REPENTANCE IN PENANCE PUNISHMENTS

Abstract

In Islamic sources, including verses of the Quran and traditions, as well as viewpoints of various religions such as Christianity and Judaism, repentance has been considered to have a high position, in a way that it has been known as salvation and prosperity of mankind. In accordance with religious sources, Islamic Penal Code of 2013 stated the repentance as one of the rules of public criminal jurisprudence. In this research, through an analytical and descriptive method, from the viewpoint of jurisconsults, this legal factor is discussed as one of the causes of punishment fall. The result shows that Islamic religions all together agree that the repentance leads to otherworldly punishment fall, but there is a controversy over worldly punishment fall by the repentance. According to Imamiyah jurisprudence, the repentance is removal of criminal liability in the crimes of God’s right, and the repentance, before proving the crime, is considered as the cause of punishment fall. They do not consider repentance after proving the crime with evidence as the cause of punishment, and in the case of repentance, after confessing, they believe that the judge is in charge of punishment and pleading for mercy from guardians of affairs. Those who consider the repentance as the cause of penance punishment fall believe that the repentance in the former way will lead to fall of the discretionary (ta'zir). The Repentance is one of the criminal legal principles of Islam, which, in comparison with other penal schools, is intended to reform the offender and in many cases leads to the fall of punishment; it has been less seen to be used for punishment fall of the offenders in judicial courts