Wife-beating rejected in 'new' Koran
A new translation of the Koran has set an American Muslim woman on a potentially dangerous collision course with fundamentalists.
Laleh Bakhtiar aims to reignite one of the most divisive debates in Islam by rejecting the idea that chapter 4, verse 34 of the Koran grants a husband the divine right to beat his wife.
Physical punishment is held widely to be an acceptable last resort in cases of disobedience after admonition and banishment from the marital bed. Dr Bakhtiar, 68, told The Times that anyone adhering to this interpretation of the verse had denigrated Islam.
Calls for the modernisation of Islam have led to women such as Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi author, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former Dutch MP, facing death threats.
The family of Dr Bakhtiar is fearful for her safety but the academic, based in Chicago, believes that it is God’s will to decide whether she will be vilified.
Imams on Arab television stations discuss frequently what one Qatari preacher called a “wondrous verse” and have even given details of rules for wife-beating. In Germany, the verse was cited by a judge as the reason that he refused a fast-track divorce to a Moroccan woman who was seeking to escape a violent marriage.
Dr Bakhtiar, who has written books on Islamic unity and translated 30 books on Islam and Islamic beliefs into English, says that the Koran does not convey a right to beat women. She has courted further controversy by removing the word “infidel” from her translation and by using “God” instead of “Allah”.
In addition to being American and female, Dr Bakhtiar, 68, is a convert from Christianity and is not a classically trained Arabic scholar. Her translation, The Sublime Quran, took seven years to complete and is not published until April 10, but the bloggers and chat rooms are active already.
She has been accused of having a predetermined agenda, and of not being qualified to translate the Koran. “I have been blessed to be able to complete this work but I have no idea what will happen now,” Dr Bakhtiar said. “My daughter is concerned, but I will deal with it when it comes.”
The key to the verse is the word “daraba” which, Dr Bakhtiar says, has 25 meanings in Arabic and has been variously translated as hit, strike, scourge, chastise, pet, tap and spank. The most common translation, however, is beat.
Dr Bakhtiar insisted that the correct meaning is to “go away from”. She said: “I’m trying to have Islam better understood — God knows if I’ll succeed or not. My other hope is that no woman will be beaten in the whole world, and certainly not in the name of God. I cannot see how I have done anything other than to elevate the Prophet and elevate the Koran by having it understood by more people.”
Aisha Bewley, who translated the Koran with her husband, said that they had opted for the translation “beat”. She said that the verse should be read only with a commentary that placed it in context.
“The best advice is that of the Prophet, who said ‘the worst of you are those who beat your wives’,” she said. Neal Robinson, a professor of Islamic studies, said that the translation of “daraba” as “hit” was inescapable.
He said: “There is a need to put passages like that in their historical context.”
In translation
“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] chastise them [lightly]; but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means [of annoyance]: for Allah is Most High, Great [above you all].”
The Holy Qu’ran, translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1934)
“Husbands should take good care of their wives, with [the bounties] God has given to some more than others and with what they spend out of their own money. Righteous wives are devout and guard what God would have them guard in their husband’s absence. If you fear high handedness from your wives, remind them [of the teachings of God], then ignore them when you go to bed, then hit them.*” *this signifies a single blow #
The Qu’ran, translated by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem (2004)
“Men are supporters of wives because God has given some of them an advantage over others and because they spend of their wealth. So the ones who are in accord with morality are the ones who are morally obligated, the ones who guard the unseen of what God has kept safe. But those whose resistance you fear, then admonish them and abandon them in their sleeping place, then go away from them; and if they obey you, look not for any way against them”
The Sublime Quran, translated by Laleh Bakhtiar (2007)
From The Times
March 31, 2007
Sean O’Neill
SOURCE
Wife-beating rejected in 'new' Koran
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