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
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