Your Internal Gaslighter
Do you ever sense something's wrong but can't quite grasp what it is? That foggy feeling might be evidence of internal gaslighting – a psychological phenomenon where your personal qareen (the Islamic concept of an individual's shaitan) subtly manipulates your perception of reality.
This podcast explores how this spiritual gaslighter operates with Oscar-worthy precision, creating emotional confusion without ever being detected. Rather than making overtly negative statements, your qareen plants doubt through implications: "I'm not saying I'm a bad mom, but..." followed by evidence that leads to exactly that conclusion. The brilliance of this tactic is that it bypasses your conscious defenses, making the real problem always feel just beyond your reach.
For high-functioning Muslim women, this manifests in constantly denying what's truly bothering them. You might hear yourself saying "I don't care what others think" while secretly ruminating on criticism, or "I'm not judging" while comparison steals your joy. These contradictions aren't moral failings but protection strategies that shaitan weaponizes. The tragedy isn't in experiencing negative emotions – jealousy, judgment, or anger – but in being unable to recognize them. When emotions remain unnamed, they can't be transformed through dua, self-reflection, or conscious redirection.
The path to freedom begins with radical honesty – telling yourself the unfiltered truth about what you're feeling. This isn't contrary to Islamic teachings; rather, it embodies true tawakkul, trusting that Allah's mercy encompasses even your most uncomfortable emotions. When you bring your whole, unsanitized experience to Allah, you create the spiritual intimacy that leads to genuine transformation. Join me in the Empowered Muslim Women Coaching Program where we learn to unmask the internal gaslighter and reclaim our emotional clarity through Islamic psychology.
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