Re: Hitting wife
There are OTHER ways to encourage a person to do things (studying, cooking, cleaning, dressing up, paying bills, running errands, etc.) As the saying goes,** "You attract more bees with honey."** There is a hadith which states that Allah is Gentle and prefers gentleness and also that gentleness is rewarded in a way that harshness is not.
The problem with making threats and HITTING.....is that it does NOT motivate people. Hitting might make a wife cook, clean, and dress up. ** BUT.......she will **ONLY be doing these things out of FEAR **......not** out of love, or sense of responsibility. And that's not healthy at all.
A person regardless of whether it is a wife or a child can be motivated with compliments and encouragement. The Prophet SAWS has advised his followers not to even a slap an animal. And there are several hadith emphasizing kindness to a wife.
We don't know what is going on in your cousin's house. There are two sides to a story. And if this is becoming an issue to where the marriage is in in danger of falling apart and the wife is feeling abused, then SOMEONE needs to talk to her husband. It could be another member of the family, a trusted friend, or an imam. If this woman has requested help, then someone needs to act as adviser/mediator to help alleviate the situation. And if things don't get better and the marriage is dysfunctional beyond repair, perhaps a separation should be considered.