Rape in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions

{{QualityScore|Lead=4|Structure=3|Content=4|Language=3|References=3}}Rape, known in [[Islamic law]] as ''zina bil-ikrah'' or ''zina bil-jabr'' (literally "[[Zina|fornication]] by force"), is generally defined by Muslim jurists as forced intercourse by a man with a [[Islam and Women|woman]] who is not his wife or [[Slavery|slave]] and without her consent. As with enslaved females, according to Islamic law, married women are required to oblige their husbands sexual advances - raping one's wife is permissible.<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Muh Endriyo |last=Susila  | year= 2013 |url=https://journal.umy.ac.id/index.php/jmh/article/download/271/234| title=Islamic Perspective on Marital Rape |issue=2|volume=20|publisher=Jurnal Media Hukum, p.328}}</ref> The concept of "rape" is thus deemed to be equally non-existent in the contexts of both marriage and slavery.

The male rapist may be punished with a hadd penalty - [[stoning]] (if he is [[Marriage|married]] ) or lashings (if he is unmarried) - just as he would receive for ordinary [[Zina]] (fornication, or unlawful intercourse). Four witnesses are required to prove the offense.<ref>{{Cite book|first=R. |last= Peters | year= 2012 | title=Encyclopaedia of Islam | edition= 2nd|publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs|chapter=Zinā or Zināʾ}}</ref><ref>{{Quran|24|4}}</ref> There is no punishment for the rape victim if she is able to prove that she was raped. Jurists disagree on whether the rapist must also pay a dowry as compensation to the victim. 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}}. Others say that rape can be treated by the judge as an offence that receives Tazir (discretionary) punishment (as in Pakistan, for example). These approaches avoid the impractical four witnesses requirement for applying a zina hadd penalty in absence of a confession from a rapist. In some other modern courts a woman risks being accused of zina if she cannot prove to this standard that she has been raped.<ref>Dr Azman Mohd Noor, [http://irep.iium.edu.my/16877/1/PUNISHMENT_FOR_RAPE_IN_ISLAMIC_LAW.pdf Punishment for rape in Islamic Law], Malayan Law Journal Articles [2009] 5 MLJ cxiv</ref>

{{Quote|{{Bukhari|3|46|717}}|Narrated Ibn Aun: I wrote a letter to Nafi and Nafi wrote in reply to my letter that the Prophet had suddenly attacked Bani Mustaliq without warning while they were heedless and their cattle were being watered at the places of water. Their fighting men were killed and their women and children were taken as captives; the Prophet got Juwairiya on that day. Nafi said that Ibn 'Umar had told him the above narration and that Ibn 'Umar was in that army.}}

{{citation|url=https://islamqa.info/en/answers/13737/what-is-the-ruling-on-intimacy-with-slave-women | archiveurl=https://archive.fo/16upP| chapter= Fatwa No. 13737: What is the ruling on intimacy with slave women?|publisher= Islam Q&A|date= March 18, 2004|editor=Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid}}|2=With regard to your question about it being permissible for a master to be intimate with his slave woman, the answer is that that is because Allaah has permitted it. }}Likewise, as with all rulings of the shariah, the basic rulings governing family relations are unchanging. It would be difficult even today to find a trusted Islamic authority that does not still, at some level, permit marital rape and give general license for [[Wife Beating in Islamic Law|wife beating]] as a potential means by which to compel one's able but unwilling spouse into sexual activity, among other things.