Wife Beating in the Qur'an

The Qur'an's fourth chapter, An-Nisaa' النساء, deals with a number of issues relating to men and women, and the relationship between husband and wife. Amongst these issues is the issue of when it is permissible for a husband to physically strike or beat his wife. One verse in particular, 4:34, lays out a three-scheme for how husbands, fearing nushuuz نشوز or disobediance from their wives, are to deal with them. In summary the steps are to first admonish her, then banish her to a different bed, and finally to beat her. The admonition is layed out in a matter-of-fact, very practical way, and it can thus be assumed that the Qur'an's audience was not highly disturbed nor surpised by this holy injunction for domestic violence. Over the centuries the mufassirun have taken up this verse and different scholars from different schools have come to different conclusions on the meaning of the verse vis-a-vis the three-step formula and what the meaning is exactly of nushuuz. All of the traditional scholars agree, however, that one way or another beating is an option that is available to the man. Modern progressive Muslims, under the influence of modern secular liberalism and its firm conviction that wife beating is never acceptable, have however rejected this tradition. Rather, they have sought a number of strategies to come to the conclusion that the Qur'an, and Islam as a whole, does not allow wife beating. These strategies include appeals to the hadith, appeals to peculariar juristic decisions, and linguistic reinterpretation of the verse, going so far as to lie about the meaning of the word "daraba" in this verse.

Introduction

The Qur'an takes up the issue of wife beating in two seperate passages. The first is Quran 4:34:

All of the agreed upon, relied upon Muslim translations of this verse into English agree that this verse instructs men on when and under what circumstances they are commanded to beat their wives. The verses sets out a three-part program for men dealing with "nushuuz" or disloyalty/disobediance. The three steps outlined are to first to admonist or sternly advise them to stop, then to seperate in the bedroom from them (somehow, commentators take up the question of what this means) and then, finally, to beat them. Yusuf Ali adds the word "lightly" to his translation, a word which is not found in the text of the verse. Rather, this word is found in the Farewell Sermon of the Prophet and a number of Hadith relating to the issue of wife beating. The particular turn of phrase here is "ghayr mubarrih" غير مبرح, a phrase meaning something like "not violently" or "not intensely." The scholarly consensus around this verse and the related traditions is that it is allowed and even instructed from Allah to strike a disobedient wife, however this strike must not cause grievous damage. The definitions of "grevious" or "serious" damage is subject to discussion by the commentators. The cause of the revelation, as will be seen below, leaves no doubt however that despite Muhammad's own wish on the matter it is the will of Allah that men strike their disobedient lives.

A second verse deals with the issue but much more obliquely.

ibn Kathir notes on this verse that Allah gave Ayub (Job) the option to hit his wife with a bundle of twigs without having to carry out his promise to beat her 100 blows:

This verse was later used in hadith and Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) to discuss alternatives to several hadd punishments in the case of frail, vulnerable people. These discussions, however, did not very often touch on the propriety of rightness of wife beating; discussions on this topic tended to proceed from the discussions around 4:34.

Linguistic Analysis of Verse in Arabic

The operative clause in Quran 4:34 reads:

This is the three-part path of spousal discipline the Qur'an offers husband. Transliterated into Latin letters it reads:

The first piece reads: r-rijālu qawwāmūna ʿalā n-nisāʾi bi-mā faḍḍala llāhu baʿḍahum ʿalā baʿḍin wa-bi-mā ʾanfaqū min ʾamwālihim ʾ ٱلرِّجَالُ قَوَّٰمُونَ عَلَى ٱلنِّسَآءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ ٱللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَبِمَآ أَنفَقُوا۟ مِنْ أَمْوَٰلِهِمْ which translates as "Men are in power/in charge of women by nature of what Allah has favored them one over the other and due to what they (the men) spend of their wealth."

r-rijālu--The men

qawwāmūna--In charge of/in power over

ʿalā--on, here with qawwāmūna meaning "of" or "over"

n-nisāʾ-- The women

The next piece reads: fa-ṣ-ṣāliḥātu qānitātun ḥāfiẓātun li-l-ghaybi bi-mā ḥafiẓa llāhu فَٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتُ قَٰنِتَٰتٌ حَٰفِظَٰتٌ لِّلْغَيْبِ بِمَا حَفِظَ ٱللَّهُ "And the righteous women, the obedient women, guard in hiddiness what Allah has guarded", usually meaning that they dress modestly.

fa-ṣ-ṣāliḥātu--the righteous/pure/religiously observant women

qānitātun--the obediant woment

ḥāfiẓātun--femine plural active particple of "guard" id est they are guarding or they guard

li-l-ghaybi--in unseenness/occlusion/secrecy

bi-mā ḥafiẓa--of what (Allah) guarded

llāhu-- Allah

The final piece of the verse reads: wa-llātī takhāfūna nushūzahunna fa-ʿiẓūhunna wa-hjurūhunna fī l-maḍājiʿi wa-ḍribūhunna وَٱلَّٰتِى تَخَافُونَ نُشُوزَهُنَّ فَعِظُوهُنَّ وَٱهْجُرُوهُنَّ فِى ٱلْمَضَاجِعِ وَٱضْرِبُوهُنَّ

wa-llātī takhāfūna-- and those (feminine plural) whom you (masculine second person plural) fear

nushūzahunna-- their (feminine plural) insolence, disobedience, uprising; this word was key to understanding this verse, and the mufasirrun and jurists went to lengths to define this. For modern progressive Muslims the meaning of this word has also been important.

fa-ʿiẓūhunna--(plural command form) scold them/admonish them (feminine plural them)

wa-hjurūhunna fī l-maḍājiʿi

wa-ḍribūhunna--(plural command form) beat them (feminine plural them). In modern times some translators and progressive Muslims have engaged in outright deception about the meaning of this word in this verse, translating it as things other than "beat them (the woman)." These translations are patently false; see The Meaning of Daraba.

Asbab An-Nuzuul of the Verse

The أسباب النزول or "reasons of revelation" are a genre of Islamic literature that deals with the contexts in which particular verses and groups of verses were "revealed" to the prophet. According to traditional reckoning, the verses of the Qur'an were not revealed chapter-by-chapter but rather piecemeal and then later arranged into the individual surahs of the Qur'an. As such individual verses or groups of verses have unique stories in the Islamic tradition associated with them, explaining their context.

The earliest book around Asbab An-Nuzuul is a book of the same name by Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi (d. 1075 CE). He did not cover the majority of verses in the Qur'an but he did cover these verses. Al-Wahidi writes:

Al-Wahidi also gives a second version of the same story:

He also offers a seemingly abridged 3rd version of the story:

From all of these a general story can be extracted: a man hit his wife, there was a complaint against him in the community for this, and Muhammad ordered the punishment of the wife beater. The sources portray this desire of Muhammad to outlaw wife-beating as being opposed by the will of Allah (God). Allah sends down this verse in response to these circumstances, showing that contra Muhammad it is the will of Allah specifically, as opposed to the will of the prophet, that men should beat their own wives if they are disobedient.

Tafsirs of the Verse

Classical Tafsirs

Tabari (839-923)

After the above quoted portion Tabari goes on to site multiple additional chains of narration, all attesting to the fact that disobedient women should be struck and reiterating that this strike should be "ghayr mubarrih" غير مبرح that is to say "measured, non-intense, light."

Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi(1150 – 1209)

ibn Kathir (1300-1373)

Al-Jalalayn (1389–1460 and 1445–1505)

Modern Tafsirs

Abul A'la Al-Maududi (1903-1979)

Evidence from the Hadith

Modern Views and Perspectives on the Meaning of Qur'an 4:34

See Also

• Wife Beating in Islamic Law

External Links

• Marriage to Minors: Surah At-Talaq (65:4) - Answering Islam

References