ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Islamic law's position on the defences of provocation and diminished responsibility, including reference to some instances of its application. It is submitted that this consequence is unacceptable and stems from the conflation of self-defence and provocation into a single provision. However, the more interesting two categories to examine, which are largely peculiar to Islamic law are justification based on the concept of 'family honour' and justification based on enforcing Islamic morality against an 'immoral' victim. The rationale for Islamic law allowing for 'justified killings' to become part of provocation defence is that certain crimes are punishable by hadd punishment most importantly, through the hadd penalty of execution. It is suggested that the 2009 Act's specific insistence on addressing gender inequalities in 'loss of control' situations benefits from clearer focus on the type of defendants that merit leniency, while barring the honour and 'morality' killing provocation defences so common to Islamic countries.
