RUSSIA Tatarstan, “advice” from an imam on domestic violence

The publication of a video on the official website of the Caucasian republic on how to “beat” your wife has caused a stir in Russia. Despite the fact that 90% of Russians are calling for a law to protect women, the measure remains blocked in the Duma.

Moscow () – The official website of the Russian Caucasian republic of Tatarstan, Tatar-Inform, has published a video interview during the program “Tea with the Khazrat” with the local imam Timur Kamaev, in which the religious representative explains how to “correctly” beat one’s wife. In his opinion, one should not “start beating immediately, at first one should try with exhortations, then refuse to sleep together, so that the woman begins to reflect on the mistakes she is making.” If none of these procedures work, then it is time to “move on to blows.”

The term ‘beating’, Kamaev explains, is different from ‘striking’ itself, it is repeated in the Qur’anic ayāt as a method of making the wife realise that she is doing something wrong, and there must be ‘proper gradations: one can use a siwak’ – a light stick – ‘and with it give a couple of small blows in a precise manner, when the arm moves only from the elbow, not with all the muscles from the shoulder’. The gesture is directly shown by the imam during the interview, also expressing on her face ‘her husband’s discontent at being forced to go to such extremes’.

After the interview, which caused a great scandal, Imam Timur himself refuted the interpretation, which he said was “taken out of context” since he had repeatedly said that “women should not be beaten under any circumstances.” The recommended punishments are, on the contrary, a “symbolic” way of calling his wife to order, and this is the meaning of another phrase he uttered, according to which “one must beat so as not to leave a mark.” On the other hand, real violence “is condemned by the Koran as a sin” and women who are victims of violence must immediately report their husbands to the religious and police authorities.

On the website itself, the interview is accompanied by a sociological survey, according to which almost 90% of Russians support the need for a law against domestic violence. A variant of this was already discussed in the Duma, but it was also blocked due to opposition expressed by religious communities, not only Muslim but also Orthodox in the Moscow Patriarchate.

During the parliamentary debate, the leadership asked the deputies not to use the violence of soldiers returning from the front in Ukraine as a topic, but to talk about domestic violence in general, and in any case the discussion was cut short rather abruptly. Comments came from the Kremlin hinting at a direct agreement between President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Patriarch Kirill to suspend legislative initiatives on domestic violence.

Following the controversial interview with Imam Kamaev, the religious administration of Muslims in Tatarstan did not deny the statement made by its representative, but invited people to “listen to the full version” of the conversation, confirming that “confirming physical or moral pain is a sin condemned by Islam.” The video was removed by Tatar-Inform, but was widely shared on other platforms, such as YouTube and Telegram, dividing users between critics and supporters.

The chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Family Affairs, Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, Father Fëdor Lukjanov, condemned all forms of violence between spouses, but reiterated that legislative initiatives should not “encroach on the sacred space of the family.” On the contrary, since 2017 there has been a law, signed by Putin at the suggestion of Patriarch Kirill, on the “decriminalization of domestic conflicts.”