This chapter focuses on the training of Muslim community leaders as advocates against domestic violence (DV). The imam trainings and interviews with these leaders illustrate the tension between their claims to religious authority and their lack of knowledge about DV, which is borne out in their interactions with one another and with the (mostly female) leaders of the imam training sessions. There is an evident tension in the ways in which speaking out about DV draws leaders into the vortex of discussing marriage and family and through that, inevitably, gender roles. There is risk involved in speaking about DV because doing so can pose a threat to their communal authority. On the other hand, if a community is in support of anti-DV efforts, not taking leadership on the issue can also undermine leadership roles and authority. Thus, imams and scholars walk a fine line of negotiating their leadership roles and authority in relation to the textual interpretations and arguments for peaceful families they put forward.
