The Ayatollah has a simple piece of advice for any Muslim woman being abused by her husband: Hit him back.

“A woman can respond to physical violence inflicted on her by a man with counter-violence as a self-defence measure,” wrote Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Lebanon’s senior-most Shiite cleric, in a fatwa in 2007 that shocked conservative Muslims around the world.

Fadlallah long has been considered a leader of the most radical faction of Shiite Muslims in Lebanon. He endorsed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution in Iran and was accused of ordering, or at least encouraging, the 1983 bombings of the US Marines barracks in Beirut, a charge he and his supporters have denied.

But the 72-year-old cleric, who agreed to an interview recently in his South Beirut compound, has toned down his rhetoric in recent years. Instead, he espouses a more modest vision for the faithful than the ambitious agenda set forth by Iran, which considers itself the patron of Shiites worldwide and has been trying to increase its influence throughout the Muslim world.

Fadlallah, whose black turban identifies him as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, focuses on issues of concern to his followers, such as parenting.

“One of the general principles in raising children is that parents should not consider their child as part of their possessions,” he wrote in a ruling translated and placed on the English section of his website, english.bayynat.org.lb.

“Instead, they should consider him God’s trust that Allah has put in their hands. This is done by loving the child, listening to him and respecting his mind.”

While Khomeini espoused a highly politicized version of Islam; Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq advocates piety, modesty and good deeds. Fadlallah’s fatwas and statements seem more like daytime talk-show fodder.

“Sistani is very popular in the Shiite world, but he’s not involved in the daily lives of Shiites,” said Fadlallah’s aide, Hani Abdullah. “This is why Fadlallah is more of a reference for modern Shiites.”

On gender issues, he takes positions that raise eyebrows among his conservative counterparts, such as questioning the conventional Islamic prohibition on female judges and challenging the traditional view that a woman’s place is in the house and the man’s in the workplace.

He also has addressed issues such as cloning and plastic surgery.

He is strongly critical of the Bush administration, but takes pains to underscore that he’s not anti-American. He was among the first religious leaders in West Asia to condemn the September 11 attacks.

But Fadlallah remains a staunch critic of Israel, once describing the Jewish state as “a conglomerate of people who come from all parts of the world to live in Palestine on the ruins of another people”.

Los Angeles Times