Navigating The Fallout Of Alleged Abuse And Betrayal In A Sacred Muslim Space
Nearly two years ago NPR profiled Usama Canon, a celebrated Muslim preacher facing his own mortality. He'd been public about his diagnosis of Lou Gherig's disease or ALS, a degenerative neurologic condition that robs people of their ability to move, to speak. Eventually it takes your life. The reaction to the news, an outpouring of grief from thousands of American Muslims that looked to Canon as a spiritual guide and to his non-traditional Muslim space, Ta'leef, as a place that felt welcoming without judgement. It's in the motto: "come as you are, to Islam as it is."
At that time Canon reflected on his legacy.
"It's only as lasting as the women and men that have hopefully benefited and learned," he said.
Today that legacy is in jeopardy. The organization he founded with spiritual gathering spaces in Northern California and Chicago, with him last month in a statement. It announced "he has deeply betrayed the sanctity of the position of spiritual teacher." It went on to describe allegations
