2,743
edits
Wife Beating in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
Wife Beating in Islamic Law (view source)
Revision as of 22:27, 29 September 2016
, 29 September 2016→Wife-Beating in the Hadiths: New section on Muhammad's attempts to restrain the beatings. Needed given all the apologetics mentioning these things.
| [checked revision] | [checked revision] |
Lightyears (talk | contribs) |
Lightyears (talk | contribs) (→Wife-Beating in the Hadiths: New section on Muhammad's attempts to restrain the beatings. Needed given all the apologetics mentioning these things.) |
||
| Line 68: | Line 68: | ||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|7|6|715}}|Narrated Ikrima: 'Rifaa divorced his wife whereupon Abdur-Rahman married her. Aisha said that the lady came wearing a green veil and complained to her (Aisha) and showed her a '''green spot on her skin caused by beating.''' It was the habit of ladies to support each other, so when Allah's messenger came, Aisha said, '''"I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes'''! When Abdur-Rahman heard that his wife had gone to the prophet, he came with his two sons from another wife. She said, "By Allah! I have done no wrong to him, but he is impotent and is as useless to me as this," holding and showing the fringe of her garment. Abdur-Rahman said, "By Allah, O Allah's messenger! She has told a lie. I am very strong and can satisfy her, but she is disobedient and wants to go back to Rifaa." Allah's messenger said to her, "If that is your intention, then know that it is unlawful for you to remarry Rifaa unless Abdur-Rahman has had sexual intercourse with you." The prophet saw two boys with Abdur-Rahman and asked (him), "Are these your sons?" On that Abdur-Rahman said, "Yes." The prophet said, "You claim what you claim (that he is impotent)? But by Allah, these boys resemble him as a crow resembles a crow."}} | {{Quote|{{Bukhari|7|6|715}}|Narrated Ikrima: 'Rifaa divorced his wife whereupon Abdur-Rahman married her. Aisha said that the lady came wearing a green veil and complained to her (Aisha) and showed her a '''green spot on her skin caused by beating.''' It was the habit of ladies to support each other, so when Allah's messenger came, Aisha said, '''"I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women. Look! Her skin is greener than her clothes'''! When Abdur-Rahman heard that his wife had gone to the prophet, he came with his two sons from another wife. She said, "By Allah! I have done no wrong to him, but he is impotent and is as useless to me as this," holding and showing the fringe of her garment. Abdur-Rahman said, "By Allah, O Allah's messenger! She has told a lie. I am very strong and can satisfy her, but she is disobedient and wants to go back to Rifaa." Allah's messenger said to her, "If that is your intention, then know that it is unlawful for you to remarry Rifaa unless Abdur-Rahman has had sexual intercourse with you." The prophet saw two boys with Abdur-Rahman and asked (him), "Are these your sons?" On that Abdur-Rahman said, "Yes." The prophet said, "You claim what you claim (that he is impotent)? But by Allah, these boys resemble him as a crow resembles a crow."}} | ||
In the authentic version of the "[[Farewell Sermon]]", Muhammad compares women to domestic animals and once again orders men to beat their wives. | In the authentic version of the "[[Farewell Sermon]]", Muhammad compares women to domestic animals and once again orders men to beat their wives. | ||
| Line 90: | Line 88: | ||
It is clear from all of the above that wife-beating has been an accepted part of Islam since its inception. Muhammad was not against domestic violence and indeed permitted wife-beating in Islam. | It is clear from all of the above that wife-beating has been an accepted part of Islam since its inception. Muhammad was not against domestic violence and indeed permitted wife-beating in Islam. | ||
====Attempts to moderate the severity of the beatings==== | |||
It seems that Muhammad was concerned that the Muslim men were beating their wives too severely. Some hadiths record his efforts to control the severity of the beatings. | |||
{{Quote|{{Bukhari|8|73|68}}|Narrated `Abdullah bin Zam`a: | |||
The Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade laughing at a person who passes wind, and said, "How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then he may embrace (sleep with) her?" And Hisham said, "As he beats his slave"}} | |||
In another hadith, Muhammad advises a recently divorced woman against marrying someone who he knows to be 'very harsh with women'. | |||
{{Quote|{{Muslim|9|3527}}|Fatima bint Qais (Allah be pleased with her) reported: | |||
My husband Abu 'Amr b. Hafs b. al-Mughira sent 'Ayyish b. Abu Rabi'a to me with a divorce, and he also sent through him five si's of dates and five si's of barley. I said: Is there no maintenance allowance for me but only this, and I cannot even spend my 'Idda period in your house? He said: No. She said: I dressed myself and came to Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him). He said: How many pronouncements of divorce have been made for you? I said: Three. He said what he ('Ayyish b. Abu Rabi'a) had stated was true. There is no maintenance allowance for you. Spend 'Idda period in the house of your cousin, Ibn Umm Maktum. He is blind and you can put off your garment in his presence. And when you have spent your Idda period, you inform me. She said: Mu'awiya and Abu'l-Jahm (Allah be pleased with them) were among those who had given me the proposal of marriage. Thereupon Allah's Apostle (peace be upon him) said: Mu'awiya is destitute and in poor condition and Abu'l-Jahm is very harsh with women (or he beats women, or like that), you should take Usama b. Zaid (as your husband).}} | |||
In the following hadith, Muhammad says not to beat your wife's face. | |||
{{Quote|1=[http://sunnah.com/abudawud/12/97 AbuDawud 11:2137]|2=Narrated Mu'awiyah al-Qushayri: | |||
Mu'awiyah asked: Messenger of Allah, what is the right of the wife of one of us over him? He replied: That you should give her food when you eat, clothe her when you clothe yourself, do not strike her on the face, do not revile her or separate yourself from her except in the house. | |||
Abu Dawud said: The meaning of "do not revile her" is, as you say: "May Allah revile you".}} | |||
Another version of the same hadith is worded more generally, saying, "do not beat them". If this version is a more accurate reflection of what Muhammad said, it could be that it occured in the temporary period in which Muhammad forbade beating (see {{Abu Dawud|11|2141}} quoted above), or it may be an instruction against habitual beating. | |||
{{Quote|1=[http://sunnah.com/abudawud/12/99 AbuDawud 11:2139]|2=Narrated Mu'awiyah al-Qushayri: | |||
I went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and asked him: What do you say (command) about our wives? He replied: Give them food what you have for yourself, and clothe them by which you clothe yourself, and do not beat them, and do not revile them}} | |||
A hadith in Abu Dawud records 'A'isha saying that Muhammad never hit a woman, in contrast to {{Muslim|4|2127}} quoted above in which she says that Muhammad struck / pushed her painfully in the chest. It may be that Muhammad himself only rarely used physical force upon women. | |||
{{Quote|1=[http://sunnah.com/abudawud/43/14 AbuDawud 42:4768]|2=`A’isha said: | |||
the Messenger of Allah (saws ) never struck a servant or a woman.}} | |||
A lengthy hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud includes an instruction to beat your wives, but not severely, if they allow anyone whom you dislike to lie on your beds, which were rolled out on the floor in bedouin tents. 'beat them, but not severely' is in the arabic 'fa-idribuhunna darban ghayra mubarrihin"', and literally means 'beat them, a beating without violence, severity, sharpness, vehemence<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume1/00000219.pdf Lane's Lexicon] Book I page 182</ref>'. It is very similar to Muhammad's farewell sermon quoted above and includes the following: | |||
{{Quote|1=[http://sunnah.com/abudawud/11/185 AbuDawud 10:1900]|2=Fear Allaah regarding women for you have got them under Allah’s security and have the right to intercourse with them by Allaah’s word. It is a duty from you on them not to allow anyone whom you dislike to lie on your beds but if they do beat them, but not severely.}} | |||
Al-Tabari's tafsir for verse 4:34<ref>[http://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=1&tSoraNo=4&tAyahNo=34&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1 al-tafsir.com] Tabari's tafsir for 4:34</ref> seems to be the earliest record of the idea that wife beating should be done with a miswak / siwaak (a small stick-like item used as a toothbrush). These do not appear in the main sahih hadith collections, but are of interest nonetheless. | |||
{{Quote|1=<br>Al-Tabari's tafsir for verse 4:34|2=I said to Ibn ‘Abbaas, what is a non-severe beating? He said, Hitting with a siwaak and the like.}} | |||
The phrase 'non-severe beating' is 'darban ghayra mubarrihin'. See the word definitions explained above regarding its appearance in the Abu Dawud hadith and Muhammad's farewell sermon. | |||
Tabari also has Qatada clarifying that it means ghayr sha'in (without being disgraceful, outrageous, obscene, indecent). | |||
Note that there is a widespread apologetic fiction that 'darban ghayra mubarrih' means "a light tap that leaves no mark". The origin of this claim is obscure, but there is no justification for such a translation. | |||
Putting the hadiths together, it seems that Muhammad condemned those who beat their wives as severely as their slaves. At one time it seems that he forbade beating, before changing his mind. It seems that by the time of his farewell sermon he emphasised that beatings should not be severe. | |||
If Tabari's hadiths are to be believed, Muhammad at some point stated further that the beating should only be with a miswak or the like. It is, however, rather far fetched that verse 4:34 can be interpreted in this way. The idea that a husband should attempt to regain obedience from his wife by tapping her with a toothbrush after failure to achieve the desired result by admonishing her and banishing her from his bed is surely too nonsensical to have been the intended meaning of the verse when Muhammad first uttered it. | |||
==Early and Modern Muslim Scholars on Wife-Beating== | ==Early and Modern Muslim Scholars on Wife-Beating== | ||