Figure 1.-- |
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"For those (women) that you fear might rebel, admonish them, and abandon them in their beds, and beat them." And alternative translation reads, "As for women you feel are averse, talk to them persuasively; then leave them alone in bed (without molesting them), and go to bed with them (when they are willing)."
This passage has been debated by Islamic scholars. Some Islamicists accept the translation "beat them". Others maintain that there are alternative translatins, inclluding "turn away from them," "go along with them" and perhaps even, "have consensual sex with them". [Aslan] Most tradituional Muslims insist on the first translations. Progrssive Muslims promote the second translation. Muslims can not overtly challenge the Koran, thus the only way to bring a modern modrn, humanistic view of how husbands should treat their wives is to challenge the translation. One author writes, "Omar Ibn al Khitab, the second Caliph to succeed Mohamed, a man universally referred to by Muslims as one of the "rightly guided Caliphs," reversed the Koranic ruling to amputate the hands of thieves. And slavery, sanctioned by dozens of Koranic passages, is universally prohibited in the modern Islamic world. Thus, some argue, there is no reason that modern Islamic scholars cannot similarly forbid men from hitting their wives, because 1,300 years later times have changed. " The only problem with this eminently sensible aproach is that many Muslims vervently believe that the Koran is God's precise words and that 1,300 years do not alter the literal truth of those words. It is notable that many of the groups and inviduals in the Muslim world that today advocate Sharia Lawalso tend to to prefer the more severe interpretations of the Koran such as the reference to beating women here or the references to amputations and other severe punishmments in other Koranic verses.
Aslan, Reza. No God but God (2005).
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