Women have right to fight violent spouse

Beirut: A Muslim woman is allowed to fight back in self-defence if she is hit by her husband, Lebanon's top Shiite cleric has declared in a rare ruling.

Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah issued the fatwa, or religious edict, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

"We consider that if a man used physical violence against a woman and she could not defend herself except by retaliating with similar violence, she can do so out of self-defence," Fadlallah said in his fatwa. A statement by his office said Fadlallah stressed that Islam "does not approve of a man using any sort of violence against a woman, even in the form of insults and harsh words."