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Imam's
Wife-Beating Remark Stirs Uproar In France
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"I
always tell worshippers that we are living in state of law, which
we all should abide by", said Bouziane
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PARIS,
April 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – French Muslim leaders
rebuked an imam who was expelled from France Wednesday, April 21, over
press statements that Qur'an authorizes wife beating.
Defending
himself, Abdelkader Bouziane, the imam of a mosque in the eastern city
of Lyon, insisted his remarks did not contradict his "abidance by
the country's law".
The
Algerian national caused an uproar when he told the April issue of a
local magazine, Lyon Mag, that "beating your wife is authorized by
the Qur'an".
The
magazine interview outraged Islamic representatives in the
rigidly-secular country, as Islam gives a revered status to wives and
demands the husband to be as kind to his own wife.
"The
associations should sack imams like him," Mohamed Bechari, the head
of the National Federation of French Muslims, told Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
"We
condemn this type of slip which shows a fundamentalist reading of the
Qur'anic text that is not part of Islam nor the Muslims in France,"
he said.
Bechari,
however, expressed his doubts that the state should be the one to punish
Bouziane.
"The
real sanction should come from the (Muslim) community," he said.
Dalil
Boubakeur, head of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, said Muslims
were just as shocked as their French neighbors by Bouziane's comments.
"Whoever
defends such ideas is not worthy of being an imam," he added.
The
interior ministry said in a statement Tuesday, April 20, that Bouziane
had been arrested and sent to a holding area at Lyon airport under a
deportation order issued in February on the grounds of societal harmony.
Law-abiding
Bouziane
countered he was merely explaining what the Qur'an says about
wife-beating.
"Law
is something and religion is something else, " the magazine quoted
him as saying while emerging from his mosque.
"Religion
says that the husband could beat his wife in case of her betrayal. But
the law prevents me from saying so in my sermons.
"I
always tell worshippers that we are living in a state and should abide
by its laws," he stressed.
Sources
close to the organization that runs the mosque, Es Salem, said Bouziane
had defended himself by claiming the interview had not been properly
conducted.
The
word "beating" of wives is used in a verse of the Qur'an, but
scholars maintain it does
not mean "physical abuse".
"The
Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the world to mean 'a
light tap that leaves no mark'," said Muzammil Siddiqi, former
President of the Islamic Society of North America.
"He
further said that face must be avoided. Some other scholars are of the
view that it is no more than a light touch by siwak, or
toothbrush," Siddiqi added.
The
scholar stressed that the Prophet (PBUH) generally used to discourage
his followers from taking even this measure.
"He
never hit any female, and he used to say that the best of men are those
who do not hit their wives."
In
Islam, the marriage of a man and a woman is not merely a financial and
physical arrangement of living together but a
sacred contract, a gift of God, to lead a happy, enjoyable life.
'Insult'
French
politicians expressed anger at Bouziane's comments and said they would
make an example of him.
Andre
Gerin, the mayor of the Lyon suburb where Bouziane's mosque is located,
made public a letter he wrote to the interior ministry in which he said
he planned to start a lawsuit against the imam "for disturbing the
public order and that of the republic (of France)."
Justice
Minister Perben, speaking on state television, said justice officials
"can and must do something" and added that other people had
also vowed legal action.
A
junior minister in charge of gender and professional equality, Nicole
Ameline, told radio station BFM the comments were "an insult"
to France.
France
expelled another preacher to Bouziane's native Algeria last week for
defending the March 11 Madrid train bombs that killed 191 people and
which were strongly
condemned by Muslims across the globe.
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