He told Muslim men that they could beat their wives, in accord with Qur’an 4:34, but wouldn’t you know it? His remarks were taken out of context!
“Samir Abu Hamza has told a confidant his message has been taken out of context and that he was referring to hitting wives in a metaphorical sense.”
Wow! I’ve never heard that before! That makes it all make sense! Of course! He meant metaphorical wife-beating! You know, the kind of thing people mean when they say things like, “Wow, he really gave him a tongue-lashing,” or “So-and-so should be publicly flogged,” or “That’s gonna leave a mark” or “Forty lashes with a wet noodle.” Of course! How could the world have been so stupid! If only we would learn to quote these clerics, and the Qur’an, in context, everything would be all right, the global jihad and Islamic supremacism would vanish, and a new era of peace would dawn!
An update on this story.
“Wife-beating call was metaphoric: cleric,” from AAP, January 22 (thanks to JE):
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Islamic leaders have condemned a Melbourne Muslim cleric who told followers it was permissible to hit their wives and force them to have sex.
But Coburg mosque cleric Samir Abu Hamza has told a confidant his message has been taken out of context and that he was referring to hitting wives in a metaphorical sense.
Mr Rudd told reporters Mr Hamza’s comments had no place in modern Australia.
During a 2003 lecture also posted on the internet late last year, Mr Hamza told followers that under Islamic law, men could demand sex from their wives.
Despite Australian law requiring consent, it was impossible for a man to rape his wife even if she refused to have sex, he said.
“Under no circumstances is sexual violence permissible or acceptable in Australia – under no circumstances,” Mr Rudd said.
“Under no circumstances are other forms of violence, physical violence, acceptable towards women in Australia nor are they acceptable in my view to mainstream Muslim teachings.
“Australia will not tolerate these sort of remarks. They don’t belong in modern Australia, and he should stand up, repudiate them and apologise.”
The President of the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) Ramzi Elsayed said he had spoken with Mr Hamza about the lecture, titled The Keys to a Successful Marriage.
“He told me he was speaking in a metaphorical sense,” Mr Elsayed told AAP.
“In regards to hitting your wife, his position is that it has always been metaphorical – it’s not a whack, it’s not a slap, it’s a wake-up call.”
Now, I admit, when I have a 6AM flight and I’m getting a 3:30AM wake-up call in some fleabag hotel, it can feel like a beating. But still…
He said Islam did not condone violence against women or making a wife have sex with her husband against her will.
“Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them.” — Qur’an 4:34
Muhammad said: “If a husband calls his wife to his bed (i.e. to have sexual relation) and she refuses and causes him to sleep in anger, the angels will curse her till morning.” — Bukhari 4.54.460
“He believes he was taken out of context insofar as he was talking about people who censure their spouses – it was not so much a physical hit as a metaphorical one to say wake up, we’re heading for a divorce kind-of-thing,” Mr Elsayed said.
But the senior honorary legal adviser to the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Haset Seli, hit out at Mr Hamza, calling him a lunatic.
“His lecture was absolutely ludicrous, unIslamic and highlighted the ignorance of the man,” Mr Seli told AAP.
He said anyone who thinks he can force his wife to have sex with him is a lunatic and certainly not a Muslim….
So will Seli be brought up on apostasy charges before the Islamic authorities in Australia, for implying that Muhammad the prophet of Islam was a lunatic? Naaaah. They know what he is up to.