RUTHFULLY YOURS

Here’s some diversity for the multiculturalists to celebrate.  Via MEMRI, translation of a video by Saudi family therapist Khaled Al-Saqaby, who explains the proper Islamic way to beat your wife, which, he admits, is a thorny issue.  As U.K. Daily Mail excerpts:

Mr Al-Saqaby urges men not to physically abuse their wives but pursue three courses of action should they need “discipline” – first talk to them, then “forsake them in bed,” and finally beat them.

He said wives “undoubtedly” caused problems because many “want to live a life of equality with their husbands,” which is a “very grave problem.”

Yes, that is grave indeed.

In the video, he says: “I am aware that this issue is a thorny one which contains many hazards, but Allah willing we will cross this bridge safely.

“I believe the problem arises when husbands do not understand how to deal with disobedience. Some women disobey their husbands and make mistakes with them, and their husbands think this is due to inadequate treatment [of disobedience].”

He added: “The first step is to remind her of your rights and of her duties according to Allah.  Then comes the second step – forsaking her in bed.

“Here some husbands make mistakes which might exacerbate the problem.”

Mr Al-Saqaby goes on to explain how men should remain sharing a bed with their wives but turn their back on them, rather than one of the couple sleeping in a different room or on the floor.

He said: “As a woman once told me, this is the most ingenious way to discipline a wife. If the husband leaves the room it is easier for her than if he remains but turns his back to her or if he sleeps on the floor or vice versa.”

Finally comes physical action, although Mr. Al-Saqaby stresses that it should not be a way for a husband to “vent one’s anger.”

He said: “Women have to understand the aim is to discipline.  The necessary Islamic conditions for beating must be met.

“The beating should not be performed with a rod, nor should it be a headband, or a sharp object, which, I am sad to say, some husbands use.

“It should be done with something like the sewak tooth-cleaning twig or with a handkerchief, because the goal is to merely make the wife feel that she was wrong in the way she treated her husband.”

Watch it here.

I am certain we are all relieved to learn of the deep humanity that informs this process of discipline. And we can absolutely celebrate President Obama’s immigration policies, which are bringing over a hundred thousand Muslims to the United States every year. The will make our “gorgeous mosaic” of diversity a lot more colorful.