Why does Sheikh Yaser Nadeem Al-Wajdi have to preach this sermon? What is going on among the men at the Muslim Center of New York?

In any case, the Sheikh has a problem. He clearly wants the men in his congregation not to brutalize their wives. But he can’t tell them flat out not to beat them, because, as he acknowledges, the mandate for beating women is in the Qur’an: “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.” — Qur’an 4:34

However, the good Sheikh goes too far when he claims that Muhammad didn’t beat his own wives: “If hitting and beating wives was permissible, as some modernists, liberals, orientalists, non-Muslims accuse… They say that Islam, because of this verse, allows domestic violence. If it was permissible, the Prophet Muhammad would have done it. It is not permissible. That is why the Prophet Muhammad didn’t do it.”

In reality, according to Islamic tradition, Muhammad at very least beat Aisha, his famous child bride. Muhammad, according to Aisha, “struck me on the chest which caused me pain, and then said: Did you think that Allah and His Apostle would deal unjustly with you?” (Sahih Muslim 2127)

“Sheikh Yaser Nadeem Al-Wajdi in Muslim Center of NY: Wife-Beating Is Only Permissible Under Very Rare Circumstances; The Purpose Is to Hurt the Wife’s Dignity,” MEMRI, December 9, 2018: