Reappraisal of the Texts and Evidences on Assigning Death Penalty for Alcohol Drinkers among the Five Religious Schools

Drinking wine or any alcohol-containing drinks (khamr) is one of the Great Sins, the punishment of which is considered among ḥudūd by the majority of Muslim scholars (jumhūr-al-Fuqahā). In some religious schools (madhāhib), the punishment for drinking wine (khamr) is 40 lashes and in others, it is 80. The present study seeks to answer what the penalty is for repeating this crime following the last time it is confirmed and punished. A group of jurists believe that they must be punished by death and others deny the death penalty. Among the group who believe in death penalty, some say that hanging must be administered after the third time they commit the crime; others state it as viable for the fourth and the fifth times. Some of the believers of death penalty prescribe death penalty for the fourth time; however, others assign ta‘zīr for this. On the other hand, the deniers of hanging (death penalty) are two groups: one group denies its credit from its very basic; however, the other group believes that such atonement has existed from the very early Islam, but it was outdated sometime and the reason for that is controversial. Any of these statements have been attributed to some reasons and causes. In sum, regarding the insistence of shari‘ah on protecting human life, especially the Muslims, in many Qur’anic verses or Hadiths, in addition to the principle of depenalization/penalization as well as the requirement of presenting a narrow interpretation, the present study repudiates death penalty for any form of the mentioned crime.