Christian appellate review forced erosion of Koranic hadd penalties among Mudejars

Evidence

Perhaps the type of change that had been taking place is best illustrated by the hadd offenses. These are those offenses for which a set penalty (hadd) is laid down in the Koran, and often this may be another way of referring to the death sentence, although, of course, that is not the only penalty prescribed by the Koran. The orthodox Muslim view is that an explicit statement of God’s will embodied in the sacred text should be obeyed and not modified or “interpreted.” For Christian monarchs the worst problems arose because the royal courts could find themselves, in difficult cases, taking over the function of court of last appeal, even where those cases had been adjudicated upon in the courts of first instance according to Islamic law. If the set penalty applicable for, let us say, duly proven adultery, was death by lapidation, should that be the penalty handed down by the king, if the case came up before him and the findings of guilt confirmed? The Aragonese authorities seem to have been unwilling to apply some of the penalties of the code. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 449