CONTROVERSIAL Muslim boxer Anthony Mundine has defended his comments made in a YouTube interview with Mark Latham, saying he is “totally against any violence against woman [sic].”
Mundine posted on Facebook to say it was “disturbing & bullsh*t” to say he supported the notion of beating.
“I’m totally against any violence against woman period !!! Watch the whole interview I defend woman always these people trying to get headlines & slander my name will get there’s!!!” he wrote online.
That’s despite his earlier appearance on Mark Latham’s Outsiders, now a YouTube show after the former Labor leader was sacked from Sky News last month, in which Mr Mundine, sitting alongside TV broadcaster and radio veteran Ben Fordham, discussed his views on his religion while expressing his support for Yassmin Abdel-Magied, who claimed Islam was a feminist religion.
Abdel-Magied has been under fire since she posted on Facebook “LEST. WE. FORGET. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine …” on Anzac Day. She quickly deleted the post and apologised.
In Australia, >1 woman is killed A WEEK at the hands of partner(or ex). Domestic Violence, in all + any form, is unacceptable. End of story.
— Yassmin Abdel-Magied (@yassmin_a) April 13, 2017
In reply, Mr Mundine said: “God created two creatures, male and female, different, different in stature and different roles to play in society. For me, all the answers are in the Koran, the holy Koran,”
Mr Latham challenged Mr Mundine on the “worrying” comment and quoted a verse from the Koran itself.
“It teaches followers that, and I quote, ‘men are in charge of women. Good women are therefore obedient. For women who might disobey, it’s recommended to admonish them, leave them alone in their sleeping places and then beat them’,” Mr Latham said.
Mr Latham said “that doesn’t sound very feminist”.
But Mundine appeared to begin to back track by clarifying, “it’s not a term as far as to beat as to hit”.
“In the Koran, you know what a beating is? You know the Arab toothbrush? Little stick, that is a beating, but you cannot harm the lady, cause any injury or any bruising,” he defended.
Mr Latham replied: “Why do you need that? Why do you need to encourage any sort of physicality? Some men, in a moment of anger, could go over the top with real violence?”
Mr Mundine said “it doesn’t promote physicality. You cannot beat your woman or anybody by beating them physically”.
Mr Latham continued to press Mundine: “What about rewriting or changing the wording of the Koran to make it clear?”
But Mundine tried to say that translating Arabic into English meant words were lost in translation. “I looked up on this and that word beat, in the Arabic language, the way it’s pronounced isn’t really beat.”
Mundine said domestic violence was “totally unacceptable” and leaders needed to “brush up on their beliefs and faith”.
Mundine said there was no way the Koran could be changed to reflect modern day values.
HT can take a hike.
This is what the Clerics in our community have to say about #DomesticViolencehttps://t.co/yD0xI7dj4C— Mariam Veiszadeh (@MariamVeiszadeh) April 12, 2017
“Surely any book written in the Middle Ages, it’s too backward,” Mr Latham said.
Mundine said: “The author is God, it cannot be backward. Allah, God, knows his creatures better than any body. He made you, he made us, made every thing you see, every thing you don’t see, the heaven, the earth, everything, the sun, the moon, he’s the author.”
“We just gotta use our faculties and reasonings to see the truth. Just ask the almighty, the creator to guide you to the truth without no bias. Truth is black and white.”
Earlier this month, Fordham slammed a video appearing to give the green light to domestic violence against Muslim women.
In the video, the woman leading the conversation, who is identified as Sydney teacher Reem Allouche, says a man is permitted to hit a woman as an act of discipline, and fellow panellist Atika Latifi, agrees.
“He is permitted, not obliged to, not encouraged, but permitted to hit her,” Ms Latifi says.
On the Today program, Fordham was adamant: “It’s never OK to hit your wife. Never. That’s assault.
“When you have people in positions of power spreading dangerous messages it is important to call them out,” he said.
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