Book of Ḥirābah (Highway Robbery)
Chapter One: Defining Ḥirābah
The basic proof-text for this subject is the Almighty’s words:
“Indeed, the recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger…” (al-Māʾidah 5:33).
The majority of scholars hold that this verse concerns highway robbers. Some, however, have claimed that it was revealed about the men who apostatized during the Prophet’s lifetime—peace and blessings be upon him—drove off the camels, and were ordered by the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—to have their hands and feet severed and their eyes branded.
The sound position is that the verse addresses highway robbers, because the Almighty also says:
“except for those who repent before you gain power over them” (al-Māʾidah 5:34).
The validity of a disbeliever’s repentance is not contingent on his being beyond the ruler’s reach, which confirms that the verse speaks of highway robbers.
The discussion of the foundations of this book is limited to five chapters:
- The definition of ḥirābah.
- The legal status of the perpetrator.
- The penalties that become incumbent upon the perpetrator.
- The factor that removes those penalties—repentance.
- The evidentiary means by which the crime is established.
Chapter One: The definition of ḥirābah
The jurists agree that ḥirābah consists of brandishing weapons and blocking the road outside an inhabited town. They differed regarding a person who commits the act inside a town:
• Mālik held that inside and outside are the same.
• Al-Shāfiʿī stipulated the presence of shawkah—actual armed force—though he did not require a specific number of attackers. By shawkah he means the capacity to overpower, which is why he requires that it occur away from inhabited areas; overpowering is ordinarily feasible only at a distance from settlements.
Al-Shāfiʿī further states that if the ruler is weak and genuine overpowering takes place within the town, the act is still ḥirābah; otherwise it is, in his view, mere snatching (ikhtilās).
• Abū Ḥanīfah maintained that ḥirābah cannot occur within a town at all.