Qāḍīs and the political use of the maẓālim jurisdiction under the cAbbāsids

Crime and Punishment in Islamic History (Early to Middle Period): A Framework for Analysis

“…Reportedly, the first 'court of grievances' (al-nazar fi l-mazalim) was instituted under the caliph al-Mahdi (r. 775-85) at Baghdad. From its inception, it was characterized by conflict with the qadi courts (Tillier 2009). According to Mawardi (d. 1058), the major pre-Ottoman theorist of Islamic public law, this court possessed the authority to investigate crimes ex officio (contrary to the Islamic judge), in addition to relying on laxer rules of evidence than the qadi's court (Mawardi 1978, pp.…”

“…Little is known about what prisons looked like under the various dynasties of the pre-modern period, as the chronicles are largely silent on the issue. Under the early Abbasids, the famous Mutbaq prison in Baghdad was an imposing structure with high walls and almost unspeakable inside conditions (Tillier 2008). Likewise, conditions in the great prison in the Cairo citadel (Mamluk period, 13th-15th centuries) seem to have been miserable, with prisoners starving to death if unaided by family.…”

“…Likewise, conditions in the great prison in the Cairo citadel (Mamluk period, 13th-15th centuries) seem to have been miserable, with prisoners starving to death if unaided by family. However, despite a recent series of studies of prisons in Umayyad al-Andalus (de la Puente 2004), Abbasid Iraq (Tillier 2008), the pre-modern Maghrib (Hentati 2007), and Mamluk Egypt (Husayn 2002;Martel-Thoumian 2006), not to mention various chapters in books (most notably, Tyan 1960;Shalji 1980), genealogical and comparative studies of imprisonment in Islamic are still a desideratum. The practice of banishment in Islam is virtually unstudied, with very few exceptions ( 'Athamina 1984;Rowson 2009).…”

“…According to legal theory, hadd , qisas and ta ’ zir were all the domain of the Islamic judge, but from the late Abbasid period (10th century), the repressive state organs formally established their own independent jurisdictions with the power to adjudicate and implement discretionary punishments with little regard to shari ’ a . They did this under the pretext of following the dictates of good governance and political expediency ( siyasa ) and often in open tension with qadi s (Tillier 2009). In reaction, from the 12th century onwards, jurists tried to assimilate the concept of political expediency into the framework of shari ’ a .…”