Reema Ayub – Where Psychology Meets Corporate

As a psychologist, I have observed that a person’s core faith often acts as a gateway to their heart. Faith can be a source of strength, moral guidance, and community connection. However, it can also become a vulnerability when others learn to access it for their own purposes. In numerous social experiments, when I positioned my religious identity at the forefront, certain individuals used this shared belief as a tool for manipulation. Instead of respecting the sanctity of faith, they exploited it as a means to establish premature trust. Predators commonly employ two forms of manipulation through religion. The first is the “shared belief” approach: presenting themselves as equally religious and committed, claiming that mutual faith in Allah ensures honesty and loyalty. The second is the “religious teacher” approach: positioning themselves as spiritual guides, implying that their role as a moral instructor automatically makes them trustworthy. In reality, a significant number of such in...