Draft:Islamic Psychology

• Comment: Still LLM output —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 18:43, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: Unlike the historical study of medieval psychological thought, the modern discipline focuses on developing ontologically and epistemologically rooted frameworks for mental healthcare within Muslim populations - AI and incorrectly sourced - the source here says something quite different to the draft. ChrysGalley (talk) 14:34, 22 February 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: In accordance with Wikipedia's Conflict of interest guideline, I disclose that I have a conflict of interest regarding the subject of this article. Khanfahadh (talk) 04:19, 22 February 2026 (UTC)

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Islamic psychology

Discipline	Psychology; Islamic studies
Related fields	Clinical psychology; Psychology of religion; Spiritually integrated psychotherapy
Modern development	Late 20th century (as a contemporary movement)

Islamic psychology (Arabic: ʿilm al-nafs; lit. “science of the self/soul”) is a term used for modern scholarly and applied approaches that examine psychological theory and practice in relation to Islamic sources, concepts, and Muslim contexts. Scholars have noted that the term is used in multiple ways, and has been the subject of definitional debate and proposed conceptual frameworks within the academic literature.

Scope and concepts

Academic writing on Islamic psychology commonly distinguishes between (1) conceptual work that draws on Islamic theology, philosophy, and ethics to discuss the person (for example, discussions of the nafs and related terms), and (2) applied work concerned with counseling, psychotherapy, and mental health care with Muslim clients and communities.

History

Modern discussions of Islamic psychology are often linked to late-20th-century calls for developing psychology and psychotherapy approaches that are culturally and religiously meaningful for Muslims.

A frequently cited early critique is Malik Badri’s The Dilemma of Muslim Psychologists (1979), which argued against uncritical application of Eurocentric theories and encouraged engagement with indigenous concepts and traditions.

Alongside modern work, scholarship has also documented pre-modern Muslim writings on the soul, character, and human nature, and discussed how they relate to contemporary psychological topics.

Clinical and applied work

Clinical publications on psychotherapy with Muslim clients describe approaches in which Islamic beliefs and practices may be incorporated when clinically appropriate and aligned with client preferences.

Some contemporary models propose Islamic conceptions of the self and soul (for example, discussions of fitrah, nafs, qalb, ʿaql, and rūḥ) as a framework for assessment and intervention in psychotherapy.

Publication venues

Research related to Islamic psychology and Muslim mental health appears in journals in psychology of religion, psychotherapy, and interdisciplinary outlets focused on Muslim mental health. The Journal of Muslim Mental Health is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes articles exploring social, cultural, medical, theological, historical, and psychological factors affecting the mental health of Muslims in the United States and globally.

Journals explicitly focused on Islamic psychology are also published in Muslim-majority countries, including Indonesia, where multiple university- and association-based journals publish research and conceptual papers under this label.