K-Lo, re your earlier post, Washington Post has to be kidding, with this: “Many Muslims also believe that men have the right to beat their wives. An often-quoted verse in the Koran says a husband may chastise a disobedient wife, but the phrasing in Arabic is open to several interpretations.”

The “oft-quoted” verse, which the Post naturally chooses not to quote, is Sura 4:34. The phrasing is open to varying interpretations, but the credible ones all agree that men should beat a disobedient wife. My Koran, published by the Saudi government, relates the verse as follows (I’ve italicized the key portion):

Men are the protectors/ And maintainers of women,/Because Allah has given/ The one more (strength)/ Than the other, and because/ They support them/ From their means./ Therefore the righteous women/ Are devoutly obedient, and guard/ In (the husband’s) absence/ What Allah would have them guard [a footnote indicates this refers to the husband’s “reputation and property” as well as the wife’s “own virtue.”]/ As to those women/ On whose part ye fear/ Disloyalty and ill-conduct/ Admonish them (first)/ (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly);/ But if they return to obedience,/ Seek not against them/ Means (of annoyance)/ For Allah is Most High,/ Great (above you all).

What the Post calls “chastis[ing]” is a three-tiered system: first admonish, then deny affection, and, if all else fails, resort to physical coercion. As far as that physical coercion goes, the varying interpretations essentially range from scourge to beat (lightly); it is not, as the Post misleadingly implies, to beat or not to beat.

Many verses in the Koran are very troubling. But we do ourselves and moderate Muslim reformers no favors by pretending those verses are not there, or that they say something different from what they say. Doing that effectively cedes authority to the fundamentalists since only they are willing to abide by what the scriptures actually say. Better to confront the truth and deal with it, not whitewash it. There will be no reformation absent a realistic acknowledgment that reform is needed.