Spiritual Empowerment

Muslim mothers in Western nations encounter unique challenges, including Islamophobia, cultural stigma, social isolation, and the pressures of balancing family and societal responsibilities. Spiritually integrated mindfulness support groups can serve as a vital intervention to address these challenges, alleviate stress, and foster cultural revitalization and spiritual empowerment. This article introduces a framework integrating Islamic concepts with mindfulness and its application in the Mindfulness Meditation Fundamentals pilot program to reduce stress, promote collective healing, spiritual growth, and strengthen community bonds among Muslim mothers. Participants learned mindfulness core concepts, Islamic coping strategies and practical tools for integrating mindfulness into daily life. Grounded in Imam al-Ghazali’s framework, the program emphasized muraqaba (Islamic mindfulness meditative exercise), dhikr (remembrance of Allah), divine awareness, tawakkul (trust and surrender in God), and mindful salah (prayer) for spiritual growth. The article suggests that mindfulness practice is uniquely conducive to creating a spiritual homeplace for Muslim mothers, resonating with bell hooks’ concept of the “homeplace” as a site of resistance. Together, Muslim mothers formed a community of resistance to preserve their cultural and religious identities while fostering a deep sense of spiritual empowerment.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0). This license permits copying and redistributing the work in any medium or format for noncommercial use provided the original authors and source are credited and a link to the license is included in attribution. No derivative works are permitted under this license.