´It was narrated that Ash'ath bin Qais said:` "I was a guest (at the home) of 'Umar one night, and in the middle of the night he went and hit his wife, and I separated them. When he went to bed he said to me: 'O Ash'ath, learn from me something that I heard from the Messenger of Allah" A man should not be asked why he beats his wife, and do not go to sleep until you have prayed the Witr."' And I forgot the third thing."
Related hadith on this topic
Explanation & Benefits
Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi
Benefits and Issues:
If there is a need for discipline, and if the wife does not resolve the matter through verbal advice and estrangement, then permission to strike is given, as mentioned in Surah An-Nisa, verse 34.
This narration is considered weak according to some Imams.
If it is authentic, then its meaning is that he should strike in the manner permitted by the Shariah.
That is, a light strike, the purpose of which is the rectification of the wife and to warn her.
If the husband commits injustice, exceeds the limits, or strikes her without reason, then he will be an oppressor and will be held accountable for it.
Source: Sunan Abu Dawood – Commentary by Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi, Page: 2147