THE TELEGRAPH: An Australian cleric has provoked outrage by telling worshippers it is acceptable for men to rape and beat their wives.
Self-styled cleric Samir Abu Hamza, who runs the Islamic Information and Services Network of Australasia in Melbourne, advised a male audience in Sydney in 2003 that they could force their wives to have sex and beat them if they were "disobedient".
In a lecture titled "The Keys to a Successful Marriage", which has since been posted on the internet and viewed thousands of times, Mr Hamza said men could beat their wives, "to shape them up", but should try not to draw blood or bruise them.
He also said women "must respond" if their husbands wanted to have sex, and ridiculed laws that prohibit rape within marriage.
"In this country if the husband wants to sleep with his wife and she does not want to and she hasn't got a sickness or whatever, there is nothing wrong with her she just does not feel like it, and he ends up sleeping with her by force ... it is known to be as rape," Mr Hamza said.
"Amazing, how can a person rape his wife?" His comments have been condemned by Islamic women's groups and Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, has called for an immediate public apology.
"Under no circumstances is sexual violence permissible or acceptable in Australia," he said. >>> By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Thursday, January 22, 2009
THE AGE.COM.AU: Violence Against Women Row: Rudd Slams Islamic Cleric Over Remarks
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is demanding an immediate repudiation of remarks attributed to a Melbourne Islamic figure allowing for violence against women.
Mr Rudd described the remarks as having no place in modern Australia, and unacceptable to mainstream Muslim teaching.* >>> Andrew Darby | Thursday, January 22, 2009
*No Sir! That’s where you, Mr Rudd, are wrong!
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia) >>>
