Addressing Spiritual & Sexual Abuse in the Muslim Community | Danish Qasim & Dr. Juhayna Ajami
Channel: Muslim Community Center - MCC East Bay
Date: 2019-09-05

There is pervasive yet untalked-of problem in the American-Muslim community: spiritual abuse. 

This happens when community leaders or religious figures may use Islam and exploit congregant's sincerity for personal gain and to harm others. This includes abuse of children, financial scams, bullying, manipulation, creating cults, and secret marriages. 

These are not exceptional or anecdotal cases; this happens within the American-Muslim community with devastating and alarming frequency like we read is happening within other faith communities in the U.S. The Muslim community is not immune.

Two passionate community members - Br. Danish Qasim and Dr. Juhayna Ajami - are working to tackle this difficult problem. In this talk, they speak about the tools to identify and prevent spiritual abuse and how we can hold abusers accountable.

Here is the Code of Conduct referenced in this talk on facing abuse in community environments: 

https://inshaykhsclothing.com/about-our-code-of-conduct-of-islamic-spiritual-leaders/

Dr. Juhayna Ajami's talk deck about child sexual abuse can be downloaded at (scroll to bottom of page): 

https://inshaykhsclothing.com/home/intro

MCC Youth Director Shaykh Rami Nsour recorded this public service announcement (PSA) about spiritual abuse in the American-Muslim community: https://youtu.be/c7QB4-KfDAo 

Watch a personal account from a congregation member who left a group using spiritual abuse in the U.S.: https://youtu.be/h6jast055j4

- Watch other important topics addressing community & social justice issues in the American-Muslim community at http://mcceastbay.org/community 
- More mental health talks at MCC: http://mcceastbay.org/mental-health
- More talks about various forms of use in Muslim Community: http://mcceastbay.org/abuse
- More from our Friday Night Series: http://mcceastbay.org/friday-night
- More special guests hosted at the MCC: http://mcceastbay.org/guests
- Learn more about overcoming and recovering from spiritual misuse and community-based trauma: https://inshaykhsclothing.com

About the Speakers: 
Danish Qasim is the founder of In Shaykh's Clothing, an organization that works to educate and prevent spiritual abuse. He began a formal study of the Islamic sciences in 2006 with local teachers and served as an Arabic translator while in college. Upon graduating he dedicated himself to full time traditional Islamic studies. Most of his overseas studies were in Teumerat, Mauritania in the school of Murabit al-Hajj (رحمه الله) where he studied fiqh (jurisprudence), Arabic, tazkiya (spiritual purification), hadith, and aqida (theology). He is now working on his doctorate on the topic of spiritual abuse in Islam at the Western Institute for Social Research in Berkeley, CA.

Danish has been working with victims of spiritual abuse for nine years. He and counsels Muslims all over the world to recover from its devastating effects. For more about his organization, please visit http://www.inshaykhsclothing.com

Juhayna Ajami PsyD, is a clinical psychologist who specializes in providing psychotherapy and assessment services to pre-teens, adolescents, and adults who have survived traumatic experiences of many kinds, including domestic violence and sexual abuse. She also treats parents who have children who have either been victims or have victimized others. In addition to working with trauma survivors, Dr. Ajami also treats both adolescents and men who have committed sexual offenses. 

This panel discussion was delivered at the Muslim Community Center - East Bay (MCC East Bay) in Pleasanton, California on Friday, August 23, 2019.

Each month, MCC invites insightful American-Muslims who are making a positive impact on our community to speak at its Friday Family Night series.

- More from our Friday Night Series: http://mcceastbay.org/friday-night

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