The recent murder of Aasiya Zubair Hassan has brought a great deal of media attention to domestic violence within American Muslim communities. Matthew Weiner writes in the Huffington Post about the ways Muslim religious leaders are combating domestic violence:
As we should know by now, domestic violence is a crime that afflicts all communities, be them rich or poor, black or white, and regardless of their faith background. Still, the Muslim community in America suffers disproportionately. Or so many Muslims in New York believe. If a Jew or Christian commits domestic violence, will the media report it as a religious act? And this is one reason why, when domestic violence occurs between Muslims, there is increasingly strong condemnation by their leadership.
[…]Shaykh T.A. Bashir, the founder of House of Peace advocated for Imams to dedicate their Friday Sermon, Khutpa to this issue. Shaykh Bashir is a tall, strong, and at times very vocal African American Muslim. His specialty is educating Imams about the danger of domestic violence. He counsels them man to man and Muslim to Muslim in a way that, let’s face it, most women activists are unable to do.
Read the full article here.