Posted by GuestBloggers 3/14/2009 12:00 AM

By I Am: American Muslim

"He stood right here, in this spot," Brother Alakoum emphasized pointing at the ground next to where he stood as he looked out over the massala, "stood right here and asked for money for Bridges TV."

Earlier in his portion of the presentation, Br. Alakoum had told the story of a man from our community that was such a tyrant that his family celebrated his death at Chuck E. Cheese. He wanted to stress that the issue of domestic violence is real in our community, and it’s time to move to Zero Tolerance. "You think it’s being a man to have your house afraid of you, but then your family celebrates your janaza at Chuck E. Cheese."

The panel discussion entitled "From Domestic Violence to Domestic Peace" was held during the Friday night halaqa spot at ICC in Tempe. I'd printed 40 of each of the flyers we had to give out. We'd run out. 50 - 60 people were there, many new faces. Panelists were Dr. Aneesa Nadir, Founder and President of ISSA-USA, Ahmad Daniels, Executive Director of CAIR-AZ, Ahmed Alakoum, Executive Director of MAS-AZ, and Jacqueline Freeman-Ennaffah President of AMWA-AZ and founder of I AM: American Muslim (that would be me)

I'd spent the afternoon trying to untie the knot in my stomach. Each event I'm involved in concerning domestic violence brings an onslaught of feelings of insecurity and helplessness, inadequacy almost to the point of despair. Each of these attacks serves to prove to me how important this work is- how much Darkness would stop it- but staying on top of the wave instead of being crushed under it takes tremendous effort and God's Grace to get through.

Women's Studies professors aren't generally well-received in any religious congregation, let alone a mosque. Talking about feminist theory and women's emancipation will likely repel this audience even more than the average American. Yet, I am convinced that the issue of domestic violence will not be significantly reduced until faith communities become proactive in preventing abuse and intervening when it does occur.

SOURCE: http://i-am-americanmuslim.blogspot.com/2009/03/he-stood-right-here.html