclub-shooting/#.V17SgPi_9_o.twitter |publisher=WSVN |access-date=13 June 2016 }}
• {{cite news |last=Hutchison |first=Ben |date=13 June 2016 |title=Milwaukee mosque holds prayer vigil for Orlando shooting victims |url=http://www.wisn.com/news/local-mosque-holds-prayer-vigil-for-orlando-shooting-victims/40026204 |publisher=WISN |access-date=13 June 2016 }} The Florida mosque where Mateen sometimes prayed issued a statement in which it condemned the attack and offered its condolences to the victims.{{cite news |last=Blinder |first=Alan |date=12 June 2016 |title=Fort Pierce Mosque in Florida Condemns Attack |url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/orlando-nightclub-shooting-live-updates/ft-pierce-mosque/ |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=14 June 2016}} The Council on American–Islamic Relations called the attack "monstrous" and offered its condolences to the victims. CAIR Florida urged Muslims to donate blood and contribute funds in support of the victims' families.{{cite news |last1=Afshar |first1=Paradise |last2=Seiden |first2=Michael |date=13 June 2016 |title=Muslim community condemns Orlando attack, calls for blood donations |url=http://www.local10.com/news/muslim-community-condemns-orlando-attack-calls-for-blood-donations |publisher=WPLG |access-date=13 June 2016}}

File:Use of Sharia by country.svg for legal matters relating to women:

{{legend|#179C86|Sharia plays no role in the judicial system}}

{{legend|#F6DD4F|Sharia applies in personal status issues}}

{{legend|#706EA4|Sharia applies in full, including criminal law}}

{{legend|#FF9950|Regional variations in the application of sharia}}

]]

{{Main|Islam and domestic violence|}}

{{See also|Islam and women|Gender roles in Islam|Sex segregation and Islam|Islamic feminism|Muhammad as a husband}}

In Islam, while certain interpretations of Surah, An-Nisa, 34 in the Quran find that a husband hitting a wife is allowed,Ahmed, Ali S. V.; Jibouri, Yasin T. (2004). The Koran: Translation. Elmhurst, NY: Tahrike Tarsile Qur'ān. Print. this has also been disputed.Bakhtiar, Laleh.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/world/americas/25iht-koran.4.5017346.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all Verse in Koran on beating wife gets a new translation.] NYTimes.com{{cite web |author=Minhaj Internet Bureau |url=http://www.irfan-ul-quran.com/quran/english/contents/sura/cols/0/ar/1/ur/1/ra/1/en/1/sid/4/ |title=an-Nisā' (Women) |publisher=Irfan-ul-Quran |access-date=11 June 2013 |archive-date=14 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914060933/https://www.irfan-ul-quran.com/quran/english/contents/sura/cols/0/ar/1/ur/1/ra/1/en/1/sid/4/ |url-status=dead }}Osama Abdallah. [http://www.islamawareness.net/Wife/beating1.html Systematic comparison with 4:94] Islamawareness.net{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102001261.html|newspaper=Washington Post|title=Clothes Aren't the Issue|date=22 October 2006|first=Asra Q.|last=Nomani}}

While some authors, such as Phyllis Chesler, argue that Islam is connected to violence against women, especially in the form of honor killings,{{cite journal|url=http://www.meforum.org/2067/are-honor-killings-simply-domestic-violence|title=Are Honor Killings Simply Domestic Violence?|author=Phyllis Chesler|journal=Middle East Forum|access-date=22 August 2015|date=March 2009}} others, such as Tahira Shahid Khan, a professor specializing in women's issues at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan, argue that it is the domination of men and inferior status of women in society that lead to these acts, not the religion itself.{{cite web|last1=Mayell|first1=Hillary|title=Thousands of Women Killed for Family "Honor"|url=http://www.unl.edu/rhames/courses/212/readings/honor-kil-ng.pdf|publisher=University of Nebraska–Lincoln|access-date=28 November 2015|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|date=12 February 2002}}{{cite web|url=http://www.sanctuaryforfamilies.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=252&Itemid=259|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121115002215/http://www.sanctuaryforfamilies.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=252&Itemid=259|archive-date=15 November 2012|title=Sanctuary for Families|access-date=22 August 2015}} Public (such as through the media) and political discourse debating the relation between Islam, immigration, and violence against women is highly controversial in many Western countries.{{cite web|url=http://www.unrisd.org/unrisd/website/document.nsf/%28httpPublications%29/E61F80827BF3409FC1257744004DC465?OpenDocument|title=Religion, Culture and the Politicization of Honour-Related Violence: A Critical Analysis of Media and Policy Debates in Western Europe and North America|author=UNRISD|access-date=22 August 2015}}

Many scholarsTreacher, Amal. "Reading the Other Women, Feminism, and Islam." Studies in Gender and Sexuality 4.1 (2003); pages 59–71 claim Shari'a law encourages domestic violence against women when a husband suspects nushuz (disobedience, disloyalty, rebellion, ill conduct) in his wife.John C. Raines & Daniel C. Maguire (Ed), Farid Esack, What Men Owe to Women: Men's Voices from World Religions, State University of New York (2001), see pages 201–203 Other scholars claim wife beating for nashizah is not consistent with modern perspectives of Qur'an.Jackson, Nicky Ali, ed. Encyclopedia of domestic violence. CRC Press, 2007. (see chapter on Qur'anic perspectives on wife abuse) Some conservative translations find that Muslim husbands are permitted to act what is known in Arabic as Idribuhunna with the use of "light force," and sometimes as much as to strike, hit, chastise, or beat.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20181029091401/http://www.al-ijtihaad.com/ulema-e-islam/ulema_10.html Grand Ayatullah Nasir Makarem Shirazi: Fatwas and viewpoints.]}} Al-Ijtihaad Foundation. Retrieved 14 November 2011.{{cite book | last= Roald | first=Anne S. | title=Women in Islam: The Western Experience | publisher=Routledge | year=2001 | isbn=978-0415248969| page=166}}

{{efn|1=Abdullah Yusuf Ali in his Quranic commentary states that: "In case of family jars four steps are mentioned, to be taken in that order. (1) Perhaps verbal advice or admonition may be sufficient; (2) if not, sex relations may be suspended; (3) if this is not sufficient, some slight physical correction may be administered; but Imam Shafi'i considers this inadvisable, though permissible, and all authorities are unanimous in deprecating any sort of cruelty, even of the nagging kind, as mentioned in the next clause; (4) if all this fails, a family council is recommended in passage 4:35."Ali, Abdullah Yusuf, (1989) The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary. Brentwood, MD: Amana Corporation. {{ISBN|0-915957-03-5}}.}}Ibn Kathir, "Tafsir of Ibn Kathir", Al-Firdous Ltd., London, 2000, 50–53 Contemporary Egyptian scholar Abd al-Halim Abu Shaqqa refers to the opinions of jurists Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, a medieval Shafiite Sunni scholar of Islam who represents the entire realm of Shaykh al Islam, and al-Shawkani, a Yemeni Salafi scholar of Islam, jurist and reformer, who state that hitting should only occur in extraordinary cases.Roald (2001) p. 169. Some Islamic scholars and commentators have emphasized that hitting, even where permitted, is not to be harsh.Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, Al-Nawawi, section m10.12, "Dealing with a Rebellious Wife", page 540; may hit her as long as it doesn't draw blood, leave a bruise, or break bones.{{efn|1=Ibn Kathir Ad-Damishqee records in his Tafsir Al-Qur'an Al-Azim that "Ibn 'Abbas and several others said that the Ayah refers to a beating that is not violent. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said that it means, a beating that is not severe."Shafaat, Ahmad, [http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Quran-4-34.htm Tafseer of Surah an-Nisa, Ayah 34] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020327203120/http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Quran-4-34.htm |date=27 March 2002 }}, Islamic Perspectives. 10 August 2005.}}

Other interpretations of the verse claim it does not support hitting a woman but separating from her. Variations in interpretation are due to different schools of Islamic jurisprudence, histories and politics of religious institutions, conversions, reforms, and education.Hajjar, Lisa. (2004) Religion, State Power, and Domestic Violence in Muslim Societies: A Framework for Comparative Analysis. Law and Social Inquiry. 29(1):1–38.

Although Islam permits women to divorce for domestic violence, they are subject to the laws of their nation, which might make it quite difficult for a woman to obtain a divorce.Coomaraswamy, Radhika. [http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/commission/thematic52/53-wom.htm Further Promotion and Encouragement of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.] United Nations. Economic and Social Council. 5 February 1996. Retrieved 19 October 2011.Jones, Gavin. "Marriage and Divorce in Islamic South East Asia."Muḥammad, Farida Khanam; Ḫān, Wahīd-ad-Dīn. (2009). The Quran. New Delhi: Goodword. Print. In deference to Surah 4:34, many nations with Shari'a law have refused to consider or prosecute cases of domestic abuse.Maghraoui, Abdeslam. "Political authority in crisis: Mohammed VI's Morocco."Middle East Report 218 (2001): 12–17.Critelli, Filomena M. "Women's rights= Human rights: Pakistani women against gender violence." J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare 37 (2010), pages 135–142Oweis, Arwa, et al. "Violence Against Women Unveiling the Suffering of Women with a Low Income in Jordan." Journal of Transcultural Nursing 20.1 (2009): 69–76.

{{Main|Islamic terrorism|Muslim attitudes towards terrorism|List of Islamist terrorist attacks}}

{{Jihadism sidebar}}

{{Islamism sidebar}}

Islamic terrorism is, by definition, religiously-motivated terrorism which is engaged in by Muslim groups or individuals who profess Islamic, Islamic fundamentalist or Islamist motivations or goals, such as the imposition of slavery.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/12/world/meast/isis-justification-female-slaves/index.html?hpt=hp_t2|title=ISIS: Enslaving, having sex with 'unbelieving' women, girls is OK |author=Greg Botelho|date=12 December 2014|work=CNN|access-date=7 January 2015}} In recent decades, incidents of Islamic terrorism have occurred on a global scale, not only in Muslim-majority states in Africa and Asia, but also in Europe, Russia, and the United States, and the targets of these attacks have been Non-Muslims as well as Muslims (Munafiq).{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/24/isis-ideology-islamic-militants-british-appeal-iraq-syria|title=Isis: a contrived ideology justifying barbarism and sexual control|author=Mona Siddiqui|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=7 January 2015|date=24 August 2014}} In a number of the worst-affected Muslim-majority regions, these terrorists have been met by armed, independent resistance groups,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/01/kurdish-peshmerga-kobani-isis-syria|title=Kurdish peshmerga forces arrive in Kobani to bolster fight against Isis|author=Constanze Letsch|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=7 January 2015|date=November 2014}} state actors and their proxies, and politically liberal Muslim protesters.{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/388593/moderate-muslims-stand-against-isis-christine-sisto|title=Moderate Muslims Stand against ISIS |author=Christine Sisto|work=National Review Online|access-date=7 January 2015|date=23 September 2014 }} Islamic terrorists have been criticized for justifying violence with not permitted declarations of takfir (excommunication).{{cite journal | last=Hassan | first=Muhammad Haniff | title=The Danger of Takfir (Excommunication): Exposing IS’ Takfiri Ideology | journal=Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses | publisher=International Centre for Political Violence and Tekrrorism Research | volume=9 | issue=4 | year=2017 | issn=23826444 | jstor=26351508 | pages=3–12 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/26351508 | access-date=1 May 2025}}

{{Main|Pacifism in Islam#History}}

Different Muslim movements through history had linked pacifism with Muslim theology.{{cite book|author=Emily Lynn Osborn|title=Our New Husbands Are Here: Households, Gender, and Politics in a West African State from the Slave Trade to Colonial Rule|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vFHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA18|date=10 October 2011|publisher=Ohio University Press|isbn=978-0-8214-4397-2|pages=18–}}{{cite book|author=Louise Müller|title=Religion and Chieftaincy in Ghana: An Explanation of the Persistence of a Traditional Political Institution in West Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T890Drkv9AoC&pg=PA207|year=2013|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-643-90360-0|pages=207–}}An American Witness to India's Partition by Phillips Talbot Year (2007) However, warfare has been an integral part of Islamic history both for the defense and the spread of the faith since the time of Muhammad.

Peace is an important aspect of Islam, and Muslims are encouraged, but not required to strive for peace and find peaceful solutions to all problems. However, most Muslims are generally not pacifists, because the teachings in the Qur'an and the Hadith allow Muslims to wage wars if they can be justified.{{cite web|title=What does pacifism mean in Islam?|url=https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zfnv87h/revision/7|publisher=BBC|access-date=23 August 2019|archive-date=19 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719082008/https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/zfnv87h/revision/7|url-status=dead}} According to James Turner Johnson, there is no normative tradition of pacifism in Islam.

Prior to the Hijra travel, Muhammad waged a non-violent struggle against his opponents in Mecca. It was not until after the exile that the Quranic revelations began to adopt a more violent perspective. Fighting in self-defense is not only legitimate but considered obligatory upon Muslims, according to the Qur'an. The Qur'an, however, says that should the enemy's hostile behavior cease, then the reason for engaging the enemy also lapses.Afsaruddin, Asma (2007). Views of Jihad Throughout History. Religion Compass 1 (1), pp. 165–69.

Older statistical academic studies have found evidence that violent crime is less common among Muslim populations than it is among non-Muslim populations. However, those studies insufficiently account for different definitions and report rates of violent crimes in other legal systems (e.g., domestic violence).{{cite book |last=Fish |first=M. Steven |author-link=Steven Fish |title=Are Muslims Distinctive? A Look at the Evidence |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199769209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBA0fZpetBgC}}{{cite news |last=Fish |first=M. Steven |author-link=Steven Fish |title=Why is terror Islamist? |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/01/27/why-is-terror-islamist/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150127212440/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/01/27/why-is-terror-islamist/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 January 2015 |access-date=18 March 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=27 January 2015}}{{cite book |last1=Neapolitan |first1=Jerome L. |title=Cross-national Crime: A Research Review and Sourcebook |date=1997 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313299148 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jeN4K2BhmB0C&pg=PA79}}{{cite journal |last1=Neapolitan |first1=Jerome L. |title=Homicides in Developing Nations: Results of Research Using a Large and Representative Sample |journal=International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology |date=1 December 1997 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=358–374 |doi=10.1177/0306624X97414006|s2cid=145400598 }} The average homicide rate in the Muslim world was 2.4 per 100,000, less than a third of non-Muslim countries which had an average homicide rate of 7.5 per 100,000.{{cite book |last=Fish |first=M. Steven |author-link=Steven Fish |title=Are Muslims Distinctive? A Look at the Evidence |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=44 |isbn=9780199769209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBA0fZpetBgC&pg=PA44}} The average homicide rate among the 19 most populous Muslim countries was 2.1 per 100,000, less than a fifth of the average homicide rate among the 19 most populous Christian countries which was 11.0 per 100,000, including 5.6 per 100,000 in the United States.{{cite book |last=Fish |first=M. Steven |author-link=Steven Fish |title=Are Muslims Distinctive? A Look at the Evidence |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=45 |isbn=9780199769209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBA0fZpetBgC&pg=PA45}} A negative correlation was found between a country's homicide rate and its percentage of Muslims, in contrast to a positive correlation found between a country's homicide rate and its percentage of Christians. According to Professor Steven Fish: "The percentage of the society that is made up of Muslims is an extraordinarily good predictor of a country’s murder rate. More authoritarianism in Muslim countries does not account for the difference. I have found that controlling for political regime in statistical analysis does not change the findings. More Muslims, less homicide." At the same time, Fish states that: "In a recent book I reported that between 1994 and 2008, the world suffered 204 high-casualty terrorist bombings. Islamists were responsible for 125, or 61 percent of these incidents, which accounted for 70 percent of all deaths."{{cite news |last1=Beauchamp |first1=Zack |title=This study obliterates the myth that Muslims are more violent |url=https://www.vox.com/2015/1/30/7951309/islam-violence |access-date=16 March 2019 |work=Vox |agency=Vox Media |date=30 January 2015}} Professor Jerome L. Neapolitan compared low crime rates in Islamic countries to low crime in Japan, comparing the role of Islam to that of Japan's Shinto and Buddhist traditions in fostering cultures emphasizing the importance of community and social obligation, contributing to less criminal behaviour than other nations.

Polls have found Muslim-Americans to report less violent views than any other religious group in America. 89% of Muslim Americans claimed that the killing of civilians is never justified, compared to 71% of Catholics and Protestants, 75% of Jews, and 76% of atheists and non-religious groups. When Gallup asked if it is justifiable for the military to kill civilians, the percentage of people who said it is sometimes justifiable was 21% among Muslims, 58% among Protestants and Catholics, 52% among Jews, and 43% among atheists.{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/148763/Muslim-Americans-No-Justification-Violence.aspx|title=Most Muslim Americans See No Justification for Violence|publisher=gallup.com|date=2 August 2011|author=Nicole Naurath|access-date=3 January 2015}}

According to 2006 data, Pew Research said that 46% of Nigerian Muslims, 29% of Jordan Muslims, 28% of Egyptian Muslims, 15% of British Muslims, and 8% of American Muslims thought suicide bombings are often or sometimes justified.{{cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/files/old-assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf|title=Muslim Americans – Middle class and mostly mainstream|date=22 May 2007|publisher=Pew Research Center|page=60|access-date=3 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117073125/http://www.pewresearch.org/files/old-assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf|archive-date=17 January 2013}} The figure was unchanged – still 8% – for American Muslims by 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.people-press.org/2011/08/30/muslim-americans-no-signs-of-growth-in-alienation-or-support-for-extremism/|title=Muslim Americans: No Signs of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism|date=30 August 2011|work=Pew Research Center for the People and the Press}} Pew in 2009 found that, among Muslims asked if suicide bombings against civilians was justifiable, 43% said it was justifiable in Nigeria, 38% in Lebanon, 15% in Egypt, 13% in Indonesia, 12% in Jordan, 7% among Arab Israelis, 5% in Pakistan, and 4% in Turkey.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} Pew Research in 2010 found that in Jordan, Lebanon, and Nigeria, roughly 50% of Muslims had favourable views of Hezbollah, and that Hamas also saw similar support.{{cite web|url=http://www.pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/|title=Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah|date=2 December 2010|work=Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project}}

Counter-terrorism researchers suggests that support for suicide bombings is rooted in opposition to real or perceived foreign military occupation, rather than Islam, according to a Department of Defense-funded study by University of Chicago researcher Robert Pape.{{cite web|last=Rozen |first=Laura |url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1010/Researcher_Suicide_terrorism_linked_to_military_occupation.html?showall |title=Researcher: Suicide terrorism linked to military occupation – Laura Rozen |publisher=Politico.Com |date=11 October 2010 |access-date=18 August 2014}} The Pew Research Center also found that support for the death penalty as punishment for "people who leave the Muslim religion" was 86% in Jordan, 84% in Egypt, 76% in Pakistan, 51% in Nigeria, 30% in Indonesia, 6% in Lebanon and 5% in Turkey. The different factors at play (e.g. sectarianism, poverty, etc.) and their relative impacts are not clarified.

The Pew Research Center's 2013 poll showed that the majority of 14,244 Muslim, Christian, and other respondents in 14 countries with substantial Muslim populations are concerned about Islamic extremism and hold negative views on known terrorist groups.{{cite web|url=http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/01/concerns-about-islamic-extremism-on-the-rise-in-middle-east/|title=Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East|publisher=Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project|date=1 July 2014|access-date=4 February 2015}}

Gallup poll collected extensive data in a project called "Who Speaks for Islam?". John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed present data relevant to Islamic views on peace and more in their book Who Speaks for Islam? The book reports Gallup poll data from random samples in over 35 countries using Gallup's various research techniques (e.g., pairing male and female interviewers, testing the questions beforehand, communicating with local leaders when approval is necessary, travelling by foot if that is the only way to reach a region, etc.){{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/press/108457/Frequently-Asked-Questions.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307065817/http://www.gallup.com/press/108457/Frequently-Asked-Questions.aspx|archive-date=7 March 2009|title=FAQs: Who Speaks for Islam?|publisher=gallup.com}}

There was a great deal of data. It suggests, firstly, that individuals who dislike America and consider the September 11 attacks to be "perfectly justified" form a statistically distinct group with much more extreme views. The authors call this 7% of Muslims "Politically Radicalized". They chose that title "because of their radical political orientation" and clarify, "we are not saying that all in this group commit acts of violence. However, those with extremist views are a potential source for recruitment or support for terrorist groups."{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/104941/what-makes-radical.aspx|publisher=Gallup.com|title=What Makes a Radical?|author=Gallup Inc.| date=13 March 2008 }} The data also indicates that poverty is not simply to blame for the comparatively radical views of this 7% of Muslims, who tend to be better educated than moderates.

The authors say that contrary to what the media may indicate, most Muslims believe that the September 11 attacks cannot actually be justified at all. The authors called this 55% of Muslims "Moderates". Included in that category were an additional 12% who said the attacks almost cannot be justified at all (thus, 67% of Muslims were classified as Moderates). 26% of Muslims were neither moderates nor radicals, leaving the remaining 7% called "Politically Radicalized". Esposito and Mogahed explain that the labels should not be taken as being perfectly definitive. Because there may be individuals who would generally not be considered radical, although they believe the attacks were justified, or vice versa.

Philip W. Sutton and Stephen Vertigans describe Western views on Islam as based on a stereotype of it as an inherently violent religion, characterizing it as a 'religion of the sword'. They characterize the image of Islam in the Western world as a religion which is "dominated by conflict, aggression, 'fundamentalism', and global-scale violent terrorism."{{cite book |title=Resurgent Islam: a sociological approach |first1=Philip W. |last1=Sutton |first2=Stephen |last2=Vertigans |publisher=Polity |year=2005 |page=[https://archive.org/details/resurgentislamso0000sutt/page/7 7] |quote=Stereotypical views which portray Islam as an inherently violent religion, a 'religion of the sword' and an increasing global threat have thus been reinforced and even extended over recent years. |url=https://archive.org/details/resurgentislamso0000sutt|url-access=registration |isbn=9780745632339 }}

Juan Eduardo Campo writes that, "Europeans (have) viewed Islam in various ways: sometimes as a backward, violent religion; sometimes as an Arabian Nights fantasy; and sometimes as a complex and changing product of history and social life."{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Islam |first=Juan Eduardo |last=Campo |page=374 |publisher = Infobase Publishing| year= 2009}} Robert Gleave writes that, "at the centre of popular conceptions of Islam as a violent religion are the punishments carried out by regimes hoping to bolster both their domestic and international Islamic credentials."{{cite book|author1=John Hinnells|author2=Richard King|title=Religion and Violence in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wb1OBi3zvdkC&pg=PA79|year=2007|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-08869-2|page=79}}

The 9/11 attack on the US has led many non-Muslims to indict Islam as a violent religion.{{cite book |title=Religion, power & violence: expression of politics in contemporary times|first=Ram |last=Puniyani |publisher=SAGE |year=2005 |pages=97–98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fd5Fm79VMk8C&pg=PA98|isbn=9780761933380 }} According to Corrigan and Hudson, "some conservative Christian leaders (have) complained that Islam (is) incompatible with what they believed to be a Christian America."{{cite book |title=Religion in America: an historical account of the development of American religious life |first1=John|last1=Corrigan |first2=Winthrop Still |last2=Hudson |publisher=Pearson/Prentice Hall |year=2004 |page=444 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVTuAAAAMAAJ|isbn=9780130923899}} Examples of evangelical Christians who have expressed such sentiments include Franklin Graham, an American Christian evangelist and missionary, and Pat Robertson, an American media mogul, an executive chairman, and a former Southern Baptist minister.{{cite news |title=A Nation Challenged: The Religious Right; Islam Is Violent in Nature, Pat Robertson Says |newspaper=New York Times |date=23 February 2002 |quote=The religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has described Islam as a"violent religion that wants to 'dominate and then, if need be, destroy'."|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/23/us/nation-challenged-religious-right-islam-violent-nature-pat-robertson-says.html}} According to a survey conducted by LifeWay Research, a research group affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, said that two out of three Protestant pastors believe that Islam is a "dangerous" religion. Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay, said "It's important to note our survey asked whether pastors viewed Islam as 'dangerous,' but that does not necessarily mean 'violent."{{cite news |title=Survey: Two-thirds of Protestant pastors consider Islam 'dangerous' |newspaper=USA Today|date=21 December 2009 |access-date=12 December 2010 |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-12-21-islam-protestant_N.htm |first1=Adelle M. |last1=Banks}} Dr. Johannes J.G. Jansen was an Arabist who wrote an essay titled "Religious Roots of Muslim Violence", in which he discusses all aspects of the issue at length and unequivocally concludes that Muslim violence is mostly based on Islamic religious commands.{{cite web|url=http://www.arabistjansen.nl/Arabist/pub_list_Engl_files/RelRootsMusViol.doc|format=doc|title=Religious Roots of Muslim Violence|access-date=2023-08-12|archive-date=20 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920031002/http://www.arabistjansen.nl/Arabist/pub_list_Engl_files/RelRootsMusViol.doc|url-status=dead}}

Media coverage of terrorist attacks plays a critical role in creating negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims. Powell {{Cite journal|last=Powell|first=Kimberly|date=2011|title=Framing Islam: An Analysis of U.S. Media Coverage of Terrorism Since 9/11|journal=Communication Studies|volume=62|pages=90–112|doi=10.1080/10510974.2011.533599|s2cid=145354781}} described how Islam initially appeared in U.S. news cycles because of its relationships to oil, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and terrorism (92). Thus the audience was provided the base to associate Muslims to control of the resource of oil, war, and terrorism. A total of 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. soil since the 9/11 and their content coverage (in 1,638 news stories) in the national media had been analyzed "through frames composed of labels, common themes, and rhetorical associations" (Powell 94). The key findings are summarized below:

• The media coverage of terrorism in the U.S. feeds a culture of fear of Islam and describes the United States as a good Christian nation (Powell 105).
• A clear pattern of reporting had been detected that differentiates "terrorists who were Muslim with international ties and terrorists who were U.S. citizens with no clear international ties" (Powell 105). This was utilized to frame "war of Islam on the United States".
• "Muslim Americans are no longer ‘'free'’ to practice and to name their religion without fear of prosecution, judgment, or connection to terrorism." (Powell 107)

{{Main|Islamophobia}}

{{See also|Islamophobia in the media}}

{{Islamophobia}}

Islamophobia denotes the prejudice against, the hatred towards, or the fear of the religion of Islam or Muslims.{{cite web|url=http://www.levandehistoria.se/fakta-fordjupning/islamofobi/definitioner-och-uttryck|title=Islamofobi – definitioner och uttryck|work=Forum för levande historia|access-date=18 March 2015}}Runnymede 1997, p. 5, cited in Quraishi 2005, p. 60. While the term is now widely used, both the term itself and the underlying concept of Islamophobia have been heavily criticized.{{Cite book |last=Aldridge |first=Alan |title=Religion in the Contemporary World: A Sociological Introduction |date=1 February 2000 |publisher=Polity Press |isbn=978-0-7456-2083-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religionincontem0000aldr/page/138 138] |url=https://archive.org/details/religionincontem0000aldr/page/138 }}{{cite journal | last1 = Bleich | first1 = Erik | year = 2011 | title = What Is Islamophobia and How Much Is There? Theorizing and Measuring an Emerging Comparative Concept | journal = American Behavioral Scientist | volume = 55 | issue = 12| pages = 1581–1600 | doi=10.1177/0002764211409387| s2cid = 143679557 }} In order to differentiate between prejudiced views of Islam and secularly motivated criticism of Islam other terms have been proposed.Imhoff, Roland & Recker, Julia [https://www.academia.edu/545302 "Differentiating Islamophobia: Introducing a new scale to measure Islamoprejudice and Secular Islam Critique"] Journal of Political Psychology The causes and characteristics of Islamophobia are still debated. Some commentators have posited an increase in Islamophobia resulting from the September 11 attacks, while others have associated it with the increased presence of Muslims in the United States, the European Union and other secular nations. Steven Salaita contends that indeed since 9/11, Arab Americans have evolved from what Nadine Naber described as an invisible group in the United States into a highly visible community that directly or indirectly has an effect on the United States' culture wars, foreign policy, presidential elections and legislative tradition.{{Cite journal|title = Beyond Orientalism and Islamophobia: 9/11, Anti-Arab Racism, and the Mythos of National Pride|last = Salaita|first = Steven|date = Fall 2006|journal = CR: The New Centennial Review|issue = 2|volume = 6|pages = 245–266|doi = 10.1353/ncr.2007.0011|s2cid = 143847106}} For ex- Islamophobia is rampant in China. That is why more than one million Muslims have been arbitrarily detained in China's Xinjiang region. Re-education camps are just one part of the government's crackdown on Uighurs.{{Cite web |title=2022 Islamophobia in Review: China |url=https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/2022-islamophobia-in-review-china/ |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=Bridge Initiative |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=China and US clash over Uyghurs at UN Islamophobia event |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uyghurs-china-us-clash-un-islamophobia-event |access-date=2023-09-09 |website=Middle East Eye |language=en}}

{{See also|Liberal Muslim movements|Cultural Muslim}}

In response to these perceptions, Ram Puniyani, a secular activist and writer, says that "Islam does not condone violence but, like other religions, does believe in self-defence".{{cite book |title=Religion, power & violence: expression of politics in contemporary times |first=Ram |last=Puniyani|publisher=SAGE |year=2005 |page=98 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fd5Fm79VMk8C&pg=PA98|isbn=9780761933380 }}

Mark Juergensmeyer describes the teachings of Islam as ambiguous about violence. He states that, like all religions, Islam occasionally allows for force while stressing that the main spiritual goal is one of nonviolence and peace.{{cite book |title=Terror in the mind of God: the global rise of religious violence |first=Mark |last=Juergensmeyer |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |page=80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lpb1mbaHjGQC&pg=PA80|isbn=9780520240117 }} Ralph W. Hood, Peter C. Hill and Bernard Spilka write in The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach, "Although it would be a mistake to think that Islam is inherently a violent religion, it would be equally inappropriate to fail to understand the conditions under which believers might feel justified in acting violently against those whom their tradition feels should be opposed."{{cite book |title=The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach|first1=Ralph W. |last1=Hood |first2=Peter C.|last2=Hill |first3=Bernard |last3=Spilka |publisher=Guilford Press |year=2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/psychologyofreli0004hood_a6t5/page/257 257] |url=https://archive.org/details/psychologyofreli0004hood_a6t5|url-access=registration|isbn=9781606233924 }}

Similarly, Chandra Muzaffar, a political scientist, Islamic reformist and activist, says, "The Quranic exposition on resisting aggression, oppression and injustice lays down the parameters within which fighting or the use of violence is legitimate. What this means is that one can use the Quran as the criterion for when violence is legitimate and when it is not."{{cite book |title=Rights, religion and reform: enhancing human dignity through spiritual and moral transformation |first=Chandra |last=Muzaffar |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2002|page=345|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQA02NT6tmAC&pg=PA345|isbn=9780700716487 }}

{{Portal|Islam}}

• Christianity and violence
• Judaism and violence
• Persecution of Muslims
• Hindu terrorism
• Violence against Muslims in independent India
• Sectarian violence among Muslims
• Talibanization

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{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Ferguson |first=John |year=1978 |orig-year=1977 |title=War and Peace in the World's Religions |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195200744 |oclc=715220863 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/warpeaceinworlds0000ferg }}

{{Criticism of religion}}

{{Islamism}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Violence In Islam}}

Category:Criticism of Islam

Category:Islam-related controversies

Category:History of Islam

Category:Violence