The Holy Qur’an calls men protectors of women. Why then do many men act like dictators at home?

Because they confuse the responsibility the Holy Qur’an gives them with domination. A man who behaves like a dictator at home is acting against the teaching of Islam, not in line with it.

It is sadly true that some men order their wives around. There are also marriages in which the wife calls the tune and the husband is afraid of her. Power struggles within families happen everywhere. The real question, however, is what Islam teaches, not what some people do.

The Holy Qur’an gives a man responsibility for his family. He is to protect them and provide for them. This task is a form of service, not a licence. Whoever bears responsibility will answer to God for how he carries it out. A protector who oppresses the very person he is meant to protect has failed in his duty.

The verses above show what this responsibility should look like. Men are to treat their wives with kindness, even when there is something about them they dislike. Marriage is meant to be a place where both find peace, and God has placed love and tenderness between them. Women have rights that men must respect. A dictator has no place in this picture.

The hadith above makes it even clearer. The quality of a man’s faith is measured by how he treats his wife, not by how much power he holds at home. Where men rule at home instead of serving, they are following their habits or the culture around them. Islam itself asks the very opposite of them.