NCJ Number
218428
Journal
Violence Against Women Volume: 13 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2007 Pages: 516-526
Date Published
May 2007
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article presents a discussion of Islamic interpretations of wife beating.
Abstract
Four schools of interpretations of domestic violence emerged in Islam. The schools are classified based on the severity of the patriarchal values reflected in the structural relationship between men (husbands) and women (wives) within the family and the general society. These schools offer opinions that range from viewing Islam as condoning wife beating to one where the phrase beat them is found to mean many things, but not hitting. These schools of interpretation of wife beating in Islam are not expressions of a one-sided societal evolution, whereby the most patriarchal existed in the past and the most intolerant of violence prevails in contemporary society. In reality, these interpretations coexist. Their coexistence is the result of an ideological challenge between the effort of some Muslim women and men to focus on the “ethics of care” for all within the roots of Islam and an increasing Islamization of all sectors of society, including women’s rights. This article examines Islamic rulings on wife beating in an attempt to fill a gap in the English literature for advocates who work with Muslim battered immigrant women in the United States. The hope is that future research will work on testing these classifications with more empirical data on Muslim women’s conditions. Table, references