Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- The Cambridge History of Violence
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Table
- Contributors to Volume II
- Introduction to Volume II
- Part I Beyond Warfare: Armies, Tribes and Lords
- Part II The Violence of Governments and Rulers
- 6 Early Medieval China’s Rulers, Retainers and Harem
- 7 Warrior Regimes and the Regulation of Violence in Medieval Japan
- 8 Torture and Public Executions in the Islamic Middle Period (Eleventh–Fifteenth Centuries)
- 9 Crime and Law in Europe
- Part III Social, Interpersonal and Collective Violence
- Part IV Religious, Sacred and Ritualised Violence
- Part V Depictions of Violence
- Index
- References
8 - Torture and Public Executions in the Islamic Middle Period (Eleventh–Fifteenth Centuries)
from Part II - The Violence of Governments and Rulers
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2020
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- The Cambridge History of Violence
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures and Table
- Contributors to Volume II
- Introduction to Volume II
- Part I Beyond Warfare: Armies, Tribes and Lords
- Part II The Violence of Governments and Rulers
- 6 Early Medieval China’s Rulers, Retainers and Harem
- 7 Warrior Regimes and the Regulation of Violence in Medieval Japan
- 8 Torture and Public Executions in the Islamic Middle Period (Eleventh–Fifteenth Centuries)
- 9 Crime and Law in Europe
- Part III Social, Interpersonal and Collective Violence
- Part IV Religious, Sacred and Ritualised Violence
- Part V Depictions of Violence
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter first reviews the normative bases for penal state violence, in particular for capital punishment and torture, in Islamic law and Islamic political theory. The chapter then moves on to discuss a number of examples of violent punishments, culled from Islamic historiography, first from the reign of the Seljuq sultans of Persia, Iraq and Syria (c. 1040-1194) and then, second, from that of the Mamluk sultans of Egypt and Syria (c. 1250-1517). It argues that a gradual shift took place in this period, supported by changes in the legal doctrine of torture and punishment based on utilitarian considerations of the public interest, towards a proliferation of violent punishment and torture. By the end of the Mamluk period, the law was so underdetermined and so riddled with loopholes that only little opposition could be mounted to check the rising tide of penal violence by the state.
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- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Violence , pp. 164 - 184Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020