The religious scholar had responded to a question on an advice column on whether a husband could "distance himself from a wife who refuses to obey him". Ustaz Zaid said that husbands should try gentle persuasion to remind their wives of their obligations their husbands, if their advice is unheeded, husbands can then leave or ignore his wife for a short period of time. The column article suggests that if such measures do not work, it is permissible under Islamic law to hit a wife, as long as it is not on the face, leaves no visible marks on her body, and that the husband is certain that the act of hitting a wife will change her disobedience.