Men are in charge of women, as Allah has made one of them superior to the other, and because men spend their wealth for the women; so virtuous women are the reverent ones, guarding behind their husbands the way Allah has decreed guarding; and 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.
— The Quran, Sura 4:34
I agree that such violence towards *anyone* is wrong… a crime, and I also believe Woman ought to have The Same rights/ equality as Men.
The best way to End this Evil is by preaching the Christian Gospel, ie convert Islamics to the truth.
That is the only hope because this way…via conversion they choose to abandon the evil, and that is how human beings function The solution certainly is not to outlaw the islamic faith, that will never work, and is a violation of the principle of Religious liberty.
I have also seen Islamic Clerics explaining that The Koran forbids Men beating their woman so as to break bones or draw blood, and that if the doo so they have done evil and are guilty before Allah. Thus it is clear that many muslims oppose violence towards woman, and also many dont believe in the burka etc, thus it is clear that it is possible for Islamic people to co-exist with Non-islamics in a peaceful free and equal society (Millions of Muslims greatly prefer western secular society to the so-called islamic states… they migrate in great masses to escape to freedom)
We must take care to cultivate friendliness towards these moderate muslims and oght to fear any foolish bigotry on our parts which stimulates extemism at the expence of moderation in the islamic communities of the world.
So it’s OK to beat your wife so long as you don’t break her bones or draw blood?!!
No not at all, I said this to show that there are islamic Clerics whom are trying to point out that serious assaults are forbidden by the Koran. And this fact does Ideologically mitigate what the Koran allows, and indicates that the serious violence suffered by woman is not universally condoned. This ought to throw a bucket of water on a great % of your Righteous indignation towards the Koran because you are assuming it condones serious assaults. And Muslims can also completely deny those portions of the Koran hold any validity… just as you do with portions of the OT you dont like! So again there are many reasons why Muslims can be respectful husbands…
Good points, Tim. However, the fact remains that in many Islamic countries the plight of women is indistinguishable from slavery.
If you don’t blame the current global wave of violent unrest on Islam itself, and you don’t blame it on Interventionist U.S. foreign policy, then what do you blame it on?