Womens rights and Islam

Have you beaten your wife recently?  Woman's rights is quite a controversy in Islam. Certain Islamic governments do not have a great track record with woman's rights. There are issues regarding the requirement for female circumcision, and a woman's safety when venturing out of their homes unaccompanied .

One key question is whether Islam, its central book in particular, advocates wife beating. Islam does, as their chief prophet Mohammed is quoted as condoning it. Qur'an 4:34 gives a clear instruction to, under some circumstances, beat ones wife.

Attempts have been made from Muslim feminist writers, such as Laleh Bakhtiar, to "reinterpret" the Koran to make it more woman friendly. (C.f. http://www.religioustolerance.org/islabuse.htm.) However it appears that the results of their work is to blatantly cut sections out of their book.

Another argument in defence of the Koranic stance is that the only perfect version of the Koran is the original one. And that all translations are no longer not perfect. So if there are sections that appear to suppress women, they resulted from imperfect transcription or translation.

This comes across to me as an excuse, for the fact that some bits of the Koran are unappetising to our Western mindsets. What is this meaning of the phrase that women could be "beaten", as is instructed in Qur'an 4:34? Why is it completely omitted by the feminist writer? What do the more serious followers of the Koran think of such an obvious omission?

Anyhow, what the feminist reinterprets are trying to do is exactly what liberal theologians do when it comes to dealing with the more controversial beliefs in Christianity, such as whether homosexuality is condoned in the Bible. It is not.

Lets be clear. Lets call a spade a spade. Many Muslims will act on their better conscience to decide on what is right. But when a religious holy book gives a clear instruction in one area, it is likely that followers who take their beliefs seriously will follow the instruction.

Lets not sweep the issue under the rug of political correctness.