Recordings › Prof. Edip Yuksel | Rejecting Hadith, Rashad Khalifa & Realizing '19' | MindTrap with Mufti #27 · 26 Jun 2020 › Segment 21 of 36
Does the Quran allow a husband to hit his wife?
udhiyah qurbani qurbaani udhiya udhiyya kurbani muftis koran quraan al-quran sura soorah surat suwar soora ayah aya ayat ayaat aayah aayat ahl al-sunnah ahl as-sunnah ahlus sunnah ahl al-sunna sunnis ma sha allah masha'allah masha allah mashaa allah salam as-salamu alaykum assalamu alaikum assalamualaikum salaam salaams salam alaykum wa alaykum as-salam greeting rizq rizk amanah amana amaanah amanatThe hitting verse 4:34: daraba, idrib as get out, and four mistranslated words
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This segment2:04:43 to 2:12:32 · 7 min 49 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenThe guest reads 4:34 as telling a persistently flirting wife to leave rather than as permission to beat, and says four words in the verse were mistranslated to create male authority. Mufti Abu Layth says the statement that men provide is descriptive, not prescriptive.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth relays a question already asked about the guest's reinterpretation of verses such as the hitting verse, 4:34, which the guest has called a historical error of translation. The guest says daraba is a multi-meaning word like strike in English: the Quran uses it for giving an example, for covering with a cloth, for travelling and for other senses, so wadribuhunna need not mean beat. He says that translating in 1989 his Sunni reflex was to read it as beating, that he marked the verse on an orange paper for further research, and that in 1992 in Ankara he saw a film in which a North African co-wife told a woman to get out using idrib, which confirmed that the verse means to tell a persistently flirting wife to leave the house. He says four key words in the verse are mistranslated by male clergy to create authority over women: qawwamun means providers, not dictators, which Mufti says he has argued is descriptive of the society rather than prescriptive; nushuz is translated as rebellion for women but as disloyalty when the same word is used of men later in the chapter; and qanitat means obedient to God, as everywhere in the Quran, not to a husband. He says his translation's introduction gives about fifteen such examples to show readers they need no Arabic to see the problem, and Mufti displays the comparison table from the 19.org website.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedHow have you interpreted the hitting verse, 4:34, which you have said was historically mistranslated as permission to hit?
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19 letters but among all the name I said let me find let me give a name a number and then I defect ft 19 they were writing on the walls graffiti they were giving away pamphlets and they were basically it was a training I was preparing them for college to - we were controlling colleges that has always had a deep connect with you sharing train Oh for some questions I know people are posting some questions but something that has been asked already and I will we did touch up briefly before a
reinterpretation of the Quran a modernist a reformist into a translation of the Quran verses like the hating verse you've said that this has been an error in translation historically that father Reba Luna was never to hit them how have you interpreted this verse Dora bear is like strike in English is a multi meaning word it has many words like God Abba Macedon it's not beating
an example it is to give an example palliative may be home originally Davina let them cover their chest with their cover with their clothes and Bella Bella as any made them get not here Dorabella has any and Christ and all to travel as well travel the prodigal Phil Phil are the drivers loud and durable therefore sometimes even without fear without in
it means bearable and Madrid forward the reallocate had mashallah and then when I was trusted in the Quran in 1989 I had problem with these frustrating as a beat because my first reflex as a Sunni was to underneath when when come to the woman it should be beaten correct nothing other meaning you know we don't even trust it like you know about the hate for sacrifice in a third
and apply a peace it doesn't say beat it with the with the hater and even in for haver we don't use the word beat the cow the sacred cow for the ribbon will be Barbie huh - it doesn't say beat it and hit it with that it is basically to match it it is apply to it touch it something like that but somehow when comes to women we picked the worst meaning and I had problem but I couldn't translate it otherwise around I put it I had an orange paper on it I was writing the
verses which I needed further research and then after that about a 2 years later I went to Turkey I hadn't published my translation yet but I had finished it I will I was incubating on some verses and then I was in Ankara in 1992 I believe I went to I went to a cinema a theatre it was about there was what was the name of it oh my gosh there was a movie about some
women and friends they go to Africa they have incredible adventure in Africa and the women this European woman become the concubine or a wife of a polygamist tried man anyway in one scene these older wives the previous wives they are arguing with her and one of those wives tell her it will get out inherently yeah it's English like in English like bTW yes exactly
hard would be exactly it was English movie but in that motion this movie in my article in I think here and what there are few Arabic words this is one of them when I learned it my gosh really in North Africa they say beat it drop get out she was telling woman to get out from the room but carrying her edram and then I later learned yes they say it worked and then that's it and federal money help them get out of the home because you give them chances if they
are keeping flirting in fact this verse there are four key words mistranslated communal and Mossad they make it become a Lamesa Tom means the provider not necessarily the dictator but they tend to trust a is the dictator over the woman and then my and I've said that that verse about the provision about providing Obama was more a descriptive as opposed to prescriptive it was just this is how society exactly exactly eautiful beautiful and proud of you it is exactly describing yeah and the
worldly shoes is also mistranslated if you feel rebellion from woman but the same Nicias is mentioned several words down in the same chapter for men to be in issues again his woman but they don't translate it as man rebellion women and they say something else like disloyalty well here is disloyalty to and a woman obedient woman they say it or bedding to man but throughout the Quran that word karna taught it is always obedient to
God not to man to another human being but when comes to that there are four words over there by male dominant clergymen is mistranslated in order to create Authority and oppression against women and you in any a book in the introduction you've got a whole section on that by the way for people and that is also the sections discussing some of the errors in translation is on your website I've seen it there it is yeah part of your in a table and compare I pick I pick an example in detail in my footnotes I
debate I translate break reject and Orthodox translations I provide a reason explanation and argument for it but these are I picked about 15 major ones as an example and to teach people that you don't need to know Arabic to see the problem in the traditional translations and I compare well I'll bring some just to show people I'll just bring it up on the screen now just to show them right that was just so they can see this is
from the website nineteen org i they can see some of the table right now in an example discussion going on of regarding the hitting verse surah 4 verse 34 so okay just I'll bring it back to where we were right yet that I just showed them on the screen deep that's just so they get an idea thank you but okay yep so these are some of the popular mistranslations like the hitting verse that the warmer verse things like this go to the next one you can you see the
next one on the same page or it goes to the next page something here it goes on about about now still about the heating no then it's the next page because the next one is should the thieves hand be cut off okay yep and you've translated that as the means isn't it saying that the cut cutting of the means is that correct as opposed to and I'll just show I'll show that to the
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2020-06-26-S21, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zmirskjob4o/s/21/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, June 26). Does the Quran allow a husband to hit his wife? [Video, segment 2020-06-26-S21, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zmirskjob4o/s/21/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "Does the Quran allow a husband to hit his wife?" Video, segment 2020-06-26-S21, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded June 26, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zmirskjob4o/s/21/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2020-06-26-S21, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Does the Quran allow a husband to hit his wife?}}, year = {2020}, month = {6}, date = {2020-06-26}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zmirskjob4o/s/21/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/zmirskjob4o/s/21/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2020-06-26-S21, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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