Marital rape and domestic violence in Islamic law
Ubaida ibn As-Samit reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, issued a decree:
لاَ ضَرَرَ وَلاَ ضِرَارَ
Do not cause harm or return harm.
Source: Sunan ibn Majah 2340, Grade:
Hasan
And the juristic principle is stated as follows:
الضَّرَر يُزَال
Harm should be removed.
Source:
Al-ashbāh wa-al-naẓāʼir 7
The classical scholars often stated this as an explicit right of the wife when discussing the rights and duties of marriage in general.
Al-Qurtubi writes:
إِنَّ لَهُنَّ عَلَى أَزْوَاجِهِنَّ تَرْكُ مُضَارَّتِهِنَّ كَمَا كَانَ ذَلِكَ عَلَيْهِنَّ لِأَزْوَاجِهِنَّ
Their husbands must not harm them, in the same way that they have rights over their wives.
Source: Al-Jāmiʻ li-aḥkām al-Qurʼān 2:228
And Az-Zamakhshari writes:
وَلَا يُعَنِّفُ أَحَدُ الزَّوْجَيْنِ صَاحِبَهُ
Neither spouse should be violent against his or her companion.
Source: Al-Kashshāf ʻan ḥaqāʼiq 2:228
And Al-Baydawi writes:
وَحُقُوقَهُنَّ الْمَهْرُ وَالْكَفَافُ وَتَرْكُ الضِّرَارِ وَنَحْوُهَا
Among her rights is the dowry, to be free from harm, and so on.
Source: Anwār al-tanzīl 2:228
And Ar-Razi writes:
لَا إِيصَالَ الضَّرَرِ إِلَيْهَا بَيَّنَ أَنَّ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنَ الزَّوْجَيْنِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْآخَرِ
No harm should come to her. It has been clarified that each one of the spouses has a right over the other.
Source: Mafātīḥ al-ghayb 2:228
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