The Origins and Evolution of Islamic Law of Rebellion: Its Significance to the Current International Humanitarian Law Discourse

Abstract

The world has witnessed a number of uprisings against governmental authority in recent years, particularly in the Arab world. Such challenges to state authority have been met with seemingly unfettered force by government troops. The violent clashes that have ensued have left hundreds of thousands dead and wounded. The aim of this chapter is to ascertain why the force employed by government forces against rebels is not limited. It therefore focuses on the law relating to rebellion and analyses the protections and rights granted to rebels under customary international law, international humanitarian law and Islamic law. It seeks to analyse whether gaps in the international humanitarian law regime can be filled with reference to principles of Islamic law of rebellion. The chapter starts with brief discussion of the right to rebel before analysing rights which accrued to rebels under customary international law. It continues with a discussion on the rights of rebels under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols before analysing the rights of rebels under Islamic law.