Hirabah

In Islamic law, hirabah 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 (حرابة) is an Arabic word for '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'. Moharebeh (also spelled muharebeh) is a Persian term that is treated as interchangeable with ḥirabah in Arabic lexicons. The related term muḥārib (محارب) (perpetrator of muḥāribah) 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," "enmity against God." It is a capital crime in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran. A verse from Qur'anic chapter al-ma'idah Q5:33 is known as "the Hirabah Verse" (ayat al-hiraba), specifies punishment for "those who wage war against God and His Messenger and strive to spread disorder in the land": The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter; The verbal noun form (i.e. ḥirabah) is frequently used in classical and modern books of Islamic jurisprudence, but neither the word ḥirabah nor the root verb ḥaraba occurs in the Quran. (Yuḥāribūna is the form used in Quran 5:33-4.) According to early Islamic sources, the verse was revealed after some members of the Urayna tribe feigned conversion to Islam in order to steal Muslims' possessions and killed a young shepherd sent to teach them about the faith. In view of the broad and strong language of the verse, however, various state representatives beginning with the Umayyads have asserted that it applied to rebels in general.