Director of CAIR-Florida Accused by Wife of Marital Abuse, Files for Divorce

Another Case of CAIR Leadership Misogyny or Family Feud Gone Bad?

Facebook is buzzing with what appears to be a painful story: a mother of three breaking out of an abusive marriage. The lady in question, Imane Sadrati, is the soon to be ex-wife of CAIR’s Florida chapter Executive Director Hassan Shibly. She is making a very public appeal:

“Many of you know me as Hassan Shibly’s wife. I got married at a very young age. However, when I was 9 months pregnant with my first born; my marriage became volatile and abusive. 

I need your help financially and I need your support… I have been advised by my lawyers not to go into details as this matter is being handled in court. I do however stand by everything mentioned previously. With time الله will show my honesty and innocence.”

For a woman with Sidrati’s religious and conservative background to come out publicly to say she was trapped in an abusive marriage is a rarity. In the day since her GoFundMe campaign was created, over $19,000 dollars were donated by the public, including some prominent community members.

Her husband Hassan Shibley is a lawyer by training and a public figure with a certain media footprint. He presents himself as both a pious conservative Muslim who is also: a civil rights activist, a gun enthusiast, and a community leader.

He responded publicly via a long and detailed post on his facebook account denying wholesale his wife’s (or ex-wife’s, it is unclear if they are legally divorced) claims of marital abuse. He then moved to paint Sidrati as a racist, manipulative, and money-hungry abuser. He even said that she beat him. In other words he is claiming to be the victim and the aggrieved party in the dispute.

This might just be another he-said she-said story of a bad marriage split were it not for:

  • Shibley’s public persona as a community leader deriving authority from his piety and being a civil rights leader.
  • Shibley being the chapter head of an organization (CAIR) whose national leadership is itself under a heavy cloud of suspicion of sexism, women abuse by men and mismanagement without any accountability for said excesses.

I’m withholding judgment on the matter until more facts emerge.