In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful
Recommended Actions
The results of this survey confirm what the social workers and other professionals serving Muslim survivors of abuse have known for some time. We hope the community will now pay more attention to this data and their implications.
The survey results provide us data to support a call to action with a range of measures to prevent all kinds of family violence. We can now tell ourselves, and our family and friends, to come out of denial and take concrete steps toward building a violence free, healthy community.
Project Sakinah urges the community to take a holistic approach to address the issue. We recommend a range programs and workshops that deal with various aspects of the challenge. Our vision is to see consistent programming addressing the challenges of Muslim family life in North America at all of our mosques and Islamic Centers. The following is a short list of programs needed.
- Couples Trainings (Effective Communications, Handling Conflict, Love Relationships, Parenting)
- Young Adults (Pre-marital Marriage Counseling, Healthy & Unhealthy Relationships, etc.)
- Youth Workshops (Anger Management, Gender Relations, Self Esteem, Manhood, Womanhood, etc. )
- Family Conflict Resolution Workshops (For families with conflicts among children and parents.)Parenting)
- Capacity Building (Webinars & Seminars for advocates and activists to enhance their skills and productivity, training workshops for DV advocates and professionals)
- Imam Trainings (How to deal with the victims of violence within the family, How to handle abusers)
In addition to organizing training and workshops for individuals, Muslim organizations should also take measures to provide a system of screening and referring community members in need of social services to professionals who can assist them.
Changing community attitudes and behaviors requires solid programming and implementing procedures within the community to identify and get help for those who need it. But we also need to demonstrate leadership in breaking the silence surrounding the issue by addressing the issue both on the minbar and through social media. Project Sakinah encourages
- Frequent Friday Khutbahs on domestic violence, family stability, parenting etc.
- Frequent Campaigns & Videos (To engage various sectors of the community)
We will, inshallah, continue research and assessment of each local community. Project Sakinah is training and helping its teams to assess their local communities, so they know what exactly needs to be done to make it a violence free, healthy community.
Project Sakinah and its collaborators are able to deliver the traiing to do the programs above. We ask the community leaders, advocates and all community members to join hands with us in bringing this most needed change in our community. Let’s Wake Up, Speak Up and Team Up. Let’s Stop Family Violence Now!
Zerqa Abid,
Campaign Manager,
Project Sakinah