I was sexually assaulted by an imam. He told me he had supernatural powers
"Aria" was 13 years old when she was sexually assaulted by an imam, who told her he was "healing" her.
A respected faith leader at a mosque in East London, Abdul Halim Khan would tell young girls and their parents they needed "curing" from "bad spirits".
After attacking them, he warned the girls that if they told anyone about the abuse, the so-called cure would be undone, they would be cursed, or that harm would come to them and their families from black magic.
"I genuinely believed he had supernatural powers," says Aria, which is not her real name.
She says Khan told her "something really bad would happen to me and my family" if she ever spoke about the abuse. And she wasn't the only one.
Khan abused seven women and girls over 11 years in the same way. His youngest victim was just 12.
He would convince them to meet in isolated locations - such as a flat or a car. There, he would rape or sexually abuse them while pretending to be a Jinn, a supernatural spirit.
Khan chose vehicles with tinted windows, gave one victim a phone so he could contact her, and encouraged another to climb out of her bedroom window to meet him.
It was Aria's mother who introduced her to Khan, after she began getting into trouble at school. She told her the imam would give her advice.
When they met, Khan told her to get into his car. "That's when he touched me inappropriately," says Aria.
"I had my eyes closed and he said there are going to be things that are knocking on the car window. And I did hear those knocks. But obviously I was 13 years old, I was terrified."
"I was not believed by my family. The people I expected to protect and support me instead turned away, blamed me, and continue to do so to this day," she says.
"I feel as though I'm lost. I question my identity of who am I? Where do I belong?"
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l27yq0yg9o
"Aria" was 13 years old when she was sexually assaulted by an imam, who told her he was "healing" her.
A respected faith leader at a mosque in East London, Abdul Halim Khan would tell young girls and their parents they needed "curing" from "bad spirits".
After attacking them, he warned the girls that if they told anyone about the abuse, the so-called cure would be undone, they would be cursed, or that harm would come to them and their families from black magic.
"I genuinely believed he had supernatural powers," says Aria, which is not her real name.
She says Khan told her "something really bad would happen to me and my family" if she ever spoke about the abuse. And she wasn't the only one.
Khan abused seven women and girls over 11 years in the same way. His youngest victim was just 12.
He would convince them to meet in isolated locations - such as a flat or a car. There, he would rape or sexually abuse them while pretending to be a Jinn, a supernatural spirit.
Khan chose vehicles with tinted windows, gave one victim a phone so he could contact her, and encouraged another to climb out of her bedroom window to meet him.
It was Aria's mother who introduced her to Khan, after she began getting into trouble at school. She told her the imam would give her advice.
When they met, Khan told her to get into his car. "That's when he touched me inappropriately," says Aria.
"I had my eyes closed and he said there are going to be things that are knocking on the car window. And I did hear those knocks. But obviously I was 13 years old, I was terrified."
"I was not believed by my family. The people I expected to protect and support me instead turned away, blamed me, and continue to do so to this day," she says.
"I feel as though I'm lost. I question my identity of who am I? Where do I belong?"
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2l27yq0yg9o
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
