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Rape in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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==Rape in the Qur'an== | ==Rape in the Qur'an== | ||
There is no equivalent term for ‘[[rape]]’ in the [[Qur'an]]. And while chastity is encouraged as a virtue, it is frequently commanded alongside the recurring exception "except for what your right hand possesses", encouraging men to pursue their sexual ends with those legal to them (their wives and slaves). There is no verse in the Qur'an which explicitly discourages ''forced'' sex. | There is no equivalent term for ‘[[rape]]’ in the [[Qur'an]]. And while chastity is encouraged as a virtue, it is frequently commanded alongside the recurring exception "except for what your right hand possesses" (see [[Rape in Islamic Law#Verses 23:1-6|Qur'an 23:1-6]]), encouraging men to pursue their sexual ends with those legal to them (their wives and slaves). There is no verse in the Qur'an which explicitly discourages ''forced'' sex. | ||
[[Surah]] | [[Surah]] 4 is one of the surahs which discusses which women are lawful and forbidden to Muslim men. While the relevant verses in this surah, like much of the substantive content of the Qur'an, can border on the unintelligible in the absence of considerable context, the authoritative [[Tafsir]]s (Qur'an exegeses) and [[Sahih]] (authentic) [[Hadith]]s ([[Muhammad|prophetic]] narrations) associated with these verses have together worked to standardize the Islamic interpretive and legal tradition to some extent. Although the contents of the Qur'an are deemed theologically prior to the hadiths and especially the manmade tafsirs, independent and especially novel interpretations of the Qur'an that flaunt hadith and tafsir tradition are not accepted, particularly when such an interpretation results in a divergent meaning. | ||
===Qur'an 4:24 - rape of slaves and captives who were previously married=== | ===Qur'an 4:24 - rape of slaves and captives who were previously married=== | ||
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{{Quote|1=Tafsir Ibn Abbas 4:24| 2= And all married women (are forbidden unto you save those (captives) whom your right hands possess) of captives, even if they have husbands in the Abode of War, after ascertaining that they are not pregnant, by waiting for the lapse of one period of menstruation. (It is a decree of Allah for you) that which I have mentioned to you is unlawful in Allah's Book.}} | {{Quote|1=Tafsir Ibn Abbas 4:24| 2= And all married women (are forbidden unto you save those (captives) whom your right hands possess) of captives, even if they have husbands in the Abode of War, after ascertaining that they are not pregnant, by waiting for the lapse of one period of menstruation. (It is a decree of Allah for you) that which I have mentioned to you is unlawful in Allah's Book.}} | ||
===Qur'an 23:1-6=== | ===Qur'an 23:1-6 & 70:29-30=== | ||
Several other verses in the Qur'an mention sexual relations with slaves as a category distinct from wives, making it clear that sexual relations with female slaves are permitted without marrying the slave first. For example, Surah 23 makes mention of successful Muslims and their characteristics: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|23|1-6}}|Certainly will the believers have succeeded: They who are during their prayer humbly submissive And they who turn away from ill speech And they who are observant of zakah '''And they who guard their private parts Except from their wives or those their right hands possess''', for indeed, they will not be blamed}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|23|1-6}}|Certainly will the believers have succeeded: They who are during their prayer humbly submissive And they who turn away from ill speech And they who are observant of zakah '''And they who guard their private parts Except from their wives or those their right hands possess''', for indeed, they will not be blamed}} | ||
The instruction to "guard [one's] private parts" is the Qur'an's standard manner of commanding chastity. What one's "right hand possesses" is likewise the Qur'an's standard manner of referring to one's slaves. Successful believers are those who engage in sexual activities only with their wives and slaves. | |||
The same idea reoccurs in surah 70: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|70|29-30}}|'''And those who guard their private parts, Except from their wives or those their right hands possess''', for indeed, they are not to be blamed}} | |||
==Rape in the Hadiths== | |||
== | |||
===Rape of Female Captives Before Ransoming Them=== | ===Rape of Female Captives Before Ransoming Them=== | ||