Aldabbagh, Joud (2023) Contextualizing Al-nafs: A Critique of Badri’s Historical Account of Islamic Psychology. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
The movement toward indigenizing psychology within an Islamic context has ignited controversies among historians of psychology regarding the discipline's purported origins in the Islamic Golden Age. Malik Badri, a prominent figure in the Islamic Psychology subfield, claims that Persian Muslim polymath Abu Zayd Al-Balkhi pioneered CBT in the 9th century. However, Badri neglects to contextualize a key concept within Al-Balkhi’s manuscript and Islamic Psychology at large, al-nafs, by equating it with the terms “psyche and “mind.” In the current study, I explore the historical narratives of mental health paradigms from the Islamic Golden Age in order to contextualize the meaning of al-nafs, differentiating it from the mind and psyche. This historical analysis forms the foundation for addressing historiographical disputes and evaluating the most valuable approach when conducting a history of Islamic Psychology. The study also aims to contextualize Badri’s inclination for making priority claims by establishing a conceptual framework for his approach to Islamizing psychology. The findings reveal the continuity of al-nafs from medieval Muslim philosophy, particularly Al-Ghazali’s typology of the Islamic soul, to present-day mental health explanatory models among Muslim scholars and spiritual practitioners. Given this intellectual lineage, I suggest that future studies adopt a two-pronged approach: a social historiography to deepen understanding of the meaning behind al-nafs as it was conceived by early Muslim scholars like Al-Balkhi and Al-Ghazali, alongside a philosophical and intellectual history of Islamic Psychology that contextualizes the development of al-nafs and the emergence of an Islamic epistemological psychology paradigm.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Mulberger Rogele, A.C. and Burman, J.T. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Theory and History of Psychology [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 30 Aug 2023 10:25 |
| Last Modified: | 30 Aug 2023 10:25 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2830 |
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