Healing the Muslim Heart: Working with Muslim Clients and Women in the Counselling

Abstract

This conceptual thesis explores challenges that Muslims in the west face and how counselling may address these challenges in culturally sensitive ways. The thesis specifically addresses the challenges of Muslim women in the west, and even more specifically, Muslim women who have come to western countries to marry a spouse through the practice of arranged marriages. I situate their challenges in Muslim patriarchal culture—not in Islam. Exploring the interface between Islam and Muslim patriarchal cultural practices is a central theme for this thesis. Religion plays a fundamental role in the everyday lives of many Muslims, and it is crucial for counsellors who work with Muslim clients to appreciate this role, the basic teachings of the religion, and common disparities between Islam and Muslim culture. The thesis will include practical implications for counsellors.