Beheading in Islam

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Beheading is a widespread execution method popular in Islamic countries that has gradually been banned throughout the civilized world as cruel and unusual punishment. Certain forms of Islamic Sharia law are cited by both state and non-state actors to legitimize beheadings.^[1]

Beheading in Islamic scripture

Instructions regarding decapitation can be found in both the Quran, the Hadith as well as the Siras. The Quran itself mentions decapitation twice, including a verse concerning fighting unbelievers, in which it implores Muslims to "strike off their heads until you have crushed them completely; then bind the prisoners tightly."^[2][3] Much of the justification for beheading however, comes from the Siras and Hadiths rather than the Quran itself. The Siras, the number of traditional biographies of Muhammad, speak of decapitation on numerous occasions, several of which portray beheadings ordered directly by Muhammad himself.

The Jews were made to come down, and Allah’s Messenger imprisoned them. Then the Prophet went out into the marketplace of Medina, and he had trenches dug in it. He sent for the Jewish men and had them beheaded in those trenches. They were brought out to him in batches. They numbered 800 to 900 boys and men. The affair continued until the Messenger of Allah had finished with them all.

— Al-Tabari, Vol. 8, p. 35

Beheading in Islamic law

During the development of Islamic Law or Sharia, the majority of scholars supported beheading as a valid form of punishment within Islam. Influential medieval Muslim scholars such as Al-Zamakhshari and Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari considered beheading to be sanctioned by God as the punishment for unbelievers and blasphemous Muslims.^[4][5]

Currently, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world which uses decapitation within its Islamic legal system, although it is also a legal form of punishment in Qatar and Yemen. Numerous non-state actors, including Islamic organisations such as ISIL, Al Qaeda, and other Jihadist groups use or have used beheading as a punishment.

Beheading is a legal form of execution in Qatar and Yemen, but the punishment has been suspended in those countries. The majority of executions carried out by the Wahhabi government of Saudi Arabia are public beheadings, which usually cause mass gatherings but are not allowed to be photographed or filmed. Since 2002, however, jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have been mass circulating beheading videos as a form of terror and propaganda.^[6]

Historical occurrences

Numerous occasions of beheadings by Muslims of non-Muslims have been recorded. Especially among the Ottoman military, who routinely decapitated captive enemies or those unwilling to convert to Islam. Only a few are listed below.^[7]

• After the Battle of Zallaqa in 1086, 24,000 corpses of defeated Castilian soldiers were beheaded "and piled them up to make a sort of minaret for the muezzins who, standing on the piles of headless cadavers, sang the praises of Allah." The Almohads routinely beheaded Christian enemies after any lost battles.^[8]:160
• Saladin personally beheaded Raynald of Châtillon, a knight who served in the Second Crusade after the Battle of Hattin (1187).^[9]
• Following the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Muslim army beheaded the Serbian king and many Christian prisoners.^[8]:160
• Following the Battle of Varna in 1444,the Ottomans beheaded King Ladislaus of Hungary.^[8]:187-374
• Following the Fall of Constantinople, the Ottomans sent the head of the dead Byzantine emperor to major cities in the sultanate.^[8]:187-374
• In 1463, the Grand Mufti of the Ottoman Empire personally decapitated King Stephen of Bosnia and his sons after their surrender.^[8]:187-374
• Forces of the Ottoman Empire invaded and laid siege to the city of Otranto and its citadel in 1480. After capture, more than 800 of its inhabitants – who refused to convert to Islam – were beheaded. They are known as the "Martyrs of Otranto".^[10]
• In 1526, after the Battle of Mohács, 2,000 Hungarian prisoners of war were beheaded by the Ottoman army.^[8]:187-374
• During the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) in India, the army of Ahmed Shah Abdali beheaded 40,000 Hindu soldiers though the two sides had proclaimed a peace treaty.
• In 1807 several hundred British prisoners of war who had been fighting in Egypt were decapitated.^[8]:187-374
• Muhammad Ahmad declared himself Mahdi in 1880 and led Jihad against the Ottoman Empire and their British allies. He and his followers beheaded opponents, Christian and Muslim alike including the British general Charles Gordon.^[11]

Modern occurrence

Modern instances of Islamist beheading date at least to the First Chechen War (1994–96), and to the beheading of Yevgeny Rodionov, a Russian soldier who refused to convert to Islam, whose subsequent beheading has led some within the Russian Orthodox Church to venerate him as a martyr.^[12]

The 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl by Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Pakistan drew international attention enhanced by the release of a beheading video.^[13]

Beheadings have emerged as a terror tactic in Iraq since 2003.^[14] Civilians have borne the brunt of the beheadings, although U.S. and Iraqi military personnel have also been targeted. After kidnapping the victim, the kidnappers typically make some sort of demand of the government of the hostage's nation and give a time limit for the demand to be carried out, often 72 hours. Beheading is often threatened if the government fails to heed the wishes of the hostage takers. Frequently the crude beheadings are videotaped and made available on the Internet. One of the most publicized murders of an American was that of Nick Berg.^[15][16][17]

Since 2004 insurgents in South Thailand began to sow fear in attacks where men and women of the local Buddhist minority were beheaded.^[18] On 18 July 2005 two militants entered a teashop in South Thailand, shot Lek Pongpla, a Buddhist cloth vendor, beheaded him and left the head outside of the shop.^[19]

According to Peter R. Neumann, Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King's College London, viral beheading videos are intended, and are at least somewhat effective, as a recruiting tool for jihad among both Western and Middle Eastern youth.^[20][21] Other observers argue that while Al Qaeda initially used beheading as a publicity tool, it later decided that they caused Muslims to recoil from Islamism and that although ISIS/IS is enthusiastically deploying beheading as a tactic in 2014, it, too, may find that the tactic backfires.^[22]

See also

• ISIL beheading incidents

References