Institutional Accountability & Victim-Centered Practices: Power-Based Violence

by the HEART team

For the last ten years, HEART has been actively immersed in community education, institutional capacity building, and survivor advocacy. Recently, we have seen an uptick in allegations of misconduct, power-based violence, and spiritual abuse by revered religious leaders in our Muslim communities. Power-based violence is an umbrella term used to describe forms of violence where the primary motivator is the assertion of power, control and/or intimidation in order to harm or exploit another person. This can include verbal abuse, relationship/interpersonal violence, spiritual abuse, secret temporary marriages, rape/sexual assault, financial abuse, digital abuse/cyberbullying, and other uses of force, threat, intimidation, and harassment. When such allegations involve leaders of institutions, many questions arise about institutional accountability and organizational responsibility towards those who have been harmed. 

To prevent future harm, institutions must respond in a timely, transparent, and victim-centered process. Unfortunately, organizational responses to a leaders’ wrongdoings too often focus on protecting an institution’s short term reputation and can ultimately re-traumatize those who experienced harm. Incidents of power-based violence in our communities frequently result in uproar, misinformation, and rampant victim-blaming, but rarely is there any substantive institutional change. This can mean people in an institution who allowed abuse to go on despite evidence of wrongdoing can be left free of any accountability, and it leaves communities vulnerable to future abuse. Until those in leadership positions commit to addressing this epidemic of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable community members head on, in partnership with trained experts, we will not be able to eradicate power-based violence.

Spiritual abuse is defined as the misuse of religious teachings, and abuse of religious authority to manipulate or gain power and control over an individual [Henke 1996]. Often times spiritual abuse happens alongside other abuses of power including verbal, physical, or financial abuse, and sexual violence. Spiritual abuse is a deliberate and calculated process on part of the person doing harm. It is then further enabled by witnesses and systems that uplift and protect those who do harm. As such, any institution that tries to address spiritual abuse but is unwilling to dismantle the systems that enable it will ultimately fall short  in its accountability and prevention efforts. 

Our Muslim tradition is rooted in the concept of justice–upholding the sacred inviolability of all people, and commitment to addressing and confronting oppression [Mattson, 2019]. Moreover, power-based violence in all its forms is antithetical to Islam, given that it places the will of man over the will of God [Al-Hibri, 2003]. Spiritual abuse has no place in our communities and as Muslims we are called to address this epidemic of violence; to hold accountable both individual perpetrators and the institutions that abet their actions. 

The key to doing this effectively and strategically is through a comprehensive strategy that offers crisis intervention, harm reduction, and tackles the root causes of violence (prevention). Because power-based violence does not occur as an isolated incident or simply because of one “bad apple,” institutions must engage in an ongoing exercise of self-reflection. Exploring questions around inequities and power imbalances present in the organizational culture, which people or systems consciously or subconsciously enabled violence to continue, and whether there are policies and reporting protocol in place, is imperative.

At the same time, institutions need to acknowledge the delicate and crucial balance between the simultaneous need for an urgent and timely response, while also knowing that there is no quick fix. Removing an individual who does harm, developing new policies or mandating staff trainings is not enough to prevent future harm from occurring. While it may be a step in the right direction, responding to and preventing instances of power-based violence requires long-term investment of time, money, and resources to dismantle its root causes, otherwise the institution will continue to be at risk for future harm. Ending this epidemic of power-based violence and religious abuse in our communities requires our institutions to be proactive and our community leaders to speak out and get involved today and everyday–not just when they are in the midst of a crisis and need to protect their reputation.

To learn more on how to get started, consider the following guide as an invitation for institutions as they consider their commitment to eradicating power-based violence. These suggestions are based on learnings from our work in anti-sexual violence advocacy, which can be applied to other forms of violence.

References:

Azizah al Hibri. 2003. “An Islamic Perspective on Domestic Violence.” Fordham International Law Journal. Vol 27:195.

Henke, David. 1996. “Spiritual Abuse.” Profile.  Available at: https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/spiritualabuseprofile.pdf

Mattson, Ingrid. 2019. “Upholding the Sacred Inviolability of Each Person in our Muslim Sacred Places.” Hurma Project. Oral Presentation. Toronto.

Resources on Power-Based Violence 

• Power and Control Wheel
• Barriers to Disclosure Video 
• Avenues of Support
• Facts about Sexual Violence in Muslim Communities
• Responding with RAHMA: A Guide for Disclosures
• Removing Roadblocks: Examining Barriers to Justice & Healing to Build More Victim-Centric Services for Muslim Survivors of Sexual Assault
• The FYI Religious/Spiritual Abuse Toolkit

Trained experts on violence, oppression, trauma, Islamic law and mental health 

• Peaceful Families Project
• Transformharm.org 
• Muslim Wellness Foundation
• MuslimARC
• Justice for Muslims Collective 
• Masjid al-Rabia
• KARAMAH

Hotlines & Mandated reporting: 

• National Domestic Violence Hotline Call 1-800-799-7233 (24/7)
• RAINN: Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network Call 1-800-656-4673 (24/7)
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline Call 1-800-422-4453 (24/7) 
• Suicide Prevention Lifeline Call 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
• State-Specific Database on Mandated Reporting