Prominent UK Muslim Cleric Says There Is No "Rape Within Marriage"

There is no such thing as rape in marriage, according to a prominent Muslim cleric in the U.K. Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed, who heads the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain. Sayeed said that since "sex is part of marriage', and since ‘in Islamic Sharia, rape is adultery by force. So long as the woman is his wife, it cannot be termed as rape.’ He's basically saying that it's okay for a man to force his wife to have sex against her will, because she's his property after all. But forcing a woman to have sex against her will is RAPE, so he's in essence condoning the raping of wives. In comments made on the blog The Samosa and the Independent, Sayeed said,

sayeed gMhb7 16105

‘Clearly there cannot be any rape within the marriage. 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. ‘Of course, if it happened without her desire, that is no good, that is not desirable.’

Yes sexual intercourse is part of marriage but not when a woman is bullied and forced into having sex. The sexual union should be an expression of love, not to satisfy some animalistic male urge. We are human beings after all, not animals.

Rape within marriage is against the law in the West and we certainly don't need idiots like Sayeed encouraging men to rape their wives because they feel it is their right within Sharia law. He also told women not to go to the police after allegedly being raped by their husbands, at least

‘Not in the beginning, unless we establish that it really happened. 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.’

As for the punishment for men who have raped wives?

‘He may be disciplined, and he may be made to ask forgiveness. That should be enough.’

I'm sure the discipline would be simply a slap on the wrist. Thankfully, there are those in the Muslim community who condemned Sayeed's comments. Inayat Bunglawala, head of Muslims4UK (a counter group to the radical Islam4UK) said

‘Sheikh Sayeed’s comments are woefully misguided and entirely inappropriate. Rape – whether within marriage or outside it – is an abominable act and is clearly against the law.’

Rape is an act of violence, and according to a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, Dave Whatton, most rapes are perpetrated by those familiar with the victims.

‘We know that the majority of rapes do not take place through strangers attacking women late at night but between acquaintances and within marriages and partnerships.

‘It is a fundamental principle that Sharia law should not replace the laws of the UK. Putting out views that rape can be dealt with in another way fundamentally undermines everything we are trying to do,’ he said.

The problem is that there are many who would like to supplant UK laws with Sharia. And the UK isn't the only country.

What Sayeed is doing is encouraging men to rape their wives because he claims it's okay in Islam. Well, it's not okay in any religion. A woman has the right to say no, it's her body and if the husband can't control his urges then take a cold shower. If a man wants to love and respect from his wife, then he needs to treat her as a human being not a sexual object.