Cultivating Mental and Spiritual Wellbeing:
September 2023 – present, ‘Men’s Club’, Muslim men, Glasgow and Dundee
November 2023, Healing Through the Qur’an, The Muslim community, Edinburgh
December 2023, Qawwamoon: Protectors and Providers, Muslim women, Glasgow
December 2023, Tea & Cake Event, Muslim Women, Dundee
December 2023, Islamophobia & Muslim Women, Muslim Women, Online
April 2024, ‘Heart Work’ Retreat, The Muslim community, Loch Lomond
Cultivating Healthy Spaces:
November 2023, Cultivating Spiritual Wellbeing on Campus, Young Muslim students, Dundee
February 2024, Cultivating Healthy Muslim Spaces, The Muslim community, Online
March 2024, The Role of Islamophobia in Sustaining Abuse, Non-Muslim Stakeholders, Edinburgh
Our participants²:
In-person interviews took place in neutral environments, some of which were held online as requested
by participants. Two researchers were present at each interview, except three interviews where one
researcher was present to protect participant wishes. The online survey was disseminated through
a number of different community contacts and shared further afield through these contacts. The five
focus groups were held in a combination of online and community spaces with the following groups:
3 female-only groups (Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh)
Mixed-gender young people (Dundee)
Male-only group (Online)
32
18
Methodology
1. Research led by Sacred, a grassroots community-engaged organisation in
collaboration with academic support. Our community-based research is a whole
approach that seeks to create collaboration and co-construction with Scottish Muslim
communities. We believe this is essential for autonomy in knowledge creation as it
centres the experiences, voices, and lived experiences at the heart of research,
knowledge production and dissemination.
2. Grassroots engagement was maintained throughout data collection, with data
collection embedded into some of these. This involved holding a series of community
engagements across Scottish Muslim communities as follows,
October 2022, Qawwamoon: Protectors and Providers, Muslim Women
(Online)
November 2022, Safety & Safeguarding in Scottish Mosques, The Muslim Community
(Online)
December 2022, Abuse in Spiritual Contexts, The Muslim Community
(Online)
January 2023, An Introduction to Sacred Research, Muslim Women
(Edinburgh)
3. Research dissemination was organised into ‘Cultivating Mental and Spiritual
Wellbeing’, ‘Cultivating Healthy Spaces’, and ‘Report Launch Events’. Report launch
events are to be held in the summer of 2024. Every event has been a collaborative
effort between local and national community organisations. Events were held between
September 2023 and June 2024 in several formats as follows:
Why community-based research?
Male
Female
Total
One to one
interviews
Online survey
Focus groups
Total
88
52
58
40
104
2 The number of participants as
recorded in February 2024
14
15