why there are earthquakes!

[Danzig]

Fatwa by Iranian Grand Ayatollah: Men can hit their wives
Many times, when speaking of the nature of Sharia and the rights of women and non-Muslim dhimmis under Islamic law, I have in reference to women quoted Qur'an 4:34: "Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them. Then if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Lo! Allah is ever High, Exalted, Great."

And often, when I have quoted this verse, I have been charged with "cherry-picking" unpleasant verses from the Qur'an, and told that no Muslim takes this verse literally in the modern age. I wish that were so, but here is more evidence that it isn't.

"Iran: Men Can Hit Their Wives, Cleric Says," from AKI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:

Tehran, 26 Oct. (AKI) - Iranian Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi has issued a fatwa - a Muslim religious edict - saying it is legitimate for men to hit their disobedient wives. Shirazi, one of the leading clerics of the Shiite holy city of Qom, wrote on his website that "the Koran first of all advises a man to try and convince his wife to obey to him in a polite way and through advice, then by refusing to have sexual relations with her and, finally, if all this will have failed to make her reason, with physical punishment."
The punishment, the leading cleric said, "must be light and considered an exceptional event, like surgery in case of a serious illness."

Makarem Shirazi advised his readers against "physical punishment which leaves signs and wounds." Women, he axplained, "are masochistic and sometimes they have a crisis and need light physical punishment to get back to normal."