Defamation (Qazf) from the Perspective of Jurisprudence and Law

Abstract

Insult is one of the moral abominations that, by destroying individuals’ dignity and degrading their character, clearly exemplifies the violation of others’ rights. In recent years, the issue of insulting the sanctities of Islam—including insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Holy Quran, and others—has increasingly surfaced, thereby making such insults and similar crimes a subject of legal and societal concern. This article, entitled “Defamation (Qazf) from the Perspective of Jurisprudence and Law,” examines this destructive vice along with its motivations and adverse effects on both individual and social life, based on jurisprudential and legal sources. It ultimately finds that insults are among the crimes directly connected to the dignity and honor of individuals, and their occurrence results in the violation of these sacred attributes. Consequently, in the Islamic criminal system and the pertinent legal framework, both fixed (hud) and discretionary (ta'zir) punishments are prescribed according to the circumstances of the offense. In this paper, we specifically discuss an offense—defamation (qazf)—that is subject to a fixed punishment.