Wife Beating for Mr. Hasan: Some proofs !!

"..And take in your hand a green branch and beat her with It and do not break your oath;" (Q.38:44)

"...  And those wives whose refractoriness ye fear, exhort them, and avoid them in beds, and beat them; but if they obey you, seek not a way against them......" (Quran 4:34 A.M. Daryabad Trans.)

By Avijit Roy

www.mukto-mona.com 

In response to: http://www.vinnomot.com/ABAL/HasanAvijit.htm  (vinnomot)

I wrote an article in response to Mr. Faisal's "haay Mukto-mona" which perturbed  one Islamic mind and some mysterious translation of "beating" was intended to present that claim to have different meaning than I quoted. I hereby wish to give a response to the author's claim.

[Mr. Hasan]

Please tell me the word that has been translated as "beating". It also has 4 meanings in Qur'anic Language(not the slang or informal language). Please also let me know how many root alphabets are available for every single Quranic word?

[My response]

Before answering Mr. Hasan's specific question, let's look how the various renowned translators Agreed-upon Translations of Verse 4.34 :

1. Yusuf Ali:

"....As to those women on whose part ye 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, great (above you all)."

2. Pickthal:

"...As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great."

3. Shakir:

"...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."

4. Al-Hilali & Mohsin Khan:

"....As to those women on whose part you see ill�conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful), but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance). Surely, All�h is Ever Most High, Most Great."

5. Dr. T.B. Irving:

"...Admonish those women whose surliness you fear, and leave them alone in their beds, and [even] beat them [if necessary]. If they obey you, do not seek any way [to proceed] against them. God is Sublime, Great."

6. Muhammad Sarwar:

"...Admonish women who disobey (God's laws), do not sleep with them and beat them. If they obey (the laws of God), do not try to find fault in them. God is High and Supreme."

7. Rashad Khalifa

"....If you experience rebellion from the women, you shall first talk to them, then (you may use negative incentives like) deserting them in bed, then you may (as a last alternative) beat them. If they obey you, you are not permitted to transgress against them. GOD is Most High, Supreme."

8. Abdul-Majid Daryabadi:

"...And those wives whose refractoriness ye fear, exhort them, and avoid them in beds, and beat them; but if they obey you, seek not a way against them; verily Allah is ever Lofty, Grand."

9. E.H. Palmer

"...But those whose perverseness ye fear, admonish them and remove them into bedchambers and beat them; but if they submit to you, then do not seek a way against them; verily, God is high and great."

10. Muhammad Ayub Khan:

"...And those whose rebellion you fear, admonish them and leave them alone in the beds, and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; God is surely High, Great."

11. Ahmed Raza Khan:

"...the women from whom you fear disobedience, (at first) advise them and (then) do not cohabit with them, and (lastly) beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek to do injustice to them; indeed Allah is Supreme, Great."

12. Hassan Qaribullah & Ahmad Darwish:

"...Those from whom you fear rebelliousness, admonish them and desert them in the bed and smack them (without harshness). Then, if they obey you, do not look for any way against them. Allah is High, Great."

13. Mahmud Y. Zayid:

"...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."

14. Muhammad Asad:

"...And as for those woolen whose ill-will" you have reason to fear, admonish them [first]; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them ;4s and if thereupon..."

It is amusing to see Mr. Hasan is disregarding all those translations by well-known and world-famous scholars of Islam and trying to confuse the readers with his own (mis)interpretation.

"Modern Islamists" like Mr. Hasan perhaps will try to portray that the verse containing an Arabic word "idriboohunna" (root word is "darb")  didn�t really mean �to beat them,� but rather to "separate from them" or to �strike them out� or something else.   But after studying and analyzing the verse critically, I found that they all don�t change the meaning of "idriboohunnaa"  in verse 4:34 at all. And it was CORRECTLY understood and properly translated by the above mentioned translators as �beat.�  Here is the detailed analysis:

Transliteration of 4:34:

Alrrijalu qawwamoona AAala alnnisa-i bima faddala Allahu baAAdahum AAala baAAdin wabima anfaqoo min amwalihim faalssalihatu qanitatun hafithatun lilghaybi bima hafitha Allahu waallatee takhafoona nushoozahunna faAAithoohunna waohjuroohunna fee almadajiAAi waidriboohunna fa-in ataAAnakum fala tabghoo AAalayhinna sabeelan inna Allaha kana AAaliyyan kabeeran

English translation:

Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to their husbands), and guard in the husband�s absence what Allah orders them to guard (e.g. their chastity and their husband�s property). As to those women on whose part you see ill conduct, admonish them (first), (next) refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful); but if they obey you, seek not against them means (of annoyance). Surely, Allah is Ever Most High, Most Great. [ Translation: YUSUFALI]

Here are the meaning of some key Arabic words:

Ae-rijalu qawwaamoona �alan-nisaa�i---Men are the protectors and maintainers of women

Qantitat�Those (women who are obedient to Allah)

Hafi-zatul-lilghayb---Those (women) who guard (their chastity and their husband�s property) in (their husband�s) absence

Ma hafi-zallah---What Allah orders them to guard

Nushu-zahunn---Their disloyalty and ill-conduct

Needless to say, the word �idriboohunna� means "to beat" here (Idriboo = beat, Hunna = them); So "beat them" is the only sensible meaning of idriboohunna and that's what we find in every translation. There is a similar (but not same) word "Adriboo Anhunna" which has a different meaning and used in different purposes though.

Please note that the original Arabic text does not say �lightly.� YUSUFALI has deliberately tried to soften the harsh verse of Quran here (remember the subject of linguistic skill of various translators that I mentioned in my initial write-up). Please consult with Arabic speaking Islamic scholars if you do not believe me; or check other translator's translations.

Mr. Hasan might again come with his same lame argument pointing my lack of knowledge in Arabic. Let's then check the comment form an  Egyptian Kafir, who is an Arabic speaking member of FFI :

what a bunch of  deceivers.

beating = leave ??? what a pathetic and DESPERATE attempt to justify this act, the Arabic word idribohunna Driven from the root word Darab Does not have any other meaning than Beat WHEN it comes to MEAN "Yadreb Ahadan" = Hit someone , Idriboohunna أضربوهن means beat them (for female plural), Adriboo Anhunna اضربوا عنهن IS the one that means abandon or leave them...here is the Arabic lexicon (Qamoos al muheet) on this word :

http://lexicons.ajeeb.com/html/7071942.html


so lets see the verse , I highlighted the word :



it says Idriboohunna اضربوهن, not Adribu Anhunna أضربوا عنهن....the meaning is totally different, but of course , LYING AND DECEIVING is in the blood of Muslims , why not deceive some naive English speaking people in some Arabic words? no wonder why this sect is a FAILURE in the Arab world and have absolutely no ground there.

 

Example from Hadith:

Can beat your wife but do not beat her like a slave girl...1.0142

A man will not be asked as to why he beat his wife...11.2142

Proofs of Sahabis beating their wives:

Sunan Abu Dawud- 11-2142:- THE PROPHET (pbuh) SAID,-"A MAN ( in hereafter) WILL NOT BE ASKED AS TO WHY HE BEAT HIS WIFE".

Bangla Bukhari by Abdul Karim Khan Hiadis #2468:- THE PROPHET (pbuh) SAID,-"DON'T BEAT YOUR WIVES AS YOU BEAT YOUR SLAVES. AND THEN SLEEP WITH THEM IN THE NIGHTS".

Hope, I could clarify my points.

[Mr. Hasan]

If Qur'an is such easy to understand looking at the Translation, then why millions of muslims are going to the religious school? Look at the Quality of scholars who went to the Al-Azhar University and whoever went to the Alia Madrashaw of Bangladesh. Make a juxtaposition.

[My Response]

Please Remember that Quran repeatedly claims to be a "clear book" (5:15) "easy to understand� (44:58 , 54:22 , 54:32, 54:40) "explained in detail" (6:114), "conveyed clearly", (5:16, 10:15) and with �no doubt� in it (2:1). So your claim that Quran is not such easy to understand, seems to contradict with Allah's own statement!

And  It is useless to point out how many people go to Al-Azhar University or how many people believe in Islam. Unfortunately, the popularity of a belief has little to do with how "correct" it is, or whether it "works"; Consider  how many people believe in astrology, graphology, ghosts, and other fairy tales and pseudo-sciences.

This is my last response in this thread. I just wanted to put one generic example (mentioning "beat") in my initial write-up  just to clarify some issues of mistranslation argued by Faisal; however, I   had no intention to enter in an unnecessary debate of wife-beating.  As an atheist I view every religion as falsehood and I  do not reserve any special hatred or grudge for any specific religion- what I feel is that it is simply a human weakness to want to believe in gods, no matter Islamic or unislamic. In fact, Hindu rituals in many cases (such as "ekadoshee", "dhandurba-onushthan", "dowry" etc..) in my opinion,  are much more cruel and offensive towards women compared to prevalent Islamic practices. Certainly in many primitive and dogmatic human societies, religion allows the people to deal with phenomena that they do not adequately understand, neither they want to. No pun indeed.

And lastly, My Name is Avijit Roy (Not Rai).

Thanks for reading.
13/03/2004

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