Penalties. Like the other facets of Muslim law, Muslim criminal law is derived from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. While the Qur'an includes few specific legal prescriptions (far fewer than the Torah), it does prescribe several specific punishments for crimes: capital punishment for murder (2:178 and 17:33) and armed robbery (5:34; compare 29:29); retribution for injuries, specifically the loss of eye, nose, ear, or tooth (5:45, which actually refers to the Torah, Exodus 21:23-25); amputation of the hand for theft (5:38); one hundred lashes for adultery and fornication (24:2); and eighty lashes for making a false accusation of adultery, along with the permanent loss of one's credibility as a witness (24:4). These are called hadd (literally "limit") penalties because they are prescribed for the transgression of the bounds set by God. In hadiths, they are considerably elaborated and modified. Thus, the penalty for adultery by married persons becomes...