He may strike her without severity, for Allah, Most High, says: “And strike them.” But someone may ask: Allah, Most High, says: “Admonish them, forsake them in their beds, and strike them”; He mentioned these with the conjunction wa (and), which indicates combination rather than sequence. What, then, is the answer?

The answer is that placing one matter before another indicates sequence in principle. Hence, when Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, says, “Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah” [al-Baqarah 2:158], the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “I begin with what Allah began with.” (1) Likewise, regarding Allah’s saying, “Charities are only for the poor and the needy” [al-Tawbah 9:60], the jurists said: The poor are to be given first because they are in greater need. Therefore, we say that although Allah mentioned these three stages with wa (and), the meaning entails an order, for wa neither precludes sequence nor necessarily requires it.

Accordingly, we say that this matter is treatment and medicine: we begin with the lighter measure, admonition; then forsaking in bed, to which forsaking in speech is added; and then striking.

The verse is unrestricted, as Allah, Most High, says: “And strike them.” However, during the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said concerning the rights of men and women: “You have the right over them that they do not allow anyone whom you dislike to tread upon your bedding. If they do so, then strike them without severity.” If, in this serious matter, a woman is to be struck without severity, then what of rebelliousness?! It is even more fitting that the striking not be severe.

Accordingly, the general wording of the verse is qualified by analogy with what is mentioned in the hadith. We say: the striking is not whatever he wishes; he must not come with a piece of wood the length of an arm.