Would the one true God who is holy allow hitting one’s wife?

Muhammad hit his child-wife in this chest. When sleeping with Aisha Muhammad surreptitiously left his bed and went to the graveyard at Baqi; Aisha spied and followed Muhammad; when Muhammad learned Aisha’s misdeed he hit her (beat her) on her chest that caused much pain to Aisha (Book 004, Number 2127).

The Quran itself and the Sahih hadiths explicitly say and imply it is okay to beat women.

Qur’an (4:34) – “Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.”

Qur’an (38:44) – “And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with it, and do not break your oath…”

From the Hadith:

Bukhari (72:715) – A woman came to Muhammad and begged her to stop her husband from beating her. Her skin was bruised so badly that she described it as being “greener” than the green veil she was wearing. Muhammad did not admonish her husband, but instead ordered her to return to him and submit to his sexual desires.

Bukhari (72:715) – “Aisha said, ‘I have not seen any woman suffering as much as the believing women'” This is Muhammad’s own wife complaining of the abuse that the women of her religions suffer relative to other women.

Muslim (9:3506) – Muhammad’s father-in-laws (Abu Bakr and Umar) amused him by slapping his wives (Aisha and Hafsa) for annoying him. According to the Hadith, the prophet of Islam laughed upon hearing this.

If anyone thinks it is taken out of context, I encourage you to read the whole Hadith here http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/sunnah/bukhari/072.sbt.html

http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/muslim/009-smt.php#009.3506

I referenced the Quran and the Sahih (authentic) Hadiths.

If one does not like the reference and the apparent interpretation of the Quran verses I gave for wife-beating then he or she should tell that to the following Muslims:

“Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradhawi, one of the most respected Muslim clerics in the world, once made the famous (and somewhat ridiculous statement) that “It is forbidden to beat the woman, unless it is necessary.” He also went on to say that “one may beat only to safeguard Islamic behavior,” leaving no doubt that wife-beating is a matter of religious sanction.”

“Dr. Muzammil Saddiqi, the former president of ISNA (the Islamic Society of North America), a mainstream Muslim organization, says it is important that a wife “recognizes the authority of her husband in the house” and that he may use physical force if he is “sure it would improve the situation.””

“Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the head of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s most prestigious institution says that “light beatings” and “punching” are part of a program to “reform the wife”. ”

Source

It has been shown that Quran 4:34 says it okay to beat one’s wife. That has been the traditional interpretation of the text.

Muslim scholars today say that is the correct interpretation and are teaching it is okay to their audiences.

Let’s read what Muslim scholars in the past have to say. Al-Shafi‘i who lived around 700-800s. He thinks beating your wife is permissible!

“Modern jurists and writers have done their best to weaken this verse by interpreting “rebelliousness” as disobedience and adultery, where beating would be the last means a man can resort to in order to keep the woman from committing that heinous deed.(1) The old jurists and commentators, however, were more realistic and frank. Al-Shafi`i,for example, holds that a man has the right to beat his wife, but abstaining from it (namely from beating) is better.”
al-Shafi`i,Kitab al-Umm (Bulaq, 1322 A.H.), 5:100,101. Fakhr al-Razi, 10:9.

Source

Let’s read what Muhammad’s biographer, Ibn Ishaq (around 700s), wrote what Muhammad said:

“You have rights over your wives and they have rights over you. You have the right that they should not defile your bed and that they should not behave with open unseemliness. If they do, God allows you to put them in separate rooms and to beat them but not with severity. If they refrain from these things, they have the right to their food and clothing with kindness. Lay injunctions on women kindly, for they are prisoners with you having no control of their own persons. (Guillaume’s translation, p. 651) “

AL-NAWAWI (Reliance of the Traveller):

Nawawi is one of the great Islamic jurisprudence scholars. He was a 13th century Shafi’i scholar. His work was used by Ahmad Naqib in writing “Reliance of the Traveller”. This book is a “Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law”. From the section m10.12, “Dealing with a Rebellious Wife”, page 540,

….

If the wife does not fulfill one of the above-mentioned obligations, she is termed “rebellious” (nashiz), and the husband takes the following steps to correct matters:

(c) if keeping from her is ineffectual, it is permissible for him to hit her if he believes that hitting her will bring her back to the right path, though if he does not think so, it is not permissible. His hitting her may not be in a way that injures her, and is his last recourse to save the family.

COMMENTARY OF IBN KATHIR:

Ibn Kathir was also a Shafi’i scholar and is one of the distinguished Islamic scholars. His commentary (tafseer) is a favorite of Sunni Muslims. Excerpts from his commentary on 4:34 follow. The quote is very long, but it is of great value in describing how the woman is positioned in Islam, and it provides the theological justification for her beating. I quote from pages 50 through 53.

…

“And beat them.” If they do not abstain from their disobedience through both advice and desertion. However, the beating should be dharbun ghayru nubrah, i.e. light, according to the Hadith narrated in Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Jabir, who had quoted the Prophet as saying in his farewell pilgrimage: “And fear Allah in women, for they are your aides, and their duties towards you is that your beds should not be shared with someone you dislike. Therefore, if they disobey you, beat them lightly, and your duty towards them is that you should maintain and buy them clothes in a reasonable manner.”

Scholars said: dharbun ghayru nubrah means: The husband should beat his wife lightly, in a way which does not result in breaking one of her limbs or affecting her badly.

“But if they obey, seek not against them means (of annoyance).” If a woman obeys her husband in all what he wants from her, as long as within the boundaries of what is lawful, he should not beat nor desert her.”

Source

I have still yet to read any Muslim commentator/scholar/jurist/school of thought etc. prior to the 1900s that said it was not okay to beat one’s wife according to the text. I have read revisionist interpretations to make it palatable to modern westerners which shows a lack of intellectual honesty.

The Bible however reads:

Colossians 3:19 – Husbands, love [your] wives, and be not bitter against them.

Ephesians 5:25 – Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Ephesians 5:28 – So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

1 Peter 3:7  Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

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If you are sincere you can say this simple prayer to the Father (it doesn’t have to be word for word):

“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself and that is wrong. Please forgive me of all of my sins just as I forgive others. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ in giving His life for me on the cross, I believe in my heart Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead and I long to receive the forgiveness you have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin, or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in the Lord and GOD Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”