Earlier this year, HEART partnered with researchers at UIC for a clinical study on Muslim American women’s health knowledge, practices, and desires for improved care. We surveyed 730 self-identifying Muslim American women ranging from ages 18 to 45. Check out some of our crucial findings below, as well as our recommendations for health care improvement on personal, community, and institutional levels. Read more
Child sexual abuse is a crime that occurs far too frequently. And unfortunately, these instances are often ignored or brushed under the table, particularly in Muslim communities. It is time to break the silence surrounding child sexual abuse, and to gain the tools necessary to both address the problem and facilitate healthy dialogue with our children. We understand that this is not an easy task. Oftentimes, parents and caregivers may feel that they lack the knowledge or vocabulary to talk to children... Read more
Our hearts and prayers are with the Hassanen family and the ADAMS Center community after the burial of a beautiful young woman by the name of Nabra. Nabra’s tragic death is a loss being felt greatly by the American Muslim community nationwide. Because details of this investigation are unfolding each day, at this time we do not encourage speculating what happened out of respect to all involved. While this news is devastating, we urge you to consider centering the voices... Read more
Written by Sameera Qureshi Given the recent events concerning Dar Al-Hijrah and the statements made by Imam Shaker regarding the religious permissibility of female circumcision (i.e. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting – FGM/C), I feel the strong need to share points of discussion that aren’t being considered in most circles. Given that I have worked extensively in the field of sexual health and not religious scholarship, many of my points relate to the former field with some elucidations to religious contexts with... Read more
originally published on altmuslim.com By Sheerin Siddique Pushback. Unsolicited advice. Threatening jargon. Incomplete information. Unforeseen intimidation. Mischaracterized evidence. Cold isolation. Deafening silence. Unfair commentary. One-sided assumptions. Crude judgments. Never-ending blame. Plain old-fashioned pushback. This is what trickled down when I was “coming out” to the world, especially to the Muslim-American community. I was invited on April 30 to be a part of a guest panel on a Detroit radio talk show on station 910 AM called Between the Lines with... Read more
After two years of development, we are proud to share this important research, “Removing Roadblocks: Examining Barriers to Justice & Healing to Build more Victim-Centric Services for Muslim Survivors of Sexual Assault.” Partnering with the Muslim American Women’s Policy Forum (MAWPF), this white paper provides recommendations for institutional responses to sexual assault based on surveys with direct services providers.While much progress has been made in the greater movement, it is clear that there is still work to be done in order to... Read more
This letter was originally published by Rape Victim Advocates. It is part of a series by Kat Stuehrk, Northside Prevention Educator at Rape Victim Advocates, developed for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s 2017 Sexual Assault Awareness Month Theme, “Engaging New Voices”. Dear Faith Community Leader, Sexual violence is a spiritual issue. As the topic of sexual violence has slowly become less of a taboo subject, plenty of information has become available about how abuse and rape affect someone emotionally, physically, and... Read more
*Trigger warning for sexual abuse by Aya Khalil Five. I was sexually abused at an age where I didn’t even have enough life experience to properly process and identify what was going on. Not by a random stranger. Not by a family member. But by someone whom the community trusted: someone who taught children how to read and memorize Quran, God’s holy book. Someone who abused his power and religious authority to hurt children. As an imam and a sheikh,... Read more
by: Anonymous I sat at the intersection waiting for the red light to turn green. I thought to myself that if it turns green by the time I count to three, then I’ll do it. I counted; one, two, three…. the light remained red and I began to tear up, how could I have gotten to a place where this seemed to be my only choice of salvage? Shame and disappointment streamed down my face, then the light turned green... Read more
by Fatima Noor Survivors, like me, whether from rape or domestic abuse, silently throw rants of blame against ourselves. The gaze our eyes lay on our reflections is one filled with shame. Our hearts electrocute our bodies with self-disdain with every second that ticks away. The intimate insides of our bodies curse us with feelings of filth. Every cell of our beings screams with questions beginning with who, what, where, when, why and how. Memories raid our minds and sacrifice our little-to-nothing sleep. With... Read more
Heartfelt
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