Islamic leader in Pakistan defends advising men to 'lightly beat' their wives, saying 'it is according to the Koran... and what else should you do if she does not listen?'

                                                   Chairman Muhammad Khan

An Islamic leader in Pakistan has defended his step-by-step guide on how to beat a woman, saying he will not reconsider the recommendations. Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology chairman Muhammad Khan Sherani said husbands were often left without a choice if they felt their wives were not listening to them.

He said: ‘When we draft a bill concerning women we have to consider all possible situations.

If a woman does not fulfil her responsibilities in marriage first you advise her.

‘If that doesn’t work then you consult her relatives.

‘If that doesn’t work then you desert her in bed and if all of this doesn’t work then light beating is allowed.’

The recommendations were part of the Koran and Sunnah the prophet’s teachings, with Chairman Sherani telling BBC that ‘no one can dispute that’.

When asked if he was concerned that the recommendations would be used as an excuse for husbands to beat their wives he redirected the question back to the reporter.

He said: ‘Then you tell me, what is the solution to this issue?

‘Is a woman doesn’t respond to advice, doesn’t listen to her relatives after all you’ve used all the options what should be done?’

Chairman Sherani said women could also consult their families if there was an issue.

Calmly explaining in how to deal with the issue, he said: ‘First she can involve someone from the family to resolve the issue but in the end if they feel they can’t live together she has the right to get a divorce.’

Despite the huge backlash to the council’s initial proposals, Chairman Sherani remained steadfast.

He said: ‘Society is not the media. They’re two different things and we will not reconsider the recommendations.’

‘This is according to the Koran. You cannot ask someone to reconsider the Koran.’

Muhammad Khan Sherani leads the 20-member Islamic Council, a constitutional body of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and can advise the government over potential laws.

It previously proposed allowing man to 'lightly beat' his wife if she does not 'dress as he desires', refuses to have sex, or fails to take a bath after her period. 

The proposals, as part of its own women protection bill, recommended that women could be beaten if they refused to have sex without a religious excuse or failed to bath after intercourse and periods.

It rejected Punjab province's controversial Protection of Women against Violence Act, branding it un-Islamic. 

 

Women should also be beaten for not wearing hijabs, or for speaking so loudly that strangers can hear them, it recommended.

The bill further argued that women should be banned from military combat, welcoming foreign delegations and appearing in advertisements, and must have spousal permission to give monetary support to somebody.

Female nurses should be banned from taking care of male patients and there should be no-co-education after primary school, it suggests. 

The bill advised that a woman must not interact with strangers and that abortion after 120 days should be declared murder.

However, it said that a woman can participate in politics without the permission of her parents and that anyone who tries to force women to marry should be jailed for ten years.

Sources in the council told The Express Tribune that three of the council members rejected some of the proposals in the bill during heated discussion led by Chairman Muhammad Khan Sheerani.

The only female member of the council, Dr Sameeha Raheel Qazi, was not present on Wednesday when it was being discussed. -Dailymail