Podcast: Manifest(ing) Shirk – Zodiac Signs, Crystals, And Manifestation | Shaykha Aysha Wazwaz

More Muslims, especially Muslim social media influencers, are sharing New Age practices and beliefs. Social media is rife with millennials and Gen Z praising the healing power of crystals, analyzing one another’s Zodiac signs, trying to “manifest with the universe,” smudging, and dabbling in all that is New Age. Shockingly to some, and unsurprising to others, is the fact that so many young Muslims are involved in these practices and even demonstrating belief in these ideas. Can there be such a thing as a “Muslim witch”? Is “manifesting” really just another way to do du’a? And aren’t crystals harmless decor?

Zainab bint Younus speaks to Shaykha Aysha Wazwaz about New Age beliefs and practices, tawheed and shirk, and the curious phenomenon of young Muslim women wholeheartedly embracing the concept of “the Divine Feminine.”

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Shaykha Aysha Wazwaz is of Palestinian Spanish/ South American descent and was born in and resides in Minnesota, USA. She has a PhD in Islamic Studies with honors from Jinan University (Lebanon); M.A from Al-Quds University (Palestine), majoring in Contemporary Islamic Sciences, and a B.A in Islamic Jurisprudence from Al-Quds University. Sh Aysha studied Tajweed at Dar Al-Quran in Masjid al Aqsa (Palestine) and studied various Islamic sciences at Dar Al-Hadith in Masjid al Aqsa (Palestine). She is the founder of and lecturer at the Gems of Light Institute (USA) to train women to become lecturers on Islam. She was also a lecturer on Fiqh, Tafseer, and Islamic studies for four years at the Islamic University of Minnesota. She taught Islamic sciences in both Arabic and English at the Islamic University of Minnesota. You can find her on Facebook.