BEWEGING VAN BELGISCHE EX-
MOVEMENT OF BELGIAN FORMER MUSLIMS
STUDY OF ISLAM
Raped woman taken to jail?
An example of a newspaper article that tells of raped women being often carted off to prison in Pakistan can be found on the following link. All attempts made by consecutive governments in Pakistan to reform the penal code in this respect have met with extremely stubborn resistance from Islamic scholars. The reason is very simple: these scholars deem these desired reforms contrary to Islam. We shall explain infra the logic behind the punishment of a raped woman.
In Islam, a man who rapes a woman end confesses to the deed receives the death penalty. This is based on Hadiths such as the following from Abu Dawud 38.4366:
In Islam, a man who rapes a woman end confesses to the deed receives the death penalty. This is based on Hadiths such as the following from Abu Dawud 38.4366:
When a woman went out in the time of the Prophet (Peace_be_upon_him) for prayer, a man attacked her and overpowered (raped) her. She shouted and he went off, and when a man came by, she said: That (man) did such and such to me. And when a company of the Emigrants came by, she said: That man did such and such to me. They went and seized the man whom they thought had had intercourse with her and brought him to her. She said: Yes, this is he. Then they brought him to the Apostle of Allah (Peace_be_upon_him). When he (the Prophet) was about to pass sentence, the man who (actually) had assaulted her stood up and said: Apostle of Allah, I am the man who did it to her. He (the Prophet) said to her: Go away, for Allah has forgiven you. But he told the man some good words (Abu Dawud said: meaning the man who was seized), and of the man who had had intercourse with her, he said: Stone him to death. He also said: He has repented to such an extent that if the people of Medina had repented similarly, it would have been accepted from them.
Notable in this tradition of Muhammad is the following:
- Muhammad tells the woman that Allah has forgiven her. The question one may ask here is: what did she do to be forgiven? Hers is surely not the guilt! Muhammad, however, makes it appears as if she is the guilty party. But he does add that Allah has forgiven her (for her trespass).
- There were no witnesses to the rape. It is therefore the woman’s word against that of the rapist. The fact that he confesses convicts him to death. Muslims wrongly conclude in this that the woman’s accusation suffices in the absence of any witnesses. This would clearly be unfair since any woman could then have a man put to death by accusing him of rape. We shall treat further on in the article what is to be done if the man does not confess.
- In Islam, when it pertains to cases of immorality, Koran verse 24.4 is, in principle, followed wherein it is stated that when a woman is accused of illicit sexual relations, 4 eyewitnesses are needed who were present and can testify in ‘evidence’ of the facts. Three witnesses are therefore not sufficient:
24.4. And those who launch a charge against chaste women, and produce not four witnesses [to support their allegations],-
Verse 24.4 was “revealed when Muhammad’s child bride Aisha was accused of adultery. Muhammad himself was at a loss how to deal with the accusation and for a whole month did not address Aisha (except to say salamu aleikum). He naturally stirred up the gossip within his community by failing to immediately clarify that nobody can be accused without witnesses. After one month, finally, came the saving “revelation’ that demanded the testimony of 4 witnesses in such instances
In the Shariah, verse 24.4 has, by analogy, been applied to all moral issues, also in cases where men are accused. This demand for 4 witnesses is then an absolute necessity to prove adultery, other illicit relations, or rape, unless the accused himself confesses to the act. For a woman there is the added complication of her being pregnant while her husband is far away at the time of the conception, for instance, if he is occupied in Jihad.
When Muslims are being reminded that stoning for adultery is a barbaric punishment, they try to argue around it by saying that 4 witnesses to the deed itself are required and that this is a practical impossibility. But they don’t tell you that Muhammad has had individuals stoned that confessed to their “crime”, e.g., a pregnant woman. An example can be found in the following Hadith Muslim 17.4207. This and other Hadith create the impression that the professed confessions were made voluntarily and that the accused in fact pronounced their own death sentences. In practice, the step to forced confession under pressure or torture is but a small one, especially in nations with a dictatorial regime. Sad to say, torture in several Islamic nations is not uncommon even today. Muhammad himself created in his day a brutal and violent climate – see also our web page “I have been made victorious by terror”. Torture is common in that kind of climate.
Let us return to the woman who has been raped. When this woman reports the incident to the police, knows her violator, but cannot produce 4 witnesses to the deed, it is quite logical that the man will deny it, even if there were 3 witnesses. For him it’s a matter then of persistent denial, for if he confesses he’ll be done for. It is the raped victim that generally gets into trouble, possibly in 2 ways:
- according to Koran verse 24.4, the man can accuse her of bearing false witness and she’ll receive 80 lashes; the Koran calls her a liar since she cannot produce the four required 4 witnesses:
24.4. And those who launch a charge against chaste women, and produce not four witnesses [to support their allegations],- flog them with eighty stripes; and reject their evidence ever after: for such men are wicked transgressors;
24.12. Why did not the believers - men and women - when ye heard of the affair,- put the best construction on it in their own minds and say, "This [charge] is an obvious lie"?
24.13.Why did they not bring four witnesses to prove it? When they have not
brought the witnesses, such in the sight of Allah, [stand forth] themselves as liars!
24.12. Why did not the believers -
24.13.Why did they not bring four witnesses to prove it? When they have not
brought the witnesses, such in the sight of Allah, [stand forth] themselves as liars!
- the woman is being accused on the ground of her own testimony for illicit sex with an unknown man, and she is stoned when she is married and lashed when single.
In Pakistan, the Shariah is followed in this and it appears that the majority of female prisoners are incarcerated because they reported a rape – alas, without witnesses. Since the Shariah is in this instance so mind-
Likewise a woman accused of adultery can “lie her way out of it”. She can avoid being stoned by following the escape provided by Allah. Read the Koran in this respect:
24.6. And for those who launch a charge against their spouses, and have [in support] no evidence but their own,- their solitary evidence [can be received]if they bear witness four times [with an oath] by Allah that they are solemnly telling the truth;
24.7. And the fifth [oath] [should be] that they solemnly invoke the curse of Allah on themselves if they tell a lie.
24.8. But it would avert the punishment from the wife, if she bears witness four times [with an oath] By Allah, that [her husband] is telling a lie;
24.9. And the fifth [oath] should be that she solemnly invokes the wrath of Allah on herself if [her accuser] is telling the truth.
24.7. And the fifth [oath] [should be] that they solemnly invoke the curse of Allah on themselves if they tell a lie.
24.8. But it would avert the punishment from the wife, if she bears witness four times [with an oath] By Allah, that [her husband] is telling a lie;
24.9. And the fifth [oath] should be that she solemnly invokes the wrath of Allah on herself if [her accuser] is telling the truth.
As an additional illustration of what Islamic scholars have to say about rape, we state here the dogma of the Maliki School being adhered to in Morocco and that may be consulted in the following link:
37.26 PROOF OF INNOCENCE OF A RAPED WOMAN
If a woman who appears pregnant says, "I was forced to perform sexual acts", she ought not to be believed and she must be punished according to Islamic penal law (hadd), except when there is a witness to testify that she was forcibly taken away by her violator, or if she came to seek help at the time of the occurrence, or if she was bleeding.
If a woman who appears pregnant says, "I was forced to perform sexual acts", she ought not to be believed and she must be punished according to Islamic penal law (hadd), except when there is a witness to testify that she was forcibly taken away by her violator, or if she came to seek help at the time of the occurrence, or if she was bleeding.
Note that, according to this school, the woman must prove her innocence, otherwise she’ll be punished in an inhuman way.
Conclusion
The logic that is followed by Pakistani law to incarcerate raped women is based on the Koran and the Hadith. It is generally said that Pakistan follows a strict or extreme interpretation of Islam. As it is, the interpretation they adhere to is not actually all that far out of the ordinary and based on two elements:
1- Islam is very strict for what concerns making accusations without corroboration by witnesses. Hence, a woman who accuses a man of raping her without producing witnesses to the deed is asking for trouble.
2- Islam imposes severe punishment for immorality and certainly in cases when it is openly acknowledged. Muhammad has not ordered anyone stoned for adultery except those that confessed to it openly. If adultery is committed in secret, there is no problem, but to publicly talk of it undermines the “moral fabric of the society”, and this Muhammad tried to avoid.
Pakistan is one of the few Islamic countries where raped women are thus treated. The reason is that the Shariah is such a blatant absurdity that it is not applied in many other Islamic nations. Not because the latter follow a broader interpretation of Islamic tenets, not because there exists a ‘Shariah regular’ and a ‘Shariah light’, but simply because Islam in this case proves itself again far from perfect.