Abstract
Criminology is conventionally understood as the systematic and interdisciplinary study of crime, criminal behaviour, and societal responses to crime. Although modern criminological theory has developed predominantly within Western intellectual traditions, Islamic scholarship has long addressed crime, criminal responsibility, justice, punishment, social order, and prevention within an integrated legal and moral framework. This paper examines criminology from an Islamic perspective, focusing on its philosophical foundations, explanations of criminal behaviour, classification of offences, principles of criminal responsibility, and mechanisms of crime prevention. Drawing on the Qur’an, Sunnah, fiqh, and established criminological theories, the paper examines the concepts of tawhid, ʿadl, taklif, maslahah, iman, taqwa, and maqāṣid al- sharīʿah as foundations for understanding crime and justice. It further analyzes hudud, qisas, taʿzir, and siyasah sharʿiyyah in relation to accountability, proportionality, victims’ rights, deterrence, rehabilitation, and social protection. The paper also compares Islamic explanations of crime with some major criminological perspectives. The analysis identifies areas of convergence concerning individual behaviour, social conditions, social control, and crime prevention, while highlighting the distinctive Islamic emphasis on moral agency, spiritual accountability, and social responsibility. The paper argues that Islamic criminology conceptualizes crime as a multidimensional phenomenon shaped by individual, moral, familial, economic, social, and environmental factors, while maintaining individual accountability. It further establishes that prevention occupies a central position through spiritual development, moral education, family stability, economic justice, community responsibility, and fair legal institutions. The paper concludes that Islamic criminology, as a contemporary formulation grounded in the Qur’an, sunnah, and fiqh, provides a coherent normative framework that can contribute to comparative criminological scholarship on crime, justice, prevention and social order.
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