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Wife Beating in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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Wife-beating is instructed by | Wife-beating is instructed by 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 maintainers of women and tells husbands that in certain circumstances they should, among other things, "beat them". Although hadiths narrate that Muhammad did not himself beat women and told men not to beat their wives too harshly, at the same time he provided tacit approval of wife beating, mildly referring to husbands who beat their wives as "not the best among you", reportedly forbade Muslims from questioning men who beat their wives, allowed his closest companions to slap his wives (known as "the Mothers of believers"), reaffirmed the command of wife-beating in his [[Farewell Sermon|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 (a recurring pattern especially in the case of 'Umar). Because of its many endorsements within Islamic scripture, wife-beating was permitted by Islamic jurisprudence and understood as a means of enforcing obedience to husbands, albeit with limitations which are unlikely to be adhered to in a domestic setting. This has led to domestic violence being permitted under law in a number of Muslim majority countries or being largely ignored by the authorities, while reformist scholars reduce the Quranic command to a symbolic gesture (a tap with a small stick) or attempt other interpretations. | ||
==Islamic scriptures and wife-beating== | ==Islamic scriptures and wife-beating== | ||
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{{Quote|{{Bukhari|7|72|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|72|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 | In his [[Farewell Sermon|''Farewell Sermon'']], Muhammad compares women to domestic animals (or according to other translations of the same word and in traditional exegesis, prisoners) and once more tells men to beat their wives, but unlike the Quran, adds the caveat 'but not severely'. | ||
{{Quote|{{Tabari|9|pp. 112-113}}|"Now then, O people, you have a right over your wives and they have a right over you. You have [the right] that they should not cause anyone of whom you dislike to tread on your beds; and that they should not commit any open indecency. If they do, then Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and '''to beat them, but not severely'''. If they abstain from [evil], they have the right to their food and clothing in accordance with the custom. Treat women well, for they are [like] domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves. You have taken them only as a trust from Allah, and you have made the enjoyment of their persons lawful by the word of Allah, so understand and listen to my words, O people.}} | {{Quote|{{Tabari|9|pp. 112-113}}|"Now then, O people, you have a right over your wives and they have a right over you. You have [the right] that they should not cause anyone of whom you dislike to tread on your beds; and that they should not commit any open indecency. If they do, then Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and '''to beat them, but not severely'''. If they abstain from [evil], they have the right to their food and clothing in accordance with the custom. Treat women well, for they are [like] domestic animals with you and do not possess anything for themselves. You have taken them only as a trust from Allah, and you have made the enjoyment of their persons lawful by the word of Allah, so understand and listen to my words, O people.}} | ||
In other versions of the farewell sermon the same comments about beating are reported, such as in the following version from a hadith in ''Sunan Abu Dawud'' (graded Sahih by the famous modern scholar of hadith al-Albani). Here, as in the Qur'an, Muslim men are instructed to beat their wives, although | In other versions of the farewell sermon the same comments about beating are reported, such as in the following version from a hadith in ''Sunan Abu Dawud'' (graded Sahih by the famous modern scholar of hadith, al-Albani). Here, as in the Qur'an, Muslim men are instructed to beat their wives, although all hadiths of the farewell sermon nuance this by adding 'not severely': | ||
{{Quote| | {{Quote|{{Abu Dawud||1900|Hasan}}|[...] 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. [...]}} | ||
The caveat, "but not severely", appears also in the other narrations of the farewell sermon in other hadith collections, although English translations in some cases have [[Mistranslations of Islamic Scripture (English)|mistranslated]] the same Arabic phrase as discussed below. | The caveat, "but not severely", appears also in the other narrations of the farewell sermon in other hadith collections, although English translations in some cases have [[Mistranslations of Islamic Scripture (English)|mistranslated]] the same Arabic phrase as discussed in the next section below. | ||
Altogether, the hadith report that (1) 'A'isha did not consider Muhammad himself to have ever hit a woman, although on one occasion he painfully pushed / struck her in the chest, (2) Muhammad at first forbade the beating of Muslim women, but was persuaded to allow it when Umar warned that the men were losing control of their wives, (3) Muhammad allowed some of his prominent companions to hit women and slap his own wives (the very women whom all Muslims adore and refer to as "the Mother of believers", (4) Muhammad merely makes a mild remark about other men when their wives complain about beatings (describing those that do so to the point of complaint as 'not the best among you'), (5) Muhammad forbade Muslims from questioning men who beat their wives, (6) three of the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs beat women, and (7) Muhammad reaffirms the Qur'anic command of wife-beating in his parting sermon, albeit "without severity". It is clear that wife-beating has been an accepted part of Islam since its inception. While Muhammad had some reservations about the beating of women, he repeatedly indulged men who physically disciplined women, including in his presence, and was ultimately persuaded to prescribe it as a divinely-instructed punishment for certain types of misconduct on the part of women. | Altogether, the hadith report that (1) 'A'isha did not consider Muhammad himself to have ever hit a woman, although on one occasion he painfully pushed / struck her in the chest, (2) Muhammad at first forbade the beating of Muslim women, but was persuaded to allow it when Umar warned that the men were losing control of their wives, (3) Muhammad allowed some of his prominent companions to hit women and slap his own wives (the very women whom all Muslims adore and refer to as "the Mother of believers", (4) Muhammad merely makes a mild remark about other men when their wives complain about beatings (describing those that do so to the point of complaint as 'not the best among you'), (5) Muhammad forbade Muslims from questioning men who beat their wives, (6) three of the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs beat women, and (7) Muhammad reaffirms the Qur'anic command of wife-beating in his parting sermon, albeit "without severity". It is clear that wife-beating has been an accepted part of Islam since its inception. While Muhammad had some reservations about the beating of women, he repeatedly indulged men who physically disciplined women, including in his presence, and was ultimately persuaded to prescribe it as a divinely-instructed punishment for certain types of misconduct on the part of women. | ||
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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}} | 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 lengthy hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud includes an instruction to beat one's wives, but not severely, if they allow anyone whom the husband dislikes to lie on their beds (these being were usually rolled out on the floor in Bedouin tents). In Arabic, 'beat them, but not severely' is ''fa-idribuhunna darban ghayra mubarrihin'', which literally translates to mean '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>'. The instruction here is nearly akin to that found in Muhammad's farewell sermon (quoted above) and includes the following: | A lengthy hadith containing an account of Muhammad's farewell sermon in Sunan Abu Dawud includes an instruction to beat one's wives, but not severely, if they allow anyone whom the husband dislikes to lie on their beds (these being were usually rolled out on the floor in Bedouin tents). In Arabic, 'beat them, but not severely' is ''fa-idribuhunna darban ghayra mubarrihin'', which literally translates to mean '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>'. The instruction here is nearly akin to that found in Muhammad's farewell sermon (quoted above) and includes the following: | ||
{{Quote| | {{Quote|{{Abu Dawud||1900|Hasan}}|[...] 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. [...]}} | ||
A shorter version of the Farewell Sermon can also be found in ''Sunan Ibn Majah''. The Arabic words rendered by the English translator as 'and hit them, but without causing injury or leaving a mark' are the same as those found in the | The version of the farewell sermon in Sunan Abu Dawud was collected also in Sahih Muslim and uses the same Arabic phrase. | ||
{{Quote|{{Muslim|7|2803}}|[...] Fear Allah concerning women! Verily you have taken them on the security of Allah, and intercourse with them has been made lawful unto you by words of Allah. You too have right over them, and that they should not allow anyone to sit on your bed whom you do not like. But if they do that, you can chastise them but not severely. [...]}} | |||
A shorter version of the Farewell Sermon can also be found in ''Sunan Ibn Majah''. The Arabic words rendered by the English translator as 'and hit them, but without causing injury or leaving a mark' are the same as those found in the Sunan Abu Dawud and Sahih Muslim hadith as well as al-Tabari's version of the farewell sermon (quoted in the previous section above), with the literal translation being, again, 'beat them, a beating without severity'. | |||
{{Quote|{{Ibn Majah||3|9|1851}}|Then he said: 'I enjoin good treatment of women, for they are prisoners with you, and you have no right to treat them otherwise, unless they commit clear indecency. If they do that, then forsake them in their beds and hit them, but without causing injury or leaving a mark.}} | {{Quote|{{Ibn Majah||3|9|1851}}|Then he said: 'I enjoin good treatment of women, for they are prisoners with you, and you have no right to treat them otherwise, unless they commit clear indecency. If they do that, then forsake them in their beds and hit them, but without causing injury or leaving a mark.}} | ||
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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. | ||
== | ==Islamic law and Quranic exegesis on wife beating== | ||
Classical Muslim scholars have written abundant [[Tafsir|commentary]] and jurisprudential material regarding {{Quran|4|34}} and instruction to beat wives. A few of these classical sources are quoted below, alongside some modern authorities. It is important to note that a number of Islamic modernists (a small sub-group of modern Islamic scholars in general) [[Wife Beating in Islamic Law#The objections of Islamic modernists|have advocated]] an interpretation of {{Quran|4|34}} that militates against traditional understanding and takes the beating instructed to be purely 'symbolic' in nature. The influence of these few, albeit vocal, modernists has resulted in some recent English translations of the Quran opting to replace the word ''daraba'', which is found in the Arabic text and which means 'beat', with alternative words that more readily evoke the modernist interpretation. | Classical Muslim scholars have written abundant [[Tafsir|commentary]] and jurisprudential material regarding {{Quran|4|34}} and instruction to beat wives. A few of these classical sources are quoted below, alongside some modern authorities. It is important to note that a number of Islamic modernists (a small sub-group of modern Islamic scholars in general) [[Wife Beating in Islamic Law#The objections of Islamic modernists|have advocated]] an interpretation of {{Quran|4|34}} that militates against traditional understanding and takes the beating instructed to be purely 'symbolic' in nature. The influence of these few, albeit vocal, modernists has resulted in some recent English translations of the Quran opting to replace the word ''daraba'', which is found in the Arabic text and which means 'beat', with alternative words that more readily evoke the modernist interpretation. | ||
===Quran commentaries=== | ===Quran commentaries=== | ||
A couple of important tafsirs are available in English. See also the discussion on al-Tabari's tafsir above. | |||
{{Quote|1=[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=672 Tafsir of Ibn Kathir for Qur'an 4:34]|2=(beat them) means, if advice and ignoring her in the bed do not produce the desired results, you are allowed to discipline the wife, without severe beating. Muslim recorded that Jabir said that during the Farewell Hajj, the Prophet said; | {{Quote|1=[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=672 Tafsir of Ibn Kathir for Qur'an 4:34]|2=(beat them) means, if advice and ignoring her in the bed do not produce the desired results, you are allowed to discipline the wife, without severe beating. Muslim recorded that Jabir said that during the Farewell Hajj, the Prophet said; | ||
(Fear Allah regarding women, for they are your assistants. You have the right on them that they do not allow any person whom you dislike to step on your mat. However, if they do that, you are allowed to discipline them lightly. They have a right on you that you provide them with their provision and clothes, in a reasonable manner.) Ibn `Abbas and several others said that the Ayah refers to a beating that is not violent. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said that it means, a beating that is not severe.}} | (Fear Allah regarding women, for they are your assistants. You have the right on them that they do not allow any person whom you dislike to step on your mat. However, if they do that, you are allowed to discipline them lightly. They have a right on you that you provide them with their provision and clothes, in a reasonable manner.) Ibn `Abbas and several others said that the Ayah refers to a beating that is not violent. Al-Hasan Al-Basri said that it means, a beating that is not severe.}} | ||
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===Reformists=== | ===Reformists=== | ||
The Egyptian-American reformist jurist Abou El Fadl argues using {{Quran|4|128}} and the farewell sermon that nushūz refers to sexual betrayal and that striking a wife is limited to that scenario, while the Saudi scholar Abd al-Hamid Abu Sulayman (d. 2021) claimed daraba in Q. 4:34 means to leave, withdraw, abandon her. He acknowledged that this was a break with 1400 years of Islamic tradition.<ref>Jonathan A. C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', p. 271, 277-78</ref> | The Egyptian-American reformist jurist Abou El Fadl argues using {{Quran|4|128}} and the farewell sermon that nushūz refers to sexual betrayal and that striking a wife is limited to that scenario, while the Saudi scholar Abd al-Hamid Abu Sulayman (d. 2021) claimed daraba in Q. 4:34 means to leave, withdraw, abandon her. He acknowledged that this was a break with 1400 years of Islamic tradition.<ref>Jonathan A. C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', p. 271, 277-78</ref> While El Fadl's interpretation of nushūz may be credible, Abu Sulayman's untenable interpretation of the Arabic word daraba (beat) as it is used in Q. 4:34 is discussed in the article [[The Meaning of Daraba]]. | ||
In mid 20th century Tunisia at a time of secularization, Ibn Ashur (d. 1975) claimed that Q. 4:34-35 was entirely addressed as an instruction to the court authorities. His view was based on sharia procedural analogy that only rarely can a party in a case act as judge and mete out punishment, as well as general experience that a man could not be trusted to restrain himself in private and will likely transgress limits.<ref>Jonathan A. C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', p. 279-80</ref> Critics would note this as an obviously implausible interpretation of verse 34 since husbands are directly instructed in that verse, most obviously when it tells them to forsake their wives in bed and given that the remedy in the verse is merely for when there is a "fear" of nushūz. | In mid 20th century Tunisia at a time of secularization, Ibn Ashur (d. 1975) claimed that Q. 4:34-35 was entirely addressed as an instruction to the court authorities. His view was based on sharia procedural analogy that only rarely can a party in a case act as judge and mete out punishment, as well as general experience that a man could not be trusted to restrain himself in private and will likely transgress limits.<ref>Jonathan A. C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', p. 279-80</ref> Critics would note this as an obviously implausible interpretation of verse 34 since husbands are directly instructed in that verse, most obviously when it tells them to forsake their wives in bed and given that the remedy in the verse is merely for when there is a "fear" of nushūz. | ||