PSYCHOLOGY FROM THE

ISLAMIC PERPECTIVE
• From an Islamic perspective, any truly
comprehensive psychology can only
develop out of a very different set of
assumptions.
• A different paradigm of knowledge is
required, so that a genuine ‘study of the
soul’ can take place and a ‘genuine
psychology’, (the word psychology means
study of the soul), which addresses all
aspects of the self can emerge.
 Concept of Fitra

• Fitra refers to the state of man- his natural

condition and personality. The optimistic
view of human nature is rooted in this
concept.
• Islam posits that the natural state of man
is a positive and ‘good’ state – one in
submission to God.
• Even before we were born, or were
conceived, our souls met with Allah.
 Scholars in Islamic Psychology :
• From the Islamic point of view spiritual
approach to psychotherapy is an aspect of
behaviour modification that is based on the
relationship between man and his Creator
(Allah) which entails an operational paradigm
in which faith (Iman) in Allah is the focal point.
Iman is both a cognitive and ethical constructs
that gather all data and facts in the perspective
which is proper to and requisite for a true
understanding of the therapeutic processes.
1. Imam Abu Mansur al-Thalabi:
• Introduced 50 definition of the word
psychology which are:

• Janin
• Walid
• Rada’i
• Baligh
• 2. Al-Farabi
- Discussed about ‘roh’.
- Introduced how we used ‘akal’
- ‘Akal’ is the trigger of our strength that
derived the ‘roh’.
- From the strength, human develop
survival instinct, defense mechanism and
breeding mechanism.
3. Ibnu Sina
- ‘Ruh’ are divided into 3 part which
are:
a. Human Ruh
b. Animal Ruh
c. Plants Ruh
Psychology Islamic Scholars are:
4. Ibnu Rusyd
His masterpiece from ‘Al-Tuhafat al
tahafut’ said that human’s ruh will be
still alive even after we death.
5. Imam Ghazali
His masterpiece Ihya ‘Ulumuddin
differentiate between ruh and the body.
Roh is the soul that make human, animal
and plants live in this world.

Human’s ‘ruh’ are everlasting and endless

but animal and plants ‘roh’ are destroyed
 The Connection of the Spirit to
the Body
According to Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah,
the spirit (ar-ruh) is connected to the body
in five different ways, to which different
rules apply:
1. Its connection to the body as a fetus in his
mother’s womb.
2. Its connection to the body after a person
is born.
3. Its connection to the body when a person is asleep,
when the spirit is connected in one way and separated
from it in another way.
4. Its connection to the body in al-Barzakh (the period
between a person’s death and the Day of Resurrection),
when it has departed from the body and separated from
it, but is not separated completely in such a way that
there is no connection at all. This returning is of a special
nature which does not mean that the life is restored to
the body before the Day of Resurrection.
5. Its connection to the body on the Day
when bodies will be resurrected. This is
the most perfect type of connection to the
body, and has no comparison to the
previous types, because after that the
body will never die, sleep or have anything
wrong with it.