su≠ud states that a woman who defends herself in
this way has committed an act of jihad. Jihad in this
case is a matter of self-defense and illuminates the
meaning of jihad as more than a defense of Islam
against attack.
Evidence requirements for rape in Islamic law
fall into two categories, eyewitness accounts and
oath taking. If eyewitness evidence is available,
four male eyewitnesses must appear and must have
seen the act of penetration itself “as a rope in a col-
lyrium jar” or “like a well-rope in a well.” The evi-
dence requirements are extremely rigid in these
cases making it difficult if not impossible to prove
cases of zinàparticularly, since rape often took
place in private and secluded spaces. Even in cases
where potential witnesses were in close proximity,
rape was difficult to prove. In a case found in
Sharì≠a court records from Aleppo one rapist
stuffed a handkerchief into the mouth of his victim
to keep her from screaming according to the vic-
tim’s testimony. This prevented a call for aid or the
arrival of witnesses at the scene of the crime. Oath
taking, however, was an option for powerful testi-
mony in the court and on occasion rape victims
would use the oath for recourse. Oaths were taken
very seriously in premodern Islamic courts: a wit-
ness swore by God in front of a judge that an event
had or had not occurred. In the early modern
period professional midwives would appear in
court as expert witnesses to attest to the condition
of the rape victim offering testimony of forced entry.
Often the sources advocate punishment without
specifying its form. The Ottoman imperial codes
advocate imprisonment for rapists, but if the crime
is combined with other crimes, such as breaking
and entering and abduction, the severity of the pun-
ishment increases to castration. In the court records
compensation was the standard punishment for
rape offenses in an amount to be paid to the victim.
Compensation was a variation on customary pay-
ments (diya) for bodily damage found in Islamic
law.
Missing in the kanùn-nàmes is a specific category
or language for rape. Euphemisms are used to
describe cases of rape (as well as other cases of
zinà) in the kanùn-nàmes and court records. The
kanun-names use terms such as “abduction by
force” (çikup cebr ile) and “forceable marriage”
(nikâh itdiduruna cebr ile) to describe issues of gen-
der violence. Ottoman sources also use the familiar
term “forced zinà” (zina cebr ile) to describe rape.
This euphemistic approach to a delicate subject can
cloud the real issue at law: that in cases of abduc-
tion, forced marriage, and forced zinà, the victim is
unwilling and therefore a victim of rape. In the
overview 699Ottoman and Arabic legal codes the term “force”
(cebr, jabr) conveys the meaning of a non-consen-
sual act and cannot be ignored. It is not until the
nineteenth century that a new word appears in the
Arabic vocabulary to describe rape cases. Igh†isàb,
a term that literally means illegal appropriation,
becomes the standard term to describe this crime.
The evolution and development of the word evokes
the patriarchal values of the ancient Mesopotamian
world in which rape was viewed as a crime against
property. In the ancient code of Hammurabi, rape
was seen as a usurpation of a husband or father’s
property depending on the marriage status of the
victim. In turn, a rapist was to be punished in accor-
dance with theft laws in ancient Mesopotamia and
not for sexual assault. Jewish law, on the other
hand, recognized rape as a criminal offense of the
same type as physical assault and murder. Under
the category of zinàcriminal offences, Islamic law
treats rape as both a sexual offense and an attack
on property. Another concept that becomes
attached to the meaning of rape in the modern
period is that of honor. The application of the term
hatk al-≠ir∂, literally meaning to “violate the
honor” of a person, can also be patriarchal. The
question hangs – whose honor has been violated,
the woman’s or her patriarch’s – be it her father,
husband or brother. As Islamic law developed spe-
cific legal categories for rape, premodern patriar-
chal values were conveyed through the concept of
igh†isàband hatk al-≠ir∂.Rape in the Islamic world
today
Rape has increasingly become an issue of debate
as modern codes of law have offered legal loop-
holes for rapists to evade punishment. One major
change is the way in which rapists are punished. In
the early modern period, the laws advocated pun-
ishments such as castration and imprisonment, yet
most often the offender was given a fine and paid
“compensation” to the victim. In the modern
period laws have made it more difficult for women
to prosecute their attackers and even encourage
rape victims to marry their attackers. This practice,
common in Egypt, was fostered to discourage
abductions of young women.
Today, a common legal device used by rape
offenders is the moral profiling of women who are
“asking for it.” Cases in Pakistan show that work-
ing women, in particular women who work at
night, are often profiled as “loose” women and tar-
gets of rape. Often the modus operandiof rapists is
a gang attack, in which several rapists unite against
a single woman. One explanation proposed as to