An Appraisal of the Right of Self Defence in Islamic Law

Where the attack is on one’s honour the jurists are unanimous that the right to self defence is a duty. Thus where a man attacks a woman in order to rape her and the latter can only defend herself by killing the assailant, then it will be her duty to kill him if she can. Allowing the assailant, in this situation, to overcome her is unlawful for the woman since she has the ability to resist the attack.° Where, however, the attack is on one’s life, Imam Abu Hanifa and majority of the Shafi’i jurists are of the view that defence of life is a duty. On the other hand, Imam Malik, the majority of the Hambali jurists and some Shafi’i jurists hold a contrary view, according to which defence of life is a right and not a duty.’ In other words, defence of life is only lawful but not