Master to a slave

Islamic theology helps explain the treatment of women in traditional Muslim societies | Marvin Olasky

The Bible speaks of God adopting us into His family: The relationship of God to Christians is as a father to children. Allah for Muslims is more distant, and the relationship is that of master-servant or (many Muslims say) master-slave. In Christianity the church is the bride of Christ, who gave His life for her, so husbands are to love their wives enough to die for them. The marriage relationship in orthodox Islam also mirrors its theology, which means a husband is to a wife as a master is to a servant or slave.

The Quran calls husband "guardians" and notes in chapter 4, verse 34, that wives can be beaten: "admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them." Some commentators, though, say that only the lightest tap is allowed. Muslim men can be polygamous, based loosely on the model of Muhammad: After his first wife died he married at least nine other women, and one hadith—a story of Muhammad's life—claims he had intercourse with all of them on a single night.