In Islamic law, ḥirabah () 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. Ḥirābah means piracy or unlawful warfare. It comes from the triliteral root ḥrb, which means “to become angry and enraged”. The noun ḥarb (, pl. ḥurūb ) means 'war' or 'wars'.Crane, Robert D., “Hirabah versus Jihad”, IFRI.org (Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc., 2006)
Moharebeh (, also spelled muharebeh) is a Persian language term that is treated as interchangeable with ḥirabah in Arabic lexicons. The related term muḥārib () has been translated by English-language Iranian media as "enemy of God". In English-language media sources, moḥarebeh in Iran has been translated variously as "waging war against God," "war against God and the state,"Iran: Kurdish Activist Executed 10 November 2009 "enmity against God."
It is a capital crime in Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Scriptural basis A verse from the Quran, surah al-Ma'idah 5:33, is known as "the ḥirāba verse" (āyat al-ḥirāba), specifies punishment for "those who wage war against God and His Messenger and strive to spread disorder in the land":Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, Mizan, The Penal Law of Islam, Al-Mawrid
Although the verse gives punishments for waging war against God and His Messenger, it does not include the word ḥirābah, nor its meaning, nor the crime's "constituent elements, modes of crime and conditions".
The verbal noun form (i.e. ḥirāba) is frequently used in classical and modern books of Islamic jurisprudence, but neither the word ḥirāba nor the root verb ḥaraba occurs in the Quran.. "Neither the word hirabah nor the root verb haraba occurs in the Quran, although the verbal noun form (i.e. hirabah) is frequently used in classical and modern books of Islamic jurisprudence." (Yuḥāribūna is the form used in Quran 5:33-4.)
According to early Islamic sources, the verse was revealed after the expedition of Kurz bin Jabir Al-Fihri: some members of the Arabian tribe of the Banu Urayna feigned conversion to Islam to steal Muslims' possessions and killed a young shepherd sent to teach them about the faith. Given the broad and strong language of the verse, however, various state representatives beginning with the Umayyad Caliphate have asserted that it applied to rebels in general.
The original meanings of the triliteral root ḥrb are to despoil someones wealth or property, and also fighting or committing sinful act. The Quran "refers to both meanings" in al-Baqara 2:279 and Al-Ma'ida 5:33-34.
Crime According to Islamic scholar Khaled Abou El Fadl, ḥirāba means "waging war against society" and in Islamic jurisprudence traditionally referred to acts such as killing noncombatants ("the resident and wayfarer"), "assassinations, setting fires, or poisoning water wells," crimes "so serious and repugnant" that their perpetrators were "not to be given quarter or sanctuary anywhere."Abou El Fadl, Khaled, The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists, by Khaled Abou El Fadl, Harper San Francisco, 2005, p.242
Another source (Brian Murphy) states, "many Islamic scholars interpret the references to acts that defy universal codes such as intentionally killing civilians during warfare or causing random destruction."Iran calls political opponents enemies of Islam By BRIAN MURPHY (AP) 9 March 2010| accessed 14 March 2012 According to the author Sadakat Kadri, "Most classical jurists" had established "a thousand or so years ago" that ḥirāba "referred specifically to banditry in open country: a uniquely destabilizing threat to civil order in a premodern society."
The crime is sometimes lumped together with fasād fil-ʾarḍ "spreading corruption in the land",. "Exposure from a cross is a punishment that the Qur'an authorizes for anyone who has '[made] war against God and His apostle' or 'spread disorder in the land.' ... Most classical jurists had construed their definition with commensurate care, establishing a thousand or so years ago that they referred specifically to banditry in open country: a uniquely destabilizing threat to civil order in a premodern society." which is mentioned alongside waging "war against Allah and His Prophet" in 5:33-34.
Rape
The inclusion of rape within the purview of ḥirāba has had support throughout history. The medieval Zahiri jurist ibn Hazm defined ḥirāba:
It had significant support from the Maliki school.
In addition, the Maliki judge Ibn 'Arabi, relates a story in which a group was attacked and a woman in their party raped. Responding to the argument that the crime did not constitute hiraba because no money was taken and no weapons used, Ibn 'Arabi replied indignantly that "hirabah with the private parts" is much worse than hiraba involving the taking of money, and that anyone would rather be subjected to the latter than the former.Webb, Gisella - Windows of Faith: Muslim Women Scholar-Activists in North America p.130
In the Hanafi school, the term zina is taken to refer to illegal sexual intercourse, where rape is distinguished as zina bil-jabr to indicate its forced and non-consensual nature, whereas fornication and adultery fit zina bil-ridha, which indicates consent. Though the terminology uses the term zina, nonetheless, they are two categorically different crimes as rape is treated as a hirāba crime by the judge and prosecuted based on circumstantial evidence (medical evidence, any number of witnesses, and other forensic evidence). In other words, very similar to how it is treated in contemporary Western law. It is fornication and adultery by mutual consent, or zina bil-ridha, which retain their classical hadd punishments from the Qur'an and sunnah, provided there are four witnesses (absent which they too default to tazir, subject to discretionary punishments such as fining, imprisonment, or lashes). Nonetheless, gang rape or public rape, such as the sort that occurs during war, is still traditionally considered ḥirāba as that is more in line with its classical definition as a war crime or crime against civilization and society.Muhammad Taqi Usmani - The Islamization of Laws in Pakistan: The Case of Hudud Ordinances
Punishment In keeping with the Quranic verse 5:33 quoted above, "most classical [Islamic] jurists" held that the penalty for muḥāribah was crucifixion (), cross-amputation (amputation of right hand and left foot) or being banished from the land. ().. "Exposure from a cross is a punishment that the Quran authorizes for anyone who has '[made] war against God and His apostle' or 'spread disorder in the land.' It served historically to humiliate rather than kill, but it could be combined with execution, because the holy book acknowledged those crimes -- uniquely -- as capital offenses."
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) 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."
The choice of crucifixion and its method is subject to "complex and contested rules" in classical jurisprudence. Most scholars required crucifixion for highway robbery combined with murder, while others allowed execution by other methods. The main methods of crucifixion are:
Exposure of the culprit's body after execution by another method, ascribed to "most scholars" and in particular to Ibn Hanbal and Al-Shafi'i; or Hanbalis and Shafi'is. Crucifying the culprit alive, then executing him with a lance thrust or another method, ascribed to Malikis, most Hanafis and most Twelver Shi'is; the majority of the Malikis; Malik, Abu Hanifa, and al-Awza'i; or Malikis, Hanafis, and Shafi'is. Crucifying the culprit alive and sparing his life if he survives for three days, ascribed to Shiites.
Most scholars limit the period of crucifixion to three days.
In current legal systems Iran
In Iran, hirabah is known as moharebeh and is translated variously in English-language media as "waging war against God," "war against God and the state," or "enmity against God." The charge is levied against people who commit acts against the government. Another related crime is Mofsede-fel-arz, which is "spreading corruption on the earth", which can be applied for political crimes such as treason. Iran's judiciary system has also used another related crime, baghi, which is translated to "armed rebellion against the Islamic government", especially against protesters during the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests.
In 2022, dozens were charged with moharabeh for their involvement in the Mahsa Amini protests, and at least four people have been executed. Human rights organizations have condemned the use of "sham trials designed to intimidate protestors" and the "chilling use of the death penalty in rushed trials."
The term is widely used by Iran's Islamic Judiciary, citing Sharia law, and is "usually used against those who take up arms against the state," and usually carries the death penalty. The term is used in articles 183 to 196 of Iran's criminal law. The cases that fall under this term typically require involvement in armed criminal activities, e.g: taking up arms for terrorism and disruption of public safety (article 183), membership in groups conducting armed uprising (article 186), supporting groups planning to overthrow the government by force using weapons and explosives (article 187), accepting critical posts in a Coup d'etat government. Articles 190-191 state that a judge can give a person convicted under one of these crimes capital punishment. Peaceful and unarmed opposition to government does not fall under this term. Typical convicts under the term are members of armed ethnic separatist groups, members of armed drug trafficking groups, and people involved in armed robbery.
According to Human Rights Watch, "at least nine people" convicted of moharebeh by Islamic Revolutionary Courts for "their alleged ties to armed opposition groups" were executed in 2014.
Between the end of early days of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when scores of former officials of the Shah and others were arrested and executed for moharebeh,More commonly theses offenders were sentenced to death for committing a related violation of Islamic law, mofsed-e-filarz, or "spreading corruption on earth". and the beginning of the 2009 election protests, executions for moharebeh were rare, and usually applied against members of armed opposition/terrorist groups, Kurdish separatists, or common criminals.Iran calls political opponents enemies of Islam By BRIAN MURPHY (AP) 9 March 2010| accessed 14 March 2012