ISMATH RAMZY
University
of Malaya
Abstract
Domestic
violence is one of the worst crimes in society. It is a very common
contemporary phenomena irrespective of race, ethnicity, country, religion, and
culture. The causes and reasons for domestic violence have been discussed quite
extensively. Religion has been identified recently as one of the main reasons
in some cases of domestic violence. The vindication of violence against women
based on religious affiliation and a high rate of partner violence among the
particular religious communities has led social scientists to consider religion
as a source of violence in the family. In the case of Muslims, the majority of
social scientists identified the verse 4:34 in the Qurān as potentially influential.
This has challenged the primary narrative of Islam as promoting peace
and harmony. This article, therefore, examines domestic violence in the context
of religious teachings across cultures with special reference to Islam. The
Malaysian experience in domestic violence found that confusion in interpreting
the religious text with cultural affiliation contributes to domestic violence
rather than the spirit of the religion itself. This paper proposes a contextual
reading of texts to remedy such confusion – especially
regarding verse 4:34 – while
underlying socio-cultural and political conditions. Methodologically, this
article primarily employs textual analysis with the support of empirical data.