Introduction

Generally, any person must shoulder the consequence of his act, whether criminal or civil act. Hence there are some situations and conditions that serve as an exception to the above general rule.

In this write up, an emphasis will be made, in examining those conditions that vitiate the accused person’s responsibility of his crime.

Definition

Muslim jurists define criminal responsibility to mean the capacity of a person to shoulder the responsibility of his act, either commission or omission done by him in a situation prohibited by law.

For an accused person to be liable under Sharia, the act must be voluntarily and he must be capable of understanding the consequence of his act. A person of unsound mind will not be criminally liable under Sharia.

Therefore, jurists unanimously agreed on three basic elements of criminal liability:

Physical element/Act (Actus reus)
Mental element/Intention (Menserea)
Maturity
Actus reus means the result of a forbidden conduct or the conduct by means of which such result is achieved by a willed muscular movement of an accused of crime.
Mens rea on the other hand, refers to the internal mental attitude, wicked mind, malicious intent or evil intention of the accused person when committing a crime.
Maturity simply refers to the age of puberty. There is no consensus opinion among jurists as to the puberty age, some opined that maturity is determining by age, while some say is determined by the physical body, while some say is determined by both.
Principles of Criminal Responsibility

Islamic scholars fished out five basic principles of Criminal liability, which are: Intention, Sole responsibility, Proportionality of the punishment, Equality before the law and Standard of proof.

Intention

Intention means the knowledge of the accused Person on the consequence of his act or omission, and doing it with the motive of such consequence.

Without proof of criminal intent and the execution of such Intention by the accused person, there will be no criminal liability.

Therefore, a person will be held responsible for his act committed or omitted if he intends the consequence of it.

In Q53:39-40 Allah says “And a person can have nothing unless what he does. And that (the fruits of) his striving will come in sight”

From the Hadith, the prophet says “Actions are to be judge according to the intention and every body would have what he intended”.

Sole Responsibility

The accused person or a perpetrator of crime should be solely responsible for his act. In Sharia, no other person, what ever close relationship he has with the accused can shoulder the responsibility of act of other. This is supported with the Qur’anic verse in Q53:38 Allah says “No bearer of burden can bear the burden of another”.

In another verse, Allah says “He who did good is for him self, and he who did bad is against him self, for Allah doesn’t cheat his servants”.

Proportionality Of The Punishment

The punishment for the offender must commensurate with the offence, because the purpose of the punishment is to serve as a deterrence.

In Q28:84 Allah says “He who comes with good did will have better than his did, and he who comes with wrong did we are not punishing the wrong doers except in accordance with their deeds”.

Caliph Umar also on his will to his son when he was stabbed by Abdurrahman bn Mujrimm, he says “Do not kill any except him who kill me, but wait if I died from his blow then revenge with a blow, do not mutilate, for I heard the messenger of Allah (SAW) said ‘beware of mutilation even if it’s least”.

Equality Before The Law

This means all people are equal in the eyes of the law, equality before the law is a cardinal principle of Islamic law. Therefore, the punishment of a crime shall be apply to all members of the society irrespective of their status. The judicial immunity is totally denounce by Islamic law.

Allah says in Q4:135 “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Justice, as witnesses to Allah even if it’s against your selves, your parents and your relatives, whether they are rich or poor, Allah is best to protect both….”

The prophet of Allah (SAW) says in one of his hadiths “….. verily, what demolished people before you, when the richest among them steal, they will leave him, and when the poor among them steal, they will punished him. I swear by the Lord whose my soul is with him, even if (my doughter) Fadima bnt Muhammad will have steal, I will cut off her hand”.

Standard Of Proof

In Sharia, no person shall be punished for a crime, unless and until the case is proof beyond reasonable doubt, any single doubt goes to the benefit of the accused person. The prophet says “Leave punishment when there is doubt”.

It’s better for the judge to make mistake in giving pardon than to made it in giving punishment.

Conclusion

The above discussion consist of conditions and principles of criminal responsibility in Shari’a that are unanimously agreed by Islamic jurists. Hence, there are other conditions and principles of Criminal responsibility that were not unanimously agreed by the jurists.

Also, there are defences to criminal liability which also negate the person’s liability and is different from the above discussion.