Hobsons Bay Muslims tackle family violence

Hobsons Bay’s Muslim community will address the issue of family violence from a religious perspective at next month’s pre-Ramadan feast in Newport.

Newport Mosque Imam Abdullah Al Hawari will be the main speaker at the event.

Australian Arabic Women’s Association president Laila Houli said the imam was already driving home the message to men during Friday prayers.

“Not only is the community or the government or the law against domestic violence, the religion, too, is against this,” she said.

“The religion and the law can help each other. We want to combine the law and the religion together in this important thing.

“God says to respect the woman, to help the woman, to share everything with the woman. It’s good now, to give more warning, more clarification for the new generation to be aware.”

Newport lawyer Fatoum Souki said the message was that violence against women was unacceptable in any community or religion.

“In drawing on the principles of Islam and the importance of women’s rights, we want to show the wider community that as a faith there is a strong emphasis on the rights of women and the importance of respecting them as the mothers of the community,” she said.