does Islam allow beating up of women

as a punishment?.According to this surah it does and I can’t say I am against it.


"Men are (meant to be righteous and kind) guardians of women because God has favored some more than others and because they (i.e. men) spend out of their wealth. (In their turn) righteous women are (meant to be) devoted and to guard what God has (willed to be) guarded even though out of sight (of the husband). As for those (women) on whose part you fear ill-will and nasty conduct, admonish them (first), (next) separate them in beds (and last) beat them. But if they obey you, then seek nothing against them. Behold, God is most high and great. (4:34)

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

NO.

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

first u gta admonish them,.then SEPERATE THEM IN BEDS,.if u can manage that,.and they still misbehave, THEN u can beat them, LIGHTLY. :D

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

I looked at other translations, and it seems to be quite clear that you can

WaSalaam

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

ddc: Do you even bother to read other threads on this forum? There’s another thread currently discussing exact same thing and it has gone up to 3 pages. I am copying pasting my response from that thread in response to this question. Before I do that I must say that Prophet :saw: once said that there will be Muslims who would take the Ayahs of the Quran and Ahadith, completely out of context and dwell on them.

We all know and accept that Quran cannot be studied without fiqh and understanding. Though not all of us have studied fiqh but at least we can consult some detailed resources before making our judgement and start questioning.

The aya says, Men are maintainers of women … that does not give them any political authority over women. It simply means that it’s their financial obligation to maintain women. Women on the other hand do not have the same obligation. The wealth they acquire is considered discretionary wealth and if they want, they can share it with their husbands or they can spend it on whatever they want to. In fact, in Maliki Mudhab, it is wajib, a fard for a man to provide domestic help for a woman. Although a woman’s work at home taking care of children and household, is given the status of Jihad. This is a Sahih hadith. Prophet :saw: said that a woman gets the same muqaam and rewards of a man in Jihad fee sabil-Allah for doing all the household work. Now how many men get the opportunity of being in a Jihad, while women get this status everyday at home :subhan:

Now when you questioned the rights of women when men are disloyal or vice-versa … do you even know the purpose of this particular aya, why and when it was revealed?

We need to understand what that aya means, which requires the detail and sophistication of fiqh and fuqaha have explained it with precision, that I cannot go into detail here or I’ll take at least 2 more pages and yet I may not be able to do justice with the job since I’m not a religious scholar. There are rules of fiqh that relate to men (when they are unfaithful) and if you really want to learn in detail, I can give you references of written and audio material. So let me first say that it is strictly forbidden to beat a woman or a child or even an animal in Shari’ah. **Basically, **this aya relates to domestic violence. How? That takes us to knowing, when and why the aya came. Prophet :saw: said, “Lunyeyadribu khiyarukum” meaning, **The best of you would never hit a woman. **

This translation that put in bold and underlined about “beat them (lightly)” . This is not actual beating, it is, strike lightly. That too, it was given with “karahiyah” (disliking) as a way of maintaining the self-esteem of Arabs. This verse was revealed when a woman was struck by her husband and the Prophet :saw: said to the woman that I’ll take you and you can strike him the same way, he struck you. And they were actually on the way and this woman was gonna hit her husband in the presence of :saw: because he thought that was fair. At that point this verse was revealed. In other words it conveyed the message, don’t humiliate these men, they are Arabs. And because they have already done so much (let’s not forget that these are Arabs who used to burry their daughters alive, forget about giving them any respect or share in inheritance). Under Islam, they had transformed themselves. Arabs were very proud men (they still are, we all know that) and if :saw: would have humiliated them that way, and he would have lost them. So this aya was revealed as per the psychology of those people. This message was given to the first people.

Now, my purpose of this post was to share some information and not to hurt someone’s ideas or beliefs. Neither did I mean to go beating about the bush by repeated discussions. If anyone is interested to know more about what I mentioned here, please contact me, and I’ll be more than happy to share the source of my information.

And Only God knows the truth. May God forgive us for making any wrong or uninformed claims (intentional or unintentional) and may He :swt: guide us to the right path. Ameen, sum Ameen.

For more responses, pls. check this thread:
http://www.paklinks.com/gs/showthread.php?t=219021&page=2

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

Larki-NY, thanks for your response, it has really helped my understanding regarding this topic. I do have question though.

If the Prophet :saw: said, “Lunyeyadribu khiyarukum” meaning, The best of you would never hit a woman.

and if the ayat was revealed as a way to feed the pride of the Arabs, why would does the verse tell you to beat your wife as a command rather than something that you could do?

The verse says:

" admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them;"

but why didn’t it say something like, “and you can beat them, but Allah loves those that don’t commit violence” OWTTE

(obviously there is no way that I can write a Quranic verse, but I hope you see what I mean)

WaSalaam

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

I have read several articles where the authors have argued quite convincingly that the Arabic word translated as ‘beat’ should be properly translated as ‘separate’ .

For example,
http://www.answering-christianity.com/beating_no.htm

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

Brother, I see your point. What we get to read is mostly translation and no one denies that fact that to understand Quran better one needs to learn the Fiqh and Tajweed etc. Several people have contested the translation of “beating” that it does not mean beat. I can give you a reference of a lecture where this very verse has been explained in great detail, esp. the meaning of “what you called beating” by a very highly learned scholar. I don’t think I’ll be able to do justice if I tried to summarize the detail of what he explained in his lecture.

Pls. listen to “Men and Women in Islam” by Humza Yusuf. The lecture is about 40 minutes recorded on a cd/tape, and you can order it online from Alhambraproductions.com or Astrolabe.com (that’s where I got it from). It hardly costs $11 or so.

:jazak:

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

I have this book by Imam Al Ghazali (ra). It is a thematic commentary on the Qur'an. Regarding this particular ayah however, he says:-

Islam prescribes a gradual solution. The first step, for simple advice and gentle persuasion, followed by a temporary cessation of sexual contact, and then, and only then, permits resort to physical measures. The main condition attached to this last method is that physical punishment must be moderate and should not in any way touch the face or harm it. Looking closely to the Sunnah of the Prophet Salallah aleihi wassalam, however, I cannot find a justification for this last measure except when the wife refuses her husband's bed, or brings male outsiders into their home, both of which represent, as we can see, very serious problem indeed.

This book is called "A thematic commentary on the Qur'an", written by Sheikh Muhammad al Ghazali and translated by Ashur A.Shamis.

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

Editing of the Quran is desperately required to ensure its ambiguity regarding 'beating' is easily clarified.

Even suggesting a beating (whether by hand, feather or hammer) might be slightly acceptable by any man to commit upon a woman whether it be by husband, father, brother, uncle, grandfather etc. is totally unacceptable and should be explicitly edited out of the Quran etc by clearer language so that interpretations may not be made to suit ones purpose of intent or action .

One can not live as 1400 years ago but as per today!! :Salute:

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women


Sorry sir! we are not some christians or jews who change words of God. We do not put words in His mouth. We dictate our lives to what He says. Thankyouverymuch.

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

Since man wrote the Quran are you sure he did not misinterpret and are you sure he heard every word clearly as dictated to him?

Kudos to the other faiths!:)

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women


No sir... unlike chrisitians and jews we do not believe that Quran was written by man. Therefore, we do not allow it to be changed.. chrisitains and jews are welcome to change their books for they beleive they wrote their books themselves.. good for them.

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

As much as the Christians have edited their Bible, they still have found over 50,000 mistakes in the KJV of the bible and so, their editing continues.

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

The Quran is a dictation, like the jewish and christian books. Mortal men wrote them all. It beckons did they hear clearly and not misinterpret? Also, why is it all so full of obfuscation that many interpret to suit their purpose of intent? Was that the purpose of the author to create chaos? or simply mortal man's propensity to be human and transcribe with errors and perhaps a great deal of self purpose??

Editing clarifies, what confuses and is not clarified creates more of a mess as more people become involved in reading and interpreting. We live today not 1400 years ago and everything must progress forward, even the Quran

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

An excellent, very well articulated reply,
I’m really impressed with your explanation as it erases any errors that might seem conducive thru the Ayah’s translation to beat up women. Really, liked the way you explained. MashAllah, very well,

Umer

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

How any man can be for beating up his wife for whatever reason is sick. I refuse to believe that Islam commands its believers to be so cruel to their women.

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women


That assupmtion is wrong to begin with. Quran is the EXACT words of God. It can not be altered. In chrisitianity, they lost the original gospel and had to come up with different versions hence they came up with the idea of "inspired words".. we do not have such excuse. We do not plan to change even for next 1400 years.. next question?

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

Alif-Lam Mim (Individual Letters of Arabic Alphabet).

That high ranked Book (Quran) whereof there is no place of doubt, in it there is guidance to the God-fearing.

Who believe without seeing, and establish prayer and spend in Our path, out of Our provided subsistence.

And who believe in what has been sent down towards you, O beloved prophet! And what has been sent down before you and are convinced of the Last Day.

They alone are on the guidance from their Lord and they alone are the gainers.

Surely, as to those who are destined to infidelity, it is alike whether you warn them or warn them not, they will never believe.

(Kanzul Iman translation of Surah Al Baqarah 1-6)

Re: does Islam allow beating up of women

I do not for a moment believe the Quran is every word for word by GOD. When humans get involved something always mucks ups And since men's hand played a role in writing it out for others to read , you can be sure as your are of who your mother is that some one got it not so right in transcription.

Or do you believe Allah sat there with stylo in hand and paper at feet and started jotting down words and said . "here you are people, now print this out into many copies ?