Rabah Musa
Rabah Musa is a Sudanese-born, Canadian Muslim Registered Psychotherapist whose work is rooted in resilience, faith, and community healing.
With an interdisciplinary academic foundation—including a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Women’s Studies, and Religious Studies, and a Master’s degree in Psychology—Rabah brings a holistic lens to mental health care. She integrates psychological science with cultural humility, social justice, and compassion-centered practice.
Rabah is the founder and clinical lead of her own psychotherapy clinic, where she supports individuals and families navigating anxiety, trauma, identity, life transitions, and burnout. Her work is especially informed by trauma‑informed, culturally responsive, and strengths‑based approaches, ensuring clients feel seen, respected, and empowered.
A dedicated community advocate, Rabah opened the Ottawa chapter of Nisa Homes, a shelter serving Muslim women and families in need of safety and support. This work reflects her deep commitment to dignity, protection, and access to care for marginalized communities.
Rabah is also a mother of two boys, one with ADHD and one with autism. Her lived experience of parenting neurodivergent children profoundly shapes her clinical perspective—grounding her work in patience, advocacy, and an unwavering belief in neurodiversity and inclusion.
Across her clinical and community roles, Rabah is known for her calm presence, principled leadership, and ability to bridge mental health, faith, and social responsibility. She believes healing is not only personal, but collective—and that with the right support, individuals and communities can reclaim hope, meaning, and strength.
Rabah Musa’s work stands as a testament to what is possible when professional expertise meets courage, compassion, and service.
What are the most meaningful aspects of this person's work and life?
Helping provide mental health support. A strong mother of a child with autism. Helping homeless population.
How has this individual overcome the challenges they face?
This individual has a strong belief in Allah and his plan for her. Therefore is able to navigate challenges with the certainty she will be ok.
How has this individual empowered you and/or our communities?
She has always supported the community when asked even though she has a lot to deal with. She is a great example for me.
Name a Black Muslim woman who has been an inspiration to you and why.
Rabaha al-Kananiyya (رابحة الكنانية)
(19th century, Mahdist Sudan)
Rabaha al-Kananiyya is one of the few named historical Sudanese Muslim women who appears in accounts from the Mahdist period (late 1800s).
She is remembered as:
A devout Muslim woman and poet
A moral and spiritual voice during the Mahdist movement
Someone whose poetry and words strengthened communal faith and resistance
A woman whose influence came through religious conviction, language, and courage, not formal power
Why she inspires me:
She represents how Sudanese Muslim women participated intellectually and spiritually in defining moments of history
She shows that women were not passive observers, but contributors to religious, political, and cultural life
Her legacy reminds us that absence from textbooks does not mean absence from history