A Fiqhi-Legal Validation of the Theory of Sequential Liability Between the Perpetrator and the Public Treasury in Cases of Non-Fatal Injury with an Inaccessible Perpetrator

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Researcher, The Higher Institute of Fiqh and Islamic Sciences, Qom, Iran

Abstract

Undoubtedly, determining the party responsible for paying blood money (diyah) for a non-fatal injury (jināyat aqall min al-nafs) when the perpetrator is inaccessible is a significant, tangible, and contentious issue within the domains of Islamic jurisprudence and law. This research aims to scrutinize the validity of the theory of sequential liability - first of the perpetrator, then the public treasury (bayt al-māl) - for such injuries, a theory adopted by the legislator of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Articles 435, 474, and 475 of the Islamic Penal Code (2013). The core problem is that, while several theories exist among jurists, the legislator's theory does not align with any of them, necessitating a thorough examination of its evidential basis. The sole potential evidence for this theory lies in narrations (riwāyāt), six of which are examined in this study. The findings indicate that none of these narrations substantiate a general rule applicable to the case at hand. The proposed theory may be acceptable in specific, exceptional circumstances, such as an injury caused by a blind person, a non-Muslim citizen (dhimmi) without sanity (ʿāqilah), or the onset of insanity after a homicide (though the latter falls outside the scope of non-fatal injuries). The novel contributions of this article are, first, its focused analysis of narrations to prove the aforementioned theory - an aspect previously neglected - and second, its critical assessment of the legislator's standing. The research concludes that the legislator's theory regarding this specific issue is not sound.

Highlights

Conclusion

Based on the foregoing analysis, the legislator's evidence for the sequential liability (ḍamān tartībī) of the perpetrator and the public treasury (bayt al-māl) in cases of offenses less than homicide (jināyah aqall min al-nafs), under the circumstance of the perpetrator being inaccessible, could ostensibly be derived from one of six narrations: the reliable report (mawthaqah) of Abī Baṣīr, the reliable report (mawthaqah) of Abī ‘Ubaydah, the sound narration (ṣaḥīḥah) of Abī Walād, the credible narration (mu‘tabarah) of Barīd ibn Mu‘āwiyah, the credible narration (mu‘tabarah) of Salamah ibn Kuhayl, and the uncorroborated report (mursalah) of Yūnus ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān. However, it has been established that none of these narrations can substantiate a general legal principle (qā‘idah kulīyah) mandating the sequential liability of the perpetrator first, followed by the public treasury, in the hypothetical case under discussion.

Admittedly, in certain specific cases—such as an offense committed by a blind person, the absence of a kinship-based guarantor group (‘āqilah) for a protected non-Muslim (dhimmī), and the onset of insanity after the commission of the homicide (although this last case falls outside the scope of our discussion, which is limited to offenses less than homicide)—the legislator's viewpoint can be accepted. However, outside these exceptions, this theory lacks a sound justification.

Consequently, it appears that, aside from the aforementioned three exceptional cases, liability should rest solely with the perpetrator. If the perpetrator becomes inaccessible, the blood money (diyah) remains an obligation upon him, akin to his other debts, until such time as he is located and the blood money can be claimed from him. It should be noted that if the Islamic ruler (ḥākim islāmī) deems it appropriate, he may authorize payment of the blood money from the public treasury. However, this action pertains to a secondary ruling (ḥukm thānawī) and not the primary ruling (ḥukm awwalī), which is the subject of our discussion.

Therefore, it is recommended that the legislator amend this legal article. In all cases other than the three explicitly mentioned in the narrations, liability should be ascribed to the perpetrator alone. The clause attributing liability to the public treasury should be removed from the legal text.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

Aghaei Nia, H. (2010). Special criminal law (Crimes against persons - Homicide). Mizan Publishing.
Al-Baḥrānī Āl ʿUṣfūr, Y. b. A. (1985). Al-Ḥadāʾiq al-nāḍirah fī aḥkām al-ʿitrah al-ṭāhirah [The blooming gardens regarding the rulings of the pure family]. Islamic Publications Office of the Qom Seminary Teachers Society.
Al-Fayyūmī, A. b. M. (1994). Al-Miṣbāḥ al-munīr fī gharīb al-sharḥ al-kabīr lil-Rāfiʿī [The illuminating lamp on the unfamiliar terms in Al-Rāfi'ī's great commentary]. Dār al-Hijrah Institute.
Al-Ḥāʾirī Ṭabāṭabāʾī, S. ʿA. (1997). Riyāḍ al-masāʾil [The gardens of issues]. Āl al-Bayt Institute.
Al-Ḥillī, Ḥ. b. Y. (1992). Qawāʿid al-aḥkām fī maʿrifat al-ḥalāl wa al-ḥarām [Rules of rulings in knowing the lawful and the forbidden]. Islamic Publications Office of the Qom Seminary Teachers Society.
Al-Ḥillī, Ḥ. b. Y. (ʿAllāmah). (1991). Tabṣirat al-mutaʿallimīn fī aḥkām al-dīn [Enlightenment for students in the rulings of the religion]. Printing and Publishing Organization of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Al-Ḥillī, J. b. Ḥ. (Muḥaqqiq). (1987). Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī masāʾil al-ḥalāl wa al-ḥarām [The Islamic codes on matters of the lawful and the prohibited]. Ismāʿīlīyān Institute.
Al-Iṣfahānī, M. T. (1986). Rawḍat al-muttaqīn fī sharḥ man lā yaḥḍuruhu al-faqīh [The garden of the pious in the explanation of 'Man La Yahdurhu al-Faqih']. Kushanpur Islamic Cultural Institute
Al-Khūʾī, S. A. al-Q. (2001). Mabānī takmilah al-minhāj [The foundations for the completion of 'The Path']. The Institute for the Revival of the Works of al-Imām al-Khūʾī.
Al-Kulaynī, M. b. Y. (1987). Al-Kāfī [The sufficient]. Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah.
Al-Najafī (Bustān), J. (2022). Al-ʿIllah wa al-ḥikmah [The cause and the wisdom]. Al-Sibṭayn al-ʿĀlamīyah Foundation.
Al-Najafī, M. Ḥ. (1984). Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām [The jewels of discourse in the explanation of the Islamic codes]. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.
Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Ḥ. b. M. (1992). Mufradāt alfāẓ al-Qurʾān [Vocabulary of Qur'anic terms]. Dār al-ʿIlm.
Al-Ṭūsī, M. b. al-Ḥasan. (1987). Tahdhīb al-aḥkām [The refinement of the rulings]. Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah.
Al-ʿĀmilī, Z. b. ʿAlī (Shahīd al-Thānī). (1992). Masālik al-afhām ilā tanqīḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām [The paths of understanding to the refinement of the Islamic codes]. Al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīyah Institute.
Bāy, Ḥ. (2023). Payment of blood money from the public treasury. Islamic Research Institute of Culture and Thought.
Fayḍ Kāshānī, M. M. ibn Shāh Murtaḍā. (1986). Al-Wāfī [The sufficient one]. Imām Amīr al-Muʾminīn ʿAlī Library.
Ganjīnah-i istiftāʾāt-i qaḍāʾī [Treasury of judicial inquiries]. (n.d.). [Computer software].
Guldūzīyān, Ī. (2005). Annotated Islamic Penal Code]. Majd Scientific and Cultural Center.
Guldūzīyān, Ī. (2010). Essentials of general criminal law]. Mīzān Publishing.
Ḥājī Dehābādī, A. (2013). Analysis of the narration of Abī Baṣīr on the non-validation of a Muslim's blood. Jurisprudential Research, 9(4), 1-32.
Ḥujjatī, S. M., & Bārī, M. (2010). The Islamic Penal Code in the current legal system. Dādgustār va Mīs̱āq-i ʿAdālat.
Khomeinī, R. (1995). Manāhij al-wuṣūl ilā ʿilm al-uṣūl [The paths of arrival to the science of principles]. The Institute for Compilation and Publication of Imam Khomeini's Works.
Mīr Muḥammad Ṣādiqī, Ḥ. (2010). Special criminal law (Crimes against persons). Mīzān Publishing.
Ṣādiqī, M. H. (2010). Special criminal law, (Crimes against persons - Bodily injuries). Mīzān Publishing.
Sārīkhānī, ʿĀ., & Islāmī‌niyā, Q. (2014). Investigating the conversion of retribution (qiṣāṣ) to blood money (diyah) with the death or inaccessibility of the perpetrator. Shiraz University Legal Studies, 6(4), 1-25.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 30 December 2024
  • Revise Date: 23 April 2025
  • Accept Date: 08 May 2025

Share

How to cite

Statistics