Legitimacy of Imprisonment as a Punishment in Sharīa

Throughout known human history, incarceration has been a prevailing practice. Regardless of the nature of the crime, imprisonment is now a widespread phenomenon globally. In Pakistan, as in many other states, detention is employed for a wide range of offenses, including instances where Islamic capital punishments are substituted with imprisonment. The adverse impacts of imprisonment are not limited to the individual offender; rather, they extend to the well-being of the offender's family and the broader society. Furthermore, the efficacy of imprisonment is questioned concerning its purported benefits in terms of reformation, retribution, and deterrence, with an examination revealing potential limitations in achieving these objectives. Considering the aforementioned issues, it is important to explore whether it is according to Islamic law or not? After analyzing all causes and aspects of detention given in the Prophetic time and Rashidun caliphate, it is concluded that in those times, imprisonment was just practiced till the decision taken for the criminal and then, one might set free or granted any hadd or ta‘zīr punishment. Subsequently, the individual could either be released or subjected to specific hadd or ta‘zīr punishments. In Shari'ah, permissible punishments include confining the offender to their residence or banishing them from the locality, with the provision for the latter to be accompanied by their family. Crucially, the absence of a concept of prolonged imprisonment within Sharīa’s code of crimes and penalties underscores the contention that imprisonment is perceived not merely as a punitive measure but as a severe crime against humanity.  This raises questions about the effectiveness of Pakistan's criminal justice system, suggesting that a more tailored and nuanced approach, considering individual circumstances, may be more operative. Keywords: Juristic Approach to Imprisonment, Imprisonment in Islam, detention in Islamic law, incarceration.

Influence of Consumer Innovativeness, Dogmatism, Social Character and Need for Uniques on New Product Adoption: A Rural Perspective

Purpose: This study provides a theoretical framework that explores the personality traits that influence new product adoption in rural environment. Five personality traits form part of the framework, namely; consumer innovativeness, dogmatism, social character (inner and other directed), and need for uniqueness. This study will pave a way in understanding the potential behavior of consumers toward adoption of a newly introduced product in a given environment. Following the conceptualization of NPA, a conceptual model was proposed which represents five hypotheses: two hypotheses were supported and three hypotheses were not supported. Methodology: The data was collected from selected (rural) areas of upper Sindh province of Pakistan using convenient sampling procedure; there were 430 respondents in the sample. Five-point Likert scale was adapted for the study, and a pilot test was used to confirm the validity of the scales and the correctness of the datagathering procedure. Following the data gathering and coding, validity and reliability tests were carried out on the entire sample. Keeping in view various constructs of conceptual model, the proposed hypotheses were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (AMOS v.20) to test the impact of the constructs on NPA. Findings and contribution of research: The evidence related to the model suggests that consumer innovativeness and need for uniqueness are the dominant factors (traits) in adopting a new product whereas social character (ID /OD), and dogmatism have no significant impact on new product adoption behavior, it suggests that consumer innovativeness and need for uniqueness traits of consumer personality are dominant factors in adopting a new fashion and clothing product in rural market. Research Limitations: First; the results of this study may not be appropriate for generalizing across the majority of Pakistani consumers, and in a global context. Second; the study is focusing only on fashion and clothing product category; third, only selected personality traits are examined in the study. Implications: By examining the potential behavior of rural consumers, the study facilitates the possibility of consumer behavior research that, in new product adoption decision consumer personality (traits) should have a significant contribution, thus providing a better understanding of influence of their personality traits on new product adoption.