Chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani defended the council’s recommendations, saying, “These recommendations are according to the Quran and Sunnah, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s teachings. No one can dispute that,” during a recent interview with BBC.
Sherani explained the council’s recommendations in detail, saying, “When we draft a bill concerning women we have to consider all possible situations. If a woman does not fulfill her responsibilities in marriage first you advise her, if that doesn’t work, then you consult her relatives, if that doesn’t work then you desert her in bed. If all of this doesn’t work then lightly beating is allowed.”
Although the council’s recommendations have sparked outrage in Pakistan as well as international media, Sherani refused to reconsider. “Society is not the media. They’re two different things. And we will not reconsider the recommendations. This is according to the Holy Quran, you cannot ask someone to reconsider the Holy Quran.”
Last month, after media and activists poured scorn on CII’s suggestion, Sherani softened his tone stating ‘violence’ was not permissible in the religion.
“Do not try to relate our proposal (on beating women) with violence. Light beating does not mean violence,” he explained.
He added that both men and women should refrain from inflicting physical violence on one another. But the CII chief did not back down on the council’s recommendations that ‘light beating’ of wives was permissible.
