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OKLAHOMA CITY — State Rep. John Bennett, R-Sallisaw, confirmed Friday that three Muslim students visiting his office on Thursday as part of Muslim Day activities were handed tracts that, among other things, asked "Do you beat your wife?"

"CANT REFUTE FACTS!" Bennett wrote in an email. "According (to) her testimony in the Hadith (a collection of Muslim sayings and traditions), Muhammad physically struck his favorite wife for leaving the house without his permission.

"According to the Qur'an, Hadith and Islamic law, a woman may indeed have physical harm done to her if the circumstances warrant, with one such allowance being in the case of disobedience. This certainly does not mean that all Muslim men beat their wives, only that Islam permits them to do so," Bennett concluded.

Bennett is critical of Islam and Islamic leaders, having called Islam "a cancer," and has often clashed with the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Oklahoma, which sponsored the Muslim Day activities.

The organization's executive director, Adam Soltani, said the students went to Bennett's office "to speak with him as Oklahoma citizens."