Sexual Violation in Islamic Law

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 compensations 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 Ḥanafī and Mālikī 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.

Author: Hina Azam
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 07/27/2017
Pages: 286
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.93lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.64d
ISBN: 9781107476066

About the Author
Azam, Hina: - Hina Azam is an Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. She has published articles in the Journal of Law and Religion, the Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, and Comparative Islamic Studies. She has contributed to the edited volumes Feminism, Law, and Religion (2013) and A Jihad for Justice: Honoring the Work and Life of Amina Wadud (2012), as well as to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Law (forthcoming).