Islamic epistemology in conducting insider research on spiritual abuse in Muslim communities in the UK

This paper navigates the ethical challenges of conducting sensitive research on abuse and misuse of religious authority in Muslim communities in the UK. It highlights how abuse, including coercive control and physical and sexual abuse, under the banner of the spiritual, is often concealed and censored. Drawing from the authors’ research initiatives, the paper examines the ethical tightrope of researchers positioning themselves as ‘trustworthy insiders’ while addressing these sensitive issues. It balances the need to shed light on these harms without demonising the religion or causing additional harm to vulnerable individuals and communities. Methodologically, the paper endorses a decolonised grassroots approach through community research initiatives like Sacred (body:mind:space), aiming to build trust and collaboration from the ground up, whilst ensuring epistemologies are rooted within the Islamic tradition. We outline four key principles to this approach as tawḥīd (Oneness of God); justice and anti- oppression as an Islamic ethical imperative; activism as a Qur’anic mandate of ‘enjoining good and forbidding evil,' and shūrā (collective consultation). This paper contributes to the discourse on decolonial approaches towards research when considering sensitive topics within faith communities.