Capital punishment in Islam

[3][4] Death penalty is in use in many Muslim-majority countries, where it is utilised as sharīʿa-prescribed punishment for crimes such as apostasy from Islam, adultery, witchcraft, murder, rape, and publishing pornography.

[6] In the case of death, sharia gives the murder victim's nearest relative or Wali (ولي) a right to, if the court approves, take the life of the killer.

[1][not specific enough to verify] These include apostasy (leaving Islam to become an atheist or convert to another religion),[11] fasad (mischief in the land, or moral corruption against Allah, social disturbance and creating disorder within the Muslim state)[12][13] and zina (consensual heterosexual or homosexual relations not allowed by Islam, specifically pre-marital or extramarital).

In the year 2020, an Amnesty International report found that 88 percent of all recorded executions took place in either Iran, Egypt, Iraq or Saudi Arabia.

[15] In several Islamic countries such as Sunni Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, as well as Shia Iran, both hudud and qisas type capital punishment is part of the legal system and in use.

Decapitation is a legal method of execution in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Yemen, and was reportedly used in 2001 in Iran according to Amnesty International, where it is no longer in use.

(47:4)Among classical commentators, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi interprets the last sentence of 8:12 to mean striking at the enemies in any way possible, from their head to the tips of their extremities.

[25] Furthermore, according to Rachel Saloom, surah 47:4 goes on to recommend generosity or ransom when waging war, and it refers to a period when Muslims were persecuted and had to fight for their survival.

[30] The majority of executions carried out by the Wahhabi government of Saudi Arabia are public beheadings,[31] which usually cause mass gatherings but are not allowed to be photographed or filmed.