Italian Marines, Just Another Excuse

Assalamualikum

May the peace and blessings of Almighty God be upon you

"This injustice destroyed those before you that when any one of high rank committed theft among them, they spared him, and when any weak one among them committed theft, they inflicted the prescribed punishment upon him." - Mohammad The Messenger of God.

Fourteen centuries ago, there established a brilliant sense of justice that this 21st century is in bare need. We live in a world where Murderers & Killers are still roaming about by sparing the money of tax payers. They don't get the punishment that they really deserve. Most of the time they get a cosy life even behind the bars.

• A Murderer who spared an innocent life gets body guards to guard his life! 

• A Murderer who killed the bread-winner of a family gets Biriyani in Jail.

• A Murderer is given the so called parole to kill more and more. 

And shamelessness has got another name.

The Italian marines who took the lives of Indian fishermen are yet to be punished. The Indian politicians got another 'prey' to their fry-pan and they did their best to make this case a well tangled diplomatic mess. 

The Indian political leadership set the stage for making the marines, just another excuse to the Indian penal code. This excuse is quite evident from the public statement of the Foreign minister who announced that the marines will not be subjected to the death penalty.

Italy did a remarkable effort to get their citizens  out of this criminal charge and they are yet to succeed. 

The Dilemma

The dilemma is yet come. The fishermen family became ready to withdraw all the legal proceedings against the marines, under a compensation deal. But the man-made law doesn't permit it!

"We have settled the compensation case and signed the agreement to withdraw the [civil] cases with the consent of the High Court of Kerala" - BBC News.

But

"It is not clear if the murder charges against the marines will be dropped." - BBC News.

Even though both parties agreed to reach at an agreement and to finish off this case, the man-made laws don't let it close. Till this point of time, the legal proceedings of this case continues to waste valuable national resources in terms of continuing the legal proceedings, securing the lives  and feeding of the marines etc etc, all the the expense of the tax payer.

Here comes the importance of The Law of Equality of Glorious Quran. It puts before this mankind a simple and perfectly balanced equality of justice in case of a murder.

The Law of Equality

The law of equality has two options -

A. The killer should be killed. Or

B. The murderer can be forgiven if the relatives of the killed decide so.

   • The killer should pay the compensation.

   • It should be a decent compensation deal.
   • Close the chapter.

On both sides, Quran puts perfect options. There is no scope for prolonging the case by wasting time, money & effort. 

• Either kill the killer or forgive him (by the relatives of the killed) and close the chapter.

A. The Killer Should be Killed

"O you who believe! Al-Qisas (The Law of Equality) is prescribed for you in case of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female." - Quran 2:178. 

This directive of Glorious Quran came at a time in which - 

- When an elite person kills a poor person, the rich person only needs to pay a namesake compensation. 

- When a poor person kills an elite person, the poor person will be killed.

Glorious Quran stands firmly on the part of the justice that the killer has not right to live because he took the life of another one.

B. The Murderer Can Be Forgiven If The Relatives of The Killed Decide So

The door of forgiveness is open, not closed.

"But if the killer is forgiven by the brother (or the relatives) of the killed (against blood  money), then it should be sought in a good manner, and paid to him respectfully." - Quran 2:178. 

• "When the relative agrees to take the blood money, he should collect his rightful dues with kindness." - Ibn Kathir.

• "The killer should accept the terms of settlement without causing further harm or resisting the payment." - Ibn Kathir.

Close The Chapter

"This is an alleviation and a mercy from your Lord. So after this, whoever transgresses the limits (i.e. kills the killer after taking the blood money), he shall have a painful torment." - Quran 2:178.

• The chapter should be closed forever and should never be reopened.

The Most Democratic Solution

Glorious Quran has brought the most democratic way of solving one of the worst crime of the mankind. It puts the people ( i.e. the relatives of the killed) as the judge and they will decide whether the murderer should be executed or be forgiven. It continues - 

"And do not kill anyone whose killing Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause. And whoever is killed wrongfully (not by mistake), We have given his heir the authority. But let him not exceed limits in the matter of taking life. Verily, he is helped." - Quran 17:33

"The authority is over the killer. The heir has the choice;

• If he wishes, he may have him killed in retaliation, or

• He may forgive him in return for the payment of the blood money, or

• He may forgive him with no payment, as is reported in the sayings of prophet Mohammad." - Ibn Kathir.

A responsible judge should investigate and confirm the case and the punishment should be executed by the government of that country.

Utmost Sense of Justice

"By Him in Whose Hand is my life, even if Fatima daughter of Muhammad were to commit theft, I would have cut off her hand."- Mohammad The Messenger of God.

- Being the daughter of the messenger and the head of the state, is not an excuse to escape from the punishment.

This was the sense of justice that Mohammad The Messenger of God has left for this world. And this is exactly what the kind of justice for which this world yearning for.

Regards
Nisam