Professor ʿAfīf Ṭabbāra writes: “Premeditated murder is among the most serious crimes and the most disruptive to public safety. For that reason, every legal system and religious code has assigned to it some of the harshest penalties. Islam, too, came with a just ruling for homicide, as Allah says: ‘O you who believe, retaliation (qiṣāṣ) has been prescribed for you in cases of killing—the free for the free …’ (al-Baqarah 2:178).

The wisdom behind qiṣāṣ is laid bare in His statement: ‘In retaliation there is life for you’ (al-Baqarah 2:179).

Al-Shawkānī commented, ‘In this ruling that Allah has legislated for you there is life.’

That is why we find crimes and killings far more frequent among nations that have turned away from Allah’s path and chosen man-made laws. They do not requite the offender as he deserves; instead, in the name of modernity and compassion, they merely sentence him to prison. They show no mercy to the victim who lost his life, nor to his family and children who lost their mainstay, nor to humanity at large, which now lives in fear and insecurity because of these murderous criminals. Such people give no thought to the consequences and calamities that have overtaken them, for they are not of sound understanding.”}