Abstract

Community service order is a new form of punishment to be widely applied in the Syariah courts particularly in Malaysia. Its implementation seems fit charging for light offences or first offences. However, there are several issues begging for analysis before implementation can be proposed and those issues are; the absence of relevant provisions mentioned on the subject matter in the Syariah Court, to what extent community service order can be categorized as a takzir (judge discretion) punishment, and the issue of association between the perspective of syariah judge and maqasid syariah on that matter. Thus, the objectives of this study; to analyze the concept of community service order according to maqasid syariah, to explain the perspective of syariah judge in that respect, and to identify the coordination of syariah judge’s perspective with maqasid syariah. This is a case study based on qualitative research approach. Data collection is by the methods of document analysis and semi-structured interviews, while data analysis by thematic and descriptive methods. The study finds that most of the syariah judges conform to the opinion that community service order can be categorized as a takzir punishment. A takzir punishment fits the requirement of maqasid syariah vis a vis giving evidence that community service order is based on the objective of punishment in Islam (maqasid syariah). Therefore, this study is important to support the argument for the construction of a specific guidance for the implementation of a community service order punishment in the Malaysian Syariah court.

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