Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence … سورة النساء

In our day and age, many people quote Qur’an (4:34) as “justification” for domestic violence, after causing physical injury & harm to women.

It goes without saying that Islam does not condone that.

Good men don’t hit women as the Prophet said, but some men oppress women, and then cite religious scriptures out of context, to blackmail & guilt-trip them – as if God Himself justifies this abuse.

But God never justifies injustice.

If a woman is suffering from domestic violence, she should immediately seek help.

Ibn Aashur al-Maaliki wrote in his Tafsir that governments can halt this practise altogether, if men are abusing their powers:

فنقول : يجوز لولاة الأمور إذا علموا أن الأزواج لا يحسنون وضع العقوبات الشرعية مواضعها ولا الوقوف عند حدودها أن يضربوا على أيديهم استعمال هذه العقوبة ويعلنوا لهم أن من ضرب امرأته عوقب كيلا يتفاقم أمر الإضرار بين الأزواج لا سيما عند ضعف الوازع
“I therefore maintain that it is permissible for rulers to prevent husbands from hitting their wives if they [the rulers] know that the husbands misuse the measures prescribed by Islamic law and do not apply them properly.
In the existence of weak religious restraint [among the people] and to eliminate spousal harm, they are to announce that any man who strikes his wife will be punished.”

[“Al-Tahrir wal Tanwir”, 5/44].