Importance of Prayer & Ruling of its Abandonment
Facing the Qiblah & Intention in the Prayer
Etiquettes of Walking to Prayer and its Description
Description of Prayer Continued
Description of Prayer Continued
Description of Prayer Continued
Pillars and Mandatory Acts of Prayer
Two Prostrations of Forgetfulness
Supererogatory (Voluntary) Prayers
Supererogatory (Voluntary) Prayers Continued
Times of Prohibition of (Supererogatory) Prayer
Congregational Prayers & Latecomers
Jumu'ah (Congregational Friday) Prayer
Introduction & Commercial and Selling
Selling of Primary & Secondary Commodities
Cancellation Options in Transactions
Cancellation Options Continued
Debt Transference & Guarantor-ship
Mortgaging & Security Deposits
Partnership & Companies Continued
Reviving Barren Lands & Per-Job Wage
Lost and Found Property & Foundlings
Prize Money & Deposits for Safekeeping
Appendix 3: Hitting the Wife
The following verse of the Qur’an is usually quoted with regard to the issue of a man hitting his wife:
الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ ... وَاللاَّتِي تَخَافُونَ نُشُوزَهُنَّ فَعِظُوهُنَّ وَاهْجُرُوهُنَّ فِي الْمَضَاجِعِ وَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ فَإِنْ أَطَعْنَكُمْ فَلاَ تَبْغُواْ عَلَيْهِنَّ سَبِيلاً إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ عَلِيًّا كَبِيرًا.
{Men are the protectors and maintainers of women … As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance); for Allah is most High and Great (above you all).} (an-Nisâ’ 4: 34)
Some modern scholars have claimed that, given its usage in other places in the Qur’an (e.g., az-Zukhruf 43: 5), the word ḍarb used in the verse should actually be translated as ‘to leave’ (al-mufaraqah wa at-tark). 1772 We will attempt here to explain the more apparent and established understanding of this verse, which is that it means ‘hit’.
First, pay attention to the beginning of the verse: {Men are the protectors and maintainers of women.} It is speaking about the extreme condition of nushooz (a wife's rebellion against her husband), and it advises a gradual manner of handling it; finally, it orders that any corrective measures stop once the problem is resolved.
If one wonders why a woman cannot do the same thing to her husband if he shows rebellion, the answer is the obvious impracticality of this and how it would upset the entire family dynamics. However, it was explicitly written in jurisprudential manuals, like that of the Mâliki jurist ad-Dasooqi (d. 1230 H), that if a woman complained to a judge of being harmed by her husband’s insults, abandonment, or physical hitting, then the judge could order that the husband himself be physically beaten in retribution. 1773
As for the nature of this ‘hitting’, the Prophet (SA) explained it as "light, or not harsh," saying:
اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ فِي النِّسَاءِ فَإِنَّكُمْ أَخَذْتُمُوهُنَّ بِأَمَانَةِ اللَّهِ ، وَاسْتَحْلَلْتُمْ فُرُوجَهُنَّ بِكَلِمَةِ اللَّهِ ، وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ عَلَيْهِنَّ أَنْ لَا يُوطِئْنَ فُرُشَكُمْ أَحَدًا تَكْرَهُونَهُ، فَإِنْ فَعَلْنَ ذَلِكَ فَاضْرِبُوهُنَّ ضَرْبًا غَيْرَ مُبَرِّحٍ ، وَلَهُنَّ عَلَيْكُمْ رِزْقُهُنَّ وَكِسْوَتُهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ
1772. ‘Abdul-Ḥameed Abu Sulaymân in Ḍarb al-Mar’ah Waseelah li-Ḥal al-Khilâfât az-Zawjiyah (Cairo: Dâr as-Salâm, 1424 AH). 2nd edition.
1773. ad-Dasooqi, Ḥâshiyat ad-Dasooqi ‘alâ Sharḥ al-Kabeer. Vol. 2, p. 343.
<<Fear Allah with regard to women, for you have taken them through a trust from Allah, and intimacy with them has become permissible to you by the word of Allah. Your right over them is that they should not allow anyone whom you dislike to sit on your furniture/marital beds; if they do that, then hit them, but not harshly. And their right over you is that you should provide for them and clothe them on a reasonable basis.>> (M)
This was further elucidated by ‘Abdullâh ibn ‘Abbâs, who said it was hitting with the siwâk (a small twig used as a toothbrush). The scholars said that it could be with the end of one’s garment and the like.
Next, the verse must be understood within the context of the rest of the revelation, including Allah’s saying:
{And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.} (ar-Room 30: 21)
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ.
This verse shows the overall environment that should dominate the Muslim home.
Allah also said regarding the kind treatment of wives:
{Live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If you take a dislike to them it may be that you dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.} (an-Nisâ’ 4: 19)
وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ فَإِن كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَى أَن تَكْرَهُواْ شَيْئًا وَيَجْعَلَ اللّهُ فِيهِ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا.
Moreover, the Prophet (SA) warned against the psychological impact that hitting might have on the marital relationship, saying:
How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then embrace (sleep with) her? (B)
بِمَ يَضْرِبُ أحدكم امْرَأَتَهُ ضَرْبَ الْفَحْلِ ثُمَّ لَعَلَّهُ يُعَانِقُهَا
And he said:
Do not hit the female servants of Allah. (Ḥib; authenticated by al-Albâni)
لاَ تَضْربُوا إِمَاءَ اللَّهِ
He also pointed out that the men who resort to this measure are not the best men. He said:
Some seventy (used to represent a large number) women visited my family complaining about their husbands (beating them). By Allah, you will not find those men to be the best of you. (Ḥib; authenticated by al-Albâni)
لَقَدْ طَافَ بِآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ اللَّيْلَةَ سَبْعُونَ امْرَأَةً ، كُلُهُنَّ يَشْتَكِينَ الضَّرْبَ ، وَايْمُ اللَّهُ لا تَجِدُونَ أُولَئِكَ خِيَارَكُمْ.
In these reports, it is clear that the Prophet (SA) is urging the Muslims to avoid this bitter remedy as much as possible and only resort to it if all other means are exhausted. He also makes it clear that not all women deserve this extreme disciplinary measure. In fact, for many women and in many cultures, that intervention may be counterproductive. The great Mâliki scholar Ibn ‘Âshoor (d. 1393 H) opined that the relevance of such instructions depended on one’s socioeconomic class and culture. 1774 The reports also indicate that the noblest men will refrain from this, for the Prophet (SA) said, “These husbands are not the best of you.” After all, his example is the best, and an-Nasâ’i reported from ‘Â’ishah that he never hit a woman, servant, or child.
If some Muslims deviate from the Islamic position mentioned here, it is not the fault of Islam, just as it is not the fault of Islam that many Muslims commit sins or abandon their obligations. It remains to be said that we must rise to protect the rights of women in Muslim societies against those who abuse them. The Messenger of Allah (SA) said:
Allah will not glorify a nation that does not support the weak until they take their full rights. (Ṣaḥeeḥ al-Jâmi‘; reported by aṭ-Ṭabarâni from Ibn Mas‘ood)
لا يُقَدِّسُ اللَّهُ أُمَّةً لا يأخُذونَ لِلضَعِيفِ حَقَّهُ
Many contemporary scholars indicated that the state has the authority to ban this hitting if it deems that men will fail to observe the legislated guidelines in implementing those reprimands and will not cease from overstepping their limits. 1775
1774. Ibn ‘Âshoor, at-Taḥreer wat-Tanweer, vol. 5, p. 44. Discussed in Abdullah Hasan, “The End to Hitting Women: Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence,” MuslimMatters.org. n.p. 21 Dec 2013.
1775. Ibn ‘Âshoor, at-Taḥreer wat-Tanweer, vol. 5, p. 44. Discussed in Abdullah Hasan, “The End to Hitting Women: Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence,” MuslimMatters.org. n.p. 21 Dec 2013.
One may ask whether these teachings contribute – even indirectly – to the reality that we live in. The simple answer is no. Sinners do not need any justification to commit their sins, yet they may use weak arguments afterwards to justify them. Besides, the rates of domestic abuse of women are not less in the West, for example, than they are in Muslim countries. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in four women in the US will experience domestic violence during her lifetime, and in 2001, 1247 women were killed by an intimate partner. In the same year, there were 691,710 non-fatal incidents of domestic violence. 1776
Finally, this exceptional intervention (from which most of us have been barred) was only permitted in certain circumstances, with certain women, after the exhaustion of all other means, and as the last intervention before the dissolution of the family. It is like grabbing someone violently when they are about to fall (or jump) off a cliff.
1776. From the website of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. http://www.ncadv.org/files/DV_Facts.pdf
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