Ustadah Zulekha Shakoor Rajani

Qualifications & Training: ● M.Sc. in Psychology, Bangalore University ● Diploma in Islamic Psychology, Cambridge Muslim College (Cambridge) ● TIIP Level 3 (under supervision), Khalil Center (Türkiye) ● Tazkiyah Therapy, Avicenna Academy (Indonesia) ● Islamic Psychology & Marital Counselling (Levels 1 & 2), Al-Balagh Academy (UK) ● B.Ed. in Education ● B.A. in Psychology, Journalism and English Literature, Mount Carmel College ● KSET (Psychology) ● PGDGC in Guidance & Counseling

Zulekha is a Counselling and Spiritual Psychologist with over 8,000 hours of clinical practice, working with a wide range of diverse and complex (polythetic) case presentations. She works at the intersection of faith and mental health, and actively trains and mentors students and professionals across the world in case conceptualization and formulation through an Islamic psychological framework, offering guidance in a supervisory capacity.

She has contributed to raising awareness about mental health through her writings and features in national and international platforms, including Al Jazeera, The Deccan Herald, The Wire, The Quint, The Scroll, The Companion, The Cognate, Maktoob Media, Muslim Matters, News 9, IOU Insight Magazine, India Today, and others. She also serves as a member of the advisory committee at House of Peace (HOP Club), Bangalore, India.

She has presented and published at several distinguished national and international forums, including the World Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation (5th Asia Pacific Conference) and the VIII International Symposium on Spirituality and Psychology at Kütahya Dumlupınar University, Türkiye. Her academic contributions also include presentations at the International Conference on Counseling and Psychotherapy (focusing on diversity in mental health training), the 8th National Women’s Science Congress (Matru Vedike), and the National Conference on Stress and Health, among others.

Zulekha has conducted numerous retreats, workshops, and seminars for youth, women, and diverse populations across India and internationally, both online and offline. She is committed to developing a holistic bio-psycho-social-spiritual model of care, encouraging collaboration between psychiatrists, psychologists, and spiritual practitioners. Her research interests include faith and mental health, psychological resilience, women’s well-being, stigma, and culturally rooted healing practices.

In 2025, she was recognized as one of the “40 Under 40 Leaders” by the All India Muslim Development Council (AIMDC), an initiative focused on identifying and empowering emerging Muslim leaders in India. She has facilitated over 100 workshops centered on Islamic psychological interventions. Her areas of work include child development and parenting, marital enrichment, youth development, addictions, and destigmatizing mental health. She also engages with complex themes such as temperamental science, a Qur’anic anthropology of the human being, gender dysphoria and same-sex attraction (for professional gatekeepers), Imam al-Ghazali’s framework of change, futuwwah in the context of sacred womanhood, and the legacy of Maristans, among many others.