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What is the ruling on the crime of rape in Islamic law?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Rape is a forbidden crime punishable by Islam. The punishment for the rapist is the prescribed punishment for zina (unlawful sexual intercourse): stoning for the married person (muhsan), and one hundred lashes and exile for one year for the unmarried person (ghayr muhsan). Some scholars also obligate him to pay the woman's mahr (dowry). If the rape was committed under threat of weapon, the rapist is considered a muharib (one who wages war against Allah and His Messenger), and one of the punishments from the verse of hirabah (waging war) applies to him (execution, crucifixion, cutting off hands and feet from opposing sides, or banishment from the land). There is no punishment for the raped woman if her coercion is proven.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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