The worship ( ibadah ) and the aim of Islamic Psychology

1. The worship (ibadah) and the aim ofIslamic Psychology ByZULKIFLI KHAIR

2. The purpose of man’s life (as well as jinn’s life) • The purpose of lifeis ibadah (total submission, surrender, and obedience to God). • However God will never ever get any losses if man do not perform ibadah or being the servant of God. • “I have only created jinns and men, that they may SERVE Me. No Sustenance do I require of them, nor do I require that they should feed Me.” (az-Zariat, 51: 56-57) • God has a serious purpose to create man, not for idle sport or play. • God is independent of all needs.

3. Worship(ibadah) in Islam • Two kinds of ibadah: Specific ibadah (5 pillars of Islam) and general ibadah. • Man as a servant of God and khalifah (ambassador). • General ibadah - Any behaviour should be an ibadah as followed: • Following the Islamic law. • Good intention to God. • The practice never contradict to Islam. • Following the priority: wajib and sunah; fardh ‘ayn and fardh kifayah.

4. Behaviour in Islam (1) • All of the behaviours should be an ibadah to God as discussed before. • All of the behaviours (good and bad) will be counted and judged in the Judgment Day at the court of God. • “Then shall anyone who has done an atom’s weight of good, see it! And anyone who has done an atom’s weight of evil, shall see it!” (al-Zalzalah, 99: 7-8) • Good in practice and behaviour is the proof of good belief in the heart. Thus, man should educate himself and control his soul.

5. Behaviour in Islam (2) • Man should know the forbid and forbidden behaviours according to the code of behaviour (Islamic ethic and law, and others that do not against Islam). • Forbidden behaviours: _________________________ • Forbid behaviours: _____________________________ • e.g. Purity and cleanliness: “He indeed is successful who purifies himself (in mind and body), and remembers the name of his Lord, then prays.” (87:14-15) • e.g. Goodness and kindness to others: “Do good to others, surely Allah loves those who do good to others.” (2:195)

6. Behaviour and behaviourism (1) • Skinner: Behaviours we call right or wrong are not due to any real goodness or badness in a situation nor they are due to innate knowledge of right or wrong; they simply due to contingencies involving many kind of positive and negative reinforces; rewards and punishment. • Behaviourism is influenced by hedonism (love of pleasant and joy), Darwinism (biological determinism; survival of the fittest), and Hobbesian philosophy (man’s behaviour = machine’s action).

7. Behaviour and behaviourism (2) • Malik Badri: Trying to explain broad issue like psycho-spiritual religious phenomena using this restricted point of view is like blind person telling the shape of elephant by only feeling part of its body! • Abbas Hussein Ali: Metaphors in modern psychology: • Men are all-knowing, all-just, all-powerful and loving (man = God). • Men’s behaviour is involuntary, performed without conscious awareness, predetermined, and fixed and routine (man = machine). • Behaviourist only dealt with the outside part of human being – human as if ‘humachine’ = ‘homo machine’.

8. Al-Ghazali and behaviour (1) • Al-Ghazali has discussed the ‘soul’ part of man expansively. • Behaviour can be changed by learning and training. • He defended his claim by generalising from animal to human behaviour by saying: How can a person deny the ability of training and learning in changing human emotion and behaviour when even animal’s behaviour can radically changed by such efforts? • However, al-Ghazali did not deny the inherited and instinctual emotional behaviour such as sex and food, and also anger and fear which are created by Allah in man’s nature to facilitate his life on the earth.

9. Al-Ghazali and behaviour (2) • Al-Ghazali accepted the individual differences in education and training. • He also contributed in ‘behavioural therapeutic’ (bringing balance between the mind and the body) as referred to Abu Zaid al-Balkhi who showed the influence of contemplation on health. • Al-Ghazali’s approach is similar to the ‘reciprocal inhibition’ as introduced by Wolpe: • Reducing food for obese greedy person. • Spending money for stinginess. • Humility for arrogance.

10. Why are you going to study? • To get knowledge. • To get job. • To serve to the family, nation, and ‘ummah’. • Responsible. • To worship to God. • To get blessing of God (the ultimate aim).

11. Psychology = ‘ilm an-nafs • 'Psyche' according to the Oxford dictionary means the spirit, soul or mind; thus it corresponds with the Arabic word 'Al-Nafs' and its various senses. • In Islamic psychology, chapters on spirit, soul, and mind are utmost important, Should lead to fulfill the purpose life of man and the responsibility of man (as ‘abid and khalifah). • Ancient muslim scholars has studied human’s soul extensively in the Islamic philosophy so that man can reach the ultimate soul; the true servant of God and khalifah. • It also dealt with therapy towards a healthy soul and body. • Ibn Qayyim for example wrote on spirit and soul, besides that he wrote on medicine such as Tibb an-Nabawi.

12. The aim of psychology definitely must be determined by the Islamic law and philosophy based on the revealed knowledge.

13. Ibn Qayyim: Treating sadness, grief, and depression (1) 1 - Affirming Allaah's Oneness in His Lordship 2 - Affirming Allaah's Oneness in His Worship 3 - The belief in the creed of Tawheed 4 - Praising Allaah for not dealing with His slave with injustice and for not punishing him without a reason 5 - The slave's affirming that it is he who has committed the injustice 6 - Pleading to Allaah by the most beloved methods to Him, by His Names, Attributes such as al-'Hay (The Ever Living), Al Qayyum (Who Sustains everything and everyone) 7 - Depending and relying on Allaah Alone for everything 8 - The slave affirms that his hope is only in Allaah 9 - Acquiring true dependence on Allaah and relating all matters to Him, while admitting that the slave's forelock is in His Hands Alone and that He does with it whatever He will. Also admitting that Allaah's decision on the slave will certainly come to pass and that His judgement is certainly just.

14. Ibn Qayyim: Treating sadness, grief, and depression (2) 10 - The slave's heart should enjoy the gardens of the Qur'an and should make the Qur'an just like the spring of pure water to the animals. Also the slave should use the light of the Qur'an to shatter the darkness of desires and lusts. The Qur'an should be one's companion when no one else is present; the comfort that relieves every type of calamity and the cure that discards every illness that attacks the slave's heart. In short, the Qur'an should be the remover of sadness and the end of depression and grief. 11 - Turning to istighfaar, seeking forgiveness from Allaah 12 - Repenting to Allaah 13 - Performing jihad in Allaah's Cause 14 - Performing prayer 15 - Relating all power and strength to He Who grasps them in His Hands."

15. Al-Kindi: Music theory and psychology • “Al-Kindi was the first great theoretician of music in the Arab-Islamic world. He proposed adding a fifth string to the 'ud and discussed the cosmological connotations of music. He surpassed the achievement of the Greek musicians in using the alphabetical annotation for one eighth. As a psychologist, Al-Kindi also realized the therapeutic value of music and tried to cure a quadriplegic boy with music therapy. He published fifteen treatises on music theory, but only five have survived. In one of his treaties the word musiqia was used for the first time in Arabic, which today means music in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, English and several other languages in the Islamic world.” (Wikipedia cited FSTC’s article in www.muslimheritage.com)