Hisbah

Hisbah (Arabic: حسبة‎ ḥisbah) is an Islamic doctrine which means "accountability".[1] Hisbah is an individual or collective duty (depending on the school of law) to intervene and "enjoin good and forbid wrong" in order to maintain the norms of sharia (Islamic law). The doctrine is based on an expression from the Quran (الأمر بالمَعْرُوف والنَهي عن المُنْكَر). Differences in scholarly debates over the duty to “command right and forbid wrong” stemmed from the positions taken by jurists (ʿulamāʾ) on questions regarding who precisely was responsible for carrying out the duty, to whom it was to be directed, and what its performance entailed. Often, these debates were framed according to what Michael Cook calls the “three modes” tradition, a tradition based on a prophetic hadith which identifies the “heart” (qalb), “tongue” (lisān), and “hand” (yad) as the three proper “modes” by which one should fulfill the obligation. Depending on a number of factors both intrinsic and extrinsic to their legal schools, scholars apportioned this labor in differing ways, some reserving the execution of the duty by “tongue” for the scholars and by “hand” for the political authorities or those, such as the muḥtasib, invested with the authority to carry out the duty on their behalf, and others arguing that these modes extended to all qualified believers. [1][2] In modern times, the term has been used in some countries as a rationale for Islamic religious police.[3]

Description

The Hisbah has the following major aspects:[4]

  • An obligation of a Muslim.
  • An obligation of a state to ensure its citizens comply with hisbah such as sharia.
  • In a broader sense, hisbah also refers to the practice of supervision of commercial, guild, and other secular affairs. Traditionally, a muhtasib was appointed by the caliph to oversee the order in marketplaces, in businesses, in medical occupations, etc. The position of muhtasib may be approximately rendered as "inspector". See hisbah (business accountability) for this aspect.

Contemporary world

For example, in Saudi Arabia, the state establishment responsible for hisbah is the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or hay'a.[5]

In a minority of Islamic states, namely Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Aceh province of Indonesia, and Iran, there is an establishment of Islamic religious police. In some places, it is state-established; in others, it is independent of the state.

Hisbah doctrine has been invoked by Islamic prosecutors in cases of apostasy and acts of blasphemy. In Egypt, the Human Rights group Freedom House complains, "hundreds of hisba cases have been registered against writers and activists, often using blasphemy or apostasy as a pretext".[6] In one high profile case, Nasr Abu Zayd, a Muslim scholar "critical of old and modern Islamic thought" was prosecuted under the statute when his academic work was held to be evidence of apostasy.[7][8]

See also

References
  1. Sami Zubaida (2005), Law and Power in the Islamic World, ISBN 978-1850439349, pages 58-60
  2. Michael Cook: Commanding right and forbidding wrong in Islamic thought. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge 2000, pp. 32-47 ISBN 0-521-66174-9
  3. "The enforcement of Shari'a and the role of the hisbah".
  4. Michael Cook (2003), Forbidding Wrong in Islam. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-82913-5
  5. Sherifa Zuhur (2012), Saudi Arabia, ISBN 978-1598845716, pages 431-432
  6. Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, “Hesba Cases Cast Away the Civil State Principles and Citizenship Rights; cited in "Policing Belief. THE IMPACT OF Blasphemy Laws on Human Rights" (PDF). Freedom House. c. 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  7. M. Berger, Apostasy and Public Policy in Contemporary Egypt: An Evaluation of Recent Cases from Egypt's Highest Courts, Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 25, Number 3, August 2003, pages 720-740
  8. Olsson, S. (2008), Apostasy in Egypt: Contemporary Cases of Ḥisbah. The Muslim World, 98(1): 95-115
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