Sharing your story of abuse in Muslim community settings

First of all we want to commend you on taking the important step to come to this page. Whether for you or for a friend, the fact that you are wanting to share your experience and get help, if that’s what you need, is a brave step.

It can often take people many years to talk about these personal issues.

Our message to you is that we are here and we are ready to listen, no judgement.

Our request would be to be as honest as you can, give as much information as you feel able to share about your situation. We are working with trained, trusted professionals who can offer a variety of help and support.

Most importantly we want to gather stories of peoples’ experiences because they are the most powerful way for us to tackle abuse in our communities. Someone speaking up and sharing their story can be the thing that makes someone else do the same.  And over time perpetrators will realise that there is nowhere in our communities for them to hide.

If you want to remain anonymous, that is OK.

But we want to help you too so if you feel able to give your details so we can come back to you, please do feel you are in a safe, confidential space

Thank you for trusting us with your story.

Together we can tackle abuse in our communities.

This issue has been a taboo subject for too long.

Love and prayers to you from the She Speaks We Hear Team

Click here to give us more information about your experience.

Some of the issues faced there are very similar to what we are uncovering in the UK.  Grooming, sexual abuse, secret marriages, manipulation and coercion within religious groups and organisations.

In Shaykhs Clothing have some valuable and very useful resources that apply as much in the UK as they do in the US.

See here for their definition of ‘spiritual abuse’ along with some excellent guides on a number of important topics: https://inshaykhsclothing.com/home/intro/

And here is their Code of Conduct of Islamic Spiritual Leaders, giving sensible guidelines on what is acceptable and why we need guidelines like these: https://inshaykhsclothing.com/about-our-code-of-conduct-of-islamic-spiritual-leaders/