In this pivotal, courageous, and timely analysis, which works diligently and minutely to separate truth from falsehood, right from wrong, the moral from the immoral, and the ethical from the unethical, John Andrew Morrow provides an exhaustive study of the second part of the Quranic text, 4:34, the Wife Beating Verse.

A fourteen centuries old consensus by Islamic religious authorities has upheld the belief that God has granted husbands the right to beat their wives. Previously, the only element up for debate was the degree of severity, the instrument of the beating, and the limit to the damage allowed. This startling assertion, which shocks human sensibilities, is confirmed by hundreds of Qur'anic commentaries and works of Islamic jurisprudence authored over the course of the past millennia and a half. In this pivotal, courageous, and timely analysis, which works diligently and minutely to separate truth from falsehood, right from wrong, the moral from the immoral, and the ethical from the unethical, Dr. John Andrew Morrow provides an exhaustive study of the second part of the Qur'anic text, 4:34, dispelling the belief that Islam allows domestic violence. Like Titan, who bears the weight of the heavens upon his shoulders, Morrow takes on the entire corpora of Islamic Tradition. Along the way, the author delicately and defiantly dispels misogynistic misinterpretations of the Word of God while slashing and burning the sexist sayings that were attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. In so doing, he may well save Islam from those traditionalists and misogynists who claim to speak in God's name.

Any Muslim who sees Muhammad as an exemplar of mercy and justice is routinely charged by Islamophobes with engaging in "whitewash." There's no way, however, that Dr. John Andrew Morrow can be accused of this offense, seeing that the darker aspects of Muslim history and jurisprudence have never been more starkly contrasted with the true sunnah of the Prophet than in the present book. Though Muhammad is known never to have beaten his wives, traditional fiqh (jurisprudence) and tafsir (Qur'anic commentary) have for the most part conveniently ignored his example, routinely taking the Arabic verb daraba in Q. 4:34 as literally meaning "to beat," even though it is used 58 times in the Qur'an to denote many other things, and "to beat" is not even its most common meaning. Unfortunately, it is the rare Muslim "feminist" who will question this interpretation -- but if Muslim women are so attached to male authority, maybe Dr. Morrow can teach them the real meaning of feminism, and Muslim men the real meaning of chivalry. Once again the author incisively demonstrates that the supremely human example of the Prophet Muhammad is the one truly Islamic pathway to a just and equitable Islam.