The claim: "4:34 says '…beat them (waḍribūhunna).' The Qur'an legitimises spousal violence."
First, the word and the meal
- The platform's primary meal (M. Okuyan) renders "waḍribūhunna" in 4:34 not as "beat," but as "send them away (briefly)."
- The root ḍaraba is multivalent: "to set out / depart" (4:101, "ḍarb in the earth" = travel), "to give an example" (14:25), "to turn away," etc. So "separating / sending away" is a linguistically valid reading.
The context is graduated and restorative
4:34 gives three steps in sequence: first counsel, then leaving the bed, then separation / sending away; immediately after: "if they obey you, seek no way against them," and 4:35's family arbitration — the aim is not punishment but saving the marriage.
The general frame
- "Live with them in kindness." (4:19)
- Between spouses God placed "love and mercy" (30:21).
An honest limit
This is a difficult verse, and we do not hide that. Most classical tafsirs read "waḍribūhunna" as "(lightly) strike"; linguistic readings, and Okuyan's, read "separate / send away." Both readings are sourced; we impose no single one. But the verse's graduated, de-escalating structure and the principle "live with them in kindness" (4:19) do not compel the claim that "the Qur'an praises violence."
Source: Qur'anic verses (M. Okuyan meal). Presented soberly and respectfully, with a text/interpretation distinction.