Introduction: We must first of all know that the entire Bible is corrupted and unreliable and is mostly filled with man-made laws and corruption! "`How can you say, "We [the Jews] are wise, for we have the law of the LORD," when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?' (From the NIV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
The Revised Standard Version makes it even clearer: "How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us'? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. (From the RSV Bible, Jeremiah 8:8)"
In either translation, we clearly see that the Jews had so much corrupted the Bible with their man-made cultural laws, that they had turned the Bible into a lie!
See Also Deuteronomy 31:25-29 where Moses peace be upon him predicted the corruption/tampering of the Law (Bible) after his death.
The Book of Moses predicted that the Law (Bible) will get corrupted. The Book of Jeremiah which came approximately 826 years after did indeed confirm this corruption.
What is the punishment for rape in Christianity and in Islam?
In Christianity:
Christians follow the laws of the Bible only. All of their religious sources, laws and verdicts come straight from the Bible (if we were to have true Christian countries where Church would rule over the State), except for Roman Catholics where they have other Volumes written by Church Fathers and Popes. But most Christians in the world have no religious resources other than the Bible.
Therefore, let us look at what the Bible says regarding this issue:
Rape is a big crime that could actually take the woman's or the victim's life away. Let us examine how Christianity deals with the rapist: "If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. (From the NIV Bible, Deuteronomy 22:28)" Although this Verse from the Bible only talks about virgins, but its the only verse in the entire Bible that talks about raping single women. Not to be biased or anything, but the Bible seems to have quite weird things in it that are quite irrational and quite ridiculous. Deuteronomy 22:28 forces the raped woman to marry her rapist. My question to the writers of the Bible is why in the world would any raped female victim want to be in the same town, not the same bedroom !! with her rapist?.
Also, the Bible seems to promote raping of single women: "But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. (From the NIV Bible, Deuteronomy 22:25)" This is quite an interesting verse. We see in Deuteronomy 22:28 that if a man rapes a single woman then she will be forced to be his wife, while if a man rapes a married woman in Deuteronomy 22:25, then he shall be put to death. There is absolutely no punishment for the rapist of a single woman in the Bible. For those Christians who think that they don't have to follow the Old Testament, well my answer to them is this: The Old Testament prohibits for the brother to marry his sister, or for the son to marry his mother. The New Testament doesn't even talk about it. Does that mean that a Christian brother can marry his sister? or a Christian son can marry his mother? Jesus himself anyway ordered his followers to follow the Old Testament, so their argument is totally invalid.
Question to Jews and Christians: How is the Bible supposed to prevent some loser from stalking the most beautiful single woman in town, rape her, and then sue her in court to become his wife so he can continue raping her for the rest of her life?!
Punishment for rape in Islam:
In Islam, we follow the laws of the Noble Quran, and the Sayings of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. If a situation or case is not addressed in neither the Noble Quran, or the Sayings of our beloved Prophet, then we follow the local verdicts of our Religious Authorities, where they would decide based upon the cultural and social situation and causes.
Allah Almighty said in the Noble Quran:
"O ye who believe! Obey God, and obey the Apostle, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to God and His Apostle, if ye do believe in God and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination. (The Noble Quran, 4:59)"
"When there comes to them some matter touching (Public) safety or fear, they divulge it. If they had only referred it to the Apostle, or to those charged with authority among them, the proper investigators would have Tested it from them (direct). Were it not for the Grace and Mercy of God unto you, all but a few of you would have fallen into the clutches of Satan. (The Noble Quran, 4:83)"
Since the punishment for rape doesn't exist in the Noble Quran, but exists in the Sayings of our beloved Prophet peace be upon him, then the verdict or law for punishing the rapist according to Noble Verses 4:59 and 4:83 above must come from our beloved Prophet's Sayings.
Let us look at what Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said regarding this issue:
The following information was sent to me by a Muslim; may Allah Almighty always be pleased with him.
Let us look at how Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him dealt with the rapists:
Narrated Wa'il ibn Hujr:
"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 the woman: Go away, for Allah has forgiven you. And about the man who 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. (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 38, Number 4366)"
Some Muslims do not believe in this Saying as an authentic one, because it didn't come from a "Sahih" (authentic in English) source. It came from "Sunan Abu Dawud". Sayings of our Prophet's companions and wives narrated in "Sunan Abu Dawud" are indeed authentic. But Sayings from other people such as Wa'il ibn Hujr above are doubtful. The only volumes that had been double and triple checked and are absolutely authentic to the Muslims are the "Sahih" volumes as I mentioned. With "Sunan Abu Dawud" we have to be extra careful, for it contains truthful and untruthful narrations about our Prophet peace be upon him.
Saudi Arabia today applies the death penalty for the punishment of rape and other cases as
well. The following quote was taken from an article from CNN.COM regarding the
punishment of a rapist. He was punished to death:
"Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer and Washington's closest Arab ally for more than a half century, follows a strict interpretation of Islam that calls for the death penalty for murder, rape, drug trafficking and armed robbery. (http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/07/20/saudi.beheading.ap/index.html)"
Here is an article that I copied and pasted from CNN.COM:
From http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/08/24/saudi.beheading.ap/index.html
"Two executed in Saudi Arabia for rape, drug trafficking
August 24, 2001 Posted: 11:48 AM EDT (1548 GMT)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Saudi Arabia on Friday beheaded a Saudi man for raping boys and an Indian for drug trafficking, the Interior Ministry said.
In the capital Riyadh, Saudi citizen Dowaihi bin Mohammed al-Qahtani was executed after he was convicted of armed robbery and kidnapping and raping boys, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Seyed bin Mahboub Amir, from India, was executed in Riyadh for smuggling an unspecified quantity of heroin into the kingdom, according to the statement.
Friday's executions bring to at least 74 the number of people beheaded this year in the kingdom, where executions are carried out in public with a sword. Last year, 125 people were beheaded.
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam that demands the death penalty for murder, rape, drug trafficking and armed robbery."
Very Important Note: In Islam, determining the case as a rape case is important and would mean the difference between life and death to the man. There is a difference between a rapist who is caught raping innocent children as shown in the article above, or someone who forcibly raped a woman beyond her will after stalking her, and someone went with his girlfriend on his boat (by her own will) to the middle of the sea, and spent the night there together, and she came back claiming that he raped her.
If a woman seems that she invited a man to have sex with her, or was willing to have sex with him and both went away and came back later, and then she claims that he raped her, and he denies that, then her case would be considered invalid, and both of them would be determined to have had illegal sex, and therefore, both of them would get punished for it. The point is that, women don't always determine the rape case. And the men's lives are not under the women's mercy. The woman has to be stalked and raped in order for her case to be considered a rape case.
Do I agree with applying the above Saying of our beloved Prophet peace be upon him and not agree with applying his Sayings in the case of Apostates in Islam, and Punishment of adultery in Islam?
The above Saying of our beloved Prophet doesn't conflict with the laws of the Noble Quran, because only adultery/fornication was addressed in the Noble Quran and not rape explicitly for the "illegal sex" cases. In the case of "Apostates in Islam" and "Punishment of adultery in Islam" articles, I showed clearly that the Sayings of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him were temporary and Allah Almighty meant for them to be temporary, because Islam was still partial and the Muslims had to deal with many hypocrites from the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], and fix many social problems and corruptions that people used to live by before Islam. Allah Almighty in the Noble Quran set the Bigger Law for the two situations that must be followed for all times and all places.
It is important to know that many Muslim scholars believe in applying the punishment for adultery to the rapist, since as I said, the Noble Quran only addresses adultery/fornication for the "illegal sex" cases.
I personally think that since the Saying of our Prophet didn't exist in any of the "Sahih" volumes, which are the authentic volumes for his Sayings, then following this Saying in all cases would be seem to be unfair to the rapist, because (1) We don't know if the rapist in the Saying was a single or married man, which would make the difference between flogging him 100 stripes and stoning him to death; and (2) We don't have other witnesses other than the narrator for the validity of the Saying.
Important Note: Even the "stoning to death" for the married adulterer/adulteress is ambiguous, because it seems that Allah Almighty had replaced this law with the "flogging of 100 stripes" one. This is verified at this article.
Further sites to research:
Women in Christianity and Islam.
Girls getting raped at the age of 3 is allowed in the Jewish Holiest Book, the Thalmud.
X-Rated Pornography in the Bible.
Church Priests/Ministers who changed their sex and still preach in their Churches.
If the husband rapes his wife, is that a sin in Islam? Is there any answers to this in the Quran?
Back to Ask me any question section.
Women in Christianity and Islam.