Spiritual Abuse, Grooming and Religious Leaders: Rethinking Gender Ethics Within Muslim Communities*

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Sa’diyya Shaikh

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In this essay, I examine the debates that ensued in the South African Muslim community when American preacher Nouman Ali Khan, previously accused of grooming and spiritual abuse of women, was invited to do a series of Ramadan talks at a local musjid. I provide an ethical analysis of some elements within this controversy and related communal responses that are complicit with abuse. Such responses include the religious imperative of concealing faults of others and that of granting unconditional forgiveness. Engaging religious authority as a trust (amanah), which must always be ethically accountable, I reflect on the kinds of spiritual and psychological harm that results when leaders violate this sacred trust. In terms of survivors, I critically engage with the ways in which invocations of religious constructs like sabr and fitnah are dangerously weaponised during such debates. Finally, I turn to some fledgling forms of courageous action that have begun in South Africa and more globally, which resist complicity with spiritual abuse.

*This essay reflects a development and elaboration of some of my earlier reflections published in the South African Muslim community newspaper called Muslim Views, which is widely distributed in South Africa. Sa’diyya Shaikh, “Spiritual Abuse – the Violation of an ‘Amanah’: Rethinking Muslim
Gender Ethics,” Muslim Views 33, no. 5 (June 2019): 6. https://muslimviews.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/MV-05-June-2019.pdf