the principle of “obligation for dignifying human being” in islamic jurisprudence and law

the inherent dignity is a divine bounty from god to man and since it is inherent and intrinsic in human nature, its dispossession is not possible. according to some of the noble verses of the qur’ān, human dignity can be proved as a type of honor that denotes enjoyment of the bounty of reasoning, free will, divine breath, power of choice, etc. and all human beings equally enjoy it and a principle entitled takrrīm al-insān (dignifying human being) can be used in codification of judicial laws. one of the fields of efficacy of this principle is the field of devising punishments for the crimes having non-legal (ḥadd) punishments. according to this principle, so far as the non-penal procedures have not been incapable of preserving the values, moving towards penal devices through devising and imposing punishments disproportionate to the crime, would violate human dignity and the exaggerated reliance on such experiences as public and private prevention, restraining and correcting the delinquent, etc. instead of the criteria for the conformity of crime with the punishment are not compatible with this principle and are regarded as instrumental use of criminal for achieving other goals. some examples of the legal rulings including heresy, the restrictions concerning the non-muslim (dhimmī) infidel as well as some examples of human rights including self-determination would enjoy more moderate rulings according to this principle. restriction of using capital punishment and prevention of its open execution are among other warnings of this principle and indicates the necessity of revising some of the legal and judicial rulings.