There is a lot of debate between Muslims and
non-Muslims about wife-beating. Something I’ve
noticed a lot is that people are often talking
passed each other on the issues, making it
difficult to figure out what the truth is. So I
wanted to bring some clarity.
One issue that non-Muslims, and especially ex-
Muslims, bring up is the verse in the Quran 4:34.
Now, there are a few different interpretations of
this verse, and what you’ll find is that some of
them are worse than others. But also, you’ll
notice that the Muslims that are siding with the
least bad ones, are actually claiming that they
are good , in other words not evil . So what I’m
going to do is present two translations, one from
each end of the spectrum of badness.
On one end of the spectrum we have the
translation by Sahih International [1]:
“Men are in charge of women by [right of] what
Allah has given one over the other and what they
spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So
righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding
in [the husband’s] absence what Allah would
have them guard. But those [wives] from whom
you fear arrogance – [first] advise them; [then if
they persist], forsake them in bed; and [finally],
strike them. But if they obey you [once more],
seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is
ever Exalted and Grand.”
Notice the part that says “Men are in charge of
women…” and “…righteous women are devoutly
obedient [to their husbands]…” This means that
husbands have authority over their wives. In
other words, wives are supposed to be obey their
husbands’ commands. Notice also that it tells
husbands how to deal with their wives when they
disobey – if she continues to disobey, the
husband is allowed to strike his wife, and that he
is supposed to stop as soon as obedience is
restored (“But if obey you [once more], seek no
means against them.”).
On the other end of the spectrum we have the
translation by Mir Ahmed Ali [2]:
“Men have authority over women on account of
the qualities with which God hath caused one of
them to excel the other and for what they spend
of their property. And as to those whose
perverseness ye fear, admonish them and avoid
them in beds and beat them (lightly) and if they
comply then seek not a way against them.
Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.”
Let’s talk about how the translations are
consistent, and how they contradict. As for the
consistencies, they both say: (1) that men have
authority over their wives, in other words, wives
are supposed to obey their husbands commands,
and (2) that one of the ways that a husband is
allowed to deal with his wife in the case of
disobeying him is to beat her, and that he should
stop beating her as soon as obedience is
restored.
Now before I get into the inconsistencies, I’d like
to talk about how some Muslims understand this
verse. They say that the part about the husband
having authority over his wife is actually about
the man being responsible for the wife’s care,
and in return for that responsibility, the wife
should respect her husband. But this is the same
meaning. It means the wife should do as her
husband asks. It’s the same as how lots of
parents treat their children. They tell their
children to respect them, and when children don’t
do what their parents tell them to do, the parents
say ‘you don’t respect me.’ So it’s the same
concept. They want obedience, and they expect
it because the husband is responsible for the
wife’s care. Never mind the fact that more and
more families have both spouses working, while
the wife still does all of the traditional work of
the wife, which means that in these families, the
wife is actually taking on more responsibility than
the husband. So in these families, if authority
should be given to the one that is most
responsible for family matters, then should the
husband respect and obey the wife? No! They
should be a team. They should work together.
They should discuss their disagreements
rationally as a means of coming to
agreement. No authority. No submission. And
about respect, it should be mutual, not one way!
Now for the inconsistencies. The second
translation involves a qualifier on how to do the
beating. It says to beat ‘lightly,’ while the first
translation doesn’t have this ‘lightly’ qualifier.
First I’d like to say that reading the Arabic, there
is no ‘lightly’ qualifier. Second, it’s in the Hadith,
not the Quran, where Mohamed said that the
beating should be ‘light’[3]. Third, and this is the
really interesting part, for the Muslims who think
that ‘beat lightly’ is the correct interpretation,
I’ve noticed that they think that this solves the
problem — that if ‘beat lightly’ is the correct
interpretation, then everything is fine, nothing is
wrong. This is so utterly ridiculous. It’s ignoring
reality. It’s basically saying, “you guys who claim
that the ‘lightly’ interpretation is wrong, are
wrong. And since you are wrong about that, you
are wrong about everything else about that verse
too. The Quran is perfect.” Um, but what about
the part about authority/obedience and the part
that allows initiating violence (lightly or not) as a
means of resolving disputes?
Let’s be very clear about this. The Quran is
advocating the following: There will be no
violence between you and your husband as long
as you obey him, and if you disobey him, your
husband has the right to initiate violence on you
in order to restore your obedience, and as soon
as you obey again, he is commanded to
immediately stop the violence on you. To clarify
the issue, let’s look at this from another
perspective. Do you think it’s right to say: There
will be peace as long as you obey my commands,
and if you disobey, I have the right to initiate war
on you in order to restore obedience, and as
soon as obedience is restored, I will make peace
again. This is pure evil. This is saying that the
one in the authority position is the master of the
slave – the slave being the one in the
submissive position. The slave is supposed to
obey his master, or suffer beatings at the hands
of the master. How can this be defended? Saying
that the beating should be ‘light’ is not a
defense. Initiating violence on a person in
response to a dispute is evil. Doing it lightly, is
still evil!
A second inconsistency between the two
translations is where the first translation says,
and if you fear your wife’s “arrogance,” and the
second translation says, and if you fear your
wife’s “perverseness.” I think that these are
pretty much saying the same thing, but some
Muslims have interpreted the “perverseness” part
to mean adultery. Now I’d rather not argue why
that’s wrong because it doesn’t matter to my
point, meaning that my point stands whether that
part is wrong or not. So the second translation,
and I mean the less aggressive interpretation, is
saying that husbands have authority over their
wives, in other words, women are supposed to
obey them, and that in cases where the wife
commits adultery, then her husband has the right
to beat her to make her obey again (to stop
committing adultery). Notice how this less
aggressive interpretation doesn’t say what men
are allowed to do in cases where their wives
disobey in general. So this doesn’t make any
sense. But again, even if this interpretation is
correct, it’s still evil to initiate violence on
someone for adultery. The right thing to do in a
case like this is to “agree to disagree.” That
means that the people in the dispute still
disagree about the main issue, but they at least
agree to not resort to violence, and so they leave
each other alone. In other words, in cases of the
woman committing adultery, the husband should
divorce her, not beat her. So why didn’t the
Quran outlaw initiating violence in cases of
adultery and instruct husbands to seek divorce
instead?
Another problem with this verse, and I mean
even the least aggressive interpretation, is that it
doesn’t say that wives have the right to beat
their husbands if the husband commits adultery.
Why the inequality? Well, it’s because the Quran
sees the husband as the master, and the wife as
the slave. In this framework, why would the
slave have the right to beat the master? That
would uproot the whole dynamic of the

Am a good islamic scolar...


pls d mods should take it easy wit me ooi

if I no tell say ur thread long dats means I no do well......we need summary of everything you wrote....