For some reason, a number of Muslim clerics have a serious problem with women - specifically, they think that there is something about women that can justify a man beating his wife. In a recent case, a Muslim cleric in France was arrested and will be expelled for saying that the Quran authorizes wife-beating, for example in cases of adultery.

The Guardian reports:

In the April edition of the magazine Lyon Mag, Bouziane said he favors wife-beating "under certain conditions, notably if the woman cheats on her husband.'' He claimed the Quran, the Muslim holy book, authorizes such punishment - an interpretation rejected by moderate Muslims. Bouziane also said a woman should not work alongside a man because "she could be tempted by adultery,'' according to Lyon Mag.

On Thursday, France deported Algerian-born imam Abdelkader Yahia Cherif for allegedly preaching radical Islam at a mosque in the Atlantic coastal city of Brest. The Interior Ministry said he gave a sermon last month that urged jihad, or holy war, and expressed support for the March 11 railway bombings in Madrid, Spain, that killed 191 people.

France doesn't have the same free speech protections that exist in America, but I do wonder if things like the above should be protected at all. It might be bad enough to teach that women are inferior to men, but to teach that physical violence against women is legitimate seems to take things to an unacceptable level - even if there is no indication that there is an incitement to immediate violence.

Read More:

• Recent Books on Islam
• Islam
• What is Jihad?
• Islam, Violence, and Terrorism
• Islamic Extremists