Counseling American Muslims: Understanding the Faith and Helping the People

Within two months of the terrorists’ destruction of the Twin Towers, 1,400 hate crimes against Muslims, ranging from assaults to murder and bomb threats, had been reported across this country. Although it is the fastest growing religion in the world, and some believe it will become the United States’ second largest religious group by 2010, the Muslim community is little understood in this country. Author Kobeisy explains the range of true Muslim faith, shows us how unfair discrimination threatens and scars the mental health of American Muslims, and also demonstrates what counselors, teachers, social workers, and other helping professionals can do to understand the faith as well as help these people recover to live strong in the face of prejudice. Includes a quiz and true and false’ self-test on knowledge of Muslims and Islam, and sections on how depiction of Muslims in the media colors mass perceptions. Includes vignettes of Muslims in counseling, and a glossary of Muslim and Islam terms.

This work will appeal to counselors, mental health and social workers, family therapists, sociologist, anthropologists, teachers, school counselors, psychologists and school psychologists.