History of Psychology in İslam

Abstract

The science of psychology emerged from the second half of the 1700s and has a function to fill the gap in the religious field. The primary point of modern psychology was the doctrine of sin and the West's pessimistic point of view, so there were problems in understanding human enigma. Failure to analyze people correctly led to the emergence of wrong prescriptions and it was understood that it was important to move towards the spiritual field only with the emergence of transpersonnel psychology and then positive psychology approach. After this phase, it is seen that ancient spiritual traditions centered on Taoism and Hinduism started to be used in psychological therapy and well-being. However, studies on Islamic spirituality have not been conducted in the field of psychology for many years. At this point, the works of Malik Badri and Rajhid Skinner within the scope of Islamic Psychology, theoretical and practical studies of Robert Frager on sufi therapy, theoretical and practical studies and dream analysis studies conducted by Mustafa Merter within the scope of nafs psychology and under the leadership of Erciyes University, Spiritual Psychology studies initiated in 2014 are important studies. When we look at the history of the psychology studies of the Islamic world, in the process that started with El Kindi; Belhi, the first Muslim psychiatrist, studies on anxiety and depression therapy; Findings about child and adolescent psychology made by Ibni Sina and Farabi; Ghazali put forward the conditional reflex theory centuries before Skinner, an important name in behavioral psychology; Mevlana's story and his findings in Mesnevi that go beyond the ages and psychology; Medical and psychological findings of İbrahim Hakkı Erzurumi in Marifetneme; In the exegesis of Abdürrezzak Kaşani, the definitions and findings of modern psychology that exceeded human imagination; in fact, it shows that psychology is not new in the Islamic world. It is long time for modern psychology, which has been blown cold to Islam and Muslim scholars for many years, to investigate and take advantage of these values, which are also important for itself. It is necessary to reevaluate the verses of the Qur'an about the nafs, heart and soul within the framework of the ishârî exegesis and to reinterpret Mesnevi in a psychological sense. This study focuses on the birth of psychology and psychology in the Islamic world and past studies and contributions to the field of psychology from the recent period to the present.