All across the United States, American Muslim organizations and imams are calling to preach against domestic violence during Friday prayer services and sermons. The call follows the murder and beheading of Aasiya Zubair Hassan by her husband and co-founder of the Bridges TV network. “This is a wake up call to all of us, that violence against women is real and cannot be ignored. It must be addressed collectively by every member of our community. Women who seek divorce from their spouses because of physical abuse should get full support from the community and should not be viewed as someone who has brought shame to herself or her family. The shame is on the person who committed the act of violence or abuse,” Imam Mohamed Hagmajid Ali, vice president of Islamic Society of North America, wrote this week. The Muslim Public Affairs Council also called for discussing the urgency of the issue of domestic violence, citing that Islam unequivocally condemns such behavior. While some have called Aasiya’s murder an act of “honor violence” by such organizations as the National Organization for Women, American Muslims warn against confusing the term to Muslim-only communities, but such violence and abuse exists in all cultures and religions – Muslims are not exempt from the transcendence of this problem.
