Political Crimes in Islamic Criminal Legislation: Comparative Study

This Thesis aims at explaining the concept of political crimes-crimes of infringement- exposing its legitimacy, reality and danger on Islamic Society. It also sheds light on its types, conditions and bases and to what extent are criminals liable to the crimes they have committed. Besides that stopping and preventing it from happening and its consequent penalty in the worldly and the hereafter and comparing it with the positive law and to highlight the superiority of Islamic Legislation to the positive law. My thesis consists of a foreword and five main chapters. In the foreword, I talked about the concept of crime in Islamic Criminal Legislation and the positive law, the Islamic way in preventing crime, the cause of crime and penalty in Islamic Law. I concluded the foreword by showing the distinction of Islamic Criminal Legislation over all other creeds and religions. I came to a conclusion that the Islamic Criminal Legislation is the best since it is divine and it provides safety and security, prevents crimes and stops corruption. I also could conclude that the penal code in Islam does not aim to torture people or to take possession of them, but it is very necessary to protect the Islamic Society and through this legislation methods and techniques in dealing with crime and criminals varied which led to the superiority of the Islamic Criminal Legislation to all other creeds and religions. In chapter I , The nature and reality of political crime, I talked about the concept of political crime and showed that this term is modern and was not used by experts of Fiqh (legists). I also concluded the lack of its legitimacy by explaining its dangers on the Islamic nation and showed the valued reader that in order to judge whether the crime is political or ordinary some conditions must be available in crime and political criminals. Then, I made a comparison between the political crime and assault and proved the similarities and differences between them, then I excluded the political feature from assault and I gave some examples which are considered as political crimes. In chapter II (Bases and Conditions of Political Crime) I dealt with the bases of the political crime, which is represented in the legal basis, I came to a conclusion that the political crime is an illegal action which is punished by Sharia through contexts from Holy Quran and the Sunah of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and findings of Foqaha which they deduced from strict and accurate rules. From these two sources, in addition to the substantial element which makes the political criminal to have the tendency to carry out his political crime through well-planned preparation for the crime, then I talked about the spiritual element which means that the criminal the consequences of his political crime through available conditions of the criminal and his criminal act. I concluded this chapter by giving some conditions that show how the political crime is achieved through a set of conditions in political crime process. In chapter III (Types of Political Crimes) I mentioned the types of political crimes, identified them all and gave a good example on each one. I concluded that these types of crimes are modern and have not been known since ancient times. And these crimes were subject to two norms in determining their types. The first one depends mainly on the nature of the victim and the second norm which is represented by the reason for committing a political crime, and this is the positive law. However, in Islamic Criminal Legislation we do not find such a difference, but it sets a number of conditions and whenever they are achieved the crime is considered political. In chapter IV , (Liability of Political Criminals), I explained the criminal liability of the political criminals and its place and basic elements. I came to a conclusion that the criminal liability during war is considered as political and the criminals were punished. However, in other cases the criminal liability is supposed to be normal and the criminal bears its consequences. I also talked about the civil liability and explained that it is a new term corresponding to fines or guarantee to Foqaha. In addition, Islam is fair enough in punishing the political criminals and this penalty starts from the bounds that Allah has placed on man's freedom of action to Ta'zeer depending mainly on the political criminal act. I indicated that the positive law is at loss. I also concluded the rights of tyrants in Islam and the weapons to be used against them. I found out that seeking any help from the unbelievers in political crimes is strictly not allowed because it has many dangers on Muslims and its consequences are too bad. The researcher also showed the possibility of seeking help from Ahl Althema free-non-Muslims enjoying Islamic protection when necessary on the condition that Ahl Althema are committed to the orders of the people of justice and this assistance has many different forms such as experience, weapons, money and other things. In chapter V (A Contemporary Vision on the Political Crime) I talked about the crime of infringement and disobedience of rulers and I concluded according to opinions of Foqaha of Islam that disobedience of a just ruler is strictly forbidden and in case of disobedience it is considered infringement. I also dealt with the disobedience of the unjust ruler and concluded that it is possible, and in some cases it could be an obligation when the ruler misuses the interests of the nation and this disobedience is not a crime of infringement but it is an obligation on the whole nation. I finally put some perceptions of prevention against the political crime and how to stop it and I gave some solutions that could help to get rid of political crimes in the Muslim Society.