Torture in Urgent Situations in the view of the Holy Quran

“Urgency” means to face danger or obstacles and it plays a crucial role in removing hardships and personal and social difficulties. Therefore, a number of the verses of the holy Quran are devoted to the subject of urgency including chapters 2: 173; 5: 3; 6: 119, etc. that absolutely emphasize the lawfulness of eating unlawful foods in emergent situations. Although the above-mentioned verses appear only to give permission to eat unlawful foods, they are not absolutely devoted to eating unlawful foods and they can be relied on, in the case when all the requirements are met, to give judgment generally on the lawfulness of any unlawful thing and any impediment in the urgent situations. On the other hand, torture is unlawful and forbidden according to some verses including the chapters 85: 10; 33: 58, and a variety of Islamic traditions. Is it possible to give a judgment on the lawfulness of torture in emergent cases relying on the general statements of the verses and evidences about urgency? The present article criticizes and reviews the viewpoints on this matter. Finally, it can be said that theoretically, the general statements on urgency can also be applied to the subject of torture and the arguments alone for rejecting this generality like human dignity, freedom, etc. are not sufficient to limit the generality of the verses. In addition, it seems that practically all the requirements for giving permission of torture are not met and it is not practically possible to give a judgment on the lawfulness of torture due to emergency.