The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has called for stiffer punishment for perpetrators of Gender Based Violence in Kano state, saying no good Muslim beats his wife.
He noted that the rate at which men rape women and beat their spouses is becoming rampant in the state.
He added that Islamic clerics and Imams have a vital role to play in societal behavioural change to end the menace.
Sanusi made the call on Monday, July 21, when he received a delegation of development Research and Project Center (dRPC) and Bayero University Center for Islamic Civilization and Interfaith Dialogue (CICID) at his palace in Kano.
The group was in the palace as part of its advocacy on their project for mentoring Muslim Opinion Leaders (MOLs) to use them to end GBV in Muslim dominated states of northern Nigeria. The project was funded by Ford Foundation.
The emir said, “I never believe in beating women, and those who do, are not beating their wives with the intention of reforming them. What we see today is even serious beating and injuring of women in name of reforming them.
“Islam has respected and dignified women more than any other religion and all those seeking cover under it to abuse women do not even underrated the religion.
“Whosoever beats and injures his wife is not a good person. I did not say this, it is the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who said it. It is those who do not read that don’t know.”
The emir also said the project is timely as it tries to address one of the most pressing social issues affecting the Muslim dominated states of the north.
He challenged the group to put hands on deck to revive the Kano state family draft that addresses most pressing GBV challenges in the state.
He added that, “all the legal frameworks needed are already on our Islamic jurisprudence books, all is needed is to bring them out and put together as a draft for use.
“During my PhD, thesis, which is on codification of Islamic family law, I studied nine Kano Shari’a courts over the period of five years, and the findings show that the trend of GBV is rampant in our society. That is why I told all my district heads and village heads that anyone caught beating his wife does so at the risk of losing his title”.
