Drugs and alcohol are forbidden for Muslims, but this rehab clinic is taking the shame out of addiction

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When Mohammad began taking drugs in his late teens, his behaviour wasn't just illegal, it was forbidden by his faith.

"It started from pot and drinking to cocaine … then I pretty much went downhill from there," he recalls.

Over the following years, Mohammad — who did not want his full name used — spent tens of thousands of dollars feeding his addiction. In the process, he lost many of the people he loved most.

"I lost that marriage to drugs, I lost my daughter, for a while, to drugs, I lost my family," he says.

"That's basically when I knew it was either I change, or I'm going to die. There were only two options for me."

'You shouldn't be taking drugs in the first place'

Across Australia, it's estimated there are hundreds of thousands of people requiring drug and alcohol rehabilitation services whose needs aren't being met due to the system's "chronic underfunding".

For Mohammad, the road to sobriety was also complicated by his faith. In Islam, intoxicants are not permissible.

"It is hard to open up to family members because we shouldn't be taking [alcohol or drugs] in the first place, so it's a big shock for certain family members, depending on how religious they are."

Mohammad tried to seek help from rehab services outside of his community, but he says he never felt at ease with the counsellors, and his progress inevitably stalled.

Then he heard about Hayat House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation service that caters to Sydney's Muslim community. Finally, something clicked.

"Because it is a Muslim place — I don't really know how to explain it — it's somewhat more comfortable to open up to [the counsellors]," Mohammad says.

"Maybe because it's closer to home and you're allowed to speak about [addiction]."

Moving beyond sin

As a trained psychologist and the clinical director of Hayat House, Nasreen Hanifi has been helping clients, like Mohammad, overcome dependency issues for years.

"People usually feel comfortable that they can access a service that can relate to them on a faith or cultural basis," she explains.

Hayat House is open four days per week, but due to physical distancing measures, sessions are currently run over the phone or through Zoom. While the free service primarily caters to Muslim clients, non-Muslims are also welcome.

Dr Hanifi says clinicians use evidence-based practises, such as cognitive behavioural therapy and motivational interviewing.

"Part and parcel of our profession is having a non-judgmental, non-biased approach," she says.

"Our aim is to help them with their addiction, and either abstain them from it, or focus on the harm-reduction process."

Faith in overcoming addiction

But some clients wish to discuss their addiction in relation to their faith.

"I have a master's in theology so I can do that, but if [a clinician] is not trained in that area, I wouldn't recommend them to do it," she says.

"You need to understand Islam within its entirety to be able to do spiritual counselling, so we focus on providing clinical interventions as much as we can."

Across Australia, many rehabilitation and detox clinics are affiliated with Christian organisations. And although Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous meetings are open to believers and atheists alike, they operate on a 12-step program that's rooted in religion.

Dr Hanifi says there's a reason why religion is often closely affiliated to rehabilitation services.

"[For] people who have addiction issues, particularly in the drug and alcohol sector, one of the biggest concerns they usually have is their faith," she says.

"The research I did suggested that if we implemented spirituality in counselling sessions for Muslim clients, particularly, then the outcome would be a lot better because we can talk about emotions, embarrassing moments, shame — all of that — couple it with the religion, and give them practical goals on how they can manage [their addiction]."

"You need faith and you also need psychological support."

Mohammad says Dr Hanifi also aided his recovery by introducing him to the Islamic-run not-for-profit organisation Brothers in Need.

"I used to go with them on Saturday nights to feed the homeless," he recalls.

"[I learnt] there were Muslim and Islamic options for me, instead of me going out to a pub and drinking or taking drugs. There were things I could do instead, and I enjoyed them."

Lifeline for Muslims

This week, Hayat House is expanding its support for the Muslim community by offering a crisis intervention phone line, running from Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.

Dr Hanifi says Hayat Line will be similar to Lifeline, which is run by the Australia's Uniting Church.

"A lot of people don't want to call Lifeline, they'd prefer to call a Muslim-based service, because of the faith and cultural aspect," she says.

"Some people don't even speak English, they speak Arabic, so this service is going to cater to them. We can have our clinicians do brief interventions with them, with the hope we can refer them onto appropriate services out there."

Hayat House operations manager Mariam Ardati says the service will initially run in New South Wales, but there are plans for it to expand.

"We'll move towards a 24-hour manning of lines and the project aim is to have it then rolled out nationally," she says.

Mohammad believes the crisis line will be significant for community members who are unaware of — or unwilling to use — Lifeline.

"There are a lot of people who … aren't that switched on, so they'll think that they can't even call a Christian Lifeline," he says.

Mohammad says he'll continue to access Hayat House — online, and when it reopens, in person — because drug addiction is a "curse" he needs to be wary of.

And thanks to the service, he's getting his life back on track.

"My hope for the future is to start a business, dedicate my time to my daughter — which I do, I see her at least once a week — and just be happy, because [taking] drugs doesn't make you happy."