ABSTRACT
The Qur’an contains many passages that concern marital harmony and conflict resolution strategies for spouses, but one passage, Q 4:34, appears to contain permission for husbands to physically discipline their wives under certain circumstances. What are those circumstances and what kind of physical discipline may be prescribed? Can this verse be reconciled from within a theological framework that is feminist or female-centric? This chapter engages with recent Muslim feminist scholarship on Qur’an 4:34 and provides textual, linguistic, and social analysis to argue that the key to addressing marital violence as a modern phenomenon may lie in pastoral and communal practice rather than hermeneutical maneuvering.
