Shariah Court

Hukuman kesalahan jenayah syariah di Malaysia pada hari ini masih tertakluk pada tiga tahun penjara, RM5000 denda dan enam kali sebatan. Peruntukan maksimum hukuman tersebut sering kali dipersoalkan kerana dilihat gagal memberikan impak positif sama ada kepada pesalah mahupun kepada masyarakat. Dalam menghadapi situasi ini, hukuman alternatif mungkin dapat dilaksanakan oleh pihak mahkamah syariah agar objektif hukuman tercapai. Oleh yang demikian, terdapat cadangan yang mahu melihat perintah khidmat masyarakat sebagai salah satu bentuk hukuman alternatif di mahkamah syariah. Sehubungan itu, makalah ini bertujuan melihat sejauh mana perintah khidmat masyarakat dapat dilaksanakan dalam kerangka perundangan syariah dengan melihat prospek yang ada bagi tujuan pelaksanaan hukuman ini. Setelah menilai keperluan pelaksanaan perintah ini, kajian ini mendapati bahawa hukuman perintah khidmat masyarakat mempunyai prospek yang cerah untuk dilaksanakan di mahkamah syariah melalui ruang peruntukan yang sedia ada. Perintah khidmat masyarakat berpotensi dilaksanakan sebagai hukuman alternatif terbaik di mahkamah syariah Malaysia.

Western scholars consider community service order as the best alternative to rehabilitate offenders. However, Muslim jurists never debated the concept of community service order as a form of punishment in the Islamic judicial system. Accordingly, this article seeks to analyze the concept of community service order in the context of Islamic law by making a comparison between the concept of community service order as debated by Western scholars with the concept of ta`zir punishment by their Muslim counterpart. This aspect is analysed as an alternative concept of punishment, the discretionary power of judges, theory, or concept of the fundamental goals of punishment and penance. The research discovers that there are many similarities between the concept of community service order with the concept of punishment in Islamic ta`zir. This research is significant as it potrays that the implementation of community service order practised today is a sentence that is consistent with Islamic law.