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"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 òHanafåi and Måalikåi 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"--
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Sexual violation in the Late Antique Near East; 2. Tracing rape in early Islamic law; 3. Rape as a property crime - the Mäliki¿ 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 Mäliki¿ law - evidence, procedure, penalty; Conclusion.
About the author
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).
