by Ayatullah Sayyed Muhammed Hussein Fadlullah
We have firstly the physical violence in which women are beaten.This form represents the most degrading human practice, since it shows that men are incapable of resorting to reason and logic to prove their viewpoint. It also does not prove that men are strong. On the contrary, it proves that they are weak, for only the weak are in need of unjust violence. This violence could reach its most severe and harsh form when women are subjected to rape which sometimes might lead to death.
Then we have the social violence or the so-called “crimes of honour”, whereby the community relies on circumstantial appearances to issue a sentence of death or exile. In addition to this, the society does not have the right to issue such sentences or executing them, except through the proper judicially institutions and through the legitimate mechanisms. Another form of social violence would be to impose on women husbands they do not want.
Another kind of violence is the psychological violence which occurs when husbands threaten their wives with divorce, or when they do not treat their wives as such, or when the divorce is used as an element of intimidation and extortion, which makes women live a state of instability in their marriages and hurt their psychological and even physical wellbeing.
Then there is the economic violence, which occurs when fathers or husbands do not shoulder their economic responsibilities towards their husbands and children, or when they pressurize their wives to forgo their dowry which represents ? according to Islam a symbolic gift and a token of love and not a commercial exchange.
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