Truly,
all praise belongs to Allâh (God), we praise Him, seek His help and His
forgiveness; And we seek refuge with Allâh from the evil of our selves and from
our misdeeds. Whomsoever Allâh guides, none can [cause to] deviate; and whomsoever He [causes to]
deviate, none can guide. I testify that there is no deity [worthy of worship]
except Allâh, He is alone, having no partners, and I [further] testify that
Muhammad is His slave and His [final] Messenger.
As
for what follows:
The
purpose of this site is to introduce, for the first time in a web-based format,
to Muslims as well as curious non-Muslims, the Islâmic perspective on this
crucial field called Psychology; hence, it will be called hereinafter Islâmic
Psychology (Ar. ‘ilm-an-nafs al-Islâmee).
The need for this particular website has been long overdue, and its need has
been increasing ever since. God willing, it is my intention to respond to that
need by presenting to a wide audience the Islâmic perspective on this matter. I
must frankly admit that I have contributed nothing in bringing you this
information; I have merely gathered it through typing books and excerpts from books as well as copy and edit material from other websites and then made such into web-based format.
The
main factor which distinguishes Islâmic Psychology from secular or modern Psychology is its source. Islâmic Psychology is based on Divine Revelation, not human speculation. The two primary
sources of Islâm are Qur’ân (also spelled: Koran) and Hadeeth (or Sunnah).
The former is the direct Words of God revealed to Prophet Muhammad (salutations
and peace be upon him) via the archangel Gabriel. The
latter is the explanation of the Qur’ân, theoretical as well practical. It is
also considered a source in its own right, which was also brought by Angel
Gabriel but spoken in the words of the Prophet (salutations
and peace be upon him). Hence, we will be using these two
as our base in this field.
Since
Islâm is based completely on the blessed Divine Law (Ar. Sharee'ah) of God, which is incorporated in the Qur’ân and Sunnah,
it leaves no room for human conjecture, fancy or speculation, even when it comes
to the study of the soul (Ar. nafs).
Here, I would like to point out an important matter. Let’s define Psychology; let’s look at it linguistically. If we look into the term, we find the Greek
word "psyche" - which means the "soul." It's
remarkable that "modern" Psychology has been traditionally defined as
"the science of mind/mental processes and behavior". I don’t have a
problem with this definition; I only have a problem with the subjectivity and
narrow-mindedness of the definition. This is where the heart of the problem
lies. The root “psyche” literally means the soul. Yet, when we look
at the definition of Psychology in any dictionary, we will never find the word
soul. True, behavior and mind have a relationship with the soul, but why is the
soul completely eradicated from this discipline? Some people might think that I
want to bring back the philosophical approach to psychology. That is quite not
true, even though I personally think that classical/philosophical psychology is
closer to true psychology. I want to let the general public know from the outset
that my intention is not to speculate, far from that. Speculation will lead to
nothing but conjecture.
Well,
let me clarify why our modern doctors have not put the study of soul in modern
Psychology. They have transformed Psychology into a science, and by that I mean:
1) observation 2) experiment. Neither can you observe the soul, nor can you experiment with it. In other words, the soul cannot be studied scientifically
(neither can the mind, for that matter). Only in that sense, it is not a
science. The only exception to this is behavior, that is, it cannot be
studied except through observation and perhaps by experimenting to an extent. Moreover, when I criticize their means of experimentation, I mean that modern Psychology has developed rules of experimentation which have no basis in the over all spirit of the discipline. Meaning, the criterion of experimentation itself is flawed. They have adopted man-made techniques of experimentation, as such, are not free from errors. Hence, Islâmic Psychology is a science only in terms of knowledge.
Another problem with modern Psychology is that its promoters have deliberately sought to expand it in order to integrate various other sciences into it. What this does is that it loses the originality of Psychology. One can only wonder why they have included Biology, Physics and Sociology into Psychology. Even though these sciences might influence this discipline to a certain extent, they don't have to be included in them to such an extent that Psychology becomes a mixture of different sciences. Psychology is discipline by itself, it does not need external aid to develop itself. Speaking about external aids, it is unfortunate that Muslim psychologists have compromised Islâmic Psychology by borrowing theories and models from such modern psychologists as Sigmund Freud, B.F.Skinner, Carl Jung, and others. Instead of developing our own models based on Qur'ân and Sunnah, we have based our Psychology on the blueprint of secular psychology. Isn't Divine Revelation sufficient for us to deduce principles? Why can't we start from scratch in building our own models and conceptual frameworks? - Thus formalizing Islâmic Psychology once and for all through those scholars of our ummah who have studied the soul in depth such as: Ibn Hazm, Ibn al-Jawzee, Ibn Taymeeyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Rajab al-Hanbalee and the rest...May Allâh have mercy upon them all - aameen!
Turning to God is indeed incumbent upon humans when
approaching this subject or any other subject, whether spiritual or mundane. Allâh
says in the Qur’ân:
“And indeed We have created man, and We
know, what his nafs (soul/self)
whispers to him; and We are nearer to him [by knowledge] than [his] jugular
vein.” (Qur’ân
- 50:16)
The
Messenger of Allâh, Muhammad (salutations and peace be
upon him) said:
“Allâh
overlooks what [evil thought] occurs in the chests (i.e. the hearts) of [the
people of] my nation so long as they neither speak about it nor act upon it.”
[Reported by Al-Bukhâree, Muslim, at-Tirmidhee, Abű Dâwűd, an-Nasâ'ee
and Ibn Mâjah]
As
a short note: My putting Ethics as a branch of Psychology instead of Philosophy
might have caught some people by surprise. Well, Ethics in fact belongs to
Psychology, not Philosophy. Morality has a standard. There is nothing to
speculate concerning the origin of morality. Furthermore it is innate, all of us
have a sense of morality, except if out innate predisposition to goodness (fitrah)
is corrupted. This brings us to the other branch. I am sure fitrah
(Natural State of Purity) is a welcome-addition as well as a novelty for those
who are not aware of Islâmic Psychology. Likewise, Exorcism, and God knows
best, must have shocked most people. This branch actually is within the branch of modern Psychology
called “Abnormal Behavior”. Even though schizophrenia,
for example, is attributed to biological and other internal causes, Islâmic
Psychology does not deem this to be a plausible explanation. It, in fact, generally speaking,
attributes it to an external cause – a case of possession by species known as
the jinn in Arabic. Often called evil spirits in Christianity.
In conclusion, I would like to point out to the readers that this website is very rudimentary and informal in terms of the information presented. This is basically due to 3 reasons:
1) Lack of information available on Islâmic Psychology in the English language. As for the little which is available, it is by and large unauthentic, spurious and far-fetched.
2) Very little or gradual effort in translating material from the corpus of works written,
whether direct or allusive, on this subject in Arabic, mostly by classical and a few contemporary scholars.
3) As of yet, lack of formalization with regards to Islâmic Psychology.
- Abű Sakînah I‘jâz ibn Iftikhâr Malik
Ejaz7@aol.com
