Is Rape in Muslim Marriage Possible?
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/10/19/is-rape-in-muslim-marriage-possible/
It is just one more reason to ban Sharia law in the West.
A Muslim cleric in Great Britain ignited a storm of protest last week when it was revealed he had stated earlier this year there was no such thing as rape within marriage. Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed, who heads the Sharia Council of Britain that runs, according to Britain’s Independent newspaper, the country’s “largest network of Islamic courts,” made his appalling statement during an interview last March with the blog, The Samosa.
“Clearly there cannot be any rape within the marriage,” he said. “Maybe aggression, maybe indecent activity…Because when they got married the understanding was that sexual intercourse was part of the marriage, so there cannot be anything against sex in marriage.”
Sayeed’s vile sentiments, however, did not stop at his Dark Ages belief that women in Muslim marriages do not have any legal recourse when sex is forced upon them in marriage. The imam also was reported as saying he does not want women to immediately inform police about sexual assaults “unless we establish that it really happened.” The learned imam, you see, believes most married women who report sexual assaults are lying and should first be questioned by courts like his before involving the authorities.
“Because in most of the cases, wives have been advised by their solicitors that one of the four reasons for which a wife can get a divorce is rape, so they are encouraged to say things like this,” said the immigrant from Bangladesh who arrived in Britain in 1977.
And if that wasn’t enough, Sayeed went on to say that even if rape is established, there should be no criminal charges laid against the husband since “sex is a part of marriage.” Moreover, as marital rape is defined in Islamic law as adultery by force, it cannot therefore be termed rape in the imam’s world, if the woman is his wife.
Police, naturally, are reported as being furious with Sayeed’s comments since British newspapers state law enforcement officials are already having a difficult time in getting women to report rape. Rape in marriage was made illegal in Great Britain in 1991 and is regarded overall as an under-reported crime. The police should probably now investigate Sayeed to discover whether he has interfered with victims wanting to report sexual assaults and inform him his views may actually be inciting a crime.
The irony of the situation is that the sheikh was once held up as a model for the acceptance of Sharia law in Great Britain. His “court,” run out of a converted corner store in East London and lined with shelves of books on Islamic law, was supposed to be the opposite of the stereotype most Westerners hold of Sharia courts: barbarous institutions run by religious fanatics who order the cutting off of hands, the stoning of women, and the murdering of apostates.
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