Kuwaiti Cleric on Wife Beating: Not Hard and Not on the Face

In a fatwa session posted online, Kuwaiti cleric Othman Al-Khamis cited the Quranic verse pertaining to wife-beating, and said: "The beatings must not be hard. It is more of a psychological beating, the purpose of which is to humiliate the wife." He further explained that "he shouldn't break her bones, and he shouldn't beat her on the face." A video of his statements was posted on his YouTube channel on January 31.

Othman Al-Khamis: Allah says in the Quran: "As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, do not share their bed, and beat them. Then if they obey you, seek no means against them. Allah is ever Exalted." If a woman disobeys her husband, he begins by admonishing her. He does not move beyond admonishment, unless he despairs of this means, and his wife did not benefit from the admonishment. If this does not help, he moves on to refusing to share her bed. This is kept within the home, not outside. He does not share her bed.  In other words, he refrains from having sex with her. This is what this step means. He continues to live in the same house with her, but refrains from having sex with her.

This is a psychological measure of discipline against the wife. If this rectifies the situation - all praise be to Allah. If not, he can beat her, but the beatings must not be hard. He must not beat her like he would beat a man. The beatings must not be hard. It is more of a psychological beating, the purpose of which is to humiliate the wife. The purpose of the beating is to make her feel that he is cross, that he is angry. Some of the ancient scholars even said that he should beat her with a sewak dental twig. Imagine that...

That is not a sewak. Let me show you. Just a second. This is my sewak. Some scholars have said that he should beat her with a sewak, because the beating itself is not the goal. The goal is to make her feel that he is upset. He shouldn't beat her like he would beat a man. The beatings must not be hard. He shouldn't break her bones, and he shouldn't beat her on the face.

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