Urgency in Self-defense, Non-aggressive, From the Vantage Point of the West and Islamic Jurisprudence

Abstract

It is said that the imminence of threat of attack، is the most controversial condition that is provided for justifying self-defense. The challenges that have been studied in this essay, are defenses that occur in non-aggressive situations and possibility or impossibility of extending the concept of imminence، especially putative self-defense and battered women syndrome. That there is no imminence and factual attack in that situation. Analyzing the concept of imminence and common approaches with respect to mentioned subjects in western laws and then considering it, under the light of Islamic and Iranian laws, are subjects of this paper. The selected approach in Islamic law، is prudently and far from biases, according to which self-defense could be justified only when there is imminence and factual attack -according to the opinion of some theorist - or impendent attack- according to some others- on the basis of certainty of the danger. Finally, it has concluded that defenses that occur in non-aggressive situations cannot be justified as legitimate self-defense. Whether، there is not any attack, or there is no imminent attack.

Keywords

• self-defense
• imminence
• non-aggressive
• battered women syndrome