Editorial

Abstract

Psychology is the study of human behavior in its observable and unobservable dimensions. It is important to study psychology in order to understand human actions and their relations to various aspects of human life. From an Islamic standpoint, human behavior is distinctive from other animate and inanimate beings, because it is based on a conscious response to divine commandments. Human behavior in this sense is subject of revelation. Revelation addresses humans to behave intentionally towards the realization of Allah’s commandments in their lives. Revelation, human behavior and human life are the three main components of the religious phenomenon which is an intrinsic reality in human psyche and social reality of all nations in human history. Psychology is an old science. It is a response to Man’s existential anxiety which is as old as human consciousness. Man has been indulging in psychological analysis since he started trying to understand himself, his behavior, his emotions, his thinking and learning process, etc. In the West, psychology was a part of philosophy. But since the early twentieth century when it became the last field to breakaway from philosophy, it has become a separate discipline, enjoying the status of science. In the Islamic history of knowledge, education of the self and of others was based on well developed psychological principles such as motivation (internal and external), gradual change, and individual differences. The study of human behavior was also the subject of many Muslim scholars in their attempts to elevate the personality of individual Muslims from Islam to Iman and to Ihsan; and to avoid the various sicknesses of the heart. This subject was also of a major concern to the Sufis. Al Ghazali for example developed the science of behavior “Ilm al-Suluk”. His book Al-Ihia has long chapters on various psychological phenomena using a systematic methodology. A1 Ghazali would typically choose a particular psychological problem, study it, describe it, analyze it, compare it with other problems, advance a diagnosis and then prescribe ways to deal with the problem ...