Can we mention the war now?

by Feòrag

Germany: A judge has been replaced after she used the Qur'an to deny an abused woman a quickie divorce.

The judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said the German woman of Moroccan descent would not be granted a divorce because she and her husband came from a Moroccan cultural environment in which it is not uncommon for a man to exert a right of corporal punishment over his wife, according to a statement she wrote that was issued by a Frankfurt court. That's what the claimant had to reckon with when she married the defendant.

The 26-year-old mother of two had been repeatedly beaten and threatened with death by her husband.

When the woman protested against the judge's decision, Ms Datz-Winter invoked the Qur'an to support her argument. In the court she read from verse 34 of Sura four of the Qur'an, An-Nisa (Women), in which men are told to hit their wives as a final stage in dealing with disobedience. The verse reads: ... as to those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them and leave them alone in the sleeping places and beat them.

The woman's lawyer, Barbara Becker-Rojczyk, protested, saying: When Christians are arguing for a divorce they don't use the Bible.

The decision outraged womens organisations, but also Germany's Central Council of Muslims which quickly issued a statement pointing out Violence and abuse of people are of course naturally reasons to warrant a divorce in Islam as well.

German judge invokes Qur'an to deny abused wife a divorce—The Guardian, 23rd March 2007.

Tags: domestic violence, Germany, Islam, religion