The mysterious ruh and the philosophy of Islamic psychology

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The mysterious ruh and the philosophy of Islamic
psychology
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The soulless of Western psychology

• There is no mention all of other aspects of man.
  The religious, the spiritual or at least the
  transcendental. (Malik Badri, 1979)
• Western psychologist more prefer to view
  psychology in the atheism, Christians, Buddhism,
  and unIslamic Sufism perspectives.

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Elements of man

• Jasad (body) as if a cage for soul or a riding
  animal for the spirit.
• Ruh (spirit).
• Aql (mind-intelligence).
• Nafs (soul/self).
• Qalb (heart).

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Jasad (body)

• Its created from clay leech-like clot
  (al-Alaq, 2) semen.
• Read in the Name of your Lord, Who created.
  Creates man from a clot. Read, and your Lord is
  the Most Bounteous. Who teaches by the pen.
  Teaches man that which he knew not. (Al-Alaq,
  96 1-5)
• The lowly origin of the animal in man is
  contrasted with the high destiny offered to him
  in his intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature
  by his most beautiful Creator. (Mushaf
  al-Madinah al-Munawwarah)
• The body will be judged in the Judgment Day, even
  will be the witness for the owners behaviour.

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Ruh (spirit)

• Its created from light and differs from soul
  (some scholars said that spirit is soul).
• The knowledge on spirit is very limited.
• They ask you about spirit. Say It is a command
  from my Lord of knowledge it is only a little
  that is communicated to you. (al-Isra, 1785).
• The existence of spirit after 40 days.
• Before that, the spirit and all of the mens
  spirits were already believed and accepted the
  God. (Al-Araf 172)
• No such thing of spirit channeling and
  rebirth concepts in Islam.
• The spirit as well as the body will be judged in
  the Judgment Day.

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Aql (mind-intelligence)

• Deals with logic, thinking, and knowledge.
• Aql (mind-intelligence) as the privileged tool
  for receiving divine illumination and grasping
  the inner science of opening the heart to the
  experiential knowing of God (al-Ghazali, Ihya).
• Aql (mind-intelligence) is the highest plane of
  man - it is the noblest part of man - it
  encompasses reason and logic and it stands above
  the ego. The Qur'an equates those who go astray
  with those who cannot (or will not) use their
  intellect - it uses the phrase 'wa la ya'qilun'
  (they do not use their intellect) or the phrase
  'la yafaqahun' (they comprehend not). Those who
  do not use their intellect are those who have
  denied themselves access to one of the highest
  aspects of their humanity (Irshaad Hussain).

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Nafs (soul/self)

• Soul deals with somewhat of leisure, pleasure,
  and joy as well as desire.
• There are bad (devil) and good desire.
• Ibn Qayyim divides soul into three
• Mutmainnah (satisfied/peace soul). Al-Fajr, 89
  27-30. Peace condition in worship and love to
  God, accompany by the angel (malaikah).
• Lawwamah (blaming). Al-Qiyamah 1-2). Always in
  conflict good and evil. Blaming self because of
  against God sign of the believer.
• Ammarah bissu (urging evil). Yusuf 53. Always
  promoting to do evil things, accompany by the
  devil (syaithan). The devil command to do evil
  things and wrong actions (al-Baqarah, 2 268).

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The invisible creations
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Nafs al-mutma'inna is the third and the highest
stage of nafs. A person when advanced to this
stage, he achieves full rest and satisfaction
while his personality gets equipped with the
qualities of quietness, mildness, tolerance,
forgiveness, and understanding of all beings.
This stage of nafs ultimately leads to resolution
of ones inner conflicts and attainment of
harmony with God. His personality is now dyed
with His universal Colour while his behavior
reflects the Absolute being and the Ultimate
Reality. (Haq, Manzurul. (1984). Concept of
personality development in the light of Islamic
thoughts. The Bangladesh journal of Psychology,
7, 118-128.)
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The diseases of soul

• The diseases of soul according to al-Ghazali
• Nifaq (hypocrisy)
• Pride and arrogance
• Hawa or desire
• Self-beholding
• Greediness
• Negligence
• Restlessness
• Riya.

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• Kamil
• Mardhiyyah
• Radhiah
• Mutmainnah
• Mulhamah
• Lawwamah
• Ammarah bissu

Satisfied/peace soul that is already accepted to
be in the paradise.
The detailed degree of soul
The self urging evil. Shaytan as its ally who
falsely promises him great rewards and gains and
always invites him and attracts the soul to do
evil/wrong action
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Qalb (heart)

• Qalb (heart) hati.
• Heart need to be daily purified.
• It influences mans feeling, mental, and
  behaviour.
• Heart as the decision maker, consulted by the
  soul and mind-intelligence.
• Three kinds of heart
• Healthy/peaceful heart. Asy-Syuara 88-89).
• Dead heart. No knowledge about God and never
  worship to God.
• Sick heart. Always in conflict either as a
  healthy heart or sick heart.

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Since the heart is the seat of faith, it is
essential that it remain clean and pure
otherwise it will be the origin of all such
maladies that affect the rest of the body as
evidenced by the fact that psychosomatic diseases
account for 60 of the cases under treatment in
our modern times. (The Concept of Man His
Spiritual Powers in Islam by Dr. Mehdi Ben
Abboud)
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Elements of man A model
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Mind and soul as the consultants

• Mind needs useful knowledge to be inserted,
  discussed, spread, and practiced.
• Man needs knowledge to moral and value system
  (syariah and adab), and knowledge to purify his
  heart and to protect from his heart from the
  devil. Read For Poisons of the Heart by
  al-Ghazali.
• Soul needs to be disciplined education and
  psychospiritual.
• The goods consultants need the good teacher,
  mentor, and friends.

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Three phenomena of spirit

• Spirit as if a light and a wind.
• Three phenomena
• The spirit goes out from the body permanently.
  Dead.
• The spirit goes out from the body and comes back
  again. Sleep and coma.
• The spirit is forced to go out from the body.
  Coma by chloroform, drug etc., black magic,
  spirit channeling, some cases of the Multiple
  Personality Disorder (MPD) etc.

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Journey of self

• Spirits/souls with Allah.
• In womb.
• Earthly life.
• Barzakh (grave).
• Everlasting life (Hereafter).

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Psychology could not deny words of God

• God is the Creator, the Sustainer, and the
  Governor the entire of the universe (in balance
  and harmony).
• God created man (in balance and harmony) and He
  knows everything about man.
• Man could not deny God to study and to understand
  about himself, therefore psychology could not
  deny the revealed knowledge to study and to
  understand the mans creation, feeling, mental
  process, emotion, and behaviour.
• Other Islamic philosophical aspects of psychology
  are mentioned in slide 15, 2nd week handout.