Traditions, Paradigms and Basic Concepts in Islamic Psychology

Rasjid Skinner

doi:10.1007/s10943-018-0595-1

Abstract

The conceptual tools of psychology aim to explain the complexity of phenomena that psychotherapists observe in their patients and within themselves, as well as to predict the outcome of therapy. Naturally, Muslim psychologists have sought satisfaction in the conceptual tools of their trade and in what has been written in Islamic psychology—notably by Badri (The dilemma of Muslim psychologists, MWH London, London, 1979), who critiqued Western psychology from an Islamic perspective, arguing the need to filter out from Western Psychology which was cross-culturally invalid or was in conflict with Islamic precept. In this paper, I advocate an extension of Badri’s (1979) approach and present a working model of the self derived from traditional Islamic thought. This model, though rudimentary and incomplete, I believe, makes better sense of my perceptions as a clinician than any other psychological model within my knowledge.

Highlights

The genesis of this paper goes back to my own discomfort as a practising psychologist with the conceptual tools of my trade
Muslim psychologists have sought satisfaction in the conceptual tools of their trade and in what has been written in Islamic psychology— notably by Badri (The dilemma of Muslim psychologists, MWH London, London, 1979), who critiqued Western psychology from an Islamic perspective, arguing the need to filter out from Western Psychology which was cross-culturally invalid or was in conflict with Islamic precept
It was natural that as a Muslim I should have sought satisfaction in what had been written of Islamic Psychology—notably by Badri (1979) and others of his school, but what I found, though useful, I did not feel adequate for my needs

Summary

Introduction

The genesis of this paper goes back to my own discomfort as a practising psychologist with the conceptual tools of my trade. There is a view that psychology should be regarded as a natural science (in the Western definition) concerned with objectively verifiable human behaviour—and, as such, is compatible with Islam and open to use by Muslims. This is essentially part of Badri’s position (Badri 1979). To Badri, the first task of the Muslim psychologist is to work within the empirical tradition and to distil from the Western corpus of psychology its culturally odourless, experimentally sound, objective components (such as Behaviourism)—rejecting the nonempirical hotchpotch of myth and unproven value-laden theory (such as much of Psychoanalysis) which contains Islamically antagonistic elements. Karim’s paper, I feel does not adequately demonstrate the explanatory power of his adopted model; Shafii (1985) is largely confined to a comparison between his Islamic model and Psychoanalysis

A Working Model of the Self Derived from Traditional Islamic Thought

Conclusion