International Terrorism and the Jurisdiction of Islamic Law

Abstract

This article investigates the jurisdiction of Islamic law to international terrorism under the four Sunni schools of Islamic law. International terrorism refers to the following three cases: 1) terrorist acts committed outside of the Islamic state by its citizens; 2) terrorist acts committed outside the Islamic state by its non-citizens; and 3) terrorist acts committed inside the Islamic state by its non-citizens. It starts with studying the classical Muslim jurists’ tripartite division of the world into the ‘house of Islam’, ‘house of war’, and ‘house of peace’ to find out the boundaries of the jurisdiction of Islamic law and its position on the extradition of international terrorists. It examines the definition and elements of terrorism to find out the relevance of applying Islamic law to the modern form of acts of terrorism. It argues for the universal jurisdiction of Islamic law to acts of international terrorism.