Was I in a Cult?

When we left James, he was married into the Muslims of America, living on "the land," and handing over ten percent of every paycheck to a sheikh in Pakistan he'd never met. Then a Wall Street Journal reporter goes to Pakistan looking for that sheikh and never comes home. When the sheikh is arrested in the investigation, James, for one terrifying moment, is ready to go to war for him. Over the next fifteen years, James does everything right and works his way toward the sheikh's inner circle. Word is, the sheikh smiles every time he hears James's name. But the closer James gets, the more cracks he finds in his leader's teachings. And then he hears a story about one of the sheikh's child brides that he can't look past. So he does the one thing you're never supposed to do in a cult.  He asks a question. And before he can comprehend what is happening, that one question costs him everything. This is Part 2 of Dr. James Griffin's story. FOLLOW JAMES YouTube → @Return2Fitrah YouTube → @Dr.JamesGriffin Book → Behind the Minbar: Confronting Sexual Misconduct in Muslim Institutions Email → [email protected] or [email protected] FOLLOW US Instagram → @wasiinacult TikTok → @wasiinacult SUPPORT THE SHOW Join our Patreon! Ad-free episodes, bonus content, behind-the-scenes conversations, and our forever gratitude. HAVE A CULTY STORY? Email us → [email protected] SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Quince makes elevated everyday essentials at 50-80% less than similar brands! Free shipping and 365-day returns → quince.com/cult Article makes beautiful, high-quality furniture, from mid-century modern to coastal and Scandinavian-inspired designs. $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more → article.com/inacult, discount automatically applied at checkout

Dr. James Griffin is the only Black Muslim kid in small town Deposit, New York. Then one day in eighth grade, the rival basketball team shows up with a whole new roster. Parents in kufis and hijabs. Kids with skin the same color as his. Could it be possible? An entire community of Black Muslims? Right here, in a town where he's always been the only one? So James does what any kid in his position would do: he walks up and says "as-salamu alaykum." And gets a look like he just insulted somebody's mother. They're the Muslims of America, a group that just moved onto a compound down the road, run by a sheikh in Pakistan who, his followers say, speaks directly to God. At first they become his friends. But being their friend isn't the same as being one of them. And for a kid who's always felt like the outsider, he wants to feel part of. Included. Just like every person does. Until eventually... ...he's at their 30-day summer camp. 4 a.m. Quran. Marching drills. Target practice. And at 15, learning how to sneak up behind a man and slit his throat. NBD. Soon, James isn't just hanging around the group. He marries into it, moves onto "the land," hands over ten percent of his paycheck, and builds his whole life around a man he has never actually met. But here's the thing about cults. This community has a past. Before it called itself the Muslims of America, it went by Al-Fuqra: a name already tied to bombings, murder, and terrorist plots. But James knows none of that. At least, not yet... Because eventually, the community he spends years of his life protecting becomes the exact group he needs protection from.   This is Part One of Dr. James Griffin's story. And it only gets bigger, darker and cultier from here. So be sure to stick around for Part 2 next week. FOLLOW JAMES YouTube → @Return2Fitrah YouTube → @Dr.JamesGriffin Book → Behind the Minbar: Confronting Sexual Misconduct in Muslim Institutions Email → [email protected] or [email protected] FOLLOW US Instagram → @wasiinacult TikTok → @wasiinacult SUPPORT THE SHOW Join our Patreon! Ad-free episodes, bonus content, behind-the-scenes conversations, and our forever gratitude. HAVE A CULTY STORY? Email us → [email protected] SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS Article makes beautiful, high-quality furniture, from mid-century modern to coastal and Scandinavian-inspired designs. $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more → article.com/inacult, discount automatically applied at checkout

Shira was the youngest of seven, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and riddled with guilt. Because growing up Orthodox Jewish in Brooklyn, she wasn't supposed to question the life she'd been given. But she did.  And the incessant amount of rules didn't help: Cover your knees. Cover your elbows. Don't wear anything too bright. Don't wear pants. Don't eat cheeseburgers. (Burgers are cool, though.) Don't question. Collars buttoned to the top. She even had to wash her strawberries a certain way.  And then the blessings... A blessing the moment you open your eyes. A blessing before every sip of water. Another when you're done. A special cup to wash your hands before bread, no talking until you've blessed it, and a five-minute blessing when you're done eating it. (Pastries get their own blessing, of course.)   But some rules weren't simply arbitrary. And as Shira got older, some rules cut deeper.  Marry within your community. Cover your hair once married. Sit separately from the men. Accept that men mattered more. Their voices counted. Their presence counted. Their authority counted. Women were expected to cover up, quiet down, marry young and have babies.  Shira is a singer, and in her world, women weren't allowed to sing in front of men. Or touch men they wasn't related to. Or even count toward the ten people needed for communal prayer. And it wasn't dating an outsider that finally broke her free. It was one heartbreaking experience that left her questioning everything she'd ever been told was true. But it would be almost three decades before that would happen. And along the way, somehow the girl who had spent her childhood wanting out kept trying to make herself fit in.  Because getting away from the community was one thing.  Risking losing the people she loved was something else entirely. But when your menstrual cycle can end with your underwear in a rabbi's hands… well, eventually you might find yourself asking: Wait… was I in a cult? ______________ FOLLOW USInstagram → @wasiinacult TikTok → @wasiinacult SUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Ad-free episodes, bonus content, behind-the-scenes conversations, and our forever gratitude. HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] RESOURCES National Maternal Mental Health Hotline → call or text 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262) Footsteps (support for people leaving ultra-Orthodox communities) → footstepsorg.org LISTEN TOInfamous, with reporters Natalie Robehmed and Vanessa Grigoriadis, digs into the most explosive scandals of the century, from high-profile divorces to sex cults! Listen here → Infamous Podcast SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Quince makes elevated everyday essentials at 50-80% less than similar brands! Free shipping and 365-day returns → quince.com/cult Shop brings all your favorite stores together in one place, so you can search every store at once and track every order in one spot! Enter to win the $1 million Shop Cash giveaway, now til Nov 1st → shop.com No purchase necessary. Restrictions apply. Official rules at shop.com.

When we left Evie, she had just landed in Germany with Mary and Liam on a mission from "the gods" to save the world… only to have her money, passport, ID and credit cards disappear almost immediately. And then somehow, things manage to only get worse from there.  With Evie now stranded in a foreign country, Mary takes on the role of her self-appointed "manager," setting income demands, controlling her schedule and eventually pushing her to sell her body in more ways than one... all to do what? Give all her earnings to pay for the group to live, of course. All of it.  So how does one go from small town Texas to eventually asylum housing in Germany?  Listen to find out. This is Part 2 of Evie's wonderfully bizarre, funny, and heartbreaking story. And the moment she finally begins asking the question at the center of this entire show: "Wait, was I in a cult?" ____ FOLLOW USInstagram → @wasiinacult TikTok → @wasiinacult SUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Ad-free episodes, bonus content, behind-the-scenes conversations, and our forever gratitude. HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Quince makes elevated everyday essentials at 50-80% less than similar brands! Free shipping and 365-day returns → quince.com/cult Boll & Branch makes organic cotton sheets woven to keep you cool all night. 15% off plus free shipping → bollandbranch.com/cult, code: CULT

Evie was only 17 when she met Mary. First, Mary was her friend. Then her girlfriend. Then her friend again. And eventually... her cult leader. Evie didn't know it then, but apparently there was something about Mary. Something that got Evie to mess around with pagan rituals like a couple of bored teenagers in Texas... and eventually got Evie to complete missions from "the gods," practice astral projection, and take direction from a water spirit named Flo.  All in the name of "saving Texas."  And then somehow...  ... got her to QUIT HER JOB, get rid of her WORLDLY POSSESSIONS, and MOVE TO GERMANY to SAVE THE WORLD. This is Part 1 of 2. And this is only the beginning of where this experience takes our wonderful earnest guest with an infectious laugh, Evie. So be sure to stick around for Part 2 next week.  ____ FOLLOW USInstagram → @wasiinacult TikTok → @wasiinacult SUPPORT THE SHOWJoin our Patreon! Ad-free episodes, bonus content, behind-the-scenes conversations, and our forever gratitude. HAVE A CULTY STORY?Email us → [email protected] SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! Quince makes elevated everyday essentials at 50-80% less than similar brands! Free shipping and 365-day returns → quince.com/cult Boll & Branch makes organic cotton sheets woven to keep you cool all night. 15% off plus free shipping → bollandbranch.com/cult, code: CULT