Marital Control Quotes
In English law, the second a woman married, she ceased to exist and an entity independent from her husband who had total control in the family. This doctrine was carried over to American law. See {629246}.
Some modern versions of the Koran annotate the “beating” injunction and argue that this should only be used as a last resort. This is an example of socially unacceptable anachronisms that are found in the scripture of most older religions. All but the radical fundamentalists do not take these passages literally.
A highly respected intellectual, Schlesinger, had joined the John Kennedy Presidential Campaign. The announcement produced a slew of news stories. A Boston Globe reporter called Schlesinger’s wife, a respected intellectual figure in her own right, and asked if she was also supporting Kennedy in the Democratic Primary. She told him that she was supporting Stevenson, not Kennedy and a story with that information appeared the next day. This was embarrassing for the JFK campaign and particularly for Robert F. Kennedy, JFK’s younger brother who was the campaign director. He read the Boston Globe article, made a copy and wrote this famous quotation in the margin and sent it to Schlesinger. Historically it was unusual for the wives of public figures to hold public views different from their husbands. This was the main reason the story was news for the Boston Globe. But there were always women who maintained an independence of thought and political views, though in 1960, they were far fewer than today when this has almost become typical. However, Robert Kennedy, like Schlesinger and JFK himself had married very strong, accomplished women and they were not threatened by their wife’s independence. Hence the humorous questions Kennedy wrote.
Some modern Islamic scholars have attempted to make this Sura more acceptable by arguing that the size of the stick with which the man may beat the “disobedient” wife should be limited. The contemporary argument concentrates on the size of the stick. There are also a few fundamentalist Christians who advocate the right of a husband to beat his wife on the grounds that this was accepted in Biblical times.
He further called for jail for any man who was trying to force a woman into marriage. Forced marriage was never a part of Islam although it was a common custom in Islamic countries and societies.
This prevented a woman from leaving her husband and taking the children to another country, where she might get a divorce and custody. The Egyptian woman may get a divorce but for narrow grounds which she must prove before the court. A man can unilaterally divorce a woman and need not go before a judge or court—just file his papers.
