"Mental Health and Islam" Pre-Khutbah Bayan by Dr. Hadia Al Abdullah (9/30/16)

Dr. Hadia Al Abdullah delivers the pre-khutbah bayan (talk) for The Women's Mosque of America on September 30th, 2016. In her bayan, Dr. Abdullah speaks about the importance of prioritizing mental health in Muslim communities, and she offers practical solutions on how to get support through difficult times.

Bio:
Dr. Hadia Al Abdullah was born and raised in Syria where she lived with her parents and five siblings. Her parents provided her with a solid foundation in Islam and always encouraged her to read, learn, and question everything in order to have a better understanding of it. Her mother led Islamic circles, which Hadia always attended, increasing her Islamic knowledge. Hadia holds a Doctoral Degree in Medicine (M.D.) from Aleppo University in Syria and practiced medicine in Damascus from 1992 to 2000. She moved to America in 2000 and continued in the medical field for a year before stopping to raise her three children. She has volunteered in different organizations such as the Islamic Center of Southern California for many years. In the most recent years, Hadia has taught Arabic in both the public and private sector to native speakers and non-native speakers. She is also a volunteer chaplain for hospitals, visiting patients and providing them with spiritual relief. In 2012 she became a part of Bayan Claremont Faculty, and she serves as the program coordinator at Occidental College for the Southern California Arabic Language Teacher Council (SCALTC), a pilot project whose goal is to support the teaching of Arabic in Southern California and to provide resources to Arabic language educators from a variety of institutions.