Bangsamoro Fatwa Bans Forced Marriage of Rape Victims

The Philippines' Bangsamoro region has issued a fatwa — a binding Islamic ruling — declaring it "haram" to force a rape victim to marry her attacker. The Bangsamoro Darul-Ifta, the region's highest Islamic advisory body, signed the ruling with 11 jurists. The same body endorsed forced marriage just 11 years ago.

In the same week that 400 child marriages were recorded in Gaza as war collapses women's protections, a Muslim-majority region 6,000 kilometres away just did the opposite.

The Same Body, Two Opposite Rulings

Here's the detail that makes this story matter. In November 2015, the Bangsamoro Darul-Ifta — the exact same institution — signed a fatwa that endorsed early and forced marriage. When the Philippines criminalised child marriage in 2022, BARMM leaders asked President Duterte to veto the law. One minister told the Philippine Inquirer: "It's culture, it's very hard to change."

Four years later, the same institution issued Fatwa No. 05, declaring that forcing a woman to marry her rapist "would impose upon her two heavy burdens: first, the trauma of the rape itself... and second, the lifelong obligation of being tied to the perpetrator of that crime."

Grand Mufti Sheik Abdulrauf Guialani led the ruling. Eleven Islamic jurists signed it.

What the Fatwa Actually Says

The language is precise. Rape is classified as "a heinous crime and a flagrant violation of honour." The ruling lays out specific penalties under Islamic Shari'ah: 100 lashes for an unmarried perpetrator, death for a married one. If weapons or kidnapping were involved, the penalty escalates to execution.

On marriage, the ruling draws a clear line: if the victim consents after penalties are imposed, marriage is permissible. "However, if she does not consent, no one, whether her guardian or anyone else, is allowed to force her to marry someone she does not want."

That's the sentence that matters. It strips the power from families, community leaders, and anyone else who historically settled rape cases with a wedding.

The Context Nobody Outside the Philippines Sees

Twenty-two rape cases were reported in BARMM in just January and February 2025 — and advocates say those numbers represent a fraction of actual assaults. During the 2017 Marawi siege, when 350,000 residents were displaced, reports of sexual violence by soldiers and armed groups surfaced in evacuation centres. Survivors described being coerced into sexual favours in exchange for food or protection.

This fatwa arrived after years of women's groups — Gabriela, UnYPhil-Women, Moro-Christian Peoples Alliance — pushing against a legal system that still blocks women from equal justice in 70% of countries. Oxfam Pilipinas called it a ruling that "compels Muslim families and religious leaders to protect rape victims."

Two Directions at Once

At least 20 countries still have "marry your rapist" laws that let perpetrators escape justice. Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan, and Lebanon repealed theirs in the past decade. Equality Now has helped overturn such laws in 12 countries.

Bangsamoro just joined that list — not through parliament, but through Islamic jurisprudence. A religious body used Shari'ah law to protect women, not restrict them.

At the same time, Gaza's child marriage crisis shows how fast those protections collapse under war. Same religion. Same month. Opposite directions. One shows what peace and self-governance can build. The other shows what war tears apart.

No major English-language outlet outside the Philippines has covered this fatwa. MindaNews broke the story. The Inquirer picked it up. The rest of the world didn't notice. A religious ruling that protects women from violence, from a region most people only associate with conflict — invisible.