No place for Trad’s comments
WIFE beating is never OK, regardless of whether a husband buys his wife chocolates first or not.
Mainstream Muslim leaders must strongly condemn comments made on Wednesday by President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils Keysar Trad.
Trad described beating women as “step three” in a process of dealing with issues in relationships, after counselling and buying chocolates or “taking her out on a dinner”.
Trad must immediately be forced out as one of the most senior Muslim leaders in this country.
Not, only is he an apologist for jihadists, he has been found to incite people to commit acts of violence and called for polygamist marriage to be recognised.
Trad has been spouting his dangerous, divisive mantras for some time, but his current position as the head of the council gives his views a status they do not deserve.
Alarmingly, Trad is now the leader of an organisation which controls six Islamic schools, administers halal certification and sits on $65 million worth of assets.
The motto of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils is to “provide service to the community in a manner that is in accordance with the teachings of Islam and within the framework of Australian law”.
Plainly, Trad’s views are in direct opposition to Australian law – not to mention the council’s own standpoint – and for this reason he must go.
Although his extremist opinions don’t reflect the majority of moderate Muslims living in peace in Australian suburbs, there’s no doubt there are Muslim men who agree with him and act accordingly.
In 2015, the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights director Joumanah El Matrah told the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence that some Muslim men use their faith to justify their abusive behaviour.
According to The Australian newspaper, Ms El Matrah said the use of religion in domestic abuse was more about the perpetrator being opportunistic than genuinely believing the religion gave him permission to be violent.
On Wednesday night, Trad told columnist Andrew Bolt that his views came from his interpretation of the Koran.
A passage often interpreted to justify domestic violence in Muslim societies refers to men being “in charge of women” and to “admonish them and banish them to beds apart and scourge them”.
Some translate this passage as meaning simply “separate from them” while believe it more implicitly allows men to “strike” or “beat” women.
Others believe violence against women is acceptable as long as it is without force and does not leave marks on their body.
This, too, is abhorrent.
The fact that domestic violence continues to be a major issue in countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Egypt illustrates that there is a clear link between Muslim-dominated countries and violence against women.
Women such as ABC host Yassmin Abdel-Magied, a 2015 Young Queenslander of the Year, may argue the secondary status of women in such countries is a cultural rather than religious issue. From an outsider’s perspective this seems irrelevant.
For instance, a 2013 UNICEF report showed 90 per cent of men in Afghanistan and Jordan and 59 per cent in Iraq think a husband or partner is justified in hitting a woman in some circumstances.
Not surprisingly, 85 per cent of women in Afghanistan report experiencing some form of violence perpetrated by men.
In this country views such as those expressed by Trad are widely thought to be abhorrent and dangerous, and must be denounced in the strongest terms.
Muslim men and women should be leading this chorus of condemnation.
As a first step, Trad must go.