Arab and Muslim men challenging domestic violence

This article describes Arab and Muslim men who are challenging domestic violence in various ways. Unfortunately, these men are often themselves also persecuted by highly repressive regimes.


Ayatollah Boroujerdi of Iran is a courageous advocate of separation of religion and state in Iran from a Shi’ite Islamic perspective. He is strongly opposed to the whole clerical regime in Iran and is a pacifist. He is also an advocate of gender equality as well. http://www.bamazadi.org/2009/03/happy-8th-of-march-international-womans.html  He is a political prisoner in Iran since 2006 and will not be released until the regime falls.

Ayatollah Yousef Saanei of Iran supports deep structural reform while wanting to keep the Islamic regime in power in Iran. He and his followers have been attacked by the regime.

He believes in gender equality and that women can hold any political office from an Islamic perspective.
http://saanei4.info/old/page.php?pg=showbaztab&id=5&lang=en

He thinks that marriage should be an equal partnership between husband and wife and not an opportunity for the husband to dominate or abuse his wife.
http://saanei4.info/old/page.php?pg=showbaztab&id=4&lang=en

He is also opposed to child abuse from an Islamic standpoint. He believes parents should not use physical force against their children under any circumstances.
http://saanei4.info/old/page.php?pg=showpayam&id=4&lang=en
http://saanei4.info/old/page.php?pg=showmeeting&id=26&lang=en

Center for Islamic Pluralism –

The international director Dr. Irfan Al Alawi is based in Britain and has a PhD in Islamic theology. Dr. Al Alawi fights for women’s rights from an Islamic scholarly perspective in the global sense. He advocates strongly for an end to Female Genital Mutilation in all its forms among Muslims. Here he criticizes the Indonesian government for condoning FGM.
http://www.islamicpluralism.org/1901/indonesian-government-backward-step-on-female

Here he addresses and condemns the widespread practice of FGM among Iraqi Kurds. http://www.islamicpluralism.org/1867/female-genital-mutilation-an-obligation-according
http://www.islamicpluralism.org/1816/iraw-kurdistan-passes-law-against-fgm

Here he and writer and executive director , San Francisco resident Stephen Schwartz, discuss the Saudi regime limiting women’s voting rights.
http://www.islamicpluralism.org/1903/saudi-arabia-grants-women-limited-election-rights

The Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer is a survivor of horrific child abuse from his radical Islamic father. Kareem was a political prisoner in Egypt for 4 years from 2006 to 2010 for condemning the Mubarak regime. When Kareem was imprisoned, his father and four brothers disowned him because he is an atheist.

He is also a staunch feminist who supports gender equality in all aspects of Egyptian society. Here he condemns Al Azhar University, the oldest and most prominent university in the Islamic world, for sexual segregation of its male and female students and for the sexism which is taught to male Muslim students.
http://www.freekareem.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/ka_blog_translation_nov_11_2004.pdf

Kareem is also a close friend of mine who helped me find the inner courage inside myself to leave my abusers 4 months ago.

Dr. Maikel Nabil Sanad of Egypt is a pacifist, feminist, pro-Israel advocate, and political prisoner currently on hunger strike. Here is a partial compilation of his feminist thoughts: http://usafreedomthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/10/maikel-nabils-feminist-thoughts-partial.html