Question:

What is the punishment for rape? How is it proven? Is DNA/CCTV sufficient enough? How about rape within a marriage, where the wife refuses to sleep with a husband but he forces her against her will?

Answer:

1. Rape in the Islamic criminal law means to have a sexual intercourse by force with a woman who is not his wife. Therefore, if a man is forcing his wife to have sex with him, it does not constitute rape in Islam.

2. The penalty for rape is death.

3. To prove a rape like other sexual assaults a judge needs either: 1) the testimony of four just male witnesses together, or 2) the confession of the criminal on four occasions, 3) the certain knowledge of the judge. This can often be obtained by a DNA or CCTV footage as long as the judge is convinced with those evidences.

4. It is forbidden for a wife to avoid her husband if he is demanding a sexual intercourse with her, unless she is in her menstrual cycle, or she is so ill that is physically unable to do so. Even then it is recommended for her to somehow meet her husband’s sexual needs. On the other hand, it is recommended to men to consider their wives situations and prepare them for an intimate relation.

Answered by: Sheikh Mansour Leghaei