Radical Islamic Group Slams Modest Muslims Who Don't Agree With Video Suggesting It's Ok For Husbands To Hit Wives
A video by a Muslim group suggesting it's ok for husbands to hit their wives has received widespread condemnation even from other Muslims, but now these moderate Muslims are being slammed for their criticism.
Hamzah Qureshi, a spokesman for Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, the group behind the video, has taken aim at fellow Muslims who had distanced themselves from its message, News.com.au reports.
"When the media accuses Muslims of something, we must not take the bait and participate in apologetic appeals that seek to distance ourselves from the accusation, since that only serves to validate a connection that has been deliberately constructed to begin with," he said.
"Internal Muslim community disagreements should be discussed internally on Islamic terms — not as a show for public consumption," he added.
In a Facebook post, Qureshi also took aim at politicians who make "politically convenient" comments in response to the video, the Daily Mail reported.
"Great to see politicians and officials lining up to take the moral high ground when it comes to violence," Qureshi said.
A video condemned
Earlier, Reem Allouche and Atika Latifi, the two women who released the controversial video, interpreted a verse in the Quran that says "leave them alone in sleeping places and beat them" as implying it's sometimes ok for a Muslim man to hit his wife.
Reactions to the video have been varied.
Muslim educator Silma Ihram said it the interpretation of the Quran should be left to Muslim scholars.
"That is for a scholar to do and not for you or me," Ihram said.
TODAY show host Ben Fordham hit out at the suggestion that there could sometimes be justification for hitting women.
"If you hit a woman, you're a coward. It's not okay to hit your wife gently, or softly, or occasionally or any other way you want to spin it," Fordham said.
