Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization: Sexual Violation in Islamic Law: Substance, Evidence, and Procedure

This book provides a detailed analysis of Islamic juristic writings on the topic of rape and argues that classical Islamic jurisprudence contained nuanced, substantially divergent doctrines of sexual violation as a punishable crime. The work centers on legal discourses of the first six centuries of Islam, the period during which these discourses reached their classical forms, and chronicles the juristic conflict over whether or not to provide monetary compensation to victims. Along with tracing the emergence and development of this conflict over time, Hina Azam explains evidentiary ramifications of each of the two competing positions, which are examined through debates between the H anafi and Ma liki schools of law. This study examines several critical themes in Islamic law, such as the relationship between sexuality and property, the tension between divine rights and personal rights in sex crimes, and justifications of victim's rights afforded by the two competing doctrines.

Introduction; 1. Sexual violation in the Late Antique Near East; 2. Tracing rape in early Islamic law; 3. Rape as a property crime - the Ma liki approach; 4. Rape as a moral transgression - the H anafi approach; 5. Proving rape in H anafi law - substance, evidence, procedure; 6. Proving rape in Ma liki law - evidence, procedure, penalty; Conclusion.