Integrating Islamic Principles in the Curriculum of Psychology
Abstract
The discipline of psychology is a very important knowledge to guide human life in this world. Psychology is a knowledge about ourselves with all the dynamics that could happen to us. The current mainstream psychological science is dominated by the western secular atheistic perspective. Psychology defines human beings as human animals as one of the products of evolution. The evolutionary perspective on human beings leads us to accept that human beings are evolving overtime, meaning that there is no basic nature of human beings that remains the same until the end of the world. In the Quranic word this basic nature of human beings is called fitrah. This issue could and already mislead the muslim Ummah in understanding their self and their social life. Therefore, as a muslim we should define psychology that is based on the Islamic teaching through the Quran and Hadith.
In order to establish the discipline of psychology from the Islamic perspective, at least we have to redefine the purpose, the object of study, and the methodology. The purpose of the discipline of psychology on Islamic worldview is to maintain and grow the health of the human soul. The Islamic teaching teaches us that life in this world is a journey that eventually we will come back to Allah in the hereafter. This purpose is different from conventional psychology which is hedonistic in nature and also materialistic. All individuals living in this world will experience happiness and sadness and sometimes multiple degrees of suffering. The Quran already warns us about these multiple possibilities in life and as a human we should endure this up and down while still preserving our dignity. That is why the discipline of psychology from the Islamic perspective embraces happiness and also difficulties in life with the belief that everything has meaning for us to learn from.
The object of the study in Islamic psychology is the human soul (nafs) which is sometimes also called the human heart. On the other hand, conventional psychology always changes their object of study across history. Concerning the methodology, the science of Islamic psychology expands the scientific evidence not only from something that can be observed, but also from the psychodynamics of human beings and the Quranic messages. Therefore, in Islamic psychology a multimethod approach is used in all levels and all areas of the discipline. For example, in developing theories, the muslim psychologist can start from Quranic study and then combine with observation and also be supported by logical contemplation.
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