Papers presented at the Seminar on Qurʼānic Concepts of Human Psyche, held at Islamabad in 1988.

Contemporary psychology is highly influenced by positivism and scientific naturalism. Psychological studies make efforts to control the variables and provide operational definitions of subjective constructs in order to reach the most concrete conclusions. Such efforts are admirable in natural sciences since they have led to a better life. But, this worldview has deprived contemporary psychology of more qualitative sources of knowledge like waḥy (revelation). The present book introduces Islamic psychology as a paradigm, which can apply waḥy knowledge and consider religious/spiritual dimensions of humans in scientific exploration. The first part discusses the possibility, foundations, and characteristics of Islamic psychology. The second part introduces research methodology in Islamic psychology. The third part reviews the Quranic theory of personality and highlights the concept of shakeleh. Finally, the fourth part presents the theories and methods of religious psychotherapy in the Islamic tradition. Each part provides introductory content for readers interested in Islamic psychology.

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.

This book seeks to define, redefine and identify indigenous and traditional healing in the context of North American and Western European health care, particularly in counseling psychology and psychotherapy.

The inner nature of man- human psyche- is a major theme of the Qur’an and the Qur’an uses its own terminology while speaking about it. One comes across terms like ruh, nafs, qalb, etc. What do these terms mean, and how their understanding can throw light on human psyche from the Qur’anic perspective is the topic of this book. This book consists of six articles based on papers read in a seminar on Qur’anic Concepts of Human Psyche, which was organized by the IIIT-Pakistan. The articles cover a wide spectrum of topics including various philosophical and psychological theories, and a host of views expressed by Muslim thinkers. The authors advocate that it is important that the Qur’anic concepts should be understood in terms of the Qur’anic itself, and not as equivalents of concepts of foreign intellectual provenance. This is important, and unless due care is taken, one would at the most grasp near-equivalents of those concepts in the contemporary works on psychology, and these might be quite different from the intrinsic meanings embodied in the relevant versus of the Qur’an.

This book is concerned with the rationality and plausibility of the Muslim faith and the Qur'an, and in particular how they can be interrogated and understood through Western analytical philosophy. It also explores how Islam can successfully engage with the challenges posed by secular thinking. The Quran and the Secular Mind will be of interest to students and scholars of Islamic philosophy, philosophy of religion, Middle East studies, and political Islam.