The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has called for harsher penalties for perpetrators of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Kano State, emphasizing that no true Muslim would ever beat his wife.
He highlighted the alarming rise in cases of men assaulting and raping women across the state and stressed the crucial role Islamic clerics and Imams must play in driving societal change to end this menace.
Sanusi made these remarks on Monday, July 21, while receiving a delegation from the Development Research and Project Center (dRPC) and Bayero University’s Center for Islamic Civilization and Interfaith Dialogue (CICID) at his palace in Kano.
The delegation was visiting as part of their advocacy work on a project aimed at mentoring Muslim Opinion Leaders (MOLs) to combat GBV in Muslim-majority states in northern Nigeria. The initiative is funded by the Ford Foundation.
The Emir said, “I have never believed in beating women, and those who do are not doing so to reform them. What we witness today is even more severe abuse and injury inflicted in the name of correction.
“Islam respects and dignifies women more than any other religion, and those who use it to justify abuse do not truly understand its teachings.
“Whoever beats and injures his wife is not a good person. I did not say this — it was the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Those who do not know this simply have not read.”
Sanusi described the project as timely, addressing one of the most urgent social challenges facing the Muslim communities in the north.
He urged the group to collaborate on reviving the Kano State family law draft, which tackles key GBV issues in the state.
“All the legal frameworks we need are already embedded in our Islamic jurisprudence,” he noted. “What is required is to extract and consolidate them into an enforceable draft.”
Reflecting on his PhD thesis on the codification of Islamic family law, Sanusi revealed that after studying nine Kano Sharia courts over five years, he found GBV to be widespread in society.
“That is why I warned all my district and village heads that anyone caught beating his wife risks losing his traditional title,” he concluded.
