Rape in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions

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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 evidence requirement of four witnesses for applying a zina hadd penalty to the rapist in the absence of his confession. In some other modern courts where the hadd punishment for zina is applied to rapists, a woman risks being accused of slanderous accusation (qadhf) if she cannot prove her allegation of rape to that evidence standard<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> and the rapists go unpunished.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1016271/a-license-to-rape|title=A license to rape|author=Murtaza Haider|publication-date=June 5, 2003|newspaper=Dawn}}</ref> Pregnancy is used as evidence of sex having occurred and women who report rape or sexual violence can be deemed to have confessed to unlawful sex (zina) and prosecuted for that instead.<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/29/saudi-arabia-forthcoming-penal-code-should-protect-rights Saudi Arabia: Forthcoming Penal Code Should Protect Rights] - Human Rights Watch 29 April 2022</ref> Due to a number of high profile instances, the risk of being prosecuted for zina creates a strong disincentive for women to report rape in some Muslim countries today.<ref>{{cite web | title=Judged for more than her crime | website=deathpenaltyworldwide.org | date=September 2018 | url=https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Judged-More-Than-Her-Crime.pdf | access-date=28 December 2022}}</ref>
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 evidence requirement of four witnesses for applying a zina hadd penalty to the rapist in the absence of his confession. In some other modern courts where the hadd punishment for zina is applied to rapists, a woman risks being accused of slanderous accusation (qadhf) if she cannot prove her allegation of rape to that evidence standard<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> and the rapists go unpunished.<ref>{{Citation|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1016271/a-license-to-rape|title=A license to rape|author=Murtaza Haider|publication-date=June 5, 2003|newspaper=Dawn}}</ref> Pregnancy is used as evidence of sex having occurred and women who report rape or sexual violence can be deemed to have confessed to unlawful sex (zina) and prosecuted for that instead.<ref>[https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/29/saudi-arabia-forthcoming-penal-code-should-protect-rights Saudi Arabia: Forthcoming Penal Code Should Protect Rights] - Human Rights Watch 29 April 2022</ref> Due to a number of high profile instances, the risk of being prosecuted for zina creates a strong disincentive for women to report rape in some Muslim countries today.<ref>{{cite web | title=Judged for more than her crime | website=deathpenaltyworldwide.org | date=September 2018 | url=https://www.deathpenaltyworldwide.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Judged-More-Than-Her-Crime.pdf | access-date=28 December 2022}}</ref>


==Punishments for rape narrated in hadiths==
===Rape of a free woman===
Muhammad ordered the stoning of a confessed rapist who attacked a free woman to whom he was not married.
{{Quote|{{al Tirmidhi|15|3|15|1454}}; see also {{Muwatta|36||14}}|Narrated 'Alqamah bin Wa'il Al-Kindi: From his father: "A women went out during the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) to go to Salat, but she was caught by a man and he had relations with her, so she screamed and he left. Then a man came across her and '''she said: 'That man has done this and that to me'''', then she came across a group of Emigrants (Muhajirin) and she said: 'That man did this and that to me.' They went to get the man she thought had relations with her, and they brought him to her. She said: 'Yes, that's him.' So they brought him to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and when he ordered that he be stoned, the man who had relations with her, said: ''''O Messenger of Allah, I am the one who had relations with her.'''' So he said to her: 'Go, for Allah has forgiven you.' Then he said some nice words to the man (who was brought). And '''he said to the man who had relations with her: 'Stone him (to death).'''' Then he said: 'He has repented a repentance that, if the inhabitants of Al-Madinah had repented with, it would have been accepted from them.'"}}
===Rape of another's slave===
If the individual raped is a slave owned by other than the rapist, reparations are due to the owner of the slave in the form of a replacement slave or the amount by which the raped slave's value has been depreciated as a result of the rape. Hina Azam writes that "sexual ursupation of a slave woman was a form of property damage that required financial compensation to her owner for a depreciation of the property's value....usually equal to the amount by which she was depreciated by the act (this being of particular relevance if she was previously a virgin)".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t349/e0075 |title=Rape |last=Azam |first=Hina |date= |website=Oxford Islamic Studies |publisher=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com |access-date=7 April 2021}}</ref>
Malik in his ''Muwatta'' confirms this punishment. Malik was founder of one of the four Sunni legal schools.
{{Quote|{{Muwatta|36||14}}|Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab that Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan gave a judgment that the rapist had to pay the raped woman her bride- price. Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "What is done in our community about the man who rapes a woman, virgin or non-virgin, if she is free, is that he must pay the bride-price of the like of her. If she is a slave, he must pay what he has diminished of her worth. The hadd-punishment in such cases is applied to the rapist, and there is no punishment applied to the raped woman. If the rapist is a slave, that is against his master unless he wishes to surrender him.}}
The authenticity of hadiths concerning the following incident in which Muhammad commands punishment by stoning for a man who has intercourse with his wife's slave are graded da'if (weak) by al-Albani, while Dar-us-Salam grade them hasan (good).
{{Quote|{{Al Nasai|26|4|26|3365}}; see also {{Abu Dawud|38|4445}}|It was narrated that Salamah bin Al-Muhabbaq said: "The Prophet passed judgment concerning a man who had intercourse with his wife's slave woman: 'If he forced her, then she is free, and he has to give her mistress a similar slave as a replacement; if she obeyed him in that, then she belongs to him, and he has to give her mistress a similar slave as a replacement.'"}}
In another, similar incident, the rapist of his wife's slave is to be punished by stoning.
{{Quote|{{Al Nasai|26|4|26|3362}}; see also {{Abu Dawud|38|4444}}|It was narrated from An-Nu'man bin Bashir that the Prophet said, concerning a man who had intercourse with his wife's slave woman: "If she let him do that, I will flog him with one hundred stripes , and if she did not let him, I will stone him (to death)."}}
Another hadith reports Caliph Umar sentencing a man to stoning for taking a captive girl for himself. In this case, the illegitimacy is due to strict rules on the distribution of war booty. That hadith is discussed in another section below ([[Rape in Islamic Law#Violations of the spoils-distribution system as rape|Violations of the spoils-distribution system as rape]]).


==Sex with female slaves and war captives in the Qur'an==
==Sex with female slaves and war captives in the Qur'an==
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Screenshots of the sources used in this section are also available [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125095756/https://www.reddit.com/r/exmuslim/comments/sca71q/evidence_pedophilia_and_forced_marriages_in_islam/ here (archive)].
Screenshots of the sources used in this section are also available [https://web.archive.org/web/20220125095756/https://www.reddit.com/r/exmuslim/comments/sca71q/evidence_pedophilia_and_forced_marriages_in_islam/ here (archive)].


==Punishments for rape==
===Rape of a free woman===
Muhammad ordered the stoning of a confessed rapist who attacked a free woman to whom he was not married.
{{Quote|{{al Tirmidhi|15|3|15|1454}}; see also {{Muwatta|36||14}}|Narrated 'Alqamah bin Wa'il Al-Kindi: From his father: "A women went out during the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) to go to Salat, but she was caught by a man and he had relations with her, so she screamed and he left. Then a man came across her and '''she said: 'That man has done this and that to me'''', then she came across a group of Emigrants (Muhajirin) and she said: 'That man did this and that to me.' They went to get the man she thought had relations with her, and they brought him to her. She said: 'Yes, that's him.' So they brought him to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), and when he ordered that he be stoned, the man who had relations with her, said: ''''O Messenger of Allah, I am the one who had relations with her.'''' So he said to her: 'Go, for Allah has forgiven you.' Then he said some nice words to the man (who was brought). And '''he said to the man who had relations with her: 'Stone him (to death).'''' Then he said: 'He has repented a repentance that, if the inhabitants of Al-Madinah had repented with, it would have been accepted from them.'"}}
===Rape of another's slave===
If the individual raped is a slave owned by other than the rapist, reparations are due to the owner of the slave in the form of a replacement slave or the amount by which the raped slave's value has been depreciated as a result of the rape. Hina Azam writes that "sexual ursupation of a slave woman was a form of property damage that required financial compensation to her owner for a depreciation of the property's value....usually equal to the amount by which she was depreciated by the act (this being of particular relevance if she was previously a virgin)".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t349/e0075 |title=Rape |last=Azam |first=Hina |date= |website=Oxford Islamic Studies |publisher=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com |access-date=7 April 2021}}</ref>
Malik in his ''Muwatta'' confirms this punishment.
{{Quote|{{Muwatta|36||14}}|Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab that Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan gave a judgment that the rapist had to pay the raped woman her bride- price. Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "What is done in our community about the man who rapes a woman, virgin or non-virgin, if she is free, is that he must pay the bride-price of the like of her. If she is a slave, he must pay what he has diminished of her worth. The hadd-punishment in such cases is applied to the rapist, and there is no punishment applied to the raped woman. If the rapist is a slave, that is against his master unless he wishes to surrender him.}}
The authenticity of hadiths concerning the following incident in which Muhammad commands punishment by stoning for a man who has intercourse with his wife's slave are graded da'if (weak) by al-Albani, while Dar-us-Salam grade them hasan (good).
{{Quote|{{Al Nasai|26|4|26|3365}}; see also {{Abu Dawud|38|4445}}|It was narrated that Salamah bin Al-Muhabbaq said: "The Prophet passed judgment concerning a man who had intercourse with his wife's slave woman: 'If he forced her, then she is free, and he has to give her mistress a similar slave as a replacement; if she obeyed him in that, then she belongs to him, and he has to give her mistress a similar slave as a replacement.'"}}
In another, similar incident, the rapist of his wife's slave is to be punished by stoning.
{{Quote|{{Al Nasai|26|4|26|3362}}; see also {{Abu Dawud|38|4444}}|It was narrated from An-Nu'man bin Bashir that the Prophet said, concerning a man who had intercourse with his wife's slave woman: "If she let him do that, I will flog him with one hundred stripes , and if she did not let him, I will stone him (to death)."}}


==Limitations on rape of slaves and war captives==
==Limitations on rape of slaves and war captives==
===Avoiding severe physical injury===
===Avoiding severe physical injury===
Beyond the temporary requirement of waiting past the ''Iddah'' period or conversion of a slave, the only restriction on raping one's slaves or wives is that the victims not incur severe physical injury in the process. However, this derives from a generic prohibition against incurring severe physical injury upon anyone at any time, and men are authorized in the view of jurists to [[Wife Beating in Islamic Law|beat]] their wives and slaves as a form of physical discipline if they deny him sexual access or fail to obey him in some other mandatory capacity.  
Beyond the temporary requirement of waiting past the ''Iddah'' period or conversion of a slave, the only restriction on raping one's slaves or wives is that the victims not incur severe physical injury in the process. However, this derives from a generic prohibition against incurring severe physical injury upon anyone at any time, and men are authorized in the view of jurists to [[Wife Beating in Islamic Law|beat]] their wives and slaves as a form of physical discipline if they deny him sexual access or fail to obey him in some other mandatory capacity.  
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{{Quote|1={{citation|author=al-Shafi'i|title=al-Umm|volume=3|page=253}}|2="If a man acquires by force a slave-girl, then has sexual intercourse with her after he acquires her by force, and if he is not excused by ignorance, then the slave-girl will be taken from him, he is required to pay the fine, and he will receive the punishment for illegal sexual intercourse."}}
{{Quote|1={{citation|author=al-Shafi'i|title=al-Umm|volume=3|page=253}}|2="If a man acquires by force a slave-girl, then has sexual intercourse with her after he acquires her by force, and if he is not excused by ignorance, then the slave-girl will be taken from him, he is required to pay the fine, and he will receive the punishment for illegal sexual intercourse."}}


It is clear, however, that "acquires by force" here refers to the manner in which the man gained possession of the slave girl, not a description of the later sexual act. Indeed, this quote comes from the section entitled ghasb (property usurpation). According to Islamic law, a fifth of all war and raid spoils (referred to as the ''Khum -'' literally "fifth"), including captives who may be sold for funds, is to be allotted for public spending. Taking and raping a captive from this public allotment, as [[Rape in Islamic Law#Ali rapes an underage ward of the state|Ali is reported to have in one instance]], amounts to theft and zina (illegal intercourse). This, as well as taking and raping someone else's slave, is of course prohibited and punishable. Indeed, in the remainder of his many-volume legal work ''al-Umm'', al-Shafi'i painstakingly outlines the laws regarding the sexual obligations of one's wives and slaves, in no place suggesting that rape of the female is punishable in these contexts.
It is clear, however, that "acquires by force" here refers to the manner in which the man gained possession of the slave girl, not a description of the later sexual act. Indeed, this quote comes from the section entitled ghasb (property usurpation). According to Islamic law, a fifth of all war and raid spoils (referred to as the ''Khum -'' literally "fifth"), including captives who may be sold for funds, is to be allotted for public spending. Taking and raping a captive from this public allotment, as [[Rape in Islamic Law#Ali rapes a captive girl alloted to the khumus (state share of war booty)|Ali is reported to have in one instance]], amounts to theft and zina (illegal intercourse). This, as well as taking and raping someone else's slave, is of course prohibited and punishable. Indeed, in the remainder of his many-volume legal work ''al-Umm'', al-Shafi'i painstakingly outlines the laws regarding the sexual obligations of one's wives and slaves, in no place suggesting that rape of the female is punishable in these contexts.


====Quote from Malik====
====Quote from Malik====
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