Wife Beating in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions

Wife-beating is instructed by the 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, 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.  

Professor Jonathan Brown says that Quran commentaries from the 9th century include a narration about the occasion of revelation of Q 4:34, with a chain considered too weak for the canonical hadith collections. In the various versions of this story, a man complains to Muhammad about his son-in-law beating his wife, the man's daughter. Muhammad grants him permission for reprisal, whereupon the verse is immediately sent down. It ends with Muhammad saying, "I wanted one thing and God wanted another. And God wants what is best."<ref>Jonathan A. C. Brown, ''Misquoting Muhammad'', London: Oneworld Publications, 2014, p. 275</ref> See the section on Azbab an-Nazuul in the article [[Wife Beating in the Qur'an]] for quotes from the sira literature of this narration, which seems intended to exonerate Muhammad. A hadith collected by Abu Dawud (see below) in which 'Umar influenced Muhammad to permit wife beating, may suggest an alternative background to the verse.

Unlike the traditional occasion of revelation for Q. 4:34 which appeared in commentaries from the 9th century CE (discussed above), there is some hadith evidence that the wife beating verse may have been a result of pressure from 'Umar, or at least there is an intention in the hadith to exonerate Muhammad who is portrayed as reluctantly agreeing to permit wife beating. 'Umar, who would became the second rightly guided Caliph, is also recorded slapping Muhammad's wife Hafsa and striking his own wife, and on yet another occasion telling a man to beat his wife after she tried to stop him having intercourse with (raping) a slave girl. Hadiths suggest a general pattern of 'Umar's violence towards and interest in controlling women. The revelation of the Verse of Hijab ({{Quran|33|53}} is even more explicitly linked to pressure from 'Umar (see the article [[Hijab]]).  

In the sahih version of his [[Farewell Sermon|''Farewell Sermon'']], Muhammad compares women to domestic [[animals]] and once more tells men to beat their wives, but unlike the Quran, adds the caveat 'but not severely'.

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 some hadiths nuance this by adding 'not severely':

{{Quote|1=[https://sunnah.com/abudawud/11/185 Sunan Abu Dawud 10:1900]|2=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.''' You are responsible for providing them with food and clothing in a fitting manner.}}

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.

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:

{{Quote|1=[http://sunnah.com/abudawud/11/185 AbuDawud 10:1900]|2=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 ''Abu Dawud'' hadith as well as al-Tabari's version of the farewell sermon (quoted above), with the literal translation being, again, 'beat them, a beating without severity'.

==Early and modern Islamic authorities on wife-beating==

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> This untenable interpretation of the Arabic word daraba as it is used in Q. 4:34 is discussed in the article [[The Meaning of Daraba]].