A local bookstore in Canada has sold all its copies of “A Gift for Muslim Couple,” a Muslim marriage guide that advises men on how to beat and control their wives, a newspaper reported on Friday.

The 160-page book, published by Idara Impex in New Delhi, India, is written by Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, who is described in the book’s foreword as a “prolific writer on almost every topic of Islamic learning,” The Toronto Sun reported.

The book which is available at online Islamic bookstores and even through eBay, advises husbands that “it might be necessary to restrain her [wife] with strength or even threaten her.”

Thanvi writes in his book that a husband may scold his wife, “beat by hand or stick,” withhold money from her or “pull (her) by the ears,” but should “refrain from beating her excessively.”

The author goes on to say that “the husband should treat the wife with kindness and love, even if she tends to be stupid and slow sometimes.”

Page 45 contains the rights of the husband, which include his desires being fulfilled, his wife’s inability to leave “his house without his permission,” and that she should “not allow herself to be untidy ... but should beautify herself for him ...”

The store’s manager, who did not want to disclose his name, told the paper that the book had been sold out for some time, and the store’s owner, whom the manager identified as Shamim Ahmad, refused to comment.

It wasn’t clear whether the shop has ordered more copies of the book.

Thanvi is an Indian Sunni scholar (1863 – 1943) whose book has remained in circulation decades after he wrote it.