...interesting...

sign me up

Here's something that I can get behind.

Happiness the Bhutanese way - news.bbc.co.uk

stumbled on this doing DV research.
seems like a good start, wonder how it's going. it'll be coming up on the 1 year aniversary of the event soon. anyone from philly know about this? any comments?


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

...CF...even though you're a funny FELLA and your picture is CONFUSING to look at since its so colorful :P ..you have perceived the state of affairs with a glance while others still are trying to figure out what passed by...cool entries in this village dude!...

so I have a question......... does anyone think there is a possibility that Prophet Jesus had left behind his progeny in the form of a daughter who grew up and married into a French ruling family and the ancestors still exist and Freemasons have protected this secret and there is a cover up and what do you think of the church and the story in southern France that tells the whole Prophet Jesus story opposite of the Bible and its deliberately drawn that way knowing its contradicting the Christian tradition/religion/culture ?...whew......that was a long one......

Yes, this is the premise of the Da Vince Code book...is it a conspiracy? is it the truth? is it blue? is it round? is it a flower?

what is it?

anyone...anyone...Bueller...? Bueller...? Ferris Bueller?

My dad is going to Ummrah. He went to visit some family (my mom's side). My cousin's wife asked my dad to give dua for her. But she specifically asked to make dua that she one day goes to Makkah/Medina herself. The rest of her dua's, she'll do once she get's there *boom-boom*

Thought I'd just share that.

Bookworm chica...it's the unfortunate reality, you're right...in arab countries it's definitely as bad if not worse..we're definitely back to the jaheleya days...The ironic thing is...our beautiful religion came along and gave women their proper rights only to have our people in this day and age oppress them all over again, only to be reminded by countries such as the west about how OUR religion is telling us to treat our own women. (mind you they aren't much better here, with their domestic violence and serial killings being most of the time ex. bf's and whatnot)....

it's too bad...you would think we would learn...you would think...

...interesting and compelling...what you've written in your comments...

...as I see it..."religion" is what we have but we ignore it in the name of our forefather's way of practising Islam and forgetting DEEN ; "culture" is what we live with and proudly protect it in its various ugly forms (eg. Pakistani honour killings if marriage occurs between a man from a northern tribe to a woman from a southern town) ;"traditions" are the only thing we truly believe in regardless however it may oppress since its the 'right thing to do' and not bothering with the "rights of people" (eg. women may not drive or vote in Saudi Arabia, female mutilation in Sudan)...

...not a good state of affairs for the Muslims presently... *: *:

wow....these people are hilarious...for real....it seems for them safety is only to keep away what they consider is a bad muslim...the funniest thing is...anyone can fake something or write something different on a paper than they truly believe.

Or the next easiest answer for all questions... "me no english"...or in this case... "me no german"

I think theCULTURE in germany are developing a TRADITION to mock people of another RELIGION: news.bbc.co.uk

I mean, whats wrong with having two wives? probably twice the headache.

I think theCULTURE in germany are developing a TRADITION to mock people of another RELIGION: news.bbc.co.uk

I mean, whats wrong with having two wives? probably twice the headache.

'Pakistan blasphemy rethink urged': news.bbc.co.uk

Women resist 'honour' marriages: news.bbc.co.uk

About that program;

Tough to watch but it seems to be true. I mean even the school kids they interviewed looked and sounded kinda weird. :(

Why did it say Pakistanis were at higher risk than the general population? What happened to Sikhs, Indians and others? );

I still find it funny that Pakistanis are referred to as Asians. That sucks because I think in North America, Asian is a term used for the general Chinese / oriental communities. -:-

MysterAsif: Lead the way, dude :P

Hold on CF.

Screening for genius sounds like a good business idea, throw in a free genetic compatability test as well for legitimacy cover.

I don't at all like the idea of wives and 'cuzbands'.

may be we should get married outside our species to be extra^2 safe ;)

kindda glad have no female cousins of my age ...

Maybe we should get married outside the family, just to be sure. Heck, maybe we should get married outside our ETHNICITY just to be extra safe ;)

Maybe I should suggest that to my dad, that'll be amusing. oh, this is gonna be an uphill struggle Shazia.

Why don't you come down to brum and have a chat with my dad?

Or should I do my own dirty work? I should my own dirty work.

Thalassemia is quite prevalent in South-Asians. Especially the beta-form. Thalassemia is an autosomal recessive disease in majority of the cases. I have a cousin, first cousins (both have mothers who are sisters), who's youngest is Thalassemic. But their eldest is healthy and a bit of a prodigy, having been bumped up a class at school cos she's too bright to be kept with kids her age. Hmmmmmm... I wonder is genius is recessive?

Raheely honey, using your own words "that high" is TOO high. Plus, you never know when you are going to hit the anti-lottery.

We know a family who have 3 sons - the first is a carrier. The other two died as teenagers, they were fine till the age of about 7 or 8. Then started to get ill, became blind, deaf, lost brain function, couldn't walk etc - it was horrific and I felt for their parents. Plus their eldest child to lose his brothers in that way.

We never know with lots of things, with our health at all. But if there is a x13 chance that the airplane you are going to go on will crash compared to a different one, you wouldn't do it. It's ok for us, living our healthy (thank God) lives - but to bring children into the world and know that this is because of your actions... that's wilfully wrong.

And I'm not just getting on an anti-Muslim tip here, this problem of inter-related marriages and genetic diseases is also v well documented in Ashkanazi Jews and other populations who marry from within a relatively closed community.