U.S. Muslims react to husband beheading his wife
While a leader of the Islamic Society of North America deplored a Muslim beheading his wife in New York, leaders of the global Muslim Brotherhood appear to approve of corporal punishment of women by their husbands.
The Vice-President of the Islamic Society of North America, a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, has written an open letter to the leaders of U.S. Muslim communities in response to the charging of the Chairman of a prominent Islamic cable TV station with the beheading of his wife. The letter, titled “Responding to the killing of Aasiya Hassan,” opens as follows:
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is saddened and shocked by the news of the loss of one of our respected sisters, Aasiya Hassan whose life was taken violently. To God we belong and to Him we return (Qur’an 2:156). We pray that she find peace in God’s infinite Mercy, and our prayers and sympathies are with sister Aasiya’s family. Our prayers are also with the Muslim community of Buffalo who have been devastated by the loss of their beloved sister and the shocking nature of this incident. This is a wake up call to all of us, that violence against women is real and can not be ignored. It must be addressed collectively by every member of our community. Several times each day in America, a woman is abused or assaulted. Domestic violence is a behavior that knows no boundaries of religion, race, ethnicity, or social status. Domestic violence occurs in every community. The Muslim community is not exempt from this issue. We, the Muslim community, need to take a strong stand against domestic violence. Unfortunately, some of us ignore such problems in our community, wanting to think that it does not occur among Muslims or we downgrade its seriousness. I call upon my fellow imams and community leaders to never second-guess a woman who comes to us indicating that she feels her life to be in danger. We should provide support and help to protect the victims of domestic violence by providing for them a safe place and inform them of their rights as well as refer them to social service providers in our areas.
It should be noted that prominent leaders of the global Muslim Brotherhood, including an ISNA leader, have endorsed various forms of corporal punishment for wives. For example, ISNA leader Jamal Badawi wrote about the “gentle tap” that a husband might employ to avoid divorce:
Instead of divorce, the husband may resort to another measure that may save the marriage, at least in some cases. Such a measure is more accurately described as a gentle tap on the body, but NEVER ON THE FACE, making it more of a symbolic measure then a punitive one.
Youssef Qaradawi, perhaps the most important leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood, has said that a husband is forbidden to beat a woman “unless it is necessary.” According to a MEMRI report:
Muslim and Christian leaders rallied to denounce kidnappings of humanitarian workers in the predominantly Muslim province of Sulu. In a Fatwa posted on www.islamonline.net, Qaradhawi said on the same matter: “It is forbidden to beat the woman, unless it is necessary, and she ‘is in a state of rebellion’ against the husband and flouts him. This is temporary discipline [ta’adib] that is permitted to him according to the Qur’an in exceptional circumstances, when other efforts of admonishing [the wife] have failed and removing her from the bed as Allah said: ‘As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them pretexts (for annoyance): for Allah is Most High, Great (above you all).’[Qur’an 4:34] Despite this permission for the hour of necessity, the Prophet said: ‘The good men from among you do not beat [their wives]
ISNA is one of the organizations comprising the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and has a history of fundamentalism, anti-semitism, and support for terrorism. During the recent Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial, ISNA was named as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Article printed with permission from The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/17/new.york.beheading/?iref=mpstoryview Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali, vice president of the Islamic Society of North America, said Aasiya Hassan's death serves
"as a wake-up call to call of us, that violence against women is real and cannot be ignored ... the Muslim community is not exempt from this issue. We, the Muslim community, need to take a strong stand against domestic violence.
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