Searching for a Fatwa. Recently, a group of Moslem scholars from Arabia defended a husband’s right to beat his wife, and/or wives. There also seemed to be a right to beat, and even kill, for the most specious of reasons, any daughters, sisters, and assorted female relatives within range. Few of the West’s professional feminists seem to care much, one way or the other. “If Moslem men want to abuse women, well, it’s part of their culture. It would be terribly wrong of us to be judgmental and say, or even think, that there was something wrong with any other culture.”
A pressing moral question has emerged: Assume that a woman in a Western country divorces her Moslem husband. Does he still have the right to beat her? Does the right to beat one’s wife end with divorce, or is it a life-long right? In fact, does it extend into the afterlife? When a deceased Moslem man tires of his seventy two virgins, is a former wife or two kept handy to be beaten if the mood strikes?
No one needs guidance on that more than the millions of men who have been abused by the female-favoring American divorce system. If a fatwa decreed that a divorced American man would be able to beat the wife who divorced him for as many eons as he wanted, there might be a lot more conversions to their faith.
