Islamic Criminal Justice and International Terrorism: A Comparative Perspective into Modern Islamic State Practices
![handle is hein.journals/jispil2 and id is 148 raw text is: Islamic Criminal justice and International Terrorism: A Comparative
Perspective into Modern Islamic State Practices
Javaid Rehman1
'The best form of Jihad is through persuasion'
Hadith of Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam (Peace be Upon Him).
Introduction
Ever since the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11I September 2001 concern
is being expressed about the credentials of Islam and Islamic Criminal Justice.2 Within
the United Kingdom, the unfortunate and tragic events of 7 July 2005 have led to an
intense debate over Islamic values and Islam's possible association with aggression,
violence and terrorism. 3 Critics of Islam have equated Islamic ethos with fanaticism,
intolerance and terrorism-the classical .Jihad ideology is often deployed to cast doubts on
the compatibility of Islamic legal systems with modern norms of criminal justice and
human rights.4 The concept of .11/ad is increasingly associated with those who champion
an extremist vision of Islam; indeed the term Jihadi is beig increasingly associated by
the western media and political thinking as a representation of rigid, fanatical and
extremist groups such as AI-Qaeda. Within international legal context, the concept of
1Professor of Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law, School of Law, Brunel University,
London. c-mail: Javaid.RchmanZ&Bruncl.ac.uk. This is reviscd and updatcd version of a papcr
presented at the Commonwealth Laxv Conference in September 2005.
2 'Many horrific acts have been, and continue to be carried out in the name of Islam, just as they have
been in the name of Christianity. But unlike Islam, Christianity does not justify the use of all forms of
violence. Islam does'. P Sookhdeo 'A Religion that sanctions violence' Daily Telegraph (London,
United Kingdom, 17 September 2001) 22. For a detailed analysis scc J Rchman, Islamic State
Practices, Jnternational Law and the Threat from Terrorism: A Critique of the 'Clash of Civilizations'
in the New World Order (Oxford, Hant Publishing) 2005; also see SS Ali and J Rehman, 'The Concept
of Jihad in Islamic international Law 10(4) Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2005 (forthcoming).
3 The expression of Anthony Browne, writing in The Times is reflective of the views of many in London
post 7 July 2005. In companing Hitler with 'Islamists' he writes: 'Hitler divided the world into Aryans
and subhuman non-Aryans, xvhile Islamists divide the world into Muslim and sub-human infidels.
Nazis aimed for their Thousand-Year Reich, while Islamists aim for their eternal Caliphate. The Nazi
party used tenror to achieve power, and from London to Amsterdam, Bali to New York, Egypt to
Turkey, Islamists are trying to do the same. The two fascisms, one radical and one religious, one
beaten and the other resurgent, are evil in both theft ideology and theft methodology, in their
supermacism, intolerance, belief in violence and threat to democracy'. A Browvne, 'Fundamentally,
We're Useful Idiots: As the rest of Europe Acts, Extreme Islamists Take Advantage of British
Naivety' The Times Newvspaper 1 August, 2005 at 19.
4 JL Esposito, The Islamic Threat: Mlyth or Reality? (Oxford, Oxford University Press) 1992 5; A
Cassese, Terrorism, Politics and Law: The Achille Laura Affair (Cambridge, Polity Press) 1989 at 1.
Journal of Islamic State Practices in International Law <0 2006 Electronic publications
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Islamic Criminal Justice and International Terrorism: A Comparative Perspective into Modern Islamic State Practices
Islamic Criminal Justice and International Terrorism: A Comparative Perspective into Modern Islamic State Practices