A senior Muslim cleric in charge of Britain’s largest group of sharia law courts has claimed that there is no such thing as rape within marriage

Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed said that sex without a wife’s consent was not good but could not be called rape. Sheikh Sayeed, president of the Islamic Sharia Council, was criticized by police who warned that his remarks would make women more reluctant to report sexual assaults. Rape within marriage has been illegal in Britain since 1991. But according to Sheikh Sayeed, rape is defined in Islamic law as adultery by force. Therefore, if a husband forces himself upon his wife the attack cannot be termed rape, he said.