Domestic Violence knows no barriers: Rich-poor, educated-uneducated, young-old, male-female, color-race-ethnicity-nationality…it is a crime. It is a sin. It is not Islamic.
Domestic violence exists in our Muslim communities. Many in our communities don’t want to talk about it. A common excuse for doing nothing-keeping silent that I hear frequently is that what happens between a husband and wife is their private business, but domestic violence: physical, emotional, and verbal abuse is not private and the children in the abused family are also victimised.
Domestic violence has a horrendous impact on the children who are often too young or scared to put words to the fear and terror they experience. Often the children are direct victims of the abuse…abuse that not only injuries their young bodies but flays their hearts and spirits leaving them dazed, confused, and lacking any stability.
Many masjid leaders don’t have training in how to deal effectively with abusers or how to find help and support for victims. Our Muslim communities are ill prepared to deal with domestic violence and rarely is there a safe-house for the victims to flee to when lives are threatened and sadly sometimes lost. Victims seeking help outside the Muslim community are frequently treated badly by community members.
Sisters in the community sometimes know long before the brothers about abuse simply because women often confide in one another… and sadly they remain silent. Don’t remain silent and ignore these helpless victims. Victims of abuse are often isolated and fearful and they are in desperate need for a sister or brother in Islam to reach out to them. Don’t wait until it is too late and serious injury or loss of life results from domestic violence in your own community.
Linda Delgado is a Muslim revert and lives in the USA. She is the author of the award winning Islamic Rose Books series and the publisher-owner of Muslim Writers Publishing, a traditional Muslim publishing business:www.MuslimWritersPublishing.com
