Islamic Psychology

Psychology should encompass the mind, body, and soul. At the present moment in modern scientific psychology, as British scholar Cyril Burt stated, psychology has lost its soul, then its mind, and finally its consciousness. A pure indication that modern psychology was headed for a downfall.

Psychology today, a pseudo-religion, has come close to reducing us to our bio- and neuro-chemical properties, just like animals. However, we are not animals relying on our basic instincts to survive – we have volition and conscience that separates us from the animal species.

Psychology is trying to become a pure science just like biology, chemistry, and physics. However, unlike matter, human beings cannot be controlled.

Ilm al nafs, is the Arabic term for ‘the study of the Self.’ The ‘self’ comprises the soul (nafs), intellect (aql), heart (qalb), spirit (ruh). The self in Islam encompasses a psycho-spiritual entity. Unlike modern psychology’s view of self as only a psychological entity, Ilm al nafs or Islamic Psychology, recognizes the varying integrated dimensions of man as constituting the biological, psychical (nafs), and spiritual aspects of man. While modern psychology holds that the biological and psychical aspects of man are the only relevant variables in man because of its emphasis on experiment science, Islamic psychology recognizes a third dimension, namely the spiritual dimension (ruh), which is distinct from the psychical (nafs) aspects of man.

‘to know thyself is to know thy Lord’

On a practical level, if one were to try and understand a Muslim person for whatever reason, one should try to understand them from an Islamic context rather than the modern materialistic theories of human nature. To come to understand a Muslim mind, you need to understand the Islamic cognitive mind-set.

Psychology needs to reinstate the soul back in its place to fully understand man’s nature. Just because the soul cannot be examined under a microscope, or be observed, does not warrant its non-existence. As Prof. Malik Badri argues, the formation of glucose in the process of photosynthesis needs the elements of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen as well as solar energy. Thus, he questions, do we discount the importance of solar energy simply because it is more sublime and less concrete?

So why do we give up on the human soul just because we cannot see it or measure it?

Hanan Dover