A German Judge ....

A German judge's citing of the Quran in arguing that a Muslim woman seeking a divorce came from a background in which men may use corporal punishment against their wives drew condemnation Thursday from political and Muslim leaders.

The Frankfurt administrative court said the judge was removed from the divorce proceedings of the woman — a German of Moroccan descent, married to a Moroccan citizen, who said she had been mistreated and threatened by her husband.

The judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said in a recommendation earlier this year that both partners came from a "Moroccan cultural environment, in which it is not uncommon for a man to exert a right of corporal punishment over his wife," the court said in a statement.

She argued that it was not an exceptional hardship case in which fast-track divorce proceedings would be justified.

When the woman protested, Datz-Winter cited a passage from the Islamic holy book, the Quran, to back up her argument, the court said. Its vice president, Bernhard Olp, said he could not immediately specify the passage.