“How to handle a woman? Mark me well, I will tell you, sir
The way to handle a woman Is to love her, simply love her
Merely love her, love her, love her” (From Lerner & Lowe’s Camelot)
In the musical Camelot, King Arthur sings a song about the correct way to handle a woman. But the Chairman of Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology Muhammad Khan Sherani, believes that King Arthur is all wrong. He suggests that the way to handle a woman is to beat her (but lightly).
Apparently when the council first released its rules about beating there were objections from some of the more westernized Muslim females who believed that it is wrong to beat your wife, so he spoke to the BBC to reiterate the ruling and explain that it will not be reconsidered.
According to Sherani husbands were often left without a choice if they felt their wives were not listening to them.
‘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.’
Light beating huh? I guess that doesn’t allow for the possibility she might hit back. It’s interesting the the Democratic Party in America which refuses to recognize that there is a radical Islam, doesn’t point out this “war on women.”
Chairman Sherani told the BBC that the procedure for beating one’s wife were “part of the Koran and Sunnah the prophet’s teachings no one can dispute that’. I suspect that there is a couple of hundred million Muslim women who may 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? If 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?’
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.’
Then he gave a list of things women should be beaten for like not wearing hijabs, or for speaking so loudly that strangers can hear them.
The bill [approved by the council] 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 (the dirtiest profession of all) without the permission of her parents and that anyone who tries to force women to marry should be jailed for ten years.
The Islamic Council, a constitutionally created body of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which can advise he government over potential laws.
Apparently previously proposed rules included 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.
Not surprisingly, the only female member of the council, Dr Sameeha Raheel Qazi, was not present at the council meeting when beating ones wife was being discussed.
Chairman Sherani would definitely disagree with Arthur, but perhaps they both have it wrong, after all in the second act, Arthur’s wife Guinevere sleeps with Lancelot. Eventually the king wages war against his former best friend Lance, they make up and Guinevere becomes a nun. But in the end that’s still better than beating your wife–no matter how gently.
