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Fatwa CenterWitnesses needed to validate a woman's claim to being raped
Question
Concerning if a woman is raped, since four witnesses are required to validate that she is not lying well, give me a break. If the woman can't produce four witnesses to say she was raped, then she has no hope in the world of getting justice.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
You have to know that Islamic religion is based on wisdom and is revealed by Allaah, Who is the All-Knower and All-Wise. His Word is the Truth, His Rulings are just and He does not wrong anyone. Among the most important principles which Islam has legislated in justice system is that the complainant has to provide evidence to prove his claim, otherwise it would not be taken into account. All sane people agree to this principle. That is because if every person who claims something, is heard and given the right, that would cause an injustice to some people's wealth and honour [dignity]. So whoever claims that he/she is wronged, whether it is rape or otherwise has to provide an evidence towards that effect. If he/she cannot prove it, his/her claim would not be taken into account, and if he/she proves his/her claim, the abuser [wrongdoer] will be punished for his/her crime. However, if there is no evidence and it is just a claim, then it would be an injustice to punish the defendant just because of a claim, whether he is a rapist or a thief. Among the accepted rules is that the accused is innocent until he is proven guilty.
Therefore, it is not intended to wrong the woman or prejudice her, as some people would think. Rather, the objective is to be cautious about people's honour and dignity, and about their wealth; so these should not be transgressed because of any meaningless cause.
Finally, it should be noted that whoever is wronged and was unable to provide evidence, his right is not lost in the sight of Allaah, as the injured person will surely have his right returned on the Day of Judgement.
Allaah knows best.
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