Capital Punishment in Indo-Islamic Advice Literature: Ideas and Practice

The recent debate on capital punishment is not new. Issues relating to punishment in general and capital punishment in particular were discussed in the literary works of Medieval Islamic societies as well, particularly in the advice literature (a literary work of norms on a wide range of topic). The concept of capital punishment discussed in advice literature is different from juristic Islam. Orthodox Islamic scholars hold on rigidly to the idea of capital punishment prescribed in the canonical law of Muslims. On the contrary, the authors of advice literature gave more emphasis on ‘reforming’ the offender than on corporal punishment. They proposed capital punishment in rare cases and as a last option.
Nasirud’din Tusi was the first scholar to express specific ideas on punishment in advice literature. The intellectuals of later centuries such as Jalalud’din Dawwani and Husain Waiz Kahsifi followed the line of Nasirud’din Tusi. These texts were widely in circulation in Mughal India, and the ideas on capital punishment became a topic of discussion in the Mughal courtly and intellectual circles.
This paper intends to analyse the ideas on capital punishment discussed in Indo-Islamic advice literature and place them in their historical context. An analysis of the role of contemporary political and social conditions in the formation of ideas on capital punishment is pre-eminently desirable. My paper also attempts to explore the extent to which the concept of capital punishment was practiced in Mughal India. I have selected advisory texts written in Medieval Central Islamic land such as Akhlaq-i Nasiri of Nasirud’din Tusi, Akhlaq-i Jalali of Jalalud’din Dawwani, Akhlaq-i Muhsini of Husain Waiz Kashifi; and texts written in the Mughal period such as the Ain-i Akbari of Abul Fazl, and Mauiza-i Jahangiri of Muhammad Baqir Najm Sani. For studying the practice of capital punishment I would use chronicles and documents (administrative orders, news-reports, etc.).