The role of hirabah’s punishment to preserve the objectives of Shari`ah

Allah’s Shariah is designed to preserve and promote certain higher objectives, known as Maqosid al-Shariah. These are rreligion, life, wealth, progeny, intellect, and prestige. To preserve these objectives, He prescribed two broad categories of rules: first, rules related to performing some deeds; second, rules related to prohibition of certain deeds. Among the deeds prohibited by Him are intentional and oppressive killing, and crimes of hudud. This paper intends to focus on a crime of hudud, i.e. hirabah (highway robbery). Nowadays, this crime has spread widely among both Muslim and non-Muslim societies, continuously producing many sundry types of individuals and collective problems that lead to disorder, chaos, and tremendous discomfort among the society. In other words, this crime has continuously contributed to the destruction of the above-mentioned higher objectives of Shari`ah. To prevent the violation of these objectives and preserve them, Allah (جل جلاله) prescribed certain punishments for this crime, besides many other rules and punishments for other crimes. Based on the verses of the holy Qur’an, ahadith of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and statements of Muslim scholars, this research paper primarily aims to analytically discuss how the punishment of highway robbery contributes towards preserving the higher objectives and some other objectives of Shari`ah.