Discussing mental health openly is challenging for many, but in some religious communities, like Muslims, the stigma can be even more pronounced.
Recognizing this barrier, the South Florida Muslim Federation (SoFlo Muslims), an organization representing over 40 mosques and Islamic institutions, has launched an initiative to foster tough yet essential conversations about mental health, particularly focusing on suicide and self-harm prevention, Miami Herald reported.
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Expanding its “Florida Muslim Mental Health” campaign, originally launched in 2022, SoFlo Muslims is now including workshops specifically aimed at suicide prevention. This marks the first time the group has offered resources addressing this sensitive issue directly.
“This is really big for us, having people come and slowly start the discussion about these things,” said Dr. Nuha Mirghani, operations manager for SoFlo Muslims.
“We’re hoping to reach everyone… we’re going to provide pages with free services and all the advice we can provide.”
The initiative seeks to connect individuals with culturally relevant resources, including a network of Muslim mental health professionals offering discounted or free care, as well as Islamic counseling.
According to Waheeda Saif, a licensed mental health counselor and suicide prevention consultant for the group, “The problem of suicide has affected us, has touched us, unfortunately, in some pretty profound ways.”
In recognition of Suicide Prevention Month, SoFlo Muslims is hosting four workshops across the tri-county area, including at mosques, community centers, and restaurants.
These sessions aim to educate attendees on the facts of suicide, dispel myths, and help people recognize warning signs. While sessions are tailored to different demographic groups, such as teens, women, men, and seniors, they are open to all, regardless of religious background or faith.
Safe Space
One of the campaign’s primary goals is to create a safe space for Muslims to discuss mental health and suicide—topics that are often taboo in many Muslim households.
“In a lot of our communities, these things are not talked about,” said Mirghani. “We’re not allowed to talk about suicide and depression in our houses. No matter how educated people are, it’s still a big stigma in our cultures.”
This stigma is often influenced by cultural norms and interpretations of religious teachings.
Imam Azhar Subedar, development director of SoFlo Muslims, emphasized that while Islam condemns suicide, the reluctance to discuss it often stems more from ignorance than religious doctrine.
“In many cultures, suicide is deemed as wrong, a sin, something you shouldn’t do,” Subedar explained. “However, the understanding as to why one shouldn’t discuss it is not based on religion, it’s based on ignorance.”
Subedar further noted that mental instability is a significant factor in many suicides, and in Islam, sanity is a prerequisite for accountability. Therefore, it is important not to pass judgment on those who take their own lives due to mental health struggles.
“People often think that suicide is A to B causation. ‘This happened. That’s why a person killed themselves.’ That’s never the reason why,” Saif added. “It’s really important to understand that suicide is a complicated, multifactorial event.”
The campaign provides a platform for Muslims to discuss the unique societal pressures they face, but it also invites participation from the broader community.
“This is not just a South Florida Muslim conversation,” Saif emphasized. “This is decidedly a problem all over the world.”
If successful, the Federation hopes to expand its efforts to address other sensitive issues, such as depression and domestic abuse, helping to break down the stigma surrounding mental health in the Muslim community and beyond.