Beating Your Wife In the Correct Muslim Way

A recent book by Muhammad Kamal Mustafa, the imam of a mosque in southern Spain, has sparked controversy in that country. The book, 'Women in Islam,' describes how men should beat their wives, citing the Koranic verse: "And [as to] those on whose part you fear disobedience, admonish them, expel them from the bed, and beat them [4:34]..."

...[A critic said that] it would have been better to speak about the fact that Islam instructs us to be gradual [about wife-beating] - namely, first we are instructed to admonish the wife [for her disobedience, and if that doesn't work] to expel her from the bed, and only if that doesn't work either, to beat her...

"...Wife-beating cannot be explained in terms of necessity and non-painful methods when speaking with non-Muslims, and even with many Muslim women... Such justifications and explanations are unacceptable, because Western intellectuals are fundamentally opposed to the very principle of wife-beating.