Religious Guidelines No: 26
Date: 10th of Jumādā al-Ūlā, 1443 H
Corresponding to 14th of December 2021

All praises be to Allāh. May Allāh’s blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allāh. To proceed: The Bangsamoro Dārul-Iftā has received an issue on ‘Violence Against Women, its concept, forms and the BDI’s position thereon. Accordingly, the BDI would like to address this issue through the following points:

First: Violence against women is an ancient phenomenon that has arisen since the inception of human society. It was practiced by mostly men against women until Islam came, which honours women and enacts provisions that guarantee their rights and preserve their status and dignity.

Second: The United Nations defined violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

Third: Violence against women includes all forms of abuse and exploitation, which lead to physical or moral harm to women by some spouses, individuals or groups. Violence has various forms. Some of which are perpetrated by individuals such as rape, domestic violence, severe beating, sexual harassment and forced use of contraceptives. It may be in the form of harmful customary or traditional practices, such as crimes against honor, marriage by kidnapping, forced marriage, rape during war, forced abortion, trafficking in person (girls and women), forced labor, and forced prostitution, and other forms of VAW.

Fourth: The relationship between the husband and wife that Islam wants, is based on love and compassion, not based on violence, cruelty and hatred. The Almighty Allāh says: “And among His Signs is this, that He created for you wives from among yourselves, that you may find tranquility in them, and He has put between you affection and mercy. Verily, in that are indeed signs for a people who reflect.” [Ar-Rūm: 21] Some of the most important factors that bind this relationship are mutual understanding and respect, which are based on recognizing the rights and duties of each over the other, constant consultation between them and cooperation on the affairs of the children, home, and livelihood.