HE BEATS HER OUT OF LOVE By Sanni Kay Yusuf

He would mercilessly beat his woman at the slightest provocation. He is a hefty man with a fat palm, so I could imagine the heaviness of his blow on the vulnerable woman. Sometimes she would get defaced with the man’s Joshua-like punches and on medication she would be – for days – before recuperation.

People in the neighborhood wondered why she would stay glued to such a killer-husband. They, out of pity, whispered to her to take to her heels, but she wouldn’t listen. Her relations did same, but none could prevail on her.

The domestic violence finally got to the imam. The couple presented themselves before him and the flaming fire was eventually quelled to no aches. How?

The husband was truly a merciless beater, so he confessed. But the wife would not leave him because that’s the only major shortcoming of his. The man, according to her, is fantastically responsible. He established his wife with a booming business; feeds her and the kids without complaint; pays all bills without seeking her assistance. If the woman tries giving a helping hand in that regard, she gets beaten for rendering him irresponsible. This is why she has refused to seek a divorce all the while. All she wanted was a stop to the beating.

The man told the imam that the beating was usually borne out of love for the woman. “Just beg her for me, imam. I promise, it will never happen again,” he said.

The imam talked some sense into the beater-husband. He said it to his face that it’s a satanic man that would raise his hand on his woman in the manner he had numberlessly done. He told him the Prophet’s demeaning description of such vicious men. “…such are the worst of men,” he said.

The imam finally caused him to a solemn agreement in black and white with the mosque’s original letterhead – that if he did the luciferous act again, legal actions should be taken against him without hesitation. He agreed and signed joyfully.

The imam called the couple and addressed them individually. He admonished the man to stop being an angry lion and the woman being an obstinate goat.

Marital relationship is a mystery. The companions therein are enigmas you can never understand. That’s why arbitrators should tread carefully. We keep learning as matters are brought before us.