Psychology in the medieval Islamic world

(Redirected from Psychology in medieval Islam) Historical Islamic psychological studies

Islamic psychology or ʿilm al-nafs (Arabic: علم النفس), the science of the nafs ("self" or "psyche"), is the medical and philosophical study of the psyche from an Islamic perspective and addresses topics in psychology, neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and psychiatry as well as psychosomatic medicine. In Islam, mental health and mental illness were viewed with a holistic approach. This approach emphasized the mutual connection between maintaining adequate mental wellbeing and good physical health in an individual. People who practice Islam thought it was necessary to maintain positive mental health in order to partake in prayer and other religious obligations.

Concepts from Islamic thought have been reexamined by Muslim psychologists and scholars in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Terminology

In the writings of Muslim scholars, the term Nafs (self) was used to denote individual personality and the term fitrah for human nature. Nafs encompassed a broad range of faculties including the qalb (heart), the ruh (soul), the aql (intellect) and irada (will). Muslim scholarship was strongly influenced by Greek as well as by the study of scripture, drawing particularly from Galen's understanding of the four humors of the body.

In medieval Islamic medicine in particular, the study of mental illness was a speciality of its own, and was variously known as A‘ilaj al-nafs (approximately "curing/treatment of the soul/self/ideas), al-tibb al-ruhani ("the healing of the spirit," or "spiritual health") and tibb al-qalb ("healing of the heart/self," or "mental medicine").

The Classical Arabic term for the mentally ill was "majnoon" which is derived from the term "Jenna", which means "covered". It was originally thought that mentally ill individuals could not differentiate between the real and the unreal. However, due to the nuanced nature of individual cases, the treatment of the mentally ill could not be generalized as it was in medieval Europe This term was gradually redefined among the educated, and was defined by Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā) as "one who suffers from a condition in which reality is replaced with fantasy".

Ethics and theology

In the Islamic world, special legal protections were given to the mentally ill. This attitude was reinforced by scripture, as exemplified in Sura 4:5 of the Qur'an:

Do not give your property which God assigned you to manage to the insane: but feed and clothe the insane with this property and tell splendid words to them.
— "

This Quranic verse summarized Islam's attitudes towards the mentally ill, who were considered unfit to manage property but must be treated humanely and be kept under care by either a guardian or the state.

Psychology during the Islamic Golden Age

The period comprising the 8th to the 15th centuries of the Gregorian calendar is known to scholars as the Islamic Golden Age. This marked a time of numerous advances and discoveries in the Islamic arts and sciences, during which Islamic scholars came to understand that certain conditions can alter an individual's spiritual and psychological states (those seen as majnoon (mad) being perceived as having imbalances in these states). A prominent philosopher during this time was al-Ghazali(1058–1111), who proposed that maintaining a balanced connection between the spiritual and psychological conditions within the body was vital in order to sustain a close relationship with God. al-Ghazali further explained that divergence from this interconnectedness could result in abnormalities within an individual's mental health.

Major contributors

Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi

Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (865–925), known as Rhazes in the western tradition, was an influential Persian physician, philosopher, and scientist during the Golden Age of Islam, and among the first in the world to write on mental illness and psychotherapy. As chief physician of Baghdad hospital, he was also the director of one of the first psychiatric wards in the world. Two of his works in particular, El-Mansuri and Al-Hawi, provide descriptions and treatments for mental illnesses.

Abu-Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdalah ibn-Sina

Abu-Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdalah ibn-Sina (980–1030), known to the west as Avicenna, was a Persian polymath who is widely regarded for his writings on such diverse subjects as philosophy, physics, medicine, mathematics, geology, Islamic theology, and poetry. In his most widely celebrated work, the Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanun-fi-il-Tabb), he provided descriptions and treatments for such conditions as insomnia, mania, vertigo, paralysis, stroke, epilepsy, and depression as well as male sexual dysfunction. He was a pioneer in the field of psychosomatic medicine, linking changes in mental state to changes in the body.

Abu Zayd al-Balkhi

Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (850-934) was a Muslim psychologist and physician during the Islamic Golden Age. His many contributions were vital to the understanding of mental health as well as how to treat various mental illnesses. Al-Balkhi is famous for his work titled “Sustenance of the Body and Soul.” In it, he encouraged other physicians to treat the body and mind as a whole and thus take a holistic approach to medicine. This thinking is significant because it laid the foundation for a psychophysiological approach to healthy living in Medieval Islam. In al-Balkhi’s writings, he explains that the soul experiences an array of emotions such as distress, sadness, and fear when the body undergoes physical illnesses.

The establishment of cognitive therapy is credited to al-Balkhi. When his patients experienced distress, he developed an approach that motivated them to think positively using healthy cognitions. al-Balkhi and other important Islamic scholars also implemented the technique of reciprocal inhibition when treating their patients. Furthermore, al-Balkhi also places emphasis on how environmental factors, such as housing, exercise, and nutrition, can affect a person’s mental wellbeing. al-Balkhi’s contributions also consisted of identifying the difference between psychosis and neurosis. He categorized neuroses into four groups: obsessions, sadness and depression, fear and anxiety, and anger and aggression. The analysis al-Balki made in medieval Islamic psychology is still relevant to modern psychology.

Melancholia

The mental health disorder melancholia came under intensive study in the Islamic world of the Middle Ages. Islamic scholars described melancholia as a condition the principal symptom of which was a state of constant sadness, the cause of which was believed to be an excess of black bile in the body. The varied symptoms of melancholia were believed to derive from the particular area of the body in which the (conjectural) black bile had become concentrated. The resulting state of sadness experienced by sufferers was categorized into three different types: first sadness originating in trauma or stress, secondly sadness caused by external (organic/physiological) factors, such as inadequate nourishment of the body and thirdly the everyday sadness inherent in the human condition. This classification system is similar to the way in which present models analyze depression. In the medieval Islamic world , however, a diagnosis of melancholia could also encompass such varied cerebral phenomena as epilepsy and mania.

Mental healthcare

The earliest bimaristans were built in the 9th century, and large bimaristans built in the 13th century contained separate wards for mentally ill patients.

Treatment of mental illness

In addition to medication, treatment for mental illness might include baths, music, talk therapy, hijama (cupping), and aromatherapy. Scholars and physicians of this time period were some of the first to emphasize psychosomatic medicine, the emphasis placed on the relationship between illness of the mind and problems in the body. Medicine would be prescribed in order to re-balance the four humors of the body, an imbalance of which might result in psychosis. Insomnia, for example, was thought to result from excessive amounts of the dry humors which could be remedied by the use of humectants.

Notes

(Haque 2004, p. 358)
^ Deuraseh, Nurdeen; Mansor Abu, Talib (2005), "Mental health in Islamic medical tradition", The International Medical Journal, 4 (2): 76–79.
^ Mitha, Karim (December 2020). "Conceptualising and addressing mental disorders amongst Muslim communities: Approaches from the Islamic Golden Age". Transcultural Psychiatry. 57 (6): 763–774. doi:10.1177/1363461520962603. ISSN 1363-4615. PMC 7689558. PMID 33059527.
(Haque 2004)
^ (Youssef, Youssef & Dening 1996, p. 58)
(Haque 2004, p. 376)
Okasha, A. (2001), "Egyptian Contribution to the Conception of Mental Health", Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 7 (3): 377–380, doi:10.26719/2001.7.3.377, PMID 12690756, S2CID 37684357.
^ Wael Mohamed, C.R. (2012). "Arab and Muslim Contributions to Modern Neuroscience". International Brain Research Organization History of Neuroscience.
^ A. Okasha, C.R. (2001). "Mental Health and Psychiatry in the Middle East". Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal. 7: 336–347. doi:10.26719/2001.7.3.336. S2CID 21512463.
^ Moffic, Steven; Peteet, John; Hankir, Ahmed; Awaad, Rania (2018). Islamophobia and psychiatry: recognition, prevention, and treatment. Springer. pp. 4–8. ISBN 978-3-030-00511-5.
Moffic, Steven; Peteet, John; Hankir, Ahmed; Awaad, Rania (2018). Islamophobia and psychiatry: Recognition, prevention, and treatment. Springer. pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-3-030-00511-5.
Miller, Andrew C (December 2006). "Jundi-Shapur, bimaristans, and the rise of academic medical centres". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 99 (12): 615–617. doi:10.1177/014107680609901208. PMC 1676324. PMID 17139063. Archived from the original on 2013-02-01. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
Mitha, Karim (2020). "Conceptualising and addressing mental disorders amongst Muslim communities: Approaches from the Islamic Golden Age". Transcultural Psychiatry. 57 (6): 763–774. doi:10.1177/1363461520962603. PMC 7689558. PMID 33059527. S2CID 222832853.

References

Bakhtiar, Laleh (2019), Quranic Psychology of the Self: A Textbook on Islamic Moral Psychology (ilm al-nafs), Kazi Publications, ISBN 978-1567446418

Haque, Amber (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists", Journal of Religion and Health, 43 (4): 357–377, doi:10.1007/s10943-004-4302-z, S2CID 38740431
Plott, C. (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Period of Scholasticism, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0551-8
Youssef, Hanafy A.; Youssef, Fatma A.; Dening, T. R. (1996), "Evidence for the existence of schizophrenia in medieval Islamic society", History of Psychiatry, 7 (25): 55–62, doi:10.1177/0957154X9600702503, PMID 11609215, S2CID 44459712

Islamic medicine

Physicians

7th century	Abu Hafsa Yazid Al-Harith ibn Kalada Bukhtishu Ibn Abi Ramtha al-Tamimi Ibn Uthal Masarjawaih Nafi ibn al-Harith Rufaida Al-Aslamia Zaynab al-Awadiya
8th century	Bukhtishu Ja'ar al-Sadiq
9th century	Al-Kindi Al-Ruhawi Albubather Ali al-Ridha Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari Bukhtishu Hunayn ibn Ishaq Ishaq ibn Hunayn Jabir ibn Hayyan Jabril ibn Bukhtishu Masawaiyh Salmawaih ibn Bunan Shapur ibn Sahl Yahya ibn Sarafyun Yuhanna ibn Bukhtishu Yusuf al-Khuri
10th century	'Ali ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi Aayon Ibn Aayon Abu Bakr Rabee Ibn Ahmad Al-Akhawyni Bokhari Abu Bakr al-Razi Abu Sahl 'Isa ibn Yahya al-Masihi Abu Zayd al-Balkhi Abu al-Hasan al-Tabari Abu al-Qasim Muqane'i Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi Abu ul-Ala Shirazi Al-Kaŝkarī Al-Natili Al-Tamimi, the physician Eutychius of Alexandria Ibn Abi al-Ashʿath Ibn Juljul Ibn al-Jazzar Ibrahim ibn Baks Isaac Israeli ben Solomon Mohammed ibn Abdun al-Jabali Muvaffak Qumri Qusta ibn Luqa
11th century	Abdollah ibn Bukhtishu Abu 'Ubayd al-Juzjani Abu al-Hakam al-Kirmani Al-Biruni Ali ibn Isa al-Kahhal Ali ibn Ridwan Ali ibn Yusuf al-Ilaqi Ammar ibn Ali al-Mawsili Avicenna Badi' al-Asturlabi Ibn Abi Sadiq Ibn Al-Thahabi Ibn Butlan Ibn Hindu Ibn Jazla Ibn al-Haytham Ibn al-Kattani Ibn al-Wafid Jonah ibn Janah Masawaih
12th century	Abu Jafar ibn Harun al-Turjali Abu al-Bayan ibn al-Mudawwar Abu al-Majd ibn Abi al-Hakam Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī Ahmad ibn Farrokh Al-Samawal al-Maghribi Avempace Averroes Ibn Habal Ibn Jumay‘ Ibn Tufayl Ibn Zuhr Ibn al-Tilmīdh Moshe ben Maimon Muhammad ibn Aslam Al-Ghafiqi Serapion the Younger Ya'qub ibn Ishaq al-Israili Zayn al-Din Gorgani
13th century	Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi Abraham ben Moses ben Maimon Al-Dakhwar Al-Shahrazuri Amin al-Din Rashid al-Din Vatvat As-Suwaydi Da'ud Abu al-Fadl Hussam al-Din al-Jarrahi Ibn Abi Usaibia Ibn Tumlus Ibn al-Baitar Ibn al-Nafis Ibn al-Quff Ibn al‐Raqqam Joseph ben Judah of Ceuta Najib ad-Din Samarqandi Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi Rashidun al-Suri Sa'ad al-Dawla Zakariya al-Qazwini
14th century	Al-Nagawri Aqsara'i Ibn Shuayb Ibn al-Akfani Ibn al-Khatib Jaghmini Mansur ibn Ilyas Mas‘ud ibn Muhammad Sijzi Muhammad ibn Mahmud Amuli Najm al-Din Mahmud ibn Ilyas al-Shirazi Nakhshabi Rashid-al-Din Hamadani Sadid al-Din al-Kazaruni Yusuf ibn Ismail al-Kutubi Zayn-e-Attar
15th century	Abu Sa'id al-Afif Burhan-ud-din Kermani Husayni Isfahani Muhammad Ali Astarabadi Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Harawi Nurbakhshi Shaykh Muhammad ibn Thaleb Şerafeddin Kadir
16th century	Rostam Gorgani ʽImad Shirazi Abul Qasim ibn Mohammed al-Ghassani Dawud al-Antaki Hakim-e-Gilani Sultan Ali Khorasani Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf
17th century	Qiwam al-Din Muhammad al-Hasani Abd El Razzaq Al-Jazaïri Qurayshi al-Shirazi Tunakabuni Maqsud-Ali Tabrizi
18th century	Al-Khurasani al-Shirazi

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