Death Penalty by Hanging in Islamic Jurisprudence and Yemeni Law: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This research is a comparative jurisprudential study between the five doctrines of jurisprudence and Yemeni law in the issue of the death penalty by hanging. It is aimed at clarifying whether the death penalty by hanging is, in jurisprudence and law, permissible or impermissible. This study includes an introduction, four sections and a conclusion. The first section is about the definition of death penalty in general, and death penalty by hanging, in particular; defining both of them linguistically, technically, and lawfully. The second section is about the methods of death penalty in jurisprudence and law, and the findings that medicine arrived at today in this concern. I mean: Is hanging a proper way to comfort the executed person or not? The third section, which is the core of this research, has approached whether death penalty in Islamic jurisprudence is permissible or impermissible, and whether Yemeni law took it in consideration or not? The fourth section examines modern Muslim scholars’ Fatwa about death penalty. The research concludes with a conclusion that includes the most important findings among which is that death penalty by hanging is not legally, lawfully, and conventionally permissible because of the torture experienced against the executed person. The researcher also recommends the Yemeni legislator to legally stipulate on preventing death penalty by hanging, for being contrary to the purposes of Islamic law.