Muslims in the U.S. Military: Moral Injury and Eroding Rights

Hosein, Shareda

doi:10.1007/s11089-018-0839-8

Published: 12 November 2018

Muslims in the U.S. Military: Moral Injury and Eroding Rights

Shareda Hosein¹

Pastoral Psychology volume 68, pages 77–92 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

How does moral injury affect Muslim military personnel (MMP) serving in the United States longest war, Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom? Moral injury in MMP has often been triggered by stressors such as harassment, embarrassment, marginalization, prejudice, and being associated with a co-religionist enemy. MMP are perceived as a threat to the safety and security of the United States, which exacerbates their emotional state of mind because they do not feel included as valuable assets within their units. Little is known about this population’s mental state of mind and how they cope when their religion is ridiculed and distorted, causing it to become a stressor and exacerbating the effects of moral stress and injury experienced by individual MMP—including the author—as they serve their country today and in the recent past. Recommendations include (1) more in-depth studies on the experience of moral injury and how it manifests with this population, (2) studies on the incidence and prevalence of moral injury among MMP, and (3) more Muslim chaplains in the U.S. military.

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Notes

Abu Raiya et al. (2015) studied religious and spiritual struggles in an Israeli-Palestinian, Muslim sample of 139 using the Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (Exline et al. 2014) and found that 1.4 to 40.2% experienced various religious and spiritual struggles, including struggles with God/the Divine, struggles with doubt, struggles with punitive entities, interpersonal religious struggles, moral struggles, and struggles with ultimate meaning. Although findings from this sample cannot be generalized to MMP, this study suggests the need for research on religious and spiritual struggles among MMP.
The intersection of religious, racial, and class prejudice toward MMP has yet to be studied. Abu-Ras and Hosein (2015) did find that 6 out of the 20 MMP they interviewed in their qualitative study reported fewer negative experiences due to engaging in Muslim religious practices, “but the differences can be explained by education, rank, and appearance. Six participants who are highly educated, Caucasian, or had a non-Muslim name, reported some positive experiences and fewer negative incidents” (2015, p. 5).

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Association of Muslim Chaplains, 3 Orchard Street, Quincy, MA, 02171, USA
Shareda Hosein

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Hosein, S. Muslims in the U.S. Military: Moral Injury and Eroding Rights. Pastoral Psychol 68, 77–92 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-018-0839-8

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Published: 12 November 2018
Issue Date: 15 February 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-018-0839-8

Keywords

Muslims in the military
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)
Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)
Raghead
Camel jockey
Moral injury
Islamophobia
Terrorists