Muslim women in Australia speak up about domestic violence

22 February 2008 in Australasia, Domestic Violence, Women's Group

Sydney – Women and children are beaten by their menfolk in homes across Australia. Mostly the spur to domestic violence is alcohol but sometimes cultural mores are at work that allow men to excuse their behaviour. “They view wives and daughters as an extension of their honour and when they deviate from what they would view as accepted … they see it as an undermining of their own status,” said Sydney psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed.

He was talking about violence in Muslim homes and commenting specifically on a call from the Muslim Women’s National Network Australia (MWNNA) to tackle those in the community who use religion to justify domestic violence.

“It’s a real problem,” MWNNA president Aziza Abdel-Halim told The Sydney Morning Herald. “There’s wife beating, there’s children beating. Some of them go to the extent of forbidding the woman to leave the home.”

Ahmed said Muslim victims of domestic violence were reluctant to go to the police. If they went to the imam of their mosque, he was likely to side with the perpetrator.

“Very rarely would you get the imam trying to punish the man,” he said. “They’ll see it more as, if not culturally appropriate, then culturally understandable.”

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/187191,muslims-speak-up-about-domestic-violence.html

See on MWNNA website:

Violence Against Wives

This research paper compares the positions of the current Australian law and Islamic Law in relation to violence against women by men, mainly by their husbands. It is not an uncommon image, amongst many, that all Muslims men are violent and are so as a result of their Islamic faith. It is important to remember that there are many non-violent and peaceful Muslim men that the courts and the police don’t see. There is no doubt that violence occurs against Muslims women but this is not as a result of the men practising their Islamic faith. It is contrary to the Islamic duties placed upon men in relation to how to treat their wives.

A judge or magistrate hearing a family violence case should clearly understand and keep in mind that Islamic Law condemns violence no less than Australian law. Hence, when faced with a defendant saying or implying that it is his Islamic right to beat his wife, the judge or magistrate, should have no doubt that such a person does not know the Islamic Law adequately and that he is in fact acting contrary to the duties placed upon him by Islam. A judge or a magistrate should not hesitate to point this fact out to the perpetrator.

Go to http://www.mwnna.org.au/index.php?categoryid=11&p2_articleid=21 to read the full research paper