We- and by “we” I am referring to relatively privileged and educated Muslims who utilize social media- love to criticize Mona Eltahawy just as much as we love to praise her Head to Head host, Mehdi Hassan. The latter received critical acclaim for his refutation of Ann Marie Waters, et al at the Oxford forum debate.
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In today’s column, Salma responds to a daughter whose elderly mother is in a verbally abusive marriage and a mother whose son seems unable to manage his anger.
Read MoreAlthough I had stood up to my atheist boyfriend when he had spoken disparagingly about Islam, I did not return to my childhood faith in the months or even years that followed. The anger and bitterness I felt towards my Creator for the sexual abuse I had endured as a child had set down deep, gnarled roots in my heart, roots that could not be pulled out overnight. But an overwhelming desire to earn God’s forgiveness had now also begun to bud alongside those dark emotions.
Read MoreThere it was, the Holy Ka’ba, right in front of me. I pressed my palms and forehead against the cool stone, my whole body overwhelmed with the desire for Allah’s forgiveness, love. After a long period of darkness in my life, I finally believed that I would receive it.
I had struggled in my relationship with Allah almost my entire life. I had never doubted that God is merciful and loving. I did not believe, however, that I would be the recipient of His mercy, because I felt sure I did not deserve it.
Read MoreI am a 36-year-old Muslim woman and am happily engaged to a wonderful man who I plan to marry this year. I have reached this healthy place after 27 years of depression, self-doubt and subsequent counselling. A major component of my healing has been my autobiography, “Brutal,” a book in which I spare no details and for which I make no apologies. And what compelled me, an ordinary Muslim woman from Midlands, England to share my life story?
Read MoreIn a meeting last week with a few Washington, D.C. leaders, I was asked what one issue I was most passionate about right now. Without hesitation I said, to the surprise of many, the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). I knew why people in the room were surprised by my answer; in meetings with American Muslim leaders the answer they would have received would generally be civil rights, Islamophobia, national security or foreign policy.
Read MoreOn the basis of the idea that American Muslims should participate in the cultural and political debates of wider society, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, along with Christian collaborator Robert P. George, co-wrote a piece on pornography in early July. Yusuf and George published an open letter to members of the hotel industry asking them to consider not offering pornography in their hotels.
Read MoreAs the facts about the Shaima Alawadi murder case continue to trickle in, it appears more and more that she was the victim of family violence, rather than a hate crime. As somebody who works to prevent family violence at Project Sakinah, this does not come as a surprise to me—nor was it an unexpected turn of events to many of us in the domestic violence/family violence community. Of all the women killed in America in 2007, 64% of them died at the hands of a family member or an intimate partner. While it is possible that this might be matricide, which is exceedingly rare (85% of children who murder one or more of their parents are male), family violence is not.
Read MoreLate last year, a Staten Island woman and her toddler were attacked by a pedestrian who punched her in the face, pulled on her scarf, asked her why she was in America, and called all Muslims and Arabs terrorists. One week later in Seattle, Wash., two American citizens of Somali descent were physically attacked at a gas station. The female assailant called them suicide bombers, terrorists and told them to go back to their country.
Read MoreLast August, a woman was gunned down outside my agency’s headquarters in New Jersey. She was shot 16 times through the back, in front of her two young children. Inevitably, it was established that she was a victim of domestic violence. At the time, she had attempted to do all the right things to leave her violent home for a place of safety – she had a restraining order against her abuser, was in the process of obtaining a divorce and even enrolled in nursing school to ensure financial independence. However, all this was ultimately not enough to save her life.
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