A Critique on IOU Islamic Online University Courses/Degree in Islamic Psychology
Abul Baraa Muhammad Abdullah Amreeki
Motivated Speaker, Islamic Caller, Authors Blogger
A Critique on IOU Islamic Online University Courses/Degree in Islamic Psychology
Assignment Question: Discuss how studying psychology through the lens of Islam is better than studying secular psychology.
Islamic Psychology is something new in the Western World as a subject, something new. ?From this course, Psy 101, studying secular psychology through the lens of Islam is better than secular psychology. It is hard to say because this course needs to define what Islamic psychology is. ?The lessons demonstrated a few aspects of secular psychology from an Islamic lens or secular psychology with Islamic commentary. Note that this course is labeled on IOU’s dashboard as Islamic Psychology.
This course did not demonstrate any of its research through Islamic Psychology. Rather, it uses secular psychology as a medium base of this course. It quotes secular psychologists and uses their theories and approaches. This course did not attempt to show any Islamic Psychology Research Strategies from its own merits but rather copied and pasted the text of theories from secular sources. ?Then added content that said either Islam rejected or accepted this approach. It fails to show that Islamic psychology is better because it still uses secular psychology materials. It did not show any Islamic research strategies or experiments.
Studying secular psychology through an Islamic lens is better but with conditions. First, the level of the teacher and student need to know Islamic beliefs in and out. It needs to conduct its research, theories, and approaches. It must have a curriculum and framework that shows its research, theories, and approaches. Not to depend only on the literature and textbook, syllabus, and curriculum of the seculars. But it must free itself from Islamic literature that is incorrect and that has information that contradicts the Islamic authentic text or secular ideas passing to be Islamic thought. ?An example of a curriculum of secular information passing as Islamic information and thought from the Psy 101 module 6 Video & material part A, curriculum:
“Organ of Spiritual Perception, Aql Intellect,
-mental processes
– means by which come to know God
– in pursuit of self-realization and God-realization”
“Tvamey Vaham:?In this third stage of God’s realization, we become the God himself (enlightenment). This stage comes to those who practice intense spiritual practices (sadhana) — contemplation, comprehension, and meditation.” The Asian Age (December 2017). Retrieved from
This is a Buddhist/Hindu concept in pursuit of self-realization and God-realization that was later adopted by Sufis, who are also rooted in Buddhist (also Hinduism) beliefs and practices. Also, some theories in Western Psychology come from different religions, such as Buddhist practice and beliefs. Such as the Psychotherapy DBT based on Mindfulness comes from the Buddhist meditative practice Kirmayer. Lankaweb. (March, 2017). Retrieved from
Which slipped into IOU’s course material, “self-realization and God-realization” are not supported in the Quran and Sunnah.
So learning secular psychology from an Islamic lens, the teacher and student and course materials must have a robust Islamic perspective, be free from mistakes that contradict Islam, and religious text must be authentic. This error above, as part of IOU course material for years without being correct, means many students took this as being Islamic and correct Islamic thought, and it is not.
领英推荐
Studying secular psychology through an Islamic lens is a must, but as with every instrument a profession uses, the tools must be sharpened, and one must know how to use the right tool for a procedure.
An excellent example of studying psychology through an Islamic lens is the issue of homosexuality. First, we look at what Allah says in the Quran:
“And (remember) Loot (Lot), when he said to his people: ‘Do you commit the worst sin such as none preceding you has committed in the ‘Aalameen (mankind and jinn)?
81. ‘Verily, you practice your lusts on men instead of women. Nay, but you are a people transgressing beyond bounds (by committing great sins).’
82. And the answer of his people was only that they said: ‘Drive them out of your town; these are indeed men who want to be pure (from sins)!’
83. Then We saved him and his family, except his wife; she was one of those who remained behind (in the torment).
84. And We rained down on them a rain (of stones). Then see what was the end of the Mujrimoon (criminals, polytheists, and sinners)”. al-A’raaf 7:80-84
Homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder in the DSM, in the beginning, with the first edition published in 1952 by the American Psychiatric Association. Then later, declassified in December 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed the diagnosis of “homosexuality” from the second edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. This resulted after comparing competing theories, those that pathologized homosexuality and those that viewed it as normal. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from?https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4695779/
Observing secular psychology with an Islamic lens filters out the deception of secular views where DMS views Homosexuality as a mental disorder altered by vote. (1973, December 23), New York Times.
Retrieved from?https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/23/archives/the-issue-is-subtle-the-debate-still-on-the-apa-ruling-on.html ?and gay activists challenging it in 1969, known as the Stone Wall Riots. History.com Editors. (May 31, 2022). Retrieved from?https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/the-stonewall-riots ?
Studying secular psychology within the teachings of Islam allows the thought that Islam can filter between what is falsehood and what is truth, with the condition that the teacher, student, and materials are built in Islamic teachings, such as Aqeedah. ?The question that needs to be asked is whether secular psychology looked at through an Islamic lens, is fair and accurate according to Islamic teachings. For example, secular psychology evolved from philosophy, no other than ?Aristotle, the Greek philosopher. “Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) numbers among the greatest philosophers of all time. Judged solely in terms of his philosophical influence, only Plato is his peer: Aristotle’s works shaped centuries of philosophy from Late Antiquity through the Renaissance”.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2020, August). Retrieved from?https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle/ ?
Philosophy is one of the main causes of many different sects in Islam that alter from the correct Aqeedah, such as the Mutazilah and the Jahmiya. ?Psychology today has roots in philosophy.
So when the teacher or the student understands that Scientific Naturalism, Positivism, Empiricism, and Behaviorism go against the Islamic teaching and are without God. But still, using and depending on its principles and concepts, research, curriculum and syllabus, and physiologist through an Islamic Lens, will we get the conclusion of the Mutazilah and Jahmiya and other sects that were misguided in their creed due to philosophy and its concept? Because as part of IOU’s curriculum, “ in pursuit of self-realization and God-realization” have no place in Islam. If this slip-up, what else is to be found? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Written by Abul Baraa Muhammad Amreeki