Rape in Islamic law
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In Islam, human sexuality is governed by Islamic law, also known as Sharia. Accordingly, sexual violation is regarded as a violation of moral and divine law. Islam divides claims of sexual violation into 'divine rights' (huquq Allah) and 'interpersonal rights' (huquq al-'ibad): the former requiring divine punishment (hadd penalties) and the latter belonging to the more flexible human realm.
Rape can be defined as: "Forcible illegal sexual intercourse by a man with a woman who is not legally married to him, without her free will and consent". Islamic primary law sources, like the legal systems of classical antiquity and the ancient Near East, does not contain a true equivalent of the modern concept of rape, which based on the modern notions of individual inviolability of the body. Classical jurisprudence, attempted to fill this gap by likening rape to defined crimes such as adultery and hirabah. However, some distinctions were made between rape and adultery.
In the case of rape, the adult male perpetrator (i.e. rapist) of such an act is to receive the ḥadd zinā, but the non-consenting or invalidly consenting female (i.e. rape victim) is to be regarded as innocent of zinā and relieved of the ḥadd punishment. According to Professor Oliver Leaman, the required testimony of four male witnesses having seen the actual penetration applies to illicit sexual relations (i.e. adultery and fornication), not to rape.
Rape charges can be brought and a case proven based on the sole testimony of the victim, providing that circumstantial evidence supports the allegations. ..... It (requirements for proof of rape as zina) happens either due to misinterpretation of the intricacies of the Sharia laws governing these matters, or cultural traditions; or due to corruption and blatant disregard of the law, or indeed some combination of these phenomena.
In Islamic fiqh rape is also called Zina Al-Zibr or Ightisab, and according to some interpretations it falls under the rules of Hirabah (piracy or unlawful warfare). Classical Islamic law (Shari'a) regarded the crime of sexual violation as a coercive zina, and therefore a hudud offence.