Dropping Doubts of Adultery Punishment: An Applied Study in the Hanafi School

Abstract

The study aims to clarify the concept of doubt, mention the evidence for canceling the "had" (punishment) due to it, in addition to mentioning the categories of doubts according to the Hanafi School, along with an explanation of their concept, examples, and ruling.

The study followed the applied inductive approach in collecting scientific material and tracking its sources, in addition to the analytical approach in studying the evaluations of the Hanafi school of thought.

The Hanafi school divides the categories of suspicions regarding adultery punishment into: the suspicion of place (which is due to the existence of an evidence that permits the action), the suspicion of practice (which is due to the presence of an assumption that permits the act) and the suspicion of a contract (which is due to the presence of a marriage contract that permits the act). This study concludes that the strongest types of dropping suspicions of adultery in the Hanafi school are in this order: the suspicion of place then the suspicion of a contract and the last is the suspicion of practice.

The study recommends conducting studies on the doubts that invalidate the punishments, which demonstrate the greatness of Islamic legislation in achieving justice when dealing with lawbreakers, in addition to conducting specialized doctrinal studies which in turn reveal the origins of the issues, and thus the correct perception of Islamic jurisprudence appears.