Toward A Positive Psychology Of Islam And Muslims

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.

The Way of Love: Towards an Islamic Psychology of Virtues and Character Development is anedited volume that seeks to advance the fields of Islamic psychology, positive psychology, andscholarship on virtue and character development. It also seeks to bring the science of Islamicspirituality into the purview of modern psychology. Contributors explore a wide range of topicsand offer recommendations for ways forward in this emerging area of inquiry. They also discusspractical applications and the relevance of an Islamic positive psychology within a westernAmerican context. Written by experts in a way that is accessible to any reader, this volume is aresource for students, scholars, clinicians, pastoral caregivers, or anyone interested in virtueand character development, positive psychology, Islamic psychology, Islamic spirituality, andrelated fields.

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.

Psychologist and ethicist Robert Rocco Cottone takes readers on a religious journey infusing postmodern philosophy positive psychology and ethics into a comprehensive vision of religion in the future. Defining postmodern religion in a positive engaging and educational way he answers questions like What is the nature of belief Is there a universal god When does life begin and Is there an afterlife This book may profoundly change your understanding of religion and affect your practice of religion in a significant way. His method is entertaining compelling and sometimes perturbing as he addresses both ancient and postmodern religion in a way that is personal and scholarly. He also provides a postmodern religious framework that is inclusive affirming positive and drawn from the power of the human spirit.

Foreword -- Preface -- Abstract -- Keywords -- 1 Possibility, Foundations, and Characteristics of Islamic Psychology -- 2 Research Methodology in Islamic Psychology -- 3 Personality -- 4 Mental Disorders and Psychotherapy -- Acknowledgments -- References.

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: The Basics is a jargon-free and accessible introduction that explores psychology from an Islāmic perspective, and provides a foundation level overview of the fundamental principles and practices of Islāmic psychology. The book introduces concepts, models, approaches, themes, and theories you need to know to study the mind, soul, and behaviour based on Islāmic scripture. Offering an overview of Islāmic psychology and what Islāmic psychologists do, chapters address key topics including the history of the evolution of the science of the soul, and the psychology of human behaviour and experiences. Rassool examines the concepts of the Fitrah, the Nafs (Self), the Aql (Intellect), the Rūḥ (Soul) the Qalb (Heart), and the concept of Islāmic healing and spiritual interventions. Other themes include the Qur’an and psychology, models and approaches in Islāmic psychology, interpreting Islāmic psychology for modern times, and the contemporary scope of the practice of Islāmic psychology. Outlining the challenges and solutions of the development of Islāmic psychology and potential future trends, and including features to aid learning, this is the ideal introductory book for students in Psychology, Islāmic Psychology, and Islāmic Studies, as well as professionals including counsellors and therapists, and anyone interested in psychology from an Islāmic perspective.