Rape
In 2004 The Daily Telegraph reported that IslamOnline was asked the following question "Are raped women punished in Islam?", and a panel headed by Qaradawi replied: "To be absolved from guilt, the raped woman must have shown some sort of good conduct... Islam addresses women to maintain their modesty, as not to open the door for evil... The Koran calls upon Muslim women in general to preserve their dignity and modesty, just to save themselves from any harassment... So for a rape victim to be absolved from guilt, she must not be the one that opens... her dignity for deflowering...If, after trying her best to resist the attack, she gets overcome by the assailants, she is totally absolved from punishment... any woman, who, despite doing her utmost to resist these thugs and their ilk, is raped, is not guilty of any sin."
The report by the Sunday Telegraph was challenged by the Muslim Association of Britain, who believed the article falsely attributed the comments to al-Qaradawi and was part of a "right-wing media" attempt to "stoke up the flames of hate" against al-Qaradawi. They demanded that the Telegraph issue a full apology as well as the resignation of the two writers of the article. IslamOnline denied that al-Qaradawi wrote the answer, and claimed that they clearly stated raped women were not punished.
Read more about this topic: Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Views and Statements, Women and Gender Issues