Sufis Were The Earliest Crusaders Against Capital Punishment

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 29 March 2023 Once Shams-e-Tabriz was returning to his monastery. He saw a large crowd of people. " What's going on," the great mystic asked." A convict will be beheaded. So, we all have gathered to see the spectacle," said one of the onlookers. The ultra-sensitive mystic fainted and when he regained consciousness, he began to cry and ask how could humans kill their fellow humans in the name of justice? Nearly a millennium has gone by and Shams' pertinent question is still valid and relevant and in the light of the Supreme Court's recent decision to look for other 'humane' alternatives to hanging, the futility of death rap becomes all the more acute. Apropos, Shams' disciple and friend, the great Rumi was also completely against executions. So were Hakim Sanai and Nizami. But it's ironical that despite all mystics condemning executions, almost all Islamic countries have still retained it and a few still behead convicts in public. This is absolute savagery and a throwback to our troglodyte past. Whether it's hanging, firing squad, lethal injection or electric chair, a civilised society has no place for such barbaric voyeurism and vicarious sadism. Moreover, death rap has never served as a deterrent to heinous crimes. Remember, justice is yet another name of retribution. What happened in India? Officially, the government records show that beginning from Nathuram Godse and N D Apte's hangings in the independent India on Nov. 15, 1949 at Ambala Central Jail to Nirbhaya's four rapists and killing on March 20, 2020, India hanged 62 convicts thus far. But the government records are silent on many hangings between 1963 to 1973. Quite a few convicts, most of them being very poor and from the marginalised stratum of the society, were executed. How many rich convicts were hanged? How many poor convicts could hire a lawyer to defend them? Two extremely poor hired killers Kartar Singh and Ujagar Singh (they were brothers), killed the wife (Vidya) of famous eye-surgeon of Delhi Dr Jain, just for 500 rupees! No lawyer came to defend them as they were very poor. Eventually, they were hanged at Tihar in Delhi. But Dr Jain and his paramour were acquitted after a few years of imprisonment because he was the personal eye-surgeon of the President of India! Isn't it a travesty of justice? In 1984, an educated Maqbool Butt was hanged for killing a bank manager in Kashmir, though his hanging was expedited by the brutal killing of the Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre in England. It was carried out to placate public rage! And when Afzal Guru was hanged in February 2013, the then Congress govt. justified it, saying that it was done to 'satisfy the collective public conscience' as if public conscience is far more important than law and judiciary! Yaqub Memon was hanged on his birthday (yes, birthday!) in July 2015 though the Govt assured him to spare his life in exchange of the vital pieces of information the he was privy to. He divulged the secrets. Yet, he was hanged at Nagpur Central Jail. It's all vendetta and vindictiveness that play a crucial role in sealing the fate of a person and leading him to the gallows. Moreover, can you rule out human errors in sentencing and executing a 'convict'? Almost all European countries abolished death rap when it went horribly wrong. Britain abolished it in 1965 when an innocent person was hanged. Australia abolished it way back in 1926 when Adelaide court hanged a person in 1922. Later his friend admitted that he perpetrated the crime for which his friend was sent to the scaffold. He went mad. Aren't we all a bit civilised? How can we justify capital punishment? Instead, sentence a person to life imprisonment without parole. It's enough to make him realise that he committed something grievous just like Dr Martin Luther King Jr's killer James Earl Ray was sentenced to 99 years of imprisonment without parole. Furthermore, (judicial) hanging could be painful. It doesn't kill instantaneously. Godse didn't die immediately when he was hanged. Dreaded killer and rapist Ranga's (of Ranga-Billa duo) body convulsed for nearly 20 minutes. It's time for all countries to do away with capital punishment. Every life is important. I may sound too utopian but ask yourself, does anyone's death, however bad he may be, makes you feel truly happy? To quote the English metaphysical poet John Donne, 'Any man's death diminishes me, because I'm involved in mankind. Therefore, never send anyone to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee....' In one of his Urdu short stories, Rajinder Singh Bedi put it succinctly, 'Maut Chahe Jiski Ho, Har Dil Mein Ek Khaalipan Ka Ahsaas Zaroor Hota Hai....... ......Whoever dies, it leaves a void in every heart. ------ A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/sufis-crusaders-capital-punishment/d/129430 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism