If you are looking for the best way to beat your wife without also leaving the tell-tale marks that might lead you to getting caught, you can always turn to Mohamed Kamal Mustafa for advice. Although sentenced by a Spanish court to 15 months in prison for writing a book on the aforementioned topic, all sentences under 2 years are automatically suspended for first-time offenders.

The BBC reports:

Mustafa's book, Women in Islam, sparked outrage among women's groups when it was published three years ago. In his defence, the imam said he was interpreting passages from the Koran. ... n his book, Mustafa wrote that in disciplining a disobedient wife: "The blows should be concentrated on the hands and feet using a rod that is thin and light so that it does not leave scars or bruises on the body."

Mustafa was found guilty of "inciting violence against women," although it's not clear just how describing the means for doing an evil deed is the same as inciting people to commit that same deed. In America there are still court cases going on over whether free speech protections apply to works where the author describes how to commit a crime without also recommending that the crime occur.

Civil libertarians argue that such books should be protected and that they actually have some value, for example authors researching how crimes are committed for the purpose of writing crime novels. I tend to agree with this position and, therefore, disagree with Mustafa's conviction. I don't think that what he did should be considered criminal, just stupid and immoral.

Read More:

• Recent Books on Islam
• Islam
• Recent Books on Free Speech
• Court Decisions on Free Speech and Censorship