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Wife Beating in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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{{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=4}} | {{QualityScore|Lead=3|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=4|References=4}} | ||
[[File:A scene from submission.jpg|right|thumb|278px|A scene from Submission, a film about domestic violence in Islam, by Theo van Gogh.]] | [[File:A scene from submission.jpg|right|thumb|278px|A scene from Submission, a film about domestic violence in Islam, by Theo van Gogh.]] | ||
Wife-beating is instructed by the the Qur'an and the Hadiths, and has been an accepted part of Islam law since its inception. {{Quran|4|34}} states that men are in charge of women and that husbands may, among other things, beat their wives if they fear disobedience. Although prophet Muhammad suggested that men not beat their wives too harshly, he at the same time provided tacit approval of wife beating by not scolding Muslims for beating their wives, | Wife-beating is instructed by the the Qur'an and the Hadiths, and has been an accepted part of Islam law since its inception. {{Quran|4|34}} states that men are in charge of women and that husbands may, among other things, beat their wives if they fear disobedience. Although prophet Muhammad suggested that men not beat their wives too harshly, he at the same time provided tacit approval of wife beating by not scolding Muslims for beating their wives, mildly referring to husbands who beat their wives as "not the best among you", forbade Muslims from questioning men who beat their wives, allowed others to hit his wives (his wives are known as "the Mothers of believers"), reaffirmed the command of wife-beating in his farewell sermon, and himself struck one of his wives in the chest. In addition to Muhammad's actions, three of the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs are also reported to have beaten women. Because of its many endorsements within Islamic scripture, wife-beating is permitted by the majority of Muslim scholars and leaders. This has led to domestic violence being permitted under law in several Islamic states or being largely ignored by the authorities. | ||
==Islamic scriptures and wife-beating== | ==Islamic scriptures and wife-beating== | ||
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Putting together, the hadiths suggest that Muhammad condemned those who beat their wives as severely as they beat their slaves. It is also evident that, at least for some time, Muhammad forbade wife-beating altogether. It is also evident that Muhammad then reverted from this position to permitting wife-beating, albeit this time around while encouraging his male companions not to beat their wives as severely as they beat their slaves. This final position is also found reiterated in the various versions of his final sermon reported found in the hadith literature. | Putting together, the hadiths suggest that Muhammad condemned those who beat their wives as severely as they beat their slaves. It is also evident that, at least for some time, Muhammad forbade wife-beating altogether. It is also evident that Muhammad then reverted from this position to permitting wife-beating, albeit this time around while encouraging his male companions not to beat their wives as severely as they beat their slaves. This final position is also found reiterated in the various versions of his final sermon reported found in the hadith literature. | ||
Tabari, a source Islamic scholars view as being considerably less reliable than the sahih hadiths, also reports that Ibn Abbas | Tabari, a source Islamic scholars view as being considerably less reliable than the sahih hadiths, also reports that Ibn Abbas narrated that Muhammad at some point instructed that Men should only beat their wives with the twig-like device known as a ''miswaak''. Many doubt the reliability of this report, which appears to contradict the overall message of the hadith literature, but it is equally possible that Muhammad at some point actually endorsed this view, only to finally adopt the position indicated in the farewell sermon. | ||
Critics have also noted what they describe as the sheer absurdity of the qualification found in the report and suggest that it could hardly be that God would leave out such an important qualification from the verse which, read in isolation, simply instructs men to beat their wives. To do so, critics suggest, would be a serious lack of judgement on God's part. Critics have also ridiculed the absurdity of the practice itself - what is the purpose, they ask, of tapping one's wife with a twig? And why would ''this'' prove effective if admonition of one's wife and abandoning her in bed had proven ineffective - surely tapping someone with a twig cannot be more compelling than either of these measures? Such a practice, critics conclude, is, at worst, a humiliating and patronizing symbolic gesture (having no place in polite society), or, at best, a fiction generated in the minds of later Muslims (that is, 7th, 8th, or 9th century Muslims attributing this idea, retroactively, back to Ibn Abbas) who were having a hard time reconciling the conflicting imperatives of an early Islamic tradition which at once taught Muslims to be kind to one another - and to beat their wives. | Critics have also noted what they describe as the sheer absurdity of the qualification found in the report and suggest that it could hardly be that God would leave out such an important qualification from the verse which, read in isolation, simply instructs men to beat their wives. To do so, critics suggest, would be a serious lack of judgement on God's part. Critics have also ridiculed the absurdity of the practice itself - what is the purpose, they ask, of tapping one's wife with a twig? And why would ''this'' prove effective if admonition of one's wife and abandoning her in bed had proven ineffective - surely tapping someone with a twig cannot be more compelling than either of these measures? Such a practice, critics conclude, is, at worst, a humiliating and patronizing symbolic gesture (having no place in polite society), or, at best, a fiction generated in the minds of later Muslims (that is, 7th, 8th, or 9th century Muslims attributing this idea, retroactively, back to Ibn Abbas) who were having a hard time reconciling the conflicting imperatives of an early Islamic tradition which at once taught Muslims to be kind to one another - and to beat their wives. | ||