An open letter to the Muslim Community At Large: My name is Nafisa Cooper; President and Founder of Sista2Sista Inc. a Nonprofit organization that has been in existence for several years. For those of you who have not heard of our organization we are a resource, referral and advocacy service for Muslims in Crisis. We primarily deal with Muslim victims of Domestic and family violence. Now that we are past the introductions I am writing this letter with the intent to convey to all who are in receipt of this email to take a moment and inshaAllah look at what we are doing as a community to ourselves. In regard to the media frenzy over the "so called " Honor Killing of Sister Aasiyah Hasan; the reaction of the Muslim Community At large; the call for action from so many Muslim leaders and organizations to address the domestic violence epidemic (cause that is what it really is) There are questions that come to my mind; one which is "When will we understand that until we accept the responsibility to properly educate our own community (Islamically) and educate the secular community on the clear distinctions of what is religiously or culturally driven behaviors such as this that we are not solving the problem. For so many victims and families affected by Domestic Violence in our community the sudden rush to take action will inshaAllah be a blessing to fostering better services for victims. Alhamdulillah May Allah make these endeavors a success, amin. However, we still have to accept the responsibility to take proper actions to stop the association of these horrific crimes as being a part of Islam. Take a serious look at what can happen if we(The Muslim Community) really allow the media to continue the road they seem to always travel when it comes to us! What this could lead to! (think about it!) On another personal note of mine I feel that the sudden rush to take action by so many influential bodies within our community is wonderful when we look at the cause. This is really a good thing, however my being the person that I am tend to look at things always on a critical level; I cannot seem to stop wondering why now! Why not six months ago or two years ago? This is not the first incident such as this that has made national news or impacted our community for that matter. Could it be the status of this couple? Could it be the fact that once again we are caught up in the hype of something?, it makes me wonder and question the intentions of many of us and May Allah forgive me and have mercy upon me if I am wrong for saying this, amin. I just want those who are stepping up to the plate to realize that the real work now begins and that because this is making such headlines now where will we be six months or a year from now for that matter. How many of us will still be struggling to fight the epidemic? I read this morning in an article from sound vision that the brother was not even a practicing Muslim . (Allahu Alim) I am not one to say that he is or was because I don't know but the point I am trying to make with this is we are so caught up on the details of what happened that we still have yet to deal with our real underlying issues .. Our community needs to be properly educated! We need to accept responsibility for our own problems! We need to make what is available to us more effective for us! We need to stop acting like opportunists and begin to do the real work! We need to understand that we are responsible for setting the record straight and we need to become accountable for our communities actions and become more proactive than reactive! I am challenging all of those who say they are committed to making changes and fighting this problem to keep your commitments! There are so many people who need to know that the help is available.
Wa salaam
