Rape is a grave sin and a major legal crime on the part of the assailant, and if legally proven it may be punishable by death in Islam.

In Islam, Rapists may be punished by death under the Islamic State ruling; and people say Islam is harsh - imagine if your own mother was raped in front of you?

The assaulted woman, however, would not be considered a sinner, since she was overwhelmed and could not be blamed for it. In gynaecological practice the medico-legal implications of alleged rape are obvious and clinical and laboratory data should be sought with diligence.

To avoid the tragedy of rape being further confounded by a possible pregnancy, a contraceptive hormone dose is usually given and if not too late it will prevent an undesired pregnancy that could not be disposed of once materialised.

The incidence of the crime of rape in a society cannot be isolated from the general moral climate. It usually goes with license, drugs and alcohol, the impact of the media, pruritic television and cinema and even seductive women's fashion.

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