Outrage as radical Muslim women insist domestic violence is a 'beautiful' and 'symbolic' act

'What a beautiful blessing from Allah.'

Two Muslim women insist a man beating his wife is a "beautiful blessing."

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The video was posted to the Women of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia Facebook page on April 7.

The caption reads: "An in-depth discussion on the tafsir of Surah An-Nisa:34. It breaks down the ayah so we can understand its meaning and practice without the misconstrued sensationalism."

Unsurprisingly, many viewers agree the ridiculous statements the women make are serious forms of propaganda promoting abuse.

The video opens with the quote: "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore the righteous women are Qanitat [obedient to the husband], and guard the husband's absence what Allah orders them to guard.

"As to those women on whose part you see ill conduct, admonish them, and abandon them in their beds, and beat them, but if they return to obedience, do not seek a means against them. Surely, Allah is Ever Most High, Most Great."

The camera then reveals two women in their hijabs. They then spend the next thirty minutes discussing one of the most controversial lines in the Qor'an.

One woman was identified as a Sydney elementary school teacher, Reem Allouche. The other speaker is an Indian-born scholar named Atika Latifi.

A section of their discussion was posted to YouTube, which received several anti-Muslim statements and accusations of brainwashing.

The section that really stood out was when the women discuss what it means for a man to beat his wife.

Latifi repeats the Qor'an to say a man should send his wife to bed and hit her, and if this doesn't work, he is "permitted" to hit her.

She really focuses on the the fact that a man is allowed, not necessarily encouraged or ordered, to hit his wife.

"What a beautiful blessing from Allah," Latifi states, adding, "that he said not to take all the steps at one time. It is one step after another."

She insists hitting doesn't need to cause pain. She references another part of the Qor'an when someone asks Abbaas what sort of hitting isn't harsh.

The response is the use of a "siwaak," or small stick used for cleaning the teeth, or a "coiled cloth," or handkerchief, that is used similarly to a wet towel that has been twisted into a whip.

The women laugh about the small instruments used in "hitting that is not harsh" and continue to say it is this sort of hitting the previous scripture is referring to.

The segment closes with Allouche stating, "It is very evident this is symbolic in nature."

In response to the video on Thursday, April 13, federal minister for women Michaelia Cash said the video was an "abhorrent" attempt to raise new Muslim generations to accept violence against women is something to be encouraged and enjoyed.

"Domestic violence is abuse - plain and simple. It is not 'a beautiful blessing.'...These attitudes have no place in modern Australia....There is one law that applies to all Australians. The Turnbull Government will not tolerate lesser standards being applied to certain communities of Australian women."

Tanya Plibersek, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow minister for Education and Shadow Minister for Women in the Australian Parliament, took to Twitter to say, "Violence and control - never okay. No excuses. Always a crime."

According to Fairfax Media, Commissioner Mick Fuller, who led a police response to domestic violence, stated: "At a time when police are determined to break the cycle of domestic violence, it's disturbing to think there are people who will condone it.

"Men need to take responsibility and not receive encouragement to behave violently."

White Ribbon Australia chief executive Libby Davies stated the video was "not in keeping with the fundamental right of every woman to live free from violence and abuse.

"The use of violence is about power and control and positions women as objects and not as equals. It is an abuse of their fundamental right to be treated with equality and respect."

Even Australia's first Muslim frontbencher, Labor's Ed Husic, spoke against the message shared in the video.

"It is not acceptable in any form to strike anyone, either between husband or wife or anywhere," he stated.

The Women of Hizb ut-Tahrir Australia took to their Facebook page to address the public's reaction to their video. They stated the "need to be sensitive to the environment in which we operate and the context in which we are speaking" in the face of "an increasingly hostile West..."

To avoid the "potential to invite harm upon" the Muslim community, the group stated "Domestic Violence is an abomination that Islam rejects in the strongest terms."

It continued, stating: "As for media coverage and political commentary on the matter, well what can one say? Apparently  the likes of The Australian, shock-jocks like Ben Fordham and Andrew Bolt, and government ministers care about women and the violence against them!

"These are the same folk whose careers have been built on the consistent shameless demonisation of Muslim women (and Islam generally) and who carry water from the political establishment and its foreign policies that kill thousands of women every year in Asia and Africa and destroy the lives of many more. These are the same folk who are a hundred times louder on 'terrorism' and 'extremism', simply because it sells, than on the domestic violence, which is a far greater menace in this country."

The statement shared about 70 women are killed by domestic violence in Australia each year and thousands have their lives destroyed by it, but "policy makers and mainstream media alike" use anything the Muslim community offers as "just another opportunity, just another day of the week, in which to attack Islam and Muslims as they do every other day.

"As such, they can continue talking to themselves as far as we are concerned, pretending to occupy the moral high ground while throwing stones from glass houses. We firmly refuse them their demand of interrogating Islam for they are in no position to lecture anyone on women or violence."

Others in the Muslim community were quick to "like" the post, while the rest of the world wonders at how the group can be so deeply committed to such a backward message.

Even if the text allowed husbands to "gently" hit their wives, it is still using violence to control women. In the original quote the group provided in their own video, it does not say a husband can "gently hit" his wife, it says a man can "beat" a woman.

Fuller made an active comment and encouraged anyone "who is aware of domestic violence in any home to report it to police" so they can "intervene and save lives."

He called to "Stop the violence and criminally charge people who break the law."

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