Muslim Group Points Toward Change

By M. Junaid Levesque-Alam, April 3, 2009

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Reprints
• Share

Column: Turning Point creates a safe space for Muslims to address domestic violence issues.

Tyranny, domination, oppression, control: such words are employed with great frequency in describing the open, explosive conflicts that leave homes in rubble and cities in ruin.

There is another kind of violence that leaves walls untouched and buildings unharmed, but merits the use of these same words: Domestic violence.

While it may not be debated at the United Nations as often, and does not prompt countries to dispatch diplomatic envoys with great pomp and circumstance, it afflicts communities across the world.

Globally, one in three women will be subject to physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner in her lifetime. According to a 2000 National Violence Against Women study, one in every six U.S. women has been a victim of sexual assault or rape. In 2005, according to the FBI, 789 white and 337 black women were killed by intimate partners; 44 women falling into neither racial category met the same fate.

The striking photos of a bruised and beaten celebrity, 21-year-old Rihanna, recently thrust this complex and delicate issue into the limelight for many younger Americans. Some decided to blame the victim, particularly when it appeared that the young star had reunited with her alleged abuser.

A survey of 200 teens in Boston showed that almost half blamed Rihanna for the violence inflicted on her. A reporter's foray into the halls of New York City high schools revealed much the same. "She probably made him mad for him to react like that," one ninth-grade girl told the New York Times. "You know, like, bring it on?"

Within the American Muslim context, tackling domestic violence can be doubly difficult. Activists intent on raising awareness about problems within the community must be cognizant of those outside the community who seek to exaggerate or distort these problems for their own ends -- such as citing domestic violence by Muslims as yet another reason to intensify military violence against Muslims.

Navigating these competing currents is a daily task for Robina Niaz, founder and executive director of Turning Point for Women and Families, a Muslim anti-domestic violence agency based in New York City.

Formed in 2004, Niaz explains that Turning Point is dedicated to addressing domestic violence in the New York Muslim community and creating a safe supportive space to mentor Muslim girls.

The initial reception to the agency was mixed. "The general response from Muslim women, girls, a few imams and Muslim men was quite positive," Niaz says. "But it was difficult making inroads in the larger community as there was a lot of denial about domestic violence." Over the past four years, however, Turning Point has seen a positive change in the community and acknowledgement and support for its work -- including financial support.

Niaz says the hardest part of her work is fending off common Western stereotypes about women in Islam. The anti-Muslim rhetoric that metastasized in the aftermath of September 11, she adds, underscored the need for the organization's existence.

"We try and address the stereotyping and negative media attention by constantly raising awareness about women's rights within Islam, by separating religion from cultural practices and by encouraging Muslim women to... challenge the stereotypes among their peers," she notes. Each year during Ramadan, the organization invites a female Muslim advocate or scholar to "challenge the notion that somehow abuse of women is okay within our faith."

That notion surfaced just last month, when Aasiya Hassan, a Muslim woman, was murdered and beheaded, allegedly by her husband, in Orchard Park, New York. The scene of the crime was the very television station that the couple had created to offer Americans an alternative view of Islam. (Turning Point issued a joint press release with another Muslim anti-domestic violence group condemning the murder and asking that the perpetrator receive maximum punishment.)

Although the attack bore markers common to many domestic violence cases -- a prior history of abuse, protective orders and divorce proceedings -- some leapt to exoticize the act as an "honor killing" specific to Muslims. When the New York State President of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Marcia Pappas, described the act as "a terroristic version of honor killing," Turning Point strongly registered its objection in a letter signed by eight other domestic violence agencies.

"Would you call a Christian woman in this same scenario murdered by gun violence a victim of an honor killing?" the letter pointedly asked in a reference to the hundreds of other domestic violence-related murders that occur each year in the United States. "Femicide is femicide and this tragedy is one more disturbing face of domestic violence."

Addressing the oft-heard assertion that Islam endorses domestic violence, Niaz makes several points: It is easy, she says, to misinterpret religious passages, restrict the meaning of key phrases and take them out of context to justify one's own immoral behavior. She points out that, according to contemporary accounts, the Prophet Muhammad never struck a woman and in his final sermon "reminded Muslims that the best among them were those who were best to their wives."

She also cites the following Quranic verse: "And among His signs is this, that He created for you spouses from among yourselves, that you may live in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts) -- verily in that are signs for those who reflect." (30:21)

It is not history or hermeneutics alone that vitiates the idea of an inherent connection between domestic violence and Islam.

Turning Point's youth leader, Moumita Zaman, has been actively involved in the fight against domestic violence by working with other young Muslim women to organize against abuse. She said that during high school, it was apparent that South Asian students didn't go for help when faced with issues of abuse, violence and trauma aimed at either themselves or their mothers because of limited support services.

Determined to help address that gap, Zaman joined Turning Point as a volunteer and now creates programs and workshops for young Muslim women. For Women's History Month in March, she helped five Muslim girls create their own written tribute to Aasiya, the Orchard Park victim, which they then presented. She described the process as "a breakthrough experience... as [the participants] gained confidence and had an opportunity to speak directly to their community members."

Zaman, who also participates in a Muslim women writers' workshop, says she has found strength in her identity by playing an active part in defining it. "As a Muslim woman, I've sought out or created spaces that help to empower me and other females... I've managed to surround myself with women who are changing the paradigm on how Muslim females are represented, and who represents us."

Through their advocacy and tireless groundwork, Niaz and Zaman have achieved a measure of success that shows progress is possible in addressing this issue within the American Muslim community.  

While domestic violence can neither collapse walls nor shake buildings, it is fair to say that between the walls and within the buildings of New York City, the level of awareness and dialogue around this problem has improved thanks to Turning Point's efforts.

Levesque-Alam blogs about America and Islam at Crossing the Crescent. Co-founder of Left Hook, he's also a journalism graduate of Northeastern University and has worked for the daily press in suburban Massachusetts and weeklies in Queens, New York. He now works as a communications coordinator for an anti-domestic violence agency in the NYC area.