The term bayt al-ṭāʿa , which means literally "the house of obedience," came to be understood as enforced obedience of a wife to her husband. According to the Egyptian 1897 Ordinance Organising the Sharīʿa Courts and the Proceedings Pertaining to Them (article 93) and the equivalent 1931 Law (articles 345-6), a husband who has been granted an obedience decree by the court may seek the assistance of the police in forcing his rebellious wife to return to the conjugal dwelling. Enforced obedience, in this sense, is not mentioned in