KARAMAH’s mission is to advocate for civil rights and civil liberties of the American Muslim community. Injustice in the form of discrimination against specific groups is not tolerated. Using her knowledge and experience in family law, KARAMAH’s Executive Director Ms. Rahman talked about the connection between family law and civil rights at a town hall in Buffalo, NY. She emphasized that “women’s issues are no longer women’s issues. These issues are affecting the health and sanctity of our families and our communities as a whole.” Ms. Rahman proceeded to illustrate how two specific U.S. court cases have affected the public perception of Islam in America, and Muslim communities themselves.
In these cases, “expert testimony” on Islamic law impacted the court’s decisions. To read the synopsis of this and other cases please visit KARAMAH’s case studies section. In 2011 the United States saw a slue of proposed anti-Shariah bills. Advocates for these laws cited these family law cases to illustrate how Islamic law is “creeping into” the American judicial system and caused victims in these cases to suffer. This provided fuel to those claiming that Muslims want Islamic law to supplant U.S. civil law. These events gave rise to more fervent Islamophobia and fear of “Shari’ah.” The result is the compromise of the civil rights of Muslims. Since September 11, 2001 and more since these bills of 2011, the U.S. Muslim community has seen school bullying, workplace discrimination and biased law enforcement trainings, and spying on American college students (link to the press releases on these).
Had testimony in these cases involved accurate understanding of Islamic law, justice would have been served. Similarly, negative perceptions of Islam could be more easily changed. For this reason, KARAMAH continues its educational programming on Islamic law in the Muslim and interfaith communities. Also, KARAMAH seeks to continue its steadfast advocacy for civil rights and liberties to ensure they remain protected.
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