[Imam Zia Sheikh delivers sermon on Friday. Photo: Louis DeLuca]
The men pack into the mosque — their feet bare, their heads covered with white prayer caps — and sit down on the carpet in untidy rows for afternoon prayer. A man wearing black scrubs. Little boys who cling to their fathers’ legs. The door continues to swing open long after the services start.
Everyone’s attention is on Imam Zia Sheikh, a prominent figure among local Muslims, who has prepared a special sermon to address an issue so important that the community agreed to focus on it during the holy month of Ramadan: domestic violence.
“That means,” he says, translating from the Arabic scripture of the Quran, “Do not hit. And do not engage in spousal abuse.”
Sheikh spoke Friday at the Islamic Association of Lewisville and Flower Mound, as part of an annual Ramadan campaign emphasizing peaceful families. His sermon countered misconceptions that Islam condones domestic abuse and shined light on an issue that, for generations, had been discussed in hushed voices among same-sex peers, but rarely openly addressed among Muslims here.
Two other notable domestic-violence-related stories:
Domestic violence shelters at high occupancy (Kansas) -- Kansas Bureau of Investigations says that the number of domestic violence incidents are at a 20-year high; for lack of space, a Wichita, KS, shelter turned away 551 women and children last year.
Religious leaders come together as domestic violence advocates (Central Florida) -- Harbor House of Central Florida is calling on religious leaders to sign up for an event called the Healthy Relationship Preach In. During the first weekend in October they're asking religious leaders to preach about healthy relationships.
Comments (0)