Islamic Cleric: OK to Beat and Rape Wives

(Melbourne, Australia) A Muslim cleric with the Coburg Mosque and head of the Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia, Samir Abu Hamza, has created a storm of controversy by directing his followers to beat their wives and force them to have sex.

In a lecture titled "The Keys to a Successful Marriage", which has since been posted on the internet and viewed thousands of times, Mr Hamza said men could beat their wives, "to shape them up", but should try not to draw blood or bruise them.

He also said women "must respond" if their husbands wanted to have sex, and ridiculed laws that prohibit rape within marriage.

"In this country if the husband wants to sleep with his wife and she does not want to and she hasn't got a sickness or whatever, there is nothing wrong with her she just does not feel like it, and he ends up sleeping with her by force ... it is known to be as rape," Mr Hamza said.

"Amazing, how can a person rape his wife?" [...]

In the sermon Mr Hamza initially tells his listeners "don't hit your wife".

But he goes on to detail how men should hit their wives, according to his interpretation of Islamic teachings.

He says it is permissible to hit women as a "last resort" but that "the beating the Mohammed showed is like the toothbrush that you use to brush your teeth".

"You are not allowed to bruise them, you are not allowed to make them bleed.

"You don't go and grab a broomstick and say that is what Allah has said."

Therefore, According to Mr. Hamza, it is permissible to smack the wife around if she balks at having sex, but don't leave bruises or make her bleed. What a guy, eh?

A little background on Mr. Hamza indicates that he's also known as Samir Mohtadi, a Lebanese Salafist immigrant to Australia who maintains a hatred for the Bible.

"If there's one book that should be banned, it is the Bible. So I would not allow my sons or my daughters or my friends or my enemies to read that Bible. I am too embarrassed to read some of the things in the Bible."

Regarding his beat-the-old-lady sermon, Hamza refuses to retract his statements and said they have been taken out of context. He says he was simply being metaphorical.

Nevertheless, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and several Islamic leaders have condemned Hamza's teachings. Rudd called for repudiation and an apology. Haset Seli of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils called Hamza a lunatic and by his lecture he demonstrated his ignorance.

To preclude any followers of Islam and followers of Hamza from using violence against women by accidentally misinterpreting metaphors, the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) is planning workshops with imams next week. Presumably, once the male followers of the religion of peace are properly trained in the application of forceful marital metaphors, women will be safe.

Mr. Hamza is unavailable for comment since he's on holiday at an unknown location for the next "couple of weeks."

Companion post at The Jawa Report.