By Abiola Olawale
The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II, has revealed that he advised his daughters to stand their ground and respond if they ever faced physical aggression from their husbands, specifically urging them to retaliate if they were slapped.
The monarch made this revelation during his address at the National Dialogue Conference on Gender-Based Violence, GBV, prevention from an Islamic perspective themed: ‘Islamic Teachings and Community Collaboration for Ending Gender-Based Violence’ organised by the Centre for Islamic Civilisation and Interfaith Dialogue, CICID, Bayero University Kano, BUK, in collaboration with the Development Research and Projects Centre, DRPC, with support from Ford Foundation.
The Emir firmly asserted that under no circumstances, should a husband resort to raising his hands to harm his wife.
He also emphasized the importance of treating one’s partner with respect and kindness, highlighting that violence has no place in a loving relationship.
Emir Sanusi pointed that about 45 per cent of cases across nine Shari’a Courts of Kano in five years were related to wife beating and domestic violence.
He said: “You can take that verse and say that as a husband, I’ve been given this permission to beat my wife light. And nobody will deny that, nobody will say it is haram if you comply with all the rules. But if you live in a society in which those rules are never applied, nobody who is angry remembers to look for a chewing stick or a handkerchief.
“They just slap these women and punch them and kick them and beat them. I just wrote a doctorate thesis on family law, and I researched nine courts and nine Shari’a courts in Kano. About 51 per cent of the cases over five years had to do with maintenance. While 26 per cent had to do with harm. Out of those, 45 per cent were cases of wife beating or domestic violence, and when we go to the content analysis, not one case of wife beating was light beating.
“We had women whose limbs were broken. We had women whose teeth were knocked out. We had women who were victims of constant beating with sticks. We had women where the husband and his other wives beat one of the wives. We’ve had cases of Khadis having to send her sons to trial for criminal assault because of the nature of the beating against their wives. This is the common beating that happens.
“Beating your wife or beating your daughter or beating a woman is prohibited. It is a crime. Let’s not even talk about handkerchiefs or chewing sticks. It is just haram. It is prohibited. Allah says all haram must be removed. Beating and gender-based violence are harmful. And it must be removed.
“It just does not make sense. Now I said it before, and I know I’ve been attacked for it, and I’ll continue saying it. When my daughters are getting married, I say to them, if your husband slaps you, and you come home and tell me my husband slapped me, without slapping him back first, I will slap you myself because I did not send my daughter to marry somebody so he can slap her. If you do not like her, send her back to me. But don’t beat her.
“And we must teach our daughters not to take it. And also teach our sons that it is not allowed. It is not acceptable. It cannot happen. We have to bring up our children to understand that violence against the body of another human being, whether it’s your brother, or y sister, your son, your daughter, or your wife, that violence against persons violates the basic dignity of a human being.”
