Jurisprudential and Legal Study of Adultery and Rape: a study of the concept and Method of Establishment

Sexual acts beyond the prescribed limits are considered immoral in different societies, and members of society usually resist against them. Indicating the proper lifestyle in different aspects towards reaching perfection, the religion of Islam has prescribed certain punishments for these heinous acts. Two examples of the heinous acts are adultery and rape. One of the issues raised in the ways of establishing the offence of adultery is neglecting the rights of victims in rape. The reason is that the divine legislator has made the ways of establishing this offence extremely hard due to preservation of certain interests in the life of human beings. Thus the rights of victims of rape are trampled. Studying the Islamic procedure in establishing crimes committed against God and those committed against people and clarifying the concepts of adultery and rape based on Islamic traditions, the present article explains the difference between them and argues that following this distinction, the process of establishing adultery which requires mutual consent is different from rape.