Protection from Wife’s Violence by Beating: A Comparative Jurisprudential Study with the Law of Protection from Domestic Violence in the State of Kuwait

Dr. Ali Sulaiman Alsaleh
Associate Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence and Sharia Politics
College of Sharia & Islamic Studies, University of Kuwait

Abstract:

Because of its negative effects on the individual and society, assaulting the wife by beating is one of the manifestations of violence that must be combated. This study aims to address the problem of deriving ways of protection from beating in Islamic jurisprudence, and to compare them with the ways of protection mentioned in the Law of Protection from Domestic Violence in the State of Kuwait to highlight the extent of their compatibility with Islamic law.
It also comes within the scope of addressing the wife’s beating by providing legislative solutions within the framework of Islamic jurisprudence, with a comparison with the prevailing law through the following two focuses: to clarify the concept of violence, its causes and damages, and to indicate ways of protection from the wife’s beatings in Islamic jurisprudence and law, using the analytical approach in studying and criticizing jurisprudential opinions and issues, then devising means of protection from them, and using the comparative approach by comparing Islamic law and Law No. (16) of 2020 on Protection from Domestic Violence, to highlight aspects of agreement and disagreement.
“The study concluded that there are four ways to protect the wife from violent beatings, namely: Awareness and education through a statement of the prohibition of wife beating and through a statement of the limits of the right to discipline, by holding the husband criminally liable for battery assault in its motivation or character, by proving the right of divorce for the harm of the battered wife, and providing her with safe shelter.
The study also concluded that the guardian’s prohibition of husbands from beating wives at all is not considered as a restriction of what is permissible because it is a nullification of the principle of permissibility, and because Sharia regulated the case of permissibility of beating with restrictions that guarantee protection and prevent harm. Furthermore, the study also concluded that the Kuwaiti Law of Protection from Domestic Violence is consistent with Islamic Sharia, with the exception of Article No. (4), which may be based on the abolition of the right to discipline.
Keywords: domestic violence, marital violence, wife beating, right to discipline, and disobedience.

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