Is torture sanctioned by Islam?

Is torture sanctioned by Islam? An outstanding analysis of the use of torture in Islam using quotes from the Suras and Hadith.
FROM THERELIGIONOFPEACE.COM:

What does the Religion of Peace Teach About...Torture

Question:
Is torture sanctioned by Islam?
Summary Answer:
Yes, but only when there is a reason for it.

The Qur'an:
Torture in this world
Sura (5:33) - "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides..."

Sura (8:12) - "Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their fingertips off them."

Sura (48:29) - "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves" Torture in the next Sura (22:19-22) - "These twain (the believers and the disbelievers) are two opponents who contend concerning their Lord. But as for those who disbelieve, garments of fire will be cut out for them; boiling fluid will be poured down on their heads. Whereby that which is in their bellies, and their skins too, will be melted; And for them are hooked rods of iron. Whenever, in their anguish, they would go forth from thence they are driven back therein and (it is said unto them): Taste the doom of burning." The punishment of those who merely disbelieve in Muhammad's claims about himself is described as being horrifically brutal in many other places as well, such as Sura 4:56, which says that they will face a continuous cycle of torture in which their skin will be burned off only to be replaced by new skin.
How Allah feels about non-Muslims naturally determines the attitude of Muslims. In the Qur'an, Muhammad explicitly uses Allah's hatred of unbelievers to motivate his people to Jihad:

Sura (9:73): "O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites! Be harsh with them. Their ultimate abode is hell, a hapless journey's end."
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