The 16th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has called for a clear and unequivocal stance against violence towards women, declaring that any form of physical abuse, including a slap, is a punishable crime that Islam categorically forbids.
Speaking at the National Dialogue Conference on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Prevention on Monday, Sanusi emphasized: “Beating your wife, beating your daughter, or beating a woman is prohibited. It is a crime.”
The conference, themed “Islamic Teachings and Community Collaboration for Ending Gender-Based Violence,” was held at the Convocation Hall of Bayero University Kano (BUK).
It was organized by the Centre for Islamic Civilisation and Interfaith Dialogue (CICID) in partnership with the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC).
Sanusi’s remarks underscored the need for stronger community collaboration and adherence to Islamic teachings to address and prevent gender-based violence effectively.
Sanusi said: “Now I said it before, and I know I’ve been attacked for it, and I’ll continue saying it. When my daughters are getting married, I say to them, if your husband slaps you, and you come home and tell me my husband slapped me, without slapping him back first, I will slap you myself.
“Because I did not send my daughter to marry somebody so he can slap her. If you do not like her, send her back to me. But don’t beat her.
“And we must teach our daughters not to take it. And also teach our sons that it is not allowed to happen. It is not acceptable.”
According to the monarch, the problem is that the Hanafi school actually permits light beating (beating with handkerchief) of a wife by his husband, if harm is not to be inflicted and the aim is to correct her, which is the purpose of Maliki law.
However, he said, those rules are never applied when beating a wife; nobody who is angry remembers to look for a chewing stick or a handkerchief. They just slap a woman, punch them and kick them, which results to assault and battery.
The Nation
