Counseling American Muslims: Understanding the Faith and Helping the People

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

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.

Reviews

.,."An invaluable aid to a wide range of non-Muslim counselors of Muslims, including students, and to un-trained imams and other Muslim officials to whom their co-religionists frequently turn for counsel."-Akbar Muhammad Associate Professor of Islamic and African History, State University of New York, Binghamton
"With this book, Ahmed Kobeisy has established himself as the leader in the field of Muslim counseling. Simply put, there is no other published book that examines the issues Kobeisy presents here with such clarity. This book will be required reading for years to come for counsellors and chaplains who work with Muslims, as well as Islamic religious and community leaders."-Ingrid Mattson, Vice-President, The Islamic Society of North America
[M]ulticultural understanding is important, and this book may serve that purpose for those involved with Muslim communities....Comprehensive research and professional collections.-Choice
In order to properly understand a religion, one must first understand its background, history, social context, and precepts. It is very difficult to accomplish this in one book, particularly with as rich and complex a faith as Islam. However, Kobeisy has come very close to doing so, as he is extremely persuasive and articulate....Counseling American Muslims would be a worthwhile book for any psychologist, therapist, or other counselor, especially in light of our society's current preoccupation with Islam and the pressure that this preoccupation brings to bear on our Muslim neighbors. Very sensible and reasonable recommendations are made for those who would be counseling Muslims in different settings.-Multicultural Review
"Multicultural understanding is important, and this book may serve that purpose for those involved with Muslim communities....Comprehensive research and professional collections."-Choice
"[M]ulticultural understanding is important, and this book may serve that purpose for those involved with Muslim communities....Comprehensive research and professional collections."-Choice
"In order to properly understand a religion, one must first understand its background, history, social context, and precepts. It is very difficult to accomplish this in one book, particularly with as rich and complex a faith as Islam. However, Kobeisy has come very close to doing so, as he is extremely persuasive and articulate....Counseling American Muslims would be a worthwhile book for any psychologist, therapist, or other counselor, especially in light of our society's current preoccupation with Islam and the pressure that this preoccupation brings to bear on our Muslim neighbors. Very sensible and reasonable recommendations are made for those who would be counseling Muslims in different settings."-Multicultural Review

Author Bio

AHMED NEZAR KOBEISY is on the faculty at Le Moyne College, State University of New York at Oswego and Hartford Seminary. He is also a counselor and Imam at the Islamic Society of Central New York. Furthermore, he is the Islamic Chaplain at Syracuse University.