The Hadith “No Penalty Based on Suspicions” a doctrinal study comparing the law
Dr. Khaled Al–Mutar
Assistant Professor of Islamic Law in Kuwait International Law School
Abstract:
The Hadith “No enforcement of limits ordained by Allah based on suspicions” is one of the fundamental Hadiths on which Islamic Shari’a relies to judge and enforce the limits ordained by Allah. Discussing the Hadith in six chapters, the researcher tackled this Hadith in comparative study between Islamic jurisprudence or Shari’a and law. In the first chapter, the researcher discusses the book in which the Hadith is reported, the narrator, morphology, and its authenticity. In the second chapter, the researcher talks about the limits ordained by Allah, definition, types, and enforcement mechanisms. In the third chapter, the researcher discusses the notion of “Shubha” or suspicions, definition, types, and consequences. The “fiqh” or jurisprudential proofs of the Hadith are discussed in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter tackles the role of this Hadith in Shari’a justice, the means the judge should follow or adopt in order to enforce the limits ordained by Allah. In the final chapter the researcher talks about the principle of “no penalty based on suspicions in law”. In the conclusion, the researcher makes some comparisons and contrasts between law and Shari’a regarding the Hadith “No enforcement of limits ordained by Allah based on suspicions”.