Reconciliation in Islamic criminal law

The subject of the study is to examine the emergence of the institution of reconciliation, which is used as an alternative solution in criminal law disputes, the way it is regulated in the Islamic law literature and its application in some countries that refer to Islamic law today. The examination of the institution of reconciliation, which has found the opportunity to be applied within the framework of Islamic law until the last century in these lands where we live, is of great importance in order to understand the dynamics of the institution of reconciliation, which has been systematically applied in today's criminal law since 2017. The study consists of three main parts. Restorative justice, which is the understanding of justice that the institution of reconciliation feeds on, is examined in the first part. The historical processes of restorative justice and its place in the primary sources of Islamic law are identified. Then, the position and importance of the institution of reconciliation as a reflection of restorative justice, in terms of historical perspective and the primary sources of Islamic law, is revealed. The place of reconciliation in the literature of Islamic law was tried to be determined in the second part. For this purpose, some concepts in the field of criminal law in Islamic law have been explained; particularly the types of crimes and the penalties applied have been detailed in order to show the crimes to which reconciliation can and cannot be applied. The study is limited to the four major schools of law (sects) in Islamic law, namely Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi'i and Maliki sects. Thus, by focusing the field of study on certain schools of law, the study is prevented from becoming dispersed and complicated. The last section focuses on the current practices of conciliation in some countries. This is because one of the issues identified as a target in this study is the current practices in countries that refer to Islamic law as a guide. For this purpose, the regulations on conciliation in Pakistan, Qatar, Indonesia and Mauritania have been examined. This examination was made by taking into account constitutional regulations, legal regulations and other legislation. The practices of the courts have also been utilized from time to time. In addition, the countries examined in the third chapter are the countries where the majority of the people live in one of the four major legal schools preferred in the second chapter. Thus, it is sought to determine the effects of the legal schools on the legal rules applied in these countries. For this reason, Pakistan was chosen for the Hanafi school, Qatar for the Hanbali school, Indonesia for the Shafi'i school and Mauritania for the Maliki school.