Cherie Blair - Wrong on Koran

Did you notice this passage in Cherie Blair’s speech about women and religious discrimination? “It is not laid down in the Koran,” she announced, “that women can be beaten by their husbands or that their evidence should be devalued, as it is in some Islamic courts.”

The Koran 4:34 tells men to chastise their wives after first warning them and sending them to sleep in separate beds. And “chastise” is one of the milder translations of the verse. Many editions use the words “scourge” or “beat”. The historian Robert Spencer provides a useful list:
Pickthall: “and scourge them”
Yusuf Ali: “(And last) beat them (lightly)”
Al-Hilali/Khan: “(and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful)”
Shakir: “and beat them”Sher Ali: “and chastise them”
Khalifa: “then you may (as a last alternative) beat them”
Arberry: “and beat them”Rodwell: “and scourge them”
Sale: “and chastise them”
Daryabadi: “and beat them”
Asad: “then beat them”

As for Mrs Blair’s claim that the Koran does not devalue the evidence of women, I’d like to see her try to stand up that claim in court. Koran 2:282 says quite unambiguously that if two men are not available to give testimony on financial matters, then the court should hear from one man and TWO women, “in case one of them errs”.

Now, it’s true that the Koran does not state explicitly that the testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man – the convention throughout much of today’s Muslim world, including Saudi Arabia – but it very clearly does devalue the evidence of women.

**Ok now check out this nice chap in the flowing robes who explains on the "correct manner" for moslem men to keep the good lady wife in line.
Islamic wife beating for beginners according to the Koran

I am not going to hold my breath for Mrs Blair to admit that she was wrong, maybe Pasha Blair could beat her for her error? After all they sent him to the middle east to solve the problems and so he must be an expert on the moslems right?...
Tags: Cherie Blair

.