Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

2 results

  • 3 - The ‘Āqila’s Liability for Homicide Restricted and Justified

  • from Part I - The Contribution of Islamic Values
  • Nurit Tsafrir, Tel-Aviv University
  • Book:
    Collective Liability in Islam
    Published online:
    19 December 2019
    Print publication:
    16 January 2020, pp 18-32

  • Summary

    The ‘āqila -- a group of men liable for the payment of blood money on behalf of any of them -- is based on collective liability. When the Shari‘a borrowed this institution from pre-Islamic, tribal custom, a contradiction was created with the Islamic important principle of individual responsibility. This chapter focuses on this contradiction, examining the means by which Muslims jurists attempted to settle, reduce, or justify the paradox, and how these efforts contributed to shaping the law. One way was to restrict the liability of the ‘āqila to accidental homicide, leaving the perpetrator alone liable for intentional homicide. Another solution was to develop arguments that either denied the contradiction or enhanced the importance of the ‘āqila to justify the existence of the institution despite the contradiction involved. It is argued that the changes introduced in rules related to the ‘āqila, and the proposed justifications, brought homicide, which in pre-Islamic Arab custom was treated as a tort, closer to a crime.

Collective Liability in Islam
  • The ‘Aqila and Blood Money Payments
  • Nurit Tsafrir
  • Published online:
    19 December 2019
    Print publication:
    16 January 2020
  • Offering the first close study of the ʿAqila, a group collectively liable for blood money payments on behalf of a member who committed an accidental homicide, Nurit Tsafrir analyses the group's transformation from a pre-Islamic custom to an institution of the Shari'a, and its further evolution through medieval and post medieval Islamic law and society. Having been an essential factor in the maintenance of social order within Muslim societies, the ʿAqila is the intersection between legal theory and practice, between Islamic law and religion, and between Islamic law and the state. Tracing the history of the ʿAqila, this study reveals how religious values, state considerations and social organization have participated in shaping and reshaping this central institution, which still concerns contemporary Muslim scholars.