Re-Assessing the Evidentiary Threshold for Zinā’ in Islamic Criminal Law: A De Facto Exemption Proposal
-
Hassan M. Ahmad
Abstract
This article considers the four eyewitness threshold for zinā’ in Islamic criminal law. In some Muslim-majority countries where zinā’ remains an offence, judiciaries have by-passed the threshold by accepting singular confessions from male fornicators or, otherwise, inferring fornication from pregnancy outside of marriage. As a result, a disproportionate number of women have been prosecuted, convicted, and even punished for zinā’. I assert that the four-eyewitness threshold allows for an alternative way to view zinā’ that can result in a different set of consequences. If the threshold is taken seriously such that it becomes the only evidentiary basis upon which a zinā’ conviction can be entered, it will create an effective or de facto exemption where alleged perpetrators can never be convicted, except in the rarest cases where four independent eyewitnesses can be corralled. If adopted, this approach would provide a principled basis to reject opportunistic confessions that deflect punishment to accused female fornicators. And as an ‘internal’ solution that arises within the framework of the sharī’a, a de facto exemption approach is more likely to be perceived as legitimate when compared with proposed solutions that find their basis in international human rights legal instruments.
References
Adesina, O. 2010. “Women, Shari’ah, and Zina in Northern Nigeria.” African Nebula 2 (4): 45–7.Suche in Google Scholar
Ahmed, L. 1986. “Women and the Advent of Islam.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 11 (4): 665–91.10.1086/494271Suche in Google Scholar
Al-Ansari, B., A. M. Thow, C. A. Day, and K. M. Conigrave. 2016. “Extent of Alcohol Prohibition in Civil Policy in Muslim Majority Countries: The Impact of Globalization.” Addiction 111 (10): 1703-13.10.1111/add.13159Suche in Google Scholar
al-Ghazālī, A. Ḥ. M. 1984. Marriage and Sexuality in Islam: A Translation of al-Ghazālī’s Book on the Etiquette of Marriage from the Iḥyā Translated by M. Farah. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Alimardani, A. 2018.“Neuroscience, Criminal Responsibility and Sentencing in an Islamic Country: Iran.” Journal of Law and the Biosciences 5 (3): 724–42.10.1093/jlb/lsy024Suche in Google Scholar
al-Qurṭubī, A ’A. A. M. A. 2006. Al-Jāmi’ li-aḥkām al-Qur’ān. edited by R. ’I. Muḥammad, 278–89. Beirut: Mu’assasat al-risāla.Suche in Google Scholar
Arberry, A.J. 1996. The Koran Interpreted: A Translation. London: Touchstone.Suche in Google Scholar
Bassiouni, M. C. 1997. “Crimes and the Criminal Process.” Arab Law Quarterly 12 (3): 269–86.10.1163/026805597125825861Suche in Google Scholar
Bambale, Y. Y. 2003. Crimes and Punishments under Islamic Law. 2nd ed. Lagos: Malthouse Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Bassiouni, M. C. 1982a. “Sources of Islamic Law, and the Protection of Human Rights in the Islamic Criminal Justice System.” In The Islamic Criminal Justice System, edited by M. C. Bassiouni. London: Oceania.Suche in Google Scholar
Bassiouni, M. C., ed. 1982b. The Islamic Criminal Justice System. London: Oceania.Suche in Google Scholar
Bruer, K. C., M. B. Harvey, A. S. Adams, and H. L. Price. 2017. “Judicial Discussion of Eyewitness Identification Evidence.” Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 49 (4): 209–20.10.1037/cbs0000084Suche in Google Scholar
Calder, N., and M. B. Hooker. n.d. “Sharī’a.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Leiden: Brill Online.Suche in Google Scholar
Cheema, S. A. 2016. “DNA Evidence in Pakistani Courts: An Analysis.” LUMS Law Journal 3 (1): 1–15.10.2139/ssrn.2704211Suche in Google Scholar
Clarke, M. 2008. “New Kinship, Islam, and the Liberal Tradition: Sexual Morality and New Reproductive Technology in Lebanon.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 14 (1): 153–69.10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00483.xSuche in Google Scholar
El-Awa, M. S. 1982. Punishment in Islamic Law: A Comparative Study 20. Indianapolis: American Trust Publications.Suche in Google Scholar
Elahe, K. R., and T. Meysam. 2016. “Comparative Study of Duress in Certain Religious Penalties in Imami Jurisprudence and Islamic Penal Code.” Journal of Politics and Law 9 (5): 88–94.10.5539/jpl.v9n5p88Suche in Google Scholar
Eltayeb, M., (with contribution from Equality Now). 2014. Jurisprudence on Sexual Offences and Proposals to Close the Gaps for the Prosecution of Rape in the Sudan. New York: Equality Now.Suche in Google Scholar
Fadel, M. 1997. “Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power, and Gender in Medieval Sunni Legal Thought.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 29 (2): 185–204.10.1017/S0020743800064461Suche in Google Scholar
Goldziher, I., and J. Schacht. n.d. “Fiḳh.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Leiden: Brill Online.Suche in Google Scholar
Hallaq, W. B. 1995. Law and Legal Theory in Classical and Medieval Islam. Brookfield, VT: Variorum.Suche in Google Scholar
Hallaq, W. B. 2009. Sharī’a: Theory, Practice, Transformations 312. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511815300Suche in Google Scholar
Hohfeld, W. N. 1913. “Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied Judicial Reasoning.” The Yale Law Journal 23 (1): 16–59.10.2307/j.ctv39x51k.6Suche in Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2006. Pakistan: Proposed Reforms to Hudood Laws Fall Short. Also available at http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/09/05/pakistan-proposed-reforms-hudood-laws-fall-short.Suche in Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2010. Iran: ‘Confession,’ Stoning Sentence a Mockery of Justice. Also available at https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/08/13/iran-confession-stoning-sentence-mockery-justice.Suche in Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2012. Sudan: Ban Death by Stoning. Also available at https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/05/31/sudan-ban-death-stoning.Suche in Google Scholar
ibn ’Āshūr, M.-Ṭ. 1984. Tafsīr al-taḥrīr wa’l-tanwīr. Tunis: Dar al-Tūnisiyya li’l-nashr.Suche in Google Scholar
IHRDC 1991. Iran: Islamic Penal Code. Also available at https://www.refworld.org/docid/518a19404.html.Suche in Google Scholar
IHRDC. 2012. English Translation of Books I & II of the New Islamic Penal Code. Also available at https://iranhrdc.org/islamic-penal-code-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-book-one-book-two/.Suche in Google Scholar
Imran, R. 2005. “Legal Injustices: The Zina Hudood Ordinance of Pakistan and its Implications for Women.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 7 (2): 78–100.Suche in Google Scholar
Islamic Republic of Pakistan. 1979. The Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance. Ordinance No. VII of 1979.Suche in Google Scholar
Kamali, M. H. 2019. Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: A Fresh Interpretation. New York: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780190910648.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Khan, S. 2003. “Zina and the Moral Regulation of Pakistani Women.” Feminist Review 75: 75–100.10.1057/palgrave.fr.9400111Suche in Google Scholar
Katherine, M. W. 2007. “Women’s Rights and Shari’a Law: A Workable Reality? An Examination of Possible International Human Rights Approaches through the Continuing Reform of the Pakistani Hudood Ordinance.” Duke Journal of Comparative and International Law 17: 483–510.Suche in Google Scholar
Lau, M. 2007. “Twenty-Five Years of Hudood Ordinances – A Review.” Washington and Lee Law Review 64 (4): 1291–314.Suche in Google Scholar
Little, T. 2017. “Zina: The ‘Forgotten Problem’ of the Shari’a in Nigeria.” SOAS Law Journal 4 (1): 142–82.Suche in Google Scholar
Morgan-Foster, J. 2005. “Third Generation Rights: What Islamic Law Can Teach the International Human Rights Movement.” Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal 8: 67.Suche in Google Scholar
Mir-Hosseini, Z. 2011. “Criminalising Sexuality: Zina Laws as Violence against Women in Muslim Contexts.” SUR – International Journal on Human Rights 8 (15): 7–33.Suche in Google Scholar
Mir-Hosseini, Z., and V. Hamzić. 2010. Control and Sexuality: The Revival of Zina Laws in Muslim Contexts 134. London: Women Living Under Muslim Laws.Suche in Google Scholar
Mukhtar, S. 2016. “In Defense of the Codification of the Islamic Law of Hudud into the Law of Pakistan.” International Review of Law 11 (2): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.5339/irl.2016.11.Suche in Google Scholar
Nasir, J. M. 2007. “Sharia Implementation and Female Muslims in Nigeria’s Sharia States.” In Sharia Implementation in Northern Nigeria 1999–2006: A Sourcebook, edited by. P. Ostien, 93. Ibadan: Spectrum Books.Suche in Google Scholar
Nayyeri, M. H. 2012. New Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran: An Overview. Also available at https://www1.essex.ac.uk/hri/documents/HRIU_Research_Paper-IRI_Criminal_Code-Overview.pdf.Suche in Google Scholar
Pal, I.-D. 1990. “Women and Islam in Pakistan.” Middle Eastern Studies 26 (4): 449–64.10.1080/00263209008700831Suche in Google Scholar
Peters, R. 2005. Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511610677Suche in Google Scholar
Peters, R. 1994. “The Islamization of Criminal Law: A Comparative Analysis.” Die Welt des Islams 34 (2): 246–74.10.1163/157006094X00116Suche in Google Scholar
Peters, R. n.d. “Zinā or Zinā’.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition, edited by P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C. E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, and W. P. Heinrichs. Leiden: Brill Online.Suche in Google Scholar
Quraishi, A. 1997. “Her Honor: An Islamic Critique of the Rape Laws of Pakistan from a Woman-Sensitive Perspective.” Michigan Journal of International Law 18 (2): 287–320.Suche in Google Scholar
Quraishi, A. S. 2011. “What if Sharia Weren’t the Enemy: Rethinking International Women’s Rights Advocacy on Islamic Law.” Columbia Journal of Gender and Law 22 (1): 173–249.Suche in Google Scholar
Rathore, M. A. 2015. Women’s Rights in Pakistan: The Zina Ordinance & the Need for Reform. Amherst, MA: School of Public Policy Capstones, University of Massachusetts. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=cppa_capstones.Suche in Google Scholar
REDRESS and the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies. 2014. Sudan’s Human Rights Crisis: High Time to Take Article 2 of the Covenant Seriously. Also available at https://redress.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Jun-14-Sudans-Human-Rights-Crisis-High-Time-to-take-Article-2-of-the-Covenant-Seriously.pdf.Suche in Google Scholar
Saboor, R. 2014. “Rape Laws in Pakistan: Will We Learn from Our Mistakes?” Islamabad Law Review 1 (1): 65–97.Suche in Google Scholar
Salama, M. M. 1982. “General Principles of Criminal Evidence in Islamic Jurisprudence.” In The Islamic Criminal Justice System, edited by M. C. Bassiouni, 109–20. London: Oceania.Suche in Google Scholar
Semmler, C., J. Dunn, L. Mickes, and J. T. Wixted. 2018. “The Role of Estimator Variables in Eyewitness Identification.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 24 (3): 400–15.10.1037/xap0000157Suche in Google Scholar
Sidahmed, A. S. 2001. “Problems in Contemporary Applications of Islamic Criminal Sanctions: The Penalty for Adultery in Relation to Women.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 28 (2): 187–204.10.1080/13530190120083077Suche in Google Scholar
Stern, G. H. 1939. Marriage in Early Islam. London: The Royal Asiatic Society.Suche in Google Scholar
Tamadonfar, M. 2001. “Islam, Law, and Political Control in Contemporary Iran.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 40 (2): 205–19.10.1111/0021-8294.00051Suche in Google Scholar
Tavana, M. H. 2014. “Three Decades of Islamic Criminal Law Legislation in Iran: A Legislative History Analysis with Emphasis on the Amendments of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code.” Electronic Journal of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law 2: 24–38.Suche in Google Scholar
Hudood Ordinance. 1979. The Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, Ordinance No. VII of 1979, February 9, 1979. Also available at https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4db999952.pdf.Suche in Google Scholar
United Nations General, Assembly. 1979. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. United Nations Treaty Series 1249 (20378).10.18356/52e45941-enSuche in Google Scholar
Weimann, G. J. 2010. Islamic Criminal Law in Northern Nigeria: Politics, Religion, Judicial Practice. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.10.5117/9789056296551Suche in Google Scholar
List of Cases
Humphreys v. Pegues, 16 Wall. 244 (1872).Suche in Google Scholar
Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98 (1977).Suche in Google Scholar
Perry v. New Hampshire, 563 U.S. 1020 (2011).Suche in Google Scholar
R. v Hibbert, 2002 SCC 39.Suche in Google Scholar
Safia Bibi v. State, P.L.D. Federal Shariat Court 120 (Pakistan) (1985).Suche in Google Scholar
Salman Akram Raja v. Government of Punjab, 2013 SCMR 203.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Contextualizing Discrimination of Religious and Linguistic Minorities in South Thailand
- A Critical Assessment of Turkey’s Positive Obligations in Combatting Violence against Women: Looking behind the Judgments
- Genocide in Kashmir and the United Nations Failure to Invoke Responsibility to Protect (R2P): Causes and Consequences
- The Ahmadiyya, Blasphemy and Religious Freedom: The Institutional Discourse Analysis of Religious Discrimination in Indonesia
- Re-Assessing the Evidentiary Threshold for Zinā’ in Islamic Criminal Law: A De Facto Exemption Proposal
- Blasphemy Law as a Structural Violence: A Challenge for Maintaining Sustainable Peace
- Limitation Clauses and Constitutional Transformation: The Case of the New Arab Constitutions
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Contextualizing Discrimination of Religious and Linguistic Minorities in South Thailand
- A Critical Assessment of Turkey’s Positive Obligations in Combatting Violence against Women: Looking behind the Judgments
- Genocide in Kashmir and the United Nations Failure to Invoke Responsibility to Protect (R2P): Causes and Consequences
- The Ahmadiyya, Blasphemy and Religious Freedom: The Institutional Discourse Analysis of Religious Discrimination in Indonesia
- Re-Assessing the Evidentiary Threshold for Zinā’ in Islamic Criminal Law: A De Facto Exemption Proposal
- Blasphemy Law as a Structural Violence: A Challenge for Maintaining Sustainable Peace
- Limitation Clauses and Constitutional Transformation: The Case of the New Arab Constitutions
