Does the Qur'an endorse beating a disobedient wife?

Some say it does. They base their assertion on the now famous verse from Surah Nisa of the Qur'an (4:34).

But is beating your wife divinely sanctioned by the Qur'an, and by extension Almighty God himself?

First of all before we begin looking at the verse, it is important to note that Muslims do not interpet the Qur'an by itself, but take much from what is called the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh), which is the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

He was often referred to as the "walking Qur'an" because he embodied the Qur'an's teachings.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) never hit any of his wives, or indeed any female for that matter. In fact here are some of his sayings on this matter:

"Do not beat the female servants of Allah";

"Some (women) visited my family complaining about their husbands (beating them). These (husbands) are not the best of you."

“How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then he may embrace (sleep with) her?”

Secondly, the Qur'an as accepted by Muslims as God's revealed words to mankind, are as it is in the original 7th century Arabic only. Once the Qur'an is no longer in the original 7th century Arabic, it becomes a translation only. Since it has been translated by a man (or woman) into another language such as English, it is only that person's best attempt at interepreting God's revealed words, and hence may contain mistakes (as is common in all translations of any book).

Thirdly, Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Arabic are quite vast, and hence each Hebrew or Arabic word may have several possible meanings in a language such as English.

Okay, the most commonly used English translations are the ones by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, and Marmaduke Pickthall.

Today we'll use the Yusuf Ali one. Here's verse 34 of Surah Nisa as translated by Yusuf Ali:

Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them guard. 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).
Holy Qur'an, 4:34

First you'll notice that it says "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women...".
Some claim it says "Men have authority over women..."
Throughout the Qur'an, the general theme is about the equal treatment of men and women, in that God will judge men and women equally. The actual word in Arabic is "qawwam". "Men are the "qawwam" of women".

Qawwam is an intensive form of qaim, meaning: 'to take care of, to stand up for, to look after'. Does this mean men are superior to women? On the contrary, it merely states that it is a man's duty to take care of and look after the women. This is the woman's right, and the man's obligation.

Okay further on Yusuf Ali translates for us:

Some people read it as "Good women are obedient."
Okay I'm gonna take a guess that you assumed that it means "obedient" to their husbands. We get our first clue in Yusuf Ali's translation:

"Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient..."

"Devoutly" normally refers to something religious. If we take a look at the Arabic word used, it is qanitat which is the feminine plural form of the word "qanit". This is used in many places in the Qur'an and is used exclusively to mean 'submissive, obedient to Allah'. There is no reason why it should suddenly switch for this verse. It simply refers to pious women.

Okay let's continue.
Some translations say: "As for those from whom you fear disobedience..."

Yusuf Ali translates:
"As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct..."

If we look at the Arabic word used which has been translated as disloyalty/ill conduct/disobedience - the actual word is "nushooz" which means 'discord, hostility, dissonance'. In this context it seems to indicate marital problems, or discord between the spouses.

Okay, let's get to the bit about which there is most controversy, the bit people are most interested in:

A word by word translation says:
"As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, forsake them in beds apart, and beat them."

Yusuf Ali translates as:
"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);..."

Okay there's not much difference in those translations apart from Yusuf Ali has (lightly) in parantheses after "beat them".

During the time of the Prophet (pbuh) anyone who was reported to have beaten his wife was severely rebuked by him.

Further the Qur'an says earlier in the same chapter:
“Live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.”
Holy Qur'an, 4:19

And later in, the Qur'an points to the importance of the relationship between the husband and wife being based on mutual love and kindness:
"And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect."
Holy Qur'an, 30:21

And in several other places there are similar injunctions. It would seem very strange that just in this one verse, the Qur'an suddenly changes tack. Let's look at the word in Arabic. It is "adriboo". "admonish them first, then refuse to share their beds, and finally "adriboo" them;".

"Adriboo" has several possible meanings in English, one of which is indeed "to beat", but it can also mean "'to forsake, to avoid, to separate, to leave, to part'. In the same chapter, (4:128) the Qur'an says:

"If a wife fears cruelty or desertion on her husband's part, there is no blame on them if they arrange an amicable settlement between themselves"

If the adriboo did mean harsh beating up, slapping, kicking, punching, wouldn't this constitute "cruelty"? How would they arrange an "amicable settlement" after this? It is more plausible that adriboo in this context refers to 'to forsake, to (gradually) avoid (more and more), possibly eventually leave altogether'.

Some scholars and jurists have interpreted the "adriboo" to mean "beat". Let's take a quick look at that. How can they reconcile it to the repeated sayings of the Prophet as well as the various other verese in the Qur'an which exhort the good Muslim man to be kind and gentle to his wife? They took it as a symbolic strike, rather than a beating.
As per the Hadith of the Prophet (pbuh) it is impermissble to strike someone's face (man or woman), or cause bodily harm or even to be physically harsh. The jurists ruled that the strike should be adminstered with a miswak. This is a small light twig that the early Muslims used to use to clean their teeth! It was intended to be a final symbolic act after the admonishing and sleeping apart.

Muslims have been debating this for years. Whether you take the view that the word "adriboo" was translated incorrectly, or whether you take the view that the act is one of beating using a miswak twig, there is one thing that is in no doubt...

beating or abusing your wife, or any woman, has no place in Islam, as outlined above.

As the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is reported to have said:

"Do not beat the female servants of Allah";