Any society where rape becomes ubiquitous and rapists are condoned is a disaster-prone society. Rapists are hard-edged criminals and I don’t know any where in the world where rape is not a crime. It is never a way of life. Subtract religion from the equation and add secularism to it, rape is still a crime. In other words, even in the most extreme secularist clime where God is considered non-existent and religion hasn’t the minutest influence in their affairs, rape is still not condoned.
Understandably, it is difficult for rape addicts to be weaned from what they consider a ‘pleasurable’ addiction. I still could not understand how pleasurable is the ‘pleasure’ derived from inflicting dehumanizing pains on innocent girls, ladies, and women. Rapists are savage sadists.
Under the Sharia which is the best remedy to this seeming incurable disease, a rapist—under most circumstances—which criminality is sufficiently established and red-handedly caught cannot witness the next day. Because they do not deserve existence, not only among humans but, even among other living creatures. They don’t belong in any civilized society. The painful noise of rape victims during the act is itself torturous. How would somebody, on earth, derive pleasure from that?
While religious preachers continue to sermonise against it, only the government can put a stop to this menace through its coercive power which it legitimately possesses and wields. Of course, there are many legislations against rape. But these laws have not been exemplarily executed. Many encumbering factors come to play when cases of rape are established. Rapists may be connected to some politicians, traditional rulers or other wielders of power and influence in the society (including devilish ritualists). When these factors come to play, the case is undoubtedly dead.
Rape victims are condemned to womb-to-tomb trauma especially if they are from homes or milieus where morality is valued and female virginity before marriage is treasured. Let me use this medium to admonish men who insist on marrying virgins. Don’t waste your time on a wild goose chase. Many (if not most) have lost it to rape. But this might have nothing to do with their decency and chastity. Not all deflowered ladies are prostitutes. Many of them are INNOCENT rape victims; raped by men and now maligned by men. What a pity!
I emphasised INNOCENT because not all rape victims are innocent. Some victims invite rapists—consciously or unconsciously—to themselves by flaunting it (you know what I mean) and displaying what should be commonsensically veiled. They call it freedom of expression. It is a classic case of lascivious guy who gets provoked by a voluptuous lady. Anyway, whatever provokes rape, a rapist is a rapist. Full stop.
Men who could not settle for anything but virgin when it comes to marriage should know that virginity does not determine good wife. That a lady is not a virgin does not make her irresponsible. Conversely, her virginity does not make her responsible. We must take note. Nevertheless, men’s sense of hedonism, when it comes to this ‘thing’, is too utopian—it will not settle for anything but virgin.
But are unmarried men also virgvins? This is a big question. We should note that males are also victims of rape. There are situations where ladies also raped men (especially boys) when they couldn’t suppress it. It is only that the pendulum always swings in favour of men because what hides between the two laps are physiologically and structurally different. The biological make up favours men but not women. It is thus easy for someone to open his big mouth to claim he is a virgin and even ask if a lady he intends to marry is.
Having said that, two incidents this week weigh me down—I am literally depressed. The extremely primitive people of the pre-historic Stone Age would definitely grimace at these incidents. But this is happening in our midst—despite being civilized. They are both cases of rape. One in Lagos; the other one in Ebonyi State.
A married man in a Lagos hotel abandoned his girl friend in hotel room only to rape the receptionist. This is “triangulation of enjoyment”. Wife at home? Side chick in hotel room? Yet receptionist not spared? This is dreadful!
It happened, as reported, that the 19-year-old victim (receptionist) was asleep at the reception of the hotel when one of the lodgers woke her up and requested for a towel at midnight. As she went to get the towel at the backyard, she felt the urge to relieve her self at the general toilet at the backyard. This lodger waylaid her in the toilet.
According to her, “He wore only his underpants when he blocked me inside the toilet. I saw a bottle with him and he said if I refused to have sex with him, he would use the bottle to kill me. He raped me inside the toilet and after he was done, he left me there”
This is terrible! How could man be this wicked!? I concluded it is lack of education which makes people behave savagely. It later dawned on me that it isn’t lack of education when I further read about the arrest of a married professor for allegedly raping 12-year-old gateman’s daughter. O my God! Though I later learned he is not a prof—he is a senior lecturer. That doesn’t matter. The point here is that: he is educated; his work is to impart knowledge; yet barbaric!
This sexual assault, as alleged, has been going on for six months. The little girl lamented; “My daddy brought me to live with Prof. in Abakaliki. Since June this year, he had been disturbing me. He always came into my room and did what I did not like…One day around 2am, I ran to my father at the security house and told him that Prof. was pressing my…” Readers may which to read the details in The Punch Newspaper. I am too shy to say what the Prof. pressed.
This is very painful. She did report ‘Prof.’ to her father but there is nothing the father could do because of poverty and the power asymmetry—a poor gatekeeper to a ‘Prof.’ She continued, “One day, I woke up and my bed was soaked with blood. I did not know what happened. I told my father in the morning, but he did not do anything. He used to tell me that if I leave Prof.’s house, who would pay my school fees? That is how Prof. has continued to disturb me until I told my aunty in the school because I didn’t like that nonsense Prof was doing.”
Now someone would callously ask if she is a virgin when seeking her hand in marriage. This kind of question only aggravates her pains, exacerbates her trauma, and unsettles anyone who is reasonable. Is it her fault not to be a virgin? Men! Please stop asking this question.
When Allah instructs that men should marry more than one, it sounds pre-modern to us. When He legislates that a married man (or woman) who fornicates (or rapes) be stoned to death, we argue it is too barbaric. When the Prophet (SAW) said no man should isolate himself—in camera—with a strange lady (or girl), we say this is too weird. When the Qur’an says we should lower our gaze and dress politely, we say it denies us freedom of expression. When it says we should avoid intoxicants in toto, we ask: why is Islam always against ‘pleasure’?
I don’t know of any better way to address the menace of rape than following the Islamic injunctions. May Allah heal the wounds of all victims of rape. May we not be rapists; and may Allah strengthen us in righteousness.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
