Book Review: The Dilemma of Muslim Psychologists

 (Originally written as an assignment for the Parents' and Teachers' Certificate Course from ERDC, and the book chosen from their list of recommended reading.)

Title: The Dilemma Of Muslim Psychologists

Author: Malik Badri

Illustrated by: Izz Al-Din Osman

Revised Edition Publication Year: 2016

Place of Publication: Malaysia

Genre: Non-fiction // Islamic Psychology

Dr. Malik Badri (aka the father of modern Islamic Psychology), completed his post-doctoral research at Middlesex Hospital, London (Dept. of Psychiatry). He had extensive teaching experience in the subjects of psychology, research and psychotherapy in Lebanon and Sudan. He has published a number of books and academic papers, including ‘Islam and Psychoanalysis’ and ‘Islam and Alcoholism.’

As a member of several professional psychological societies, while also being a practising Muslim, Dr. Badri must have had encounters with Muslims who believed in every aspect of the Western Psychological Theories, non-Muslims who disagreed with certain concepts, and everyone in between. His main concern was for the Muslims who insisted on clinging on to these Western concepts, without taking into account their own belief systems. This led him to consider whether those Western Psychologies were compatible with Islam at all; whether some of them, or all of them were at odds? And whether it was possible for certain concepts of certain theories to be compatible? These difficult questions led to the writing of this book, The Dilemma of Muslim Psychologists. I was led to choosing this book due to 2 reasons:

1)      The title itself was related to my interests

2)      The less profound reason: I like following an order of things, and I appreciate a list to go by. I didn’t want to start from the beginning of the list because I had read a couple of the books already, but I wasn’t ready to re-read them yet. So I started from the bottom, and will work my way up to the top.

This book, although a slim volume at 118 pages, is not an easy read – at least not for a layperson like myself. There is much to absorb and understand even before the actual chapters begin, as there is a section about the author, publisher’s note to the first edition, a note by the author on the reprinting of the book after 4 decades, and also a preface to the first edition. The addition of illustrations adds an element of levity to an otherwise serious piece of literature.

The main theme of the book, according to the preface by Dr. Muhyiddin Abd al Shakoor, is to challenge and encourage Muslims psychologists to join forces and devise a truly Islamic Psychological Model.

To play devil’s advocate, I do wonder what exactly is meant by the term ‘truly Islamic Psychology’. In the book, Dr. Badri goes to great lengths to prove that the secular scientists/psychologists/theoreticians, as much as they believe in their ‘objectivity’, are actually suffering from a blind spot: the author says that these ‘secular’ professionals are influenced by their unique beliefs and values, whatever those may be.

So far, so good. It makes sense that a person would be influenced by their beliefs, even though awareness of the issue might mitigate this side-effect to some extent.

Keeping this in mind, how can the respected author and/or writer of the preface talk about an Islamic Psychology without mentioning, even once, the fact that Islam, has in fact, several sects. If it comes to the development of an Islamic Psychology, we would have to examine the chain of narrators of the psychological teachings. As in the case of disputes among sects regarding ahadith and other jurisprudential teachings, I have to assume that the same issues would arise here, as well.

Let’s suppose that the author considered his own sect to be the one on the true path of Islam – whichever sect that might be. In this case, the author should again have mentioned it: that he follows XYZ sect and that influences his theories as put across in the book.

Finally, perhaps the author was operating on the premise of an ideal world, where an Islamic Psychology was not affected by divisions or sects. Once again, I believe this merits a mention, too.

Moving on from the definition of an ‘Islamic Psychology’ according to the author… in the absence of the preface, the reader may be forgiven for thinking that the main theme is to disprove psychoanalysis, primarily. 6 out of the 15 chapters are dedicated to Freud and his theories. After having disproved mainly the theories of behaviourism and psychoanalysis, the author takes a look at other therapies, such as humanism and logotherapy. Chapters 11 to 15 really come to the crux of the matter, and attempt to point the reader in the right direction. The question that naturally arises in the mind of the reader is, ‘What can we do?’ Dr. Badri briefly outlines several branches of psychological treatments, and includes suggestions for the Muslim professional. I feel that the author’s desire to see Islam at the centre of Muslim psychologists’ work, connects in a way to the ethos of PTCC. Just as in this course we are taught the importance of our native language, and the value in preserving and strengthening it, so too, the author speaks about Islam: he believes (and I agree with him) that any psychologist who is a Muslim, should centre his Islamic beliefs at the core of his work, and work within an Islamic framework; preserving, and strengthening his faith.

The author’s personal perspective is this: he believes that some Western theories are directly at odds with Islam, whereas others are mainly neutral or have some neutral elements which can be adapted for use within Islamic cultures.

For example, on page 93, the author states thus:

‘Muslim psychologists may compare these humanistic views with the Islamic concept of Fitra, the inborn good nature given to man by his Creator, and the Islamic belief in a man’s responsibility for what he chooses to do in this life.’

Ultimately, he would like to see a functioning society of Islamic psychologists, who are able to draw on our collective heritage and traditions, and formulate a psychological model that is firmly rooted in Islam, thus serving the Muslim Ummah without having to rely on outsiders’ beliefs/values/theories.

It is clear that the author has endeavoured to keep the language as simple as one possibly can when discussing such heavy and technical topics as tackled in this book. Whereas the chapters are littered with references and excerpts from other texts, I found it to be a conversational sort of style – and indeed, I had many conversations with the book! My personal experience with this book was a dynamic one. It was like a conversation, or making a new friend. I was attracted to the title, and expectations rose when I read about the author’s prolific life and experience in the field of psychology. But over the course of reading it, I had numerous questions and comments, most of which now grace the pages of my copy.

It is difficult for me to say whether I outright like or dislike, agree or disagree, with this book. There are many components to it, and here I will try to explain my thoughts as concisely as possible.

On the topic of the book’s content, I felt the it was not as organised as it could be. This book had the potential to be ‘symmetrical’, in a way: to raise questions and provide direct answers while disproving theories. As it stands, the author seems to jump from topic to topic, with an uneven amount of energy dedicated to the various subjects.

There was a lot for me to learn from this slim volume. I appreciate how knowledgeable Dr. Badri is in his chosen field. It was this extensive knowledge that enabled him to go into detail about theories, and juxtapose his Islamic beliefs against the secular viewpoints. He has done his best to encourage the Muslim psychologist to integrate his Muslim and his psychologist selves, and in doing so, make a conscious effort to serve the community. As stated in the preface:

‘Dr. Badri is pointing out to Muslim psychologists and psychiatrists their duty and their challenge: the conceptualisation and development of a truly Islamic Psychology.’

As mentioned earlier, an important point raised in this text is that secular/Western psychologists claim that their personal beliefs have no bearing on the theories they come up with; whereas it is not possible for a human to be completely objective, ever. Their theories will of course be influenced by their personal values or religion (or lack thereof). The author refutes Skinner’s theory of behaviourism, according to which religion is nothing more than the interaction between stimulus, response, and reinforcement. Again, it is evident that only a non-spiritual person would coin a spiritually empty theory such as this. In the same vein, the author advises Muslim psychologists not to take Western theories at face value; rather, to investigate the backgrounds of these hypotheses.

My main disappointment with the book is that while the author accuses other people with having blind spots regarding their biases, he (ironically) fails to realise that he is suffering from the same problem! Much of the book reads like an anti-Freud vendetta. As a disclaimer, let me mention that I am no fan of Freud or his hedonistic theories, but this work is supposed to be academically rigorous. Unfortunately, in many places it seems that the author’s judgement is clouded by his obvious disdain for Freud and/or the West, in general. In several places he has disproved Freud’s work through other texts and studies, which is an academically sound practice. However, in several others places he makes sweeping statements about Western society in general, or about Muslim psychoanalysts/psychologists who allegedly dogmatically follow Western practises more than their Western counterparts. These statements are not accompanied by any evidence; these are just presented as universal fact, whereas they could well be nothing more than the author’s opinion, or anecdotal evidence at best (and should have been mentioned as such).

In Chapter 5, the author references ‘the popular slack attitude that the “child is always right”…’

Popular where? According to whom? What is the proof that this so-called popular attitude exists, before proceeding to attempt to disprove this?

The author implies in several places that permissive parenting is the norm in the West, and laments how harmful that is. I would have loved to see some statistics around this oft-repeated sentiment. That permissive parents exist, yes I agree. But to imply that secular/Western/psychoanalytic professionals endorse this? Such a claim should not be made without actual back-up from real facts.

The author cites several examples of what seem to be incompetent professionals, and then blames their incompetence on the fact that they follow Freudian theories or some other Western approach. It seems that he is unable to separate the issue of the atheistic culture behind the theory, from the professional who uses those theories incorrectly. In order to refute a certain theory, surely you would present the most scientifically sound arguments, instead of people who are clearly off-base in their usage of said theories. And surely, the reader wonders – surely these are the exception and not the norm? And if the author is alleging that these sorts of practices are the norm, where is the evidence to prove that? Or are we to solely take the author’s word for it? The fact that some practitioners misused certain theories, is not evidence against those theories!

(For example: page 29, paragraph 1, illustrations on page 30, 31, 33, page 37 paragraph 3, page 37 paragraph 6, page 49 paragraph 3)

To tar everyone with the same brush is hardly an ‘empirical’ approach, something the author seems to be fond of, and therefore has no place in a text such as this.

Having expressed my disagreements, I would still suggest this book to anyone interested in the field of Islamic psychology. While it did not provide me with a great many answers; in fact, it raised more questions… this is a valuable addition to the library of anyone interested in the subject. Chapter 11 onwards, the work becomes more structured and organised, and outlines clear pathways for various professionals, as stated earlier in this review. Chapter 12 is titled ‘Psychology in the service of Islam’, and it was this chapter particularly, that I found the most useful. The diamond in the rough, so to speak. When writing about psychotherapy, the author strongly advises the Muslim psychotherapist to discard the Rogerian view of the ‘detached, morally neutral, empathic therapist.’ He explains that this model goes directly against Islamic teachings of forbidding the evil and enjoining the good.

When writing about educational psychology, the author states a powerful truth:

‘It is astonishing that Islam continues to gain ground as a political and social force in Muslim countries in spite of the disheartening manner in which it is presented to our primary and secondary school children, who on top of that, are being subjected to the influences of Western and Eastern anti-Islamic cultures.’ (page 80, paragraph 2)

And this passage, right here, shows how the author shared the same ethos as ERDC. What follows in this section is the expert commentary on Islamic Studies teachers and their pedagogy. Instead of adding more excerpts, I would suggest that every Muslim educational psychologist must read, at the very least, this section, if not the entire book.

Further down, in Chapter 13, Dr. Badri cites Victor Frankl and his psychotherapeutic school of ‘logotherapy’. The author speaks highly of Frankl, and advises all Muslim psychologists to study his work. When reading about the principles of logotherapy as mentioned at the end of page 94, I was reminded of the 5 dimensions of connection as outlined by Mr. Salman Asif Siddiqui.

When all is said and done, I would say the book is undoubtedly worth a read. It is a treasure trove of gems, opening the door to further exploration and research. How the reader may feel about it, is another matter, entirely!