This Ramadan, Imam Khalid Latif, Executive Director and Chaplain of the Islamic Center, will for a second year in a row be keeping a daily journal for the Huffington Post.   His fifth article, entitled "Ramadan Reflection Day 5: Forgiveness" was published earlier today.  To read the entire article in full, please click here  

Please share with your friends and networks and leave a comment on the Huffington Post website. 

Imam Khalid Latif

Imam Khalid Latif is blogging his reflections during the month of Ramadan, featured daily on HuffPost Religion. For a complete record of his previous posts, click over to the Islamic Center at New York University or visit his author page, and to follow along with the rest of his reflections, sign up for an author e-mail alert above, visit his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter.

A woman and her husband had come to see me some time ago seeking marital counseling. Some weeks passed and I met with the woman individually. In the course of that meeting, it came out that her husband was abusive and she had been internalizing the experience for quite some time. She was at a loss in regards to what she should be doing as culturally it was not encouraged for her to get up and leave her husband, despite what he was doing to her. Religiously though, it's clear that what he was doing was more than just wrong.

Aisha, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said that he never struck a woman, a servant, or a child ever.

After many conversations with friends and family, all supportive of her, this woman issued a retraining order against her husband and began divorce proceedings. She looked forward to a certain peace in her home that she hadn't felt in a long time and to watching her infant son grow up.

Recently, I walked into my office and waiting for me on my couch was this woman's husband. I was somewhat taken aback as he was the last person I had expected to see, especially in the way that he was. He had tears in his eyes and had lost a substantial amount of weight. Very meekly he asked if I had the time to talk to him. Before I could respond, he began to cry quite heavily and said he was wrong for what he did, that he missed his wife and child, his life isn't the same, and so much more. He then asked me if I would help him as he had nowhere else to go.