Veiling, Domestic Violence and the state of the Muslims in India

Asra Nomani discusses the issue of domestic violence, that has been sanctioned by the Koran, in the current issue of Outlook.

When dealing with a "disobedient wife," a Muslim man has a number of options. First, he should remind her of "the importance of following the instructions of the husband in Islam." If that doesn't work, he can "leave the wife's bed." Finally, he may "beat" her, though it must be without "hurting, breaking a bone, leaving blue or black marks on the body and avoiding hitting the face, at any cost."

Such appalling recommendations, drawn from the book Woman in the Shade of Islam by Saudi scholar Abdul Rahman al-Sheha, are inspired by as authoritative a source as any Muslim could hope to find: a literal reading of the 34th verse of the fourth chapter of the Koran, An-Nisa , or Women. "[A]nd (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them," reads one widely accepted translation.

She challenges Western leaders, like British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who have recently focused on Muslim women's veils as an obstacle to integration in the West. But to her it is 4:34 that poses the much deeper challenge of integration.

Yvonne Ridley on the other hand, talks about how she came to love the veil and contrasts it to the oppression that Western women face.

Some young Muslim feminists consider the hijab and the nikab political symbols, too, a way of rejecting Western excesses such as binge drinking, casual sex and drug use. What is more liberating: being judged on the length of your skirt and the size of your surgically enhanced breasts, or being judged on your character and intelligence? In Islam, superiority is achieved through piety—not beauty, wealth, power, position or sex.

My own feelings about domestic violence are that it unfortunately happens in all communities. I worked with Sakhi for a year, they focus on helping South Asian domestic violence victims. I worked with Sikh and Muslim women, highly educated and illiterate women, rich and poor women. The stories were similar, disempowered men, abusing their wives and mothers to feel better about themselves. But the women, through friends and family had found out that by calling the police they could send their spouse to jail or go to the courts and obtain an order of protection, that would make it a criminal offense for an abuser to threaten, harass, or contact the victim or the children, or comes to her house or apartment or place of employment.

I cannot imagine what must happen to women where the legal system allows women to be beaten. I agree with Asra Nomani that we need to challenge literal approaches to the Koran like 4:34, rather than worry about women veiling. If a woman veils voluntarily, I think it is her decision, but if she is forced to veil, that is unacceptable.

Syeda Hameed discusses the poverty and unemployment of the Indian Muslim community in general, and Malegoan in Maharashtra in particular.