Baseer Maroof, LCSW · Raleigh, NC · Adults 21+
Clinician or imam?
Who do you call when you’re struggling? Often, both.
Who can help with what?
Pick what’s closest.
Clinician, imam, or both?
Pick what’s closest to your situation.
Imams and clinicians, together
Tap to open.
What imams carryA heavy load
A study of imams in the U.S. found that people often turn to them for counseling, though most have little formal counseling training, and called for closer support from mental health professionals. (Ali, Milstein & Marzuk 2005)
What a clinician addsClinical care
Assessment, diagnosis, evidence-based treatment, safety planning, and referral to psychiatry when medication may help.
What a scholar addsReligious guidance
Clear rulings, spiritual guidance, community, and the authority to say “that doubt is waswās; ignore it.”
Working as a teamWith your consent
With your permission, a clinician and an imam can coordinate, for example when treating scrupulosity, or supporting a family through grief.
Stigma, honestly
Four myths. Tap one. (Ciftci 2013)
Myth“Needing therapy means my iman is weak.”
Mental health problems are health problems. The Prophet ﷺ taught that Allah created a treatment for every disease, and the classical scholars were physicians who treated the soul and body together.
(al-Bukhārī 5678)
Myth“A therapist will try to take my faith away.”
A good therapist works with your values, not against them. You can ask directly how they handle faith, and you can choose a faith-aware or faith-integrated clinician.
Myth“Everyone will find out.”
Therapy is confidential, with a few legal limits (like serious risk of harm) that your therapist will explain at the start.
Myth“Du‘a should be enough.”
Du‘a and treatment are not rivals. “Tie it and rely upon Allah.”
(al-Tirmidhī 2517)
In a crisis
Get help now.
A gentle note: education, not rulings or diagnosis
These pages are education, written to be welcoming whether you practice, are questioning, or simply curious. They are not religious rulings (fatwas) and not a diagnosis. For questions of what is permitted or required, ask a qualified scholar. For your health, see a licensed clinician. Often the best care involves both.
Sources
All sources, linked6 references⌄
- Ciftci A, Jones N, Corrigan PW. Mental health stigma in the مسلم community. Journal of مسلم Mental Health 2013;7(1). doi.org/10.3998/jmmh.10381607.0007.102
- Ali OM, Milstein G, Marzuk PM. The imam’s role in meeting the counseling needs of مسلم communities in the United States. Psychiatric Services 2005;56:202–205. doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.56.2.202
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5678 (from Abu Hurayra). sunnah.com
- Jāmi‘ al-Tirmidhī 2517 (from Anas ibn Malik), graded ḥasan (Darussalam). sunnah.com
- Abramowitz JS, Jacoby RJ. Scrupulosity: a cognitive–behavioral analysis and implications for treatment. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders 2014;3:140–149. doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2013.12.007
- National Institute of Mental Health. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: When Unwanted Thoughts or Repetitive Behaviors Take Over (brochure). www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/obsessive-compulsive-disorder…
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