Hirabah
In Islamic law, Ḥirābah (Arabic: حرابة) is a legal category that comprises highway robbery (traditionally understood as aggravated robbery or grand larceny, unlike theft, which has a different punishment), rape, and terrorism.[1] Ḥirābah means piracy or unlawful warfare. It comes from the triliteral root ḥrb, which means “to become angry and enraged”. The noun ḥarb (حَرْب, pl. ḥurūb حُروب) means 'war' or 'wars'.[2]
Moharebeh (also spelled muharebeh) is a Persian language term that is treated as interchangeable with ḥirabah in Arabic lexicons.[3] The related term muḥārib (محارب) has been translated by English-language Iranian media as "enemy of God".[4][5][6] In English-language media sources, moḥarebeh in Iran has been translated variously as "waging war against God,"[7] "war against God and the state,"[8] "enmity against God."[9][5] It is a capital crime in Saudi Arabia and Iran.
In keeping with the Quranic verse 5:33 quoted above, "most classical [Islamic] jurists" held that the penalty for muḥāribah was crucifixion (تصليب), cross-amputation (amputation of right hand and left foot) or being banished from the earth (نفى).[20][21]
According to Sadakat Kadri the crimes of waging `war against God and His apostle` (Muḥāribah) and spreading `disorder in the land` (fasad fi-l-ard) were originally punished either by exile or some combination of double amputation, beheading, and crucifixion (what Kadri calls "Islam's equivalent of the hanging, drawing and quartering that medieval Europeans inflicted on traitors"). This was the only capital penalty permitted rulers by the Quran (in the case of murder the killer's fate was in the hands of the victim's next of kin not the judge)[22] during the early years of Islam "when enemies of the faith and political rebels often looked frighteningly similar" the crime had broader application including apostasy from Islam but was "gradually narrowed" to apply only to "highway robbery in the open county."[23]
The choice of crucifixion and its method is subject to "complex and contested rules" in classical jurisprudence.[24] Most scholars required crucifixion for highway robbery combined with murder, while others allowed execution by other methods.[24] The main methods of crucifixion are:
Most scholars limit the period of crucifixion to three days.[24]