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Fatwa CenterCorporal punishments in the Quran
Question
Salaams, Could you show verses alluding to corporal punishment in the Qur'an?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The crimes for which Allaah set corporal punishments in Islamic Law and which were mentioned in the Quran are as follows:
1- Voluntary killing: Allaah Says (what means): {And whoever is killed unjustly — We have given his heir authority, but let him not exceed limits in [the matter of] taking life.}[Quran 17:33]. Allaah also Says (what means): {O you who have believed, prescribed for you is legal retribution 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 [i.e. the killer] anything, and then there should be a suitable follow-up and payment to him [i.e. the deceased’s heir or legal representative] with good conduct. This is alleviation from your Lord and a mercy. But whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment. And there is for you in legal retribution [saving of] life, O you [people] of understanding, that you may become righteous.}[Quran 2:178-179].
2- Zina (i.e. fornication or adultery): Allaah Says (what means): {The [Unmarried] woman or [unmarried] man found guilty of sexual intercourse — lash each one of them with a hundred lashes, and do not be taken by pity for them in the religion [i.e. law] of Allaah, if you should believe in Allaah and the Last Day. And let a group of the believers witness their punishment.}[Quran 24:2]. This punishment is in regard to an unmarried man or woman, as regards the punishment for a married woman or man, then it is stoning to death as confirmed in the Sunnah.
3- Theft: Allaah Says (what means): {[As for] the thief, the male and the female, amputate their hands in recompense for what they earned [i.e. committed] as a deterrent [punishment] from Allaah. And Allaah is Exalted in Might and Wise.}[Quran 5:38].
4- Taking people's wealth by force: Allaah Says (what means): {Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allaah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment.}[Quran 5:33}.
5- Slandering (i.e. accusing others of Zina): Allaah Says (what means): {And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses — lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after.}[Quran 24:4].
There are also corporal punishments for other crimes which are mentioned in the Sunnah, like apostasy, and its punishment is death; homosexuality, and its punishment is death; consuming intoxicants, and its punishment is 80 lashes.
It is known that the Sunnah of the Prophet is a source of law exactly like the Quran, as the Prophet said: “I was indeed given the Quran and the like of it with it (i.e. the Sunnah).” [Ahmad]
Allaah Knows best.
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