Psychology And Islam

At a time when there is increasing need to offer psychotherapeutic approaches that accommodate clients’ religious and spiritual beliefs, and acknowledge the potential for healing and growth offered by religious frameworks, this book explores psychology from an Islamic paradigm and demonstrates how Islamic understandings of human nature, the self, and the soul can inform an Islamic psychotherapy. Drawing on a qualitative, grounded theory analysis of interviews with Islamic scholars and clinicians, this unique volume distils complex religious concepts to reconcile Islamic theology with contemporary notions of psychology. Chapters offer nuanced explanations of relevant Islamic tradition and theological sources, consider how this relates to Western notions of psychotherapy and common misconceptions, and draw uniquely on first-hand data to develop a new theory of Islamic psychology. This, in turn, informs an innovative and empirically driven model of practice that translates Islamic understandings of human psychology into a clinical framework for Islamic psychotherapy. An outstanding scholarly contribution to the modern and emerging discipline of Islamic psychology, this book makes a pioneering contribution to the integration of the Islamic sciences and clinical mental health practice. It will be a key resource for scholars, researchers, and practicing clinicians with an interest in Islamic psychology and Muslim mental health, as well as religion, spirituality and psychology more broadly.

Islamic Psychology or ilm an-nafs (science of the soul) is an important introductory textbook drawing on the latest evidence in the sub-disciplines of psychology to provide a balanced and comprehensive view of human nature, behaviour and experience. Its foundation to develop theories about human nature is based upon the writings of the Qur'an, Sunna, Muslim scholars and contemporary research findings. Synthesising contemporary empirical psychology and Islamic psychology, this book is holistic in both nature and process and includes the physical, psychological, social and spiritual dimensions of human behaviour and experience. Through a broad and comprehensive scope, the book addresses three main areas: Context, perspectives and the clinical applications of applied psychology from an Islamic approach. This book is a core text on Islamic psychology for undergraduate and postgraduate students and those undertaking continuing professional development in Islamic psychology, psychotherapy and counselling. Beyond this, it is also a good supporting resource for teachers and lecturers in this field.

This book integrates research in positive psychology, Islamic psychology, and Muslim wellbeing in one volume, providing a view into the international experiential and spiritual lives of a religious group that represents over 24% of the world’s population. It incorporates Western psychological paradigms, such as the theories of Jung, Freud, Maslow, and Seligman with Islamic ways of knowing, while highlighting the struggles and successes of minoritized Muslim groups, including the LGBTQ community, Muslims with autism, Afghan Shiite refugees, and the Uyghur community in China. It fills a unique position at the crossroad of multiple social science disciplines, including the psychology of religion, cultural psychology, and positive psychology. By focusing on the ways in which spirituality, struggle, and social justice can lead to purpose, hope, and a meaningful life, the book contributes to scholarship within the second wave of positive psychology (PP 2.0) that aims to illustrate a balance between positive and negative aspects of human experience. While geared towards students, researchers, and academic scholars of psychology, culture, and religious studies, particularly Muslim studies, this book is also useful for general audiences who are interested in learning about the diversity of Islam and Muslims through a research-based social science approach.

This text outlines for the first time a structured articulation of an emerging Islamic orientation to psychotherapy, a framework presented and known as Traditional Islamically Integrated Psychotherapy (TIIP). TIIP is an integrative model of mental health care that is grounded in the core principles of Islam while drawing upon empirical truths in psychology. The book introduces the basic foundations of TIIP, then delves into the writings of early Islamic scholars to provide a richer understanding of the Islamic intellectual heritage as it pertains to human psychology and mental health. Beyond theory, the book provides readers with practical interventional skills illustrated with case studies as well as techniques drawn inherently from the Islamic tradition. A methodology of case formulation is provided that allows for effective treatment planning and translation into therapeutic application. Throughout its chapters, the book situates TIIP within an Islamic epistemological and ontological framework, providing a discussion of the nature and composition of the human psyche, its drives, health, pathology, mechanisms of psychological change, and principles of healing. Mental health practitioners who treat Muslim patients, Muslim clinicians, students of the behavioral sciences and related disciplines, and anyone with an interest in spiritually oriented psychotherapies will greatly benefit from this illustrative and practical text.

Psychology is the study of mind, and this is exactly why the Quran put a great emphasis between the relationship of man and his Creator and the role faith plays intellectually and spiritually in our lives. The Quran is a book of wisdom, and it includes all aspects of human life. Religion, as a matter of fact, is an intellectual property that cannot be seen. So the mind cannot be seen. Human beings are curious creatures. This curiosity elaborated in the story of Abraham when he wanted to find the truth for himself. Finding the truth is a principle of science and research. Islamic psychology is based on three principles, namely theo-ethics, socio-ethics, and psyco-ethics, which discusses human relations from a psychological point of view. It is the mind that relates to all aspects of life. Therefore, Islamic psychology deals with all spheres that originate from God alone. For that, ego or self plays a major role and makes mankind responsible for all his actions. Since Islam is a religion of unity, then all processes of mind interrelate to not only self but also to God and society. Therefore, like any other field of knowledge, it is hard to separate psychology or the study of mind from other life principles. As a matter of fact, it is the mind that regulates other affairs, being good or bad. Islamic psychology emphasizes on making humans responsible for their inner soul activities, which lead either to felicity or destruction. Since religion is an intellectual property, then the study of mind is also a spiritual and intellectually property.

A collection of select papers on human nature and personality from an Islamic perspective which incorporates religious and transcendental concepts based on the Qur'ān and early Muslim scholars.

This book provides a concise coverage of the unique relationship between the religion of Islam and psychology. It explains how psychology as a new discipline emerging from the west during the early twentieth century gained much recognition in the Muslim world both in their academia and scientific society, but not among the wider Muslim population. The claim was that for the wider Muslim population to accept this discipline, it needed to have roots in the indigenous Muslim cultures. It is for this reason that many Muslim academics began to argue that there was a need to rediscover the Muslim science called 'ilm al-nafs in relation to modern psychology. This book attempt to provide an explanation and description of the drive in the contemporary Muslim world to rediscover the Muslim science called 'ilm al-nafs in relation to modern psychology. This quest began by mid-twentieth century after many of the newly Muslim nation-states had emerged. Later the notions of Islamic psychology and indigenous psychology were introduced, and began to be discussed in earnest. This book presents a survey of the discussions that have taken place about Islam and psychology and the various viewpoints that have evolved from such deliberations. Moreover, the book presents a general history of psychology and the contribution of Muslim thinkers to it. The authors also wrestle with the contemporary state of affairs in the Muslim world vis-à-vis psychology and religion by engaging with the socio- psychological perspectives of Muslim religiosity. The book also looks critically at the negative and positive effect of religiosity on mental health according to contemporary data collected from different Muslim countries and from Muslim minorities in the west, and deliberates on some of these contemporary mental health issues. This book is ideal for students seeking to understand the relationship between the faith of Islam and the contemporary subject of psychology of religion.