Join Muslimah Writers Alliance in Support of Ending Domestic Violence - Purple Hijab Day Feb. 13

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, DC (MWA) Feb. 11, 2010—Muslimah Writers Alliance (MWA) urges the Muslim community to join Director, Aishah Schwartz in wearing purple on Purple Hijab Day (Feb. 13). The event, sponsored by Baitul Salaam Network, Inc., a national, non-profit domestic violence awareness organization based in Stone Mountain, Georgia and co-founded by Hadayai Majeed, aims to unite the Muslim community in speaking out against domestic abuse.

Focal to the timing of this year's event is the tragic February 12, 2009 beheading of Aasiya Zubair Hassan, 37, at the hands of her husband, Muzzammil S. "Mo" Hassan, 44, in the Village of Orchard Park, New York. Aasiya's alleged crime? Seeking her legal and religiously mandated right to be divorced from an incompatible spouse.

"It is of the utmost importance that the Muslim community continues to advocate in supporting victims of domestic violence, and seeking an end to violence of any form against women in any circumstance, particularly when it is alleged to be perpetrated in the name of Islam–as many have been led to believe–in the case of Aasiya Zubair Hassan," stated Schwartz.

In addition to MWA, Purple Hijab Day is supported by a host of national and internationally-based organizations and activists, including: the Rhode Island Healthy Families Initiative; the Peaceful Families Project of VA; Muslim Men Against Domestic Violence-Atlanta, GA; Masjid Al-Islam of East Atlanta; HARIM, a Muslim women's artists and writers collaborative, and more.