Why does Sheikh Yaser Nadeem Al-Wajdi have to preach this sermon? What is going on among the men at the Muslim Center of New York?
In any case, the Sheikh has a problem. He clearly wants the men in his congregation not to brutalize their wives. But he can’t tell them flat out not to beat them, because, as he acknowledges, the mandate for beating women is in the Qur’an: “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.” — Qur’an 4:34
However, the good Sheikh goes too far when he claims that Muhammad didn’t beat his own wives: “If hitting and beating wives was permissible, as some modernists, liberals, orientalists, non-Muslims accuse… They say that Islam, because of this verse, allows domestic violence. If it was permissible, the Prophet Muhammad would have done it. It is not permissible. That is why the Prophet Muhammad didn’t do it.”
In reality, according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad at very least beat Aisha, his famous child bride. Muhammad, according to Aisha, “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)
“Sheikh Yaser Nadeem Al-Wajdi in Muslim Center of NY: Wife-Beating Is Only Permissible Under Very Rare Circumstances; The Purpose Is to Hurt the Wife’s Dignity,” MEMRI, December 9, 2018:
During a December 9, 2018 lecture in the Muslim Center of New York in Flushing, Queens, Sheikh Yaser Nadeem Al-Wajdi discussed wife-beating in Islam and said that it is only permissible under very rare circumstances, such as when a woman is being disloyal, and her husband doesn’t want to seek separation or Islamic legal action for the sake of the children. In such situations, Sheikh Al-Wajdi said, the husband must first admonish his wife verbally, and then he must leave the conjugal bed. After these steps, he may strike her using a miswak (dental twig) in a fashion that is not hard and that is meant to hurt her dignity. The lecture was streamed live on the Muslim Center of New York’s Facebook page. Sheikh Al-Wajdi is the director of Darul Uloom Online and the Dean of Academic Affairs at the Illinois-based Institute of Islamic Education. He was educated in Pakistan, India, and the United States.
Following are excerpts:
Sheikh Yaser Al-Wajdi: [In the Quran,] Allah mentioned beating [one’s wife]. The first step is to admonish them. You admonish them, you warn them. You leave them in bed. The third thing is to strike them. But this person jumps to the third stage, as soon as he feels that his wife is opposing him. He forgets about admonishing her and leaving her bed, and he forgets the correct interpretation of this verse. He thinks: “By getting married to this lady, I have a license to treat her however I want. I have a license to beat her, abandon her in bed, and I have a license to treat her as my slave.” That is completely wrong.
[…]
What is the purpose of not beating them hard? It is so that it doesn’t hurt her physically. Rather, it hurts her dignity. It targets her dignity.
[…]
Allah says: “As of those women from whom you fear their disloyalty…” The Prophet Muhammad said that if they commit an obvious sin, then you have the authority to go through these stages.
[…]
Therefore, if a husband feels that his wife is cheating on him… That is of the rarest of the rare situations. So what are his options? And [if] she has gone to the last stage in this deception… What are his options? Imagine, if there are Islamic laws in place – then the first option is… If he has witnesses, of course, then he can report to the authorities. Those four witnesses will go to the court, they will testify, and she will be punished. If that’s the case.
[…]
But in some situations it happens that the husband sometimes [makes] sacrifices. Why? Because he has little children. He thinks: “Of course I can go to the court anytime and seek separation, but what will happen to the children?” Their mother has to take care of them.
[…]
The first stage is… If you really want to sacrifice and continue living with your wife, for the sake of your children or for any other reason… Admonish her. Try to warn her. Tell her not to do it again. If you don’t want to take the legal route. If she doesn’t stop, leave her in bed. If that doesn’t work out, beat her. [Do it in a fashion] that is not hard, with a miswak [dental twig]. Alright? The purpose of using a miswak is so that her dignity is hurt and she realizes that she is making a big mistake. “Beat them” doesn’t mean that you start taking a whip and beating her. That is not permissible at all.
[…]
If hitting and beating wives was permissible, as some modernists, liberals, orientalists, non-Muslims accuse… They say that Islam, because of this verse, allows domestic violence. If it was permissible, the Prophet Muhammad would have done it. It is not permissible. That is why the Prophet Muhammad didn’t do it.
Mac-101 says
Perhaps he needs to instruct his people to watch 50 Shades of Gray. LOL!
gravenimage says
Whatever you think of the silly “Fifty Shades of Gray”, that was consensual. Wife-beating is not consensual.
observer says
BIZARRE BEYOND WORDS !!!
I guess these behavioral things show us what it’s like living in hell…
Wellington says
The hitting aside (big aside to be sure), hurting a woman’s dignity in this context is just another example of how Islam expects women to be subordinate to men. Screw this. Screw Islam.
gravenimage says
Hear, hear!
Mark says
Hows that diversity thing working out for us?
b.a. freeman says
as soon as freedom has been killed, both the left and the ummah will take the diversity thing as having worked out very well – for them.
Buzz says
Sign the petition below to impeach the American hating Muslim in Congress.
https://www.change.org/p/impeach-rashida-tlaib?
marc says
hey, i cleaned up that link for you, was looking a bit messy with lots of tracking code (anything after the ?)
gravenimage says
Already signed, Buzz.
Especially good if those in her district sign.
PRCS says
As always, the flock does not disagree.
marty lopez says
Hey, to disagree is to die.
Savvy Kafir says
This is the kinder, gentler Islam. Don’t put her in the hospital or anything; just make sure she knows who’s boss.
B McLaurine says
Obviously a fake or inferior religion. God made men superior ? Sounds just like a common man (muhammed) re-writing the Old Testament, calling it the Quran and making himself a religious leader.
marty lopez says
Proving once again how far sighted the Islamic religion of peace and submission really is, not.
Westman says
Pure mendacity to polish the well-deserved poor Image of Islam to the public. The prophet’s wife told Muhammad about another wife so beaten that her skin was green and he did…..nothing. Trying to make Islam acceptable to the West while holding on to violent passages of the Quran isn’t going to sell, nor is the notion of “gently” beating a wife with a wiswak that didn’t exist in the time of Mohammed.
The real Imam message: Yes, muslim boys, you can beat your wives, but we’re changing the rules, without authorization, to polish the image in the media. You can beat your wife in a Muslim country without worry. However, here in the US, you must keep it quiet and private.
Indiana Tom says
No, the Muslim boys get their own playtime with the men. The men get both the little girls and the little boys while their wives are used to train for boxing matches.
gravenimage says
NYC: Imam says Muslims should beat wives lightly “so that it doesn’t hurt her physically, it hurts her dignity.”
……………………..
Yeah–just “hurt her dignity”–remind her that she is worth much less than any wife-beating Muslim man.
Note that there are no circumstances where it is other than a man abusing a woman–or women, or little girls.
God, I hate Islam.
Wellington says
No one should be a Muslim, gravenimage, but this applies especially so to two very large portions of our species—women and blacks (with black women being a “twofer” here).
gravenimage says
So true, Wellington.
sheliak says
I don’t recall seeing this imam in the recent Gillette commercial. Oh yeah, only white men are guilty of toxic masculinity.
Indiana Tom says
Goes along with white privilege.
Indiana Tom says
Muhammad, according to Aisha, “struck me on the chest which caused me pain,
That’s right, a powerful rabbit punch to the heart will teach her a lesson by Allah!
Zimriel says
So the physical act isn’t to abuse her physically; it’s to degrade her mentally and make her your slave. Good to know.
I’m just some dude and not female but, personally, I’d rather take a beating than be driven mad.
6woods says
Muzzies care about a woman’s dignity? Or even think she has, or is entitled to, any?
Jim says
I recall the Koran saying that the beating should not be severe enough to be visible. However, this is not as tough as it seems, since they are to wear a burka.
gravenimage says
Actually, the Qur’an says nothing about the beating being light or not visible–this commentary has been added in the modern period, usually intended to deceive Infidels.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Take a look at the Quran-verse tilings on the wall behind the imam.
Compare them with the patterns on page 3 of
https://math.dartmouth.edu/~carlp/PDF/extraterrestrial.pdf
Another scientific miracle of the Quran!
Lorensacho says
Would the Muslims have shelters for lightly beaten women?
gravenimage says
Grim subject, but this is actually really funny.
Edward Dillon says
how about we just lightly beat the imam. And then send him back to where he came from. Oh that would be a WOMENS womb, that can not be right he would be beating the vary MOTHER who brought his sorry ass into this world.
Giacomo Latta says
Only hit hard enough to hurt your wife’s dignity? What a wuss! Somebody send out a fatwa on this unbeliever!
commonsense says
Al-Wajdi: ” (The husband) thinks: ‘By getting married to this lady, I have a license to treat her however I want. I have a license to beat her, abandon her in bed, and I have a license to treat her as my slave.’ That is completely wrong.” Really? What about Qur’an 2:223? (Women are your fields: go, then, into your fields whence you please.) What about normative Shari’a-based practices found in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, upheld and enforced by ISIS and other Islamic groups, derived from the Qur’an and Sunna, which keep women in purdah, preventing them from leaving the house without a male member of the family being present? Liar, liar, beard on fire!