IslamOnLine
ROME — Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato was in hot water Wednesday, July 11, after asserting that wife-beating, usually associated with Islam, was an old "Sicilian-Pakistani" custom.Yet the remarks drew heavy fire from politicians.
"No God authorizes a man to beat his wife," Amato said in a speech cited by Reuters.
"This is a Sicilian-Pakistani tradition which tries to make it seem that the contrary is true."
He later tried to clarify his remarks, saying he was referring to "a Sicily that no longer exists".
Sicilian deputy, Ignazio La Russa from the rightist opposition, said that Amato "in order not to offend his Muslim interlocutors had invented that in Sicily there is or was a tradition of permitting violence against women in God's name".
MP Rino Piscitello from the ruling centre-left Rino Piscitello called on the minister to apologize.
"I am sure Giuliano Amato will correct his comments and apologize to Sicilians."
He said that Amato probably had "the best intentions" in his speech.
Amato has been championing efforts to integrate different communities into Italian society.Prejudice:
He wrote a "Charter of Values" for immigrants with guidelines on issues such as women's rights and knowledge of Italian language and culture.
Italy has a Muslim population of some 1.2 million, including 20,000 reverts.
Amato, who served as premier twice, said that the Islamic culture was still "alien" to Italians, resulting in prejudices against the Muslim minority.
"Italians know what it is like to be confused with Mafiosi and when they first emigrated abroad ... parents changed their children's surnames to avoid them being singled out," he said.
In Islam, the word "beating" of wives does not mean "physical abuse".
"The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the word to mean 'a light tap that leaves no mark'," Muzammil Siddiqi, former President of the Islamic Society of North America, told IslamOnline.net.
He added that the Prophet always discouraged his followers from taking even this measure.
"He never hit any female, and he used to say that the best of men are those who do not hit their wives."
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