Author:
Publication: The Guardian,
UK
Date: August 10, 2000
A Turkish state-funded
religious foundation has courted public fury by publishing a volume that
says men may beat their wives as long as they avoid the face and do not
strike too hard. The Muslim's Handbook, written by a retired cleric,
Kemal Guran, also says that if a man's wife is ill and he cannot afford
a servant, he can take a second wife.
The book was printed
under the supervision of the Pious Foundation, which is affiliated to Turkey's
government- run religious affairs directorate. The directorate appoints
all Muslim clerics and dictates the topics preached at mosques.
Although other religious
texts have declared wifebeating permissible in the past, the Muslim's Handbook
has been produced at a time when the directorate is attempting to present
a modern interpretation of Islam, including greater rights for Muslim women.
"I am outraged that such
a book was published with state funds - with money women paid in taxes,"
said Zuhal Kilic, the head of Kader, a group which promotes women in politics.
And Sema Piskinsut from the Turkish parliament's committee on human rights
warned that "no one has the right to hit another person".
The foundation is already
in trouble with the military- dominated national security council for publishing
a book which described the armed forces as "not a national army but the
army of a faction [of society]". Turkey's army is staunchly secular
and has led the crackdown on political Islam.
Several weeks ago a similar
row erupted in Spain about another book by a Muslim cleric which included
tips on wifebeating. The imam Mohamed Kamal Mostafa, based at a mosque
in Fuengirola, on Spain's southern coast, also described how to hit without
leaving marks in his recent book Women in Islam.
He suggested that verbal
skills were the best way to bring women into line. If that did not
work, a period of sexual abstinence should be tried. Failing that,
beating was acceptable so long as the blow, delivered by a thin rod, was
not struck in extreme anger. Sensitive parts of the body such as
the face, breasts, and stomach should be avoided.
