DOI: 10.64449/9781991539212-06 ISSN:
Contemporary Reception of 4:34 and “Wife-Beating”
F. Redhwan Karim4:34 and specifically the notion of ḍaraba, represents one of, if not the most, contentious verse in the Qur’ān.1 Broadly speaking, ḍaraba has been understood in pre-modernity as sanctioning some kind of physical disciplining of wives in a marriage dispute. What makes the notion of ḍaraba particularly controversial is that it is rooted in the lived reality of Muslim lives. It is not an abstract theological point that has no bearing on everyday lived reality. Hence, numerous works have closely examined the verse, looking at its context and postulating alternative reformist approaches. However, in being rooted in a lived reality, such reformist articulations must crucially gain acceptance amongst adherents to achieve their aims.