Recognizing a Wolf in Shaykh’s Clothing

Recognizing a Wolf in Shaykh’s Clothing

Over the past two decades, Islam in America has seen the rise of the “celebrity shaykh.”  While our scholars and da’ees (preachers) play an important role in our religion, a cult of personalities has replaced the roles of a knowledgable scholars of moral integrity.  Some Islamic “shaykhs” and preachers have gained so much clout that questioning them is synonymous with questioning God himself.  This has allowed some religious figures to get away with a great deal of spiritual abuse.  Below is a series of brief videos by Shaykh Rami Nsour explaining this phenomenon in our Islamic tradition, how to spot spiritual abuse, and what we should do:

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6 Replies to “Recognizing a Wolf in Shaykh’s Clothing”

  1. Thank you so much for addressing this very important topic. As our next generation takes on mentoring/teaching and learning opportunities, they need to be very aware of the signs that you highlight and the advice that you give here (both as a mentor and as a student). May Allah (swt) reward you exponentially. Aameen.

  2. This you tube teaching, “In Shaykh’s Clothing” is extremely applicable in this day and age. Some Muslims get exploited when they “pledge bait” (allegiance) to their Shaykh. I have seen this in USA. The teacher or Shaykh can take advantage of their student. I have also seen financial exploitation in this area. Thank you for sharing this. I plan to share this educative video with over 500 people on my email list.

  3. I very much enjoyed listening this. These are the misconceptions all over and I was glad to hear that I am right to feel that these are not only wrong but I am allowed not to do something about them. Thank you very much for sharing these.

  4. I wish this was available and talked about openly 15 years ago! I went though everything you speak of in these videos. And was scared into silence. How do naive sisters go about being supported in something like this? I want to be there for sisters… A support system that I know I desperately needed when this scholar took advantage of me and other sisters. And how do we go about warning other sisters without the fear of ones dignity being compromised?

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