Quran 4:34, Men are in charge of women
In recent posts we have been looking at wife beating and Islam. I am only a student of Islam and by no means an expert. These posts are not intended to give the impression that all Muslim men beat their wives. They don’t.
However, it seems that in some circumstances the Qur’an 4:34 allows for husbands to implement corporal discipline for disobedient wives. One famous commentary on Qur’an 4:34 states,
Men are in charge of, they have authority over, women, disciplining them and keeping them in check, because of that with which God has preferred the one over the other, that is, because God has given them the advantage over women, in knowledge, reason, authority and otherwise, and because of what they expend, on them [the women], of their property. Therefore righteous women, among them, are obedient, to their husbands, guarding in the unseen, that is, [guarding] their private parts and otherwise during their spouses’ absence, because of what God has guarded, for them, when He enjoined their male spouses to look after them well. And those you fear may be rebellious, disobedient to you, when such signs appear, admonish them, make them fear God, and share not beds with them, retire to other beds if they manifest such disobedience, and strike them, but not violently, if they refuse to desist [from their rebellion] after leaving them [in separate beds]. If they then obey you, in what is desired from them, do not seek a way against them, a reason to strike them unjustly. God is ever High, Great, so beware of Him, lest He punish you for treating them unjustly. (Tafsir al-Jalalayn)
Here is a discussion of wife beating on Qatar TV,
Again, I am not saying that all Muslim men beat their wife/wives; they don’t. I’m sure there are many are good Muslim husbands. However, Muhammad was not one of them. The teaching of the Bible and the example of Jesus Christ are very different from that of the Qur’an and Muhammad’s example.
