Rape in Islamic Law

Rape, known in Islam as zina bi al-ikrah, is generally defined by Muslim jurists as forced intercourse by a man with a woman who is not his wife and without her consent. It is a crime punishable against the rapist with a hadd penalty - stoning (if he is a married person) or lashings (if he is unmarried) - just as he would receive for ordinary zina (unlawful intercourse). There is disagreement on whether he must also pay a dowry. A controversial position of some modern jurists is that the hadd penalty for outlaws should apply to rapists (hadd Hirabah), described in Quran 5:33. This avoids the four witnesses requirement for the zina hadd penalty to apply when there is no confession.^[1]

A small number of hadiths are cited to support the Islamic punishments for rape, discussed below. These narrations relate to the rape of free women and of female slaves who are not owned by the man. However, we will see that the Qur'an permits Muslim men to have sexual relations with their female slaves. Kecia Ali, Associate professor of religion, Boston University says regarding sex with slaves:

Dr. Jonathan Brown, Associate Professor and Chair of Islamic Civilization at Georgetown University (who is a Muslim convert) has made similar comments.^[3] Furthermore, there are narrations in which female captives were raped prior to being ransomed back to their tribe.

Rape

Duress

There is no equivalent term for ‘rape’ in the Qur'an. Likewise, there is not a single verse in the Qur'an which even remotely discourages forced sex. In contrast, there are several verses in this book which give the green light to rape and other sexual crimes against captured and enslaved women.

Surah an-Nisa discusses lawful and forbidden women for pious Muslims. Before we delve into the particular verse, it should be noted that it is not easy to understand what is being suggested using the verse alone. Therefore, relying on authoritative Tafsirs (Qur'an interpretations) and Sahih (authentic) Hadiths associated with it, are necessary to get the exact picture.

Verse 4:24

What we see in the beginning of this verse as “forbidden” refers to sexual intercourse. The Qur'an dictates, women already married are forbidden for Muslims except those whom their right hands possess (sex slaves).

Context

It is important to know the context of this verse, as it sheds light onto the nature of allowance. If we go through a Sahih Hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud:

Here in the above hadith, we are told why verse 4:24 was revealed to Muhammad. It was to encourage his fighters, who were reluctant, to have sexual contacts with female captives even while their husbands were alive. This is made clear when we read:

"Some of the Companions of the apostle of Allah were reluctant to have intercourse with the female captives because of their pagan husbands"

The Abu Dawud hadith is confirmed in Sahih Muslim:

On another occasion the only issue of concern for Muhammad's companions was whether the practice of coitus interruptus was permissable while raping captive women.

A significant additional detail is found in the same hadith in Sahih Muslim. The raped women were to be ransomed back to their tribes later. This undermines the occasional, not to mention grotesque apologetic for such behaviour, which argues that the Muslims, by enslaving women whose husbands they had killed, were saving them from destitution.

There is an entire chapter devoted to this in the Sahih Muslim collection. The title of the chapter speaks in volumes as we read:

Sahih Muslim. Chapter 29: Title: It is permissible to have sexual intercourse with a captive woman after she is purified of menses or delivery. In case she has a husband, her marriage is abrogated after she becomes captive.

Ibn Kathir, the most prominent of all Qur'an interpreters, had this to say in regards to verse 4:24:

Similarly in Tafsir al-Jalalayn (Qur'an interpretation by two Jalals namely: Jalaluddin Mahalli and Jalaluddin Suyuti):

The tafsir attributed to Ibn Abbas, Muhammad's paternal cousin, further confirms:

Further Verses

Verses 23:1-6

There are other verses in the Qur'an similar to verse 4:24. For example, Surah al-Mumenoon makes mention of successful Muslims and their characteristics:

Guarding private parts is denotative of abstaining from sexual activities. The Qur'an points out successful believers are those who are indulging in sexual activities only with their wives and sex-slaves.

Verses 70:29-30

This is confirmed again in Surah al-Maarij:

Rape of Free Women

The following hadith (graded Hasan by Dar-us-Salam) narrates Muhammad ordering the punishment by stoning of a confessed rapist who attacked a free woman. See also the Malik Muwatta hadith in the next section.

Rape of Slaves (Owned by Another Person)

The following hadiths concern slaves owned by someone other than the rapist, and reparations are due to the owner in the form of a replacement slave or the amount by which the slave's value has been depreciated. The authenticity of hadiths concerning this incident are graded da'if (weak) by al-Albani, while Dar-us-Salam grade them hasan (good).

The same hadith is found in Sunan Abu Dawud 38:4445.

In another version of the incident, the rapist of his wife's slave is to be punished by stoning.

The same hadith in found in Sunan Abu Dawud 38:4444.

Additionally, Malik in his Muwatta is reported as commenting:

The mention of paying the depreciation in her value implies that as with the other hadiths, this concerns only slaves owned by someone else rather than by the rapist.

This practice of raping war captives was practiced by Islam’s very own prophet Muhammad, in his life. On two occasions, he married (for the sake of sexual gratification only) war captives and raped them. Those victims were namely Safiyah and Juwairiyah.

Safiyah

Safiyah the daughter of Huayy was the wife of a Jewish Rabbi named Kinana. When Muhammad conquered the Jewish village of Khaibar, he tortured and killed the Rabbi and took captive his wife. Sahih Hadith in Bukhari testify to this fact:

Juwairiyah

The following hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud bears out how Muhammad obtained Juwairiyah, a beautiful woman of a tribe called Banu Mustaliq. Muhammad was attacking the tribe without warning and conquering them:

The following hadith from Sahih Bukhari is evidentiary to the above:

Claims about verse 24:33

Muslims will frequently quote the following when confronted with the passages provided in this article and others like it:

The first part of the verse is telling unmarried people to keep themselves chaste. Now, the important thing to remember is that the Islamic definition of chaste is different than the commonly agreed upon definitions of the word. According to Quran 23:6, Quran 33:50, Quran 33:52, and Quran 70:30 a Muslim man is considered "chaste" so long as he only has sex with his wives (of whom he may have up to four) and his right-hand possessions (female captives/slaves). An unmarried Muslim man who has sex with his slave girl is still considered to be "chaste" by Islamic standards.^[6]

The second sentence speaks about slaves who ask for a way to pay for their freedom (like indentured servants) as long as the master knows of "any good in them". It would be interesting to discover how female slaves could earn any money at all if they had been kidnapped from their families and forced into slavery and did not have money-making skills. And if a female slave was to earn her freedom, where then could she go if her family had been massacred? How could she support herself and keep herself safe from rape, prostitution, etc.? Practicalities aside, this verse only tells Muslims to let their slaves purchase their freedom (but puts in a convenient disclaimer of "if ye know any good in them"). To give Muhammad credit, he did stipulate that the masters should give their slaves something (again conveniently leaving out what and how much).

The third sentence is what pertains to the Muslim claim that rape is forbidden. However, the word used is not simply sexual intercourse but is more specifically "prostitution" or "whoredom". Prostitution is not simply about sex, but sex for a price. This is why it is often referred to as one of the oldest professions. What this verse speaks of is a master forcing his maid to be a prostitute thereby making money by allowing other men to have sex with her. This verse says nothing about a master forcing himself upon his slave-girl who is considered "halal" for him according to Islamic law. The fourth sentence says that if a girl is indeed forced into prostitution, then Allah will forgive her for committing zina. What this verse does not say is what the punishment should be for a man who forces his maid into prostitution. All it says is that he should not do it. And what it definitely does not say is that a Muslim man cannot force himself on his own slave-girl.

From 4:24, it can be rightly assumed, that the Qur'an does not see any wrong-doing in Muslims having sex with captive women even if these women are married and their husbands are still alive. This clearly indicates that the Qur'an allows rape, as captive women, even in the unlikely case of agreeing to sexual intercourse, would still be having that intercourse under duress.

• Rape - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Rape
• Adultery is Permitted in Islam

• The High Rape-Scale in Saudi Arabia - WomanStats Project (blog), January 16, 2013 (archived), http://womanstats.wordpress.com/2013/01/16/the-high-rape-scale-in-saudi-arabia/ 
• Sexual Slavery and Concubinage in Islam - Islam Watch
• What is the punishment for rape in Christianity and in Islam? - Answers to Islam
• Rape Law in Islam - THERE'S NONE - FFI Forum