Nouman Ali Khan

Nouman Ali Khan is a Pakistani-American Muslim speaker and Arabic instructor who founded the Bayyinah Institute for Arabic and Qur’anic Studies after serving as an instructor of Arabic at Nassau Community College. He has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan.

In September 2017, Khan was accused of inappropriate online interactions with numerous women, as reported in an article in The National newspaper. These accusations were repeated in international newspapers; Khan responded that the leaked text conversations were "between consenting adults" and that the women were marriage prospects, noting that he had been divorced for two years. In December 2017, BuzzFeed News published an article on what it called Khan's "spiritual abuse" activities, claiming that he unsuccessfully begged four fellow clerics to not release a joint statement referring to "secret sham marriages". An article in The Atlantic noted some backlash against women who had accused Khan of misconduct.

On October 2017, a committee composed of various Islamic scholars and community leaders, including those who have held leadership positions in the Islamic Society of North America, counselors and mental health professionals, released a statement after conducting their own investigation into the matter. Among the panel were Aisha Al-Adawiya, Salma Abugideiri, Tamara Gray, Altaf Husain, Mohamed Magid and Ingrid Mattson. The committee stated, "It is with heavy hearts that we confirm that Br. Nouman has committed significant violations of trust, spiritual abuse and unethical behavior." The committee recommended that Khan “face the consequences of his actions, and ... take a break from public life in order to get counselling and engage in acts of expiation.”