On November 8th, KARAMAH opened its doors for the first ever Muslim Mediation Initiative, a training designed to teach participants how to develop basic conflict resolution skills and use mediation as a conflict resolution tool. The training was born out of the recognition that in the current Muslim American context, many families seek the counsel of imams and community leaders when facing issues within their marriage, relationships, community, work, and education. Yet that then puts an inordinate amount of pressure on religious leaders to provide the best resolution for the marriage, family, and community – a pressure compounded by the fact that that many imams are inadequately equipped to facilitate healthy conflict resolution through a lack of training in the conflict resolution field.
The room was full of twenty-five participants from differing backgrounds: some were imams, community leaders, and professors, while others were radio show hosts and lawyers. Aisha Rahman, KARAMAH’s Executive Director, introduced the training by explaining the need for such skills in the community. She impressed the importance of assessing each situation for the appropriateness of mediation, firmly stating “there are circumstances where mediation is simply not appropriate, particularly in domestic violence situations.”
Then, Dr. Amr Abdala, the Vice President of the Salam Institute for Peace and Justice and Professor at the UN University of Peace, started off the training by explaining the skills of conflict analysis and mapping. He energized the participants as he spoke about the different forms of conflict, conflict management, intervention, and shared his conflict resolution stories from all over the world. The participants then applied their new skills and knowledge through small group role play exercises, trying to assist a Muslim family undergoing a multi-faceted difficult situation. He stressed the universality of conflict, and the lack of one stereotypically “Muslim” solution time and again. Dr. Abdala stated, “Conflicts happen to human beings, no matter who they are. Muslims are no different.” Patricia Anton, a Peace Educator from Pillar of Peace also spoke to participants about conflict and mediation, and assisted Dr. Amr Abdala with an intervention role play. Marium Durrani, KARAMAH’s staff attorney and certified mediator, then stepped in to explain mediation in the legal context, assessing the appropriateness of mediation, and the ethics surrounding both mediation and conflict resolution.
Although the program lasted the entire day, throughout it all, engaging conversations and heated questions arose around a topic that frequently remains untaught. KARAMAH seeks to uphold its mission of promoting human rights globally, and in this case, worked to do so through a thorough educational training. The first workshop of its kind, the Muslim Mediation Initiative provided participants the chance to work with conflict resolution specialists and community attorneys. It is with great excitement that we look forward to the second of workshops on November 24th, and hope to be able to continue this around the nation in an effort to empower community leaders in the topic of marriage crisis and conflict resolution.
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