Psychologist Tobin Hart, author of The Secret Spiritual World of Children, states that children have ways of knowing that are outside of any ritual or training. This includes a sense of love, compassion, awe and wonder, with moments of wisdom concerning what it means to be alive. Hart is co-founder of the Georgia-based non-profit ChildSpirit Institute, which studies the spiritual life of children.

Sexual abuse. Just the words evoke disgust and revulsion in us. “It cannot possibly happen in Muslim communities”, we tell ourselves. “Certainly not in our community”. 

Sad as this reality is, sexual abuse of children can exist in all communities, including ours. According to stats of the American Psychological Association (APA), “Children of all ages, races, ethnicities, cultures, and economic backgrounds are vulnerable to sexual abuse. Child sexual abuse occurs in rural, urban, and suburban areas, affects both boys and girls, and occurs in all kinds of neighborhoods and communities, in countries around the world.“ 

It is a difficult reality to grasp and an even more difficult subject to talk about. The problem is that experts agree that people who prey on children thrive in an atmosphere of secrecy and denial. Sexual predators have confidence that parents in a community such as ours will not consider this to be a risk and therefore...