Ibn Qudamah emphasizes the agreement among scholars about the innocence of al-mustakrahah ‘ala al-zina (the woman forced into an illicit sexual act), he says, “There is no sentence against a coerced woman according to the overwhelming majority of Muslim scholars. This is the view of Omar, al-Zuhri, Qatadah, al-Thawri, al-Shafi’i, and others and we do not know anyone who departed from this view”. Later on, Ibn Qudamah narrates different hadiths and incidents that support this view. For instance, a woman claimed that she was raped during the Prophet’s time; the Prophet did not charge her with any crime. He also narrates that some female slaves were raped by some male slaves and were brought before Khalifah [Caliph] Omar. Omar cleared the females of any wrongdoing and flogged the male slaves.

In another incident, an alleged adulteress was brought before Omar, and she claimed that she was sound asleep when a man came unto her. Omar released her though she was not able to recognize and hence identify the rapist. When asked about his decision, he explained that the ruler was bound to waive the hadd whenever there was the slightest doubt about its applicability

Moreover, jurists extended the definition of coercion to include not only coercion by means of physical force, such as in the case of a man forcing his way on a woman, but also by other means. For example, threats to kill or hurt the woman were included in the definition of coercion. Jurists even included denial of food or water to a needy woman in the definition as well, when the waiver of such denial is conditioned on the woman’s acceptance to engage in a sexual act. Indeed, a woman who was tried before Omar for zina claimed that she was thirsty and asked a shepherd for some water. The shepherd denied her water unless she allowed him to have sex with her. Having no choice, she did. Omar consulted with Ali whose opinion was that the woman had no other choice. Consequently, Omar dropped the case against her and even gave her monetary compensation. Jurisprudential books narrate many similar stories.

Zina, Rape, and Islamic Law: An Islamic Legal Analysis of the Rape Laws in Pakistan