(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Resorting to Islamic teachings urging protection of women and children rights, Victoria Muslim men and women have organized a White Ribbon Day, reflecting Islam’s support for respectful family relationships.
“It’s important that conversations take place at the community level promoting counseling, psychological and spiritual, for both abusers and the abused,” Nadeem Hussain, the president of Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), told MuslimVillage.com on Monday, December 3.
The event was organized by the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV), Youth Victoria, and sponsored by the Australian Multicultural Foundation.
Marking the Muslim community first White Ribbon Day, Muslim men and women held discussions about respectful relationships.
The event showed “the commitment people have to address this issue,” Hussain added.
Speakers and presenters included former ICV president Ramzi Elsayed, Benevolence director Saara Sabbagh, psychologist Monique Toohey, religious leader Sheikh Abdinur and ICV representatives Rana Hussain and Michael Stapleton.
A White Ribbon campaign director, Murray McInnis, also attended as well as other White Ribbon ambassadors from the Muslim community including ICV youth worker Mohammed Elleissy, and lawyer and novelist Irfan Yusuf.
Members of the Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth sponsored auctioning goods to support White Ribbon and the Islamic Council of Victoria’s social services programs.
The goods included hampers, white headscarves from Nasiba Fashion, and books and CDs about Islam’s support for respectful relationships from mybookstore.
Moreover, Muslim youth from Youth Victoria; a Muslim young people’s group based at the Virgin Mary Mosque in Hoppers Crossing in Melbourne’s west, collated and edited a collection of short videos supporting their campaign.
The videos, submitted by young Muslim men, showed nineteen young Muslim men who recorded themselves taking the White Ribbon oath (“I promise never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women”).
The white ribbon, a white-colored ribbon or representation of a white-colored ribbon, has several different meanings depending on the context.
One of the most notable usages of the white ribbon in recent times is as the symbol of violence against women, safe motherhood, and other related causes.
Global Problem
Sponsoring the event, Australia Muslims stressed Islam’s respect for women and children rights, adding that domestic violence was an issue on the global agenda.
“It crosses all borders, faiths, cultures and races,” Waleed Aly, the host of the event, said.
Muslims, who have been in Australia for more than 200 years, make up 1.7 percent of its 20-million population.
Islam is the country's second largest religion after Christianity.
In Islam, marriage is a sacred bond that brings together a man and a woman by virtue of the teachings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
Each partner in this sacred relationship must treat the other properly and with respect.
Woman is recognized by Islam as the full and equal partner of the man in the procreation of humankind.
By this partnership, she has an equal share in every aspect. She is entitled to equal rights, she undertakes equal responsibilities, and she has as many qualities and as much humanity as her partner.
Moreover, the relations between the spouses in Islam should be based on tranquility, love and mercy.
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