Blog
Identifying a Cult
The first step in dealing with any problem or issue is to identify the problem. The fact that you are reading this is one major sign that you may be involved in a cult. However, you may not be sure. Many people have extreme views on what a cult actually is. Due to a lack of education, some people believe that cults are only made up of crazy individuals who form suicide pacts, molest children, or go on murdering sprees. However, you must understand that there is no standard definition for a cult and cults come in virtually an unlimited amount of forms. Cults come in all shapes and sizes. To make a proper determination if your group is a cult, you must look at all the factors and characteristics as a whole and not in individually. There is no one single characteristic that will identify a group or organization as a cult.
Cult Checklists
There are many cult checklists that can be found on the internet that are very useful for identifying if your group is a cult. A simple internet search will reveal many different checklists that include many different cult characteristics. We do not intend on recreating the wheel, and we suggest that you take time to look at some of these checklists and compare them to the characteristics of your group or organization. We have developed a simple checklist directed at Muslims that can be accessed here.
However, this checklist is not a complete listing of factors and only intends to point out some cult characteristics. Below are a few links to some sources for cult checklists. Check them out and see if your group exhibits these characteristics.
- http://www.csj.org/infoserv_cult101/checklis.htm
- http://abuse.wikia.com/wiki/Cult_checklist
- https://carm.org/signs-practices-of-a-cult
We have looked at the characteristics identified in several available checklists and attempted to summarize the characteristics and provide Islamic evidence to show why the characteristics are not supported in Islam. We compared seven different cult checklists and organized the cult characteristics from the most common attribute shown on the checklists to the least. It should be noted that no checklist will be an all-inclusive listing of cult characteristics since cults have many different forms.
Common Cult Characteristics
Click on the list below to learn more and to see some basic Islamic evidence that goes against these characteristics.
- Can't Ask Questions
- Commitment to Leadership
- Accountability
- Isolation
- Elite Status
- Behavior Justification
- Shame, Guilt, & Fear
- Cutting Ties
- Exploitation
- Held Hostage
- Mind Alteration
- Life Consumption
- Group Literature
- Us Against the World
- Recruiting
- Patterns of Negativity
- Forced Meetings