The Qur’an says it: “Men are the managers of the affairs of women for that God has preferred in bounty one of them over another, and for that they have expended of their property. Righteous women are therefore obedient, guarding the secret for God’s guarding. And those you fear may be rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and beat them.” (Qur’an 4:34)
Muhammad’s example is normative for Muslims, since he is an “excellent example of conduct” (Qur’an 33:21) — and according to a canonical hadith, Muhammad’s favorite wife, his child bride Aisha, reports that Muhammad struck her. Once he went out at night after he thought she was asleep, and she followed him surreptitiously. Muhammad saw her, and, as Aisha recounts: “He struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?” (Sahih Muslim 2127) Aisha herself said it: “I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women.” (Sahih Bukhari 7.72.715)
The Qur’an commentary Ruhul Ma”ani reflects mainstream Muslim understandings of this verse when it gives four reasons that a man may beat his wife: “if she refuses to beautify herself for him,” if she refuses sex when he asks for it, if she refuses to pray or perform ritual ablutions, and “if she goes out of the house without a valid excuse.”
“Moderate Muslim Nation Of Algeria Sanctions Moderate Wife Beating Under Islamic Sharia Law,” from Blazing Cat Fur, November 30:
Salim Mohamedi, an imam and inspector at the state’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, has just “allowed” men to beat their wives “as a last resort to scare them and put them in the right path “.
The offensive remarks were reported by the Arabic daily Echorouk in an article devoted to the proposal made “‹”‹by some associations to “criminalize” domestic violence. According to the Imam, Islam allowed men to hit their wives only if the shots are “not too violent and do not cause injury.” In other words, it must hit “gently”.
Gently? h/t Observatoire De l’islamisation