KARAMAH’s believes that quality education can change societies. As a human rights organization led by Muslim women lawyers, KARAMAH’s work is particularly useful to legal professionals and students, who will be in the best position to use the information as future advocates.
With this in mind KARAMAH’s Executive Director, Aisha Rahman, visited the University of Richmond’s School of Law this month, where she addressed the relationship between family law and civil rights. Many in our communities believe that family law issues are women’s issues – that the issues of domestic violence, for example, affect only women. In her presentation, Ms. Rahman linked two family law cases that demonstrate the the civil rights impact family law cases can have on the entire Muslim community in the U.S.
Specifically, Ms. Rahman highlighted a well-known New Jersey case in which an imam testified on the rights of the husband in a Muslim marriage to abuse his wife. Because of this testimony, the judge ordered that the husband lacked the requisite intent to abuse his wife. In his decision, the judge cited the testimony of the imam as circumstantial evidence, which legal professionals would understand does not affect interpretation of the law. In the aftermath of this case, however, many public figures began to spread the idea that U.S. courts were ruling on Islamic law. This misinformation is what led to the anti-Shari’ah legislation movement around the U.S.
In this New Jersey case, justice was eventually served and the wife received protection from her abuser. The civil rights of Muslim Americans, however, continue to be compromised around the U.S. Events like this show that these issues do not occur in a vacuum. The issues that are affecting women and children are also directly affecting men. They affect the soul our entire community—the family unit. KARAMAH will continue working to end this threat by educating lawyers and leaders on the nexus of Islamic jurisprudence and civil law. In time, with continued vigilance, these issues will be less pervasive in our communities.
To read these and other case studies, please visit our online case studies collection by clicking here.
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