Quran Comparison: Beating Wives
By Ali Eteraz
For the sake of our Muhammad Asad Quran Distribution Project I was comparing
the Saudi Noble Quran with the Muhammad Asad Quran on the issue of beating
one's wife in verse 4:34.
Here is how the Saudi Noble Quran translates 4:34:
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one
of them to excel the other, because they spend (to support them) from their
means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to
their husbands), and guard in the husband's absence what Allah orders to guard
( e.g. their chastity, their husband's property). As to those women on whose
part you see ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their
beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful); but if they return to
obedience, seek not against the means (of annoyance). Surely, Allah is Ever
Most High, Most Great.
There are no footnotes. No commentary.
Now compare how Muhammad Asad translates 4:34:
Men shall take full care of women with the bounties which God has
bestowed more abundantly on the former than on the latter, and with what they
may spend out of their possessions. And the right­eous women are the truly
devout ones, who guard the intimacy which God has [ordained to be]
guar­ded. And as for those women whose ill-will you have reason to fear,
admonish them [first]; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if
thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them. Behold, God is indeed
most high, great!
Note, both* of the Qurans contain a prescription to "beat" women in the event
of adultery.
However, the reason the Asad Quran is more valuable than the Noble Quran is
because it offers a comprehensive commentary at the bottom of the page which
The Noble Quran does not, and in that commentary, beating is invalidated.
It is this commentary, running throughout the Asad Quran, which is the reason
for our support of the Muhammad Asad Quran. It is probably a good idea to
expose more Muslims to commentary on Quranic verses, instead of letting them
figure out what a verse means on their own, since more knowledge is better than
less.
By reading the commentary in the Asad Quran, the reasonable Muslim will
become convinced that beating is not a good idea. Meanwhile, The Saudi Noble
Quran, which has no commentary, leaves the average reader with the impression
that beating is OK. Here is the commentary at the bottom of the page from the
Asad Quran:
Fn.4 It is evident from many authentic Traditions that the Prophet
himself intensely detested the idea of beating one's wife, and said on more
than one occasion, "Could any of you beat his wife as he would beat a slave,
and then lie with her in the evening?" (Bukhari and Muslim). According to
another Tradition, he forbade the beating of any woman with the words, "Never
beat God's handmaidens" (Abu Da'ud, Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn
Hibban and Hakim, on the authority of Iyas ibn 'Abd Allah; Ibn Hibban, on the
authority of 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abbas; and Bayhaqi, on the authority of Umm
Kulthum). When the above Qur'an-verse authorizing the beating of a refractory
wife was revealed, the Prophet is reported to have said: "I wanted one thing,
but God has willed another thing - and what God has willed must be best" (see
Manar V, 74). With all this, he stipulated in his sermon on the occasion of the
Farewell Pilgrimage, shortly before his death, that beating should
be resorted to only if the wife "has become guilty, in an obvious manner, of
immoral conduct", and that it should be done "in such a way as not to cause
pain (ghayr mubarrih)"; authentic Traditions to this effect are found in
Muslim, Tirmidhi, Abu Da'ud, Nasa'i and Ibn Majah. On the basis of these
Traditions, all the authorities stress that this "beating", if resorted to at
all, should be more or less symbolic - "with a toothbrush, or some such thing"
(Tabari, quoting the views of scholars of the earliest times), or even "with a
folded handkerchief" (Razi); and some of the greatest Muslim scholars ( e.g.,
Ash-Shafi'i) are of the opinion that it is just barely permissible, and should
preferably be avoided: and they justify this opinion by the Prophet's personal
feelings with regard to this problem.
The average Muslim believes in two sources of Islam, the Quran, and the
Sunnah, the practice of Muhammad. Both are of equivalent weight in Islam
because the Quran asks us to affirm the Sunnah. The Asad Quran, in the first
sentence of its commentary, makes it very clear that beating a woman is
"detested" by the Sunnah. Most Muslims are very unlikely to do anything that
would offend the Prophet's sensibilities. The Asad Quran speaks up. The Noble
Quran stays silent.
Finally, Asad's commentary quotes the Prophet's sermon where the Prophet
states that beating should be allowed only when a woman has become guilty in an
obvious manner. Jurists have historically taken this to mean that only an
Islamic court of law can determine cases of adultery. Thus, Asad's Quran also
points out the role of the state, while The Noble Quran makes no mention of
this fact.
* There is a recent Quranic translation, by Laleh Bakhtiar, in which the
Arabic verb translated as "beat" by Asad and others, is translated as "to go
away." However, Ms. Bakhtiar's translation is not even out yet. Furthermore,
being a "feminist" Quran, it is not likely that many conservative institutions,
which is what we are targetting, would embrace it. Personally, I do find
Bakhtiar's translation of the term compelling. Until this translation comes out
and becomes more accepted, please, abide by the Prophet's Sunnah. Also, people
should realize that a person who already thinks that beating a wife is against
the Prophet Muhammad's Sunnah, is more likely to accept Bakhtiar's argument
that the word does not mean beating at all.
Now please, hit the big gray box at the top of the website and help us donate
1000 copies of the Asad translations to Muslim institutions, MSA's,
organizations, and groups
saiyed shahbazi
www.shahbazcenter.org
