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Interesting article
this is interesting. pulled up incidentally while doing research on DV in rhode island. wonder how it's turning out. anyone from philly on here? any comments? we're coming up on the 1 year anniversary of the publication of this article. is it still going on?
i'm curious, let me know
HEADLINE: Muslims try new tactics in routing out abuse
BYLINE: By KRISTIN E. HOLMES, Knight Ridder News Service, Wire Services
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
BODY:
PHILADELPHIA - The veil shrouding spouse abuse in Muslim families is being torn away by some mosque leaders - putting them at the forefront of efforts by American Muslims to stem domestic violence.
The Philadelphia clergy council - known as the Majlis Ash'Shura of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley - has adopted a tough policy of public shunning of Muslims who abuse their spouses or abandon their families.
Under the initiative, adopted in May, offenders will go on a list circulated among area Muslims. They will be banned from future marriages in communities that adhere to the policy. Fellow Muslims will be discouraged from patronizing any businesses they own.
"We need to take a public stand," said Imam Isa Abdul-Mateen, secretary of the Majlis Ash'Shura, an association of 30 imams. "We want people to know that this will not be tolerated."
In coming months, the council will address issues such as the criteria for putting names on the list and safeguards to protect spouses who step forward.
Domestic violence appears no more prevalent in Muslim communities than elsewhere, but Islamic advocacy groups and others have tried to push the problem into the open.
With the new policy, Philadelphia leaps over other Muslim communities that are just starting to confront the issue, said Maha Alkhateeb, project manager of the Peaceful Families Project, a Virginia-based non-profit that addresses domestic violence among Muslims.
The policy applies to both men and women. Though there are few women batterers, Mateen envisions the sanctions applying to women who make or threaten false claims to police or vindictively deny a man visitation with his children.
Within Muslim families, domestic violence remains largely a taboo subject, Alkhateeb said. Some Muslims deny its existence in a faith in which men are supposed to be protectors of women and children. Some immigrant families are too focused on building a better life to deal with the issue. Activists also cite a widespread reluctance to air problems and expose fellow Muslims to public scandal.
As a consequence, there is little data on the extent of the problem. One study, done in 2000, surveyed 500 Arab women in Dearborn, Mich., and found that 18 percent to 20 percent said they had suffered spouse abuse, a rate similar to that in the general population. Approximately 98 percent of the sample was Muslim, said Anahid Kulwicki, a professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., who did the study.
There are signs that Muslims are awakening to the problem. A group of imams signed a pledge to fight domestic violence at a recent Peaceful Families conference in Washington.
A turning point in Philadelphia may have come in 2001 when a city police officer killed his wife and then himself. Both were Muslims, and the incident shook the Muslim community, said Taalibah Kariem-White of Germantown, Pa., a domestic-violence expert who lectures nationally on the issue.
As the imam council prepares to develop guidelines, area activists already have suggestions.
Rashidah Abdul-Khabeer, deputy director of Circle of Care Family Planning, hopes the imams will help provide safe haven and financial support for a fleeing spouse and her children as needed. She also suggests counseling for families, and procedures so that an offending spouse can reform and be forgiven and accepted back into the community.
The council should also consult lawyers about defamation-of-character complaints that could result from a public list, said attorney George Bochetto, an expert in defamation law.
These issues and others will be discussed in a seminar this Sunday run by Sista2Sista Inc., a local Muslim women's group. The program will focus on domestic-violence issues including sensitizing social-service providers to the particular concerns of Muslim women, said Nafisa Cooper, of Sista2Sista.
LOAD-DATE: September 1, 2005
i'm curious, let me know
HEADLINE: Muslims try new tactics in routing out abuse
BYLINE: By KRISTIN E. HOLMES, Knight Ridder News Service, Wire Services
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA
BODY:
PHILADELPHIA - The veil shrouding spouse abuse in Muslim families is being torn away by some mosque leaders - putting them at the forefront of efforts by American Muslims to stem domestic violence.
The Philadelphia clergy council - known as the Majlis Ash'Shura of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley - has adopted a tough policy of public shunning of Muslims who abuse their spouses or abandon their families.
Under the initiative, adopted in May, offenders will go on a list circulated among area Muslims. They will be banned from future marriages in communities that adhere to the policy. Fellow Muslims will be discouraged from patronizing any businesses they own.
"We need to take a public stand," said Imam Isa Abdul-Mateen, secretary of the Majlis Ash'Shura, an association of 30 imams. "We want people to know that this will not be tolerated."
In coming months, the council will address issues such as the criteria for putting names on the list and safeguards to protect spouses who step forward.
Domestic violence appears no more prevalent in Muslim communities than elsewhere, but Islamic advocacy groups and others have tried to push the problem into the open.
With the new policy, Philadelphia leaps over other Muslim communities that are just starting to confront the issue, said Maha Alkhateeb, project manager of the Peaceful Families Project, a Virginia-based non-profit that addresses domestic violence among Muslims.
The policy applies to both men and women. Though there are few women batterers, Mateen envisions the sanctions applying to women who make or threaten false claims to police or vindictively deny a man visitation with his children.
Within Muslim families, domestic violence remains largely a taboo subject, Alkhateeb said. Some Muslims deny its existence in a faith in which men are supposed to be protectors of women and children. Some immigrant families are too focused on building a better life to deal with the issue. Activists also cite a widespread reluctance to air problems and expose fellow Muslims to public scandal.
As a consequence, there is little data on the extent of the problem. One study, done in 2000, surveyed 500 Arab women in Dearborn, Mich., and found that 18 percent to 20 percent said they had suffered spouse abuse, a rate similar to that in the general population. Approximately 98 percent of the sample was Muslim, said Anahid Kulwicki, a professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., who did the study.
There are signs that Muslims are awakening to the problem. A group of imams signed a pledge to fight domestic violence at a recent Peaceful Families conference in Washington.
A turning point in Philadelphia may have come in 2001 when a city police officer killed his wife and then himself. Both were Muslims, and the incident shook the Muslim community, said Taalibah Kariem-White of Germantown, Pa., a domestic-violence expert who lectures nationally on the issue.
As the imam council prepares to develop guidelines, area activists already have suggestions.
Rashidah Abdul-Khabeer, deputy director of Circle of Care Family Planning, hopes the imams will help provide safe haven and financial support for a fleeing spouse and her children as needed. She also suggests counseling for families, and procedures so that an offending spouse can reform and be forgiven and accepted back into the community.
The council should also consult lawyers about defamation-of-character complaints that could result from a public list, said attorney George Bochetto, an expert in defamation law.
These issues and others will be discussed in a seminar this Sunday run by Sista2Sista Inc., a local Muslim women's group. The program will focus on domestic-violence issues including sensitizing social-service providers to the particular concerns of Muslim women, said Nafisa Cooper, of Sista2Sista.
LOAD-DATE: September 1, 2005
Comments on this journal
i especially think the part of the person not being able to remarry into the community if they are abusive and got divorced.
that seems good, it protects the community from these assholes.