muharaba

Hirābah is an Arabic word for “piracy”, or “unlawful warfare”. Hirabah comes from the root hariba, which means “to become angry and enraged”. The noun harb (حَرْب, pl. hurub حُروب) means “war” and/or “enemy”. Examples of Hirabah are highway robbery (traditionally understood as robbery with violence or grand larceny, unlike theft which has a different punishment), rape, and terrorism. One who commits hirabah would be a mohareb (or muharebeh). Hiraba crimes are still prosecuted in modern Islamic countries that use "sharia law", such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Iran—where it is defined as "waging war against God" and called mohareb.