Positive Islamic Psychology: A Transcendent Model to Achieve Peace, Happiness, and Success in the 21st Century [2 ed.] 9789671407400

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POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY: A TRANSCENDENT MODEL TO ACHIEVE PEACE, HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY: A TRANSCENDENT MODEL TO ACHIEVE PEACE, HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

By Prof. Muhammad Al-Mahdi Jenkins (Late) Dr. Abdul Aziz Bin Azimullah

Khalifah Education Foundation & Positive Islamic Psychology Centre 2021

Second Edition, 2021 © Khalifah Education Foundation & Positive Islamic Psychology Centre

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission from authors. The book Positive Islamic Psychology: A Transcendent Model to Achieve Peace, Happiness and Success in the 21st Century is jointly published by: Khalifah Education Foundation (433502-X) No. 427, Jalan 2, Taman Ampang Utama, 68000 Ampang, Selangor. Tel: +603-4251 3368 Fax: +603-4256 5423 & Positive Islamic Psychology Centre Division of Entrepreneurs Development Institute Sdn Bhd (386571-W) No 1, Lorong Wangsa 5a,Taman Wangsa Ukay, Bukit Antarabangsa, 68000 Ampang, Selangor. Official Website www.islamicpsychology.net ISBN No: 978-967-14074-0-0 1. Psychology 2. Islam and Science Printed by Firdaus Press Sdn. Bhd.

In the Name of God the Most Compassionate the Merciful

And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds.

(Quran: 21: 107)

vi POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD

xix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

xxii

PREFACE

xxv

INTRODUCTION

1

Historical Evolution of Positive Islamic Psychology

1

Refutation of Atheist/Materialist Theory

2

What is Wrong with Modern Psychology

4

Positive Psychology

6

Positive Transcendent Psychology (PTP)

8

Positive Islamic Psychology

10

An Insane 21st Century

10

Positive Islamic Psychology Overview

15

CHAPTER 1 Positive Islamic Psychology- 1st Principle: Understanding the Creator and the Created Universe

17

The Roots of 21st Century Atheism

18

Everything that Exists is Either Contingent/Accident or Necessary/Essential

27

The Logic of the Existence of God (Allah)

28

Proof of the Essentiality of an Active Cause for the Universe

30

Proof of God Being Eternal

39

Proof of God’s Everlastingness

31

Qur’anic Revelation and Modern Scientific Discoveries Prove that God Created the Universe

37

God is the Creator of this Fine-Tuned Universe

41

The Speed of the expansion of the Universe

41

Fine-Tuning from the Initial Big Bang towards Life on Earth

42

The Fine-Tuning of Four Fundamental Forces

43

Fine-Tuning in the Formation of Carbon

44

Fine-Tuning in the Cosmological Constant of SpaceTime

46

Table Of Content

vii

Fine-Tuning of Biological Information in Living Matter

47

Many Other Phenomena Point to God

49

The Mathematics of Probability Proves that God Created the Universe

49

Mind Game on the Creation of the Universe

52

Modern Scientific Evidence and the Qur’anic Revelation Prove

55

That God Created the Universe

55

We are a Creature of Nothingness

60

CHAPTER 2 Positive Islamic Psychology- 2nd Principle: The Holistic Transcendent Nature of The Human Self

64

Understanding the Human Self

65

The Spirit (Ruh)

68

The Heart (Qalb)

82

Understanding Our Heart

83

The Mind (Aqal)

98

The Physical Body (Jasad)

110

The Combined Human Self (Nafs)

116

The Realm of Primordial Existence (Azali) Before the Existence of Space and Time

119

The Human Self (Nafs) in This World

120

This Realm of Life after Death CHAPTER 3 Positive Islamic Psychology- 3rd Principle: On Being the Vicegerent of God in the Universe (On Being the Khalifah of Allah)

128

Introduction

129

The Concept of Khalifah (Vicegerency)

130

Man is Given “Material Gifts”

134

Man is Given Natural Disposition (fitrah)

134

Man is Given God-Like Attributes

135

Man is Given Knowledge

136

Man is Given Free Will

136

viii POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

The Roles of Khalifah of God

136

The First Responsibility of a Khalifah of God

140

The Second Responsibility of a Khalifah of God

143

Collective Duty

144

The Muslim Community is Therapeutic

144

The Brotherhood of Mankind

145

The Third Responsibility of Khalifah of God

148

Jihad

151

How to Make Jihad Successful

154

Commanding What is Right and Forbidding What is Wrong

155

Eliminating Evil and Making Good Prevail

157

Applying Beautiful Words and Wisdom

158

Keeping our Heart (Qalb) Spotless

159

Using the Inner Speech to Repent (Taubah)

161

Internalizing the Role of Khalifah: Raising a Khalifah from the Grassroots

162

The 3 Simple Khalifah Steps

165

Using Khalifah Model to Raise Children to Become Resistant to Evil

166

Conclusion

170

CHAPTER 4 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY – 4th Principle: On Being The Vicegerent Of God In The Universe (On Being The Khalifah Of Allah)

172

Introduction

173

Change Through Directed Positive Influence

176

Harnessing People’s Power

177

The Keys to Knowledge and Truth

179

Inner Speech

182

The Nature of Consciousness and Inner Speech

182

Nature of Animal and Human Learning

185

Types of Learning: Conditioning

186

Classical Conditioning

191

Operant Conditioning

193

Table Of Content

ix

Reward and Punishment

196

Reinforcement and Learning

196

Types of Operant Conditioning

200

Environmental Conditions and Goal Setting

204

Shaping Process

207

The Importance of Laws of Learning

209

The limits of our Behaviour

211

Generalization

216

How Generalisation Occurs

217

Human Learning

218

Social Reinforcement

219

Anxiety

222

Negative Conditioning

223

Laws of Learning as a Foundation of Social Change

224

Fixed-Ratio Conditioning

225

The Effects of Variable-Ratio Conditioning and Gambling

226

Fixed-Interval and Variable-Interval Schedules and their effect on students’ behaviour

227

Schedule of Reinforcement Feedback

230

The Effect of Schedule of Reinforcement and Tantrum Behaviour

232

The Effect of Negative Reinforcement on Response

234

Conditioning Process To increase Attention Span

235

The Influence of Inner Speech

240

Understanding the Concept of Fairness, Honesty and Truth

241

The Influence of Laws of Learning on Human Life

244

Behaviour Modification

245

The Concept of Good and Evil

249

Modelling

250

The Effects of Conditioning in Our Lives

254

Effect of Conditioning

255

Nature of Force and Aggression

257

Nature of Guilt

258

Opportunity, Potential and Success in Life

263

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Differences in Inherent Human Potential, Tendencies and Behaviour

268

Collective Human Consciousness

270

Characteristics and Factors of Mental Illness

274

Self-fulfillling Prophecy: The Pygmalion Effect

277

Criminality and Homosexuality

281

Classification of Mental Illness

283

Why Treatment of Mental Illness Fails

285

Understanding Phobias

287

Cognitive Dissonance

289

Spiritual/Mystical Knowledge

294

Conclusion

296

CHAPTER 5 Positive Islamic Psychology Model

299

Introduction

300

Inputs that Shape Human Perception

306

First Input: Physical Environment

306

Second Input: Interpersonal Communication / Social Environment

308

Third Input: Inner Speech

309

Nature of Inner Speech

314

The Journey of Life Towards Perfection

322

Framework for Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) Model

324

Positive Islamic Psychology: Model of Human Consciousness

328

World Consciousness is the Sum Total of Individual Consciousness

331

Application of Maqasid al-Shariah in Positive Islamic Psychology Model

333

Universal Principles of Human Rights and Responsibilities

336

A World that is Truly Good

345

Conclusion

346

Table Of Content

xi

CHAPTER 6 Practical Application of Positive Islamic Psychology I: Applying PIP in Our Daily Life to Achieve Peace, Happiness and Success

347

Introduction to Practical Application of Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP)

348

A. Practicing Basic Principles of Islam as a Way of Life

349

The Pillars of Islam

349

1. Inner Dimension of the Belief in One God (Tauhid)

350

The One Who Created us: Knowing our Creator from Authentic sources gives life its true meaning and happiness

350

Knowing God

350

God's Name

351

The Eternal Creator

351

Allah is not God of only Muslims

352

One God, One Religion

355

A Happy Ending

356

The Return

357

The Final Prophet: Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) His Legacy of Truth, Justice & Peace continues to inspire to a better world The man & his message

358

Why no Prophets after Muhammad

358

The greatest Man

359

How he received Revelation

359

The Qur'an

360

Muhammad and other prophets

360

What Muhammad gave Humanity

361

Muhammad's Legacy

362

2. Prayers (Solat)

363

3. Fasting (Sawm)

366

4. Alms Giving (Zakat)

367

5. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

369

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B. Practical Application of Contemplation and Meditation to Achieve Peace, Happiness and Success

370

i. Contemplation in Islam

374

ii. Meditation in Islam

378

C. Basic Techniques that We Can Practice: Calm Breathing Focus Technique and Asma al-Husna

386

Dhikr Allah with Asma al-Husna

388

Some Hadith and Qur’anic verses related to the significance of dhikr

389

Remembrance and Zikr of the Divine Names/ Attributes of Allah SWT

393

D. Practical Application of Inner Speech Dialogue Technique(ISDT): Using Inner Speech Dialogue Technique (ISDT) toachieve Peace, Happiness and Success Integration of ISDT Technique with Islamic Healing Techniques, Energy Healing Modalities and Other Complimentary Therapies

403

412

CHAPTER 7 Practical Application of Positive Islamic Psychology II: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Positive Islamic Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Pi-CBT)

418

Introduction

419

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

420

Practical Application of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

421

Group Counselling Approach in Pi-CBT

435

Support Groups in Pi-CBT

436

The Experience of Commonality/Universality

436

Practical Examples Combining CBT and Pi-CBT

440

Practical Example 1: Using CBT/Pi-CBT to Overcome Depression

441

What Makes CBT Different From Other Therapies

446

What Can I Expect From My Treatment?

447

Cognitive Rehearsal, Role Play and “Alternative” Therapy

450

Table Of Content

xiii

Additional notes about CBT / Pi-CBT

451

Potential Problems with CBT/Pi-CBT

451

Depression and Drug Therapy

452

A Cumulative Effect

453

Why do People Say Antidepressants Don't Work?

454

Conclusion

457

Practical Example 2: Using CBT/Pi-CBT to Overcome Panic and Anxiety

458

Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety

458

Stress

460

The Impact of Stressful Situations

461

Selye Three Phases General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

462

Causes of Anxiety

463

Types of Anxiety Disorders

463

CBT/Pi-CBT Treatment for Anxiety

468

CBT/Pi-CBT Treatment Techniques for Anxiety

469

Rationalizing Responses (Example of Homework/

472

Examples of Thought Distortions and Possible

472

Anxiety and Drug Therapy

472

Antidepressants and Anxiety Disorders

473

Why are Antidepressants Used to Treat Anxiety Disorders?

473

Why do Antidepressants Fail?

474

Summary of CBT and Pi-CBT Combined Approach

475

Substantial Free Resources on CBT/Pi-CBT

477

Information Sheets and Worksheets CBT

478

Conclusion

482

CHAPTER 8: Practical Application of Positive Islamic Psychology III: Manual for Parents for Shaping Excellent Character for Children

483

Introduction

484

The Procedure For Shaping Character

485

xiv POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

The Role of Inner Speech: The Story of Yusuf

488

Laws of Learning

489

Shaping Process: Practical Example

491

Applying Shaping Process

492

Reward

493

The Story of Omar and His Little Sister

494

Children Need Attention

495

The Story of Ahmad at the Canteen

496

Punishment

498

Punishment versus Firmness

501

The Story of Grandfather and His Grandson

503

Islamic Character: Man as Khalifah (Allah’s Representative)

504

The Concept of Khalifah

504

Conclusion

509

CHAPTER 9: Practical Application of Positive Islamic Psychology IV: Handbook for Positive Change: The Khalifah Circle Approach to Help Create a Just, Peaceful and Happy World

513

Introduction

514

The Positive Jihad

514

What is Khalifah Circle?

515

Simple Step-By-Step Guide to Setting Up Khalifah Circles

517

How to do Positive Jihad Through Khalifah Circles

521

Using Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) to Create a Just, Peaceful and Happy World Creating a Just World in the 21st Century

522

Primary Programs: Practical Action Plans and Activities to Create and Promote a Just Global Society in the 21st Century

526

Other Projects and Programs of Khalifah Circles

528

Secondary Program: Examples of other Programs and Projects for Khalifah Circles

528

Table Of Content

xv

Spreading the Message of Islam Through the Khalifah Cirlcle Approach

529

Who Can Participate in This Positive Jihad

530

Cooperation, Synergy and Working Together for a Just World

533

Discussion approach to Developing Action Projects

534

How to Achieve Our Goals as Khalifah on Earth

535

What to do in a Khalifah Circle Meeting

537

Ensuring Success of Khalifah Circle Programs and Projects

538

Future Programs to Promote Positive Islamic Psychology to the World

539

Self Development and Continuing Education For Members of Khalifah Circles

540

Conclusion

540

CHAPTER 10: Practical Application of Positive Islamic Psychology V: Integrating Permaculture with Positive Islamic Psychology – The Khalifah Circle Way

542

Introduction

543

Permaculture

544

Permaculture in Islamic Civilization

544

Three core tenets of permaculture

545

Design Principles of permaculture

546

Zones in Permaculture

548

People and permaculture

549

Using Modern Technology in Permaculture

550

Implementing Permaculture through a Khalifah Circle

551

Conclusion

552

Resources

553

EPILOGUE

556

ONLINE CERTIFICATION LIFE COACH TRAINING PROGRAM

559

BIBLIOGRAPHY

567

xvi POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROMOTING POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY (PIP) HANDBOOK TO ACHIEVE PEACE, HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS FOR THE MUSLIM UMMAH AND ALL HUMANITY.

1.

This is the first Positive Islamic Psychology handbook published in the world. In shaa Allah, it can generate great interest for further research and development by Muslim scholars and psychologists.

2.

Prof. Muhammad Al-Mahdi Jenkins’ deep research in Positive Psychology had enabled him to develop the first framework of integrative transcendent model for Positive Islamic Psychology.

3.

This book is the result of 40 years of research done by the late Prof. Dr. Muhammad Al-Mahdi Jenkins. He was a renowned psychologist. Through his research and understanding of the beauty of Islamic philosophy, worldview and teachings, he converted to Islam. He then dedicated his life to Islamic Da’wah by setting up the Khalifah Institute and the Khalifah Education Foundation, until his demise in 2006.

4.

By integrating modern psychology with traditional Islamic scholarship and works of great Muslim scholars, namely Imam Ghazali, Ibn Qayyum, Ibn Sina and others in the past, the late Prof. Jenkins was able to develop an integrative transcendent model of modern Positive Islamic Psychology. This integrative scientific model of psychology is the first in the world. It can be the framework for the development of a thriving and flourishing society in the 21st century.

POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

xvii

5. Through his research, the late Prof. Jenkins realized that Islam has the most complete Positive Psychology that can transform the ummah. This Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) handbook, if spread worldwide, can transform the Muslim ummah to become global achievers in the 21st century, by the Grace of Allah Ta’ala. Positive Islamic Psychology can be the basis for global peace by making the ummah to become the best of humanity that can strive for global peace, happiness and success for all of humanity in the 21st century, in shaa Allah.

6.

Please view our websites: a. www.Islamicpsychology.net. b. www.pipdakwa.blogspot.com

7.

YouTube Channels: a.

Islamic Psychology PIP

b.

Islamic Motivation PIP

c.

Islamic Coaching PIP

d.

Islamic Mentoring PIP

e.

Islamic Counseling PIP

f.

Ruqyah IIH

Foreword I have been a friend and an admirer of the late Professor Muhammad Al-Mahdi Jenkins. I am greatly impressed with his knowledge and his indefatigable devotion in Islamizing and adapting psychology. His sincere objective was to restructure psychology so it can be of real benefit in bringing up a new generation of Muslim children who can combine a dedicated belief in Allah with modern education and a selfconfident worldview based on their conviction that they are the vicegerents of God on Earth (Khalifatullahi fil Ard). Professor Al-Mahdi believed that the major cause for the dispirited condition of Muslim is their collective feeling of inferiority and their educational system that reinforces this disheartened pessimistic attitude. School education in Muslim countries brings up children who passively accept and memorize rather than comprehend and evaluate. Many Muslim psychologists speak and write on the Islamization of their discipline. They devote their time to theoretically discuss abstract issues unrelated to the practical problems of their countries. They eventually publish these pedantic discourses in refereed journals that are only read by other professional psychologists. Few have ever paid attention on how their Islamized psychology could be formulated in concrete down-to-Earth applications that benefit the Muslim Ummah. As opposed to this passive approach, Professor Al-Mahdi stood out as a distinguished pioneer. He devoted all his life on the development of what he befittingly named, “the Khalifah Model of holistic research”. He expounded the practical applications of this model in the field of Islamic positive psychology. Al-Mahdi brilliantly implemented the Qur’anic Verses that elevated man to the status of the Vicegerent of Allah on Earth in order to impassion Muslim children with a new spirit of self-confidence. This was crowned with a new curriculum that exemplified these values as well as teaching methods which reward the children for

Foreword

xix

doing what is correct rather than the usually followed way of punishing them when they wrongly perform. As he was diligently working, joining days with nights to achieve this noble goal, Al-Mahdi was actually wrestling with the excruciating pain of cancer. Few of those around him knew of his predicament. I was one of them. We had long meetings discussing his version of Islamic positive psychology. Most of the time we found ourselves in full agreement but we often differed as I can see now that our differences were largely due to cultural aspects. He was a highly optimistic American who reverted to Islam. He expected things to be done as if he were in the West. I knew more about the cultural obstacles that his project might face. He often returned to me after realizing the existence of these cultural hindrances. Allah Ta’ala rewarded this great pioneer by seeing his project successfully materialized before his death. He then started to record his blessed endeavour in the detailed volume that I am writing this forward to. It is a voluminous handbook that details the road map for educators and psychologists who wish to follow the blessed example of being the Khalifah of Allah. The volume, a detailed theoretical and practical guide to Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP), was co-authored by his friend Dr. Abdul Aziz Azimullah. In fact, Professor Muhammad Al-Mahdi died before finishing the book. It was Dr. Azimullah, the Director of Positive Islamic Psychology Centre who completed his writing. It took 601 pages to finish the theoretical and practical applications of Islamic Positive Psychology together with a manual for parents and a handbook for positive changes. I wish to strongly recommend the book to all practicing Muslim psychologists. It offers detailed theoretical and practical applications in cognitive and behavioural Islamic positive psychology.

xx POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

If there is any criticism that I wish to mention, it would be my desire to see more references to the life or Sirah and to the noble character or Shama’il of our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Practical Islamic positive psychology cannot be achieved without detailed examples from the blessed life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), emulating these chapters. I also suggest that a summary portraying the most important aspects of Islamic Positive Psychology without the material that psychologist can find in Western textbooks should be published for those who may not have the time to read the whole volume.

Malik Badri Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Ahfad University, Sudan. Holder of the Chair of Ibn Khaldun, International Islamic University Malaysia.

Acknowledgements All praise and gratitude belong to Allah, the Almighty alone, the One and only Lord, and All-Merciful. Blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad, the last of His Messengers and Prophets, his family, his companions and all those who follow in his footsteps until the day of judgement. To my late Mother Madam Waznah and My Late father Azimullah who brought me up with great difficulties yet showered us with love, patience, wisdom, morals and Islamic values. May Allah bless them and grant them the best of Jannah. To my dearest beloved wife, Fatimabibi, with whom we build a strong family on the foundation of love, patience and mutual understanding. This work would not have been possible without her untiring patience, support and encouragement. To my beloved sister Fatimah who sacrificed her personal life to sustain our family after the passing of our father. She gave us the valuable gifts of fortitude in life and willingness to serve and make sacrifice for others. To my beloved children; Safiyyah, Aisha, Syazana, Mohammad, Azizi, Anis, and my grandchildren; Sumayyah, Johann, Rauf, Sophie, Sakeenah, Sarah and Naim, we hope that this book will be your handbook as a practical guide in your life in achieving happiness, peace and success in this world and the hereafter. May I leave this book as a legacy for all of you to strive and continue the Jihad of Positive Islamic Psychology for all time to come. To all my brothers, Ekram, Rasheed, Ahmad and Aslam and all other family members, may we be blessed with the goodness of this world and the hereafter.

xxii POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

To my friend, mentor and co-author; the late Professor Muhammad Al-Mahdi Jenkins, who dedicated his whole life to Islam after his reversion. He founded the Khalifah Institute, Khalifah Model School, the Khalifah Method, as well as its official site, Islamic-world.net. This book is based on his extensive research and writing to strive and create a truly comprehensive Islamic world. To my co-trustees of Khalifah Institute; Professor Dr. Alini, Brother Karim Omar and the members of the Board of Directors of Khalifah Educational Foundation/ ExcelUmmah; Datuk Zohir, Datin Rosnani, Professor Nurhani, Ustadh Hasrizal, Md. Qayyum, Dr. Zaleha, Farahyayla, Mursyidi, Dr. Zaiton, Datin Shomiriza, Kapt Siti, Abdul Azim and Wan Rodiah. Thank you for your continuous kind support, encouragement and hard work which have enabled Khalifah Institute to be of service to the local community and the Muslim world. Our sincere gratitude also goes to the Board of Directors and staff of Khalifah Model School (KMS). May our work and struggle be accepted by Allah the Almighty as our Jihad to positively transform the Ummah. To my late teachers, Ustadh Pak Maan, Ustadh Haji Daud Ali, Ustadh Haji Taha Suhaimi, Ustadh Syed Abdilah Al-Jufri, Moulavi M. H. Babu Sahib and my other teachers both in the public schools and madrasah who nurtured, supported and encouraged me to seek knowledge and taught me the truth and the beautiful path of Islam. To all our research assistants who put hearts and souls in doing research for this book, we would specifically acknowledge the contribution and the hard work of the following: sisters Amirah, Novi, Runa and Salma, brothers; Abdul Razak Ricardo, Umar, Qamarul, Abdul Mutallib, Alfi, Haris, Irham, Ghani, Bambang, Md Kalim Uddin, Ustadh Awwaluddin, Dr. Tajul Islam, Dr. Maulana Shah and Dr. Ibrahim Ilyasu. May Allah reward them all abundantly

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xxiii

and guide them towards practical implementation of Positive Islamic Psychology. To all my friends and office staff especially brothers Rosli, Anwar, Hairi, Pak Saad and sisters Hannah, Rosnah, Mas, Asmah, and others who have contributed positively towards the publication of this book. Your enthusiasm, advice and support in compiling this book have not failed to be heartwarming and intellectually beneficial to all of us. To Professor Dr Malik Badri, the world renowned and respected Islamic psychologist. Professor Badri was a close friend to the late Professor Al-Mahdi Jenkins. Thank you for your inspiring foreword of this book. May Allah bless and reward you for your lifelong service to Islam and humanity. May we all implement the principles of Positive Islamic Psychology to achieve peace, happiness and success in this 21st century. May Allah bless us all in this world and the hereafter.

Dr. Abdul Aziz Bin Azimullah, Founder & Director, Positive Islamic Psychology Centre (PIPC). Board Member, Khalifah Education Foundation (KEF)

Preface All praise be to God, the Lord of the universe, May He add His compassion and ever lasting peace and mercies on the soul of his exalted and beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his companions, and all those who uphold his message and sunnah till the Day of Judgment. In essence, psychology is the study of the human self which includes the soul/spirit, and its transcendent nature. However, modern psychology has removed all connections with the metaphysical concept of the human self due to its empirical nature and its formulation on the scientific method of experimentation. Moreover, modern empirical psychology considers man as an integral part of the vast machine of the universe to the utter disregard of his higher values and ideals. In line with this approach, man is seen as a machine with a body and a brain, but not with a soul/spirit, or a mind, or a heart. This approach, however, is faulty as it is concerned only with the physical observable facts which are seen as an objective scientific conclusion while taking ethics and values for granted by considering them subjective and not quantifiable. In fact, even from scientific point of view, it is erroneous to base modern psychology on mere physical observable facts without reference to values. This is because human behaviours are not lifeless entities but living realities. They take on meaning to the extent until they can be placed in cultural, social and religious settings which can provide a sound basis for their correct interpretation. In response to the failure of modern psychology in solving the psychological problems of modern society, a new field of psychology, called the Positive Psychology was introduced in the year 2000. Positive Psychology is the scientific study of ordinary human strengths and virtues by revisiting the average person with an interest in finding out what works, what is right,

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xxv

and what is improving. The field was basically introduced to complement traditional psychology and stresses on the importance of applying scientific method to examine and assess the success and failure of human nature and behaviour. Furthermore, Positive Psychology focuses on analysing the whole scope of human potentials and experiences from loss, suffering, illness, and distress through connection, fulfillment, health, and well-being (Seligman, 2000; Sheldon, 2001; Harvey, 2001). It would be fair to say that the invention of positive psychology approach represents a new revolution intended to drive professional psychologists to examine their works and help them to understand not only how to alleviate distress and dysfunction but also to promote well-being and optimal functioning. However, critical examination of the concept of Positive Psychology reveals that its fundamentals premised are atheistic and secular ideologies. This book Positive Islamic Psychology: A Transcendent Model to Achieve Peace, Happiness and Success in the 21st Century represents a breath-taking attempt to approach psychology from an Islamic perspective in the light of the traditional Islamic and contemporary knowledge. The book is co-authored by the late Professor Muhammad Al-Mahdi Jenkins, a Muslim revert who dedicated his whole life towards the development of the Khalifah Method and the initial research on Positive Islamic Psychology. Prof Jenkins was a world renowned Clinical Child Psychologist and one of the founders of the HeadStart Program under the US Presidential Initiative to help underprivileged children to achieve excellence in education. He was also the protégé of the late Professor B. F. Skinner, the father of modern behavioural psychology. Dr Abdul Aziz Azimullah, is an Educationist and Human Resource Development Consultant. He is also a practicing Naturopath and Nutritionist. He is one of the Trustees of

xxvi POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

the Khalifah Institute set-up by the late Professor Al-Mahdi Jenkins. Both authors believe that psychology is one of the fields of human sciences that could be “Islamized” by integrating inputs from secular and Islamic perspectives. This can be done by adopting a framework for examining the nature of the human self, in its inherent potentials and its observable traits, in the light of the teachings of the Quran and the Prophetic tradition (Sunnah). It also reviews the rich heritage and understanding of Muslim scholars who excelled in both worldly and spiritual knowledge. In this work, the authors have rejected behaviourist schools of psychology that reduce all human intellectual and complex activities to a strictly experimental science. They also rejected the materialistic and atheistic approach that turned psychology into a material science which is based on the assumption that human beings, like matter can be controlled like a machine. Consequently, they made a comprehensive research on Positive Islamic Psychology framing their approach on four Principles:

•

1st Principle: Understanding The Creator and the Created Universe

•

2nd Principle : The Holistic Transcendent Nature of the Human Self

•

3rd Principle : On Being the Vicegerent of God in this Universe

•

4th Principle: Holistic Principles of Behaviour and Human Learning

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This formed the basis of the book; Positive Islamic Psychology: A Transcendent Model to Achieve Peace, Happiness and Success in the 21st Century. Essentially, the book aims to elucidate the key concepts of Positive Islamic Psychology while addressing the contemporary 21stcentury problems of all humanity. Indeed, there are many scientific discoveries today that provide a great understanding of the nature of the human self as well as the underlying principles of human behaviour. The authors endeavour to match the underlying principles of Islam in the context of modern psychological research, application, modalities and therapies. They also use findings by prominent traditional Muslim scholars of the past centuries whose research findings are scientifically acceptable and relevant to the problems of contemporary humanity. Similarly, the book adopts a holistic approach in examining human nature, believing that human being is not just a physical being but a holistic multidimensional creature that has aspects of the spirit, heart/emotion, mind/brain, and lastly the physical body. This concept is comprehensively elucidated in a way that will be acceptable and compatible to contemporary transcendent psychology. Moreover, the transcendent human nature is painstakingly addressed based on Islamic principles and the modern scientific findings such as quantum theory as well as recent findings in cosmology and theoretical physics. The book proposes that psychologists throughout the world should begin their research in Positive Transcendent Psychology regardless of their race, religion or socioeconomic background. Similarly, it proposes that Positive Islamic Psychology is the way forward specifically for Muslims and generally for all humanity throughout the world. The book consists of introduction and ten chapters: Introduction contains a background about the field of modern psychology and its historical evolution. It also involves comprehensive critique of modern psychology and how Positive Psychology was introduced to address the failure of modern psychology in solving the psychological problems of modern society.

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Chapter 1 discusses the 1st principle of Positive Islamic Psychology: understanding the Creator and the created universe. This chapter is dedicated to refute the premise of scientific atheism upon which the principles of most branches of scientific fields are based. This is done by exploring the origin of the universe and proving scientifically and religiously that God is the Creator of the universe. Chapter 2 elaborates on the 2nd principle: the holistic transcendent nature of the human self. The chapter uses the transcendent principle that God is the Creator of the universe to demonstrate the true nature of the human self. It also comprehensively criticizes and refutes the atheistic belief that human beings are merely physical beings made up of cells, organs, molecules, elements, atoms and subatomic particles. Chapter 3 provides a comprehensive explanation on 3rd principle of Positive Islamic Psychology: on being the Vicegerent of God in this universe. It argues that the collapse of moral, spiritual, societal values in modern societies are clear testimonies that our 21st century civilization is moving towards self-destruction. Consequently, humanity in the 21st century found itself in the state of emotional, mental and spiritual chaos as a result of the promotion of the secular materialistic way of life. The only way to address this problem is by revisiting the essence of our creation as being the vicegerents of God or Khalifah of Allah on Earth. Chapter 4 mentions the 4th principle: holistic principles of behaviour and human learning. This chapter is dedicated to the application of holistic principle of behaviour and laws of learning to transform the contemporary society. Chapter 5 provides the Positive Islamic Psychology model on how human perception should be shaped placing a special emphasis on three inputs; physical, social and inner speech. Similarly, it provides a comprehensive framework of the Positive Islamic Psychology model for achieving peace, happiness and success.

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Chapter 6 offers the practical applications of Positive Islamic Psychology. In doing that, it makes a special reference to how Positive Islamic Psychology can be applied to our daily lives using four basic techniques: i.e. the principles of Islam as a way of life, practicing contemplation and meditation, using Asma al-Husna technique and Inner Speech Dialogue Technique (ISDT). Chapter 7 discusses the practical application of Positive Islamic Psychology making a special reference to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Positive Islamic Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Pi-CBT). It also provides practical examples on how to overcome anxiety and depression. Chapter 8 offers the practical applications of Positive Islamic Psychology by providing manual for parents in shaping excellent characters for their children. The chapter also places emphasison the role of inner speech in shaping excellent characters. Chapter 9 presents a comprehensive handbook for positive change through the Khalifah Circle. It offers step-bystep guide to create a just world and practical action plans to create a just society. Chapter 10 presents one of the practical application of PIP by using the Khalifah Circle in promoting Permaculture as the future holistic way of life for all of humanity in the 21st century. Epilogue highlights concluding remarks for promoting Positive Islamic Psychology in the 21st century. Online Certification Providing training programs to certify PIP Life Coaches throughout the world.

INTRODUCTION

HISTORICAL EVALUATION OF POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

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Refutation of Atheist/Materialist Theory The Greeks defined psychology as the study of the psyche. The word ‘psyche’ in Latin refers to the soul or spirit. In essence, the early definition of psychology is the study of the human self including the soul/spirit, i.e. the transcendent nature of the human self. Modern psychology has removed all connections with the metaphysical concept of the human self, i.e. the soul/spirit or the transcendent self. Moreover, modern psychology is empirical in the sense that it is based on the scientific method of experimentation using animals as models in the laboratories to extrapolate the behaviour of human beings. J B. Watson, the father of modern psychology defined psychology as the science of the behaviours of living things. However, he refused to accept the existence of mind and that of consciousness, e.g. thinking, feeling and willingness in the name of scientific objectivity. Similarly, W. Woodworth defined psychology as the science of the activities of an individual in relation to the environment. He explains the activities of an individual in purely mechanistic terms of stimulus and response (the S-R formula). As an empirical psychologist, he considered man as a “cog-in machine” , not a transcendent creature of dignity. His philosophy of psychology was based on atheistic secular materialism. The personality emerging from human interactions could be measured by quantitative tests devised by psychologists for the purpose. Modern empirical psychology considers man as an integral part of the vast machine of the universe to the utter disregard of higher values and ideals he lives by. Man is seen as having a body and a brain, but not a soul/ spirit, a mind, or a heart. Empirical psychology uses the terms ‘behaviour and personality’ for what we call ‘conduct and character’. There is no consideration of ethics and has nothing to do with the question of values which they consider subjective and not quantifiable. Empirical psychology is concerned only

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with the physical observable facts which they then conclude as an objective scientific conclusion. Modern psychology as a science cannot be based on mere physical observable facts without reference to values. Human behaviours are not lifeless entities but living realities. They take on meaning to the extent they can be placed in cultural, social and religious settings which can provide a sound basis for their correct interpretation. Humanistic psychology was introduced in America in the 1960s after the failure of behavioural psychology to provide answers to the spiritual emptiness, meaninglessness in life and the sense of worthlessness. This is despite the increasing materialistic prosperity and wealth of the American people and the Western world. This school of psychology has a less mystical inclination; it has a more positive approach concerning how religion shapes and determines the human psyche. Moreover, its theory of personality is much more deterministic than the psychoanalytical theory advanced by Freud. As a result, it received the support of celebrated psychologists such as Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. According to humanistic psychologists, the Freudian and behaviouristic theories are faulty as they simplify man’s personality, his potentials and the way he directs himself and actualises his visions. Furthermore, they strongly focus on the self as a unifying factor which accounts for the individual’s subjective experiences which determines much of his observable behaviour. Today, psychology is generally seen as a scientific discipline that focuses on the study of consciousness, behaviour and the mind as emergent operations of human beings. In other words, psychology is the study of the mind, occurring partly via the study of behaviour. From a scientific perspective, psychology aims to provide immediate goal of comprehending individuals and groups by

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establishing the general principles and researching specific cases, and for many, it ultimately aims to benefit the society. The study of psychology involves exploring such concepts as perception, cognition, attention, emotion, phenomenology, motivation, brain functioning, personality, behaviour, and interpersonal relationships. Similarly, psychology incorporates research from the social and natural sciences, and from the humanities, such as philosophy. What is Wrong with Modern Psychology? The fundamental assumptions of the Western psychology is that human nature is intrinsically negative-oriented and in need of control. Historical records have shown that early schools of psychology tended to focus on the field of cognitive psychology before the dominance of behaviourism. At that time, psychologists attended to the question of learning through concentrating on studying the consciousness of people, how they feel, what their thoughts contain, as well as the way their mind was structured. However, with the introduction of the theory of behaviourism, learning approach became possible through “stimuli and observable responses that became the basis of psychology. Moreover, feelings, the components of the mind, and the process of thinking were considered questions that could not be observed directly” (Badri, 2000). The most negative aspect of modern psychology is that it was founded on materialistic philosophical speculations and atheistic theories that reject the concept of transcendent human nature and the existence of the transcendent Creator. Modern psychological thoughts have been greatly influenced by a number of theories from outside the field of psychology. Darwin’s theory of evolution, for example, has a deep influence in the thinking of psychologists especially in the early 20th century. According to this theory, the evolution

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of the structure of organic bodies happens in much the same way as that of human behaviour. In other words, human behaviour is synonymous to a continuum of animal behaviour. Darwin’s theory also interprets the origin of human race to be the product of random process of biological evolution, something that fundamentally contradicts the belief that all human beings are descendants of the first homo sapiens that is completely different from the apes or other primates. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory considers “religions as dangerous and religious metaphysics as superfluous”. Elsewhere, he contended that religion is nothing but an illusion and “universal neuroses”, and something that obstructs an individual from exercising his intelligence freely and hence must be rejected. He even went so far as to compare religious rituals and dogmas with the patient’s neurotic symptoms, saying that “religious phenomena are to be understood only on the model of the neurotic symptoms of the individual, which are so familiar to us, as a return of long forgotten important happenings of the primeval history of the human family”. Moreover, Freud openly ridiculed religion and considered sex to be the main motivator of all human behaviour (Ellenberger, 1970). For Stafford-Clark (1969), the concept of God is nothing but a false illusion created by man to justify his weaknesses. Religion is probably a tool that can be used temporarily to enforce law and order in the society until man becomes advanced enough in wisdom and knowledge. It must be remembered that the direction of modern applied psychology is shaped by these assumptions. The general conception of the Western psychology regarding human behaviour is narrow and too restricted to assess human’s psycho-spiritual transcendent aspects. Many Western psychologists hold the belief that ‘behaviouristic Stimulus-Response psychology” is generally too limited to give explanation about human behaviour. It should be noted

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that the universal influence of Freud’s theory goes beyond the psychological and psychoanalytical disciplines and transcends to the social sciences, philosophy, religion, art, and literature (Badri, 2000). Positive Psychology In response to the failure of modern psychology in solving the psychological problems of modern society, a new field of psychology, called the Positive Psychology was introduced in the year 2000. Positive Psychology is another branch of psychology that deals with positive human functioning introduced recently into academia with the aim of achieving “a scientific understanding and effective interventions to build thriving individuals, families, and communities” (Seligman, 2003). Moreover, Positive Psychology seeks “to find and nurture genius and talent”, and “to make normal life more fulfillling”, and not simply to treat mental illnesses. The field was basically introduced to complement traditional psychology and stressed on the importance of applying the scientific method to examine and assess the success and failure of human nature and behaviour. Researches in the field involved analysing things like states of pleasure or flow, values, strengths, virtues, talents, as well as the ways that they could be promoted by social systems and institutions. According to Sheldon (2001), Positive Psychology is the scientific study of “ordinary human strengths and virtues” by revisiting “the average person” with an interest in finding out “what works, what is right, and what is improving”. Gable (2005) further explains by saying that “it is the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions”.

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These definitions are more or less consistent in the sense that they share the same core themes and stress on the understanding of human capabilities in a positive way. Yet there still exists variations in its emphasis and interpretation. For instance, one may misunderstand them as suggesting that Positive Psychology focuses only on positive experiences. Seligman (2000), however, strongly rejects this noting that “the aim of Positive Psychology is to begin to catalyse a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life and to also building positive qualities”. Hence, the perspective of Positive Psychology on the discipline of psychology is that the scientific research and interest should be focused on analysing the whole scope of human potentials and experiences from “loss, suffering, illness, and distress through connection, fulfillment, health, and well-being” (Seligman, 2003). Some critics argue that Positive Psychology focuses only on positive aspects thereby neglecting the negative side of human experience. However, this is simply not the case because positive psychologists emphasize on how to integrate both positive and negative experiences within the framework of psychology. Moreover, it is more concerned with adapting an approach which is more holistic in promoting and equalizing both positive and negative experiences to succeed in transforming the entire discipline of psychology. As Harvey (2001) observes, “there is a need therefore to show how positive psychological approaches can speak not only to fulfillment and happiness but also to trauma and suffering”. In the light of the foregoing, it appears that a newly invented approach of Positive Psychology represents a new revolution intended to push professional psychologists to examine their works and transform them in a manner that helps knowing not only on how to alleviate distress and dysfunction, but also to know how to promote well-being and optimal functioning.

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Indeed, it was for this reason that Martin Seligman (2003) pioneered the discipline of Positive Psychology to overthrow the doctrine of “rotten-to-the-core human nature” that prevails in the Western academia. This view was originated from the secular-orientated “doctrine of original sin” dragged into the 20th century psychology by Freud. For him, “all of civilization is just an elaborate defence against basic conflicts over infantile sexuality and aggression” (Seligman, 2003). Elsewhere, Seligman notes that these doctrines of Freud have dominated modern psychology to a larger extent. However, if we go deep into the field of Positive Psychology, its fundamental premise is still based on atheistic and secular ideology. There are some attempts by positive psychologists to bring in positive aspects of spirituality and religion. If this ongoing development becomes successful, it will bring us to a more holistic branch of psychology that includes the transcendent nature of human beings, i.e. the development of Positive Transcendent Psychology. Positive Transcendent Psychology (PTP) In philosophy, transcendence is something beyond the common thought or experience; mystical, spiritual, or supernatural. Positive Transcendent Psychology therefore is the study of the highest potential of a human being, in order to recognize, understand, and realize his full potential, i.e. his spiritual, emotional, mental and physical aspects or domains. The integration of his transcendent nature will enable him to realize his true nature beyond the physical realm. The central focus of Positive Transcendent Psychology is on how to develop human’s transcendent nature and spirituality to fulfilll his life as a transcendent human being.

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Positive Transcendent Psychology intends to describe and integrate the spiritual experience within modern psychological theory and to formulate new theories to cover such experience. Given the fact that Western psychology has tended to ignore the transcendent spiritual dimension of the human psyche, developing Positive Transcendent Psychology as a new branch of psychology is extremely difficult. If psychology involves studying the behavioural aspects of human beings, then analysing the holistic nature of a human being that includes his transcendent nature will develop a more complete, holistic and accurate branch of psychology in the future. The contemporary 21st century humanity will have to face two opposing realities; firstly, to deny the transcendent nature of life and fully embrace atheistic secular materialism, secondly, to ignore materialistic tendencies of modern capitalists and seek happiness elsewhere. For the last one hundred years, our human identity has been based on atheistic secular materialism. This resulted in an insecure and disorientated human nature based on hedonistic desire and ego. Despite the development of numerous psychotherapy techniques, modern human beings are still losing the sense of happiness, peace of mind and purpose of life. The rate of neurosis and psychological problems is exponentially growing throughout the modern world today. All modern branches of psychology have to date failed to serve the holistic needs of contemporary humanity. Even though modern world is predominantly secular and materialistic, there is still an avenue for contemporary humanity to realize their true transcendent nature. Modern man can either deny the fundamental nature of life altogether or confront this mystery by lifting the veil that separates his physical reality in relation to his transcendent spiritual nature. Modern man is psychologically tired. This explains why many people are now relentlessly trying to find a deeper meaning to life in more than just “wine, woman and song”.

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Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) Based on this spiritual emptiness, Positive Islamic Psychology was introduced to heal psychological and spiritual disease of modern man. This formed the basis of Positive Islamic Psychology. The aim of Positive Islamic Psychology therefore is to help human beings realize their full potentials. By having an open minded attitude, a human being can discover the transcendent key that can answer his sacred call and discover the eternal nature of his existence. Moreover, understanding the transcendent nature of the human self will lead him to understand the transcendent nature of the Creator of the universe. We have to acknowledge that we have to return to religious ideas since the transcendent nature is embedded in all religions. It is possible in the future that we can agree on the nature of Transcendence vis-a-vis all major religions. If we are discussing the nature of transcendence based on all religions now, we will unfortunately get into the polemics of which religion is true and have the correct teachings of the nature of Transcendence. For Muslims, it is better to elucidate Positive Transcendent Psychology from an Islamic perspective specifically for Muslims and generally for all humanity. Using this approach, we can then find common ground between Muslims and other religions to achieve universal peace, happiness and success in the 21st century. An Insane 21st Century It will be fair to say that the 21st century is paradoxical. There are thousands of the super-rich living in extravagance in contrast to the billions of human beings living in extreme poverty and deprivation. Whatever the humans collectively do today will shape the future of human civilization for the next millennium. The world today is a very unjust world where the

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rich live in luxury and the poor die of disease and hunger just like our ancestors before the industrial revolution. The promise and hope that the industrial, scientific and information revolution will save all of humanity remained a distant dream. The 21st century scientific technological improvement does give us the ability to alleviate poverty, disease and other untold human miseries. However, the decline in moral and spiritual values has resulted in a dysfunctional 21st century human civilization centred on greed and the fulfilllment of baser physical desires. Our experiences in the 20th century point to an insane world that is self-destructive. The 20th century civilization is based on secular materialistic ideas that have brought about destructions, havoc and confusion in the human mind. Every day, our sacred moral, humanistic, social and environmental values and norms are being rapidly destroyed. If we are to continue the insane pattern of the 20th century, it is possible that our human civilization could be self-destructive and be doomed for failure within the next century. Consider the following staggering facts and their unmistakable consequences in the contemporary world:

Today, illegal trades on drugs are estimated to be worth of USD 400 billion – about equal to the value of the world’s pharmaceutical industry. More than 45 million Americans are regular drug users, and one in every eight Americans is a drug addict. Drug addiction is growing exponentially worldwide.

The negative effect of alcoholism across the globe is equally alarming. According to the WHO statistics, alcohol is responsible for causing almost 2.5 million of deaths per annum which is almost 4% of all deaths worldwide. Moreover, more than 60 different diseases or injuries are attributed to excessive alcohol consumption. In America, the

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estimated annual cost of alcohol abuse exceeds USD166 billion. Globally, the cost of abuse across the globe is six times as much, i.e. USD 996 billion.

Today, more than 800 million people in the world are starving. More than 1.3 billion people live on less than USD1.00 per day. Sadly, only 1% of the world’s super-rich people control more than 50% of the total wealth and revenues of the world.

The world’s oil and mineral reserves might be exhausted by 2050, only 35 years away. Our energy hungry civilization will collapse if there are no alternative energy resources. More than 100 million people worldwide are diagnosed with HIV-positive, and the numbers are growing every year.

More people die each year from suicide than in all the world’s armed conflicts.

America spends more than USD10 billion on pornographic materials every year, more than its foreign aid programs to the whole world.

The prostitution and sex trade are worth more than USD 550 billion annually worldwide. More than 50 million women and children are enslaved in this disgusting trade. Young children are routinely sold for prostitution in Latin America, South East Asia, South Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa.



In 2003, America spends USD 396 billion on its military alone. Worldwide, the military expenditure exceeds USD1000 billion annually, more than enough to feed the world’s poor for the next 10 years.The final cost of the US war in Iraq will be more than USD 3 trillion.

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There are more than 27 million slaves and many million more in child labour worldwide. In India alone, there are more than 44 million child labourers that are deprived of education and their basic rights.



82% of the world’s smokers live in poorly developed countries. Multinational cigarette companies use devious advertising and promotional campaigns that relate smoking to prestige and social status. They target the youth in poor countries by selling cigarettes in small packs as well as single sticks. Once hooked on cigarettes, they will be smokers for life. The health cost of smoking will bankrupt most countries in the world in the near future.



In many countries, bribery payments make up to more than 20% of the average GDP of the country.



In many developed and developing countries, more than 30% of the children are born to unmarried single women, many of whom are still school-going teenagers.



The continuous environmental destruction of planet Earth is unsustainable. The doomsday clock at the University of Chicago now stands at 3 minutes to midnight, i.e. we are close to an environmental doomsday within 15 years. Climate change, global warming and environmental pollution, if not rectified within the next 15 years, may cause massive catastrophes in the 21st century. Most probably more than 3 billion human beings will die in this runaway environmental disaster that can happen within the next 100 years.



And there are many more shocking facts of gross moral, social, and environmental destruction going on every day. The world is going insane!

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The challenges to achieve a just, peaceful and viable 21st century are daunting and multifaceted. For one, humanity is at the crossroads either towards total destruction or the dawn of a new sacred civilization. Having said that, it is essential to set a blueprint for a unique and fulfillling civilization that encompasses justice, peace and happiness for all creatures on Earth. This is particularly true because if we fail to act and change the current downward trend of moral, civilizational and ecological degradation, then, the 21st century will be the century of intolerable poverty, mass starvation, global violence and hatred. We will enter a new dark age that would most probably wipe out most of humanity before the end of the 21stcentury If we are to create a new, magnificent and sacred civilization, we must then be aware of the global issues confronting us in the 21st century. In this challenging 21st century, Islam and other world religions have a vital role to play in transforming humanity. All religions in the world working together can help make the 21stcentury a better world for all. Muslims empowering in the right direction can play a leading role in the transformation of the 21st century’s civilization. Core intrinsic values of Islam as well as in other religions will enable human beings to have hope for the future. By emphasizing the core values of justice, love, happiness, and peace, human beings can be given a new sacred mission to make this world a better world for all. We have to change the perception of the 21st century humanity so that we can change our behaviour to save the future of humanity. To do this, we need to develop the Positive Transcendent Psychology to transform 21st century humanity towards fulfillment, peace, happiness, and success.

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Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) Overview We propose that psychologists throughout the world should begin their research in Positive Transcendent Psychology regardless of their race, religion or socioeconomic background. We are proposing Positive Islamic Psychology as the way forward specifically for Muslims and for all humanity throughout the world. We suggest that non-Muslims can also take what they consider as good from Positive Islamic Psychology and apply it in their own societies. We all have to work together to save humanity from an impending global catastrophe. We have to change direction so that humanity can live in a peaceful, happy and successful global society for all creatures on this good Earth. Muslims constitute 1.7 billion out of 7 billion human beings on the planet. Many Muslim societies around the globe are facing numerous economic, educational, societal and moral problems. For this reason, we are introducing the Positive Islamic Psychology model to specifically transform the Muslim Ummah to achieve peace, happiness and success in the 21st century. Similarly, we would like to encourage other psychologists, both Muslims and non-Muslims to study our model and develop new psychological modalities and therapies for humanity. The aim of this book therefore is to elucidate the key concepts of Positive Islamic Psychology in addressing the contemporary 21st century problems of all humanity. Indeed, there are many scientific discoveries today that can give us a great understanding of the nature of the human self as well as the underlying principles of human behaviour. Our endeavour is to match the underlying principles of Islam in the context of modern psychological research, application, modalities and therapies. Similarly, we use findings by prominent traditional Muslim scholars of the past which we find scientifically acceptable and relevant to the problems of contemporary humanity.

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By the same token, we intend to adopt a holistic approach, believing that human being is not just a physical being but a holistic multidimensional being that has aspects of spirit, heart/emotion, mind/brain and lastly the physical body. We will try to elucidate these ideas in a way that will be acceptable and compatible to contemporary transcendent psychology. We will elucidate the transcendent human nature based on Islamic principles and the use of modern scientific findings such as the quantum theory, as well as recent findings in cosmology and theoretical physics. By applying the above concepts, we believe that we can create a new world that is peaceful, full of happiness and success. We therefore have to redefine the concept of peace, happiness and success from the current secular materialist definitions to authentic peace, happiness and success that is naturally holistic and transcendent. The premise of Positive Islamic Psychology is based on the following four basic principles: 1st principle: Understanding the Creator and the Created Universe. 2nd principle: The Holistic Transcendent Nature of the Human Self. 3rd principle: On Being the Vicegerent of God in this Universe. 4th principle: Holistic Principles of Behaviour and Human Learning. Using the above principles, we will explore the premises of Positive Islamic Psychology and jointly develop a viable framework to achieve peace, happiness and success in the 21st century.

CHAPTER ONE

POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY – 1ST PRINCIPLE: UNDERSTANDING THE CREATOR AND THE CREATED UNIVERSE

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The Roots of 21st Century Atheism For the past one hundred years, most branches of the scientific endeavour have based their principles on the premise of the scientific atheism. The notion that in order to be scientific we have to be atheistic is false. The notion of the Creator, i.e. God creating this universe is getting more and more realistic and scientific. For us to believe in the transcendent human persona, we have to believe in a transcendent Creator. Today, the belief in the existence of a Creator is something that has been scientifically proven. In Islam, the first principle of belief (tawhid) is to believe in the transcendent Creator, i.e. God, we use the proper name, “Allah”. The concept of tawhid is beautifully illustrated in the Qur’an: And they were commanded not, but that they should worship God, and worship none but Him Alone, and perform prayer and observe alms giving: and that is the right religion. (Al-Qur’an, 98: 5)

When ancient men looked at the night sky with the beauty and grandeur of the stars, they realized that there must be a supernatural being or God Who creates this universe. Throughout the history of humanity, there had been wise men who were given inspiration to understand the nature of the Divine. Traditionally, humanity lived within the understanding of the existence of God as a Creator of the universe. They had the inner realization of the Divine reality and an inner understanding of the spiritual realm through direct knowledge and experience. Modern secularized men have lost touch with their inner selves. As a result, they only use one dimension of intelligence based on I.Q. This brute mono-dimensional intelligence gives rise to arrogance and atheism. Intrinsically, God has given men the ability beyond the five senses to realize

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emotional and spiritual realities which ultimately lead to the understanding of the reality of God. However, secularism and atheism have cut off their inner intuitive capability. As a result, modern men can only see the physical reality as the only reality in which they live and die. The origin of the modern scientific atheism stretches all the way back to the late 17th century. Atheism was based on Cartesian, Newtonian and Kantian philosophy. Cartesian philosophy wrenched us from our familiar social and religious way of life. Similarly, Newtonian physics put human beings as mechanical beings without a purpose. This has affected our attitude towards nature and the material world. We are out to conquer nature and use it for our material benefits. Immanuel Kant wrote his book, the Critique of Pure Reason which later influenced the majority of the philosophers of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Derrida, Laplace, Lyotard, Foucault, Rorty, Jean-Luc Marion, David Hume and A.J.Ayer. The secular materialistic atheism that Kant expounded in his book still dominates disciplines such as philosophy and psychology and affects the perception of modern man towards life. Bertrand Russell, the 20th century atheist mathematician, and philosopher, summarizes the despair of modern humanity in his own way observing that: Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collections of atoms; that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve the individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of the Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins.

Modern scientists like Richard Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion still believes and promotes scientific

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atheism based on Kantian logic and philosophy. The basis of Kantian ideology is that all of our knowledge is based on the experiences of our five senses. Anything beyond our five senses cannot be verified and as such is of no rational value. For Immanuel Kant and his followers, metaphysical questions, such as the existence of God, were outside the scope of human reason. In their views, reason could not be applied to matters outside of one’s experience through the senses. In Kantian epistemology, reason could never lead one to the knowledge of God, and theological inquiry could not be made by means of rational analysis. This is due to God is not subject to the senses, Kantian philosophers dismissed any attempt to discuss about God, or any ideas of the realm of the transcendent, metaphysical or spiritual. Traditionally, humanity perceives life as a reality focused on the understanding of a Divine Creator. Human life in this world is a holistic continuum in which we identify our relationship with all creations and with the Divine Creator. Religious precepts provide various approaches to the power of reason to know the divine reality as part of the continuing history of mankind. Intrinsically, human beings are given the freedom of choice, moral and ethical precepts in their religious system. Within the Islamic system, an infinite God cannot be placed within a system or a box by the finite human mind. The doctrine of divine unity in Islam, Tawhid, is fundamental to all believing Muslims. This first requirement of belief is to believe and realize the Oneness of God and all the essential attributes of Godhood. God is not an object to be placed in a class or a category within the confine of the human mind. God transcends all categories of thought, including Kant’s categories of the mind. John Cottingham described the limits of empirical and positivistic reasoning concerning a transcendent reality:

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When we reflect further on the kinds of philosophical project found in Hume or Kant, it becomes clear that they do not, and indeed could not with any plausibility propose to eliminate the very possibility of a domain of reality lying beyond the phenomenal world. It would be outrageous arrogance to suppose that the limits of our puny human scientific or even conceptual resources must necessarily determine the actual limits of reality.

Kantian ideas promoted by positivist philosophers still influence modern psychology. These promoters of Kantian philosophy based the argument on the old model of science that is proven false. They based their theory of knowledge on Euclidean geometry and Newtonian view of the universe. Today’s science has been modified by Einstein’s theory of relativity, non-Euclidean geometry, quantum physics, string theory and algorithmic information theory. These new scientific discoveries enable us to discuss the nature of Godhood within the rational scientific paradigm. Prominent physicist Dr. John Polkinghorne said: No one has seen a quark, and we believe that no one ever will. They are so tightly bound to each other inside the protons and neutrons that nothing can make them break out on their own. Why, then, do I believe in these invisible quarks? In summary, it is because quarks make sense of a lot of direct physical evidence… I wish to engage in a similar strategy with regard to the unseen reality of God. His existence makes sense of many aspects of our knowledge and experience: the order and fruitfulness of the physical world; the multi-layered character of reality; the almost universal human experience of worship and hope… I think that very similar thought processes are involved in both cases. I do not believe that I shift in some strange intellectual way when I move from science to religion… In their search for truth, science and faith are intellectual cousins under the skin.

The study of quantum physics, black holes, particle astrophysics, cosmology, and information theory allows us to know quite a bit about things that are beyond our senses. Similarly, there is merit in rational metaphysical inquiry concerning the knowledge of God, even though that knowledge

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will always be incomplete and distorted purely on the basis of a human’s rationale . Although we cannot know everything about God through human rational inquiry and may not be able to achieve a genuine understanding of God’s essence, we can know something about God sufficient for us to believe in Him. Although modern scientific reasoning indicates that we can discuss the concept of God in rational terms, we need to acknowledge our limitations. A finite created human being will not fully comprehend an Infinite Being. God is the Infinite, the Necessary Being, the Initiator of all existence. Any attempt to grasp such a Being will be incomplete. As finite beings with a finite language, our attempts to discuss the infinite will always be inadequate. One cannot use words concerning God, as one would use words to describe anything else. Our language is limited to descriptions of components of the universe or to the universe itself. God is beyond all categories of objects of our thoughts, and beyond the comprehension of the human mind. We encounter real limits in our reasoning and in our knowledge. Our language and finite minds can be used as a steppingstone towards the reflection of the nature of the infinite God which can then expand our awareness of the true reality. We can gain some valid insights by reflecting upon the nature of Godhood. At the very least, this reflection can show us that all of our concepts about God are just rudimentary. Just because we cannot know all of God does not mean that we cannot experience God. Our sense of awe and our understanding of reality may be enhanced as we catch even a tiny glimpse of the magnitude of God. We can have a better insight on understanding God through our innate transcendent capability. We must expand our ways of knowing to include the intuitive, metaphysical, spiritual and mystical ways of knowing. By combining rational

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scientific mode of thinking with the transcendent mode, we can then experience the Divine. This holistic experience will enable us to understand God rationally as well as metaphysically. Reason and faith are complementary ways of knowing. Reason without experiencing the Divine leads to atheism. Transcendent experiences without reason can be a fantasy. Reason and transcendent religious experiences need to remain coupled. One’s heart and mind must each be fully engaged in the knowing process because there are ways of knowing beyond the five senses. For most of our history as homo sapiens, we had wise men who have always had answers to the nature of our origin and the origin of our universe. This traditional perspective of God creating the world and human beings as God’s servants to realize the grandeur of the divine creation is reflected in the Qur’an. God says: Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the Earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding. Men who celebrate the praises of God, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the wonders of creation in the heavens and the Earth, with the thought: “Our Lord! not for naught Has You created (all) this! Glory to You! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire. (Al-Qur’an, 3:190-191)

Our ancestors looked at the stars, the sun, the moon, the regularity of the seasons to understand and comprehend the reality and the beauty of this universe. Traditional humanity realizes that God creates the world. The regularity of His Sustenance for the purpose of our existence proves His Benevolence. It is ironic that the very regularity and comprehensibility of the universe, and the successes in understanding this, gave rise to doubts about the existence of God who is the Creator of our existence and the entire seen and unseen universes. Atheistic philosophers and scientists in the 20th

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century believed in a steady state universe that existed for all of eternity. This was the mindset of many atheistic scientists even up to today. Their view is that we do not need a Creator for a universe that has existed all of eternity. This notion of the “steady state” universe is proven to be false. When Albert Einstein formulated his General Theory of Relativity, the equations indicated that the universe should be expanding. This implies that it had an origin at a finite time in the past. Einstein was afraid to upset the dominant scientific view of the “steady state” universe held by the scientific community in the middle of the 20th century. Einstein introduced something called a “cosmological constant” in his theory to counteract the expansion. This “fudge factor” restored the universe to the “steady state” it supposedly had since immemorial time . All was well and good until Hubble began doing measurements of the light from distant galaxies with a powerful new telescope atop Mountain Wilson in California. He noticed that the farther they were, the faster they seemed to be moving. Hubble’s startling conclusion was that the galaxies must have all started from the same point at a finite time in the past. At first, this challenge to the “steady state” universe was greeted with derision and scorn. The idea was jokingly referred to as the “Big Bang” as if to suggest that such an affront to “common sense” did not deserve a serious name. The evidence for an “origin” of the universe however became sufficiently persuasive even within Einstein’s lifetime. He admitted in the last edition of his book, “The Meaning of Relativity”, that he would have never introduced the “cosmological constant” if Hubble’s expansion had been discovered at the time of the creation of his theory. In the Qur’an, God revealed to us 1,400 years ago about the nature of the expanding universe: And it is We Who have constructed the universe with might, and verily, it is We Who are steadily expanding it. (Al-Qur’an, 51:47)

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Today, there are many areas of contemporary sciences that point to the existence of God. These include the contemporary quantum physics, algorithmic information theory, discovery of human genome, and many other areas of science that supports the idea of the belief in God. For example, the sequencing of the human genome points to a Creator. Francis Collins, the leader of the Human Genome Project, is not being hyperbolic when he calls the genetic code the “language of God”. If He is the Creator of this universe, His comprehensibility should not be a mystery. Today, we see the merging of science and faith to address basic metaphysical questions. There is an innate yearning in our mind on the nature of our existence. Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does this particular kind of universe exist? Why does something have the particular members and order that it has? Why does the universe have an order that makes it intelligible? Einstein marvelled at the intelligibility of the universe. He knew that science could not even begin if the world was not intelligible. As he noted, “let us concede that behind any major scientific work is a conviction akin to religious belief, that the world is intelligible”. If one stops and thinks about it, the intelligibility of the universe is rather astonishing. After all, it could simply be a chaos and not a rational, inherently mathematical universe with substantial beauty. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, which is accepted as one of the basic laws of physics, holds that under normal conditions, if all the systems left on their own will tend to become disordered, dispersed, and corrupted in direct relations to the amount of time that passes. This famous law of physics is also known as the “Law of Entropy”. Entropy is the range of the disorder involved in a system in physics. A system’s entropy is increased as it moves towards a more disordered, dispersed, and unplanned state from an ordered, organized, and planned one. The higher the system’s disorder, the higher the entropy. The Law of Entropy holds that

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the entire universe unavoidably precedes towards a more disordered, unplanned, and disorganized state. If that is the reality, the universe could not be dissipating from infinity or it would have run down by now to a state of non-existence. If God created the universe then the universe had a beginning that had to be highly ordered. Scientifically, we know now that our universe has been expanding since its initial singularity of the Big Bang. Such an expanding universe cannot have an infinite past. From the Islamic theological perspective, God created many universes. The seven heavens and the Earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. And there is not a thing except that it exalts [God] by His praise, but you do not understand their [way of] exalting. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing and Forgiving. (Al-Qur’an,17:44

Recent scientific works by physicists and cosmologists indicate that we may live in a “multiverse cosmos”. Cosmologists Arvind Borde, Alan Guth, and Alexandermultiverse cosmos that must have a beginning. These tuning, and beauty of the universe. These discoveries give corroborative evidence for the inherent intelligibility of the physical world and are consistent with a rational argument for God’s existence. The existence of God explains why there is something rather than nothing. It explains the intelligibility and order in the universe; the continuing existence of the universe; the beginning of the universe and the inherent mathematical nature of the universe. It explains the existence of the laws of nature, the existence of information, the existence of free will and the ability to recognize good and evil. It explains the fine-tunning in the astrophysics of the universe that allows conscious life; and it explains why thoughts have the capacity to produce true beliefs. Let us move forward to some detailed evidences that can strengthen our belief in God.

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Everything that Exists is Either Contingent/ Accident or Necessary/Essential When we consider the basic fact of existence, we can understand that whatever exists, including the universe as a whole, either has its existence in, through, and from itself or its existence is dependent on the existence of something else. In other words, everything that exists is either contingent/ accident or necessary/essential. A contingent/accident thing depends on something else for its existence. For a long time, believers in God have used the “watchmaker argument”. If I show you my watch and ask you who created this watch? Did this watch come into existence by random chance or this watch was made by a watchmaker? Rationally, we would say that this watch was made by a watchmaker. Rationally by extension, if we were asked who created the universe, we would then acknowledge that God created the universe. This is the gist of watchmaker argument. Atheistic philosophers like Bertrand Russell refute the idea that God is the “watchmaker” that created the universe. His argument was that if the universe was created by God, then who created God and so on. Here we have an infinite regression. We can never get to the end since it just goes on forever. If you want to postulate that God makes the universe, you have to postulate a “God Maker”. If you postulate a “God Maker”, then you have to postulate “the maker of the God Maker” and it goes on in an infinite regression. Unfortunately, Bertrand Russell did not study the knowledge of At-Tawhid which is the knowledge of the Oneness of God that logically explains Russell’s dilemma some one thousand years ago. Let us review the logical arguments by Muslim theologians more than one thousand years ago beginning with the great Muslim scholar Imam Abu Hanifa. Let us extract these arguments from my late teacher, Moulavi M.H. Babu Sahib in his book, “Know Islam”, that provides the proofs of

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the existence of God. Traditional Muslim scholars have been using the science of logic syllogism for more than a thousand years. It is surprising that modern atheistic philosophers cannot even debate their rationales based on the science of logic. The Logic of the Existence of God (Allah) The basic logic to prove the essential attributes of Allah. The proof of essentiality of Allah’s existence: Claim: Allah is an Essential Being, i.e. His Existence is essential. Proof: It is because Allah is the One whom the universe essentially needs (minor), and all those whom the universe essentially need are Essential Beings (major), therefore, Allah is an Essential Being. (Conclusion) Minor premise proved:

The universe is an accident (minor).



All accidents essentially need an Initiator (major). Therefore, the universe essentially needs an Initiator (conclusion).

Major premise proved:

If they are not Essential Beings, then they must be accidents (minor). And all accidents need an Initiator (major). Therefore, they need an Initiator (conclusion).



Then this initiator needs another initiator until there is no end.

This results in an unending chain (tasalsul) and is therefore, absurd, or returns to the first initiator with or

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without intermediaries e.g. A created B,B created A, or A created B, B created C, and C created A This results in a Rotation (ad-dawr) and is therefore, absurd. Therefore, the statement which led to this result, i.e. “they need an initiator” (conclusion) is absurd. Again, the statement which led to that statement, i.e. “they are not Essential Beings”, too, is absurd. When the absurdity of the statement “they are not Essential Beings” is established, its opposite statement, i.e. “they are Essential Beings” is established. The reason for the absurdity of Rotation is that it necessitates that a thing becomes precedent to itself while the thing itself is the subsequent. The reason for the absurdity of the Unending Chain (Perpetual Succession) is evident from the Proof of Congruence: let us imagine two lines of events: one starting from infinity and ending at the First World War and the other also starting from infinity but ending at the present time. As illustrated below: From infinity



to First World War

From infinity



to present Time

If the two lines end together, then, every one of the two lines has limitation. This is against the purpose of the argument. If the two lines do not end at all, then, they necessitate in two unequal things becoming equal. This is absurd. If the first line alone ends without the second, Then, the first one has a limitations, therefore, the second one, too, must have limitations because it is longer than the first one by only a particular limited measure. It is a known fact (axiomatic knowledge) that anything which exceeds another

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thing which has limitations, by any measure, will necessarily become limited. Proof of the Essentiality of an Active Cause for the Universe The universe is made up of unequal parts which share an attribute equally among themselves. All those which are made up of unequal parts sharing equal attributes among themselves should have that attribute. Therefore, the universe should have that attribute (which is shared by all its unequal parts equally among themselves). That attribute is that of being caused by a Cause. Therefore, it is established that the Universe should have the attribute of being caused by a Cause, i.e. created by God. Proof of God Being Eternal Indeed, God is Eternal. If he is not Eternal, then He must be an accident because there is no middle ground. This is true because if He were an accident, He will certainly need an Initiator. If He needs an Initiator, certainly, that Initiator needs another Initiator because of the likeness between them. This results in either the Rotation or the Unending Chain which both have already been proven to be absurd. In this case, anything resulting in this absurdity (His need for an Initiator) is absurd. Similarly, that which resulted in His being as an accident is absurd. Therefore, that which resulted in it, i.e. His not being Eternal, is absurd. If it is absurd to assume that God is not eternal, then, His Eternity is established. That is the aim of this argument.

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Proof of God’s Everlastingness It means that non-existence will never occur to Him whether in the past, present or future. If His non-existence is possible, then Him being eternal is absurd. How can it be possible whereas His being as eternal has already been established as His essential attribute? And for all those whose eternity is established, the occurrence of non-existence to them is absurd (Moulavi M.H. Babu Sahib, 1974). The above 1,000 year-old Islamic theological argument can be the basis for us to understand the difference between an essential/necessary being verses contingent/accidental being. God as the necessary being has His existence in, through, and from Himself and does not depend on anything else or any other being for His existence. As a necessary being, God cannot be anything except for what He is in His essence and attributes. When we describe the universe, its existence is contingent because it has a beginning. This universe is a contingent thing that is created. Its existence can be taken away and as such, it is not completely independent. The continuing existence of this universe requires a Creator for its existence. Without this Creator, the universe could not have existed and there will be absolute nothingness. God has a necessary existence as a prerequisite for the existence of the universe. As a cause of its continuing existence, God would not be simply a cause that began or wound up a universe and then left it to run on its own, but a cause that intimately and constantly preserves the universe. The important premise in the argument is that the universe is radically contingent and unnecessary. It is because the other universes are possible, our universe is not necessary in and through itself. If it is unnecessary, it is contingent. If it is contingent, at every moment it has the potential for annihilation. If it has the potential for annihilation, it needs a sustaining cause to exist. When something radically

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contingent ceases to be, it does not become something else but is replaced by sheer nothingness. Logically, we consider this universe to be made of energy, matter and information. We consider the physical matter in this universe, i.e. our world, the sun, our galaxy, the universe, etc. to be solid matter. However, modern physics tells us that within the atomic structure of atoms of every matter that existed is 99.99999% empty space: the distance between an electron and its protons, nucleus being as great, proportionally, as the distance between the Earth and the Sun. The nature of the atom’s electrons, protons, and neutrons now are thought to be energy rather than matter. Astrophysicist Michael Scott of Edinburgh University argues that: “the advancement of quantum physics has produced a description of reality which allows the existence of parallel universes. Composed of real substances, they would not interact with matter from our own universe”. Professor Fred Alan Wolf seems to concur with these findings in his book, “Mind and the New Physics”, in which he states: As fantastic as it sounds, the new physics called quantum mechanics posits that there exists, side by side with this world, another world, a parallel universe, a duplicate copy that is somehow slightly different yet the same. And not just two parallel worlds, but three, four or even more…

If the universe is contingent, we do not have an explanation in terms of non-contingent natural laws from which the universe’s existence follows. We do not have an explanation to why the universe exists. This indicates the requirement of a personal explanation based on the intentions of a sustaining necessary cause of its existence. We know of no natural explanation for the existence of the universe in terms of non-contingent laws or principles that would cause its existence. If no laws or principles can offer a natural explanation, a personal explanation is required. A personal explanation addresses the requirement of an intentional act

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of a sustaining necessary cause of the universe’s continuing existence. The universe cannot explain its own existence because it is merely a possible universe. As such, the explanation for its existence must come from outside of the universe. This is due to the universe being the totality of all physical realities, the explanation must reside in a non-physical reality. One could argue that the universe came into existence without any cause and for insufficient reasons. However, to set forth that proposition, one would have to deny the scientific method and the latest scientific findings in cosmology. There is then no reason to believe that our cognitive thoughts give us any ability to invent a super computer, fly to the moon, or use the Nano technology. Given the success of science in practice, the burden of proof appears to be on anyone claiming that there is insufficient reasons for the universe to be a created thing. Professor Reichenbach argued: Defenders of the cosmological argument suggest two possible kinds of explanation. Natural explanation is provided in terms precedent events, causal laws, or necessary conditions that invoke natural existents. Personal explanation is given ‘in terms of the intentional action of a rational agent’. We have seen that one cannot provide a natural causal explanation for the initial event, for there are no precedent events or natural existents to which the laws of physics apply. The line of scientific explanation runs out at the initial singularity before the Big Bang, and perhaps even before we arrive at the singularity at 10-35 seconds. If no scientific explanation in terms of physical laws can provide a causal account of the origin of the universe, the explanation must be personal, i.e. in terms of the intentional action of a rational, Supernatural Being, i.e. God.

The position of the atheists that deny God as a Creator of the universe or multiple universes is scientifically false. Scientific atheism postulates that the existence of scientific laws is absolute and does not need any cause for the universe to exist. In reality, the laws of physics are merely contingent

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components of the universe. They neither explain their own existence, nor do they explain why a physical world exists at all. They are mere equations and do not explain their mathematical characteristics. They do not explain why the world is intelligible to us, and the fine-tuning of the universe which allows the development of conscious life. They also appear to not exist prior to Planck time an extremely small fraction of the first second of the initial event of the universe. Hence, they appear to be finite, consequently contingent, and not necessary. We can then conclude that this universe and all that is in existence including human beings are created by God. God has a necessary existence as a prerequisite for the existence of the universe. As a cause of its continuing existence, God would not be simply a cause that began or wound up a universe and then left it to run on its own, but a cause that intimately and constantly preserves the universe. For more than 1,000 years, Muslim scholars and theologians have been propounding the above belief system for all Muslims as believers in one God. The 20th century atheist, philosophers and mathematicians, Bertrand Russell failed in his watchmaker argument. Professor Richard Dawkins, a die-hard atheist who wrote the book The God Delusion, used the “Ultimate Boeing 747 aircraft gambit” instead of the “watch maker” argument Nevertheless, Dawkins’ argument seems to attack religion using ridicule, mockery, and vitriolic statements to persuade his readers; and he provides very little substantive, logical analysis for his position. The analysis that he does provide lacks rigorous critical thinking and commits elementary errors in logic. Dawkins’ principle argument assumes that if God exists, He would have to be so complex that His Existence would be astronomically improbable. In the book’s chapter, “Why Is There Almost Certainly No God”, he argues that the existence

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of a God/Creator who created this universe is “as unlikely as a typhoon blowing through a junkyard and constructing a Boeing 747 aircraft”. His basic point is that if God creates the universe, it would have been extremely complex for Him to make something so complex. Dawkins assumes that complexity is inversely related to probability, God’s existence is extremely improbable. Dawkins’ Boeing 747 aircraft analogy only applies to Dawkins’ definition of complexity if God is made up of material parts. In his definition, Dawkins makes the following unwarranted assumptions: (a) God is made of many parts; (b) these parts were unlikely (improbable) to be assembled to form a precise sequence or in his words, a “heterogeneous” or “many-parted structure”. Dawkins is assuming that God is a “many parted-structure”. He is assuming that God is made up of matter and that God’s structure is improbable. Based on the above argument, Dawkins concludes that God does not exist. This is a good example of the logical fallacy known as circulus in probando or the circular reasoning. It is surprising that a 20th century prominent scholar can make a basic error in logic. More than 1,000 years ago, Muslim theologians have shown that Dawkins’ arguments are flawed because the logic causes a rotation (al-Dawran) or circular reasoning. The Dawkins’ Ultimate Boeing 747 aircraft gambit analogy and conclusion has failed because by definition, God is spiritual, beyond space, time and matter, and does not have material parts to be arranged like the parts of a Boeing 747. Dawkins conceives God as something that cannot exist. To reach his desired conclusion, Dawkins began with materialism in order to arrive at materialism. He tried to define God under a materialist definition of complexity that includes improbability in order to arrive at his conclusion. Under the Islamic classical concept of God as a necessary being, God’s essential nature is beyond the grasp of the finite human mind. We can only understand God through His actions

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and necessary attributes of being the Ultimate Creator, AllPowerful, All-Knowledgeable, etc. In reality, this universe/ multi-universe’s existence points to God as a necessary Creator of all universes. In other words, the probability of the non-existence of God is equal to zero. It is surprising that Dawkins is not aware of the logical problems in his assumption, definition and analogy of the Boeing 747 gambit. If Dawkins proposes that God’s existence is improbable, he owes us an argument for the conclusion that there is no necessary being with the attributes of God. Neither he nor anyone else has provided even a decent argument along the above logic. Dawkins does not even seem to be aware that he needs to provide a logical premise to prove the non-existence of God. Our ability to disprove an existential proposition of the existence of God has limitations. Human knowledge from the physical science cannot completely explain the nature of God as the Creator. Our current atheistic tendency is a result of dogmatic materialism based on inadequate scientific knowledge of the nature of our physical existence and the nature of our consciousness. No one has been able to structure a logically valid argument that God does not exist. Science gives us wonderful knowledge, but it has its limits. It cannot provide the answer to the question of the existence of the universe because an examination of the components or members of the universe cannot explain the existence and the order of an intelligible universe. When one engages in science, he or she engages in looking at the relationship among the members of the universe. This is not sufficient to address the question of why the universe exists at all, why it is intelligible, or why it has the particular collection of members that comprise the whole of the universe. It is sheer arrogance of the atheists to deny the existence of God. Let us take another analogy, for example, the complex iconic NASA space shuttle, “Endeavour”. Let us assume that

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it came into being suddenly from the raw materials of the Earth that somehow became the lightweight composite body, the semiconductor chips for the control systems, etc., without any organization like NASA and its thousands of engineers, scientists and subcontractors to design, build and operate the space shuttle. In this situation, most thinking people will definitely say it is nonsensical and impossible for the space shuttle ‘Endeavour’ to come into existence by chance. Yet, modern atheists believe that this complex world and universe with its trillions of planets and life forms can exist without God as a Creator. We are creatures living in an insignificant planet called Earth. We are in reality creatures of nothingness that were given the capability to realize the grandeur of the universe and our own existence. Our purpose in life definitely is beyond merely living a physical life. We have a greater vision and mission in life to acknowledge, realize and praise the Divine Creator. Qur’anic Revelation and Modern Scientific Discoveries Prove that God Created the Universe Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the revelation of God to guide all mankind. This revelation was sent to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) 1,400 years ago. One of the miracles of the Qur’anic revelation is that the description of the creation of the universe is in accordance to the modern scientific finding in cosmology. How could an unlettered man, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), who lived 1,400 years ago describe the creation of the universe scientifically? This could not have been possible without prior knowledge from the Creator of this universe: Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and Earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what God has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby

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to the Earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the Earth are signs for a people who use reason. (Al-Qur’an, 2:164)

The most striking everyday phenomenon resulting from the interrelations of Heavens and Earth is the alternation of day and night, regular and yet changing in duration with the seasons, and the latitudes of our globe. This passage is one of the many in which the Qur’an appeals to us. The verse is very clear that those who use their reason to observe the daily wonders of nature understand the evidence of man’s own ingenuity, as so many indications of the existence of a conscious, creative power-pervading of the universe. Humanity is encouraged to think about the existence of this universe and realize the Creator in their reflection and contemplation of everything in the universe. We now know that the universe we live in began with the so-called Big Bang. God the Almighty says: We constructed the universe with power and skill, for it is We Who steadily expanding it. (Al-Qur’an, 51: 47)

The Qur’anic passage revealed 1,400 years ago confirmed that God created the universe with His power. Scientifically, the universe has been steadily expanding. However, this phenomenon of the expansion of the universe was only discovered by Professor Hubble in the late 1920s. Hubble’s discovery of the red shift in the spectrum of starlight shows that the universe is expanding. Professor Anthony Flew was an atheist who later became a believer in God after studying contemporary cosmology. He said: Notoriously, confession is good for the soul. I will therefore begin by confessing that the Stratonician atheist has to be embarrassed

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by the contemporary cosmological consensus.For

it seems that the cosmologists are providing a scientific proof of what St. Thomas contended could not be proved philosophically; namely, that the universe had a beginning. Astrophysicist Hugh Ross states that there is a Creator of the universe Who is above all physical dimensions as: By definition, time is that dimension in which cause-and-effect phenomenon takes place. No time, no cause and effect. If time’s beginning is concurrent with the beginning of the universe, as the space-time theorem says, then the cause of the universe must be some entity operating in a time dimension completely independent of and pre-existent to the time dimension of the cosmos. …It tells us that the Creator is transcendent, operating beyond the dimensional limits of the universe.

In the Qur’an we are told that this universe or any other universes or dimensions were created from nothingness. All that existed and that will exist in the future come into existence by a command from God, which is beyond space and time. God says: Is not He who created the heavens and the Earth Able to create the likes of them? Yes, [it is so]; and He is the Knowing Creator. His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, “Be,” and it is. So exalted is He in whose hand is the realm of all things, and to Him you will be returned. (Al-Qur’an, 36: 81-83) God is the Originator of the heavens and the Earth… (Al-Qur’an, 6:101)

The nature of nothingness in which God created this universe with power is only known to God. We can speculate

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that this nothingness can be a quantum vacuum, quantum field, primordial energy, dark energy, cosmic potential, etc. We can never know scientifically the creative process of this universe before the universe exists. The creative phenomena may be partially explained scientifically through quantum physics. The complete mystery of the nature of creation is only known to God who creates all things. The nature of the Big Bang is explained vividly in the Qur’anic revelation; Do those who are disbelievers not see that the heavens and the Earth were sewn together and then We unstitched them and that We made from water every living thing? So will they not have faith? (Al-Qur’an, 21: 30)

It is a very important choice of words in the original Arabic which translation is given above. The word ratq translated as “sewn to” means “mixed in each, blended” in Arabic dictionaries. It is used to refer to two different substances that make up a whole. The phrase “we unstitched” is the verb fatq in Arabic and implies that something comes into being by tearing apart or destroying the structure of ratq. The sprouting of a seed from the soil is one of the actions to which this verb is applied. Let us take a look at the verse again with this knowledge in mind. In the verse, sky and Earth are at first subject to the status of ratq. They are separated (fatq) with one coming out of the other. Intriguingly, cosmologists speak of a “cosmic egg” that consisted of all the matter in the universe prior to the Big Bang. In other words, all the heavens and Earth were included in this egg in a condition of ratq. This cosmic egg expanded violently causing its matter to fatq and in the process created the structure of the whole universe. Whatever the quantum vacuum or cosmic energy that was commanded by God to form this universe is still not known. At the point, prior to the

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creation of the universe, all laws of physics cannot be applied in a situation before the existence of the universe, i.e. before the existence of space, time and matter. The findings of modern science support the truth that is revealed in the Qur’an. Atheists may claim all of these to be a “coincidence” but the plain fact is that the universe came into being as a result of an act of Creation on God’s part and the only true knowledge about the origin of universe is to be found in the word of God as revealed to us in the Qur’an. God is the Creator of this Fine-Tuned Universe The creative process of the creation of the universe is not merely a random explosion. The Big Bang is in fact, a structured expansion, which is mathematically accurate. And all the universes He has raised high, and He has set up the balance of everything in order that you humanity may not transgress due balance. So maintain the balance with equality and fall not short in it. (Al-Qur’an, 55 :7-9)

These Qur’anic verses explain the nature of balance in everything that God created, i.e. balance in the creation of the universe or multi-universes, balance in the environment and ecology, etc. The Speed of the Expansion of the Universe At the point of the creation of the universe, two different and opposing forces are at work. The force of the explosion, driving matter outward and away, and the force of attraction, trying to resist the first and pull everything back together must be in equilibrium. If the attractive force had been greater than the explosive force, the universe would have collapsed. If the opposite had been true, matters would have been splattered

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in every direction in a way to never be united together to form the universe. The mathematical physicist Paul Davies explains this equilibrium: Careful measurements put the rate of expansion very close to a critical value at which the universe will just escape its own gravity and expand forever. A little slower and the cosmos would collapse, a little faster and the cosmic material would have long ago completely dispersed. It is interesting to ask precisely how delicately the rate of expansion has been “fine-tuned” to fall on this narrow dividing line between two catastrophes. If at time Is (by which the time pattern of expansion was already firmly established) the expansion rate had differed from its actual value by more than 10-18, it would have been sufficient to throw the delicate balance out. The explosive vigour of the universe is thus matched with almost unbelievable accuracy to its gravitating power. The big bang was not evidently, any old bang, but an explosion of exquisitely arranged magnitude.

Professor Davies admits this himself, noting: It is hard to resist that the present structure of the universe, apparently so sensitive to minor alterations in the numbers, has been rather carefully thought out… The seemingly miraculous concurrence of numerical values that nature has assigned to her fundamental constants must remain the most compelling evidence for an element of cosmic design.

Fine-Tuning from the Initial Big Bang towards Life on Earth The Second Law of Thermodynamics requires that the disorder in the universe tends toward a maximum. Since the universe could have not been dissipating from infinity or it would have ran down by now, it must have had a beginning – a very highly-ordered beginning. If the Big Bang is regarded as only an impressive accident, there is no explanation why

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it produced a universe with such a high degree of order, contrary to the Second Law. As described above, Professor Roger Penrose calculated that at the very beginning of the Big Bang, the precision required to set the universe on its highlyordered course in which life could develop was staggering. It is mathematically impossible for the universe to exist on its own without a Creator who can produce a universe with infinite precision. The order of this universe is the most overwhelming proof of the existence of a superior consciousness. Nobel Prize winner and German physicist Max Planck, explained the order in the universe: At all events, we should say, in summing up, that, according to everything taught by the exact sciences about the immense realm of nature in which our tiny planet plays an insignificant role, a certain order prevails - one independent of the human mind. Yet, in so far as we are able to ascertain through our senses, this order can be formulated in terms of purposeful activity. There is evidence of an intelligent order of the universe.

The Fine-Tuning of the Four Fundamental Forces Scientifically, there are four fundamental forces that organize the universe that we live in; gravitational force, the electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force. The strong and weak nuclear forces operate only on the atomic scale. The remaining two – the gravitational force and the electromagnetic force, govern assemblages of atoms, in other words, “matter”. These four fundamental forces were at work in the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang and resulted in the creation of atoms and matter. A comparison of those forces is enlightening for their values are stunningly different from one another, as listed below in international standard units:

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Strong nuclear force Weak nuclear force Electromagnetic force Gravitational force

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: : : :

15 7.03 x 10-3 3.05 x 10-12 5.90 x 10-39

Notice how great the differences in the strengths of these four fundamental forces are. The difference between the strongest (strong nuclear force) and the weakest (gravitational force) is about 25 followed by 38 zeros! How could this be so? Molecular biologist, Michael Denton addresses this question in his book, “Nature’s Destiny”: If, for example, the gravitational force was a trillion times stronger, then the universe would be far smaller and its life history far shorter. An average star would have a mass a trillion times less than the sun and a life span of about one year. On the other hand, if gravity had been less powerful, no stars or galaxies would have ever formed. The other relationships and values are no less critical. If the strong force had been just slightly weaker, the only element that would be stable would be hydrogen. No other atoms could exist. If it had been slightly stronger in relation to electromagnetism, then an atomic nucleus consisting of only two protons would be a stable feature of the universe – which would mean there would be no hydrogen, and if any stars or galaxies evolved, they would be very different from the way they are. Clearly, if these various forces and constants did not have precisely the values they do, there would be no stars, no supernovae, no planets, no atoms, no life.

Fine-Tuning in the Formation of Carbon Life would be impossible without carbon, and yet because of the precise requirements of its existence, carbon atom should be very scarce. The formation of a carbon atom requires a rare triple collision known as the triple alpha process. The first step in the triple alpha process occurs when a helium nucleus collides with another helium nucleus within a star.

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This collision produces an unstable, very ephemeral isotope of beryllium. When the unstable, short-lived beryllium collides with a third helium nucleus, a carbon nucleus is formed. Fred Hoyle, who introduced the idea of “double resonance”, said that there had to be two resonances: one that caused two heliums to fuse into beryllium, and one that caused the third helium atom to join this unstable formation. Nobody believed Hoyle. The idea of such a precise resonance occurred once was hard enough to accept; that should it occur twice was unthinkable. Hoyle pursued his research for years and in the end he proved that his idea was right: there really was a double resonance taking place in the red giants. At the exact moment two helium atoms resonated in union, a beryllium atom appeared in the 0.000000000000001 second needed to produce carbon. In the years that followed, it was discovered that other elements like oxygen are also formed as a result of such amazing resonances. A zealous secular materialist, Fred Hoyle’s discovery of these “extraordinary transactions” forced him to admit in his book, “Galaxies, Nuclei and Quasars”, that such double resonances had to be the result of Creation and not coincidence. In another article he wrote: If you wanted to produce carbon and oxygen in roughly equal quantities by stellar nucleosynthesis, these are the two levels you would have to fix, and your fixing would have to be just about where these levels are actually found to be.

Hoyle continued saying that the sensible interpretation of the above mentioned facts suggest that a Super Intellect has created physics, as well as chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. He added, “The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to be so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.”

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Hoyle declared that the inescapable conclusion of this plain truth should not go unnoticed by other scientists, “I do not believe that any scientists who examined the evidence would fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce inside the stars.” This plain truth was expressed in the Qur’an 1,400 years ago. Allah indicates the harmony in Creation of the heavens in the verse: Do you not see how Allah created seven heavens in harmony… (Al-Qur’an, 71: 15)

Fine-Tuning in the Cosmological Constant of Space-Time The cosmological constant is a characteristic of the spacetime fabric of the universe related to its stretching energy (space energy density). The more the universe expands, the greater this stretching energy or “springiness” becomes. This means that the stretching energy increases and has the effect of moving bodies of mass that warp the space-time fabric farther apart. When the fabric of space-time stretches, the bodies of masses, such as the galaxies, move farther apart. This gives the appearance that the galaxies are repelling each other, when actually the space is stretching. Had the value of the cosmological constant been minus one (– 1), the universe would have expanded and collapsed in less than 10-43 or Planck time. This is so short a length of time that the time it takes for light to cross an atomic nucleus 10-24 (seconds) is huge by comparison. In other words, if the cosmological constant had been negative, the universe would have only lasted for ten-thousandth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. Either of these scenarios, of course, would not allow for life to exist.

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If the cosmological constant was a small positive number, say 1, then the expansion would have been so dramatic that the universe would have doubled in size every ten-millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second. The constant had to be exactly what it was to an accuracy of one part in 10-123. Fine-Tuning of the Biological Information in Living Matter For many years, scientists thought that there were two fundamentals: matter and energy. Einstein discovered that matter and energy were actually one unified fundamental, i.e. matter/energy. The subsequent discovery of the working of the DNA molecule, we then discovered that there are still two fundamentals in nature: matter/energy and information. What is the source of the instructions we find in the DNA that exists in all living things? The question is central to an understanding of life, because biological information is the central distinction between living and non-living matters. This distinction can be seen in the difference between the carbon in a pencil and the carbon in one’s body. The carbon in the pencil does not act pursuant to any instructions, whereas the carbon in one’s body acts pursuant to the instructions contained in the DNA molecules of the human organism. The enormous information in living matter involves irregular, flexible patterns, while inanimate matter never rises above simple, repeating patterns in its information content. A quartz crystal, for example, has simple order and replicates, but it has very little information content and is not alive. By contrast, DNA exists in all living matter and contains a vast amount of information that allows organisms to replicate and maintain themselves, that is, to live. The DNA for even the smallest single-celled bacterium contains over 4 million instructions. These instructions are encoded in the DNA’s

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four “bases” – the rungs of the famous double helix ladder of DNA that are denoted A,G,C,T. The bases act like a fourletter alphabet for the genetic process. The process, like the English language, consists of a code. Acting like sentences, DNA instructions pass on the information needed to form a protein or some other necessity that the living organism needs in order to replicate or maintain itself. The sequential order of the letters in DNA determines the structure of a human being down to its slightest details. In addition to features like height, hair and skin colours, the DNA of a single cell also contains the design of 206 bones, 600 muscles, a network of 10,000 auditory muscles, a network of 2 billion nerve cells, 130 billion meter long veins ,and 100 trillion cells in the body, etc. It is Mathematically impossible for all these DNA information to happen by chance. Biologist Frank Salisbury says: A medium protein might include about 300 amino acids. The DNA gene controlling this would have about 1000 nucleotides in a DNA chain, one consisting of 1000 links could exist in 41000 forms. Using a little algebra, we can see that 41000 = 10600. Ten multiplied by itself 600 times gives the figure 1 followed by 600 zeros! This number is completely beyond our comprehension.

The impossibility of the formation of DNA and DNA by a coincidental accumulation of nucleotides are expressed by the French scientist Paul Auger in the following way: We have to sharply distinguish the two stages in the chance formation of complex molecules such as nucleotides by chemical events. The production of nucleotides one by one – which is possible – and the combination of these DNA within a very special sequences. The second is impossible.

Francis Crick, the founder of the DNA structure observes that even a man, armed with all knowledge available to human being, cannot help but accept that human life has a miraculous

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origin. Similarly, Professor Chandra Wickramasinga confirms the miraculous origin of human life observing; The likelihood of the spontaneous formation of life from inanimate matter is one to a number with 1040,000 noughts after it…It is big enough to bury all atheistic arguments and their fancy theories…. if the beginnings of life were not random, they must therefore have been the product of purposeful intelligence.

Many Other Phenomena Point to God If we honestly study the valid scientific evidences of the nature of creation as mentioned above, we will have to conclude that a Supreme Intelligence creates this universe. There are many other evidences of this purposeful creation. We can study the fine-tuning of our planetary system, weather pattern, ecological, environmental balance, etc. We can study the miracle of the human body and its mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions. God says: We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. But is it not sufficient concerning your Lord that He is, over all things, a Witness? (Al-Qur’an, 41: 53)

The fact that we human beings can realize the grandeur of the universe from our own existence points to a Creator. Our consciousness, intelligence and sense of purpose beyond the materialistic domains point to a supreme consciousness that creates us. The Mathematics of Probability Proves that God Creates the Universe What has been said so far shows the extraordinary balances among the forces that make human life possible in this

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universe. The speed of the Big Bang’s explosion, the values of the four fundamental forces, and all the other fine-tuning of variables described above shows that existence of the universe has been arranged according to an extraordinary precision and plan. Let us now make a brief digression and consider the coincidental theory of materialism. Coincidence is a mathematical term and the possibility of an event’s occurrence can be calculated using the mathematics of probability. Taking the physical variables into account, what is the likelihood of a universe giving us life coming into existence by coincidence? One in billions of billions, or trillions of trillions of trillions, or more? According to Penrose, the odds against such an occurrence were on the order of 10123 to 1. It is hard even to imagine what this number means. In mathematics, the value 10123 means 1 followed by 123 zeros. (This is, by the way, more than the total number of atoms 10-73 believed to exist in the whole universe.) However, Penrose’s answer is vastly more than this: It requires 1 followed by 10123 zeros, or consider; 103means 1,000, i.e. a thousand. 10103 is a number that has 1 followed by 1,000 zeros. If there are six zeros, it’s called a million; if nine, a billion; if twelve, a trillion, and so on. There is not even a name for a number that has 1 followed by 10123zeros. In practical terms in mathematics, a probability of 1 in 1050 means “zero probability”. In short, Penrose’s number tells us that the “accidental” or “coincidental” creation of our universe is impossible. Concerning this mind-boggling number, Roger Penrose commented: “This now tells how precise the Creator’s aim must have been, namely to an accuracy of one part in 10123. This is an extraordinary figure. One could not possibly even write the number down in

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full in the notation: it would be 1 followed by 10123 successive 0’s. Even if we were to write a 0 on each separate proton and on each separate neutron in the entire universe and we could throw in all the other particles for good measure, we should fall far short of writing down the figure needed.”

The numbers defining the order and the plan of the universe’s equilibrium play a crucial role and exceed comprehension. They prove that the universe is by no means the product of a coincidence, and show us “how precise the Creator’s aim must have been”, as Penrose stated. The recent discoveries of modern science concerning the rationality, order, and fine-tuning in the universe by the famous British atheistic philosopher Antony Flew reversed his position on atheism. Flew stressed that his belief in God was a journey of reason; he attempted to follow the evidence wherever it led him. He states his conclusion: I now believe that the universe was brought into existence by an infinite intelligence. I believe that this universe’s intricate laws manifest what scientists have called the Mind of God. I believe that life and reproduction originate in a divine Source. Why do I believe this, given that I expounded and defended atheism for more than a half century? The short answer is this: this is the world picture, as I see it, that has emerged from modern science. Science spotlights three dimensions of nature that point God. The first is the fact that nature obeys laws. The second is the dimension of life, of intelligently organized and purpose-driven beings, which arose from matter. The third is the very existence of nature. However, it is not science alone that has guided me. I have also been helped by a renewed study of the classical philosophical arguments.

In fact, in order to recognize that the universe is not a “product of coincidences”, one does not really need any of these calculations at all. Simply by looking around himself, a person can easily perceive the fact of Creation in even the tiniest details of what he sees. How could a universe like this, perfect in its systems, the Sun, Earth, people, houses, cars,

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trees, flowers, insects, and all the other things in it ever have come into existence as the result of atoms falling together by chance after an explosion? Every detail we peer at shows the evidence of Creation and God’s supreme power. Only people who reflect can grasp these signs. Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and Earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what God has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the Earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the Earth are signs for a people who use reason. (Al-Qur’an, 2:164)

The American astrophysicist Hugh Ross ended his article,“Design and the Anthropic Principle” with these words: “An intelligent, transcendent Creator must have brought the universe into existence. An intelligent, transcendent Creator must have designed the universe. An intelligent, transcendent Creator must have designed planet Earth. An intelligent, transcendent Creator must have designed life.”

Thus, science proves the reality of Creation. Certainly, there is God and He has created everything, not only the physical dimension of this universe but also the spiritual dimensions. He is the sole Creator of the extraordinary and outstanding equilibrium and order of all the universes. Mind Game on the Creation of the Universe Science and religion appear to be far apart. Scientists grounded in atheistic secular materialism see this only from the perspective of physical existence. Yet, physical existence itself can be an illusion if we look from the perspective of quantum physics. If we look at the existence of our universe

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with all the galaxies and super clusters scattered throughout our cosmos, we cannot even possibly comprehend its scale in space or time. Even if we could detect the boundaries of our universe, there are possibly many other parallel universes existing in hyperspace. Let us for a moment do a simple mind game experiment. Imagine we are sitting in one of the hyperspace in a dimension that allows us to see the whole drama of the birth of our universe. This universe, according to astrophysicists, began at a point of singularity with neither space nor time. It then congeal in a dense mass of energy where all the forces of gravity, weak and strong nuclear force and other forces including dark energy, and dark matters all bounded together at a point of no dimension. Within a few nano, nano...seconds these tremendous forces started to expand and a huge concentration of energy began to form. During this Big Bang, the explosion or expansion created the dimension of space and time. Astrophysicists believe that this space-time and physical universe were formed around 13.7 billion years ago. Let us reflect for a moment as to how this universe could come into existence. From our mind game experiment, at our vantage point in hyperspace, we can see the whole process of the “Big Bang” that that took place. Ask ourselves who created this whole process of starting from nothingness at the point of singularity to the formation of time and space. Can we really believe that this whole universe came to being on its own, or is there a Creator whose command initiates the beginning of this universe and other universes? Again, from our observation point in hyperspace in this mind game, we can see that during this time the universe neither have any stars, galaxies, nor light. At this point after the blinding flash of the Big Bang, the universe is just a black brew of primordial gases, invisible black matter and maybe other invisible energies that we do not know. The universe is still dark that lasted almost half a billion years.

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Over those half billion years, stars began to form protogalactic clumps. The thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen and helium in the formation of the stars causes light to be emitted from a dark black brew of primordial gases. We have our first stars forming as well as the creation of heavy elements. Again, from our vantage point, at one point of hyperspace, we can see the stars forming into galaxies. Quasars begin to emerge from the cloud of gas and galactic dusts. This was one billion years after the Big Bang. Between 1 to 5 billion years after the Big Bang, gravitational pull began to enhance the filament-like formation of galaxies. Many stars and galaxies collided, formed and reformed again in different formations. Within 5 to10 billion years after the Big Bang, the galaxies coalesced in filaments forming clusters and super clusters. They also see deep voids within the universe. 10 billion years after the Big Bang, our sun and planets come into existence. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, sits between the super clusters that are some 150 million light years across. Our super cluster is a great aggregation of clusters of galaxies. Today, approximately 13.7 billion years after the Big Bang, we know that within our super cluster we have thousands of trillions of suns. Our sun represents a mere atom in the whole scheme of this universe. There are more mysteries in the formation of our universe. We now know that beyond the observable physical matters of the universe, there are dark energy and dark matter that help hold our galaxies, clusters and the universe together as well as causing it to expand. The science of particle physics tells us that we only know about 5% of the forces that cause our existence. 95% of the forces are still unknown. After seeing all this phenomena of the birth of the universe from our vantage point in the realm of hyperspace, we have to rationally accept that this whole drama of the existence of space, time and the physical universe is a creative process. This creative process must be initiated by an all-

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powerful eternal and intelligent Creator. In Islam, we call Him God or Allah, and the process of the existence of the universe began when God initiates a command, “Be” and the universe became. This is simply described in the Qur’anic revelation as follows: Is not He, Who created the heavens and the Earth able to create the like of them? Yes, indeed! He is the All-Knowing Supreme Creator. Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be!” and it is! So Glorified is He and Exalted above all that they associate with Him, and in Whose Hands is the dominion of all things, and to Him you shall be returned. (Al-Qur’an 36: 81-83)

Modern Scientific Evidence and the Qur’anic Revelation Prove That God Creates the Universe We have to acknowledge God or the Divine who puts in place the whole process of putting this universe and other universes into being. Once we acknowledge the Divine, we can then begin our sacred journey towards total success. Once we acknowledge the Divine, we will be able to remove the veil of the destructive secular, materialistic ego. We will then be able to redirect, beginning with ourselves, the transformation of a new, sacred civilization in the 21st century. Now, let us exit from our mind game experiment in hyperspace to scientifically study the nature of Godhood. We have to be convinced that God really exists and that atheism is a false theory. Atheism cannot stand in the light of fundamental modern scientific discovery. Our growing scientific knowledge will finally lead us to know God. The 20th century civilization was founded on the basis of scientific atheism. This leads to the idea of secular materialism that currently is the dominant way of life in the West.

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We have elaborated in the earlier chapter that we are not mere physical beings that end at our physical death. In reality, we are spiritual beings living temporarily on the physical plane. We transcend death. The basis of our transcendental precepts is to understand the reality of our existence and the reality of Godhood. In Islam, God is the One Who is Transcendent, Immanent, Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent. God in Islam is the absolute reality that is One, All-Merciful, All-Loving, and Infinitely Good. God is the Possessor of all perfect attributes beyond our human grasp or imagination. God is near to us, nearer than our jugular vein. And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein. (Al-Qur’an,50:16)

He answers our call. And your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you.” Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell [rendered] contemptible. (Al-Qur’an, 40:60)

Our channel of communication with God is always open intuitively beyond the five senses by using our innate transcendent capability. By being able to realize and implement the transcendent precepts in our lives, we will be able to achieve real peace, happiness and success. It will lead us to the realization of the ultimate, real, authentic total success based on our innate transcendent capability. By realizing our true nature, we can unveil gradually the keys toward total success. By practicing these keys toward total success, we will create a new world of peace, love, joy and happiness for all in this universe.

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Humanity is at a crossroad. Today, we live in an unsustainable and insane world. Our desire and greed for material wealth have resulted in an unbalanced lifestyle that causes severe psychological, mental, emotional and social problems. The world is getting more insane every day. We are building mental hospitals throughout the world at an unprecedented rate. Yet, those in the mental institutions are not being healed by modern allopathic medicine, atheistic psychiatry or psychology. More people are having severe depressions, stress and other emotional problems. It seems that the more we advance in technology, the more people become mentally deranged, suicidal and unhappy. Sincere seekers of truth are now questioning the premise of our secular and materialistic 21st century civilization. Are we ascending towards the ultimate total success, or are we descending towards the depth of total destruction? Our own unbridled use of science and technology to exploit nature has resulted in the destruction of the natural environment. Today, with vast problems in climate change, ecological disasters, melting of the glaciers, rising of the sea level, etc. brings us closer towards total destruction of planet Earth. We, the 21st century human being sell our soul to greed, consumerism and materialism as a basis of our continuous economic growth. In the process, we destroy our natural environment. Ultimately, we destroy this wonderful planet Earth. It is important for us to find a new direction to develop our unlimited potential for total success. We have to develop holistically not only in the physical and materialistic sense but also from a more balanced holistic perspective of our true human nature. We have to look at the development of a total human being physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We should use our time on Earth to help build a better world that is just, loving, peaceful, joyful for all on planet Earth. We need to have a shift in our thinking from the present egocentric materialistic lifestyle to a lifestyle

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that is more balanced, which will give us happiness and give happiness to others. With God’s grace, we will find a new meaning and embark a new journey that allows us to achieve total success and the real meaning of our life in this world. This Sacred Journey towards excellence and total success must commence with our acceptance of the divine principle. Today, we are living in the external world of forms that acknowledge only our physical aspects. As a result, we are living in the egocentric world that accentuates the basic desires. The majority of humanity today live to fulfill their sexual and material desires only. We live within our physical bodies as if it is the only reality. We live as if this physical body will remain permanent. We strive to take all kinds of anti-ageing strategies and therapies to extend our life as if this physical life will remain permanent forever. However hard we try, we all know that we will grow old, feeble, die and permanently leave this physical world. The mentality of egocentric, materialistic modern man does not allow us to see other realities beside the physical reality. It is as if we are heavily anchored in the materialism of this world that we cannot see or perceive our inner dimensions. The result of this blindness becomes a barrier for modern man to perceive permanence in the mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions that is more real than our physical reality. Our secular, materialistic ego tells us that this physical world is the only thing that we have. As a result, the premise of our whole 21st century modern human civilization is solely based on greed and material satisfaction. As we enjoy all the physical material world has to offer, we are still searching for happiness, fulfilllment and real success. We also know that we are on the path of our own global self-destruction. It is now time for us to find a new meaning and purpose of our existence that is total, real and permanent. As we begin to abandon our secular, materialistic ego, we will begin to feel a sense of sacredness; a feeling that allows us to journey into our inner sacred dimensions.

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As we leave the mask of secular materialism, we begin to feel the true persona of the essential self that lies within the core of our existence. As we acknowledge the divine, we also acknowledge our spiritual life that is us. This divine key will free us from the shackles of the ego and gives us a purpose and meaning beyond the material plane. By acknowledging the divine, we will become aware of the fundamentals of the oneness of life and the inter-relatedness of all things. With this divine key, we will then open the door towards total success. From the divine perspective, human excellence consists of achieving excellence at four levels, i.e. the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical dimensions. By striving to achieve excellence in these four dimensions, we will achieve total success and create a new human civilization that is holistic, filled with peace, love, happiness and joy. This new human persona will accentuate a balance between the material achievements and the spiritual well-being. A new sacred culture of humanity will be the norm in the 21st century. We can create a new paradise on Earth; a new civilization that is excellent in all dimensions. This entails the development of a new sacred human culture that is relevant to modern society. This entails the transformation of our value systems, mental attitudes and lifestyle consonant to a sacred way of life. We can only achieve total success through a shaping process towards excellence in our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical dimensions. Success is a journey, not a destination. We find success in life as we continue to expand our sacred self in all dimensions. Here, the real total success entails the balance of our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well-being. Real success gives us happiness, joy, and peace of mind. Real success gives us the energy and enthusiasm to achieve excellence. Real success will also give us the sense of purpose and meaning in life and seek worthy goals. Real success from the sacred divine principle puts us in harmony with the Creator and allows us to receive and give joy, peace

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and love to others. Real success allows us to reach spiritual realization that will bring us closer to the Divine. Real total success is the final realization that we are not a physical being in the physical world but a spiritual being having temporary physical experience in this world. When we realize all the above, we will then know the meaning of success. We are a Creature of Nothingness From the scheme of things in this universe, our planet Earth is an entity that is almost non-existent. Let us do a second mind game. Let us experiment as if we are moving about from this Earth to the edge of this known universe. Imagine we are sitting in an imaginary rocket that travels at many trillion times the speed of light. As we begin our journey from planet Earth and zoom past our solar system, we begin to probe the depth of the Milky way. At this point, when we look at our sun, it is just one star within more than a hundred billion collections of stars. At this point our star is smaller than the size of a golf ball. As we travel further past our Milky way, we will come across our super clusters which are great aggregation of clusters of galaxies. These super clusters contain thousands of galaxies including our galaxy, the Milky Way. At the edge of the super cluster, our sun is less than the size of peanut. As we travel further and further beyond our super cluster, we will pass through many super clusters with billions of galaxies. As our imaginary rocket reaches the edge of our known universe, our sun cannot be seen anymore. Its physical size, if ever we can measure it, is comparatively smaller than the size of a pinhead in the whole scheme of this physical universe. Imagine now, in reality our sun is just the size of one pinhead if compared to the vastness of this physical universe. Coming back from this mind game, journeying back to the reality of the Earth, let us reflect on the reality of our existence. If our star, the sun, is not even the size of a dust, smaller than

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the size of a pin-head, an atom in this wide universe, what would be the physical size of our planet Earth? Physically, in the scheme of the universe, planet Earth is almost of no size of any significance. If we imagine the physical size of us, the human being, we are a creature of no physical significance and we are a creature of almost `nothingness’. Yet, it is this creature that has no physical significance whatsoever was given the knowledge to realize the grandeur of the mystery of this universe. Why is this so? What is our purpose of knowing the secrets of this universe? How is this linked to our purpose and meaning in life? Let us reflect intelligently so that we can see and understand our real meaning and purpose of our existence on this planet Earth. Since we are physically the creatures of nothingness, our physical existence will not be of any significance. Even if the whole Earth, our sun or our galaxy, the Milky Way is wiped out of existence from this universe, this universe will not bear any loss whatsoever. We can deduce by understanding this reality that the physical things that we accumulate on Earth are of absolutely no significance whatsoever. Even if we can accumulate by collecting and making the whole Earth as solid gold, it is nothing because from the perspective of our Creator, this whole Earth is merely subatomic particles and dust that have no value whatsoever. God the Almighty in the Qur’an says: Verily, those who disbelieved, and died while they were disbelievers, the (whole) Earth full of gold will not be accepted from anyone of them even if they offered it as a ransom. For them is a painful torment and they will have no helpers. (Al-Qur’an, 3: 91)

By realizing that we have no physical significance whatsoever as creatures of nothingness, we must now understand why we were given the key to understand the mysteries of this universe and the mysteries of our very own existence. From the perspective of our Creator, He has given us a very significant role as His vicegerent or representative

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in this universe. God says: Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: “I will create a vicegerent on Earth... (Al-Qur’an, 2:30)

Once we understand this, we will understand that our whole existence is with a tremendous meaning and purpose. We will also realize that we are not merely physical beings but we are also spiritual beings which temporarily exist within physical bodies. Our real self, i.e. the spiritual self, endowed by the Creator, will live forever beyond space, time, and the existence or destruction of this universe. Once we understand our real purpose and meaning in life, we will be able to achieve total success beyond space and time. i.e.eternally. we will then realize and know that we are the spiritual beings which exist with our physical bodies in this world. We will then journey on to live forever beyond space and time. To understand our spirituality, we must believe and know the Divine, i.e.God, only then can we understand the true of the human self. Now, I would like to conclude the chapter with this extensive quotation from my good friend, John Herlihy, an American Muslim revert, in his book Veils and Keys: Possibilities of Contemporary Spirituality in the Light of Traditional Islamic Wisdom”(1998): In the secular and scientific climate of these times, religion has been reduced to a problem of proofs rather than a repository of knowledge and a channel of blessing. The question inevitably arises then how it is possible to effectively prove for a disbelieving humanity the existence of God and spiritual realities that cannot be experienced with the physical sense. It is an existential dilemma that did not confront the people living in more traditional times. In modern times, man tries to reduce the Divine plenitude to a scientific proof that uses man’s reason and physical senses as the operative norm in verifying the reality of a Divine Being.

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From spiritual point of view, however, it is not God and the mystery of the Spirit that needs proving, any more than knowledge, virtue or salvation of soul need proving, or the miseries of Hell for that matter, since human suffering effectively previews the suffering behind the symbolic image of Hell. Paradoxically, everyone today wants proof of God, the spiritual world and the unseen forces of the cosmic reality, and this proof must be as absolute and definitive as God Himself is, even though modern man is unwilling to believe in God who portrays Himself as the absolute and definitive Being. In other words, man wants an absolute proof for a Divine Being that he denies on the grounds that He portrays Himself as absolute. If a man understood the magnitude of the cosmic challenge that really confronted him, he would gladly abandon his “field of illusions” and surrender to the one proof that needs no explanation and is as absolute as anything on Earth can be, namely, direct experience or what the Islamic mystics call a “taste” (dhawq) of the Sublime (Al-Jalil). Direct human experience of God and an active human spirituality contains its own proof and conveys its own certainty. It has satisfied believers down through the ages as the most convincing proof of God’s absolute existence. No physical proof can be as absolute and real as direct inner experience since it carries a conviction that pierces the very core of man’s being. Only such higher level, spiritual experience with its connecting thread into the spiritual world can bring about that absolute quality and convey a certainty beyond anything that the relative world can offer. Due to his intuitive intelligence, man has the capacity to recognize genuine knowledge as the truth without any specific proofs. When the human mind is confronted with the truth and the presence contained within the religions, man is fully equipped and ready to cope with this knowledge and blessing made available to him as explanation, without the need for man-made proofs. In fact, to prove the Absolute is paradoxically the easiest or the most difficult thing in the world, depending on the mentality and the intellectual climate existing at any given time or place. To prove and thus believe in the Absolute is infinitely easy if it is an intuition and grace, but infinitely difficult if it is merely the projection of an intellectual reasoning based solely on the physical plane and the world of the sense, for then it would be a projection into the sublime that would be based on man’s world and not God’s universe.

CHAPTER TWO

POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY – 2ND PRINCIPLE: THE HOLISTIC TRANSCENDENT NATURE OF THE HUMAN SELF

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Understanding the Human Self Based on the transcendent principle that God is the Creator of this universe, we also know the true nature of the human self. The atheistic belief that human beings are merely physical beings made up of cells, organs, molecules, elements, atoms, subatomic particles, etc., is not true. From the perspective of quantum mechanics, subatomic particles are made up of waves of energy that have no physical entity which can exist within and without space and time, i.e. the non-locality quantum event. At this point, we are talking about entities which are beginning to transcend the physical nature. Beyond the quantum nature, we have the nature of the transcendent as the final layer of existence beyond space and time. The true nature of the human self is beyond the physical nature and the physical world. Modern science is now getting closer to understanding the true nature of the human self as revealed in the traditional understanding of the human self that is both transcendent and physical. We are spiritual beings first, before we existed in the physical realm. We have existed beyond space and time and our transcendent nature will exist beyond space and time, i.e. eternally. It is necessary to discuss the nature of the human self from the scientific and Islamic perspectives. This is because we need sound scientific knowledge to understand the reality of our existence as a composite being. From an Islamic perspective, there are some aspects that constitute the holistic human self. All prophets, from Adam to Abraham, to Jesus, to Moses all, and the way to Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon them), and the great saintly teachers such as Buddha, Lao Tze, Yogi saints, and others, all share the same view that the human self is not purely physical but have other inner dimensions, i.e. the transcendent/ spiritual dimension of the self.

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From the Islamic perspective, human being consists of at least five domains/aspects as he lives on Earth. Only God knows how many aspects/domains we have. They are called aspects because ultimately, the root cause of everything that exists in this world are creations or manifestations from God. The five aspects as mentioned in the Qur’an are, Ruh – the spirit aspect, Qalb – the heart aspect, Aqal – the intellectual/ mind aspect, Jasad – the physical aspect, and Nafs – the totality of the human self/human psyche. We have all these five aspects as we live on Earth. How then do we relate to these aspects? What is the nature of these aspects? This can be explained from the perspective of quantum physics on the nature of the physical world. For example, the physical body comprises organs, cells, and so on. The cells consist of lipids, complex amino acids, etc, which are made of elements such as oxygen, hydrogen, calcium, potassium, and so on. These elements can be further split into electron, neutron, proton, and further subdivided into subatomic particles. If we split these subatomic particles further, what is left is the energy in particles or wave form. According to Einstein’s formula, E = mc2, at the point of the speed of light, mass will be at infinity. While this is unimaginable, the perspective of quantum physics states that there is a point where all things, even at the subatomic particle levels, exist beyond space and time, i.e. the quantum non-locality phenomena. In this non-locality event at the quantum level, these subatomic particles will not be operating within space or time. It can be instantaneous and it can be in two places at the same time. This phenomenon is now being investigated and scientists are working on various details of quantum mechanics to understand these quantum phenomena. We now have some understanding of the nature of things in this universe. From the micro level perspective, i.e. at the subatomic particle level, there are matter/energy

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and information that govern our life at the micro level. While energy is indestructible, i.e. cannot be destroyed, it can be changed. For example, heat energy can be transformed into light energy or electrical energy. Likewise, electrical energy can be transformed into heat energy and so on. Energy is indestructible and it comes from a source which has been existing before anything physical was created. We know that energy is created because at the point of the creation of the universe, energy was manifested into physical matter, i.e. the galaxies, stars, planets, etc. God tells us that He exists before anything else existed. This universe began its existence at the point of 13.7 billion years ago. This universe came from a singularity. At the point of singularity, the universe exploded through the Big Bang expansion, followed by the formation of the subatomic particles, the electrons, protons, neutrons, helium, hydrogen, helium star, super nova, and so on. This whole process then generates other elements and then at a certain point, there were biological lives and then there was man. All this process happened not out of chance. In the Qur’an, Allah the Almighty tells us that this process began with His Command: “Kun Faya Kun”, which means, “Be and it became”(Al-Qur’an, 2: 117). That singularity became this universe and at that point, the energy that we know today existed together by the command of God. God creates energy by His Command or Power. What was in existence before the creation of this universe, other universes or dimensions is only known to God. We have no knowledge of the phenomena that have occurred before the existence of the universe, before time and space existed. The Qur’an tells us that the knowledge is only known to the Creator: Glory to God, who created in pairs all things that the Earth produces, as well as their own human kind and other things of which they have no knowledge. (Al-Qur’an, 36: 36)

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If we look into the nature of matter, there is anti-matter. Likewise, there is anti-particle in the nature of particles, etc. The nature of pairing as ordained by God is a phenomenon currently being studied by scientists from many fields. If we look at ourselves, we will find that we are a “composite being” having five or more aspects or dimensions. Our five aspects or dimensions, i.e. the spiritual, emotional, mental, physical self (SEMP), as well as our total human self/human psyche are all interrelated. From the Qur’anic perspective, we can define the human self as nafs. God says: By the human self (nafs) and the proportion and order given to it; And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right; Truly he succeeds that purifies it, And he fails that corrupts it! (Al-Qur’an, 91:7- 10)

When we talk about the human self (nafs), Muslim scholars use it interchangeably with the human psyche. Let us try to understand these five aspects/dimensions in detail. Understanding these five aspects will enable us to understand the total reality of being a human being. The Spirit (Ruh) In traditional human society, God creates the universe through His divine power. He endows us with free will to realize the beauty of His creations and the grandeur of the Creator. Traditional religious beliefs from the beginning of humanity have placed God as the Creator of the universe. Human beings were created from Divine Light, and endowed with personal responsibility. We have unlimited possibilities to achieve peace, happiness and perfection in this world and in the Hereafter. We are endowed with a proper vision of life, of who we are, why we are alive, what do we do with our life on Earth, and where do we go after our physical death, i.e. in the Hereafter.

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Atheistic values in the 20th century have created a mechanical vision of human beings who are just mechanical automata without any meaning or purpose in life. We are just cogs in a giant machine that grinds inexorably along a preordained path in the grip of a blind causal process. This modern atheistic ideology is morally corrosive and profoundly inaccurate. This atheistic value and materialistic way of life does not only destroy traditional moral values and the notion of personal responsibility, but also our civilization and environment that could finally lead to the demise of the human species in the near future. Today, this notion of mechanical human being without any purpose in life is being challenged by enlightened scientists, physicists and intellectuals. These intellectuals understand the latest scientific and holistic knowledge of the nature of the cosmos and the nature of existence. Science and faith share a common belief whereby what we see as normal reality is not an actual reality; the observable has something more fundamental hidden behind it. Attempts to structure the systems that open up all of that reality face real obstacles. For example, the law of physics breaks down as we approach time zero at the point of the Big Bang in the creation of this universe. At time zero of Planck time, the universe is smaller than its quantum wavelength and is consequently hidden in the impenetrable clouds of uncertain quantum . The identification of the force that brought the universe into being appears to be scientifically unknowable. We have no knowledge of ever lifting the veil to know what really happened before or at the point of singularity in the creation of the universe. Modern cosmology points to the possible existence of multiple universes existing in hyperspace. The fact that this universe exists points to a very compelling proof of the existence of God as the Creator of this universe or multiple universes. We can explain the nature of our spiritual self (ruh) by using analogies and understanding the phenomena

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of the nature of the human genetic code, i.e. the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). The DNA constitutes the program or biological information that is the central distinction between the living and non-living matters. In the physical world, there are two basic fundamentals of nature. Einstein discovered that matter and energy are one fundamental, i.e. matter/ energy. Claude Shannon’s information theory explains the nature of information structured within the DNA molecule. We can then deduce that in the physical world of this universe, there are two fundamentals of nature, i.e. matter/energy and information. The instructions in DNA that exist in all living matter are written in the genetic code using the letters A (for Adenine), G (for Guanine), C (for Cytosine) and T (for Thymine). The rungs of the nitrogen bases of the double helix DNA molecule are pairs of either adenine and thymine (A-T) or cytosine and guanine (C-G). The instructions in DNA are written in the genetic code and carried in sequences of codens. The program of the genetic code is extremely complex. The DNA for even the smallest single-celled bacterium contains over 4 million instructions. In his book, The Fifth Miracle, physicist Paul Davies states that the law of physics that operates between atoms and molecules are simple and cannot apply to the genetic code. No simple law of physics or chemistry can generate a random information-rich macromolecule code of the DNA structure. A law of nature of the sort that we know and love will not create biological information or any information at all. Ordinary laws merely transform input data into output data. They can shuffle information about but they cannot create it. The laws of physics, which determine which atoms react with what, and how, are algorithmically very simple. These laws of physics or chemistry contain relatively little information. Consequently, they cannot be solely responsible on their own for creating informational macromolecules such as the DNA structure.

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Contrary to the often repeated claim by atheists, life cannot be “written into” the laws of physics or chemistry as we know today. Mathematician Gregory Chaitin, the founder of Algorithmic Information Theory concludes that the genetic information for life to exist even for the smallest living organism is much larger than the information content found in the laws of physics and chemistry. An algorithm dramatically shorter than the sequence itself cannot generate the sequences necessary to transmit the genetic information found in living matter. Once this essential point is grasped, the real problems of life beginning from non-living elements, minerals and complex carbon chains become impossible. Biogenesis from the structure of DNA is definitely created as a program for life to exist on Earth. We have already understood the nature of the DNA genetic code that allows us to be a living being. The next question is, who creates all the information in our DNA structure? Who is the Programmer who creates the DNA information that allows life to exist? No scientists or atheists anywhere can give a plausible explanation for the mystery of life. Of more importance is that why is there life and why is human life intelligible? We can only debate on who is the Creator. We can call Him the Supreme Master Programmer, the Supreme Intellect, etc., or we can call Him God, the Creator. For the believers, the God who creates this universe also creates the DNA code to allow all living matters including human beings to live in this universe. God is a Supreme Programmer who creates the genetic code and allows life to exist on Earth. For Muslims, we have no problem in understanding the nature of the human self. God not only creates the genetic code to allow the continuous existence of the human species but also to specify the real nature of the human self. Fundamentally, we are spiritual beings living temporarily in the physical world.

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We have existed even before the existence of the genetic code that enabled human beings to exist in this physical world. We have already existed in the spiritual realm with God beyond space and time. Just as there is genetic imprint in the physical self, there is also spiritual imprint as the true fundamental nature of the human self. This fundamental nature is our spirit (ruh) as has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an: And they ask you about the ruh (spirit). Say (to them) the ruh proceeds from the command of Allah (amar) and you have very little knowledge of the nature of the ruh. (Al-Qur’an, 17: 85)

This verse of the Qur’an signifies that our spirit (ruh) proceeded from the Divine command. This was further clarified by Prophet Muhammad when he said: “the first thing that God created was the spirit (ruh).” There are two aspects of the ruh; the uncreated aspect and the created aspect. The uncreated aspect refers to the Universal Spirit that relates to God, the Divine Being. The created aspect is the ruh or spirit that is of the manifestation of the Universal Spirit that is projected and fused within the human being which becomes his spirit, soul or nafs. Muslim scholars call this the infusion of the breadth of God onto man. And I breathed into him of My spirit (ruh). (Al-Qur’an,15: 29)

The human spirit (ruh) which is created by God is living in the primordial plane in close proximity to God before the existence of the universe. The Qur’an says: When your Lord drew forth from the children of Adam from their loins – their descendants, and made them testify concerning themselves”, “Am I not your Lord?”- They said:” Yes! We do testify... (Al-Qur’an, 7:172)

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The human spirit (ruh) at this point of existence also carries the imprint of his mental and emotional dimensions, i.e. Spiritual-Emotional-Mind (SEM) aspects. To simplify our understanding of the ruh, we can deduce that it has its spiritual (ruh), emotional/heart, and the mind/ intellectual aspects coming together as one package in the spirit (ruh). Its differentiation is on its functional aspects, either at the spiritual level (ruh), heart level (qalb), or mind/ intellectual level (‘aqal). We can now understand that imprinted within our “spiritual DNA” is the inner cognition of who we are and our relationship with God. Imprinted within our spiritual self (ruh) is the witnessing of God as our Creator. Every human being that exists in this world would already have the potential to believe and know God, imprinted in our psyche. Every human being born into this world is born a believer of God because of our covenant with God (as stated in Al-Qur’an, 7:172). This imprint of our covenant with God in our psyche happened in the primordial spiritual state before the existence of the physical world. This innate human nature or fitrah can be blurred due to the self-indulgence of atheism and materialism as we live through this physical existence in this world. God allows us to follow our innate primordial human nature of being believers or to deny God by following our baser ego and material desires. Humanity then transcended into another state beyond the state of primordial spiritual existence with God. In this second state, we existed in a blissful transcendental dimension of existence. God says: O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in this garden, and eat freely thereof, both of you, whatever you may wish: but do not approach this one tree, lest you become wrongdoers. (Al-Qur’an, 2:35)

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At this stage of our existence we did not only have our spiritual dimension but also rational, emotional and intellectual dimensions built into our nature and personality, i.e. our fitrah. The heart (qalb) and intellectual (‘aqal/mental) aspects were imprinted in our spirit (ruh). This is affirmed thus: And He i.e. God taught Adam the names of all things... (Al-Qur’an, 2:31)

Here Adam represents all of humanity endowed with the intellectual capability of knowing all forms of knowledge. The third stage of our existence is on planet Earth. We descended from the heavenly realm due to the abuse of our free will to live on this physical Earth. Since human being is endowed with the knowledge of all things that enables him to live on this Earth, he is given the opportunity to journey towards success and perfection. The knowledge “of all things” given to the human species should be used towards goodness and not towards self-destruction. Using our free will and knowledge we can make this world a better place or make it hellish that will bring us towards self-destruction. From the perspective of modern quantum physics, we can understand this universe in terms of the wave of energy at different frequencies. For example, by examining the nature of the physical light, it appears that the light spectrum is dependent on its spectrum frequencies as well as energy level. Physical lights also travel at a certain velocity of 300,000 kilometres per second. Within the spectrum of the physical light, there are infrared light, ultraviolet light, microwave light, and many other frequencies and ranges of frequencies coexisting within the visible as well as the invisible light spectrum. Human beings even in the physical form are a system of energy at the quantum level. In every moment of our existence, there is energy that flows at the cellular physical level as well as the energy that emanates from our emotion and thoughts.

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We can describe the process of thinking as the transfer of energy or light that is directed by our consciousness. We can describe the ultimate nature of human beings from the perspective of being dynamic creatures of energy flow, i.e. light energy that gives shape to our physical actions, emotional feelings, creativity, intentions and thoughts. Today, there are a number of experiments in the study of the phenomenon of Quantum Entanglement. In this state, two subatomic particles once linked together will carry the information even when separated by space and time. For example, if one of these entangled subatomic particles is on Earth and the other particle is at the edge of the universe, the two entangled particles can still communicate and follow a set of patterns imprinted during the first entanglement. At this quantum level, we can say that subatomic particles can exist beyond space and time. We can deduce from this quantum level that we are at the border of the spiritual nature of existence. We can understand the parable of the spiritual nature of existence in the Qur’anic verse, known as the verse of Light (Nur). It is impossible for the human mind to grasp the essential nature/essence of God. However, the Qur’an has provided us an analogy on the nature of the Creator in the verse of Light where God says: God is the uncreated light (nur) of the heavens and the Earth. The parable of His light is as if there were a Niche and within it a Lamp. The Lamp enclose in glass. The glass as it were a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree, an Olive, neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarcely touched it. Light upon Light! God doth guide whom He will to His Light. God doth know all things. (Al-Qur’an, 24:35)

The great Muslim scholar Imam Al-Ghazali in the 9th Century interpreted the above verse from the perspective of Qur’anic metaphysics. The metaphor of “nur” or the Universal Uncreated Light explained the essential nature of the Creator.

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From this first uncreated light, God manifests His Power through the hierarchy of lights from the least to the greatest. Al-Ghazali described the simple and beautiful example for us to understand this hierarchy of light. For example, if we take the moonlight passing through a window that reflects onto a mirror in a house, and then reflected on the opposite wall and onto the floor of the house, we can see different levels of brightness. In each of these stages, the light differs in brightness depending on its proximity to the original source of light from the reflection of the moon, which actually receives the light from the sun. In this way he describes how the light of God is passed from God to his creations through various manifestations of existence. These manifestations exist for all created things regardless whether they are at the unseen energy level, at the physical visible existence in this physical universe, or in other universes in hyperspace. We do not know the reality of the multiple universes existing in parallel. However, the current research in cosmology points to the possibility of many universes existing in parallel. The above Qur’anic verse alludes to this possibility. From the scientific perspective, we know that white and black are not colours. White light is a combination of all colours of the visible spectrum just like the colour of the rainbow. Black is the absence of light. This symbol is used throughout human history where God is symbolized as the Divine light and the evil is symbolized as darkness or the absence of light. We know that our physical universes consist of physical matters that can disintegrate into atoms and subatomic particles, which will then be manifested as energies vibrating at different frequencies. We know the physical light is created light, because it travels at the velocity of 300,000 kilometres per second. The Divine Light (nur) mentioned in the Qur’an is the Eternal Uncreated Light of God which is beyond any form or need for velocity, or speed, or space, or time.

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It is beyond any human imagination. This Divine Light manifests and permeates through all the universes. Our spirit (ruh) is a dynamic system of light, which was infused and permeated with the Divine Light. This divine gift of love from God unto all of humanity enables us to become the Vicegerent of God on Earth. The goal of human existence is to get nearer to the light of God through joyful striving to achieve spiritual enlightenment and transformation. For the believers, we are living within the embrace of the Light of God. For the unbelievers, they are unable to recognize the light of God, and as such they live in spiritual darkness. The Qur’an describes the unbelievers as those living in the darkness, in a fathomless ocean covered by waves enveloping them resulting in the depth of total darkness. In this parable God says: The Unbelievers’ state is like the depths of darkness in a vast deep ocean, overwhelmed with billow topped by billow, topped by (dark) clouds: depths of darkness, one above another: if a man stretches out his hands, he can hardly see it! for any to whom Allah giveth not light, there is no light! (Al-Qur’an, 24:40)

These fathomless ocean and waves of darkness represent disbelief in God or atheism, human greed, appetite, sensory pleasures, hatred, arrogance, and other human weaknesses and immoralities. The cloud of darkness represents the depths of disbelief that results in secular materialistic way of life. This veil of darkness separates the believers from the unbelievers. The believers are infused with the Light (nur) of God which is imprinted in our primordial nature. We are created good and imprinted with the belief in God. For the unbelievers they are veiled from the Light of God and as such live in spiritual darkness.

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Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) described this veil as “God being separated from humans by seventy thousand veils of light and darkness”. Muslim scholars have further described these veils at three levels: (a) Veil of Darkness: Represents the atheists and those who do not have faith in God and in the life in the Hereafter, i.e. life after death. (b) Veil of Darkness Mixed With Light: Represents those who believes in God but mixed it up with false principles/precepts and way of life. (c) Veil of Light: Represents those who have realized the nature of Godhood at various levels or grades. These people seek to understand and live within the presence of the Light of God. From the earlier Qur’anic Verse of Light (Al-Qur’an, 24: 35) as symbolized by the niche, glass, lamp, tree and oil, God gives the metaphor of His reality of being the Uncreated Light/ Nur. By His grace, He bestows His Light and guides those who believe in Him. The ultimate end of understanding the nature of God/the Uncreated Light is the ability to perceive the ultimate transcendental reality that governs the whole universe. God opens the door to human beings to absorb in the spectrum of God’s Light to realize the existence of God and become His true Vicegerents on Earth. Muslim scholars give the analogy of how the human spirit (ruh) relates to God. God is like an endless sea of ocean. Human beings are like droplets of water being formed from this ocean. In the primordial state, we are like the droplets of water vapour floating in the clouds. As these droplets of water travels over the mountains, they fall down as rain that gushes forth to become rivers, i.e. the rivers of life on Earth. The rivers will then gushes into the infinite ocean of mercy,

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i.e. returning to God. The Qur’an tells us “that from God we came and to God shall we return”(Al- Qur’an, 2: 156).The purpose of the spirit (ruh) as it exists in this physical realm is to perfect itself. It carries within itself the seeds of the Divine attributes in some small relative quantities. Out of His abundant Love, Grace and Mercy, God has bestowed upon the human self some small measures of the infinite Divine attributes. For example, all human beings are born with the innate capabilities and desire for love. This humanly love is a reflection of the infinite attributes of divine love belonging to God. God possesses the divine attributes of perfection. As such, human beings carry the attributes of perfection in some small measures. Life on Earth as ordained by God is like a school where we go to in process of perfecting ourselves in space and time. The total sum of all our intentions, actions and experiences will then constitute our level of goodness or badness. By exercising our free will, we can journey towards perfecting ourselves or degrading ourselves. For example, if our lives are filled with evil deeds as committing murder, being unjust, being greedy, or full of hatred, then we are journeying towards the spiritual degradation. Such actions will cause our spiritual selves to degenerate and we will become imperfect beings. However, if we continuously try to improve ourselves by doing good deeds, we are slowly perfecting our spiritual selves, which can then absorb greater quantities of the Divine Light and finally reach enlightenment. Our human spirit (ruh), because it existed beyond the realm of the physical world, can interact with other spiritual dimensions that are created by God. For example, prophets and saints can be totally aware and interact with the angelic dimension and other dimensions created by God. All human beings have these spiritual faculties. However, modern secular materialistic human beings cannot sense this spiritual capability because of our spiritual imperfection that is influenced by the materialistic way of life.

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Being modern secular materialistic human beings, we function only with our innate five physical sensory capabilities and thus we have lost our sixth faculty, i.e. the spiritual faculty. We can strengthen our spiritual, emotional, and mental dimensions that will enable us to function beyond the five physical sensory capabilities. The human spirit (ruh), while existing in this physical Earth can perceive beyond the physical reality. God has given us the ability beyond the five senses to become multisensory human beings that can understand the spiritual or the invisible realms. From the perspective of modern science, we can understand our existence beyond the quantum state. We can also realize our nature beyond our physical DNA towards understanding our nature as the creature of light. The understanding and the realization that we are spiritual beings existing within physical bodies are the key to understanding our existence on this Earth. God has given us the key to understanding our spiritual reality that is the basis of our purpose in life. As we grow to perfect ourselves to become multi-sensory beings, we will become aware of the spiritual reality and understand the subtle feelings which are useful in our journey towards perfection. The Qur’an tells us that our ruh is a spirit from God. The spiritual nature of our spirit (ruh) includes an eternal, invisible, non-corporeal and transcendental element which emanates from, or to have been created by God. We will later explain the relationship of our spirit (ruh) vis-à-vis other aspects of the human self. To simplify our understanding of our spirit (ruh), heart (qalb), and mind (‘aqal) aspects, let us represent them in a diagram. This diagram does not represent the real nature of the human self, which in reality is beyond any physical representation or description. This diagram is just an analogy for us to understand and realize our true nature.

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Qalb (Heart)

Ruh (Spirit)

Nafs (Self)

‘aqal (Mind)

Diagram 1. Human Self/Nafs in the Primordial State with the Three Domains.

We can represent our spirit (ruh) as the outer circle as shown in Diagram 1. Within our spirit (ruh) we have the heart (qalb) aspect, and the mind/intellectual (‘aqal) aspect as represented by the two inner circles. All these three aspects operate and interact as one unified entity as shown in the diagram above. The spirit (ruh) is described as the heart (qalb) when it functions from the perspective of free will and emotion, and it is described as the mind (‘aqal) when it functions from the perspective of intellect and decisionmaking. In reality, there is only one entity and the terms ruh, qalb, and ‘aqal that can be used to describe the one entity, i.e. the human self. In our primordial state, our human self or nafs consists of the above three aspects. In the physical existence in this world, our self (nafs) includes our physical entity (jasad). Many scholars also use the term “soul” for our spiritual self. Our definition of the soul comprises the spirit (ruh), heart (qalb), and mind (‘aqal). These aspects are elaborated in greater detail in the following sections.

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The Heart (Qalb) As mentioned earlier, Muslim scholars have described the human spirit (ruh), the heart (qalb), and the intellect (‘aqal) interchangeably as one entity. When the human spirit (ruh) is manifested by God at the primordial state, i.e. in the state of azali, it already has the imprints of the heart (qalb) and the intellectual (‘aqal) aspects. When we describe the heart aspect (qalb), we are also describing our spirit (ruh). God gives us a composite reality of our spirit (ruh) that includes the function of the heart (qalb) aspect as well as the intellectual (‘aqal) aspect in our primordial nature. These innate spiritual gifts allow us to use our heart and our intellect to accept God and become believers and receive the light of God. We could also use the same faculty to deny God and veil ourselves from the Light of God and thus becoming atheistic modern materialistic human beings as we know today. There are two aspects of the heart, i.e. the biological heart in our physical body, as well as the inner heart that is imprinted in the spirit (ruh). The inner heart (qalb) has an affinity and close connection with our physical biological heart. Since immemorial time this connection has been known to humanity from the religious perspective. We can find this perspective in Chinese, Hindu, Hebrew, Christian and Islamic traditions. In traditional Chinese philosophy, the physical heart is the connection between the spirit and the body, i.e. with the blood carrying the heart’s vital rhythmic messages throughout the body. In traditional Chinese medicine, the body’s holistic integral function is accessed via the pulse reading of the heart. In Hindu yogi tradition, the heart is recognized as the seed of an individual’s consciousness and the centre of life. The physical heart is connected to the inner heart that will affect the balance and equilibrium of the individual if these two aspects of the heart are not tuned holistically. According to ancient Judaic tradition, the heart is one of the centre

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of energy (Sefirot) that affects beauty, harmony and balance (Tifferet). The heart holds the key to radiant health, joy, peace and total well-being. In Christian tradition, both the old and new testament have shown the connection between the physical and spiritual aspects of the heart, such as in the verses: “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs, 23: 7); and, “What reasons ye in the hearts” (Luke, 5: 22). The organ in the body that is associated with feelings of love and emotion is the heart. Just as the intellectual mind transcends the physical brain, the spiritual heart transcends the physical heart. This is mentioned in the Qur’an: It is not the eyes that are blind but the hearts... (Al-Qur’an, 22:46)

According to the saying of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), God proclaims: The heavens and Earth cannot contain Me, but the hearts of my believing servants have room for Me.

Our transcendent heart identifies the divine beyond the physical heart or physical realm. According to al-Ghazali, the qalb is the essence of man, which is synonymous for the spirit (ruh) depending on its functional aspect. In this physical plane on Earth the transcendental heart is the spiritual entity that abides within and beyond the physical body and controls all functions of life on Earth. It also functions within the spiritual realm beyond space, time, and the physical constraints of the physical self and the physical world. Understanding Our Heart Our heart starts beating when we are still in the womb of our mother. The heart of the foetus of an unborn baby begins to beat at around the twenty-second day. Medical scientists and biologists do not know why all of the sudden the foetus’

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premature heart starts beating. They call this phenomena as auto rhythmic. Somehow, the heartbeat is self-initiated within the heart itself. As believers, we believe that everything is initiated by the will of God. If we look at the structure of the heart we will find that the heart is truly an amazing organ. The heart works throughout our lifetime without ever stopping. The moment it stops, we will die. Over the period of our lifetime, the heart beats at about 100 thousand times a day, and approximately 40 million times a year. If we live up to 70 years, our hearts beat nearly 3 billion times. The heart also pumps more than 4 litres of blood per minute throughout our vascular system, which is more than 96 thousand kilometres long, i.e. 2 times the circumference of the Earth. There are many new scientific findings about our amazing heart which point to the Divine Creator, God. Let us review some of these scientific discoveries about our heart. Recently, cardiologists and bio scientists have discovered that the heart does not only respond to signals coming from the brain, but also vice versa. There is a bilateral, two-way dynamic relationship between the heart and the brain. We know that when a foetus begins to grow, the most important part of the brain development begins with the brain stem, the amygdala, and the hippocampus, which are the emotion centres of the unborn baby. It is evident that the foetus already has a brain with emotional functions and a beating heart long before the other parts of the brain, i.e. the cortex or the thinking brain, begin to form. We now know that the heart interacts with the brain through at least four pathways. The signals from these four pathways are:

Neurologically through electrical impulses



Chemically through hormones and eurotransmitters



Physically by pressure waves



Electromagnetic field interaction

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Let us study the electromagnetic field interaction of the heart. Scientists have discovered that the heart emits a stronger electromagnetic field than our brain. This electromagnetic field from the heart is 40-60 times greater in amplitude and permeates every cell in the body. It is approximately 5,000 times stronger than the brain’s magnetic field. Using sensitive magnetometers we can detect the heart’s magnetic field approximately 1 meter away from the body. This phenomenon proves that the heart’s electromagnetic field not only permeates throughout every cell in our physical body, but also transcends our physical body. Scientists are now discovering that our Earth’s electromagnetic field interacts with the electromagnetic field of our heart. This phenomenon shows that all of us are intimately connected to the Earth as well as to all other human beings and creatures on this planet. We also know that our Earth’s electromagnetic field is influenced by the electromagnetic field of our galaxy, the Milky Way. In turn, the Milky Way is influenced by other electromagnetic fields of all other galaxies in this universe. If we reflect on these phenomena, It shows that we are all interconnected from the smallest subatomic particle to the cells in our body, to our heart, to this Earth and to this universe, and finally to God the Creator. We are interacting all the time giving and receiving signals that will influence our future and the future of this Earth and the universe. The heart plays the key role in this interaction. Ancient sages and Muslim scholars have realized this interconnectedness long before modern science was able to prove it. In religious terms, these sages and scholars used the analogy of the heart receiving light. We know from quantum physics that light energy is actually a waveform of electromagnetic energy that is being transmitted and permeates throughout the universe. We may now understand that the electromagnetic energy from our heart can transcend our physical body and interact with the universe. In Islam, the heart can interact not only with other human beings and the universe, but also with the Divine.

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On another note, the latest research points to the existence of cell memory. Scientists of Karolinska Institute Stockholm have found that the cells of our body contain some form of memory. This memory affects the surrounding and can be transmitted from one generation to another. We now know that this influence is being stored in our genes, i.e. our DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). From the Islamic perspective, we do not only have a physical DNA, but also a “spiritual DNA” that was imprinted even before we existed as physical beings. This imprint of both the physical DNA and the spiritual DNA interacts to determine and influence our future. From an Islamic perspective, our future transcends the physical world. In Islam, the terminology qalb or heart signifies both the biological physical heart as well as the spiritual inner heart imprinted in our ruh. The analogy symbolizing the inner heart (qalb) is like the sun, which is the heart of our solar system. It spreads its energy throughout the whole solar system. Likewise, our inner heart (qalb) spreads its energy throughout the human self. The spiritual inner heart is an independent entity that has affinity and closeness with the physical heart. This connection is transcendental. The spiritual heart is the real substance whereas the physical heart is only an appendage. Both the physical heart and the inner spiritual heart are the emotional centres of our being. Our faculties such as perception, consciousness, sensation, reasoning, and will power are part of the human capabilities centred on the heart. The biological heart is directed by the inner heart. In one of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), he said: There is a fleshy part in the body. If it is healthy, then the whole of the body is healthy. If it is corrupted, then all the body is corrupted. Beware! That part is the heart.

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This saying shows the importance of the connection between our physical heart and our inner spiritual heart (qalb). Our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical (SEMP) well-being is dependent on the condition of our physical and inner spiritual heart (qalb). The nature of this connection between the biological heart and inner heart has been discussed by Muslim scholars and sages for centuries. Through Islamic spiritual practices, these scholars and sages discovered the connection between the biological and inner spiritual hearts, which are the sources of all human feelings and emotions. They also discovered that the inner heart is the centre of the divine faculty that differentiates human beings from other animals. The spiritual heart houses our belief system, knowledge of God, and love for God. Our spiritual heart realizes the spiritual delight of affinity to God and finally knowing God. The synergy between our spiritual heart and our biological heart conveys the rhythmic emotions from the realm of the inner heart and the spirit of the physical realm. This will enable the physical body to feel the inner peace, tranquility, happiness, love, and all of the positive emotions necessary for our holistic well-being. Ignoring the inner voice of our inner heart will result in splinted personality that cannot feel the joy, happiness and meaning of life. Modern materialistic civilization creates a mono-dimensional materialistic human being without any higher purpose in life except to eat, have sex and other material indulgences. As a result, today’s modern humanity is having serious problems in terms of mental health, happiness in life, as well as having higher purpose in life beyond the physical realm. The system of cell memory is embedded throughout every cell in our body, especially in the heart. It contains information and memory about our past actions and behaviours as well as our personalities. Scientist Dr.Kandis

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Burt in his book, “Passion Molecules”, discovered that all cells in the human body exchange signals with each other through amino acid interaction. It is now proven, that these bio transmitters are not only found in the brain but also in other internal organs such as the heart. Bioscientist Dr. Joseph Chilton Pearce, the author of the book “The Biology of Transcendence”, discovered that there are neurals like cells in our heart. He discovered that within the heart cells there are clusters of small neural groupings in the heart that is almost like axon-dendrites forming the neural connection of our brain. Neuroscientists in recent years have also made startling discoveries. In many research centres, neuroscientists have discovered that the heart has its own independent nervous system; a complex system which is simply referred to as the brain in the heart. Neuroscientists have discovered that there are more than 40,000 neuron cells in the heart, which is about the same amount found in the sub-cortical centre of the brain. They found that there is constant communication between the neurons in the heart and the brain functional area, i.e. the amygdale, the thalamus and the cortex. We know that the amygdale, an almond-shaped structure deep inside the brain emotional processing centre, is the key to all emotions. The amygdale will assess any new information for its emotional significance. It then communicates with the brain cortex to assess this new information and take appropriate actions. Dr. Rollin McCraty from the Institute of Heart Math has discovered that the heart can act on its own. He said: We observed the heart was acting as though it had a mind of its own and was profoundly affecting perception, intelligence, and awareness. Over the past twenty years, scientists have discovered new information about the heart that makes us realize that it is

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far more complex than what we had ever imagined. We now have scientific evidence that the heart sends us emotional and intuitive signals to help govern our lives. Instead of simply pumping blood, it directs and aligns many systems in the body so that they can function in harmony with one another. And although the heart is in a constant communication with the brain, we now know that it makes many of its own decisions.

Physiologists John and Beatrice Lacey of the Fels Research Institute have discovered that the heart has its own brain-like nervous system that can affect our physical brain through the signals sent to the amygdale, the thalamus and the cortex. The Laceys found that when the brain sent “orders” to the heart through the nervous system, the heart did not automatically obey. Instead, the heart responded as if it had its own distinctive logic. Sometimes when the brain sent an arousal signal to the body in response to stimuli, the heartbeat sped up accordingly, but frequently, it actually slowed down while the other organs responded with arousal. The selectivity of the heart’s response indicated that it was not merely mechanically responding to a signal from the brain. Rather, the heart’s response appeared to depend on the nature of the particular task at hand and the type of mental processing it required. Even more intriguing, the Laceys found that the heart appeared to be sending messages back to the brain that the brain did not only understand the signal but also obeyed it. This proves that the messages from the heart can actually influence a person’s behaviours and future outcomes. It also shows that our intuition play a role beyond just our normal senses. This intuitive nature is built in within our hearts. Modern human beings somehow are beginning to lose the capabilities of our intuitive hearts. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) told us that the heart can control the brain. The heart will shape the personality of any individual that allows them to realize the Creator. As God revealed in the Qur’an:

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For, Believers are those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a tremor in their hearts, and when they hear His signs rehearsed, find their faith strengthened, and put (all) their trust in their Lord. (Al-Qur’an, 8:2)

Another relevant verse confirms the existence of cell memory in the heart: He knows all that is in the heavens and on Earth; and He knows all that you keep secret as well as all that you bring into the open: for God has full knowledge of what is in the hearts [of men]. (Al-Qur’an, 64:4)

The above Qur’anic verse was revealed to humanity 1,400 years ago. Yet it contains information which modern sciences have only recently discovered. God reveals that our physical heart is linked to the inner spiritual heart which can receive signal or light from God. The illumination or enlightenment from God affects both our physical and spiritual inner heart. God says: Could, then, one whose bosom God has opened wide with willingness towards self-surrender unto Him, so that he is illumined by a light that flows from his Sustainer, be likened to the blind and deaf of heart? Woe, then, unto those whose hearts are hardened against all remembrance of God! They are most obviously lost in error! (Al-Qur’an, 39:22)

In another verse, God also mentioned that not only our heart has cell memory, but our other organs like the skin also have cell memory that transcends the normal function of the skin: God bestows from on high the best of all teachings in the shape of a divine writ fully consistent within itself, repeating each statement of the truth in manifold forms, a divine writ whereat shiver the skins of all who stand in awe of their Sustainer: but in

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the end their skins and their hearts do soften at the remembrance of the grace of God. Such is God’s guidance: He guides therewith him that wills to be guided whereas he whom God lets go astray can never find any guide. (Al-Qur’an, 39:23)

Experiments carried out at the Institute of Noetic Sciences show that the heart can operate intuitively beyond space and time. Similarly, Professor Benjamin Libet, a neurophysiologist at the University of California discovered that every thought, emotion, perception, or movement happens before our consciousness can realize it. This experiment proves that there is a transcendent element beyond space and time that affects our emotions, perceptions, and movements. In one of his experiments, the subject was required to randomly move his finger upon listening to the command, “move finger”. Throughout this time, the brain was subject to continuous monitoring. Professor Libet observed the relevant brain cells before the person actually took the decision to move his finger. The command “move finger” reached the individual’s brain, which was then readied for action. The individual could only activate this command and became aware of this command after about 400 milliseconds. From this experiment Professor Libet summarized as follows: 1) the decision to move a muscle takes place before that decision reaches a person’s consciousness. 2) There is always a delay between a neurological or perceptual process and us becoming aware of the thought, feeling, perception or movement it represents. To put it in another way, we can only be aware of a decision after that decision has been made 400 milliseconds before. From the above experiment, we can conclude that there is a “decision maker” beyond our physical brain and beyond our consciousness. It seems that what we do in our physical life is always in past tense. In Islam, we do not only live in a physical dimension, but our hearts always live within the

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realm of divine consciousness. Everything that happens in this universe is by the Will of God. The Qur’an says: And never say of anything, “Indeed, I will do that tomorrow,” Except [when adding], “If Allah wills.” And remember your Lord when you forget [it] and say, “Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is nearer than this to right conduct. (Al-Qur’an, 18:23-24)

God has given us the free will to use our hearts to believe in God and align ourselves with what is good or to disbelieve and indulge in evil deeds following our desires or egos. In reality, everything that exists in the universe, and everything that has happened and will happen have been predetermined by God at the point when He commands this universe to “Be”, and it became. The human species is given the free will to carry his or her action in a limited sense. We are individually responsible for our actions based on the free will to use our heart and mind to do good or to do evil. A research conducted by Dr. Francis Waldrop from the National Institute of Mental Health shows that the heart is important to make us a whole person and the heart can be the key to heal people with psychological and mental problems. As we get closer towards the understanding of the physical heart and its connection with human behaviour and well-being, we should contemplate and take another step. Naturally, the scientists cannot use the term “spirit” or “the divine” because it seems unscientific to them. However, in reality, only when science surrenders to the spirit, then we can have real knowledge. We will then understand the meaning of being a human being that has five aspects, i.e. the totality of the human self (nafs) and its dimensions of the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical dimensions. Contemplate over this discovery and ask yourselves, how could all of those ancient sages know so much of our heart that modern men seem to be ignorant of?

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Modern psychology has shown that intelligence quotient (IQ) does not bring about success in life. Extensive research done by leading psychologists throughout the world points to the need for emotional intelligence (EQ). Today, we know that success in life is based more on our ability to manage our emotions rather than our intellectual capabilities. Psychologists today are talking about cultivating the heart’s intelligence. With our hearts, we will be able to develop selfawareness to make good decisions. The heart is the centre of our emotional intelligence. Famous psychologist, Daniel Goleman says: The ABC’s of emotional intelligence include: self-awareness, seeing the links between thoughts, feelings and reactions; knowing if thoughts or feelings are ruling a decision; seeing the consequences of alternative choices; and applying these insights to choices.

Without the guiding influence of the heart which is the centre of our emotions, “we easily fall prey to reactive emotions such anger, fear, frustration, depression and other negative behaviours”. The problems of the modern 21st century civilization like crime, rape, mental diseases, and breakdown of our familial and societal structures point to the need for nourishing and cultivating our heart/ emotional intelligence. From an Islamic perspective, the heart is the gateway to attain the vision of the Divine presence. Through the eye of our inner heart, we begin the process of affinity to the Divine and gain intuition (kashf). As we journey towards perfecting our heart (qalb) through prayers and spiritual practices, we begin to be aware of our affinity with God. Finally, we will be able to have certainty of belief by not only having faith in God but to know God in our heart (‘ainulyakin, i.e. knowing God through our inner heart). This knowledge will bring us closer to the knowledge of the ultimate reality. Through this process, we will finally realize our true nature of being the Vicegerent of God on Earth.

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Maintenance of a healthy inner heart is the most important aspect of our existence in this world. It is important that we maintain a healthy heart (qalb) and a healthy body as all human feelings and emotions are directed to this critical centre. The heart must be protected and kept safe from being infected by evil. The heart functions as a bridge between all that is good as well as the gateway to the blessings of God. It can also be deviated by satanic and evil temptations. In the Qur’an, we are advised to pray: Our Lord! Do not cause our hearts to swerve after You have guided us (Al-Qur’an,3: 8)

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in one of his supplications used to say: “O God, O Converter of hearts. Establish our hearts on Your way of truth”. This reminds us of the absolute need to protect and preserve the heart from the influence of evil. The heart that is influenced by evil will have an inner satanic desire which leads to evil deeds, temptations and vices. The spiritual heart (qalb) is open to the physical world through the sensory organs, which are conceived to be the external windows. The qalb is fed with sensory facts perceived through the physical light. Depending upon the states of the inner illumination of the heart, the qalb processes these data and reveals their interrelationships and meaning to the self that becomes the basis of judgment and decisions. Decisions are made by the heart (qalb). The brain and the nervous system function as instruments to implement them. The inner state of the heart(qalb) that has been spiritually regenerated is like a shining glass that refracts divine light. The glass does not prohibit the light from leaving. In fact, it preserves them and projects them just like the brilliant stars lighting up the universe. In our physical world, we utilize our five senses to explore the physical reality. For us to transcend our physical

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state, we have to utilize our heart (qalb) to understand our spiritual reality, which is beyond space and time. The heart (qalb) can also be described according to its functions and its relationship with the rest of the bodily organs as well as our emotions, perceptions and behaviours. In one Qur’anic verse, God declares mankind to be the Vicegerents or representatives of God on Earth (Al-Qur’an, 2:30). We can relate an analogy from the Hadith, which states: “God created Adam in His form”. Since God, as the Creator of this universe, governs it with sovereign authority, the heart (qalb) is considered to be the authority and master of the body and its functions. All the organs of the body have been subordinated to the heart (qalb). Our external perceptions, emotions and behaviours are virtually the manifestations of the state of the heart, i.e. the conditioning of our emotions based on the good and bad deeds that we have done. Two Qur’anic verses here are of utmost significance on the danger of not taking care of our heart. Nay, but their hearts are corroded by all the evil that they were inclined to do (Al-Qur’an, 83: 14) God has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and over their eyes is a veil; and awesome suffering awaits them. (Al-Qur’an, 2: 7)

The sealing of the heart occurs over time. If a person follows this destructive path of excessive material indulgences and harmful evil deeds, i.e. the path of sin, he gradually loses the ability to perceive the truth. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave an analogy of our heart that will have black spots on it as we do sinful evil deeds. As we continue to do more sinful evil deeds, the heart will be overwhelmed with black spots that will prevent the divine light and guidance from entering our heart (qalb).

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At this point it is as if a seal is set upon our heart (qalb) that makes it totally evil and beyond reform, i.e. the inner heart is dead even though the physical heart is physically alive. This is a consequence of man’s free choice to take the path of evil. Those who follow the path of evil will harden their hearts. This heart will be preoccupied with excessive lust, greed, selfishness, arrogance, envy, pride, heedlessness and attachment to status. This heart is centred only on the physical pleasures and has lost all the ability to feel, believe and realize God and to achieve authentic happiness. If we take the path of perfecting our heart, then we are travelling on a journey of perfecting ourselves. Our heart will begin to grow, mature and slowly acquire the spiritual insights. We always live in constant consciousness of God fully realizing the Divine in our life. We will enjoy complete happiness, serenity and security under the Divine’s protection. We will live a life under the light of God and live a life of purpose and self-control. The whole focus of life is to love God and to pursue our life to please God. This way of life will allow us to receive the love of God, i.e. Divine Light and cause the whole universe to love us. We will receive a warm welcome in all realms of existence. Finally, by perfecting one’s heart, we will be able to completely conquer the self-centred ego that is prone to evil. With the Grace of God, gradually we will have a direct understanding of the innermost transcendental nature of our heart. We will have the ability to see with “the eye of the heart” and understand the ultimate reality of the unity of God. This journey towards the perfection of one self is open to all human beings who use the inner heart (qalb) to make the right choice. It is our choice to nourish our heart to reach perfection and total success or follow the ego towards ultimate disillusion and destruction. We have to strive and work hard to achieve the perfection of ourselves by perfecting our inner heart.

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There is no shortcut towards real success in life. Real success allows us to experience and achieve gnostic (makrifah) and wisdom (hikmah). It will then allow us to comprehend the inner reality of life. As the Vicegerent of God, the human self is inherently endowed with some of God’s attributes in some small finite measures. These attributes, however, remain dormant and veiled by the passions and the sensuous preoccupations of the egoistic self as we journey through our physical life on Earth. This test of life is described in the Qur’an: By the human self (nafs) and the proportion and order given to it; And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right; Truly he succeeds that purifies it, And he fails that corrupts it! (Al-Qur’an, 91:7-10)

From the above verse, we can understand that to succeed in life we have to purify our heart to receive enlightenment. Al-Ghazali defined the diseases of the heart like pride/ arrogance (takabbur), hypocrisy (nifaq), uncontrolled desire (hawa), ostentatiousness (riya’), greed (hars), ego and other spiritual diseases linked to the heart (qalb) that can destroy our state of balance, and bring us towards inner conflict and self-destruction. Modern humanity is fully engrossed with the worldly indulgences and passions that are merely sensuous and physical in nature. At this level, our existence is just like animals where “survival of the fittest” becomes the dominant behaviour. Our 21st century civilization will completely disintegrate if we continue this materialistic atheistic path. To survive in the post-modern human society, we must acknowledge the reality of the divine Creator. This awakening or realization of the Divine will remove the illusion of our ego and make the heart free from pursuance of the temporary sensuous goals. Freeing the self from the bondage of the temporary sensory pursuits will remove the veil of darkness.

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In this process, the heart will gradually understand the nature and the secret treasures of the Divine reality. The Mind (‘aqal) In the earlier description of our spirit (ruh) and inner heart (qalb) we have elaborated that on the primordial covenant in the state of azali at the creation of the human self, the mind/intellect (‘aqal) aspect is imprinted in our spirit (ruh). As a result, Muslim scholars tend to use these three aspects interchangeably depending on its functional and situational roles in our journey of life. From our existence in the primordial realm, to our existence in the physical realm on this Earth, and then back to the realm of the hereafter, our mind/intellect (‘aqal) plays the key role in reasoning and decision-making. Islamic scholars have defined ‘aqal as the all-encompassing intellect. It covers the whole range of the mind/brain/intelligence aspects. ‘aqal is bound within the spirit/nafs/soul and functions as an integrative faculty between the spirit, inner heart and mind (‘aqal). Muslim scholars have divided the mind (‘aqal) into two basic faculties:

Al-‘aqal al-Juzi: the faculty of reason, conscious mind, the faculty of discursive or analytical thought.



Al-‘aqal al-Kulli: the subconscious mind and beyond the subconscious mind, the faculty of intuition and higher intellect, and the faculty of awareness of the spiritual and divine realities.

The integration between these two aspects of reason, higher intellect and intuition will enable man to discern truth from falsehood, good from bad, etc., which will then imprint positively and negatively his spiritual experiences throughout his journey of life. The faculties of ‘aqal are bestowed upon man to enable him to cope with his reality of existence in this world.

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The Islamic integrative concept of higher intelligence/ mind (‘aqal) is compatible with the findings of modern science in neurology, physiology, psychology, quantum physics and other new sciences on the nature of the brain and mindbody relationship. Just as the physical heart is connected to the inner heart (qalb), the physical brain is connected to the mind/higher intelligence (al-‘aqal al-kulli). Let us understand the basic science of our brain and mind and how it is interactively connected with the totality of the human self and the universe. Our amazing physical brain has more than one hundred billion brain cells consisting of active neuron cells connected through more than 20 thousand branch-like connections within each cell. Brain and memory expert Tony Buzan said: Your brain is made of a trillion brain cells. Each brain cell is like the most phenomenally complex little octopus. It has a centre, it has many branches, and each branch has many connection points. Each one of those billions of brain cells is many times more powerful and sophisticated than most of the computers around the planet today. Each one of these cells connects, embraces, hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands of other cells. And they shuttle information back and forward. It’s been called an enchanted loom, the most astoundingly complex, beautiful thing in existence. And each person has one.

Each one of our 100 billion active neurons or brain cells stores information in its thousands of dendrites like branches. It then transmits that information to other cells, and other parts of the body through electrical impulses, along a major pathway called an axon. When it reaches the synapseconnecting gap to another brain cell, each electrical impulse triggers a chemical reaction – a neurotransmitter which jumps across the gap to transfer the message. Each axon is insulated by a myelin sheath, which acts as an insulator. The brain has at least 70 different types of neurotransmitters, and each is affected by the food or diet that we take as well as our way of life. The entire communication system is surrounded

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by glial cells for “glue”, which lay down the myelin sheathing and generally nourish the active nerve cells. There are actually three brains in one, i.e. three different levels from the outer brain to the brain-stem. The brain consists of two hemispheres, namely the left brain and the right brain, with six distinct layers. The lower brain or brainstem controls many of our instincts, such as breathing and heartbeat. The central part of our brain controls our emotions which is called the limbic system – from the Latin word limbus for “collar” or “ring”- because it wraps around the brain-stem like a collar. The upper brain, known as the cortex, enables us to think, talk, reason, and create. We use many different parts of the brain together to store, remember and retrieve information. Each one of these factors has an important bearing on how we use our inbuilt power of the brain. We have on each of our individual head the most powerful of all computers in the world put together. How amazing! If I were to tell you that all of Microsoft software that we are using today comes into existence without the tens of thousands of software engineers at the Microsoft headquarter creating the software code, would you believe it? Your common sensical answer would be that the software codes were created by Microsoft engineers. I would not like to indulge in a religious debate. How can we believe that our brain, which are billions of times more powerful than our computers were not created by a Supreme Creator? Atheism does not make any sense and it is not rational. The complexity of the human brain, mind and soul represents the pinnacle of all creations. All other creatures on Earth do not have the capability of our brain, which are endowed with free will, intelligence and reason. Our purpose is to realize the grandeur of God’s creation of the universe. Today, the science of quantum physics brings us closer towards understanding our spiritual inner brain, i.e. our higher intelligence/mind (‘aqal), etc.

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Islam provides the most comprehensive understanding of the nature of the human self through the Qur’anic revelation from God sent to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and all other prophets before him, like Jesus, Moses, Abraham (peace be upon them), as well as sages like Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu and others. These messages have provided us with the answers of why we are living on Earth and where do we go after we die. The basis of the 21st century materialistic civilization is based on the wrong so-called scientific Newtonian definition of space, time, matter and causality. This deeply ingrained materialistic philosophy resulted in the atheistic belief prevalent in modern society. We need to have a new holistic way of thinking as well as an integrative way of life to completely comprehend modern sciences as well as quantum physics which will revolutionize our belief system in the 21st century and beyond. I believe that this new belief system will finally be able to synergize with the transcendent and spiritual precepts known to humanity since the beginning of humanity. We know that the human brain is a complex matrix of interwoven systems. The human brain functions by neurons connecting our cerebral cortex allow us higher brain functions making us human beings. Today, neuroscientists are trying to understand the nature of human consciousness. Is consciousness itself limited to the brain cells within our brain or does it transcend beyond our brain system as well as our physical self? Is our capacity for perception, thought, awareness and purposive response merely the result of our neurotransmitters reactions in our brain or is it beyond our brain? Is free will, the ability to choose between right and wrong, good and bad directed only by our brain or is it more transcendent beyond our brain system? The above problems of the nature of consciousness are now being investigated through neurosciences and quantum physics. Prominent quantum physicist David Bohm said:

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We may well now ask whether the close analogy between quantum processes and our inner experiences and thought processes is mere coincidence… the remarkable point-by-point analogy between thought processes and quantum processes would suggest that a hypothesis relating these two may well turn out to be fruitful. If such a hypothesis could ever be verified, it would explain in a natural way a great many features of our thinking.

As we develop the science of quantum physics and neurobiology, we are beginning to realize the complex nature of our brain system. We are also beginning to understand the nature of consciousness and thought processes that can transcend beyond the physical realm of space and time. It can exist beyond the physical neuron of our physical brain. Today, quantum physicists are able to explain the non-local correlation effects of quantum events. This nonlocality quantum event allows subatomic particles to operate instantaneously beyond distance, space or time when it is in the waveform. Professor Roger Penrose said: Quantum physics involves many highly intriguing and mysterious kinds of behaviour. Not the latest of these are the non-local quantum correlations that can occur over widely separated distances. It seems to me to be a definite possibility that such things could be playing a role in conscious thought modes. Perhaps it is not too fanciful to suggest that quantum correlations could be playing an operative role over large regions of the brain. Might there be any relation between a ‘state of awareness’ and a highly coherent quantum state inthe brain? Is the ‘oneness’ or ‘globality’ that seems to be a feature of consciousness connected with this? It is somewhat tempting to believe so.

The basic fundamental principle of Islam is the concept of tawhid, i.e. the oneness or globality of existence. Each day thousands of our neuron cells die yet the same “me” exists. Life is an on-going process. Our physical body is made up of atoms and elements that were once stardust in some galaxies. We can understand the nature of unity of not only the physical dimension but also the transcendent dimension. Author Danah Zohar said:

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Just as there is no space and time between two separate laser beams (their wave patterns interfere across space and time), so there is no real division in space and time between selves. We are all individuals, but individuals within a greater unity, a unity which defines each of us in terms of others, each of us have a stake in eternity. Understanding this, understanding the full reality of the extent to which we are all, physically, interwoven, requires a revolution in our whole way of perceiving ourselves and our relation to others. It is a revolution required when we apply quantum concepts to the nature of the self. We know that quantum physics calls upon us to alter our notions of space and time, but now we have to accept that this touches each and every one of us at the core of our personhood.

Similarly, Professor Stuart Hameroff and Professor Roger Penrose suggested that part of the solution of the problem of consciousness might lie in understanding the operations of microtubules in the neuron of the brain cells. These microtubules seem to operate at both the molecular and supra molecular level. The operations of microtubules are remarkably complex and their role are pervasive in cellular operations; these facts led to the speculation that the computations sufficient for consciousness might somehow be occurring there. Hameroff and Penrose further saw the principles of quantum theory as providing an alternative process through which consciousness could arise. They further argued that this non-algorithmic process in the brain required a new form of the quantum wave reduction, later given the name objective reduction (OR), which could link the brain to the fundamental space-time geometry, In January 2014, Hamerooff and Penrose announced that a discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules by Anirban Bandyopadhyay of the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan confirms the hypothesis of Orch-OR theory. These research points towards a Science of Consciousness which is very close to the Islamic view point. As we further develop our

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understanding of the quantum phenomena, we will be able to understand the transcendent nature of our mind. We will be able to understand that the phenomena of consciousness, i.e. our awareness, perception, thought, memory, etc., transcend space and time. The Islamic concept of higher intelligence/ mind (‘aqal) provides a beautiful answer to the nature of our true transcendent self. God is the Supreme Intellect and demands acknowledgement from His thinking creation, i.e. human beings. This is a divine directive. One of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on one important aspect of Godhood: I was the hidden treasure and I desire to be known so I created the creation. (Hadis Gibril)

The whole scheme of this universe and its existence will not be known unless God created a being endowed with intelligence to realize the Creator. As God is the All Knowing (Al-‘Alim), He created man to realize the Greatness of His Attributes of Divine Intelligence, Love, Beauty and all other Divine Attributes. Mankind was the creation that was given in some small measure the gifts, faculties and qualities of these Divine Attributes. With these gifts, man can take part in the process of reasoning, contemplation and receive knowledge through higher intelligence and intuitions. The integration of the two aspects of ‘aqal, i.e. al-‘aqal al-juz’i (partial intuition/reasoning) and al-‘aqal al-kulli, (complete intuition/reasoning)will lead man to the realization of the divine. Man’s integrative intelligence of aqal can witness the truth of the existence of the Supreme Intelligence, i.e. God. This realization of the existence of God is imprinted in our “spiritual DNA” at the point when God commanded our existence in the spiritual realm, i.e. before our existence in the physical realm. Through the faculty of ‘aqal, mankind

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can understand God. We have an inner primordial desire to love God because God has given us some of His Attributes. Metaphorically, mankind is the reflection of the image of God. Of course, this does not mean that God is an image; rather it means that mankind possesses some small Divine Attributes. These faculties and gifts allow us to take part in the divine reflection. Man is the image, and “God is the Light of the heavens and the Earth” (Al-Qur’an, 24:35) behind that human image. God is the Absolute and the All-Knowing (Al-‘Alim).God is also the Loving (Al-Wadud). God bestows intelligence to the human species to reflect on the divine attributes of God and to infuse these attributes within the human self. As such we are bestowed higher intelligence that is capable of discernments and contemplations. We are also given free will, which we can exercise with reason to achieve true success in life. In Islam, the essential knowledge of the Knowledge of Godhood and the purpose of life were revealed by God. By exercising our faculty of intuition and higher intelligence, we can perceive the truth of divine revelation. The medium of communication between God and the human species is through the mind (‘aqal) which is the integrative intelligence that can grasp the nature of the Divine. Man’s intelligence is capable of objectivity because it can grasp the idea of the Supreme Intelligence. Similarly, we are given free will and reason so that our mind (‘aqal) can act upon to make correct and good decisions. It would not be sufficient if man could grasp the notion of the Supreme Intelligence, i.e. God, but could not act on behalf of God. The medium for this intervention is the mind/higher intelligence (‘aqal). As mentioned earlier, our mind/higher intelligence (‘aqal) is imprinted within the spirit (ruh). The spirit (ruh) provides the ground in which the result of our interaction of our intelligence and free will can take root.

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The mind (‘aqal) is the meeting ground between God and man in the intellectual sense, and acts as a bridge between the world of the senses and the world of the spirit. Without these divine gifts of the mind/higher intelligence (‘aqal), our understanding of God is not possible or feasible. In Islam, faith, believing and realizing God begin with the use of our higher intelligence. Without the spiritually discerning higher intelligence, there is no grasping of essential knowledge of the Divine. By coupling our mind (‘aqal) and exercising our reason and free will, we will transcend the current secular materialistic human mentality. The synergy of our inner heart (‘qalb) and our mind (‘aqal) provides the basis for knowing who we are as human beings and where we are to journey beyond this physical life, i.e. in the spiritual realm with God. Our earthly hope resides in realizing God. Our ultimate refuge rests in knowing the reality of God’s definitive existence. Our ‘aqal/integrative intelligence, endowed with free will, is the key to this realization. God is the absolute Divine Intelligence and we are endowed with relative intelligence of our mind (‘aqal) to understand Him. God alone is worthy of being desired and loved as the sole object of man’s mission in this world. Only then, can we satisfy the holistic needs of the human self for love, beauty and goodness, i.e. our desire for the realization of the perennial and universal truth. Our human intelligence in this world functions with the brain for our survival as a species. This mode of mind (‘aqal) comprises multiple intelligences to enable man to progress scientifically. Using sound reasoning of the mind (‘aqal) beyond the scientific realm will finally lead towards the intelligence of intuition and spirituality. The heart (qalb) is the meeting ground where intelligence and free will work together to provide the vital manifestation of our inner quest for love, beauty and awareness of God.

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When God endowed man the free will and intelligence, man could take advantage of these faculties to either enrich the soul or achieve total eternal success, or to use these faculties of intelligence and free will to commit evil. Like a two-edged sword, they can cut both ways, either to man’s advantage or to his disadvantage, and even to his ultimate damnation. The intelligence can fail, the will can betray him, and the self can sink into a shadowy darkness through the evil that man can commit from within. “The human self (nafs) is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy...” (Al-Qur’an, 12: 53), and even the Queen of Sheba said: My Lord! I have wronged my own soul. (Al-Qur’an, 27: 44)

Contemporary man uses intelligence in a fragmentary manner. We grasp the nature of our reality via piecemeal fragmentary processes. We only perceive, rely and recognize the physical material reality. This attitude permeates throughout the idea that to be scientific, we must rely on physical proof only. As such, it is fashionable for scientists to deny any existence beyond the physical realm. However, the latest discovery in quantum physics shows that there is a reality beyond the physical reality. Scientists in the 21st century must go beyond atheism to embrace non-physical spiritual realities. The fragmentary use of the mind (‘aqal) tend to be destructive, misguided, and out of control. The current dilemma of the 21st century, with its host of problems from ecological disaster to the destruction of human values, points to the misuse of our intelligence. If nothing is done in the 21st century, our planet and all of human inhabitants will suffer the greatest catastrophe in the history of mankind. It could even signal Armageddon and the end of humanity altogether.

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The parable of the story of Adam in the Qur’an relates how the first man failed to use his intelligence properly by following the misguided impulse of his free will, i.e. disobeying God and eating the forbidden fruit. At this point, Adam betrayed the primordial sacred trust and disobeyed God. Adam’s failure to reflect and use his free will, which is consonant with the needs of the spirit (ruh), resulted in Adam’s discharge from the primordial heaven. At this point, Adam, the servant of God has disobeyed God, the Master. Adam, the Vicegerent of God, has betrayed the sacred trust. Later, Adam regretted and asked God for forgiveness and began his spiritual journey to become the Prophet of God, fully aware of his spiritual legacy. We said: ’O Adam! dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden; and eat of the bountiful things therein as (where and when) ye will; but approach not this tree, or ye run into harm and transgression.’ Then did Satan make them slip from the garden, and get them out of the state of felicity in which they had been. We said: ‘Get ye down, all (ye people), with enmity between yourselves. On Earth will be your dwelling place and your means of livelihood - for a time.’ Then learnt Adam from his Lord words of inspiration, and his Lord Turned towards him; for He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful. ‘But those who reject Faith and belie Our Signs, they shall be companions of the Fire; they shall abide therein. (Al-Qur’an, 2: 35-38)

These two modes of Adam’s use of intelligence are still available to contemporary man. We can use our intelligence and mental faculties purely for material success in the physical plane, which is short-term and destructive. This short-term thinking is the root cause of the dilemma of humanity in the 21st century. We need a new paradigm where we can use our intelligence and free will to grasp the essential spiritual knowledge to advance us towards the path of total success and salvation. By harmonizing the use of our faculties of intelligence and free will, coupled with the need of our spirit (ruh), we will be able to grasp the essential knowledge of God and tune our intelligence towards the realization of the divine purpose.

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Wise man can think intelligently and act on intelligently using his free will that ultimately leads him to the love of God. Through the integrative faculty of mind (‘aqal), he will develop sincere faith that will direct the spirit (ruh) towards its real destiny with the divine. To love God totally with our mind, heart and spirit, will bring us closer to God who is the Supreme Being. To be loved by God in return, which is the object of the ultimate loving desire creates an inner blessing and a feeling of equilibrium. Our expression of spirituality is fully manifested through faith, surrender and virtue. The mind (‘aqal), guided by the spirit (ruh) and the heart (qalb), will lead man to the highest achievement and total success in this world and the eternal realm of the Hereafter. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has beautifully described the nature of our higher intelligence/mind (‘aqal), in a hadith narrated by Ibn-’Abbas; For everything there is an instrument and a tool, and the instrument of the believer is his intellect; for everything there is a mainstay, and the mainstay of man is his intellect; for everything there is a support, and the support of religion is the intellect; for every group of me there is a goal, and the goal of the worshippers is the intellect; for every people there is a missionary (who calls them to true faith), and the missionary of the devout is the intellect; for every merchant there are goods and merchandise, and the merchandise of the scholars is the intellect; for every house there is a keeper, and the keeper of the houses of the saints is the intellect; for every ruin there is rehabilitation, and the rehabilitation of death is the intellect; for every man there is an offspring who bears his name and perpetuates his memory, and the offspring of the saints, who bear their names, and perpetuate their memory, are their intellects; and finally for every journey there is a shelter, and the shelter of the believers is the intellect.

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The Physical Body (Jasad) Our physical body (jasad) is a marvellous creation and a miracle. No words seem adequate to describe the amazing versatility, complexity and capability of the human body. As human beings we do not only live, breath, move and think. The full capability of the human body also encompasses transcendental capabilities, which transcends the physical body. During our lifetime on this Earth, we undergo a remarkable journey of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual developments that begin in the womb and continue until the end of our physical life. From the Islamic perspective, our life will continue beyond the physical life in the spiritual realm. The miracle of the human cell still fascinates scientists, biologists, medical doctors, psychologists, philosophers, spiritual masters and sages. For example, if we study the miracle of the development of the human foetus, life begins with conception when a male’s sperm fuses with a female’s ovum to produce a single cell. Over the next 40 weeks, this single fertilized cell multiplies again and again, millions of times in a process that transforms it. from a minuscule speck no larger than a pinhead into a fully independent life outside the womb. The mechanism by which this occurs is called the mitotic cell division, a copying and splitting by which cells constantly divide and reproduce by themselves. This process, which begins in the womb, continues throughout life. It is controlled by our genes, i.e. the DNA/segments within the nucleus of the cells. Our DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) gene carries within it a “blueprint” of information. Together, the millions of genes determine the unique physical and mental characteristics inherited by the new human being from its parents. The miracle of our creation is vividly described in the Qur’an which explains in detail the various stages of our creation from a single egg and a sperm right up to becoming a newborn baby. The Qur’an says:

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O mankind! If you have a doubt about the Resurrection, consider that We created you out of dust, then out of sperm, then out of a leech-like clot, then out of a morsel of flesh, partly formed and partly unformed, in order that We may manifest our power to you; and We cause whom We will to rest in the wombs for an appointed term, then do We bring you out as babes, then foster you that you may reach your age of full strength; and some of you are called to die, and some are sent back to the feeblest old age, so that they know nothing after having known much, and further, you see the Earth barren and lifeless, but when We pour down rain on it, it is stirred to life, it swells, and it puts forth every kind of beautiful growth in pairs. (Al-Qur’an, 22:5)

The above verse is a miracle in medical science because God describes scientifically how the foetus is being formed. This scientific fact was only discovered in the 20th century. Yet the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) 1,400 years ago. From a tiny sperm and an egg which is smaller than the size of a pinhead less than 0.1 millimetres to the growth of the foetus to be born as a fullyformed human being at birth. God describes the process of fertilization (nutfah). After the fertilization of the ovum, it is anchored on the wall of the uterus, where it starts to grow. This growing stage of the embryo is called ‘alaqah. It is still so minute that it is just slightly more than 0.1 millimetres in diameter. In the Qur’an, ‘alaqah means a leech like suspended substance like a black clot. The developing embryo has a leech like appearance, and this stage of ‘alaqah of the embryo’s growth continues for about 25 days. The Qur’an describes the next stage of the embryo growth as muÌghah or a lump of flesh, chewed-like substance. The appearance of the embryo at this stage really looks like a chewed substance with 13 somites resembling teeth prints on a substance. The somites are paired, block-like masses of mesoderm arranged segmentally alongside the neural tube of the embryo, forming the vertebral column and segmental

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musculature, also known as the mesodermal segments. As the embryo begins to grow, all the organ systems begin to be formed. The Qur’an describes this stage of the muÌghah as partly formed and unformed. This is a scientific fact that the medical science has found to be true today. In the Qur’an, the development of the foetus is further described: When We placed him as a drop of sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a foetus lump; then we made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then we developed out of it another creature. So blessed be Allah, the best to create! (Al-Qur’an, 23: 13-14)

Throughout the period from fertilization to gestation the foetus becomes a fully formed baby in about 280 days or 40 weeks. It is ordained by God that from a miraculous birth we will grow from infanthood to childhood, adulthood and finally reach old age. In the Qur’an God tells us that in the old age we will become like children and forget many things that we have learned. The Qur’an says: If We grant long life to any, We cause him to be reversed in nature: Will they not then understand? (Al-Qur’an, 36:68)

We know that at old age, our physical body will degenerate, and our mental capability will also deteriorate. For some they will have dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive problems which will make them become like children. However, God also mentions that there is hope for the future. We will continue to exist beyond the physical realm. God says:

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The trumpet shall be sounded, when behold! from the sepulchres men will rush forth to their Lord! They will say: ‘Ah! Woe unto us! Who has raised us up from our beds of repose?’... A voice will say, ‘This is what Allah Most Gracious had promised. And true was the word of the messengers! ’It will be no more than a single Blast, when lo! they will all be brought up before Us! (Al-Qur’an, 36:51-53)

In another verse, the God says: Verily we shall give life to the dead, and We record that which they send before and that which they leave behind, and of all things have We taken account in a clear Book of evidence. (Al-Qur’an, 36:12)

In another verse, the God says: It would not be reasonable in me if I did not serve Him Who created me, and to Whom you shall all be brought back. (Al-Qur’an, 36:22)

The journey of life after death is a reality that every one of us will have to go through. We can choose to do evil in our life on Earth and suffer the consequence in the Hereafter, or we can take a path of goodness and faith and enjoy the eternal heaven. The Qur’an says: As to those who believe and work righteousness, verily We shall not cause them to suffer or perish. Their reward will be Gardens of Eternity; beneath them rivers will flow; they will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold, and they will wear green garments of fine silk and heavy brocade: They will recline therein on raised thrones. How good the recompense! How beautiful a couch to recline on! (Al-Qur’an, 18:30-31)

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In all spiritual traditions whether Hebrew, Hindu, Chinese, or Islamic traditions, the physical world is infused with a subtle element of life force, imparting motion and movement to the body. Thus, if we talk about the physical realm, we have space and time in the physical dimension. Whereas, the spiritual dimensions are not bounded by space and time. It is evident, from the above ideas, that from the Islamic point of view, the essential aspects of the human self include the spirit (ruh), the heart (qalb) and the mind (‘aqal) aspects, which are corporeal, and transcendental. We identify all these aspects as the ruh with its imprint of the inner heart or mind. This primordial ruh, comes in contact with the physical realm when we are born into this world and carry a physical body which we call jasad. This body forms the borderline area which connects the physical aspects of man to his spiritual self. At this stage in the world, it is as if we are living in a purely physical world. This is an illusion. Our prime life force that enables us to exist beyond space and time is our spiritual aspect which will remain forever, i.e. beyond space, beyond time, and beyond the physical world of this universe. Our physical body that we carry in this world will disintegrate at the point of death. The sum total of our experiences in this world, i.e. our beliefs, our deeds and actions, feelings, etc., will be permanently imprinted into our spiritual selves. Thus, the physical body is there to serve the purpose as a tool towards differentiating between success or failure. The Creator is aware of the tendencies of the human self or nafs in the physical world to seek base desires and pleasures. God knows the weakness of the human self in its physical tendencies for ego, lust and passion. Man, in this physical realm tends to lose sight of his spiritual nature and seeks base pleasure. God has said in the Qur’an:

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By the token of time, man is verily in the state of lost. Except those who have faith and do good deeds. And those who practice patience and constancy. (Al-Qur’an, 103:1-3)

Through the discipline of our physical self, we can reduce the egoistic tendency to become misaligned with the spiritual reality. As we go through the journey of life, there will be endless serious battles between the ego and the spirit. The ego, led by the physical master, tends to gravitate towards evil, lust, and greed, i.e. egoistic behaviour. At this stage, the human self is at the stage of the self that has a tendency towards evil (an-nafs al-ammarah bi al-su’). In this state, the human self is totally egoistic. Muslim scholars equate this stage as those of the diseased state. They classify the diseases of the ego as those who lived through greed, lust, pride, ostentatiousness, hypocrisy, self-centredness, avarice, restlessness and animalistic behaviour. In the contemporary world today, it is a “dog eat dog world”, and in Wall Street the game is the survival of the fittest. This way of life is a clear manifestation of the control of the ego in contemporary human societies. The human self in this world, with its physical aspect, can transcend the egoistic state to align itself with its spiritual reality. Through serious effort in developing faith in God, good deeds, prayers, and other practices, we train the physical body to be disciplined. In every situation, we can use our free will to choose the way of the ego or the way of the spirit. God says in the Qur’an: But he hath made no haste on the path that is steep. And what will explain to thee the path that is steep? It is freeing of slaves; or the giving of food in days of deprivation; or to the extreme poor in the dust. They will be of those who believe, and enjoin patience, constancy, and self-restraint. They enjoin deeds of kindness and compassion. Such are the Companions of the Right Hand. (Al-Qur’an, 90:10-18)

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We have indeed created man as the best of creation, but We can use our free will to be the lowest of all creatures. (Al-Qur’an, 95:4-5)

We strive to take the higher route that is to follow the way of the spirit. By continuous practice and discipline of the physical self through faith and good deeds, we can finally eliminate the ego. At that point, the human self will be open to the knowledge of the mysteries of the spiritual and the divine. This is not an illusion but a reality through real experience by enlightened multi-sensory human beings. The Combined Human Self (Nafs) The five aspects of the human self are: the spirit (ruh), heart (qalb), mind (‘aqal), body (jasad), and the totality of the human self (nafs). Understandably, it is difficult to represent human transcendent concept in any diagram, form, or symbol. However, diagram 2 serves as an analogy to help us understand the integrated holistic nature of the human self. We can have a better understanding of the terminologies that constitute the human self (nafs), the spirit (ruh), soul, inner heart (qalb) the emotional centre, mind (‘aqal) inclusive of our intellect as well as our total brain function and our physical self, i.e. what constitute our body using diagram 2. To begin with, it is pertinent to start by elaborating on some five terminologies to offer better clarification on the real nature and purpose of human existence. Al-nafs, at times called the human self or soul or psyche. As described in Diagram 2, the primordial nafs is the integrated transcendent entity that consists of SEM (spiritual, emotional, and mental) realms. This nafs has three dimensions or aspects. It has the capacity to move upward towards affinity to God, or move downwards towards the baser physical temptations or desires. The upward journey is the uppermost limit of psyche that connects it to the Divine while the downward journey is

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represented by the physical sensory desires like sex, food, etc., that connects it to the bodily satisfaction. Physical realm fused into spiritual realms

Spiritual realms

Qalb (Heart) Ruh (Spirit)

Nafs (Self)

Jasad (Body)

Aqal (Mind)

Diagram 2: The 5 realms existing in both our spiritual and physical domains as we live on Earth

At the point of existence on this planet Earth, the human self has the dimension of the physical body (jasad). This physical body is only temporary because scientifically it can only exist within space and time. In this world, the nafs comprises four aspects, i.e. SEMP aspects. The description of the human nafs that constitutes its SEMP functions points to its role in our existence on Earth. We can make this analogy that the human body consists of organs such as the heart, lungs, brain, kidney, etc. that allow our body to function. Each of these organs has specific roles that ensure the survival of our physical body. Likewise, each one of the five aspects of the human self, i.e. the spirit (ruh), emotional self (qalb),

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mental self (‘aqal), and the physical self (jasad), plays specific roles. In the way we function as a supra-temporal being, living within time and space as well as beyond time and space, i.e. within the physical realm as well as the spiritual realm simultaneously. Each of these aspects plays its functional roles of perfecting the human self to finally reach affinity or closeness to God. From Diagram 3, we can understand the journey of our life from the primordial realm to life in this world and then to life after death, i.e. the hereafter. The flow of life is as follows: PRE-BIRTH

LIFE ON EARTH

Primordial Self/the nature of human self in the primordial state (nafs)

Self/Nafs of the human self in this world as we exist on Earth

Birth

Death Qalb (Heart)

Qalb )Heart( Ruh (Spirit)

Nafs (Self) Aqal (Mind)

Beyond space and beyond time; In this state we have our spirit (ruh) imprited with the heart (qalb) and Mind (aqal) in the realm of Azali before birth. No physical existance

LIFE AFTER DEATH Self/Nafs in the Hereafter Back to the original nature of the human self with imprint of experiences in the world

Ruh (Spirit)

Qalb (Heart) Jasad (Body)

Nafs (Self) Aqal (Mind)

Spritual realm. Beyond spacetime Link to the physical body

+

Ruh (Spirit)

Nafs (Self) Aqal (Mind)

Physical body/ jasad exist within spacetime in this physical wordl

Beyond space-time Separated from the disintegrated physical body leaving only an imprint of the physical self

Imprint of our existence in the physical world influences our state in the hereafter

Diagram 3: The Nature of Human Existence from Pre-birth to Life After Death.

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The Realm of Primordial Existence (Azali) Before the Existence of Space and Time The period before the existence of our universe and before human beings existed in the physical plane, we existed in a timeless spiritual plane with God. At this stage, the human self or nafs does not have a physical body. We are all spiritual beings and live in a dimension beyond space and time in the realm of primordial spiritual state, i.e. the realm of azali. At this primordial spiritual state, we are aware of our existence as mentioned in the Qur’an: And recall when at the time of the primordial spiritual state, your Lord brought forth the chain of humanity of the children of Adam and made them all testify to God “Am I not your Lord?”- They all said:” Yea! We all do testify! (Al-Qur’an,7:172)

This event relates to the existence of the human self in the transcendent primordial spiritual dimension before the advent of man in this spatio-temporal physical world. From the above verse, the human self at this stage is the ruh or the spirit from God that is aware of God and exist in the realm of close proximity to God in the transcendent dimension. The ruh also has the capacity to testify our relationship with God, i.e. the ruh has the mind (‘aqal) aspect. The ruh also has the emotional state or the heart aspect (qalb) in identifying God. We will then realize that our spirit or ruh has the builtin heart and mind aspects as shown in the diagram. Muslim scholars use the term ruh (spirit), qalb (inner heart) and ‘aqal (mind) interchangeably to describe the nature of human psyche or the human self (nafs). This description is dependent on which aspect is predominant in their respective usage or emphasis. Some scholars use the term “self” to describe the above three transcendent aspects as one “spiritual” entity.

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Let us now define that at the primordial stage of our existence before the existence of space and time, our transcendent self (nafs) had three important aspects built within the ruh or spirit. We can deduce that this primordial human self (nafs) has inherently the spiritual aspect (ruh), the emotional aspect (qalb), and mind/mental aspect (aqal). They are three aspects within one entity. It is also possible that we may have other aspects within one entity. This reality is described by Muslim spiritual masters as those infused with the unlimited attributes of the Creator in a relative sense. In this state the spiritual human self realizes and acknowledges the perfect attributes of the Creator. We cannot really fully describe something in the transcendent realm within a simple diagram. The diagram is only an analogy for us to understand the relationship of our transcendent self. What is important is that we can now understand that the nature of our spirit (ruh), our inner heart (qalb) and mind (‘aqal) are aspects of one and are the same thing. Our spirit, heart, and mind operate synergistically to realize our role as the Vicegerent of God in this universe. This imprint of Vicegerency has existed with us in the primordial realm before our existence in the physical universe. The Human Self (Nafs) in This World The innate spiritual, emotional and mental dimensions that constitute the primordial nafs were projected into the physical body (jasad) at the point of our existence in this physical world. As we live in this physical world, our self (nafs) comprises four aspects, namely the spirit (ruh) aspect, the inner heart (qalb) aspect, the mind (aqal) aspect, and the physical body (jasad) aspect, i.e. Spiritual-Emotional-MentalPhysical (SEMP) dimensions. As we grow older and die, the physical body will disintegrate but the SEMP dimensions will then be projected to another realm of existence. God says:

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Verily We shall give life to the dead, and We record that which they send before and that which they leave behind, and of all things have We taken account in a clear Book of evidence. (Al-Qur’an, 36:12)

The primordial nafs that existed in the spiritual realm of azali is fused with the physical entity during pregnancy. And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration. (Al-Qur’an, 15:29)

The physical (jasad) aspect interacts with the spirit (ruh), inner heart (qalb) and mind (‘aqal). The human self at this point is both living in this physical realm as well as the spiritual realm. If you look at the diagram, the arrow encompasses everything, including the physical realm. The physical realm meets a barrier at the center of the human self. There is a veil or barrier for the physical man to transcend to the spiritual realm. By the grace of God, through prayers, spiritual exercises, and good deeds, God will slowly open the door for us to receive Divine Light (Nur Hidayah). As this veil opens, an enlightened human realizes his true destiny as a spiritual being living temporarily in the physical world. This Realm of Life after Death At the point of death, the physical body is separated from the spiritual nafs from the original primordial nafs. In the diagram, the physical self is drawn on the dotted line to represent the imprint of our physical existence in this world. All our experiences, deeds, habits, etc. will impact the luminosity of our primordial spirit (ruh), which comprises the ruh, qalb and ‘aqal. Thus, if one takes the path of submission and surrender to God and nurture our spiritual aspects in this world, his nafs will experience tremendous joy which can be described as heaven. In the opposite case, if the whole life of

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the human self in this world is based on denial of God, greed, lust and other evil way of life, this evil imprint will cause the nafs to feel extreme frustration, anguish, and suffering which is hell. There are many stages within the realm of the hereafter. For example, the SEM dimensions of the deceased man will be projected into another realm known as “barzakh”, a dimension of life after death. At this point, the human self comprises of only the SEM dimensions, the form that it originally was in the period before humans existed on the human plane, i.e. the physical world. The journey of the self (nafs) after death is dependent on the individual human being’s intentions and actions during his life on Earth. Those who acknowledged God and nourished his spiritual, emotional and mental aspects/ dimensions (SEM) would have the joy of infinite happiness and fulfillment, i.e. heaven. This heavenly state is for those human selves that have fulfillled their primordial contracts with God. As for those who lived in this world purely under animalistic, atheistic and materialistic plane, their SEM state would be diminished and undernourished. In this situation, they could not have close proximity to the Divine Creator and could not feel Divine Love and Peace. This would create a tremendous sense of disappointment, anguish, frustration, and total regret – all of which constitute hell. However, out of the Grace of God, even those who have diminished their spiritual SEM dimension would finally be cleansed. These unfortunate human beings, finally, with the Grace of God will be accepted to heaven. The following diagram 4 shows how the human self (nafs) ascends or descends in this world;

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Total Happiness in this World and in the Hereafter, i.e. Heaven

Towards Self Perfection

Faith and Good

Progress/Ascent or Decent of Self

No Faith in God and Evil Deeds

Towards Self Destruction

Total Anguish and Failure in this World and in the Hereafter, i.e. Hell

Diagram 4: The ascending and descending of the human self (nafs) in this world and its return to the hereafter

From Diagram 4, it is clear that the human self (nafs) has the capacity and the free will to ascend or descend depending on the choices made by the human self on this Earth. As God has revealed in the Qur’an: We have certainly created man in the best of stature; Then We return him to the lowest of the low (Al-Qur’an, 95:4-5)

As human beings, we go through life as a test as well as a journey towards perfection. If we follow our baser desires with undue indulgences, we will descend to become the lowest of

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the lows. The corporeal and bodily parts exist at purely animal level and always pressure man towards sensual gratification. The Qur’an says: And if We had willed, we could have elevated him thereby, but he adhered [instead] to the Earth and followed his own desire. (Al-Qur’an, 7:176)

Man has the tendency to dwell on the desires of his lower self, leading to the possibilities of becoming preoccupied and distracted from his true purpose in life. Preoccupation with his egoistic self and baser desires will cause imbalance in our life. Since God is the Creator, He knows the limitations of man and provides the way out to such needs. God has made the fulfillment of basic legitimate needs to have a good and happy life on the Earth. For example, equilibrium is neither the starving man nor the overfed glutton. A starving man will leave his responsibilities in search for food while the overfed glutton will tend to sleep on his duty. Thus, if a person does not permit the self for even the legitimate fulfilllment of physical needs like sex, the lower self will rebel violently and will attack him violently to fulfill his needs immediately. For this reason, the self should be granted its legitimate rights to be listened to its demands in accordance to divine injunction. All difficulties and problems faced by man are due to their distance from God and ignorance of the divine principle. Man’s ultimate goal in life on this Earth is the realization of the reality of his creation. It is a `maturation’ process where man has to undergo various stages in life from preoccupation and gratification of sensuous lowly needs to elevation towards the perfect man where his actions reflect the realization of the reality. The first stratum is known as al-nafs al-ammarah bi alsu’ which literally means the “evil prompting self”, that aspect of the nafs which instigates man to be evil. It is man’s biggest enemy, cutting his way to God. The al-nafs al-ammarah bi al-

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su’ has Shaytân as its ally. He promises it great rewards and gains, but casts falsehood into it. This egoistic prompting self says, “Serve me,” “Bow to me,” and “I am everything, and you are my slave”. As long as this nafs gives orders and as long as man abides by these orders, he would not be able to reach the Reality. It is an inner locus of immoderate desires and fiery passions. It enjoys worldly things, not spiritual things and it is never contented. This evil prompting nafs thrives on lust, greed, self-centeredness, avarice and other evil acts. The second stratum is called al-nafs al-lawwamah, which literally means the “blaming nafs”. It refers to that aspect of the soul which blames or criticizes itself, one which is aware of its own evil tendencies. As God says in the Qur’an: By the human self/nafs, and the proportion and order given to it; And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right; Truly he succeeds that purifies it, And he fails that corrupts it! (Al-Qur’an, 91:7-10)

The al-nafs al-lawwamah is searching for its moral compass. It is ever restless to seek the higher state of peace and happiness and it will not rest until it achieves perfection. It often changes, remembers and forgets, submits and evades, loves and hates, rejoices and becomes sad, accepts and rejects, obeys and rebels. At this second level, the nafs is trying to find its way towards perfection but stumbles along the way as it faces the evil prompting desires. This battle of life is typical of Believers seeking to perfect their faith but sometimes fail to achieve their goal due to worldly temptations and desires. The third stratum is al-nafs al-mutma’innah, also known as the “ever-peaceful self”. It is the believing nafs in which the turbulence of desires and passions has been calmed down and the agitations of thoughts and concepts reduced to stillness, tranquillity and quietude. Its owner is at rest and content with his knowledge of God’s Names and Attributes, and with what He has said about Himself and His Messenger,

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and with what He has said about what awaits the soul after death: about the departure of the soul, the life in the realm of the hereafter, and the events on the Day of Resurrection which will follow, so much so that a believer such as this could almost see them with his own eyes. So he submits to the will of God and surrenders to Him contentedly, never dissatisfied or complaining, and with his faith never wavering. He does not rejoice at his gains, nor do his afflictions make him despair from the mercy of God. When we achieve the state of nafs al-mutmainnah, we will be able to live beyond the five sensory experiences and receive information, intuition and other metaphysical experiences that bring us closer to the love of God. Through our journey of life in perfecting ourselves (nafs), we will act more positively, have a deep feeling of love for all, and live in harmony with God and all His creatures. The self that is journeying towards perfection will be infused with the loving personality when he receives the rays of Divine Light. The journey towards perfection will be blessed with a life of love and peace free from fear, frustration, or anguish. The Qur’an says: Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds and establish prayer and give zakah will have their reward with their Lord, and there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. (Al-Quran, 2: 277)

As we journey through this life in making ourselves good, helping others to be good and making the world good, we will achieve this perfection. At that point, God invites us back to His realm as mentioned in the Qur’an: To the righteous soul will be said: ‘O thou soul, in complete rest and satisfaction! Come back thou to thy Lord, - well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him! (Al-Qur’an, 89:27-28)

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To ensure that our total self (nafs), i.e. SEMP aspects is in balance, we have to follow the divine keys towards excellence and total success. By immersing ourselves in developing our spirit, heart, mind and physical body, we will gravitate towards goodness and the divine. Our spirit, heart and mind will have close affinity to God and as we practice the practical ways to strengthen our SEM self, we will discover God and achieve total success, joy and happiness forever.

CHAPTER THREE

POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY – 3RD PRINCIPLE: ON BEING THE VICEGERENT OF GOD IN THE UNIVERSE (ON BEING THE KHALIFAH OF ALLAH)

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Introduction Humanity in the 21st century is in a state of emotional, mental and spiritual chaos as a result of the promotion of secular, materialistic way of life. The collapse of moral, spiritual, societal values in modern societies are clear testimonies that our 21st century civilization is moving towards self-destruction. This current dilemma led to excessive materialistic consumption and desire-driven life which consequently create many problems in our global modern societies. Moreover, more and more modern societies are facing severe mental health problems, drug and alcohol addiction, breakdown of families, free-for-all hedonistic lifestyle, boredom, meaninglessness, etc. All these social ills point to a decline in contemporary civilization. However, we must be reminded that going back to the true teachings of Islam and practising them as enshrined in the Qur’an is the best way to address these problems. This is because Islam is the most comprehensive way of life in which our physical existence is made perfect in accordance with the Will of God. The concept of being the vicegerent of God on Earth is the most positive message for all human beings. We know our purpose in life that is full of goodness can lead to peace, happiness and success in this life and the hereafter. This positive message is unique and is the core message to all human beings that desire to know their innate nature of existence and their role and purpose in life. We must acknowledge that the fundamental doctrines and teachings of Islam are timeless and never-changing. However, the traditional method of passing on these timeless beliefs to new generations of Muslims, and of promulgating Islam successfully among non-Muslims, are no longer working very well in the light of the circumstances of the modern world. The means of discussing and understanding the unchanging basic teachings of Islam, therefore, must now include an objective analysis based on acknowledged scientific facts and

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logical reasoning. Similarly, we must effectively utilize the modern communication technology, new powerful principles of learning and social influence based on the contemporary psychological knowledge. This, in my view, will help Muslims and non-Muslims appreciate the beauty and true teachings of Islam. Unless we provide a higher meaning and purpose to our existence in this world, the current secular materialistic way of life cannot fulfill the perennial human quest for fulfillment, love, peace and happiness. I suggest that one of the possible viable solutions to solving the above problems is by implementing the Islamic concept of being the vicegerent of God on the Earth, i.e. the concept of Khalifatullah fil ard. The Concept of Khalifah (Vicegerency) In the Qur’an, God made the most direct statement concerning His purpose in creating a race of human beings, through Adam (peace be upon him). This purpose was that He wanted us to act as His Khalifah (Vicegerents of God) on Earth. God the Almighty says: Behold’, your Lord said to the angels: ‘I will create a vicegerent on Earth.’ They said: ‘Will you place therein one who will make mischief and shed blood? While we do celebrate Your praises and glorify Your holy (name)?’ He said: ‘I know what you know not. (Al-Qur’an, 2: 30)

This role of Khalifah (Vicegerency) was declared before the creation of the first human being, Adam (peace be upon him). And of course, it was the very specific and most well-defined purpose for the creation of man. And it must be remembered that God had created all other creations – the angels, the heavens, the Earth and all between them before the creation of Adam (peace be upon him). A logical implication is that God has a Grand Plan for all His creations and that Mankind is the focus of this Grand Plan.

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It must be noted however that before man was assigned this role of God’s Khalifah on Earth, Allah the Almighty had offered the opportunity of Khilafah in the form of trusteeship (amanah) to the heavens, the Earth, the mountains and all other creations that were created. They declined to accept the role of vicegerency because they were not endowed with knowledge and free will which God bestowed upon Adam (peace be upon him), and all human beings. God the Almighty says in the Qur’an: We did indeed offer the trust to the heavens and the Earth and the mountains; But they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof. But man undertook it... (Al-Qur’an, 33: 72)

The above explanation shows that man has been chosen to become the Khalifah of God because he has a certain destiny and possesses an innate moral consciousness of good and evil, and right and wrong. God intended this very high destiny for man even before He created the physical world, and placed man in his uncorrupted, pure state, on an even loftier plane than the angels though, in man’s corruption and transgression, he debases himself even lower than the beasts. The question now is: What was it that raised human beings to that high and noble position? Of course, the special attributes which God bestowed upon mankind was the breathing of His Spirit into man, thereby providing him the attributes of knowledge and free will, which is Godconsciousness in a limited degree, for man’s use as God’s Khalifah. Having endowed with such divine attributes as love, mercy, and forbearance, although in a limited portion, man naturally becomes inclined towards goodness. When we delve deeper into the meaning of “Khalifah”, we will explore that our correct understanding of Islam is of extreme importance. In the Qur’an, God tells us that He created man for three purposes:

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1.

To be His Khalifah on Earth.

2.

To be His ‘Abd (servant).

3.

To know Him.

Chapter 3

From this we can understand that Man cannot be the Khalifah of Allah without being the ‘Abd or servant of Allah SWT. By being Allah's Khalifah and serving Him, man comes to know God, i.e. ma’rifah. Broadly speaking, when we examine the concept of Khalifah, we will find the word of Khalifah that has been translated into English language as the vicegerent. The vicegerent is the accurate word in English language to describe man's relationship with God (Allah SWT). Vicegerent means the “one who acts on behalf of a leader or the king”. So first, the leader or the king tells somebody “I want you to act on my behalf” – you do not take it upon yourself to act on the behalf of the leader or the king. In other words, the vicegerent is appointed by the leader or the king. Then the leader or the king tells the vicegerent to carry out the leader or king’s will, that is, the vicegerent is told what to do. He does not carry out his own will, but must carry out the leader’s will. The vicegerent himself has no power of his own, but as he carries out the leader’s will, he is allowed to use some of the leader’s power. Thus, the leader gives the vicegerent the use of his power to carry out his will in the leader’s place. Essentially, God is saying to man “I want you to act in My Place, and I am going to give you some of My Power to be able to do so.” Therefore, everything in man’s life from the beginning of the universe, to his birth, to his final destiny begins to come together in a perfect plan. At a hundred and twenty days in the development of the human being in its

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mother’s womb, God breathes into the foetus His Spirit, i.e. the Ruh. So often in Islam, when vital facts are revealed, we hardly ever fully comprehend their meaning. What does it mean when it is said that God breathes into man His Spirit? When we look into what that means, it appears that God breathes certain qualities into Adam (peace be upon him) and by extension, into every human being who are the children of Adam and Eve. These qualities include some small number of God’s Attributes in some small portion. God Who has His Attributes expressed infinitely could not impart His Infinite Attributes into a relative being, man. God imparts those attributes into man in just a sufficient amount so that Adam, and through Adam, all human beings could successfully carry out his role as Khalifah of God. Certainly, this fits really well into the overall scheme of things and the pattern is continuing to develop. It logically appears that the whole universe is created by God to lead towards the final Creation of Adam. Man’s appointment by God as Khalifah of God on Earth, the Supreme Authority, to be His representative is truly the greatest of honours. God places the human being at the apex of all creations even above the angels who were commanded to submit to Adam (peace be upon him). God says in the Qur’an: And behold”, We said to the angels: ‘Bow down to Adam.’ And they bowed down... (Al-Qur’an, 2: 34)

Understandably, God empowered Man to be His Khalifah on Earth, but he would not have honoured Adam (peace be upon him) with that enormous role without bestowing on him the qualities necessary with which to successfully fulfill the responsibilities of that role.

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Now, the question is: What are these qualities? Man is Given “Material Gifts” Man has been given all the material things which are necessary to sustain, beautify, and refine life, as well as all those attributes, powers, faculties, and opportunities which are instrumental in bringing all life to a higher plane and preparing human beings for their destined greatness. God the Almighty says: It is We who have placed you with authority on Earth, and provided you therein with means for the fulfillment of your life. (Al-Qur’an, 7: 10)

Man is Given Natural Disposition (Fitrah) God has endowed man with fitrah, which means a natural disposition towards goodness. Mankind is created with the inborn intuitive ability to discern between right and wrong, true and false, good and evil, and thus to sense God’s Existence and Oneness. This is the “spiritual DNA” imprinted onto every human being beginning before birth in the covenant at the spiritual plane of “Azali”. And so, set thy face steadfastly towards the (one ever-true) faith, turning away from all that is false, in accordance with the natural disposition (fitrah) which God has instilled into man: (for) not to allow any change to corrupt what God has thus created – this is (the purpose of the one) ever-true faith; but most people know it not. (Al-Qur’an, 30: 30)

Also, fitrah would mean that the ability of man to instinctively recognise God as his Creator, and the need to surrender to Him, is an integral part of human nature.

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This is further supported by the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), as transmitted by Bukhari and Muslim:

Every child is born in a state of fitrah; it is only his parents that is, the social environment and influences that later turn him into a Jew, a Christian or a Magian.

Man is Given God-Like Attributes God says: Behold, your Lord said to the angels: ‘I will create a vicegerent on Earth.’ They said: ‘Will you place therein one who will make mischief and shed blood? While we do celebrate Your praises and glorify Your holy (name)?’ He said: ‘I know what you know not. (Al-Qur’an, 2: 30)

Human beings (through Adam, peace be upon him) have been endowed with a certain measure of these God-like qualities while God retains all His Attributes in infinite number and magnitude. In order to be His Khalifah, God has granted human beings some small degree of God-consciousness. Because man has to execute his role on Earth which is a physical material existence in the relative realm, God gives man just the right number and portion of His Attributes needed to fulfill his roles as His Khalifah. If God were to give human beings too great a portion of His Attributes, this would immediately destroy us because none but God can possess such unlimited power. God the Almighty says: And He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him of His Spirit. And He gave you (the faculties) of hearing and sight and understanding... (Al-Qur’an, 32: 9)

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The explanation of this is that when God breathed into Adam (peace be upon him) of His Spirit, He imparted to him some small number of His infinite Divine Attributes in some small portion, but sufficient to successfully fulfill his roles as Khalifah of God — the Divine Attributes of life, consciousness, free will, knowledge, love, mercy, power, etc. Man is Given Knowledge Knowledge is one of the special attributes that God imparted to man (Adam, peace be upon him) immediately after his creation. And He taught Adam the names (and nature) of all things... (Al-Qur’an, 2: 31)

This means that God endows man with a unique ability which has not been given to any other creature, i.e. the use of symbolic language to assign names (symbols) to all things, whether material or non-material. Man is then endowed with the knowledge and ability to understand the meaning of things. Also, this enables man to think in his mind, to conceptualize, to communicate with himself and others, and have inner dialogue and self-reflective consciousness. This unique ability is called the “inner speech”. Man is Given Free Will The inner speech that God has given man allows him to exercise free will, although only in a limited sense. Free will is man’s ability to decide whether or not to act in accordance with the Will of God. In other words, man is created by God to worship and serve Him by fulfilling his roles as His Khalifah on Earth by exercising the limited free will endowed upon him and utilizing all the “gifts” bestowed upon him the gifts of attributes, faculties, opportunities, power, knowledge, etc., all in the heavens and the Earth.

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The Roles of Khalifah of God As we have mentioned earlier, the purpose of God’s creation of the physical universe is to place man as His Khalifah on Earth and to carry out his responsibilities as His Vicegerent. In other words, the whole purpose of the universe is to allow God’s Khalifah to exist. Consequently, we can logically deduce that the universe would not have been created if the role of Khalifah had not been a very important part of God’s Grand Cosmic Plan. Islamic scholars have from the earliest days of Islam concluded that the responsibilities of Khalifah are only three: 1.

To perfect himself,

2.

To perfect the society, and

3.

To perfect the physical world of space and time

To restate it more simply, especially for children, the three responsibilities of Khalifah of God are: 1.

To make oneself good,

2.

To help others become good, and

3. To make the physical world good, i.e. clean and beautiful so that it is pleasing to God. These three responsibilities actually cover absolutely everything that a human being can do. And so everything a human being is supposed to be doing as a Khalifah of God is making goodness prevail – in himself, in the society, and in the physical world. And that is the totality of man’s responsibility in this life – until he enters the spiritual world in the next life. Thus, we have as our total responsibility the obligation to bring goodness to ourselves, to others, and to the physical world. Allah the Almighty says:

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Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him, and to parents do good, and to relatives, orphans, the needy, the near neighbour, the neighbour farther away, the companion at your side, the traveller, and those whom your right hands possess. Indeed, Allah does not like those who are self-deluding and boastful. (Qur’an, 4: 36)

In Islam, we are told that there is to be no compulsion in our faith (deen). Deen should not be interpreted in a narrow sense; this statement does not only mean we must not force anyone to become Muslim, but what it really means is that in the totality of the Islamic way of life, there should be no compulsion. Islam should be practiced by free will. There shall be no coercion in matters of faith. Distinct has now become the right way from [the way of] error... (Qur’an, 2: 256)

This is exactly what being a Khalifah of God is about, that although God could easily make us fulfill our responsibilities as His Khalifah, He has chosen to let us use our free will to fulfill those responsibilities. God tells us, and provides us with guidance on, how we can be His Khalifah; but He wants us to use the free will He has given us to choose to do so. If it had been His (God’s) Will, He could indeed have guided you all... (Qur’an, 6: 149) This (message) is no less than a reminder to all mankind – to every one of you who wills to walk a straight way... (Qur’an, 81: 27-28) The truth has now come from your Lord: let, then, him who wills, believe in it, and let him who wills, reject it... (Qur’an, 18: 29)

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Had Your Lord so willed, all those who live on Earth would surely have believed, all of them. Do you then think that you could compel mankind against their will to believe…? (Qur’an, 10: 99)

Now it is correct that the concept and the role of Khalifah is the whole purpose of the existence of human beings, the universe and everything in it. On the Day of Judgment, we will be judged essentially on how well we carried out our roles as Khalifah of God. Understandably, however, there is something wrong with our Ummah in that most Muslims have virtually no understanding of their roles as the Khalifah of God. Why is that so? One of the possibilities is that Shaitan does not want us to succeed in this world. Of course this is obvious. In this case, Shaitan seems to have succeeded in blinding us to our most important role in Creation as God’s Khalifah. Shaitan has intervened in a way that he has allowed us to know that we are God’s Khalifah on Earth, but at the same time he has blinded us to Khalifah’s true meaning. How pleased Shaitan would be if he succeeded in his effort to deceive man and cause God’s Plan for His Creation to fail. We must all do our utmost to thwart Shaitan’s efforts to stop us from successfully fulfilling our roles as the Khalifah of God. We need to seek God’s help in this. In His Mercy, God tells us everything we need to know, but we have to truly understand God’s message by delving deeply into the meaning of the words God uses in His Message to us. As we all know man’s highest merit is to worship the One True God. As Allah the Almighty says: And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. (Al-Qur’an, 51: 56)

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This worship is to be undertaken by man, however, not merely as a creature among creatures, but as the Vicegerent of God – as a fully-integrated being committed to a cosmic mission. Specifically, he has to realize the principle of integration at its highest, because God’s Personality enshrines the Perfect Ideal of Integration, and man is His Vicegerent. As such, man’s worship of God should be dynamic, consequential, and comprehensive in nature; which means that worship of God as His ‘Abd or servant should not be confined only to the act of prayer but also to: 1.

The development of his personality in all dimensions, i.e. to make oneself good.

2.

The development of a godly society in which human beings can live in love, justice and wisdom, i.e. to help others become good.

3. The unravelling of the mysteries of Nature for establishing his status of Vicegerency and for comprehending the Majesty and Glory of God, i.e. to make the physical world good. The First Responsibility as a Khalifah of God The first responsibility of man as a Khalifah of God is to strive to make himself perfect. In doing so he needs to appreciate the following:

Man is created with two levels of existence; the spiritual, which comprises SEM aspects that we can call our soul/spirit; and the physical which comprises the body and the brain, the most complex form of life on Earth.



Man has also been endowed with a mind, which serves as the link between the soul/spirit and the physical body. The mind is the centre of consciousness and is closely-linked to the brain.

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While in its mothers’ womb, God connects the developing child to a soul/spirit and breathes His Spirit into the unborn child. The developing child is connected to a soul/spirit which is pure but unperfected. At this moment, the soul/nafs might be considered to be in an immature state, needing the experiences of the physical body to which it is linked to bring it to maturity through life in the material world. God connects the soul/nafs from the spiritual/ absolute world to the physical/ relative world and links it through the mind to the physical body of the foetus in the womb. The foetus is a believer and is a complete human being at this stage, which possesses a soul/spirit, a material body, and a mind, although all are still in their early developmental stage.

This new human being (insan) is then born into the world in the state of fitrah and has to go through various stages of Earthly life from infancy, puberty, adulthood, and until old age with the ultimate goal of returning to the spiritual world as a perfected, fully-purified soul. The perfected soul by God’s Mercy is rewarded with a new existence in Paradise (Al-Jannah).



Man is given only one chance in this worldly life to attain the ultimate goal of Paradise. God’s Plan is that man must choose by the limited free will he is endowed with, and all abilities, capabilities, and resources bestowed on him to fulfill his role on this Earth as God’s Khalifah. God has allotted man only a temporary period of existence in this world to strive towards that ultimate success.



From the beginning of the foetal stage, the material world will be writing messages on the mind of the unborn child, and thus the child’s personality begins to be shaped. Once the child comes into the world,

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and as he grows to maturity, countless influences from the physical and social environment and also from his own inner speech and perception would interplay, filling the mind with countless messages which mould the individual’s personality, character and acts, which include all thoughts, words, and deeds. As intentions and thoughts precede actions, a mind full of good and right Islamic intentions and thoughts will lead to good and right Islamic behaviour and thus the soul/spirit becomes more pure. Conversely, a mind filled with bad unIslamic intentions and thoughts will result in bad, wrong, and unIslamic behaviours and thus the soul/nafs will become corrupted. The mind has to strive to progress towards perfection and purity so as not to pollute or corrupt the soul/nafs to which it is connected. The highest achievement is for man to leave the world with a perfectly pure soul/nafs so as to pass on to the realm of the grave while waiting for the Day of Judgement in a state of peace.

The soul/nafs begins to receive its recompense in Justice at this phase of our existence, which is also of limited duration. Life after the Day of Judgement is the final phase and is eternal. The soul/nafs that has been perfectly pure at the time of death almost surely will enter Paradise (Al-Jannah).

On the other hand, if man is unsuccessful in perfecting his soul/nafs in his worldly life, in that he did not choose to do so, the soul attempts to return to the spiritual world in an unperfected or corrupted state. Such a blemished soul cannot be allowed access to paradise and must go to Hell (Jahannam),

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which is the final cleansing opportunity, to complete the perfection and purification of the soul. This purification process is carried out through the various forms and degrees of punishment (‘adzaab) as described in Al-Qur’an and Al-Hadith. Once the soul/nafs is perfectly purified by its tormented existence in Hell (Jahannam), by God’s Grace and Mercy, the soul/nafs may then be admitted into Paradise (Al-Jannah).

In perfecting ourselves, we must choose through our free will and with all the faculties, abilities, resources, and opportunities given to us by God to transform ourselves into Muslims living in true submission to the Will of God.

True submission to the Will of God is attained by having the correct Islamic worldview as embodied in the Articles of Faith or Iman. The Articles of Faith (Iman) consist of the Belief in the Unity of God (Tawhid), His Angels, His Messengers, His Books of Revelation, life after death, and predestination. Our Islamic worldview must be manifested by good deeds (amalsalih) which are clearly detailed in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). God, in His Mercy, gives us the Deen of Islam as a way of life to guide us in every aspect of our life. As mankind learns by example, God further guides us by sending Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a perfect model to demonstrate how Muslims should live in Iman and Islam. The Second Responsibility of a Khalifah of God The second responsibility of a Khalifah of God is to strive to make the human society perfect. This can be achieved through:

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Collective duty



Muslim community is therapeutic



The brotherhood of mankind

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Collective Duty It is our collective duty to transform all of human societies into an Islamic society living in true submission to the Will of God. Every individual in a Muslim community has a duty to strive to make it “the best community – commanding the good, forbidding evil, and believing in God”, as described in the Qur’an: You are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and believing in God... (Al-Qur’an, 3: 110)

The Muslim Community is Therapeutic For an Islamic society to be successful, progressive, strong, and prosperous, its individual members must be strong in faith (Iman), execute righteousness (amalsalih), collectively be totally committed to truth and justice, and be determined to remain steadfast to the Deen of God. For this reason, the foundation of interaction and cooperation in an Islamic Society has been laid down in the Qur’an itself as shown in the following verses: The believers, men and women are awliyya (meaning protectors, patrons, helpers, supporters, friends) one of another: they enjoins what ma’aruf (good, right, just and positive), forbid what is munkar (evil, wrong, unjust and negative), they establish regular prayers, practice regular charity and obey God and His Messenger. On them will God pour His Mercy: for God is exalted in Power, Wise. (Al-Qur’an, 9: 71)

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In another verse, He says: Cooperate with one another on the basis of righteousness and God Consciousness (Taqwa), and do not cooperate with one another on the basis of sin and transgression (‘udwaan-exceeding the limits of permissible behaviour set by God). (Al-Qur’an, 5: 2)

The Qur’an also asserts that individuals can only prosper if they, altogether, acquire knowledge and faith, if they do good deeds and if they collectively encourage and promote truth and steadfastness. If they do not, the Islamic society will find itself in a state of loss and ruin. I swear by the Time! Man is indeed in a state of loss except those who attain to faith and do good deeds and enjoin upon one another to uphold the truth and enjoin upon one another to be steadfast. (Al-Qur’an, 103: 1-3)

The Brotherhood of Mankind The Muslim community has been described by our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as having mutual support and compassion for all, and acting like “a single body – when one part of which is afflicted, the other parts feel pain and fever”. Every Muslim in the community acting as a true Khalifah must be a positive influence, has sincere love and concern for the well-being of all members of the community – his immediate family, his relatives, the neighbourhood, the wider community, his nation, and ultimately, the world at large. Everyone is to strive to seek the common good as the basis of fulfillling their obligations to God (Haquq Allah) and to His servants, i.e all of humanity and creatures of God on Earth (Haquq ‘Ibad).

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The main purposes of the Muslim community are essentially: 1.

To establish the system of Islam (the Deen) for the service of God:



This implies inviting people to all that is beneficial, promoting and commanding all that is good, just, and positive, and discouraging or forbidding all that is evil, unjust, negative, ugly, and harmful to man. Specifically, this involves such duties as:

Establishing Salat in the community,

Collecting and distributing zakat and looking after the welfare of all members of the community (especially the needy) and to finally create a just global civilization.

Putting in place Islamic institutions that facilitate the practice of Islam such as educational, social, economic, and political institutions,



Applying the provisions of the Shari’ah so as to preserve the limits set by God, and



Defending the community.

2.

To protect the interests of all members of the community, as to life, property, honour, intellect, and true religion (Deen).



Of course, there are definite norms and guidelines in the Shari’ah to determine how the interests of the community are to be protected. The Shari’ah which is the moral and legal code of Islam is based on the Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

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An ideal Muslim community would have to be based on the following prime values:

An Islamic worldview based on the Articles of Faith or Arkan Al-Iman which incorporates: ¤

Submission to God alone, and

¤

Obedience to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),



Shura or mutual consultation,



Equality strengthened by brotherhood,



Commanding the good and forbidding evil,



Freedom governed by responsibility and discipline,



A Model Muslim Community - Medina under the Prophet’s Leadership.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) established for us a complete and comprehensive moral code for both the individual and society to abide by, in all areas of life,i.e. personal, social, economic, political, etc. After the migration(Hijrah) of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) from Makkah to Medina, an Islamic community was established based on Tawhid as its ideological foundation, and man’s role as Khalifah of God on Earth as the operational framework of the Muslim Ummah. The early Muslims in Medina under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) fulfillled to the utmost their duties as God’s Khalifah. Through Jihad, by embodying the true spirit of Taqwa and Iman, and as a community that invited people to God, commanded all that is good and right and forbade all evil and wrong, they transformed their society into the best community living in true submission to the Will of God.

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Steadily, as promised by God, they achieved success in this world and the next. The Medinan Muslims were able to spread their Khalifah (Vicegerency) to Makkah and the entire Arabian Peninsula. Finally, we have to appreciate the fact that no member of the community, either Muslims or non-Muslims can be forced, even to goodness. It is fruitless to do so because God rewards good actions only if the intention behind the action is sincere. The obligation of the Khalifah of God is to help, not to make others to be good; but, it is each individual’s free will that determines if they themselves choose to become good. Each individual has personal responsibility and accountability for himself. God has created man as a social being to live not in isolation but in communities, which in Islam, should be based on fraternity, piety, tolerance, justice, wisdom, selflessness, love, and beauty. Every Muslim family, that is the basic unit of society, is responsible for providing the right Islamic home for their children to grow up in, and the Muslim society as a whole must ensure the right Islamic society for their children to go out into. The Third Responsibility of a Khalifah of God The third responsibility is to strive to perfect the physical world of space and time. This can be achieved through acknowledging the following:

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1.

Man as a custodian of the Earth



Man as a bearer of God’s trust as His Khalifah has certain responsibilities to carry out; which refers to the trust (amanah) accepted by man to live in and manage this world with justice and goodness, and to fulfill all his natural rights and obligations, and the rights for all creatures.



As a trustee of the Earth, he acts as the custodian of the planet by looking after everything in it according to God’s command as He looks after His Creation. God’s Creation, including inanimate matters, animals, and plants, has been made subject to our power for us to use, but we must do so only within the limits set by God.



We are not supposed to cause corruption in any form on Earth whether to our fellow human beings, to other living creatures, or to the environment.

2. Harmony in the physical world

To perfect the physical world of space and time is a very noble responsibility bearing in mind that God has put everything in the heavens and the Earth at our disposal as a trust or amanah. This trust requires man to live in harmony with the Will of the Creator, in harmony with his own self and with the needs of the rest of Creation, surely including his fellow human beings. This includes all animals, all plants, and the entire environment, both built and natural. As a Khalifah of God, we fulfill this trust in various ways, some of which are listed below:

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¤

Maintaining a wholesome cleanliness and promoting beautification of the environment;

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Protecting the ecological balance between human, animal, and plants;

¤

Environmental preservation for sustainable development, particularly preventing deforestation, depletion of natural resources, and pollution of land, sea, or air;

¤

Bringing about a safer world by promoting peace, preventing war, and eliminating threats to the survival of life and the physical world, such as supporting the prohibition on nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.

But when it comes to the question of the progress and the development of the physical world, we need to ask this critical question: What does it mean to be a Khalifah for the world? A Khalifah is the representative specially trained by God to administer, manage, and develop the world that He has created. When a Khalifah manages the Earth he ensures that it remains safe and secure for God’s creations to live in. At the same time, a Khalifah helps to develop the world for the benefit of all its inhabitants. This task is not an easy task. Certainly God has placed on our shoulders a heavy responsibility as we stated earlier. However, God has also blessed each and every human being with a thinking faculty, a rational and intelligent mind that enables man to think, plan, envision, and therefore choose to act rightly. No other creation is endowed with such a complex and capable mind as that of the human being. It is with our intellect and ability to think that we can help develop and safeguard all creations of God. However, if we relinquish this responsibility and fail to fulfill our duty as Khalifah, surely this Earth and its inhabitants will fall into chaos and disarray.

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When we human beings stop thinking about others and think only about ourselves, the world will suffer greatly. This has been made clear when God said: Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]” (Al-Qur’an, 30: 41)

As a community of faith, the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) should always be the first to push for development, progress and peace in this world because we are the ones with conviction and we are the ones equipped with the boundless knowledge of Al-Qur’an. Every ayah or verse of this knowledge has been guided and crafted by God. The greatest tragedy is when mankind becomes a passive Ummah that could not care less about the state of affairs in this world, an Ummah that fails to protect God’s creations and properties, and an Ummah that degenerates, refusing to progress or develop for the better. Jihad To successfully carry out the roles as God’s Khalifah on Earth, man needs to do Jihad. Jihad has been erroneously defined by the orientalists and non-Muslims as “holy war”. In Islam there is no such thing as holy war. “Holy war” was a term used by the Christians in their Crusades when they waged war against the Muslims to capture Jerusalem from their control. Jihad in Islam is, though, a special struggle, is the holy struggle. However, we have to acknowledge that there are two types of Jihad; the greater and lesser Jihad. The lesser Jihad involves fighting in a war to establish the Deen of God on Earth. When Jihad involves armed struggle, it must be for the defence of the Muslim community in a just war to protect even the non-Muslims from evil, oppression,

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and tyranny. This lesser Jihad is always to be carried out only as a last resort when no positive actions can bring about the necessary result. On the other hand, the greater Jihad is the struggle in one’s own self (nafs) which is constantly being incited by Shaitan to rebel against God, and urges one to digress from the path of faith and obedience to God. This greater Jihad is fought against the influence of Shaitan, on the battleground of one’s mind. This is because the intentions and thoughts which originate in the mind and through one’s exercise of free will are translated into actions. Evil intentions and thoughts lead to evil acts, and conversely good intentions and thoughts result in good actions. Jihad is the whole purpose of the physical creation and it is exactly what all the responsibilities of Khalifah of God are about – the struggle of good versus evil. In every instance, the Khalifah of God is supposed to make good prevails over evil. In every place and time in God’s creation, good must win over evil. That is the holy struggle - Jihad - that the Khalifah of God must undertake. God the Almighty says: Those who believe (have iman), and who have forsaken the domain of evil (done hijrah) and have striven hard (engaged in Jihad) in God’s cause with their possessions and their lives have the highest rank in the sight of God; and it is they who shall triumph (in the end).” (Al-Qur’an, 9: 20)

To engage in Jihad, the Khalifah of God must strive, earnestly and consistently, throughout his life in the cause of God by employing all his resources, opportunities, and mental abilities, his personal effort, his material wealth, and even his own life. In another relevant verse, He says: Oh you who have attained to faith (have iman), shall I point out to you a bargain that will save you from grievous suffering (in this world and the life to come)? You are to believe in God and

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His Apostle, and to strive hard (engage in Jihad) in God’s cause with your possessions and your lives: this is for your own good – if you but knew it! (If you do so,) He will forgive you your sins, and in the life to come will admit you into goodness through which running waters flow, and into goodly mansions in (those) gardens of perpetual bliss: that (will be) the triumph supreme! (Al-Qur’an, 61: 10-12)

Another relevant verse similarly reads: Do you think you could enter Paradise without God testing if you have striven hard (in His cause – done Jihad) and remained patient. (Al-Qur’an, 3: 142)

Jihad is an obligation on every Muslim until the end of time. The Qur’an is full of counsels, commandments, and inspiring words calling upon the Muslims to serve Islam with their minds, bodies, and material wealth, to make the greatest sacrifice, to be steadfast in perseverance, and most supremely of all, to do all this only in the hope of gaining God’s pleasure. God the Almighty says: And strive in His cause (Jihad) as you ought to strive, (with sincerity and under discipline); He has chosen you (to carry His message), and has imposed no difficulties on you….has named you Muslims (those who have surrendered themselves to God)… and hold fast to God! He is your Protector, the best to protect and the best to help! (Al-Qur’an, 22: 78)

Both Islamic teachings and the laws governing the physical existence tell us that no moment can ever be the same as the one before, change is always taking place. Since change always takes place from one moment to the next, this means that at every moment we will be better or worse than the moment before; but we can never be the same from one moment to the next. Better in this case is defined as being more in accord with the Will of God, and worse is defined

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as being less in accord with the Will of God. At each new moment we are either closer to God or closer to Shaitan. The responsibility of every human being as Khalifah of God is to be constantly making change in a positive direction, to perfect ourselves, to perfect our society and to perfect our world according to the Will of God. This is the greater Jihad – to continuously make positive effort, putting in new energy, striving to move closer to God, to earn His pleasure. In psychology, the concept of social entropy (or behavioural drift) refers to a situation where unless new energy is infused into an individual or a society, that individual or society will naturally drift towards disharmony, chaos, and disorder. Thus Jihad is the positive energy or effort that must be expended by a Muslim as an individual or collectively as a community to prevent himself or his community from degenerating into an un-Islamic existence. How to Make Jihad Successful Man can successfully achieve his goal in holy struggle, Jihad, through his commitment to the following:

To command what is right and forbid what is wrong



To eliminate evil and make good prevail



To apply beautiful words and wisdom



To try to keep our hearts (qalb) spotless



To make use of our Inner Speech to repent (taubah)

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Commanding What is Right and Forbidding What is Wrong To ensure that the holy struggle of Jihad succeeds, that good always defeats evil, we have to always command the right and forbid the wrong. This is particularly necessary in carrying out the above mentioned three responsibilities as Khalifah of God. In each of the three responsibilities as God’s Khalifah, when an opportunity comes up in your life to choose between doing the right thing or the wrong thing, you have an obligation to command the right thing and forbid the wrong thing, thereby ensuring your acts are in accordance with the Will of God. For example, a teenage school boy was offered a cigarette to smoke by a group of friends after school. He has an opportunity to either accept it or refuse it. God has given the boy free will, even to do what He would not want the boy to do. So, to a good Khalifah of God, that moment calls for the holy struggle of Jihad to be undertaken. God wants the good (not smoking the cigarette) to prevail over the evil (smoking it). A true Khalifah of God will command the right and forbid the wrong to himself by using his inner speech to direct himself to refuse the cigarette. However, to effectively command the right and forbid the wrong, Muslims must possess sufficient amount of taqwa. Taqwa is broadly defined as “God fearing”, but of course it means much more than that. Taqwa also means God awareness, God consciousness,, guarding ourselves from all evil, wrong, and injustice, and the positive doing of good. Further, taqwa involves awareness or consciousness of God’s pervasive oneness which results in the desire to mould one’s existence in the light of this awareness or consciousness. Such God consciousness positively motivates one to do every act of righteousness, for God observes both ones inner motives and one’s outward actions, and in His Grand Plan, everything will have its due consequences. God the Almighty says:

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O you who have attained faith! Remain conscious of God (Taqwa), and let every human being look to what he sends ahead for the morrow! And (once again): Remain conscious of God (Taqwa), for God is fully aware of all that you do. (Al-Qur’an, 59: 18)

In the Qur’an, the only criterion which makes a believing man or woman truly superior to another is the level of his/ her Taqwa. God says: Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he whois) with the most Taqwa (i.e most conscious of God)... (Al-Qur’an, 49: 13)

The question now is, how does a Khalifah of God achieve high level of Taqwa? The answer to this question is:

Firstly, Taqwa can be increased as one gains a greater and deeper level of the right knowledge. Knowledge here refers to: (a) Knowledge of God and His Attributes, (b) Knowledge of the accountability and Divine Judgment in the Hereafter, (c) Knowledge and understanding of the two Books; God has commanded us to read and study, the Qur’an and His Physical Creation.



Secondly, Taqwa is also nurtured by worshipping and serving God with “Ihsan”, that is as though one sees God and if one cannot do so, know for certain that He sees you.

Thirdly, Taqwa increases when one carries out more and more good acts such as prayer, fasting, contemplation, remembrance of God, gaining knowledge of His revelation, and other acts that mould our consciousness into a God-centred one.

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Eliminating Evil and Making Good Prevail Evil spreads profusely. The intrinsic characteristic of evil is that evil has the power to promote itself, in most cases inordinately. For example, many popular pop artists, male and female singers today wield a frightening powerful influence over youths throughout the world. Their lifestyle of free sex, drugs and alcohol addiction, and undisciplined lifestyle affects youths throughout the world. This hedonistic way of life causes many young people to follow their pop idols. The root cause of these problems is because young people are easily influenced by the media that portrays the glamorous life style of these pop stars. This example depicts how powerfully and quickly evil can spread. In the 1950’s in the U.S., using drugs was not common although some drug abuse was present. However, 10 years later, drug abuse became so rampant that virtually everyone you saw was taking drugs. This was due partly to the influence of rock music, particularly the decadent music of Beatles and the Rolling Stones and their endorsement of drug use through their music and lifestyle in the 70s. Musician and pop artists today portray even worse behaviours. As a result, many youths throughout the world grew up participating in evil things while influencing millions of other innocent youths in very negative ways. Whoever recommends and helps a good cause shall have a share in its blessings; and whoever recommends and helps an evil cause shall be answerable for his part in it; for, indeed, God watches over everything. (Al-Qur’an, 4: 85)

As evil is gradually eliminated, the good increases progressively until it dominates society. In fact, enjoining good and forbidding evil is what makes the Islamic society different from any other. As the Quran observes,

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You are indeed the best community that has ever been brought forth for (the good of) mankind: You enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and you believe in God. (Al-Qur’an, 3: 110) Blessed is He in whose hand is Dominion; and He has power over all things: He who has created death as well as life, so that He might put you to a test (and thus show) which of you is best in conduct, and (make you realize that) He alone is almighty, truly forgiving. (Al-Qur’an, 67: 1-2)

In his Road to Mecca (2003),Muhammad Asad observes that discovery of the ‘open road’ of Islam is urgently needed in modern times because the Muslim world finds itself in the throes of a cultural crisis which may affirm or deny, for centuries to come, the validity of Islam as a practical proposition. He went on to argue that since we are in the midst of a rapidly changing world, our society, too, is subject to the same inexorable law of change Whether we like it or not, a change there will be – it is, indeed, already being enacted before our eyes: a fact as evident as it is pregnant with tremendous possibilities for better or for worse. For better or for worse: this phrase merits emphasis because we must not forget that ‘change’ is but another word for ‘movement’ and, within a social organism, movement can be creative or destructive.

Applying Beautiful Words and Wisdom Islam teaches us that the way to be most successful and effective is to command the right and forbid the wrong with beautiful words and wisdom. Beautiful words do not mean pretty words; it means words we like to hear, or more generally things that are rewarding to us. Wisdom does not merely mean wise words; it means commanding the right and

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forbidding the evil in a way that will succeed and will achieve the goal of goodness in accord with the Will of God. Call thou (all mankind) unto thy Sustainer’s path with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and argue with them in the most kindly manner – for, behold, thy Sustainer knows best as to who strays from His path, and best knows He as to who are the right-guided. (Al-Qur’an, 16: 125)

So the key to carrying out the role as the Khalifah of God is commanding the right and forbidding the wrong. God, in His Mercy, has given us inner speech (which is the source of our free will) as a tool by which we can command the right and forbid the wrong successfully. With our inner speech we can think of absolutely anything we want to, there is no limit to what we can think of in any circumstance. Now I will show you how to apply this powerful tool of inner speech to be a successful Khalifah of God. You should also teach your children this. Aside from assimilating the concept of Khalifah deeply into our consciousness, we and our children must understand the purpose of our existence in this world, and how God has set up certain rules or laws by which human beings learn and become who we are. These laws are called the Laws of Learning. Keeping our Hearts (Qalb) Spotless There are basically two classes in everything (behaviour, characteristics, actions, beliefs, etc.) – what God allows (Halal) and what God does not allow (Haram). Every time someone does something that is not allowed, a black spot appears on his heart (qalb). The black spot increases in size if you persist in doing that which is not allowed. A stained heart pollutes the mind and the soul. Thus, if one allows himself to commit evil actions continuously, he could end up with an impure soul/nafs.

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While the “heart” does not necessarily refer to the physical organ in the chest, it may be somehow linked to the physical heart. From the Islamic perspective, the heart is the core of human being. There may be some connection between the mind and the physical heart, and to a lesser degree, the whole body. The key to the heart, the core of human beings, can be understood as existing primarily in the spiritual/ emotional/mental SEM domain. Wherever the black spot is written, whether the black spot is actually a literal spot or only a metaphor which symbolizes impurity, the nature of the black spot is “dirtiness” that exists in the core of the human being - it should not be there. As one enters the world with a spotless heart, a pure mind, and a pure but immature soul/ nafs, one should also leave the world (at death) with a spotless heart, a pure mind, and a still pure, matured soul/spirit. It is only then that one can deserve God’s Mercy of immediate entry into Paradise. If the heart has some flaw or dirtiness (or rust) that has stained it in its life, then the human being’s soul/nafs is no longer pure and one should not have the expectation of immediate entry into Paradise. God the Almighty says: No! Rather, the stain has covered their hearts of that which they were earning. (Al-Qur’an, 83: 14)

When a believer commits a sin, a dark spot appears on his heart. If he persists in sin, the dark spot increases. This is the spot that has been mentioned in the Qur’anic verse 83:14 This fact was supported by the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): Truly, in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be whole, all the body is whole and which, if it be diseased, all of it is diseased. Truly it is the heart (qalb). (Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim)

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Using the Inner Speech to Repent (Taubah) Basically, we need to do two things to ensure the purity of our soul/nafs. Ideally, we would never want a black spot to stain and grow in our hearts as we want to keep our hearts cleansed. But if the heart has become stained, we need to have a way to cleanse it. God offers a way to do both of these things. God has given us the tool of inner speech, which is the ability to speak to ourselves. Using the inner speech, we will get to know that there is a way to remove the black spots from our hearts because God accepts repentance (taubah). It is impossible to repent without using the inner speech. Animals do not have the inner speech. But since animals never do any wrong, they can never go against the Will of God, As such, animals do not need to repent. An animal merely acts according to the nature that God has placed within it. An animal obeys the Will of God. God controls it externally by its physical and social influences, and internally by its instinct. Humans are intrinsically being endowed with free will by God and He does not control us in the way that He controls the animals. As such, we have the ability to do things that will put black spots in our hearts, but God in His Mercy has given us a way to get rid of them. Logically, you can see that the only way we can go through the process of repentance is by using our inner speech. Repentance entails being truly remorseful for the wrong that you have done, asking God for forgiveness, resolving sincerely not to repeat them. Repentance in this form cleanses the heart, but essentially most of the process of repentance must be done through the use of inner speech. There are many examples in the Qur’an and hadith of the Prophet... And those who having done something to be ashamed of, or wronged their own souls, remember God and pray for their sins to be forgiven – for who except God can forgive sins! – and do not knowingly persist in doing whatever wrong they have done.

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These it is who shall have as their reward forgiveness from their Lord ….. (Al-Qur’an, 3:135-136)

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, that God the Almighty has said: O son of Adam, so long as you call upon Me and ask of Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Adam, were your sins to reach the clouds of the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I would forgive you. O son of Adam, were you to come to Me with sins nearly as great as the Earth and were you then to face Me, ascribing no partner to Me, I would bring you forgiveness nearly as great as it. (narrated by Al-Tirmidzi)

Internalizing the Role of Khalifah: Raising a Khalifah from the Grassroots When we truly accept our responsibilities as Khalifah of God, and truly understand the tasks involved in those responsibilities, then certainly we must start by raising our children from the very beginning with the knowledge that they are Khalifah of God and make them fully understand the meaning of being a Khalifah of God. We should then give them the scientific and objective knowledge about the existence of God, the creation of the universe and God’s Grand Cosmic Plan, plus a good understanding of what the world ideally should be like – so that they will have the necessary knowledge in their minds, and sufficient motivation and faith in their hearts to keep them on the right path. This way, they will be aware of the true purpose of their life and realize that nothing will be able to divert them from that right path. Indeed, this is the best way to raise good Muslim children. This is the first of the three simple steps that parents need to take, consistently every day, to ensure that their children would successfully become good Khalifah of God.

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Similarly, if we appreciate our responsibilities as Khalifah of God, and fully understand (through the laws of learning) the effects of the constant influx of influences upon us, we can use our inner speech to minimize the negative effects on our life as Muslims. It is this skill that we must teach our children so that in the future, each generation will be better in every positive characteristic than the generation before. The specific weapon to employ in this Jihad fought in the battlefield of the mind is the exercise of our free will through the precious gift of inner speech that God has bestowed on us as a great Mercy. Indeed, if we want to internalize our roles as Khalifah of God, we must be in continuous struggle against the evil forces and be able to resist them. This will help us in raising our children in a way which makes them feel great joy whenever they are able to resist negative influences and not feel ashamed if they are not in the main stream of the society. They should feel honoured that they have, by the Mercy of God, the ability to go against the crowd; or to resist from being blown by the wind, which invariably blows in a negative direction, which is towards Shaitan. Similarly, we must develop high self-motivation and experience as well as great self-esteem as Khalifah of God in order to teach our children about their roles as Khalifah of God from the time they are first able to think. This is to ensure that by the time they go out into the adult world, where they will face many bad influences; they will have already developed consciousness to actively resist those bad influences, with the Will of God. Their inner speech, God willing, will resonate with “I am built by God to be a resistor against evil. God has created me to be one who resists evil. (On Being the Khalifah of Allah)

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God has given me the power to resist evil. God has explained to me how to use that power to resist evil. Evil cannot make me do anything. I serve only God. I’m invulnerable; I have armour against all the evils in the world. I don’t have to fear Shaitan. Shaitan cannot influence me because God has given me the power, the knowledge, and the tools to resist any amount of evil influence, Insya-Allah.” Children who have reached this level of confidence will become true and successful Khalifah of God. Behold, he (Shaitan) has no power over those who have attained faith and in their Sustainer place their total trust: he has power only over those who are willing to follow him, and who [thus] ascribe to him a share in God’s divinity. (Al-Qur’an, 16: 99-100)

And if we do all that has been presented above as a right Khalifah of God, it is most definitely possible to have a much better world. Only God knows for sure whether or not we will actually do what it takes to help bring about a better world. But we can know for sure that a much better world is possible because God gave us a symbolic language so that we have free will, the ability to understand how the learning process works, a good understanding of His Grand Cosmic Plan, and all this places us at the centre of responsibility in the successful completion of this Divine Plan. We must then pass this knowledge on to all Muslims and say to them:

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Now you have heard and understood this knowledge. Can you possibly deny this is the way God has destined us to have a good and right world?

No! Nobody can logically and reasonably deny the truth of this knowledge. But this is not basically how we as an Ummah today have seen Islam presented, although this knowledge is consistent with the general understanding of the great Muslim scholars of the past. The 3 Simple Khalifah Steps Basically, there are three steps that you need to take consistently, every day, to ensure that your children would successfully become good Khalifah of God who deeply in their hearts, love everything that God has made right for us and develop a profound dislike for everything that God has told us is wrong. Once you follow the following three simple steps, your children could only grow up as good, loving Muslims, who are attracted to all of Islam’s wonderful beliefs and practices, and having a great disdain and dislike for all the un-Islamic things that Shaitan likes and tries so hard to influence us to like. They are as follows:



STEP 1: Teach your children about their roles as Khalifah of God. Do this in a way that would let them feel in their hearts how this is the most exciting, glorious honour that they could ever receive. At least several times every day, find different positive ways to remind your children that they are Khalifah of God. STEP 2: At least several times every day find different ways to reward your children (mainly with warm and loving praise) for the good things they do or the good characteristics they show.

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STEP 3: Set firm, reasonable rules for your children, and explain the reason for these rules.

In addition to the above steps, you could also:

Give children lots of positive reward (mainly warm and loving praise) for the good things they do, good characteristics they show, as well as for the bad things they do not do and negative characteristics they do not show.



Set firm, reasonable rules for your children and explain to them good reasons for these rules. Enforce these rules consistently with kind discipline, which means without harshness, done with beautiful words and wisdom so that they will be most successful. This is the sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Using Khalifah Model to Raise Children to Become Resistant to Evil

Parents must teach their children from a very young age that God has given them the power through their inner speech to resist negative influences. Children are fond of saying, “I couldn’t help it,” which is just not true. Of course they can “help it” if they use their free will to do so. Parents must teach their children how to use their inner speech as an armour against those negative influences. Many children are also fond of saying, “My friend got me to do it” when they are caught doing something wrong. Parents should explain to their children that God has given them free will and hence they have personal responsibility and accountability, and that their friend merely gave them an opportunity to use their inner speech either to go along with or to resist that bad influence.

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Children need to understand that this is the nature of their life. Parents must teach children as they grow up to know that they have come into this world as pure (in a state of fitrah) and throughout their lives they will have both good and bad messages written into their consciousness. Children must be taught to use their inner speech correctly; every time there is a bad influence upon them, they must use their inner speech to take away that bad influence’s power to harm them, and every time there is a good influence coming in, they must use their inner speech to increase the good influence’s power so that they have greater strength of goodness. Anyone who does this will become increasingly more resistant to evil influence and more accepting to good influence. If a child uses his/her inner speech correctly, as willed by God, he/she would never get any black spots in his/ her heart throughout the life. Therefore, the child would have fulfilled the responsibility that God has given him/her – which is to come into the world as a pure but immature soul/ nafs, keeping the soul/nafs pure as it matures during his/ her life in the physical world; and leaving this world at death with a clean heart and a pure, matured soul/nafs; entering Paradise by God’s Mercy on the Day of Judgement. Children need to know that this is the true goal of their lives, and the way to attain that goal is both simple and guaranteed. Similarly, parents must get children motivated to view their life in the way that has been described and to understand that part of the purpose of being God’s Khalifah on Earth is not just to be good but also to progress. A Muslim is not supposed to remain at the same point in any aspect of his being - physically, spiritually, or intellectually. Stagnation results in a drift towards the negative, which is Shaitan. This is due to the phenomenon of social entropy or behavioural drift. You cannot drift towards greater goodness; you can only drift towards evil. New energy has to be infused into the child so that they will purposefully move towards all that is good and positive, i.e. towards God.

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In moving towards all things positive, one of the things we are to achieve is the greater exercise of free will. The more a child learns to use the knowledge of how to exercise their free will, the better. They are happier to know that they have this amazing ability, and the more joy they experience when they actually use it, the more likely they will be (when the time comes to combat bad social influences or harmful inner speech) resistant to bad social influence or negative peer pressure, Insya-Allah: “I don’t care what my friends think. I won’t let them influence me to do wrong things. They are external influences. But I have internal control over myself. I make my decisions inside my mind based on what God wants, not what my friends want. I’m proud to do that. I’m thankful that God has given me this power to do that. God has shown me how to use that power, And I’m going to use it... Insya-Allah!!!” Today, we (and especially our children) are faced with an avalanche of admittedly sometimes exciting and enticing bad influences from the world around us. Compared to Western movies, fast food, computer games, secular entertainment and animalistic pleasures, Islam can (to those who have not truly understood their role as Khalifah of God) be made to seem somewhat unappealing. The truly meaningful things in life like faith, doing good, gaining knowledge, learning AlQur’an, developing good character, praying, fasting, keeping up to Islamic values and loving God do not always have enough attractive power to keep us and our children away

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from the powerful, seductive pull and seduction of the “fun and exciting” activities, products, and lifestyle of secular materialist culture. Shaitan seems to be calling out to us: “Come on, come on! Participate in all this (evil). It is free, it is fun! Don’t bother with all that Islamic nonsense. Don’t worry about the future. There’s no God. There is no Judgment Day. There is only this life here and now on this Earth. If it feels good, do it. Enjoy yourself!” These are the influences going around in the world today and they truly affect many of us, especially young people. Unto him who cares for [no more than the enjoyment of] this fleeting life We readily grant thereof as much as We please,[giving] to whomever it is Our will [to give]; but in the end We consign him to [the suffering of] hell; which he will have to endure disgraced and disowned! But as for those who care for the [good of the] life to come, and strive for it as it ought to be striven for, and are [true] believers they are the ones whose striving finds favour [with God]! (Al-Qur’an, 17: 18-19)

If parents start teaching this to their children when they are very young, they will grow up to be young Muslims who are very resistant to the negative influences of the world. They will also start changing the world by getting rid of the negative influences that exist so that we will eventually live

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in a world that has virtually no negative influences. In a right Islamic society, it is beneficial to let some of the external influences write messages in our consciousness because they will be the right messages, but in a corrupt, secular materialistic society like we have today, the external messages will be overwhelmingly bad ones. Children must be taught to understand that growing up good and helping to bring about a right world is definitely possible – once they have a good knowledge of God’s physical creation, logic and reason will support that belief too. Conclusion Allah the Almighty had essentially created the entire universe to assign man to take the role as His Vicegerent on Earth, i.e. His Khalifah. These responsibilities of man as God’s Khalifah on Earth encompass everything good, right, just, and positive to transform individuals, families, communities, and the whole world into fully and truly Islamic individuals, families, and communities, i.e. a fully and truly Islamic world. Islam, which God has perfected for us and given to us as our way of life, is the perfect plan of social engineering. Rightly understood and practiced Islam, which in its truest form is enduringly kind, loving, and tolerant, is designed to create the right human being, family, community, and ultimately to create the right world. The individuals who make up a truly Islamic family would create a unit that produces ever more right individuals; and, ever more right Muslim individuals would create ever more right families. A community of right family units becomes an ever more right Muslim community, and a world of right Muslim communities becomes a more right Muslim world; and an ever more right Muslim world creates ever more right individuals, families, and communities. This is the beautiful simplicity of God’s plan for all human beings. All Praise to God, how blessed we are! Therefore, we need to start raising generations that truly believe this, who feel deep

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in their hearts a burning desire to transform Islam and bring it to the top in all aspects of human life. The love for God flowing from their hearts should make them want to do only that which pleases God. So they will pray, only for God, they will study only to please Him, and they will achieve the best because they are really proud to be His Khalifah. As individuals, we must acknowledge that it is our sole responsibility to pass as much of this knowledge as possible on to our children. We must also give every member of the Ummah a good and accurate understanding of the revealed practices and beliefs of Islam as interpreted by the rightlyguided early scholars combined with a good understanding of that traditional Islamic knowledge based on supportive modern scientific facts and logical reasoning. Moreover, we must also try to give every member of the Ummah a good understanding of the Laws of Learning by which all human development takes place. If, as stated in the original hypothesis, every person is given these two things in a way they can truly understand, there will result in a natural and inevitable movement, within the individuals and social groups which make up the human society, towards all things good and right, towards a world fully and truly in accord with the Will of God.

CHAPTER FOUR

POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY – 3RD PRINCIPLE: ON BEING THE VICEGERENT OF GOD IN THE UNIVERSE (ON BEING THE KHALIFAH OF ALLAH)

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Introduction This chapter on the application of Holistic Principle of Behaviour and Laws of Learning to transform contemporary society is mostly the work of the late Professor Muhammad Al-Mahdi Jenkins before he converted to Islam. He started his search for truth and completed the trilogy on the concept of the Unified Theory of Existence after leaving the university 35 years ago. As a result of his research on that theory, he converted to Islam. Professor Jenkins’ deep research in Islamic theology of the Unity of Being (tauhid) enhanced his idea of Positive Islam. Later, he realised the beauty and the truth of the Islamic concept of the Vicegerent of God in Islam, (the Khalifah Concept). Since his demise in 2006, this work has been continued by the co-author Dr. Abdul Aziz Azimullah. In essence, this book is the continuation of the work of Professor Al-Mahdi Jenkins by Dr. Abdul Aziz Azimullah, one of the trustees of Khalifah Institute and the co-author of this book. Human behaviour and human learning are extremely complex phenomena. As we develop more knowledge on the nature of the human self as well as the scientific discoveries of the nature and the function of human brain, human will have a better understanding of the holistic nature of human behaviour and learning. The behavioural process that occurs within human mind is complex. It combines input from the cognitive, emotive, spiritual and other subtle interactions. The totalities of these interactions have to include the spiritual and intuitive aspects of being. This holistic interaction will require more research and can lead us to a holistic concept of human behaviour and human learning. Basically, every learning process and experiences in our life will have the requirements of: the person as a learner, the social situation in the learning process, the experience that a learner gets from the learning environment, the process of

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transformation and the development of knowledge for selfactualization. In psychology, there are many theories that try to give some answers to the nature of human learning. For us to ultimately develop a comprehensive theory of human learning, we have to learn about the intrinsic holistic nature of the human self. If we can understand our holistic nature and a way of life, consonant with our intrinsic nature (fitrah), then we can then develop a holistic concept of human learning and behaviour. It is hoped that this 4th principle of Positive Islamic Psychology will give us a clear understanding of the nature of human behaviour through the psychology of learning and the laws of human learning. This knowledge on the holistic and integrative nature of human learning and behaviour focuses on a very powerful ‘tool’ that provides a means to help solve all of the world’s problems, and bring about a future of peace, happiness, love and success. The first logical step is to devise a plan by which the social problems facing humanity could be solved and find a means by which that plan can be carried out. There will not only be changes in the social structure of the human race, but also changes in every individual. These changes will affect the thoughts, words, and deeds of every person on this planet. These changes will be brought about by billions of people acting together. This is the basis for the idea of the laws of learning which is elaborated in this 4th principle of Positive Islamic Psychology. To transform human behaviour we have to transform the belief system of humanity. This includes the social, political and economic ideas that are detrimental to the development of a holistic contemporary society. To progress, therefore, we need to have a new paradigm of new knowledge in our holistic laws of learning and human behaviour.

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It is this knowledge and these ideas which will change the world, but this knowledge and these ideas are not mine. They belong to everyone. Whether or not I speak of these words and profess these truths, they exist as part of the heritage of the human race. If we are to have a future, it will include these ideas and this knowledge regardless of whether I speak of these truths or not. There is a moment when these truths will be first expressed, then fully assimilated. My words are only one possible beginning to the full expression of these truths. People should fear the violence and wrong ideology but not the revolution. By revolution, I refer to the overthrowing of the existing conditions. I refer to a complete turnaround from the present’s social insanity to a beautiful future of peace, happiness and love. Revolution is change and change is part of the natural order. And to overthrow the existing conditions without the use of violence is the purpose of the new worldview. When this new knowledge spreads through human society, those who understand will perceive our reality differently. Many present beliefs and thoughts are so detrimental to our individual progression and to the progression of human society that they are regarded as insane. Words and deeds which arise from these wrong beliefs and thoughts cause great harm and suffering. The beliefs and thoughts based on the new worldview will be beneficial to our individual progression and also to the progression of human society. This is the path to sanity. Words and deeds that arise from these right beliefs and thoughts will allow great success and happiness. As we begin to give up those things that have been the focus of human striving for thousands of years, the wealth, the power, and the never ending quest for the pleasures of the flesh, we may only do so because we must change or die. This type of sacrifice often has been experienced in the lives

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of individuals. When there is no alternative but to drastically alter one’s life or die, perhaps for reasons of illness, most people find the inner strength to successfully make those changes. It is always a struggle, but it is usually won. It would be much better if the human race had come to right beliefs and right behaviours before reaching this critical point. We could have but we didn’t. Part of the new worldview is to objectively accept the reality of the present moment. It is no use of feeling sorry for ourselves that we didn’t become better sooner. We must face our reality and move forward from that point. Change through Directed Positive Influence The death facing the human race is not so much of a threat as an alternative. All actions have some outcomes. It is often possible to predict beforehand what will be the probable outcome of any actions. If we consider the overall behaviour of human society at present as the action, we can predict very reliably what the outcome will be. It will be the destruction of human life, perhaps all life, on this planet. Once we realise this, we must choose to change and live in harmony with the natural order or accept the natural consequence of society’s wrong actions. Indeed, I believe the threat of the extinction of the human race would not be sufficient to save us because of the weakness of negative control. The range and magnitude of the social change that the human race must undergo to survive the threat of extinction cannot be carried out and maintained by negative control or force. The natural limit on the use of negative influence to attain any goal means that the human race cannot be forced to become good. Most people would say that the use of force is the most powerful means available to attain any desired goal. As it is often the case in a society gone insane, most people are wrong; that which is many times more powerful than the force is called “Directed Positive Influence”. It could also be called

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love. We are only beginning to realise the power of love as we are beginning to realise the weakness of force and aggression. On the other hand, negative influence, while not being able to maintain long term positive change, could successfully initiate short term change. I believe there is only one viable way, through the power of love. With love, we could focus the world’s attention on the problem and provide motivation to seek a solution. Harnessing People’s Power Humanity has, throughout human history been notoriously short-sighted when it comes to understanding the true nature of the difficulties we are facing and accepting the necessary solutions. There is unfortunately some chances that we will once again do too little too late. Many governments are doing a lot to be seen as attempting to provide solutions to the world’s problems. But I don’t believe that the efforts of some governments are sincere. Even those efforts that may be sincere are still misguided. There is much more effort being put forth to make people believe that the social problems are being faced and solutions attempted that result in realistic solutions to those problems. While some lack of success in finding solutions to the world’s problems can be attributed to a misunderstanding of the nature of the problem, the major cause of the lack of success is a refusal to do what is necessary to bring about solutions. These governments refuse to act as they could do to solve the world’s problems because the things that are the causes of the world’s problems are often exactly the same things that they desire and seek most. These things are power and material wealth. Moreover, governments cannot afford to do what is truly necessary to bring about an end to the world’s problems because governments play such a major part in causing these problems. If governments were to do

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what must be done, they would in effect be bringing about their own end. It is correct that governments cannot refuse to do something about the dire circumstances of human life. They publicly make what appears to be real attempts to solve these problems. The people are made to believe that their governments are trying their hardest and doing all that can be done. People are made to believe that the problems are insurmountable, that they must be accepted. The problems are attributed to human nature and to modern life. The reality is that the world’s governments are doing little to bring an end to these problems facing human society. Since unless world society changes soon the human race is likely to become extinct, it could be fairly said that the overall result of the efforts of the world’s governments is presently doing more harm than good. However, this does not mean that the governments are to be blamed because they are institutions of society, organised and run by members of the society. Rather, we must accept the responsibility for the wrongs of our governments even though there are very few people that have any say in what the government executes. This is because the masses of humanity have no power over government, who holds the monopoly of all the power. The will of the people cannot be resisted. Governments fail to do what must be done to solve the problems facing humanity because the people have yet to rightly exercise their will. As things stand, the will of the people supports wrong government, wrong goals, and wrong values. Certainly there are many ordinary people in many countries working to bring about our glorious future; but they represent only a tiny fraction of the whole of contemporary humanity. These right thinking people could not by any means, at this point in human history, be said to represent the will of the people. So we need more right thinking people because the basic concept behind social changes through the spread of a new, more correct holistic worldview. Once the

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world society see the truth of this new reality more clearly and have a common foundation to understand that reality, then the will of the people shall have direction. The will of people who hold this new worldview shall be more powerful through Directed Positive Influence than the world’s governments have ever been through the exercise of force. The will of a good and right society which has come to the realisation that the path of force and aggression must be forsaken and that the path of peace and love embraced can bring about the solution to all of the world’s problems. The Keys to Knowledge and Truth The Positive Islamic Psychology plan is to spread the knowledge in this book to the 1.7 billion Muslims as well as other nonMuslims around the globe. Of course, there are many reasons which make the spread of this knowledge throughout the world much easier than it may at first appear. Many of these truths are already widely known and accepted. Many people are searching for the truth. Many people are searching for an answer to the varied problems facing human society. Many people are dissatisfied with the present wrong worldview. If we don’t almost immediately find a solution to the aspects of the world’s social problems which threaten to bring an end to life on this planet, we will have no future. The time has come when this knowledge will naturally unfold as part of the overall developmental process of material existence. The knowledge of truth does not exist as separate from the human society. This knowledge is part of the human society. It is the nature of this knowledge to be the means of its own dissemination. Truth is like a seed, which once planted in the mind of an individual, germinates, spreading its roots through the social body of the human race and flowering in the collective consciousness of humanity.

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What I mean by “the knowledge is the means of its own dissemination” has to do with the way learning takes place. I could describe this process briefly, but this particular part of the model is so important that I would only feel right if I went into great detail. It is the key. This is the knowledge of the way we learn; but in this sense I am using the word ‘learn’ very broadly. When you hear all I have to say about this area of knowledge you will see why that name would be too narrow. Or perhaps it is a fair comment to say that the present understanding of learning is too limited. Just as in all other areas, the new worldview broadens the horizons, so the doors to new vistas are opened to our understanding of learning by this new knowledge. Much of the new worldview so far has focused on physics, chemistry, cosmology, and biology. Since all things are one and linked, there will certainly be a connection, but generally what I would like to discuss next would be called Positive Islamic Psychology. It is based on the holistic transcendent principle of human learning and behaviour. As stated before, psychology is often defined as the study of the mind, the study of human nature, or the study of behaviour. Those definitions are quite inclusive and I find them all acceptable, but I consider psychology to be “the study of the relationship of consciousness with the physical universe”. All words are but names we assign to various aspects of our relationship with existence. Psychology happens to be a word that covers a large segment of that relationship. It is this particular knowledge that will allow free will to be manifested to a degree that was never previously possible. Had we been able to freely choose our future, we would not have chosen the tortuous path which has led the human race to the brink of destruction. No one who does not know their true nature ever makes a free choice. Because we were unaware of the true nature of the relationship between our consciousness and the physical existence, we were susceptible to negative influences. These unseen negative influences have determined that we walk the wrong path.

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The knowledge of this new psychology allows us to understand the varied influences which affect our thinking, our behaviour, and our overall development as unique individuals. While the range of influences is virtually infinite, they all fall into a small number of categories and all of these influences act lawfully. In other words, the effects of these varied influences upon our development can all be described by a set of laws. However, I couldn’t say these laws are simple; but many of them, although having been given unfamiliar names, would be familiar when explained by example. Indeed, by understanding several categories of influence and a set of laws of learning, we can overcome all the problems of society. I came from a staunchly atheistic behavioural psychology background. I was a keen student of B. F. Skinner; in fact, I was told that I was his protégé. As an atheist, I used to tell my students in the university that if there is ever any human being that can believe in God, I would be the last person on Earth. It was only after I did further research on the nature of consciousness and the laws of human learning that I realised that we are not just a mere physical being. My earlier background in nuclear physics supported by Einstein theory of special relativity brought me closer to understanding the true nature of this created universe. Later on, my understanding on quantum physics brought me towards the belief in God. We have elucidated the nature of God and the nature of human self in the 1st and 2nd principles of this book respectively. We found that of all the major religions, Islam presents the most rational psychology for human nature and existence. My reference to the laws of human learning hence forth must always be related to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd principles of this book. There are basically three classes of influence that determine all our learning and the development of our individual personalities. First, we are influenced by the physical environment. Second, we are influenced by other

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people, i.e. social influence; and third, we are influenced by our own inner speech. We will go into detail about these three types of influence later. Inner Speech Inner speech means the internal communication with our own consciousness. This includes thoughts, but is much more comprehensive than that. It includes not only thoughts, but feeling from the realm of our spiritual heart (Qalb). Inner speech is all communication that originates within the mind. We are not yet aware of the full range of those communications. Some of the communications within the mind take place beyond the perception of ordinary waking consciousness. Future research needs to be done to understand the communication at the level of the spiritual, emotional and mental domain which I have elaborated in detail in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd principles in this book. This provides a framework for future Positive Islamic Psychologists as well as other psychologists that believe in the transcendent nature of our existence, to do further research and complete the task of understanding the true nature of the human self. The Nature of Consciousness and Inner Speech Let us recap the second principle of the nature of the human self. We understand that the human self consists of four realms/domains, namely the spiritual (ruh), emotional-heart (qalb), mental-mind (aqal) and the physical body (jasad). These four domains constitute our real self (nafs) as we exist in this physical world. We can understand the interface of the SEMP (spiritualemotional-mental-physical) realms. We exist beyond space and time when our inner speech develops from the unconscious

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realm. We will explain this nature of the inner speech later on in the Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) model. Modern research in neurology points to the importance of the limbic system and the brain stem in processing human consciousness. All the neural and dendritic connections of both the left and right brain are connected into the limbic system and the brain stem which is the centre or the hub of all our brain functions, both conscious and unconscious. We can see that the limbic system/brain stem of the brain helps to coordinate and process all our conscious and unconscious inner speech. Modern brain science is proving the truth of the nature of the human self that is consonant with Islamic principles. From the perspective of Positive Islamic Psychology we not only have the five senses but also our senses beyond the realm of time and space. The laws of learning must be holistic to cater for all our nature; both physical and spiritual. The totality of our life is a learning environment that is governed by the laws of learning. If the laws of learning only cover the five sensory physical aspects, it will not be complete and cannot be the real holistic laws of human learning. As we have better understanding of the quantum nature of this universe we will begin to understand the existence of the realm that is beyond our five physical faculties. Our understanding of quantum mechanics is already transforming our notions of relationships. Things and events once conceived as separated/parted in both space and time, are seen by the quantum theorists as so integrally linked that their bonds mock the reality of both space and time. They behave, instead, as multiple aspects of some larger whole deriving both definition and their meaning from that whole (Danah Zohar, 1990)

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Quantum experiment on pairs of correlated photons has proven the non-local influences of these photons’ behavioural pattern. Even though they are separated across the universe, they are eerily linked together across space and time. In Islam, our relationship with the universe is not mechanical but multi-dimensional. Our relationship with God is based on the principles of tawhid, i.e. the Oneness of Being that transcends all realms, time, space and all universes. Human being was created for a purpose, which is to understand and learn the nature of the Oneness of the Creator. We are progressing towards understanding that this life in the physical realm is both a learning process and experiences towards self-perfection. We have a greater existence in the eternal spiritual realm beyond space and time in the timeless future. In Islam, because we are created with the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical domains, we are multisensory beings capable of perception beyond the physical visible realm. Our intention, behaviours, and actions at all levels affect us in all realms of existence. Our personality and behaviour are shaped by the learning environment in this world. The choices that we make affect our progress towards perfection in the eternal spiritual realm. Imprinted within our nature are deeper questions of our existence such as, “Is there purpose in life?”, “Does God exist?”, “Is there life after death?”, as well as other critical questions of life. In Islam, we are created as the Vicegerent of God on Earth (Khalifatullah fil ard ) to experience and fulfill our life in answering the above perennial questions. By understanding the nature of our existence, we can shape our spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical self towards becoming loving, compassionate and wise human beings by directing our inner speech in a positive way. By aligning our holistic inner speech we will be able to understand the subtle inner feelings and intuitions beyond our five senses. When we align our inner speech from the negative aspects of

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anger, fear, hatred, vengeance, frustration, cynicism and so on, we can cultivate our holistic personality to become more loving and compassionate. In Islam, this is the journey of life for every human being towards achieving perfection of their existence (al-insanal kamil ) . We will elaborate the full spectrum of this new knowledge of Positive Islamic Psychology model in the coming chapters. My experience in the universities as a behavioural psychologist and my research with my mentor, Professor B. F. Skinner, the father of behavioural psychology leads to many paths. I can see the beauty of behavioural psychology with animal experiments on the nature of learning. I also begin to realise the limitation of behavioural psychology with regards to human behaviour and learning. I will elaborate some of my research in behavioural psychology that can be a basis for integration in transcendent holistic psychology. Nature of Animal and Human Learning Let me give you an example of my experiment in the university that has caused me to see these principles of learning in a different light; I taught my pet chicken to turn a full circle to the right while standing on one leg It sounds like a very difficult task. Although it was the first time I ever tried to teach a chicken anything, it was extremely easy, taking only about ten minutes. I was astounded. I had never so clearly seen learning take place before. Most people wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to begin teaching a chicken but I simply put the principles of learning I had read into practice. It was during those ten minutes, while I was teaching that chicken, when I came to realise what an incredibly powerful tool these principles of learning are. Imagine that we can teach an animal within ten minutes a set of complex tasks. Human learning will be far more powerful. I realised that with these laws of learning there was

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no goal which could not be reached. The holistic integration of the human self will affect our learning capability as well as our behaviour. Human being operates beyond the animal level with our free will that affects our inner speech. We are interacting both within the realm of consciousness and the infinite realm of the unconscious. Types of Learning: Conditioning I will start by describing the simplest kind of learning. Sometimes instead of using the word ‘learning’ I’ll use the word ‘conditioning’. They mean just about the same thing but in some situations one term seems to fit better than the other. Something that really amazed me when I came across these principles of learning is that they have been known for less than one hundred years. People have been learning by them and using them to teach others for as long as there have been human beings, but only during this century did we come to realise that learning took place according to specific laws just like all other aspects of material existence. I think all that exist are sacred; but, I don’t believe there is anything that should be considered beyond study. The fact that learning takes place according to certain laws was first discovered accidentally while medical experiments were being conducted. Scientists were trying to find out how salivation takes place when they were working with a dog and had a mechanism that blew meat powder into a dog’s mouth so they could determine how much saliva the dog produced with different amounts of meat powder. They found something they weren’t expecting; sometimes the dog would begin to salivate before there was any meat powder in its mouth. Since they were scientists they decided to look carefully at how their experiment was set up in hopes of finding some logical reason for this unexpected happening. What they

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noticed was that one of their team, whose job was to feed the meat powder to the dog, always entered the room wearing a white lab coat immediately before the experiment began. They realised that the dog would begin to salivate as soon as it saw this lab assistant in the white coat. That’s the scientific way of thinking. If you come across anything that is unexplained you ask “why”. At first, they thought it was because the dog had come to know the lab assistant that caused the salivation to occur. They tested this idea by checking to see if the dog salivated when other people entered the room. No salivation occurred, so they thought they might have come up with the solution. Those others who entered the room were not wearing white coats. It turned out that the dog would salivate when anyone wearing a white lab coat entered the room. They discovered that it was the white lab coat and not the person that caused the dog to salivate. I could almost imagine that seeing a person the dog knew and liked might bring about some salivation; but it seems extremely unlikely that there would be anything about a white lab coat that would cause a dog to salivate. To those who understand learning today; the reason is obvious, but at that time the scientists were probably mystified. And the white lab coat caused the dog to salivate because he had been conditioned to salivate when it saw someone enter the room wearing a white lab coat. This means the dog had learned to salivate when he saw someone wearing a white lab coat. We’ll start by considering the original experiment. Meat powder was placed in the dog’s mouth and the dog salivated. Each time the dog received a certain amount of meat powder it would produce, on the average, some certain number of drops of saliva. Here I’ll have to introduce several words that describe different parts of this process. Actually, they are both scientific and common, and they mean pretty much the same thing in both contexts. When they are used in the scientific sense though, their meaning is more specific.

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There are three words; “stimulus”, “response”, and “reflex”. Actually, I should probably also define the word “elicit”. A stimulus is something that brings about action. In the example we have been talking about, the meat powder is the stimulus. The word “elicit” means to bring something about, to cause something to happen. The stimulus, meat powder, elicits or brings about salivation, which in this case is the response. A response is a reaction to or result from a stimulus. The stimulus elicits a response which in this case is a way of saying the meat powder causes salivation to take place. This whole process is called a “reflex”. When a dog gets food in its mouth, it salivates. A reflex is a fixed relationship between a stimulus and a response where the stimulus elicits the response. Reflexes work the same way in people. Candy in the mouth of a child will cause salivation. There are quite a few reflexes. Some are obvious and some take place inside our bodies which we aren’t aware of. When a doctor taps your knee in the right place with a little hammer your leg will jerk. That is an example of a common reflex. All reflexes are natural responses that are elicited by stimuli in the environment. That is the way people and animals are made. Certain things which happen to our bodies bring about certain natural responses. That is the way our muscles, nerves, and brains are organised. Even single celled animals have natural reflexive responses to certain stimuli; and they don’t even have brains in the usual sense of the word. The dog did not learn to salivate when it had meat powder in its mouth, it did that naturally. Neither the stimulus nor the response was learned, they were not conditioned. The natural stimulus could then be called the unconditioned stimulus because it was unlearned, and the natural response could be called the unconditioned response because it was unlearned. The unconditioned stimulus, meat powder, naturally elicited the unconditioned response, salivation. In the case of this experiment, shortly before the dog was given the unconditioned

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stimulus, meat powder, it saw someone wearing a white lab coat. What is believed to have happened is that by being associated with the unconditioned stimulus, meat powder, the person in a white lab coat became a stimulus that could elicit salivation almost like the meat powder did. The dog learned, or was conditioned, to respond to the stimulus of a person in a white lab coat in much the same way it had responded to the meat powder. In such a situation, the person in a white lab coat would be called a conditioned stimulus because it was learned. When the conditioned stimulus, the person in a white lab coat, elicits salivation, the salivation is now called a conditioned response because it was learned. The dog might salivate somewhat less because of the lab assistant than it would to the meat powder; but that’s not the reason the response have different names. Salivation brought about by the meat powder is natural or unconditioned, and salivation brought about by the white coated lab assistant is learned or conditioned. The dog would always salivate when it has meat powder in its mouth, but it won’t always salivate when it sees someone in a white lab coat. Seeing the lab assistant in the white coat originally had no effect on the dog’s salivation; in such a situation the white coated lab assistant could be called a neutral stimulus since no salivation response was initially elicited. As it turns out, if the lab assistant had entered the room after the meat powder was placed in the dog’s mouth, rather than immediately before, the dog would never have been conditioned to salivate when it saw the white coated lab assistant. In such a circumstance, the white coated person would never have become a conditioned stimulus which could elicit the response of salivation. The critical factor in this type of learning experience is the pairing of the natural unconditioned stimulus, the meat powder, and the previously neutral stimulus, the white lab coat. For this type of learning to take place, the dog had to see the white lab coat just prior to getting the meat powder. In this type of learning situation, you begin with a naturally occurring reflex action, where a certain stimulus regularly elicits a certain

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response. A neutral stimulus can then be chosen and must be presented just before the unconditioned stimulus occurs. When this is done, the previously neutral stimulus will take on the characteristics of the natural unconditioned stimulus and will elicit a similar response. Actually, one of the first thoughts those scientists had when they discovered this new type of learning was to use a very different kind of stimulus. They chose to use a bell. In this situation, the relationship between the meat powder and the salivation response remained the same, but now the experiment was arranged so that a mechanical device would put the meat powder in the dog’s mouth with nobody in the room. This time, the neutral stimulus that was presented just before the meat powder was a bell. After only a few pairings of the meat powder and the bell, the conditioning began to take effect, and the dog began to salivate when the bell was sounded without any meat powder, but the bell wasn’t nearly as effective at eliciting salivation as the meat powder was. As I said, after only a few pairings of the meat powder and the bell, the dog began to salivate when the bell sounded alone. And when the bell sounded, the dog began to salivate later and produced much less saliva than was elicited by the meat powder. Most learning takes place gradually through a series of small steps. After a few pairings of the bell and the meat powder, the learning process has only just begun. After quite a few pairings of the bell and the meat powder, the salivation response would have been fully conditioned. The bell stimulus alone would then elicit a salivation response almost as fast as the natural stimulus, meat powder, and there would be almost as many drops of saliva. While natural reflexes remain in effect forever, the conditioned reflex will fade out over time. Each time the bell is sounded without being paired with the meat powder, the salivation response will fade to some degree. This process

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when conditioning loses its effects is called extinction. Extinction in this case refers to the decrease in the power of conditioning which takes place when the conditioned stimulus, the bell, is repeated without being paired with the natural unconditioned stimulus, the meat powder. It should be noted that the strength of the conditioned stimulus decrease gradually during extinction. Each time the bell is sounded without the meat powder, it will take a little longer for salivation to begin and there will be fewer drops of saliva. After the bell has been sounded quite a few times, without being paired with the meat powder, sounding the bell will no longer elicit the salivation response. Classical Conditioning When you present a neutral stimulus shortly before some other stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus, which already has the ability to bring about a certain response, and this previously neutral stimulus, when presented alone, takes on the ability to elicit essentially that same response, classical conditioning has taken place. Classical conditioning works also the same way for all animals and human beings. The more highly developed the level of consciousness, the more complex are the circumstances of the conditioning process. At the human level, the holistic analysis is much more sophisticated and wide ranging than in any animal, therefore, many more factors are included in the classical conditioning process. There is a situation that sometimes occurs with young children that is very similar to the circumstances during the salivation experiment with the dog when classical conditioning was first discovered. This involves the situation where a young child is first taken to a doctor, perhaps to receive a painful treatment. The doctor might be wearing a white coat and be a friendly person whom the child likes at first meeting. While the doctor is treating the child the child experiences pain

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because of the treatment. The child responds to the painful stimulus by crying and trying to get away from the doctor, which is a common way in which young children respond to things that cause them pain. Now, suppose a few months later the child goes to another doctor, as soon as this doctor appears wearing a white coat the child cries and tries to run away from the doctor. This time the child is responding to the white coat in the same way the pain had been responded to. The white coat was originally a neutral stimulus having no particular effect on the child. The pain was originally an unconditioned stimulus, a stimulus that naturally elicits crying and running away. When the white coat was paired with the pain, the white coat took on the ability of the pain to bring about crying and running away. The white coat became a conditioned stimulus which would elicit crying and running away on its own. Since the avoidance of harm is a survival tactic that has been incorporated into the genetic make-up of human beings, our brains are structured to learn anything that can aid us to avoid pain. The earlier we can recognise a situation that might cause us harm, the more effectively we can avoid that harm. When the child first saw a doctor in a white coat, the white coat would have no special significance to the holistic analysis taking place in the child’s brain. The child would respond to the doctor as to any other stranger. After being caused pain while being treated by the doctor, the information about the circumstances of the pain was stored in the child’s memory. The next time, when the child went to another doctor, the child perceiving the white coat matched this perception with the stored information regarding similar circumstances. The holistic analysis no longer considered the white coat to be a neutral stimulus but now understands the white coat as a cue that harm might be coming. The holistic analysis, which as part of its function advises action to avoid harm, indicates that crying and running away is the appropriate response to the situation.

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The holistic analysis is one of the functions of consciousness; it is an aspect of mind, but it is not all that mind is. At the human level the holistic analysis has both conscious and unconscious aspects. The lower the level of consciousness, the more the holistic analysis is an unconscious process. The higher the level of consciousness, the more the holistic analysis is a conscious process. At the level of perfected consciousness, the holistic analysis is done with complete awareness. Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning, while not a very familiar term, is very commonly practiced in everyday life. Most of operant conditioning involves what we commonly call “reward and punishment”. Operant conditioning is a scientific way of looking at how that which follows a response affects that response in the future. To explain in a simple manner, if any response is followed by a reward, that response will tend to increase in the future; and, if any response is followed by punishment, that response will tend to decrease in the future. These laws of learning are always logical, but they can also be quite complex. There is much more to operant conditioning than the very simple descriptions of reward and punishment. There is no aspect of our lives not touched by these laws of learning. We must know these laws of learning to perfectly manifest our great potential for free will. There is so much to know about these laws of learning I almost don’t know where to begin. This discussion will need many new terms defined, and examples given of these laws in practice. Luckily, since all knowledge is linked and all truth interconnected, all the varied aspects of operant conditioning will fall into place and allow a comprehensive understanding of the whole beyond the scope of my explanations. Perhaps I could start by explaining how operant conditioning is different from classical conditioning – I could also tell you how they are the same, but I will save that for later.

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The main difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning is in the order in which the stimulus and the response occur. In classical conditioning, the controlling stimulus occurs before the response. We say the stimulus elicits the response. In the example given, the dog really has no choice but to salivate when it has meat powder placed in its mouth. The stimulus of the meat powder very directly causes the salivation to occur. It is an involuntary response. After the dog is conditioned to salivate to the previously neutral stimulus of the bell, it has very little choice in that situation either. In that case, the salivation brought about by the bell is also involuntary. In classical conditioning, it could be said that the stimulus controls the response. What happens in operant conditioning is quite different. There is both a stimulus and a response involved in this type of learning but they occur in a different sequence than in classical conditioning. Importantly, the stimulus has a different relationship with the response; it influences rather than controls. The response which is involved in operant conditioning is also very different in that it is voluntary, rather than involuntary as in classical conditioning. In operant learning, the influencing stimulus comes after the response. The response, which is voluntary, is followed by a stimulus. Also, the nature of the stimulus which follows the response has an influence on the occurrence of that response in the future. The influence of the stimulus might result in more responses, less responses, or changed responses in the future. Operant means ‘to operate upon’. It refers to the fact that all responses operate upon the environment. The change in the environment brought about by a response becomes the stimulus. All responses affect some change in the environment, and these changes in the environment will have some effects on the nature of the response in the future. That is why this type of learning is called operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a description of the

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relationship between responses and the changes which follow those responses. “Environment” is one of the most inclusive words in our language. It has been used to describe all surrounding things, conditions, and influences. That definition is how I mean the word environment to be understood, with the exception of one word which I must remove. I would have to take out the word “surrounding”. The usual understanding of environment, as indicated by the word surrounding, implies that the environment is everything which is external. It says the environment is that which surrounds me or that which surrounds you. I say my environment includes me and your environment includes you. I define the environment as all things, conditions, and influences. Later, it will become clear how this misunderstanding of the true nature of the environment has restricted the potential of personal development. Those definitions of ‘stimulus’ and ‘response’ fit particularly well with the way stimulus and response occur in classical conditioning, but those definitions I gave were general. They apply to stimulus and response in a much broader context than just classical conditioning. More generally, saying that a stimulus brings about a reaction means that it is perceived. Anything that can be perceived is a stimulus. A response is a reaction to a stimulus. A perception is a reaction to a stimulus. A perception is a form of response. Every response is a stimulus, and every stimulus is a response. This is the nature of physical existence. Existence in the material plane is a sea of causality. Each action is affected by some stimulus; and each action, as soon as it occurs, becomes a stimulus that will provoke further action. Actually, each stimulus brings about innumerable responses and each response serves as innumerable stimuli.

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Reward and Punishment Reward is often referred to as reinforcement. In some circumstances the word ‘reinforcement’ is more appropriate than reward. Reinforcement always increases the probability that a response will occur in the future given similar circumstances. Punishment always decreases the probability that a response will occur in the future given similar circumstances. Reward increases responding, punishment decreases responding. As we discuss operant conditioning, many of the examples I will be giving will be about the learning experiences of animals. The basic principles will be identical. Despite the fact that the principles are identical, the applications are made much more complex due to the high level of human consciousness. Reinforcement and Learning Now, let’s describe a very simple example of learning through reinforcement. If a rat enters one of these learning chambers for the first time, it will wander around and explore its new surroundings. This is a natural behaviour with rats. Somewhat humanising the rat’s motivation, you could say it is inquisitive. It might take several minutes, but eventually the rat will press the lever during its exploration. The action of pressing the lever is the response to be conditioned by operant means. If immediately after the rat presses the lever it is given, or you might say rewarded with, a food pellet, it will soon spend all its time in the cage pressing the lever, at least as long as it is hungry. This would be the simplest type of reinforcement possible. In this example, the response is lever pressing and reinforcing stimulus is food. Each time the rat presses the lever it is immediately given a food pellet. As I described operant conditioning, it is concerned with how the events which follow a response affect the nature of that response in the future. In this example of reinforcement, each response of lever pressing is followed by the presentation of

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the positive stimulus, food. Being given food after each lever press increases the amount of lever pressing that the rat engages in. The holistic analysis is a critical factor in the degree to which free will can be expressed at all levels of material development. The holistic analysis is a dynamic process, it is always undergoing change. Any form of material existence is constantly receiving many stimuli from the environment. If the particular material form is a rat, as in the example we have been discussing, the holistic analysis takes place mainly in the brain. There are many stimuli reaching the rat. These stimuli are received by the rat’s sensory nerves and transmitted to the brain. The brain interprets these sensory inputs and matches them with appropriate memory storage. This interaction between perception, interpretation, and the stored information of memory results in an evaluation of all these factors in relation to the general conditions and circumstances of the rat. This process is best thought of as a holistic analysis. In addition to perception, interpretation, and memory, which are the crucial factors at the animal level, self-reflective consciousness is included at the human level. Self-reflective consciousness allows a much greater range of variables to be considered by the holistic analysis which takes place in the human brain. This self-reflective consciousness becomes, in effect, another source of environmental influence. The effect of self-reflective consciousness is the third factor of environmental influence, inner speech. That is why selfreflective consciousness provides a new source of stimuli which are perceived, interpreted, and matched against previously stored information during the holistic analysis, in just the same manner as the external stimuli. It is for exactly that reason, the complexity and sophistication of the holistic analysis determine the degree to which free will can be manifested. Plants, molecules, atoms,

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and subatomic particles all have holistic analysis as one of their natural characteristics. The brain is not necessary to the process of holistic analysis. The holistic analysis takes place within each level of material existence in whatever is the most appropriate structure of that particular form. In humans and most animals, the brain is the focus of conscious activity and therefore, is the most appropriate site for holistic analysis to take place. Holistic analysis at the human level includes those three functions; perception, interpretation, and storage of information. In addition, at the human level, self-reflective consciousness becomes a new and critical factor in the holistic analysis. At the animal level, holistic analysis, while including perception, interpretation, and information storage, does not include fully expressed self-reflective consciousness. This is not to say that the precursors of self-reflective consciousness do not exist at the animal level and are not involved in the holistic analysis. In the levels of physical existence below the animal, perception, interpretation, and storage of information are less fully expressed, to varying degrees, than at the animal level. This is not to say that the precursors of perception, interpretation, and information storage do not exist at all those lower levels, be they plant, molecule, atom, or subatomic particle; and, that they are all involved in the process of holistic analysis. Even an electron uses holistic analysis to react appropriately to the simple sources of environmental influence which it can perceive. However, range of perception is so limited and its range of appropriate action so restricted that it expresses virtually no free will. On the other hand, the human level, the range of perception is so wide and the range of appropriate action so broad that the degree of free will expressed surpasses for the first time the influence of external causes. At both the animal and human level, the laws of learning describe the relationship between the conscious, living organism and the environmental influences. It should

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be remembered that holistic analysis is a conceptual tool to aid understanding, and not a thing in itself. The concept of holistic analysis was neglected in the early theories of learning. This omission resulted in an inability to realise the full potential of the application of these learning principles to the happiness of to the betterment of society, and to the progression of the human species. In the simple example of reinforcement we were discussing, it is necessary to have some idea of the holistic analysis to know whether the learning process will be successful. If you intend to reward a rat with food for pressing a lever, you must know whether or not the holistic analysis would consider the food worth working for. If the rat is not hungry, food would not be desirable – in other words, food could not be considered as a positive stimulus in that situation. A positive stimulus is something which is desired, and a negative stimulus is something which is to be avoided. A negative stimulus is usually called “aversive”. A neutral stimulus would be one that is neither desired nor avoided. It would be possible that if someone had just overeaten to the point of feeling sick, food could even become an aversive stimulus. Whether a stimulus is positive, neutral or aversive, is not determined by the stimulus itself, but by whoever perceives the stimulus. It is the holistic analysis which determines whether a stimulus is positive, neutral, or aversive. It is usually fairly easy to determine what will be considered a positive or negative stimulus by an animal because their holistic analysis does not include self-reflective consciousness. With human beings, it sometimes becomes extremely difficult to judge what might be considered a positive or aversive stimulus. It seems that some people would desire what the vast majority find most aversive; and some would be repulsed by what the vast majority find most attractive. These seeming discrepancies are due to the compelling and largely unrestricted influence of self-reflective consciousness on the human holistic analysis.

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Of course, you can never know for sure without presenting the stimulus after the response and looking at the effect on that response. Practically, though, it is possible to know through two general means. First, there are many stimuli that are almost invariably perceived as positive or aversive. The other way to know, before conditioning, the positive or aversive character of the stimulus is to be aware of the past circumstances of the animal or person you are working with. Virtually, any rat who had not eaten for a whole day would consider food to be a very positive stimulus. By knowing the past circumstances, it is possible to predict quite accurately what the internal condition will be and to know the likely outcome of the holistic analysis. It should be noted, however, that reward and punishment are not determined by what type of stimulus is involved, but are defined by their affect on the responses they follow. Regardless of whether the stimulus is positive or aversive, reinforcement always increases the probability of the response occurring in the future; and punishment, regardless of whether the stimulus is positive or aversive, always decreases the probability of the response occurring in the future. Types of Operant Conditioning There are basically four types of operant conditioning, two of reinforcement and two of punishment. Reinforcement can involve either a positive or negative stimulus; and punishment can involve either a positive or negative stimulus. The most familiar type of reinforcement involves a positive stimulus occurring after the response; and the most familiar type of punishment involves a negative stimulus occurring after the response. When a response is followed by a positive stimulus, that response tends to increase in the future. If we do anything that gets us something we want, we are more likely to do that thing again in the future. When a response is followed by an aversive stimulus, that response tends to decrease in the

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future. When we do anything that brings us something we do not like, we are less likely to do that thing again in the future. Reinforcement which involves a positive stimulus is called “positive reinforcement”; hence reinforcement that involves a “negative stimulus” is called negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement occurs when the response removes an already present aversive stimulus. When a response removes an aversive stimulus, that response tends to increase in the future. If we do anything that stops something we don’t like, we are more likely to do that thing again in the future. Punishment that involves a negative stimulus has no special name, but it could be called presentation punishment since a negative stimulus is presented after the response. This would allow punishment that involves a positive stimulus to quite logically be called “withdrawal punishment”. Withdrawal punishment occurs when the response removes an already present positive stimulus. When a response removes a positive stimulus, that response tends to decrease in the future. If we do anything that stops something we like, we are less likely to do that thing again in the future. Most of the complex types of operant conditioning are variations and combinations of those four simple relationships between some response and a positive or aversive stimulus. Reinforcement always increases the response being conditioned. Reinforcement can occur with either a positive or a negative stimulus. In positive reinforcement, the response is always followed by a positive stimulus. In negative reinforcement, the response always removes an already existing negative stimulus. No matter whether a positive or negative stimulus is involved, reinforcement always results in an increase in the likelihood of the response being conditioned occurring in the future. Punishment always decreases the response being conditioned. Punishment can occur with either a positive or

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negative stimulus. In presentation punishment, the response is always followed by a negative stimulus. In withdrawal punishment, the response always removes an already existing positive stimulus. Regardless of whether a positive or negative stimulus is involved, punishment always results in a decrease in the likelihood of the response being conditioned occurring in the future. There is a very good word which describes that relationship. The word is ‘contingent’, which refers to a dependent relationship. In the example of positive reinforcement, where the rat was conditioned to press the lever by receiving a food pellet each time it pressed the lever, you could say that receiving the food pellet was contingent on the response of pressing the lever. Getting a food pellet depended on pressing the lever. In negative reinforcement, the removal of the aversive stimulus is contingent on, or depends on some certain response. In presentation punishment, the occurrence of the aversive stimulus is contingent on some certain response. And in withdrawal punishment, the removal of the positive stimulus is contingent on some certain response. It is quite a useful word for describing these learning situations. When these conditioning procedures are set up, it could be said that you arrange the contingencies. You arrange the dependent relationships in which various stimuli will follow certain responses. By setting up these contingent relationships you can determine which responses will be conditioned and what effect that conditioning will have on the responses. Operant conditioning can be used to influence not only the probability of a response occurring in the future, but it can also influence how often the response occurs. The influence of reinforcement results in higher rates of responding and the influence of punishment results in lower rates of responding. In these experimental situations, this response rate provides a good simple measure of the effectiveness of the conditioning process.

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Now, let’s continue to answer questions about holistic analysis as if it were a human thought process by giving an example of positive reinforcement in human learning. If a young child was lonely at night and its mother was in another room, the child might cry. If this situation had never happened before, the child would not know that its mother would come in because of the crying. Right after the child begins crying, its mother comes into the room. Crying is the response that is followed by the mother’s entry into the room. The mother’s presence is a positive stimulus. In the future, the child would be more likely to cry when it wants its mother. This would indicate that not only desirable behaviour can be increased by reinforcement, but undesirable behaviour can also be increased by reinforcement. Now, let us give an example of presentation punishment in human learning. A very young child sees a lit candle for the first time. The child has never been burnt by fire or told that fire can burn. The child is attracted to the pretty, coloured, dancing flame. The child reaches out and touches the flame, immediately experiencing pain and pulling its hand from the flame. The response was touching the flame with the hand. The following aversive stimulus was the pain from the burn. This experience results in a decreased probability in future circumstances that the child would emit the response of reaching out and touching a flame. It is good that the child learned to be careful around fire. It was not good that the child was burnt. It would have been better if the child could have come to the realisation of the danger of fire by inner conscious processes rather than by forceful external means. At the human level, it is free will that must prevail over external control. Severe pain is an external influence which overcomes free will and imposes control by force. The imposition of will by force is the definition of evil. While good can come from evil, at the human level when force is used to control behaviour any good outcome is outweighed in the long term by the evil outcome. There can be no future but a

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positive future. For example, there was a family with several young children who tended to get excessively noisy while they were watching cartoons on television. The parents obtained a noise measuring device which could be hooked up to the television in such a way that when the noise reached a certain level it would turn the television off. The children made noise as usual and the noise meter turned off the television. The response is making a loud noise, and the positive stimulus, which is removed contingent on the response, is the cartoon show on television. After the television had been turned off a few times when the children were excessively noisy, the children quit making excessive noise while watching television. Environmental Conditions and Goal Setting People need no longer have their lives and abilities arbitrarily determined by contingencies in the environment that they were neither aware of nor had any control over. A person who truly understood these principles of learning could exercise control over their own destiny. We could set our goals, determine which experiences we must undergo to achieve those goals, and organise the environmental conditions so that we will undergo those experiences which would influence our developmental progression towards our goals. What a beautiful future it would be. We could be as we choose to be. Sometimes I think it was that moment of insight into the true nature of the learning process which allowed my consciousness to expand, thereby allowing me to see all knowledge as a whole. I saw the unified nature of all that exists. After that experience, I could never again view the world from the traditional perspective. The new worldview became my perception of reality. It was possibly the single most important moment in my life. I had always loved learning, knowledge, and truth; but this new insight into the ultimate reality was almost like

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a rebirth. At first, it was sometimes difficult to handle this new knowledge. As I suddenly saw the laws of learning so intimately and inextricably bound to every instant of my life the veil of ignorance and self-deception fell away. The honesty was almost too much. It took me some time to adjust to a world without illusion. Never once, even at the most difficult moment, did I ever regret gaining this new understanding or becoming a new person. There is no better way I could describe the change I underwent. It was a moment of transformation. It was the great increase in free will. I suddenly became aware of and responsible for my every thought, word, and deed in a way that had never before been possible. As we discuss these learning principles I try to let the knowledge unfold in a natural order. Each new bit of information will contain seeds of further truths. During the learning process it is important that any response being conditioned be followed immediately by some change that will be noticed. If the lapse of time between the response and the following stimulus was even one second long the chances of the response being effectively conditioned may be significantly decreased. The longer the period between the response and the following stimulus, the less obvious the relationship between the two becomes. In many learning situations it isn’t possible to follow the response immediately with the reinforcing stimulus. It should be noted, however, that all primary reinforcers directly satisfy physiological needs. Other primary stimuli include; food, water, air, physical pleasure, or pain are all primary stimuli. A primary stimulus can be either positive or negative. A secondary stimulus gains its reinforcing quality by being paired with a primary stimulus. If the primary stimulus is being used as a reinforcer, then the secondary stimulus gains reinforcing properties; and if the primary stimulus is being used as a punisher then the secondary stimulus gains punishing properties.

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In operant conditioning of all kinds, there must be immediate feedback after the response. It is the result of the response which must be known for conditioning to be effective. The feedback received as to what changes come about after the response is referred to as the stimulus. During the process of reinforcement, the stimulus may be positive, and be brought about by the response; or the stimulus might be negative, and be removed by the response. In both of those learning situations, positive and negative reinforcement, it is important that feedback be given immediately after the response. Additionally, during the process of punishment, the stimulus may be negative, and be brought about by the response; or the stimulus may be positive, and be removed by the response. In both of those learning situations, presentation and withdrawal punishment, it is also important that feedback be given immediately after the response. Secondary stimuli can, and sometimes must, be used in all different forms of conditioning. Only for a short while, until it became clear during the holistic analysis that the secondary stimulus no longer served as a cue that the primary stimulus was forthcoming. The relationship between the secondary stimulus and the primary stimulus in operant conditioning is very similar to the relationship between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus in classical conditioning. In other words, they are virtually identical. In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus which gains its ability to affect the response by being paired with an unconditioned stimulus which naturally elicited that response. Both the conditioned stimulus of classical conditioning and the secondary stimulus of operant conditioning begin to lose their ability to affect the response when they are no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus or primary stimulus respectively. The unconditioned stimulus is a primary stimulus. Both the conditioned stimulus and the secondary stimulus gain their

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ability to affect the response by being seen in the holistic analysis as cues which allow accurate predictions about future happenings to be made more quickly. It seems that way but all of the apparent differences refer only to the relationship of the particular stimulus with a certain response. There is no essential difference in the stimuli; all differences are in the way the stimuli are perceived. Now, we have discussed unconditioned stimuli, conditioned stimuli, positive stimuli, negative stimuli, primary stimuli, secondary stimuli, aversive stimuli, neutral stimuli, reinforcing stimuli, and punishing stimuli. The only difference between all these various types of stimuli lies in their relationship with certain responses. In other words, the difference between those stimuli could be expressed in terms of how those various stimuli are perceived. In the right conditions, any one stimulus, such as food, could fulfill the function of any of those seemingly different stimuli. Nevertheless, there are more types of stimuli than those we have already discussed. Shaping Process Since there are so many linked responses which make up the chain, the best way to know which responses to reinforce is to apply another new concept, called “shaping”. All conditioning has certain basic characteristics. There is the behaviour as it occurs before the conditioning, and there is a goal for behaviour after conditioning. In the example where I trained my chicken called Aphrodite, the behaviour before conditioning consisted of standing in the experimental learning chamber, occasionally scratching and looking around. The goal behaviour was standing on one leg and turning a full circle to the right. The steps in the conditioning process resulting in the change from standing and looking around to turning full circles on one leg are called the “shaping process”.

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Shaping could be defined as successive approximations towards the goal behaviour which are conditioned through a series of small steps. The behaviour before conditioning began could be called “the base” or “baseline condition”. The baseline is where all conditioning procedures must begin.During my experiment, before I started reinforcing any response, Aphrodite was just standing and looking around. This would be called her “baseline behaviour”. It was the starting point for the conditioning process. You cannot condition responses that are not occurring. The baseline behaviours are the only responses available to conditioning; at least, before shaping has taken place. As behaviour changes when shaped through conditioning, the new responses being emitted become available to the conditioning procedures. Since the goal behaviour was turning a full circle to the right, I looked at Aphrodite’s baseline behaviour to see which was closest to the goal behaviour. The only thing she was doing that was part of the goal behaviour was occasionally turning her head to the right. It isn’t important how close to the goal behaviour the first response you reinforce is. What is important is that out of all the baseline responses going on, that the one being reinforced is a response in the direction of the goal behaviour. For learning to be as fast and efficient as possible, it should always be clear when progress is being made towards the goal. Each time I reinforced a head turning response from my pet chicken Aphrodite, I made sure it was farther to the right than the previous reinforced response. Each reinforced response was a closer approximation of the goal behaviour. The sequence of reinforced responses was - standing on one leg; the first head turn to the right; head turns increasingly further to the right; head and neck turns to the right; head, neck, and body turns to the right; head, neck, body, and hopping on one leg to the right; and finally turning full circles to the right. The final approximation reinforced is the goal behaviour, the last link in the chain. Understanding the

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shaping process must be very important if you want to learn anything or teach anything. Similarly, the more clearly shaping is understood, the faster and more efficient the learning and teaching which takes place. I taught my pet chicken all the above learnt behaviour in just ten minutes. Imagine what we can achieve by teaching a child using these laws of learning. The Importance of Laws of Learning It will take a much better understanding of the laws of learning than the simple examples of conditioning that we have discussed so far to provide an effective tool for world social change. Knowledge isn’t nearly as useful when it cannot be explained simply. Knowledge belongs to everyone and shouldn’t be made inaccessible by being incomprehensible. We could all benefit from having a larger vocabulary. The more words you know, the more ideas you can communicate, and the more things you can understand. I must say that the laws of learning have become an important part of my life. I think about them all the time, and I really enjoy talking about them. That is why I use them to evaluate my every thought, word, and deed. My goal is to become perfect in every way. I want my every thought, word, and deed to be directed towards that goal. Every thought, word, and deed is a response which is subject to the conditioning influences from the environment. I want to make sure that the effect of conditioning on my every response is in the direction of perfection. If I was not aware of the laws of learning, I might not even be aware when the effects of conditioning were shaping my thoughts, words, and deeds in the opposite direction from my desired goal. By understanding the principles of learning, I am able to control my own destiny. I am then truly able to exercise my free will as ordained by God. Operant conditioning does not just occur by planning. Our every interaction with the environment is subject to the influences of the conditioning process. Operant conditioning

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is a natural part of our lives. Usually, the stimulus following a response is brought about by that response, but there are occasionally situations when the stimulus following a response is totally unrelated to that response. Every response is influenced by the stimulus which occurs immediately after it. The holistic analysis looks for the relationship in time and contiguity, between the response and the following stimulus; it doesn’t look for the cause. The effect is the same whether the stimulus is brought about by the response or if the occurrence of the stimulus after the response was accidental. While it is acceptable to call this particular relationship between a response and the following stimulus “accidental conditioning”, it is usually called “superstitious learning”, because it is that accidental relationship between response and the following stimuli which reinforce superstitious beliefs. For instance, suppose someone had heard that a black cat crossing their path was bad luck, and right after a black cat crossed their path they returned home and found their house was on fire. There is no real connection between the black cat and the fire; but because the stimulus – the house on fire, occurred right after the response – the cat crossing their path, the holistic analysis would assign some weight to that relationship between the response and the following stimulus. It would increase that person’s belief that a black cat crossing their path meant bad luck. A belief is a response. It is a mental response. There are basically three kinds of responses – mental, verbal, and physical responses in our everyday physical life. However, our inner speech operates beyond the realm of the physical world. We are interconnected to the universe and the Divine that operates in all realms of existence both conscious and unconscious. Our holistic nature allows us to understand this interconnectedness to the universe and our Creator. At this level of understanding, we become a multisensory being capable of understanding the true nature of our existence and the nature of this universe. This is the innate human intuitive

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self that is somehow not nurtured in this contemporary materialistic human civilization. Accidental conditioning is an example of holistic analysis being misled. This happens because holistic analysis, while being very logical, is also very trusting. It accepts information at face value. Holistic analysis which takes place other than at the human level has good reason to be trusting. All material existence from the simplest form to the most highly developed animal live in a harmonious relationship with the natural order. The natural order very seldom misleads. The natural order is essentially logical and truthful. Holistic analysis involves dealing with logical and truthful information. However, human species does not live in a harmonious relationship with the natural order. Human beings are not always logical and truthful. Holistic analysis at the human level, having developed to deal with logic and truth, finds it sometimes difficult to cope with information that is not logical or truthful. As such, discriminative stimulus provides information as to whether or not a response is likely to be reinforced. It could also provide information as to whether or not a response is likely to be punished. Discriminative stimuli give cues which allow the contingencies operating in the conditioning process to be known. The Limits of Our Behaviour Much of our behaviour, both mental and physical, occur below the level of conscious awareness. Every response is preceded by some stimulus, and every response is followed by some stimulus. Any preceding stimulus may serve as a discriminative stimulus, and any following stimulus may serve as a reinforcing or punishing stimulus. Whether a stimulus is discriminative, reinforcing, or punishing is determined by the function it fulfills in those particular circumstances. It is often the case that a single stimulus may function as a discriminative stimulus and a reinforcing stimulus at the

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same time. All behaviours are actually chains of responses. In these chains, each response is followed by some stimulus, perhaps a reinforcer. After that reinforcing of stimulus, another response occurs. In relation to the first response, the stimulus following it functioned as a reinforcing stimulus. In relation to the second response, the stimulus that preceded it functioned as a discriminative stimulus. The stimulus which followed the first response and preceded the second response was the same stimulus. I will give an example that will illustrate the chaining of responses, and where the stimuli perform discriminative and reinforcing functions at the same time. There would be many more responses in the chain that I could include so I will simplify the links in the chain. Suppose a man was going for a drive in his car. First, he walks up to the car, reaches out, and opens the door. He would not reach out to open the door until he was beside the car. The car door being within reach serves as a cue, a discriminative stimulus that the response of reaching out is likely to be reinforced. The responses which open the door are rewarded, or reinforced, by the door opening. The open door serves as a cue to move into the car and sit down. The responses of moving into the car and sitting down are rewarded by being in the car, ready to drive. Sitting in the driver’s seat serves as a cue for turning on the ignition. Turning on the ignition is reinforced by the car starting. The car starting serves as a cue to put the car in gear. Putting the car in gear is rewarded by the car being ready to move forward. The car being ready to move forward is a cue for pushing on the accelerator pedal. Pushing on the accelerator pedal is rewarded by the car moving forward. The car moving forward is a cue for turning the steering wheel. I won’t go any further with this example, but you can see the sequential links in the chain. Each of the cues also serves as a reinforcer, and each reinforcer also serves as a cue, a discriminative stimulus. It is undoubtedly through the conditioning process

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that every one of those responses came to occur. It sounds overly simplistic when put into words, but the reason people emit the responses which open doors is because behaving that way results in open doors. If door opening responses didn’t open doors, no one would perform those behaviours. It’s surprising with such a direct relationship between that response and its resulting rewarding or punishing stimulus that the nature of the conditioning process goes largely unrealised. This is simply due to the incredible ignorance of learning principles throughout human society. The average person wouldn’t be aware of even one per cent of the conditioning which shapes their lives. What we have no awareness of, we have little control over. Because of our blindness to the learning process, our destinies are governed mainly by unseen, or at least unrealised, influences. When our minds are opened by the knowledge of learning principles, we shall determine our own destinies through the exercise of free will. We shall guide our development through self-directed inner influence. There is little difference between the three. If there is any real difference, it would be in the degree of significance that the discriminative stimulus has in the conditioning process. A good example of differential reinforcement that occurs naturally during human development would be of an infant learning to pick up objects. When the infant, perhaps a baby girl, makes the first attempts in her life to pick up an object she wouldn’t be very successful. She would see the object she desired to grasp, but as she reached for it her hand would wave around, almost aimlessly. All the arm movements could be considered attempts to grasp the object, but the holistic analysis has not yet learned to relate certain muscular movements to particular positions of the arm and hand. With a young infant, we describe this lack of ability as being “uncoordinated”. Many factors enter into all stages in our development. Within the limits of physical ability, conditioning determines the degree

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to which any characteristic is manifested. In the case of the baby in this example, she does have the physical ability to grasp and pick up an object; but she has had virtually no training in the use of that ability. She would learn to use her natural ability through differential reinforcement. Of all the possible movements of the arm and hand, only one particular set would be reinforced. The only responses being reinforced would be the ones that got the hand to the object. You could say those responses were differently rewarded. Since no other movements of the arm and hand would get the hand to the object so it could be picked up, no other set of muscular movements would be followed by reinforcement. The sequence of movements that got the hand to the object would increase in the future, and those which did not get the hand to the object would decrease. It takes many reinforced reaching responses to become proficient at picking up objects. This process of differential reinforcement, when successful responses are rewarded and unsuccessful responses are not rewarded, is the way that co-ordination is learned. Remember that the holistic analysis consists of perception, and comparison with previously stored information. A very young infant, no matter how well perception works, will not be able to interpret those perceptions very well and will have very little stored information to make comparisons with. For instance, the baby girl in our example may perceive some object that because of its nature, perhaps it is shiny, attracts her attention. There may be so little stored information available to the holistic analysis that it is not possible to know what the object is, or exactly how to get it. Without ever previously realising that objects can often be reached by arm and hand movements, there would still have been past experiences when moving the arm around has brought the hand in contact with objects that have had some reinforcing value. This would have occurred to some degree even before birth. Holistic analysis wouldn’t be certain there was a relationship between hand movements and

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being able to touch objects, but some hint of that relationship, even if unconscious, would exist. Holistic analysis may advise waving an arm around when the desire to pick up or touch some object occurs. As this arm waving occurs, there are more perceptions and interpretations taking place. The infant can see the spatial relationships between the hand movements and the desired object. Eventually the hand touches and grasps the object. At the moment that happens, the responses which brought the hand to the object are reinforced. Those responses become more likely to occur in the future. Holistic analysis now has more information to use in advising appropriate behaviour next time the infant desires to pick up some object. This additional information contains visual cues and memory of muscular positions. Each time the infant successfully picks up some object, the holistic analysis becomes more able to advise appropriate behaviour in the future. As this conditioning process takes place through differential reinforcement, the infant slowly changes from an uncoordinated baby to a coordinated young child. Those visual cues about relative hand and object position do function as discriminative stimuli. There is actually no conditioning which has no discriminative stimuli in the chain of responses. This was an example where the discriminative stimuli are not as obvious as the light being switched on or off during the example of differential conditioning with a rat. Interpretation is a learned response. We can, throughout our lives, learn to make increasingly accurate interpretations of the things we perceive. All learning is a gradual process. Even the classical conditioning we first discussed took place gradually. Learning takes place through a series of small steps. The effect of the conditioning which takes place at each step in the learning process, changes the information holistic analysis has to work with the next time a similar opportunity presents itself. The more holistic analysis knows about the circumstances, the better the decisions which can be made as to appropriate behaviour in those circumstances.

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Appropriate behaviour is that which is in the best overall interest of the animal or person, given the circumstances. It is not surprising then that holistic analysis has been so highly developed and forms such a large portion of our genetic and cultural heritage. There is a similar process in operant conditioning called “extinction” which we had discussed earlier. Extinction could almost be called “unlearning”. When a response rate has been increased by reinforcement, and the reinforcing stimulus is no longer presented after that response, the rate of responding will drop back to roughly the level it occurred before reinforcement. Generalization Another important concept in conditioning is called “generalisation”. Generalisation is related to the process of discrimination. I will explain it using the example of classical conditioning, whereby a dog was conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell. In that situation, the bell was a conditioned stimulus which elicited salivation. For the purpose of this example, we will say that each time the bell was sounded, the dog produced fifty drops of saliva. The dog was conditioned using a bell with a certain tone. Some bells have higher tones and some bells have lower tones than the one used in the conditioning procedure. If a bell with a slightly higher tone or a bell with a slightly lower tone is sounded, the dog would still salivate, even though neither of those bell tones had been used in the conditioning procedure. The identical stimulus used in the conditioning process to exert an influence on the response is called generalisation. The dog generalises the stimulus from the stimulus it is most familiar with to other stimuli which are similar. In the salivation experiment, it was found that the more the bell tone varies, either higher or lower than the original bell tone, the less the dog would salivate. If the frequency of the tone varied, say, ten percent higher or lower, the dog might

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produce only forty drops of saliva. If the frequency of the tone varied by twenty per cent, the dog might only produce thirty drops of saliva. If the tone of the bell varied too far from the original to be identified as similar, no drops of saliva would be produced. How Generalisation Occurs Generalisation in operant conditioning takes place in regards to the discriminative stimulus. The discriminative stimulus provides a clue as to whether or not a response will be reinforced. In the example of discrimination training discussed earlier, the rat was reinforced for pressing the lever when the light was on, and would not be reinforced for pressing the lever when the light was off. The light functioned as a discriminative stimulus. A tone would have served equally well as a discriminative stimulus in this learning situation. When the tone was on, pressing the lever would be rewarded; and when the tone was off, pressing the lever would not be rewarded. The rat, having learned to discriminate between these two conditions would respond at perhaps five hundred lever presses an hour if the tone was sounding, and just several lever presses an hour when the tone was not sounding. If tones were sounded that were higher or lower than the tone involved in the original conditioning procedure the rat would still press the lever, but at rates less than five hundred presses an hour. The more from the original tone the new tone was, the fewer times the rat would press the lever. If the tone sounded was so different from the tone originally involved in the conditioning process that it could not be identified as similar, then the rat would not be influenced by the tone at all, and would only press the lever several times each hour, just as it would do if there was no tone sounding. Holistic analysis becomes aware of a certain stimulus which provides cues to appropriate future behaviour. After the cue has proven itself as an accurate predictor of what

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is to come, the holistic analysis accepts the certainty of the relationship of the cue to reinforcing or punishing events which will follow the response. When another stimulus appears, which is similar to the one that holistic analysis has become certain about, the common characteristics are recognised. Since the match in characteristics is not perfect, holistic analysis is somewhat less than certain that this similar stimulus is a useful cue to future events. Being less certain of the value of this new but similar stimulus, holistic analysis expresses those reservations by advising a reduced response. The further the new stimulus is from the original stimulus, the greater the reservations expressed by the holistic analysis. If the characteristics of the new stimulus are too far removed from those of the original stimulus, the new stimulus will not be taken into consideration in the holistic analysis. In this case, the new stimulus will be neutral in respect to the response and will have no influence on the response. Human Learning Human examples are often most obvious with young children. When very young children learn to talk, they are sometimes shown different animals and told what each animal is called. For instance, the child might be shown a small dog and told it is called a puppy. Several times the child might point out other little dogs and say “puppy”. The parents reinforce this behaviour by showing their approval. In this learning sequence, a little dog is the discriminative stimulus, saying “puppy” is the response, and the parent’s approval is the reinforcing stimulus. The child has been conditioned by positive reinforcement to call little dogs “puppy”. Now the child sees another small animal, with fur, a tail, and running on four legs. Once again, the child says “puppy”.

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This time though, the small animal was actually a cat. The mistake made by the child was due to generalisation. There were enough similar characteristics between the original stimulus, the little dog, and the new stimulus, the cat, for the child to respond to the cat in a way which would have been the appropriate response upon seeing a dog. If the characteristics of the cat had not been so similar, it would be unlikely the child would have responded by saying “puppy”. The child, upon seeing an elephant, is not likely to generalise and call it a puppy. Although the elephant shares some characteristics with a dog, there would not be enough to allow generalisation to take place. Young children have also been known to call the wrong adult “Mummy” or “Daddy”. This happens because of generalisation also. The child, seeing enough similar characteristics, responds to an unrelated adult as it had learned to do when seeing its real parents. We humans and some animals find approval, affection, friendliness, smiles, a kind word, or even attention to be desirable. They can all be positive stimuli and serve as reinforcers. Social reinforcers are one of the most common and effective rewards. Most human learning involves some form of social reinforcement. Social Reinforcement Social reinforcement is also a very nice way to reward desirable behaviour and is frequently used to develop behaviours which are wrong and harmful. When I began explaining about operant conditioning, I said there were four main types. They were positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, presentation punishment, and withdrawal punishment. I would like to discuss one of those four types further that is the negative stimulus.

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Negative reinforcement increases the rate of a response which can terminate an on-going aversive stimulus. If a response puts an end to something that is unpleasant, then that response is more likely to occur again in the future. Getting out of an unpleasant situation is a form of escape. Sometimes negative reinforcement is called “escape training”. There is another way to deal with an unpleasant situation. If the unpleasant situation has already begun then escape is the appropriate behaviour; but if the unpleasant situation has not yet begun then the appropriate behaviour is to avoid the forthcoming unpleasant situation. There is a type of reinforcement called “avoidance”. It can be thought of as a special instance of negative reinforcement. In avoidance conditioning, the response postpones an imminent aversive stimulus. The response keeps something unpleasant from taking place. Any response which keeps something unpleasant from happening is more likely to occur again. We are not born knowing that getting out of the way of approaching vehicles is an appropriate behaviour. That is why little children have to be taught that running onto the roadway can be dangerous. It is only obvious that a fast approaching vehicle is dangerous because we have so successfully learned that truth. Although little children might not have learned that it can be dangerous to run out in the road, most if they saw a vehicle rushing at them would try to get out of the way. However, this does not prove that the aversive character of an onrushing vehicle has not been conditioned to be seen as dangerous. I still claim the approaching vehicle gained its aversive quality by conditioning; and that the response of jumping out of the way was learned by conditioning. We live in a world of objects, many of them moving objects. That is the nature of the physical universe. The objects of material existence relate to each other in certain ways. Human bodies during their development experience relationships of many sorts with many different objects. One of these classes of relationships is with moving objects. Since we can’t experience every possible relationship with every different object we come

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to general conclusions about the nature of these interactions. The general conclusions we arrive at are determined by the particular experiences we undergo. We learn that collisions with hard objects usually hurt more than with soft objects. We learn that collisions with big objects often hurt more than with small objects. Moreover, we learn that collisions with fast moving objects often hurt more than with slow moving objects. It would be fair to say that a collision with a big, hard, fast moving object would virtually always cause more harm than a collision with a small, soft, slow moving object. Since this is true, big, hard, fast moving objects become conditioned as aversive stimuli. We do not inherit this knowledge; we learn it by various experiences during our interactions with the environment. That is the reason there would be few people in the world, regardless of whether or not they had ever previously seen a fast approaching vehicle, who would not recognise the potential danger of that oncoming vehicle and would act appropriately by jumping out of the way. The onrushing vehicle would exhibit a sufficient number of similar characteristics to the varied objects in the past which have played a part in conditioning big, hard, fast moving objects as aversive stimuli for holistic analysis to be treating the fast approaching vehicle as an aversive stimulus. This would be a terrible experience. The child would certainly undergo emotional stress. There would always be some undesirable emotional side effects. Sometimes, the emotional difficulties could go virtually unnoticed, but in other circumstances the emotional problems could be devastating.

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Anxiety Anxiety could be defined as emotional distress or uneasiness of mind caused by the apprehension of danger or misfortune. Well, that definition described anxiety in human terms; but although less developed, all the same mental and emotional states exist at the animal level. The higher the consciousness of the animal the closer to the human experience it will be. Interestingly, like many things, anxiety can be beneficial in moderation. A little bit of anxiety stimulates particularly efficient performance. Performance with a small amount of anxiety usually shows an improvement over performance with no anxiety at all. With a large amount of anxiety, performance drops below the level of performance with no anxiety. While a small amount of anxiety seems to stimulate behaviour, a large amount of anxiety seems to inhibit behaviour. The level of anxiety can become so high that all behaviour comes to a stop. It is correct that anxiety can be beneficial and will stimulate behaviour. From the relative point of view, this would be considered good. From the absolute perspective, anxiety is never good since the influence of anxiety is through the imposition of will by force. Anxiety always involves the influence of some form of negative control. It would be better if the improved performance came about from the influence of positive factors. While there are many harmful effects from the use of negative means to condition behaviour, there is one which out shadows all others. Every time conditioning by negative means is successful, it reinforces the response of using negative means. Each successful use of negative control increases the use of negative control in the future.

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Negative Conditioning When we refer to negative means of conditioning, that include both negative reinforcement and presentation punishment. Yes, those two forms of conditioning are harmful because of the use of negative stimuli to influence behaviour. I would also class withdrawal punishment as a negative means of conditioning, although this form involves a positive stimulus due to the effect on the emotional state of the subject being conditioned. No one is happy to have something they want taken from them. If negative reinforcement and presentation punishment are harmful because they both involve the use of a negative stimulus, and withdrawal punishment is harmful because it also results in an unhappy emotional state, there is only one of the four basic forms of operant conditioning left. In this case, positive reinforcement is the only form of conditioning which has no inherent harmful side effects. It would be best if all conditioning took place through positive reinforcement. But of course, it would be possible for a much greater portion of all conditioning to take place through positive reinforcement. Sometimes, parents attempt to control their child’s behaviour using physical punishment. If a child does something that the parent thinks is wrong, the parent will hit the child. The parent follows the child’s wrong behaviour with a negative stimulus. This is a form of presentation punishment. The parent uses this form of negative control to reduce or eliminate some behaviour which they consider to be wrong. If hitting the child is successful in stopping that behaviour, the parent is reinforced for hitting the child. The parent’s behaviour, therefore, is being conditioned by negative reinforcement. The on-going aversive stimulus is the child’s wrong behaviour, and the response that terminates the ongoing aversive stimulus is hitting the child. Each time the parents succeed in stopping behaviour they consider wrong

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by hitting the child, the probability increases that the parents will in the future hit the child to stop wrong behaviour. Successfully using physical punishment increases the use of physical punishment. In this example, the parents are not the only ones being conditioned to use hitting as a means to attain desired ends. The child also learns that hitting is an appropriate way to get what you want. That involves another concept in learning called “modelling”. Laws of Learning as a Foundation of Social Change In some countries, the government keeps people in a deprived and oppressed condition. The government maintains this control over the people by negative means. Some of the oppressed people ask in a reasonable way to be granted their basic human rights. The government ignores this quiet and reasonable request. The response of asking quietly and reasonably is not reinforced. Therefore, asking quietly and reasonably is not likely to occur again in the future. Some of the oppressed people now take up arms and fight violently against the government. However, the government cannot continue to ignore the oppressed people. The violent struggle becomes widespread, becomes a revolution, and the oppressive government is overthrown. The control is now in the hands of the people. The response of violent struggle has been powerfully reinforced. Violent struggle is likely to be looked on favourably and is also likely to reoccur in the future. Revolution through violent struggle will be promoted as the best way, perhaps the only way, to attain positive social change. Revolution through violent means may bring about positive social change; but, this social change will contain a fatal flaw. The seeds of negative control and violent action are spread throughout the new government and among the people. This seed will grow and overwhelm whatever positive social change had been obtained. This fervour for revolution

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through violent action could destroy the government, the people, and even the planet. Fixed-Ratio Conditioning Remembering that every response provides information which is included in the holistic analysis, the prediction that can be made on a fixed-ratio schedule the presentation of the reinforcing stimulus signals that the next response will not be reinforced. It indicates that there is once again some certain number of responses which must be emitted before reinforcement can once again follow the response. On a variable-ratio schedule, it cannot be known whether or not the next response after the presentation of the reinforcing stimulus will also be reinforced. That two or more responses in a row may be reinforced on a variable-ratio schedule remains always a possibility. In general, responding is more likely to occur if the response can result in reinforcement than if it canot. On a fixed-ratio schedule, the response after reinforcement cannot be reinforced. It is for this reason, pauses occur just after the presentation of the reinforcing stimulus during fixed-ratio conditioning, but not during variable-ratio schedules. From a human point of view, it might be considered as having just finished a meal break from work and the person might think. Before we move on to discuss the interval schedules, I think it would be helpful to give some examples from human life in order to increase the understanding of the ratio schedules. Many people have jobs which involve fixed-ratio schedules. Jobs of this sort are often called piece work. A certain amount of money is given for each fixed number of units completed. The units of work could be shirts made, boxes of fruit picked, number of papers delivered, or many other things. In this case, a fixed-ratio schedule of that type is effective in getting the job done and it usually results in the employees

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working fast and hard. But the problem is that I think piece work is of much more advantage to the employer than to the worker. Jobs that are paid on a piecework basis are often not preferred jobs. The workers who take these jobs are often desperate and have no other alternative. Moreover, the workers do not usually have the opportunity to make a good living by doing a lot of work. It is more often the case that the reward for long hours and hard work will be barely enough to live on. The reason is that employers often misuse the power of learning principles. I would not say that piecework could never provide a decent income, but it would be rare, if ever, that piecework was not of greater advantage to the employer than to the worker. Employers who have their workers on a fixed-ratio schedule tend to get more work for less pay than any other arrangement. There is no time for leisure, regardless of the post-reinforcement pause we discussed, on a fixed-ratio schedule. Any leisure time, indeed any break from the work routine, is paid for by the worker and costs nothing to the employer. The Effects of Variable-Ratio Conditioning and Gambling Variable-ratio schedules are very common and very old in human society. Gambling is one of the most prominent examples. Gambling behaviour is developed and maintained by conditioning on a variable-ratio schedule. However, given the fact that I do not know much about gambling I will have to give a very simple example. Suppose people were to bet on the throw of one dice. Dice come in pairs. One of the pair of dice is called a “die”. But it sounds funny to call one a die, but I guess I will get used to it. Anyway, suppose people were to bet on the throw of one die. A die, being a cube, has six sides. The chance of any particular number coming up is one in six. When betting on the number that will come up, there is one chance in six of winning. This doesn’t mean the bettor

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will win every sixth throw of the die, it means that on average there would be one win for every six throws. This is clearly an example of a variable-ratio (6) schedule. On the average, one throw in six will win. The throw, or the bet on each throw, is the response. The winnings are the reinforcing stimulus. It is the intermittent pairing of the response and the reinforcing stimulus which conditions gambling behaviour. Sometimes, on variable-ratio schedules the reinforcing stimulus will follow several responses in succession, and sometimes there will be a large number of responses in a row which go unrewarded. When a person gambles for the first time, they may encounter a number of reinforced responses in quick succession or they may bet quite a few times and never win. The person who won a number of times in quick succession would be more likely to gamble again in the future. Once the gambling behaviour becomes stabilised on the variable-ratio schedule, it would be very resistant to extinction. Sometimes, gambling can become a very severe problem in people’s lives. It is the resistance to extinction of variableratio schedules which can cause those terrible problems. In gambling, there is never a response which doesn’t have a chance of being reinforced. Since every bet has some chance of winning, there comes an expectation, or more truthfully, a hope that the next bet will win. Even after losing everything, when gambling has become a sickness, a gambler will try to gather money for just one more bet. Some people’s lives have been destroyed by the power of variable-ratio conditioning to resist extinction. Fixed-Interval and Variable-Interval Schedules and Their Effects on Students’ Behaviour On the question of whether there is any common human behaviour that is governed by fixed-interval reinforcement,

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I can say that many schools condition students to study on a fixed-interval schedule. When exams are scheduled to be given on some certain date in the future, this acts as a fixed interval schedule. For instance, an exam may be planned for a month in the future. The response under consideration is the student’s study behaviour. The schedule is a fixed interval (one month). Many students after hearing that the exam is a month away will do no studying at all for two or three weeks. Then they may do some small amount of study until a day or two before the exam when a high rate of study behaviour begins, and many will stay up most of the night before the exam studying at a very high rate, called “cramming”. The reinforcement in this schedule hopefully means a good or at least passing grade in the exam. The study behaviour pattern of students is almost identical to the lever pressing behaviour of a rat on a fixed-interval schedule. Moreover, fixed-interval schedules condition behaviour into a very distinctive pattern. The fact that study behaviour is taught by means of fixed-interval scheduling is just one of many examples of how ignorance of even the most simplistic learning principles limits personal development and creates various human social problems. If exams were given on a variable-interval schedule, the students would never know when to expect an exam. Every once in a while the student would be presented with an exam when they show up in class. Many students in this type of situation tend to do some studying almost every day. They are afraid not to study at all because each day may be the day of the exam. They do not study intensely each day because there may be no exam that day, and they would receive no reward for studying. A steady, but low rate of studying would be developed by the variableinterval exam schedule. The students may feel that it is an unfair situation to be required to study constantly, but often receive no reward. Additionally, they would still be working at a level far below their potential. They would be learning far less than they

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could if they fulfilled their potential. The overriding desire as long as there is deprivation of any need is to obtain as much reinforcement; reward or success, as possible. So receiving maximum reward is primary; but, while obtaining that maximum reinforcement the secondary desire is to achieve this goal while expending as little energy as possible. When the amount of reward is unlimited, as is knowledge, study behaviour while still striving for maximum efficiency achieves maximum reward by a maximum expenditure of energy. Ideally, students will not be studying only to do well on an exam, but will study in order to acquire knowledge. The results on exams should be secondary to the reward of acquired knowledge. Exams are used to provide a means to assign grades. Exams can also be used to let the students know how well their studies are progressing; and specifically to let the students know the weaknesses or gaps in their knowledge. This information could be used to plan for future study. Either fixed-ratio or variable-ratio schedules could be used effectively to encourage study behaviour. Ratio schedules would be appropriate because they offer unlimited opportunity for reward for hard work. The more the responding, the more the reinforcement. The more you study, the more you learn. Variable-ratio would probably be best as it would allow greatest flexibility. When study is done from textbooks, such schedules are easy to set up. On a fixed-ratio schedule, the students would be allowed to take an exam each time they had studied a particular number of pages, for example, on a fixed-ratio (twenty five pages) schedule. On a variable-ratio schedule, the students would be allowed to be examined on what they have learned after any number of pages they chose. A student may find one page particularly important but difficult, and may want to be examined on how effectively he/ she had learned that one page before moving on. At other

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times, a student may feel very confident of the progress of his/her knowledge and may not want to interfere with that progress. In this case, the student may desire to verify his/ her success and confidence by an examination after studying a hundred pages. In these examples, taking an exam is considered to be a reinforcer. However, many students do not find the opportunity to take an exam very rewarding. Any stimulus can be positive or negative depending on the circumstances. Ideally, an exam should be a positive experience for a student. Both correct and incorrect answers on an exam can be reinforcing. If an answer is correct, the reward comes from having successfully acquired new knowledge. If an answer is incorrect, the reward comes from the opportunity to correct a flaw in knowledge. None of those situations should ever occur. All forms of punishment hold the student back from the true purpose of studying, which is the gaining of knowledge. There are always problems associated with the use of punishment. Punishment is seldom an effective way to stop negative behaviour; and it is never an effective way to develop positive behaviour. It is good to know that learning usually takes place faster on continuous reinforcement than any other schedule of reinforcement. This is because continuous reinforcement gives the most information about the relationship between the response and the reinforcement. It is always exactly clear which behaviour will bring reward, since every correct response is reinforced. Schedule of Reinforcement and Feedback In example of a young child is being taught to identify the letters of the alphabet, the best schedule of reinforcement to use is always best to start with continuous reinforcement so that the behaviour to be conditioned will be influenced as quickly as possible. After the behaviour is stabilised on continuous reinforcement, the next appropriate schedule is

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determined by many factors. For instance, if simply being told the letter on the card had been correctly named was an effective reinforcing stimulus, the schedule could remain on continuous reinforcement. This is because all learning, to be successful, must be followed by feedback as to the result of the response. There can never be too much feedback during the process of gaining knowledge. If the feedback as to the result of the response can also serve as the reinforcing stimulus, then it can remain on a continuous schedule forever. But this does not mean that feedback is usually provided on a continuous basis in educational settings. However, the amount of feedback is usually very limited in schools. Most educational institutions are not organised in a way which allows continuous feedback of learning behaviour. The effect of not having continuous feedback available during school learning situations is that much less learning takes place than it occurs given the large amount of time spent in school. Schools, since they do not provide continuous and immediate feedback as to the progress of learning, are extremely inefficient. If learning behaviour was reinforced more efficiently, ten times as much could easily be learned in a more efficient school environment. Perhaps a hundred times as much could be learned in an ideally efficient school, maybe even more. Therefore, it is an understatement to say that schools must be terribly inefficient at present. Because, in the future, schools will be so different that today’s schools would not even be recognised as schools. There will be major changes soon within the present school setting; but the most significant changes will be a longer time coming. Understandably, the broad application of the laws of learning is one of the major changes coming soon. Other major changes will be in what the schools teach and in the role of children. The subjects presently dominating school curricula will become less prominent and children will take a much more active role in every aspect of their schooling. Once these changes take place, children will be very attracted

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by school and highly motivated to learn. And of course, traditional educators will find the potential benefits of this new educational model both threatening and hard to believe. They will soon relent, and become enthusiastic themselves, as they see there is no threat. The results will prove the benefits, and the children will surpass the ideals of the traditionalists in every area, social, behavioural, and academic. It will take a while until everyone is satisfied, but that time will come. Even then, there will be further changes. Education must progress toward perfection also. In these circumstances, a perfect school may look like the physical universe. The Effect of Schedule of Reinforcement and Tantrum Behaviour There is a young boy four years old. Whenever he doesn’t get his way, he throws a tantrum. Sometimes, his parents give in to him as soon as his tantrums begin, but other times, since they are becoming accustomed to his tantrums, they let him go on with his tantrums for a long time until the noise and screaming rises so high it becomes unbearable and they can’t stand it anymore. In this example, the little boy’s tantrum behaviour is the response being conditioned. Tantrum behaviour is both being maintained at a high rate and shaped to a higher intensity by the intermittent reinforcement offered by the parents. The child is rewarded for his tantrums by getting his own way. The parents are rewarding their son’s tantrum behaviour on a variable-ratio schedule. This ensures that the tantrums will occur more often and that they will be very resistant to extinction. This is a very good answer in the sense that conditions the tantrum behaviour will not only increase in number but will become louder and more violent. It has happened in such pathological situations that children have come to harm themselves or others severely during uncontrolled tantrums. That critical situation doesn’t arise suddenly, but is conditioned through a series of small steps over a long period of time.

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Moreover, the parents quit reinforcing such tantrum behaviour before it becomes so harmful because they often don’t understand even the simplest workings of the laws of learning. The parents might attribute the child’s tantrums to all sorts of influences, but not to the obvious conditioning process which actually controls the tantrum behaviour. The child’s tantrums would often be attributed to some vague inner state, such as “that is his nature”, “he was born bad”, or, “that runs in the family”. All those statements imply that the child’s tantrum behaviour is actually an inherited trait, somehow carried in the genes, and therefore, not susceptible to parental influence. This allows the parents to disown responsibility for their part in the development of the child’s tantrum behaviour. Particularly, when children are very young, the parents must accept a great deal of the responsibility for the behavioural patterns their children develop. I purposefully used the word “responsibility” instead of the word “blame”. Responsibility only indicates the degree of significance of the natural influences which occur in the early parent-child relationships. Blame has an associated meaning beyond responsibility, as if the person has done something bad and perhaps should be punished. Blame often results in guilt. Guilt is not a beneficial state of mind. Responsibility should be accepted objectively, with no feelings of guilt. Responsibility for something which has gone wrong should lead to a different behaviour in the future. Guilt need not be felt for most wrong behaviour. Wrong behaviour should be recognised for what it is and serve as a cue to behave differently in the future. In such a case, the wrong behaviour functions as a discriminative stimulus which indicates a different, more positive behaviour will be reinforced. Guilt is one of the most common forms of punishment at the human level of existence. Before we get away from the example of the learned tantrum behaviour, it will be relevant to define a word we used in that example.

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It was the word “pathological”. The word pathological refers to disease or illness. I used the word to indicate the sickness of human society which results in certain negative behaviours and the social interactions which condition those wrong behaviours. Both the tantrum behaviour and the interactions between the parents and child which conditioned that tantrum behaviour are symptoms of an insane society. Many, perhaps most, children throw tantrums sometime in their lives. This says more about society than about the individual families. Sick behaviour is the norm in an insane society. In a truly sane society, there may still be some tantrums. The parents’ behaviour is also being conditioned. The parents are on a continuous reinforcement schedule. The response being reinforced is giving in to their child’s demands. In this case, the reinforcing stimulus is the termination of the tantrum behaviour. Every time they give in to their child’s demands, the tantrum stops. Therefore, it’s not surprising the parents find it rewarding to be able to put an end to a tantrum. They are being conditioned to give in to their child’s demands by negative reinforcement. The Effect of Negative Reinforcement on Response Negative reinforcement increases the rate of a response which puts an end to an on-going aversive stimulus. In this example, it seems like the parents are doing their child a great disservice by giving in to him while he is throwing a tantrum. They are teaching him something that will bring him much harm throughout his life. It is possible that the parents never began giving in to tantrums. But the tantrum behaviour developed through what we call as “shaping”. The behaviour which the parents first reinforced was probably not actually tantrum behaviour, but was the first step in the shaping process which led to tantrum behaviour.

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The first behaviour may not have looked at all like a tantrum. It may have been a request that was almost unnoticeably more assertive or demanding than the ordinary calm and reasonable request. That might have led to many hundreds of slightly more demanding requests before anything resembling a true tantrum appeared. There may have never been an individual response in this shaping process which could be called the first true tantrum. The parents may have been kind, well-meaning people, only interested in the wellbeing of their child. They may have never realised they were teaching their child to throw tantrums. They may not have seen the development of tantrum behaviour as being under the influence of any schedules of reinforcement. By the time the tantrum behaviour was fully developed, its origins would likely have been a complete mystery to the parents. Now, I would like to explain the meaning of a few more terms, and then we can talk about the application of these learning principles. I think, next I will explain what “fading” means. Fading refers to the decreasing role of the discriminative stimulus as an influence on the response.It is often important that learned behaviour takes place on its own without prompting. Attention span refers to the amount of time a particular task is attended to. Some children have a very difficult time learning because they only attend to any specific task for a few seconds. Conditioning Process to Increase Attention Span It should be noted that attention span is a learned behaviour which can be influenced by the conditioning process. The attention span of people of all ages tends to vary a lot. For children who can only attend to a learning task for a few seconds, this can be a major problem. In this example, we have a five year old girl whose attention span is virtually nonexistent, perhaps two or three seconds. The means used in

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this example to teach attending behaviour is a variation of a very old form of gambling called the “shell game”. In its original form the game consisted of three half shells from walnuts and a dried bean. The three shells would be placed on a table in a line and the bean placed under one of the shells. The shells would then be moved quickly from one position to another, finally coming to rest. The person watching would then be asked to pick the shell that the bean was under. When this procedure is used to teach children to pay attention, three white paper cups are often used instead of the shells. If the right cup was picked, finding the bean underneath would indicate success. We humans tend to find success generally rewarding. But if the child did not consider successful choices to be rewarding, some sort of small treat could be placed under one of the cups instead of the bean. Actually, I have always thought it best if rewards can be some form of inner satisfaction rather than some kind of external material reward. For the purposes of this example, we’ll say the little girl considers successfully picking the cup with the bean under it rewarding. When testing to determine how well the child could do this task without any training, it turned out that if the cups were lined up, the bean placed under one of them and the position of each cup was changed slowly just once. The little girl was often no more likely to choose the right cup than she would have been by chance. She would choose correctly only about one time in three, on the average. Since she seemed quite delighted when she chose correctly, it would appear she was making her best effort to attend to which cup the bean was under. That initial low level of success would be considered the baseline, or the starting condition. Now that the baseline behaviour has been established, it is time to begin the conditioning process. The goal would be to shape attending behaviour to the point where she can pick the cup with the bean under it every time after a fairly large number of changes in the position

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of each cup while those moves are being made as fast as the teacher is able. When I trained the chicken, Aphrodite, to perform a complicated sequence of behaviours, it seemed impossible until the laws of learning were known. With the laws of learning, teaching a chicken to do that complex task was simple. The same is true when teaching this little girl a seemingly very difficult attending task. With a good understanding of learning principles, it becomes a simple task. With the chicken, the baseline response you first rewarded was turning the head in the direction of the goal response. I think I assumed there would always be some equivalent place to begin any shaping process. In the above situation, and as will sometimes be the case, no part of the behaviour you want to reinforce is present in the baseline condition. What must be done then is to alter the situation in such a way that will bring about some approximation of the behaviour you want to reward. However, there is no specific answer regarding the knowing which conditions to change which will cover all possibilities. The solution requires a good general understanding of the sequence of events which make up any learning process. Once you see learning and behaviour as a series of separate links in a chain, you will always be able to find a solution to each different situation that arises. In teaching this young girl to focus her attention for longer periods, it was decided to provide a discriminative stimulus which would serve as a powerful cue that she would be able to attend to or notice the correct cup as its position was changed. One of the three white cups was painted red. The bean was always placed under the red cup as their positions were changed. Each time after the cups were moved around, the little girl was asked to pick the one with the bean under it. Each time, she chose correctly. During the shaping process, it is best to have each response successful so that it will be rewarded. If the gap between any two steps in the shaping process is too large, the

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behaviour being learned could break down. Painting one cup red was only the first step. Now, let’s discuss the second step. After the little girl had been reinforced a few times for picking the cup with the bean under it, the completely red cup was replaced with one that was just painted red on the top half. The bean is always placed under the cup with red on top, so once again, she successfully chose the cup with the bean under it. The half red cup was replaced with one that had a broad red stripe; the next step being a thin red stripe; then a large red dot; then a small red dot. During each of those steps, her attending behaviour was allowed to stabilise over a number of successful choices. All the while, during each of these steps, the teacher was changing the position of the cups more times and moving them faster. During all those steps in the shaping process, which may have numbered up to fifty now, the child never made an incorrect choice. She seemed very pleased with her success. The red dot was made smaller several more times until the last red dot on the cup was almost unnoticeable. The child was still able to pick the cup with the bean under it every time. The next step is to place the bean under a cup that was completely white, identical to the other two cups. By now, the little girl was so involved in the game, and paying such good attention to which cup the bean was under, she was still able to pick the correct cup each time. Slowly, getting faster and faster, the teacher changed the position of the three cups many times. When the teacher could move the cups no faster, and it didn’t seem to matter how many changes of position the cups underwent, the child could still choose the cup covering the bean every time. At the end of this learning experience, the little girl said that she thought the game was fun, but too easy. She could concentrate easily and well for periods up to five minutes and more. The only aspect of the process I left out was the communication that took place between the teacher and the child. The communication which takes place

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during any learning situation is extremely important. The two aspects of the learning experience can’t really be separated. Of course, the example of teaching a child to attend to a task gives a clear idea of what fading means. Again, the steps by which the discriminative stimulus, in this case red paint, decreased step by step until it was no longer present provides a very graphic understanding of the fading procedure. An excellent analogy is to say that fading is to the discriminative process, what thinning is to the reinforcing stimuli. As the conditioning process progresses, it is often the case that the discriminative stimulus fades to nothing, while the amount of reinforcement provided is thinned significantly. Fading refers to progressive decreases in the magnitude of the discriminative stimulus, and thinning refers to the progressive decreases in the overall quantity of the reinforcing stimulus received. To condition any behaviour, it is often necessary to first introduce discriminative stimuli and reinforcers at an artificially high magnitude and rate. It is important to reduce these inflated magnitudes and rates so that the behaviour being conditioned can come under natural control. In every human interaction, we condition others, just as we are conditioned by others. Most of the outcomes of that on-going conditioning are negligible, but some are of lasting and perhaps major impact. Conditioning is the name for the various influences which are described by the laws of learning. They are a natural and integral part of our existence. We cannot put a stop to our influence on others and we cannot put a stop to the influence others have on us. It is not wrong to condition others; the harm comes when we condition others wrongly. Concerning the question of what determines right conditioning from wrong conditioning, I can say that if in every thought, word, and deed we are fair, honest, and positive, all our influences will be right influences.

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Theoretically, every thought influences every other person on the planet to some degree. I think I understand the process by which this happens, but it is very difficult to know the degree of influence. Still, I think your questions deserve a more practical answer. Not only do we condition others, but we also condition ourselves. Our thoughts are the most powerful means we have to condition ourselves. The Influence of Inner Speech There is no doubt that our thoughts, or more correctly, our inner speech has a much greater potential influence on our overall development than all external influences. The internal influences work by the same means and are governed by the same laws of learning as external influences. All the different types of reinforcement and punishment also take place within our mental processes. Every term and concept I have defined and explained is also part of the internal conditioning processes. We explained how the influences of conditioning took place unnoticed in most cases. The example we gave was a child being conditioned to throw tantrums. The parents, not knowing or understanding the laws of learning, were oblivious to the conditioning taking place. Although, in that example, the relationship between behaviour and reinforcing stimuli was quite obvious, or would be to anyone aware of learning principles. If those obvious external factors could be overlooked, the subtle internal factors must be almost impossible to perceive. For someone unaware of the principles of learning, most aspects of the internal conditioning process remain invisible. Even for a person who has a good knowledge and understanding of the laws of learning, it remains difficult to be aware of the subtleties of the internal conditioning process. This would mean that the laws of learning must become part of our life, part of our being, as we are already one with the

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laws of learning. We need only become aware of our true nature, and we will come to the full realisation of principles of learning. Although we are clearly on a path to perfection, we are obviously not yet close to being perfect. Because in all that we do, there will be some combination of good and evil. What we can do, though, is to maximise the good and to minimise the evil in our every thought, word, and deed. Similarly, we cannot yet be perfectly fair, honest, and positive. In all that we do, even when we attempt to be fair, honest, and positive, there will be some aspect of unfairness, dishonesty, and negativity. What we must do is to maximise the fair, the honest, and the positivity, while minimising the unfair, the dishonest, and the negativity in our every thought, deed, and word. Understanding the Concept of Fairness, Honesty and Truth The meaning of fairness, honesty and positive is both very simple and very complex. Simply put; that which is fair is right, that which is honest is true, and that which is positive is other than negative. As we have defined right, it is all actions in harmony with the natural order. That which is right, aids the progressive development towards perfection. So no thought, word, or deed that stands in the way of the quest for perfection could ever be considered fair. Truth is a statement of the way things are. Absolute truth is identical with perfect existence. Relative truth is consistent with material existence. Both relative and absolute truth can be perfectly known only from a perspective beyond the material plane. Neither relative nor absolute truth can be perfectly known from a perspective on the material plane. Truth to a being existing on the material plane can only be known as probability. The higher the probability, the closer to the absolute truth. Truth at our level of existence is consistent with the highest probability statements of the nature of existence.

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The meaning of positive comes from the laws of learning. All forms of negative control are harmful. We saw that negative reinforcement, presentation punishment, and withdrawal punishment are forms of negative control. Positive reinforcement remains the most legitimate form other than of influence. However, this does not mean that anything which is fair, honest, and positive is harmful. Rather, we should be free to think, speak, and act in any way which is fair, honest, and positive. But if we restrict ourselves to those things which are fair honest, and positive, we would be missing out on much that is presently part of human life. Moreover, we would have to forego all that stands between us and the attainment of our ultimate destiny, the survival of the human race and a utopian future. When the true nature of our existence and purpose is known in its fullness, it will be easy to give up the temptations of the material world and live in harmony with the natural law. But when that truth has not been experienced, I can understand how what is asked may seem an insurmountable burden. We can become fair, honest, and positive by no other means than through the shaping process. Each human being is at a different point on the continuum of fairness, honesty, and positivity. The point each of us is presently at represents our baseline condition. To increase our fairness, honesty, and positivity we must be reinforced for the expression of those characteristics. We can speed up the rate at which we become more fair, honest, and positive by organising our lives so that we often have the opportunity to be rewarded for fairness, honesty, and positivity. This means that we should be conditioned to be more fair, honest and positive. Somehow, that sounds artificial. Our every thought, word, and deed is already conditioned. Why would it be any more artificial if we were to make conscious decisions as to the circumstances which exist in our environment to help make sure that the direction of the conditioning we undergo helps us to be more fair, more honest,

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and more positive? Some people may assume that when I say we should take an active role in creating the circumstances which will reinforce fairness, honesty, and positivity, these planned influences would be something like the conditioning which took place in the experimental learning chamber with the chicken or the rat. I must say that those were simple examples of basic learning from the laboratory. If such practices were attempted in human life, they would indeed be artificial. In a right world that is fair, honest, and positive, it would be naturally rewarded. It is actually those influences which lead us away from that which is fair, honest, and positive which are unnatural. However, this does not mean that the society would have to set up any contrived schedules of reinforcement to increase the amount of fairness, honesty, and positivity in the world. As the knowledge of the true nature of our existence spreads through human society, we will begin to live more in accord with natural law. As we begin to live more in harmony with our environment there will naturally be more opportunities to be reinforced for doing that which is fair, honest, and positive. To consciously alter our relationship with the environment is the most natural thing we could do. It is our free will that allows us the opportunity to choose the environmental conditions which will aid us the most in our quest for perfection. That is a right accorded by our human nature. But we must appreciate the fact that when we alter our own environment, we also alter the environment of others. We do have that responsibility. We have always had that responsibility, but it had previously either gone unnoticed or been ignored. Knowledge of the laws of learning allows us to realise and fulfill that responsibility.

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The Influence of Laws of Learning on Human Life I realised much earlier that the laws of learning could have a great influence in human life and a great effect on human society; but it took me a lot longer to truly understand the all-pervasive, powerful, and direct nature of those influences. As we have shown, first real understanding came from the studies of animal learning. The next step in the shaping of my understanding of learning principles involved the simple applications of those laws of learning to children with educational difficulties. I studied many examples of children considered mentally retarded or learning disabled. It was with children in those categories that operant learning principles were first widely put into practice. In those early efforts, the conditions of reinforcement, and sometimes punishment, which were set up were of the type you would have called artificial. Those organising the environment, so that specific conditioning could take place, had learned their theory and developed their practical skills with animals in the laboratory. It is not surprising that when those same learning principles were put into practice with human beings they were very similar to the methods used in animal research. Those early pioneers in the application of learning principles thought they realised the power of the new tool they were working with. For a while, they were like modern examples of the knights on white horses, come to correct the wrongs of the world. They believed they could cure any problem, improve any deficiency, and transform human society by the application of the laws of learning. The laws of learning offer a potential beyond even those grand claims. They did not even come close. Many of the early believers in the potential of learning principles lost their faith. Most came to consider the early enthusiasm to be misguided and

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accepted the apparent limitations on the application of the laws of learning. Some gave up completely and entered other fields. Although all that happened only a relatively few years ago, I consider it to be the ancient history of behavioural science. As in the early knowledge of most areas of science, there were many flaws. Some of those flaws came from a misunderstanding of available facts, some of the flaws occurred because of knowledge that was not yet available. Behaviour Modification These early attempts to apply the laws of learning with human beings are called “behaviour modification”. I think some of the resistance to the application of learning principles occurred because of that unappealing and misleading label. Behaviour modification somehow sounds like something that might be done to people against their will. Unfortunately, there were instances of the laws of learning being applied to alter people’s behaviour against their will. One of the worst abuses of operant conditioning occurred when prisoners of war were brainwashed by the use of these learning principles. Brainwashing is a systematic process of conditioning designed to alter someone’s convictions and beliefs against their will. The laws of learning are very powerful. Brainwashing could be effectively done with ease. Any tool can be misused. This is why it is imperative that the laws of learning be combined with a positive philosophy of life. The major objections to behaviour modification as is the case when anything is strongly opposed, a lot of the opposition was emotionally based without objective reason. I can understand the emotion behind such opposition, but I can’t credit it with logical significance. There were, though, two major points for objective criticism. First, was the use of negative forms of control, and second, was the fact that those whose behaviour

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was being conditioned often had no say as to whether or not they wanted their behaviour modified. Most programs of behaviour modification, even from the earliest times, involved the use of positive reinforcement, so all those were free from the arguments against using negative control. Even so, very little of the behaviour modification done would have been done at the request of or even the consent of those whose behaviour was being modified, so the second major criticism was almost universally valid. I would say virtually all, certainly most, behaviour modification was done with the best interests of the subject in mind. I doubt if many of the people doing this behaviour modification at all could be considered to have evil intent. A few might have been misguided, and a few might have been more interested in adding to their scientific knowledge than any other consideration, but most used behaviour modification in an attempt to better the life of those being conditioned. I am sure that some of the criticism, both emotional and objective, directed towards behaviour modification came about because people perceived the potential danger that could come from those techniques when misused. Similarly, I guess it is possible that the proposals I make for the widespread knowledge of, and use of, the laws of learning might draw the same criticism as behaviour modification did, even though there would be no logical basis. Somehow, learning principles themselves have become associated with the various wrongs involved in behaviour modification in the minds of a few critics. Once, I read of a person who said they didn’t like the laws of learning. That’s very much the same as someone saying they don’t like the laws of physics. It means as if, if you dislike reinforcement, you dislike gravity. There is nowhere you can go to be beyond the influence of either. The natural laws of physical existence are not to be liked or disliked. They are as they are, they all serve the purpose that the physical universe was created to fulfill. If those natural laws did not exist, we would not exist.

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I will try and pick a number of examples which will portray a wide range of the early efforts to apply the laws of learning to human behaviour. As I said, much of this conditioning was done by positive reinforcement. The first example is of the simplest type and could be applied to thousands of different learning tasks. The teacher sits with a child and shows cards with different letters of the alphabet on them. After showing each card, the teacher asks the child to name the letter of the alphabet. If the child gives the correct answer, the teacher may acknowledge the correctness of the answer, praise the child, or give the child a small piece of candy. In this example, the card with the letter of the alphabet is the discriminative stimulus; correctly naming the letter is the response; and the acknowledgement, praise, or candy, is the reinforcing stimulus. A discriminative stimulus gives information about what response is likely to be reinforced. If a card with the letter ‘x’ is shown, this provides information that the response of saying “x” might be rewarded. The explanation is a general one and applies in all situations. It is less useful in simple common situations like this than it is in other cases where what is occurring may not be so obvious. If the child had not learned that saying the correct letter when shown an alphabet card could bring reinforcement, then the child would be unlikely to respond by saying the letter upon seeing the card. Once the child learns that relationship, the card does function as a discriminative stimulus. In this example, the reinforcer was the acknowledgement of the correct answer, praise, or a small piece of candy. But the reason why there are different rewards is that those were different possible reinforcing stimuli. Which of those rewards was actually used would depend on the child’s past experiences. Some children have learned to consider success at any educational task to be rewarding. In this case, acknowledgement would be a sufficient reward. Some

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children have no interest in the particular educational task but desire praise. In some cases, children may have never learned to consider praise rewarding, but greatly appreciate a piece of candy. There are both health and social reasons why it is not desirable to use candy as a reward, particularly for performing learning tasks. In every instance, I would say the minimal reward which brings about the desired results should be given; and the reward should be based on internalised positive feelings as much as is possible. Candy is very seldom used in normal educational settings. It is much more widely used with children experiencing a degree of retardation or severe learning handicap which has not allowed them to become receptive to less primary rewards. Even then candy is less than ideal as a reward. Of the three different reinforcers in this example, acknowledgement of a correct answer and praise are both secondary rewards. We are not born seeking acknowledgement of academic achievement or praise. We learn to find them to be reinforcing. Candy is a sweet food, and we are born with a body and brain that considers sweets reinforcing. For this reason, candy is a primary reward. Children, whose handicaps have not allowed them to learn the reinforcing appeal of acknowledged correct answers or praise, may only respond on educational tasks if rewarded with some primary stimulus, such as candy. If the child wasn’t hungry, that’s another problem with using candy to reward learning behaviour. What should be done in any situation where a primary reinforcer, like candy, is necessary to ensure that the child completes some learning task, is to fade the primary reinforcer as quickly as possible and replace it with a secondary reinforcer. The secondary reinforcer, perhaps praise, could be paired with the primary reinforcer, candy. The candy would be given less often, while praise would still be given for every correct

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response. Soon no candy would need to be given as the child learned to consider praise rewarding in itself. Also, it might be appropriate if praise could then be faded out as a reward when acknowledgement of success was introduced. The goal should always be to have as little external reward as possible. Only the minimum reinforcement required to maintain the behaviour should be given. The question of whether it should be generous with reward provides a good example of the necessity to consider in a holistic manner when considering any question. Since our goal is to attain perfect free will, we must always seek to reduce external control. We are not yet perfect so there is still some external influence necessary for our continued development. When external influence is used, it should always be the minimum which will achieve the necessary effect. Whenever we reward another person we are exercising an external influence. It is for this reason that reward should not be given generously. Without that understanding, it might have seemed giving generous reward would be doing a good thing. The world as it seems to be is often different from the world as it truly is. In fact, instead of giving generous rewards being a good thing to do, it would be an evil thing. The Concept of Good and Evil Good and evil, as I use the words, are not subjective and emotional terms. They have definite objective meaning. Good aids progress towards our ultimate goal of perfection; and evil hinders our progress towards that goal. If generous reward hinders our progress towards perfect free will, then it is by definition evil. Well, my feeling towards evil is always objective. In my view, the greater the harm it causes the more sad I would feel about it. But evil does not make me angry. I don’t hate evil. I do not hate anything; and I almost never feel angry. Just

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as I attempt to live in harmony with the world around me, I attempt to attain harmony within myself. Hate and anger cause harmony to be lost. We are born with the potential to feel hate and anger. Whether or not we express that potential is determined by our conditioning through the interactions we experience with our environment. No, the expression of hate and anger are not natural. Similarly, my view towards good is also objective because I believe the greater the benefit it brings the better I feel about it. I do love goodness, and goodness does make me happy because the more love and happiness within, the greater the experience of inner harmony. I think, to experience love and feel happy is a natural human condition. We are progressing towards the perfect and absolute expression of all positive characteristics. Hate and anger cannot be perfectly and absolutely manifested without being infinitely destructive. Love and happiness can be perfectly and absolutely manifested bringing infinite benefit. That which cannot be perfectly manifested is unnatural; and that which can be perfectly manifested is natural. Anyway, I am certainly glad there are no limits to love and happiness. When in harmony, the physical universe is a beautiful place. Modelling Modelling is a form of conditioning. It refers to the learning which takes place by seeing others undergo some reinforcing or punishing situation. Modelling involves learning by seeing the learning experiences of others. I will start with a very simple example. Fashion is a good example of the effect of modelling. Perhaps one person wears a different style of shoe. If that person receives positive notice from others for wearing those shoes, soon other people who saw those shoes being favourably noticed will start wearing them also. If the style is particularly attractive or unique, the fashion media might take notice of people wearing that new type of shoe. Other

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people seeing reports favourably mentioning that new shoe style will start wearing those shoes, and then be noticed positively by others. That process sometimes sweeps much of the world, not just with shoes, but with all items of clothing. Sometimes it happens with hairstyles, sometimes with slang words or sayings. All of that is part of the spread of fashion. It is a conditioning process which takes place through modelling. People seeing others rewarded for the response of wearing certain clothes, styling their hair a certain way, or saying certain words will copy that behaviour. Modelling occurs even without conscious attempts at imitation. As the saying goes “monkey see, monkey do!”; that saying refers to the tendency of people to imitate the behaviour of others. Just about all aspects of operant conditioning have been noticed in human life, even though it hadn’t been realised those factors formed a comprehensive theory by which to understand learning. There would be few human thoughts, words, or deeds which have not been influenced during their development by the effects of modelling. Now, let’s talk about a few other instances of modelling. Our choice of food is heavily influenced by modelling. This has resulted in foods considered acceptable and desirable by some cultures, being forbidden and repulsive by other cultures. We learn our preferences in food largely from what we see those around us eating as we grow up. If a child were to grow up among people who consider live grubs to be a delicacy, that child would feel entirely happy and comfortable popping a live grub into their mouth. That behaviour would be considered so repulsive to people who had not grown up seeing people eat live grubs that they could hardly imagine anyone could do such a thing. The influences on smoking behaviour are many. Not only do people close around us have been influenced through

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modelling, but because our environment has been made much wider by the media and the entertainment industry, people model the behaviour of those they have never been close to or have never even seen in person. When famous people, be they politicians, sports heroes, or the stars of film, television, or the music world, are seen smoking, there is some influence by modelling occurring. That effect is particularly strong in children and young adults, as they are still in the early stages of development and are seeking role models. Sometimes, the influence of the famous is exploited by those who wish to sell more of their product and the modelling effect is used consciously to create a market which, in the case of cigarettes, is selling an early death. It may sound pretty unscrupulous, but that is nothing compared to the lengths some people would go for financial gain. Once the laws of learning are known well and widely, all wrong influence will be less effective. Since modelling is such a powerful influence, it is used by anyone who wants to create the belief that their product is desirable. In advertising, it is extremely common to see virtually any product trying to gain from the association of attractive people enjoying that product. Modelling has a general impact also. People can be influenced by the modelling effect of a class of people. For this reason, products have been promoted as having an association with those who are generally rich, powerful, sexy, intelligent, macho, beautiful, or any other characteristic thought to be generally desired. Those who market their products in that way want people to believe they can be like the general class model in the advertisements just by using their products. Moreover, modelling plays a major part in a very serious problem area in human behaviour, aggression. Almost all aggressive behaviour in human beings has its origins in modelling. Well, as we have already discussed in some detail, human beings are not animals. I think, what is meant by that

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statement is that human beings are innately aggressive. No, human beings are not born aggressive. Human beings are born with the potential to be aggressive. Whether or not that potential for aggression is expressed, depends on the circumstances of each individual’s life. Unfortunately, seeing other people acting aggressively is a very common experience in human society. Aggressive behaviour occurs in many homes, in schools, on the streets, and is almost invariably depicted in movies, television and online games. Aggressive behaviour in real life often is seen to be successful. Aggression is successful because force often brings immediate changes, that being the nature of the material universe for billions of years when external control was needed to maintain progression. Aggression is also often seen to be successful in that those who act aggressively are frequently held in some esteem. In those cultures where successful aggression is held in highest esteem, there tends to be a more aggressive populace. When children see aggression being rewarded, children will be likely to imitate that aggressive behaviour. There was an interesting study done where children were placed in a room with a number of toys. Among the toys was a large inflatable clown which was heavily weighted on the bottom so that if knocked over the clown would become upright again. Each child was left alone in the room and observed through a one-way mirror. The children tended to play quietly with the various toys. After the children had been playing for some period of time, an adult would enter the room, talk in a friendly manner with the child for a while, and then start kicking and punching the inflatable clown. The adult would then leave the room. Almost every child who underwent the experience of seeing the adult act aggressively then punched and kicked the inflatable clown after the adult left the room.

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It seems very likely that children in the natural environment, who see mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends, or actors on television and in movies acting aggressively, will imitate aspects of that violent behaviour. But we must acknowledge that violence breeds violence and peace breeds peace. Parents probably do not realise that they are teaching children to be aggressive by their own aggressive behaviour. Parents and teachers often act aggressively towards children in an attempt to teach them not to be aggressive. Sometimes, children are hit by adults to stop them from hitting other children. The Effects of Conditioning in Our Lives Conditioning seems to play such a large part in our lives and development. It is a shame that conditioning is not done in a way which is consistent with our goals. It appears that much of what has long been believed to be human nature was actually the effect of unnoticed conditioning factors in human society. In other words, human nature is very poorly understood. A large amount of current human behaviour is in opposition to the true nature of human beings. To know human nature requires knowledge of the natural order of existence. True human nature is an ideal. To exist perfectly in accord with the natural law is the ideal of human nature. However, human beings do not live in perfect harmony with the natural law because we humans are going through a difficult period in this 21st century. Because of the major developmental step we have taken through the expression of self-reflective, human level consciousness, we are no longer animals. Although we have reached a new stage in civilization and developmental progression of life, we still have bodies identical to the animals with the exception of that part of the brain function which accounts for our selfreflective consciousness. Animals, through billions of years of

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adaptation, have developed ways of living which are in accord with the natural order. That which is in harmony with natural law at the animal level, is not necessarily in harmony with natural law at the human level. Our bodies and many structures of our brains are attempting to fulfill their original functions and live in accord with the natural order at the animal level. This causes great difficulties, because for the human species to survive and progress we must transcend those aspects of our lives bound up with animal nature, and express fully our civilized human nature. So we can say that part of every human being is acting in accord with the animal nature and part is acting in accord with human nature. As I said, the conflict between the animal nature and human nature is a great difficulty faced by the human species. Consequently, we have to experience that conflict. We must undergo the conflict between our animal nature and our human nature. We all have those two different influences acting upon us. This would be a difficult period even in the best of circumstances, but a third influence of evil global conditioning of greed and lust is greatly increasing the difficulty in making the transition. This third influence has increased the difficulty so much that it is no longer certain that the transition will be successfully made. The conflict between the animal nature and the human nature may become so severe as to bring destruction to all life on this planet. Effect of Conditioning The third influence is the effect of conditioning. But let me be clear, I am not saying that the process of conditioning is wrong, not at all. I am saying that the effect of conditioning is wrong. Conditioning ought to be the means by which we achieve the successful transition from our animal nature to our human present nature. However, conditioning has been

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powerfully used to ensure the continued and ever increasing influence of our animal nature. At the human level of existence, it would be natural to express more fully the true characteristics of human nature. Those human characteristics should naturally prevail over the influence of our animal nature. This natural transition has been hindered by the fact that human society has developed in such a way that expressions of the characteristics of our animal nature have been highly rewarded. At the same time, the expression of our true human nature has either failed to receive the reinforcement or has been punished. This sad situation came to be because the problem has always been ignorance; of our true nature, our true purpose, our destined goal and how to achieve that grand goal. There have been a number of times when most of the truth of our existence was known, but that was not enough. Because even when our nature, our purpose and our destiny were known, it was indeed rare to also know the right path. There was, but even that was not enough. Although all was known, those truths were neither fully understood nor available to everyone. Truth must be universally known. If only some knew the truth and followed the right path, they would be conquered by those who lacked truth and followed the wrong path. I can assure you that any victory gained by wrong action would only be temporary. Victory, when achieved by right action, shall be eternal. Our true nature, purpose, destiny, and the right path are all contained in the new worldview. Our nature is to be the stage, in the developmental progression of matter in the physical universe, which has just passed the turning point where individual exercise of free will first surpasses external control. Our purpose is to progress along the

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developmental continuum to the most positive expression of all characteristics. Our destiny is to become perfect in every aspect. The right path, in fact the only path, is the way of peace and love. However, success is determined by the survival and progression of the species, not of the individual. Groups of any size, unless they encompass the whole of human society, have always succumbed to the immediate power of force and aggression. Nature of Force and Aggression It would be correct if I left out the word aggression, since force includes all wrong influence. I include the word “aggression” because it portrays the most blatant use of force in human behaviour. It is important to the successful spread of knowledge that effective images be created. When I say the right path is peace and love, it provides a good mental image to contrast with the wrong path of force and aggression. In this way of expressing the right and wrong paths, all the words are actually mental symbols. Other words could take their place, but all would be signifying the same underlying truth. In this comparison of the paths of right and wrong, force is the contrasting symbol to peace, and aggression is the contrasting symbol to love. Those are just a small part of that which is force and aggression. Force and aggression include all forms of influence which derive their power from the material plane of existence. I will, but remember, all those influences derive their power from the material existence. Matter in the physical universe is directed by those influences. The non-physical component in matter is directed by free will, influenced by the attraction of perfect existence. Included among the influences of force and aggression at the human level are material wealth, power, fame, the seeking of pleasure, and the avoidance of

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pain. Anything which conditions us in a way that enhances the attractiveness or increases the practice of any of those forms of force and aggression is wrong conditioning. It is just as wrong as conditioning children to be aggressive by fighting in front of them. Those wrong influences also have internal expression. Some of these would be greed, envy, and lust. Those are but a few. There are many more, not all so obvious and some yet unnamed. Nature of Guilt Some of those wrong influences have been called sins by various religions. That is a way of expressing the effect of some of those wrong influences on our progression. They hold us back from attaining our destined goal. However, I don’t mind the use of the word sin to describe certain things that hinder us in our quest for perfection; but I view the word sin very objectively, just as I view good and evil objectively. I think the concept of sin can be harmful if it leads to feelings of guilt. Guilt is another form of wrong influence. Guilt is an attempt to alter our beliefs or behaviour by force. If by guilt you only meant experiencing the feeling of having done wrong, then that could be considered natural, but guilt so often includes the feeling that you are a bad person for having done the wrong. Guilt in that form is not a natural human emotion. Guilt in that form has been conditioned into the human mental process. It has become a part of our inner speech. To fully understand how to differentiate what is natural and what is not, I would have to go into a long explanation of natural and unnatural as perceived from the relative reality and the absolute reality. If you think back to our discussion of good and evil, you will see the essence of this explanation. I think, now, a briefer answer should be sufficient. From the relative point of view, those aspects of our existence which are necessary to ensure our continued progression are natural; and those aspects of our existence which are not necessary

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to ensure our continued progression are unnatural. From the absolute point of view, those aspects of existence which can be perfectly manifested are natural; and those aspects of existence which cannot be perfectly manifested are unnatural. Many things exist as potential which if expressed would be unnatural. I will use guilt as an example. Obviously, guilt does exist. Guilt is a combined acknowledgement of having done wrong, and the belief that having done wrong makes you a bad person. Now, there is nothing harmful in anyone acknowledging they have done wrong. Indeed, that is a healthy and good thing to do. The harm comes from believing ourselves to be bad because we have done a wrong thing. Believing ourselves bad because we have acted wrongly is an internal form of punishment. The wrong action is the response, which is followed by the thought saying either directly or indirectly, “I am bad”. That thought acts as a negative stimulus. When a response is followed by a negative stimulus, it often reduces the likelihood of that response occurring again in the future. In fact, there is no difference in the way that external or internal influences affect our future actions. No one would punish themselves by guilt if they had not been conditioned to do so. That is why I say guilt is not a natural human emotion. The human mind has all the necessary human characteristics which would allow guilt to be expressed. Those abilities exist only as a potential until conditioning brings about their expression.

The main requirement is self-reflective consciousness. That is, a mind which can consider the past and future symbolically. Self-reflective consciousness is so-called because it is able to reflect on what has occurred in the past and to make predictions as to future happenings.

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A being who can reflect on their past behaviour has the opportunity to judge that past behaviour as to whether it was successful or unsuccessful, wise or unwise, helpful or harmful, good or bad. Self-reflective consciousness also has the ability to create any combination of symbols which are known to it. That means, any possible thought can arise in the mind. Those attributes of self-reflective consciousness are sufficient to allow guilt to be created. The mind recreates the response in mental images, and follows that mental image by a thought constructed so as to be perceived negatively. For example, a girl who had pushed her little brother down the day before might recreate the response of pushing her brother as a mental image, and feel bad for having done so. Even the words we use to describe that experience, “feel bad”, can refer to the fact that we are saying “I am bad” for us having done that wrong action. We could, and sometimes, say we “feel sorry”, but that express a different and more constructive thought process. So the question becomes, how did people first learn to experience guilt for their wrong behaviour? When we delve into the distant past of the human race, we should not think we know exactly how things happened, but better we use our present knowledge to understand how things might have happened. From the earliest times in human history, there have been individuals or groups who exercised control over others. Much of that control would have been exercised by the use of force. There are a number of difficulties which occur when negative control is used. One of those problems is that while negative control effectively influences behaviour when the controller is clearly present, the influence is often lost when the controller is absent. The proverb, “when the cat’s away, the mice will play” would seem to describe those situations quite well. That problem, where influence is lost when the controller is not present to use force to maintain control, could be overcome if

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there is some way to have the negative control always present. The self-reflective abilities of human consciousness provide such an opportunity. If some way can be found to make the person being controlled also be the one who applies the force or negative control, then the person being controlled is always under the desired influence. If a person can be conditioned to believe behaving in certain ways makes them bad, they will see themselves as bad when they behave in those ways. They will then also try to avoid behaving in that way to avoid being bad. Parents often condition their children in this manner by saying, “you’re a bad boy” or, “you’re a bad girl” after the child had performed some behaviour which the parent considers wrong. Guilt is a conditioned emotional reaction to whatever the person in control thinks is wrong. What the person in control believes to be wrong may not necessarily be wrong and, in fact, could even be right. Guilt over right behaviour is worse than guilt over wrong behaviour; but all guilt is harmful. While that is possible, I think it is more likely that leaders within social groupings have attempted to gain control over their followers by creating feelings which we might now consider as the religious guilt. The basic method could have been to have people believe that God created us as “sinners”. This guilt of being “sinners” is used by the religious authority to wield control over their followers by establishing religious rules and rituals to confess your sin in order to lessen your guilt. In this way, the followers are trapped in a perpetual circle of feeling guilty, confession and more guilt. The followers are shamed before God.

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It is not the way of God to think badly of any person. Any person who considers themselves shamed before God is mistaken. We can feel shame in ourselves, and others may feel ashamed of us; but God is never ashamed of us. God understands us in the most full and complete way possible. Besides, many of the laws and rules attributed to the “gods” early in the history of human society did not come from God, but were an expression of the beliefs and desires of those who held positions of leadership. The word is “anthropomorphise”. It means to ascribe human form or human characteristics to beings or things not human. Human characteristics have been attributed to almost everything at one time or another. Such widely diverse things as mountains, trees, weather, stars, the moon, seas, rivers, ships, planes, and cars have all been seen as having human attributes. Gods also have been considered to have both human form and human characteristics. It has placed limits upon God’s true nature. It has made it even more difficult to know the true nature of God. Aspects of God can express all things; but all aspects of God are less than the unity of God. Both our belief in God and our understanding of God’s nature are conditioned. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest that those beliefs and sacred aspects of human life are conditioned. Conditioning is the natural way that we come to know the reality of our existence. My experience of God is no less real, sacred, or beautiful because it is conditioned. When we understand the true nature of the human self, we would understand the true nature of God. We have elaborated this concept in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd principles of this book.

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Opportunity, Potential and Success in Life Apparently, there are three factors that determine the expression of any characteristic. First, that characteristic must exist as a potential. Second, the opportunity to express that characteristic must arise. Third, the conditioning of that characteristic is determined by the laws of learning. Well, if we want to give an example of experience affecting the expression of some potential at the human level, the sport of tennis provides a good example. Every person, without debilitating physical or mental handicaps, has within themselves the potential to perform all the behaviours which constitute playing tennis. Only those people who are met with the environmental conditions such as a tennis court, tennis racket, and tennis balls will ever have the opportunity to express that potential. Those people who are rewarded for their tennis playing behaviour will tend to play more tennis, and those who are not rewarded by the experience will tend to play little or no tennis. Out of all the people who express their potential to play tennis, only one at any moment becomes the best tennis player in the world. That person would have had hundreds or perhaps thousands of times as much experience at playing tennis as the average tennis player. That person would also have received many times as much reward for their tennis playing behaviour than the average player has. Every tennis player learns the skills involved in a series of small steps. Tennis playing skills are conditioned. The person who has undergone the most successful conditioning becomes the best tennis player in the world. If the world’s best tennis player had not had the opportunity to play tennis, or if tennis playing had not been sufficiently rewarded, that person would not have played tennis or would not be able to play it well. There would probably be millions of people throughout the world who, if having undergone the appropriate conditioning, could play tennis better than the present world champion.

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Being the best is never a very special thing to be. Somebody will always be the best in the world in each different thing that people do. There will always be large numbers, perhaps millions, of others who could have been better than the person who is the best if they had undergone the right experiences in their lives. The person who is best in the world at anything is not special, it is the experiences they have undergone which are special. It means little to be the best compared with others. It means more to have expressed your own potential to its fullest. Of course, millions of people could become better cooks, engineers, race car drivers, psychologists, environmentalists, swimmers, doctors, carpenters, and virtually any other skill you could name, than the person who is presently the best in the world. This goes to show that potential within each of us is virtually unlimited. Probably no one yet understands the true nature of their potential. Human potential is beyond even the grandest dreams. Although I know human potential is to become perfect in every aspect, I am far from knowing what all those characteristics will be. Many of the characteristics which shall be perfectly manifested may be presently beyond comprehension. No matter how broadly I interpret the nature of perfect existence, the true expression of that perfection remains beyond my grandest dreams. The human conception of perfection is so limited because our understanding of perfection has been conditioned by our experiences as material beings inhabiting a physical universe. Human beings are only just beginning to conceptualise that which exists beyond the material plane. All that exists on the material plane is less than the tiniest part of that which exists beyond the material plane. We certainly have much to look forward to. I pray that we don’t squander that sublime opportunity.

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It is obvious that virtually all characteristics of human beings have been developed by interactions with the environment rather than having their origins in the expression of genetic information carried in the chromosomes. There has been a long standing scientific and philosophical debate concerning this matter, which might be called the nature versus nurture controversy. There have been those on the nature side of the debate who have made the claims that virtually all of what we become as adults we were born with; and there have been those on the nurture side of the debate who have made the claim that virtually all of what we become as adults results from our interactions with the environment as we grew up. Basically, this is genetic inheritance versus conditioning. The new science of epigenetics is now proving the simple idea of our genes controlling our future is proven to be wrong. Genetic mechanisms alone cannot explain how cellular traits are propagated. Life style, experiences and social stress can influence our success or failure in life. Even the idea of evolution is being challenged by the new science of epigenetics. However, I am not saying that the answer is a compromise between these two extremes. No, it appears to me that virtually all we become as adults is determined by the effects of our experiences as we grow up. I take the side of nurture on this question. Those inherited characteristics determine our potential, but only in the broadest terms. For example, a person born with only one leg is not likely to become the world’s fastest runner. I admit that the example was somewhat extreme, but it also contains the essence of an important general truth. We come into this world essentially, although not actually, equal. The later discrepancies in our skills and abilities are

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due more to the experiences encountered during development into adulthood than to our inherited characteristics. Probably, more than any other reason, because the influence of experience was largely invisible when the powerful laws of learning were unknown. For thousands of years in human history, it was believed that the offspring of rulers, the aristocracy, and the wealthy were superior to the children of common people. That was a view largely unchallenged until recent times, and has been of great influence in many human beliefs. It is true that children of parents with certain traits, skills, or abilities often tend to express those same characteristics. Certainly it is surely another reason why the belief we are born with certain characteristics rather than learn them has been so predominant. However, this does not mean at all that most human traits, skills and abilities are inherited characteristics. The conclusion that those are inherited characteristics is based on an incorrect assessment of the facts of the situation. Actually, that misinterpretation of the nature of observed reality typifies the origins of many widely held, but false, beliefs. That general misunderstanding takes place when we observe some situation or event taking place, that we often attempt to account for those situations or events by describing the reasons or causes. The reasons we come up with are often those which appear obvious or seem logical. For example, when primitive people saw the sun cross the sky each day there was an attempt to explain that event. There were many early explanations given, such as the sun was being carried by a giant bird across the sky, or the sun was a blazing chariot of a God crossing the sky. After those primitive mythological explanations were discounted by early scientists, a new belief arose. This new belief was that the sun was a heavenly body which revolved around the Earth. That belief was almost universally held and appeared to be

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obviously true. Those who now had that new truth about the sun’s nature could look back on the myths of their primitive ancestors, sometimes with ridicule. Only a few hundred years ago it was finally proven that the sun does not revolve around the Earth, but instead the Earth revolves around the sun. This came as a shock to many, and that new truth took a long time to be accepted. The mistake at each stage of incorrect knowledge was to think that what appeared to be, must really be. Indeed, this is a constantly recurring idea in the new worldview; that things are as they are, not how they appear to be. We must be forever testing our perceptions to see if they accurately represent truth. What may appear to be totally obvious may also be completely wrong. As with all the things I say I know, that is really an assessment of what is most probable given the information available. Whether the traits, skills, and abilities shown by an adult are bestowed by inheritance or instilled by experience, there must be some process by which that is achieved. When the genetic material carried in the chromosomes is evaluated as a possible mechanism for the transmission of most traits, skills, and abilities, we find the means to do that are just not present. It is easy to assume, for instance, musical ability is transmitted from musically inclined parents to their offspring through genes on the chromosomes; but when considering the way genes work, it can be seen that there is no way for this to be done. In contrast, when our life’s experiences, affected by the laws of learning, are evaluated as a possible mechanism for the transmission of traits, skills, and abilities, we find those means more than adequate to the task. There is a very good explanation for that fact based on learning principles.

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Modelling would be responsible for many of the characteristics which show up among members of a family, along with the shared opportunities and influences of the common environment. In every trait, skill, and ability there is some aspect inherited from the parents. The physical and neurological structure of our bodies is largely determined by information given to us by the chromosomes of our parents. The inherited factors don’t determine what we will be, they determine what we can be. Those characteristics we inherit exist as potential. The expression of that potential is determined by the influences of our experiences with the environment. Differences in Inherent Human Potential, Tendencies and Behaviour Understandably, no one becomes an alcoholic because of inherited physiological or neurological factors. Also, the question of whether some people are born more prone to become alcoholics than others is sometimes very difficult to give a "yes-or-no" answer without being misleading. Yes, it is true some people are born more prone to become alcoholics than others. Some people are born more likely to do or be anything than others. That is because every person is born different from all others, and those differences will show up, however much or little, in the way each person interacts with their environment. With that being said, I can now give you a better answer to the question. No, for all practical purposes, some people are not born more prone to become alcoholics than others. In other words, although there are differences among people related to how prone they are to become an alcoholic, nowhere in that range of difference is there a condition which would actually make the person more prone to become an alcoholic. Nobody is born significantly more prone to alcoholism than any other person. What differences do exist

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are not significant. Another important question is whether or not mental illness inherited. Before I could give a definite answer to that question we would have to come to an agreement as to what is meant by the term “mental illness”. While there may be some mental abnormalities which are transmitted genetically, the vast majority of what is considered to be mental illness is not transmitted genetically. Likewise, criminal behaviour and homosexuality are not inherited. The factors which result in the existence of those behaviours throughout human society are complex. I can say, though with no changes in the present inherited component which affects the expression of those behaviours, we could have a world that had no alcoholism, no mental illness other than the specific physical abnormalities passed on genetically, no crime, and no homosexual activity. The environmental influences which pervade our present world society subtly shape certain individuals’ behaviour patterns until they become alcoholics, mentally ill, criminals, or homosexuals. I think this might be another area where the things which I say, while true, will either be found difficult to believe, or perhaps, even be found to be offensive. The importance of that social insight was that it took the blame away from the alcoholic. It removed some of the social stigma of being an alcoholic. Alcoholics could no longer be considered worthless people. That was good because all people are of great worth, regardless of whether or not they are alcoholics. Besides being wrong to consider alcoholism to be an inherited trait, it also removes the responsibility from the alcoholic for their condition. If you take away the responsibility, you also take the free will. Every person who is an alcoholic must be given the responsibility for their condition so that they can exercise their free will to escape from the influence of alcohol. It is important to accept responsibility, because that which we

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do not have responsibility for we could hardly be expected to overcome. No, society owns some large part of that responsibility. Society powerfully conditions the belief that drinking alcohol is desirable. Society creates the role of the alcoholic, just as society creates the role of the mentally ill, the role of the criminal, and the role of the homosexual. As we said earlier when referring to the responsibility of society, that responsibility truly belongs to the people. The term “society” is just a convenient way to refer to the combined influence of all humanity. It should never be considered as some abstract concept, because it serves no purpose to assign responsibility to an abstract concept. Only human beings can accept responsibility. We each have responsibilities both as individuals and as members of the various social groups which make up the human race. Indeed, every person on this planet shares the responsibility for every problem which exists in human society. Every person has some degree of influence which diffuses throughout the world. Usually, that influence is minor for any particular individual; but some individuals have an influence which can bring major changes to the whole of human society. Whether the influence of any individual is great or small, the responsibility held by every individual is great. It is the responsibility of each person to be a positive influence. The billions of small positive influences which should naturally arise from the human populace are what can bring about a utopian future. Collective Human Consciousness All problems exist because of wrongness in the collective consciousness of the human race. If a single human mind has a basic wrongness, that individual will manifest a wide range of problems. The consciousness of all individuals in the world makes up the collective human mind. A wrongness

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in an individual mind is a wrongness in the collective mind. If the collective human mind has a basic wrongness, human society manifests a wide range of problems. The mechanism is very similar to the way the mind of one individual alters the structure of the mind of another. It is done through the exchange of photons between physical matter at the subatomic level. We don’t see that micro level of influence. We view those changes at the level of human physical form and mental processes. Each time any person influences their environment, the effects of that influence are transmitted directly to the immediate surroundings. The changes which take place in the immediate surroundings from that influence spread out affecting the broader environment. Those influences branch out many times without number until the entire world feels the effects. The example will be hypothetical, but it could be real. A professor of psychology speaking to her university class makes a statement about world peace. She says that there is nothing so fine and beautiful and necessary to human life as peace and love. There are thirty students in her class who hear that statement. Each of those students is changed to some degree by hearing the professor’s words. The subatomic particles in the brains of each of those students are altered in their organisation by the input of that information. Each of those thirty students walks away from that classroom ‘a changed person’. Regardless of the degree of change, the fact remains, each one of those students is a changed person. For the rest of their lives, some effects of hearing their professor’s words will remain with them. Every interaction they have with their environment, which occurs after hearing the professor’s words of peace and love, will transmit some degree of impact from those words. The influence of the professor’s original words does not stop after being passed on just once, but is picked up and re-transmitted in some form after each new interaction

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in the spreading web of influence. Perhaps years later one of the original thirty students is now a teacher; and when remembering those words of peace and love, passes them on to his students. One of this new group of students grows up and develops a body of knowledge that, when spread widely throughout the world, initiates a change in the consciousness of humanity which results in a future of fully expressed peace and love, a utopian society. After many years, and having gone through a number of intermediate stages, the influences of the professor’s words of peace and love touch many people in the world. Of course, the influence will not always be so dramatic; but even the smallest influence diffuses through the whole world. No, every thought, word, and deed which occur in each person’s life will touch the life of every other person in the world to some degree. It is for this reason that we have such a great responsibility to be a positive influence. We may not all want that responsibility, or we may not all meet that responsibility; but we cannot refuse to accept it. It is ours whether we like it or not. That is the true nature of our reality. Getting back to the discussion of alcoholism, this is an example of truth being other than many people would desire to hear. The responsibility for alcoholism lies with the individual alcoholic and with all of human society. Alcoholism (together with drug addictions always) is conditioned and alcoholism is learned. By altering the circumstances which presently shape alcoholism, people will no longer learn to be alcoholics. That’s because the word ‘learn’ has for so long been too limited in its usage. It will help people to exercise control over their own destinies when we all understand learning in its fullest meaning. We have too long associated learning with schools and academic subjects. Learning is an essential and continuous part of life.

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In all areas of human behaviour, where people presently act wrongly, there is no one who could not overcome that wrongness. There will, though, be those who do not overcome their wrong actions. It is within the potential of every person to overcome their wrong actions. That which is within our potential may not always be easily attainable. Few, if any, have yet reached their full potential. It is possible to try extremely hard and still not succeed. It is for that reason it can be said that some people are not able to overcome their alcoholism, just as people struggling to achieve many other different goals do not succeed. They must be given more time and greater opportunity to succeed; but even if a person cannot live up to what they know to be right, they must take great care that they do not influence others to follow their wrong example. There are few things worse than influencing others to follow a wrong example. Sometimes, people who do wrong encourage others to also do wrong because it reduces their feeling of guilt. When someone is the only one doing wrong, the wrong stands in contrast to the right action of others. When doing wrong among others doing the same wrong thing, the wrong action becomes the social norm. I sometimes wonder, if they should have the opportunity to be a wrong influence on others taken from them. Human society can overcome the harm from individual wrong action, but it may not be possible to overcome the harm done by those who actively seek to influence others to do wrong. That has been the cause of much which is wrong in the world. That is why when people widely come to know the laws of learning they will not be so susceptible to wrong influence. If the effect of conditioning in our present society resulting in such widespread use of alcohol and the massive problems of alcoholism is greatly reduced, that would be one of the many benefits of a sane society.

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Moreover, that is the only way to successfully achieve those results. There could never be a sane society which resorts to any form of negative control. People cannot be made good by negative control. Goodness is an inner quality. Wrong behaviour can sometimes be temporarily suppressed by negative control, but goodness can never be instilled by negative control. Ultimately, right behaviour can only be achieved through positive influence. Characteristics and Factors of Mental Illness When I say mental illness is not inherited, I mean that there is no gene or combination of genes which produces most types of mental illness. It is not surprising that mental illness tends to occur more often in some families. Mental illness is a set of learned characteristics. Some environments are more likely to shape the characteristics associated with mental illness than others. Among the most powerful influences in the environment are the social influences. Families are the most powerful sources of social influence, particularly during the early years. Families that have a history of mental illness within them, make-up more of the influences; mainly social, which produce the beliefs and behaviours of the mentally ill. There is, but not all, so called scientific evidence that is logically sound and true.There have been statistical studies done which compare the rates of mental illness between family members of varying degrees of relationship with unrelated people in the community. The researchers looked at how often mental illness occurs in children of mentally ill parents, in brothers and sisters of mentally ill people, and at most of the other close family relationships. The closer the genetic identity, the more likely mental illness would occur. For example, brothers and sisters of a mentally ill person are more likely to also be mentally ill than are cousins of a mentally ill person. The twin of a mentally ill person is more likely to also be mentally ill than a brother or sister who is

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not a twin. But no matter what degree of closeness the family relationship, if one member of the family is mentally ill then the chances of some other member also becoming mentally ill are greater than among unrelated people. That certainly appears to be a reasonable interpretation; but it is not necessarily true. The family social environment would account for much of the related mental illness between family members, but certainly not all of it. There have been studies done on twins separated at birth and raised in different families. They also show a much greater chance of both becoming mentally ill if one becomes mentally ill than would unrelated people. Remember I stressed that when I say mental illness is not inherited, I mean that there is no one gene or combination of genes which produces mental illness. I have not said that there is no connection between genetic make-up and the development of mental illness. That is an extremely important difference. Each person is unique in the world in that their physical and neurological structure is different from all others. These differences are largely determined by the chromosomes inherited from their parents. I once gave an extreme example of how a person born with one leg is going to be a slower runner than most two legged people. While such an obvious difference in physical structure can easily be related to the later ability of the adult person, most differences in physiological and neurological make-up are not so obvious. A person born with only one leg will, throughout their life, not only be less likely to be a fast runner, but will have a different overall set of interactions with their environment. Those different interactions with their environment will begin from the earliest periods of life and continue throughout their life. Those differences in the interactions will not only be with the physical world, but also will result in different social interactions. Not only will there be differences in the physical and social interactions, but in their own thoughts

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and feelings there will be differences which will come about due to being born with only one leg. Every difference in the genetic make-up, whether great or small, will somehow have an effect on the interactions between the physical, social, and inner mental environment during a person’s life. The total of the genetic differences which make up each unique individual will have a combined effect on the nature of the individual’s interaction with their environment. When every class of learned behaviour is looked at, we will find that the unique genetic structure of each individual has some effect on the individual’s performance of that class of behaviour. Some people have a genetic make-up which will affect their interactions with the environment in such a way that those learning experiences are more likely to produce mental illness than others. No, it is not the genetic inheritance in any way which makes the person become mentally ill. It is the interactions with the total environment which produces mental illness. The genetic make-up of some people is such that their interactions with the environment result in those interactions making the development of mental illness more likely. If a person’s genetic make-up caused them to become mentally ill, there would be little that could be done to stop mental illness from occurring; but since it is the interactions with the environment which produce mental illness, there is much that can be done to remedy this problem. If the interactions of the individual with their environment produce mental illness, there could be further interactions with the environment which bring about a cure to that individual’s mental illness. Just as there are conditions of environmental influence which produce mental illness, there are also conditions of environmental influence which can cure mental illness. It would also be possible for human society to be such that the conditions of environmental influence which produce mental illness do not exist. The new science of epigenetics provides hope that this can be achieved in the future.

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Much mental illness which now exists is an attempt by the consciousness of individuals to adjust to their insane environment. In a truly sane society, there would be no mentally ill people, regardless of what genetic inheritance they brought into the world. It would appear that the unique physical and neurological structure of each individual, while having quite a large effect on the nature of that individual’s interactions with their environment, has only a small impact on the total development when compared to the experiences of life. Moreover, it has often been noted that the most obvious of genetic characteristics which show up in our physical make up can be great enough to develop certain personality traits. Self-fulfillling Prophecy: The Pygmalion Effect In the modern times, many studies have also confirmed the authenticity of the Pygmalion effect. It is found that, for example, if a person is fat, they are likely to have a large number of comments made to them about their weight. Comments of that type will only be made to those who are overweight. The combined effect of those comments will only have an influence on that class of people who are overweight. Since there is a specific form of influence directed toward only one segment of society it would be expected that segment of society might be shaped to behave in ways different than the rest of society who were not subject to those influences. It is possible that the particular influences unique to overweight people may result in the development of behaviour patterns which could be called jolly. I don’t want to say this example is actually the way some overweight people are shaped toward being jolly. It would be better to think of this example as a way to understand the general process whereby overweight people might be conditioned to behave in a manner which is described as jolly.

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Since people who are quite overweight will have a number of comments made to them about their weight, they are likely to develop some particular tactics in dealing with those comments. If each time some comment was made about their weight and they were to get angry, life could be very unpleasant. If each time some comment was made about their weight and they were to respond in a good humoured way, they might well receive a positive reaction from the person making the comment, and don’t have to suffer themselves the unpleasant experience of anger. After many years of responding humorously to comments about their weight, they would likely generalise that verbal skill to other aspects of their communication. From the perception of others, such a person would probably be considered to be jolly. In addition to whatever other influences, which during their development, condition overweight people to act in a jolly manner, those overweight people would also be aware that overweight people are often perceived to be jolly. The knowledge that such a stereotype exists might be another aspect of the conditioning factors in human society which result in the development of behaviour considered to be jolly. When others place expectations on us, or particularly when we place expectations on ourselves, we increase the likelihood of acting in accordance with those expectations. If an overweight person has social expectations upon them to be jolly, the likelihood that they will act in a jolly manner is increased. The process is called the “self-fulfilling prophecy” or “the Pygmalion Effect”. The concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy is much broader than that. The belief, held for whatever reason, that something is going to happen increases the likelihood of that thing happening. No matter what it is which we expect will happen, that thing becomes more likely because it is expected. The self-fulfilling prophecy does not make things happen, it creates a set of circumstances which increase the probability that the expected thing will take

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place. If we expect to do well at something, that expectation increases the chance we will do well. Similarly, if we expect to do poorly at something will that expectation increase the chance we will do poorly. That also is an effect of the self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if a person believes they are going to do well at something, they create a positive attitude toward the thing they are going to do. That positive feeling facilitates smooth and successful performance. In every thought and action related to the person’s performance, there will be some effect which facilitates that performance. If a person expects something to happen to them in the future, they will act in ways, many of them unconscious, to make that thing happen. Similarly, if someone were to believe that they were going to break their leg, that belief actually increases the chance they will break their leg. That belief will act on the person in many ways, largely subconscious, and the combined effect of those influences increases the probability that person will break their leg. If only one person believed the world is going to become a peaceful and loving place, there would be some increase in the likelihood of that happening; but it would be an extremely minor increase. The more people who believe anything will happen, the greater the effect of the combined influences which can increase the chance of that thing happening. If many people believe the world is going to become a peaceful and loving place, that would result in a major increase in the likelihood of world peace becoming a reality. If everyone believed that the world is going to become a peaceful and loving place, world peace would become a reality. Self-fulfilling prophecy works no matter what the expectation. If war and destruction is expected, we will have war and destruction. Much of what is believed is true. It is the future of the human race to either progress through raised consciousness to a future of peace and love, or to succumb

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to the prevailing wrong influences and perish in a horrible manner. We are close to the point now where, if all human society does not make the decision to follow the path of peace and love, the disastrous alternative will bring worldwide destruction. Let me present one more common argument against the idea that it is the conditioning effects of our interaction with the environment which has the major influence in determining the characteristics of each individual. Often, two people will come from a virtually identical environment, and yet they turn out to be completely different. For example, two people grow to maturity in a crime ridden, slum area. One turns out to be a thief and murderer, the other turns out to be a loving imam of a mosque. It is often thought one was born bad and the other was born good, since the environmental influence was the same for both. That kind of thinking shows a lack of understanding of the factors which make up the environment. Both the criminal and the holy man, in the example, might have had the same physical and social influences. We could take the example further and say they were brothers, even identical twins, in our attempt to make their physical and social environments as nearly identical as possible. What we are then considering is still only the smaller part of the environmental influence upon the criminal and the mosque imam. The biggest part of the environmental influence upon us always comes from our own thoughts and feelings, from our inner speech. When twin brothers turn out to be so very different from each other, having grown up in the same neighbourhood, in the same home, with the same family and acquaintances, the factor which is responsible for that great difference is due to the thoughts and feelings which took place in their inner speech over the years. It might be true that the physical and social environment they both experienced had a strong general influence toward the development of criminal behaviour.

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The inner speech of one would have provided influence which aided the effect of the external environmental influences, and he became a criminal. The inner speech of the other would have provided influence which opposed the effect of the external environmental influences, and he became an Imam of a mosque. Our inner speech is the source of our free will. There are, in all physical and social environments, influences which hinder our progression and influences which aid our progression. If we choose to exercise our free will we can, with inner speech, counter those influences which hinder our progression, and we can, with inner speech, support those influences which aid our progression. In this case, we insure a life which rises into the full expression of human nature, continuing toward our grand destiny, perfection in every aspect. Of those four classes of behaviour, sometimes believed to be inherited rather than learned, we have discussed about alcoholism and mental illness. Later, I want to ask more about mental illness; but first, I’d like to know something about the other two behaviours, criminality and homosexuality. Do both of those patterns of behaviour develop through the conditioning factors of the physical environment, the social environment, and inner speech? Criminality and Homosexuality Both criminal behaviour and homosexuality are learned behaviours. There is no genetic information carried in the chromosomes which can make a person either a criminal or a homosexual. Social factors, which in reality, have no logical significance, often influence the beliefs that people hold. There has been, within recent times, an attempt to equate the condition of homosexuality as an issue of civil rights. It is easier to pass homosexuality off as a legitimate lifestyle,

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which must be protected along with other civil rights, if it is a matter of genetic inheritance rather than a learned behaviour. If people are born homosexuals then we would have to accept that homosexuality is natural. The homosexuals would have no responsibility for their condition, and would justifiably expect to be granted the same rights as all other people. We have briefly discussed homosexual behaviour earlier. We have been discussing homosexuality along with alcoholism, mental illness, and criminal behaviour. They were grouped together because all four classes of behaviour have been claimed to be due to inherited physiological factors, rather than being conditioned by the experiences of life. Virtually, no one would disagree that alcoholism, mental illness, and criminal behaviour are harmful both to the individual and to society; but some would not consider homosexuality to be harmful to either the individual or to society. It is most fitting that homosexuality be grouped with alcoholism, mental illness, and criminal behaviour. It is only recently that the inclusion of homosexuality with those other behaviours was questioned. The word homosexual has been often misunderstood. It refers to sex between partners of the same gender, although the term homosexual has more commonly been used to describe the sexual relationship between men. When I use the word “homosexual”, I am referring to the condition of both men and women who engage in sexual behaviour with a partner of the same sex. There is much behaviour that is wrong which should not be considered criminal until society is well into its transformation into a society of goodness and right. In other words, only those qualities and behaviours of human beings which are in accord with natural law should be guaranteed as issues of civil rights. We must discriminate between that which is right and that which is wrong; there is no other way to achieve our grand destiny. Although I say homosexuality is not deserving

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of full acceptance, and may fairly and rightly be the subject of discrimination, it is important that any action taken in regard to homosexuality be only for the protection of society, and must never include any form of punishment or retribution toward the homosexual person. If homosexuals are fully accepted then the practice of homosexuality would be fully accepted. By giving full rights to homosexuals, the society would be acknowledging that there is nothing wrong with homosexual behaviour; but if homosexuality is a wrong behaviour there must be natural consequences. One of the natural consequences of wrong behaviour is the refusal of society to accept that wrong behaviour. The acceptance of wrong behaviour acts as a reinforcer for wrong behaviour, and therefore, results in an increase in that wrong behaviour. Homosexuals should be denied the opportunity to influence others to participate in homosexual acts, or to influence others to believe homosexual behaviour is right and desirable. No one has the right to influence others to think, speak, or act wrongly. In the beginning, yes. Removal of the opportunity to be a wrong influence has far reaching consequences. In all other ways, homosexuals are deserving of the love, consideration, and respect due to any person. Homosexuality is not a mental illness in the traditional meaning of the term; but the broadest meaning of mental illness must include homosexuality just as it must include all wrong human behaviour. Homosexual behaviour is a mental illness in the same way violence is a mental illness. All wrong thoughts, words, and deeds are symptoms of our insane society. In the true meaning of mentally ill, anyone who thinks, speaks, or acts in opposition to the natural law would have to be considered mentally ill. Classification of Mental Illness Under that broad definition of mental illness, every person on this planet is mentally ill. Yes, even me. I am not free from the

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pervasive influence of the old worldview. The wrong beliefs and influences from the past lead me to think, speak, and act wrongly at times. If every person in the world is mentally ill, to some degree, then it would seem no person should look down upon others as unworthy. The wrongness in thought, word, and deed of some is great, and in others small. No person shall overcome their wrongness, be it great or small, unless we all work together to bring sanity to the human race. I do not consider it useful to have such a detailed classification system for mental illness. That method of classification leads to the belief that each of the listed categories of mental illness is truly separate from the others. If each one is a separate form of mental illness then it would also be likely that there are specific origins and cures for each. They might be valuable if they were correct, but they are based on an incorrect understanding of the basic nature of human illness. It is not correct to think that there are many different types of mental illness. Virtually, all mental illness is of one type. That one basic type manifests itself in many different ways. There is one set of laws which govern the development of virtually all mental illness, and one form of treatment which provides the best hope of recovery from the varied expressions of mental illness. If one were to view the behaviours associated with the different expressions of mental illness, they would appear to have no common factor. It is probably that fact which resulted in the widely held belief that there are many different types of mental illness. Different patterns of physical and verbal behaviour were observed to fall into a number of recognisable classes. The general pattern of behaviour which makes up each different class was then labelled as a separate mental illness. There is also another factor which resulted in the belief that there were a number of different types of mental illness. Even the name, mental illness, is related to the influence of that same factor. Long before problems of the mind became the subject of study, problems of the body occupied the

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healers of society. Diseases of the body often had symptoms distinctly different from each other. The various diseases also often had different origins and different cures. When attempts were first made to understand the problems of the mind, the medical model, which had been developed to understand the problems of the body, seemed to apply equally well to the problems of the mind. Problems of the mind were seen as an illness, the cause of the problems of the mind was thought to be a disease, and the methods of treating problems of the mind were of the same type as those used to treat physical ailments. Those who suffered problems of the mind were believed to be sick and were treated by medical practitioners as patients, who had no more responsibility for overcoming their condition than someone being treated for a broken leg. Why Treatment of Mental Illness Fails Since the problems of the mind were not well understood, there was little success in the treatment of mental illness. Sometimes, the mentally ill person was thought to have diseased fluids within the body. In those cases, the patient was usually bled or purged. At other times, the mentally ill person was thought to be possessed by evil spirits. In those cases, which were often the more severe expressions of problems of the mind, the mentally ill person underwent exorcism, which is a religious ritual to drive the evil spirits out of the person believed to be possessed. Those people suffering severe mental problems were often beaten, drowned, and burned in an attempt to make the body so unpleasant an abode that the demons would leave. Many people already suffering the anguish of mental illness have died during what was claimed to be treatment. There have been instances of mentally ill people being equally mistreated during the 20th century. There are still mentally ill people dying while undergoing what is claimed to be treatment in today’s world. The nature, the origins, and the

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cure of mental illness are still poorly understood. In a world society so sick as ours, where in the true sense we all are suffering from mental illness, it is only to be expected that the understanding and treatment of problems of the mind would be notably less than adequate. Therefore, little is known even about the normal functions of the mind that there has been little basis to understand the mind when it goes wrong. I’ll start by explaining mental illness as it has recently been understood. Very broadly, mental illness was thought to fall into two main categories. These are neuroses and psychoses. Of the two, neuroses are usually the less severe, while the psychoses include the more major expressions of mental illness. There are a wide range of behaviours and thought patterns which are considered to be neuroses. Basically, they include thoughts and behaviours which stand in the way of happiness, calmness, satisfaction, and social/ personal effectiveness. Neuroses are expressed in a variety of ways such as exaggerated character traits, changes in mood, compulsions, preoccupations, or unreasonable fears. Such thoughts and behaviours often have some defensive intent, but are almost invariably self-defeating. Also, people experiencing problems of this type are most often unaware of the nature of their difficulties. This does not mean that people who are expressing neurotic difficulties don’t know they have a problem. It is often quite obvious to the person involved, as well as others, that they are experiencing some problem; but people seldom understand why they have a problem, the nature of the problem, and are most often unable to resolve the problem without help. A common neurosis is the general anxiety disorder. A person suffering from general anxiety disorder will experience a distress or uneasiness of mind due to a non-specific fear of

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danger or misfortune. That uneasy mental state will often be accompanied by physical symptoms such as sweating or an increased heart rate. The neurotic anxiety reaction is like being scared for no reason. That would be a very uncomfortable feeling. Since there is no real basis for the fear, there is no way to deal with the object of fear. The expression of neuroses falls on a continuum like all other things. The range would extend from virtually never feeling general anxiety to almost constantly feeling that general anxiety. Most people would, at some time or other, experience such a feeling, so in that case it would be considered normal. Those who experience a general anxiety disorder to a degree that it seriously interferes with their life are considered to be suffering a neurosis. It also depends on how severely the anxiety is felt. If quite mild it would more likely be accepted as normal, and if it is very intense, it would more likely be considered as neurotic. That is invariably the case, and this fact will be important when we discuss the origins of all mental illness. Understanding Phobias Phobias are a very common expression of neurosis. A phobia is a specific fear which is way out of proportion to the thing feared. It is an obsessively persistent, unrealistic fear, which is inappropriate to the situation. There are a number of wellknown phobias, but are there many others not so well known. Theoretically, the list of phobias would be as long as the list of all things which exist, since anything may serve as the stimulus for a phobic reaction. Very common phobias include claustrophobia, the fear of closed places; acrophobia, the fear of heights; and ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes. Phobias include both harmful and harmless objects of fear. It isn’t the fear which makes a phobia, as phobias only include fear beyond that which is normal for the situation. A person unfamiliar with snakes might have what is called a “valid fear” or “healthy respect” for snakes. That might keep

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the person from indiscriminately handling snakes, some of which might be poisonous. An unreasonable fear might be expressed by a person who screams, cries, and becomes hysterical in the presence of a snake. I think phobias would be a good expression of mental illness to explore further. Some of the factors effecting the development and treatment of phobias, which are a relatively simple form of mental illness, also have importance to the development and treatment of mental illness in general. By understanding the simple, we will be better able to understand the complex. Both the mental and physical expressions of phobic reaction are learned. People who have phobias learn the thoughts and feelings of fear which they experience, and learn ways to express that fear with bodily reactions. Every aspect of the phobic experience is conditioned by those same basic learning principles. This does not mean that the development of all the different types of phobia went through the same process of development. The process of development would be different for each phobia. In fact, the process of development of the same phobia by any two people would be different. Each person who develops a phobia would have undergone a process of development different from all others. No two phobias will ever be identically developed. The laws which govern the development never vary, but the experiences which are governed by those laws are always unique. The circumstances surrounding the development of any phobia will be much too complex to be fully known. Many of the experiences which had an impact on the development of the phobia would not have been obviously connected with the development of the phobia. While it is always helpful in curing a phobia to know as many of the circumstances of its development as possible, luckily, it is possible to successfully cure a phobia while knowing little of the specifics of its development. Every aspect of the expression of a phobia is behaviour. Some of those behaviours may be physical, some verbal, and some mental. That group of behaviours which

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make up the phobia are all subject to the laws of learning. All of those behaviours were learned, and all can be unlearned. As with any behaviour, you attempt to alter, you begin with the baseline behaviour and organise experiences which will reinforce the movement of behaviour away from the baseline toward some goal. The baseline behaviour in the case of a phobia is the present state of all physical, verbal, and mental responses to the object of the irrational fear. The goal is to bring all aspects of the phobic response into a normal range, which would no longer cause difficulties or excessive discomfort. Indeed, the introduction of Positive Islamic Psychology will encourage the implementation of Pi-CBT i.e. Positive Islamic Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Pi-CBT) and serve as a way forward towards addressing existing mental problems in the world today. Cognitive Dissonance In psychology, cognitive dissonance refers to the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas or values. Cognitive dissonance is particularly evident in situations where an individual’s behaviour conflicts with beliefs that are integral to his or her self-identity. Cognitive dissonance, therefore, is a disharmony of the mind. When there is a discrepancy between what we think and what we do, a condition of discomfort is created in the mind. The mind, which feels more comfortable with order and harmony than with disorder and disharmony, seeks to overcome the experienced discomfort. Since it is the discrepancy between the beliefs held and the behaviour performed which causes the discomfort, the obvious way to remove the disharmony is for the beliefs and behaviour to be one. To achieve that harmonious condition, beliefs tend to move towards behaviour, and behaviour tends to move towards belief.

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In the broad sense, the effects of cognitive dissonance would be felt in many areas of our lives. We tend to drift from one point to another at times, but we always seem able to keep the discussion headed in the same direction. It is the nature of conversation to jump and drift. I feel the manner of our discussion represents the freedom of mind which is itself part of the truth we seek. One of the things we discussed earlier was the selffulfilling prophecy. The resulting effect of the self-fulfilling prophecy was that anything a person believes will happen becomes more likely to happen. Consciousness at the human level becomes complex almost beyond present understanding. There are many factors which result in our beliefs becoming more likely to be our reality. Some of those factors we are aware of, and some we do not yet understand. Among those factors of which we are presently aware, cognitive dissonance is a major influence in the occurrence of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Although I described cognitive dissonance as a discomfort of the mind, we are most often not consciously aware of the condition. It is well within human potential to be fully aware of the condition and the circumstances of cognitive dissonance. As in many realms of human endeavour, most people fail to realise their potential. While the mental discomfort is invariably perceived, the causes are seldom known. When we fail to be aware of the reality of our circumstances, it greatly increases the chance of making wrong decisions in our lives. We must know the truth in all things to maximise our developmental progression. The effects of cognitive dissonance are experienced not only by individuals, but by social groups of all sizes. Indeed, all of human society can be affected by this type of disharmony of the collective mind. When there is a discrepancy between any widely held belief in society and the behaviour of society in respect to that belief, then the collective mind of society experiences discomfort. The result is the same as in the

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individual. Social beliefs tend to move toward the on-going behaviour patterns, and social behaviour tends to move toward the widely held beliefs. Depending on what beliefs and behaviours are causing the disharmony in the collective mind, the social changes may be small or large. Through the course of human history, some of those states of cognitive dissonance, affecting the collective mind, have been resolved in ways which have brought about major social upheaval. There is no fixed proportion of change that either makes toward the other. There are many factors which determine whether it is behaviour that changes most in the direction of belief, or whether it is belief that changes most in the direction of behaviour. Chief among those factors is the influence of the social environment. As usual, I don’t want to claim the examples I give are actually the way things happened. It is the understanding of a general process which is of importance, not the specific example. This does not mean that your example will not be an actual account of social change. It only means that there is no obligation for examples of this type to be factual accounts. With that said, I’ll use the example of women smoking. There was a time when the belief was widely held that it was quite a terrible thing for a woman to smoke a cigarette. Most people accepted that restriction, and virtually no women smoked. In that case, there was little effect from cognitive dissonance since beliefs and behaviour were in harmony. Then behaviour changed as some women began to smoke. The behaviour changed while social beliefs remained the same. Then the effect of cognitive dissonance became a reality in the minds of many. Some women who smoked felt guilty about it. Some women who, seeing other women smoke, would have liked to smoke, but didn’t because they thought it was wrong. Men and women both experienced discomfort because women they saw or knew were smoking. By that time, there was considerable discomfort present in the minds of many people. This discomfort was due to the various discrepancies which

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now existed between beliefs and behaviour, in regard to the issue of whether or not women should smoke. There were two ways in which that condition of disharmony could have been resolved; either behaviour could have moved back toward beliefs, and women could have quit smoking or that beliefs could have moved toward behaviour, and people could have generally acknowledged that it was acceptable for women to smoke. The second option was the one chosen. The influence of the social environment soon heavily supported the acceptability of women smoking. It became almost socially unacceptable to doubt the rightness of women smoking. Belief changed from general disapproval of women smoking to the widely held belief that it was acceptable, perhaps even desirable, for women to smoke. Behaviour and belief once again established a harmony, with a very large proportion of women smoking and that behaviour being widely approved. However, this was not the end of the process of cognitive dissonance regarding women smoking. Rather, further changes were to take place. This time, rather than behaviour changing and bringing disharmony, it was beliefs that were to change first. A general public awareness developed that cigarette smoking was a very unhealthy thing to do. That was true for both men and women; but because women have the special role as bearers of children, it was discovered to be worse for women. By smoking cigarettes, women were not only harming themselves, but were also damaging their unborn children. As health, physical fitness, and realisation of responsibility to unborn children became important and widely held beliefs within our society, the collective consciousness once again began to experience cognitive dissonance. This renewed experience of cognitive dissonance in society came about because the behaviour of the many women who smoked was once again coming to be in opposition to the widely held beliefs. As always, there were the same two ways to reduce that conflict.

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Behaviour could have moved towards belief, i.e. women could have quit smoking or they could have moved towards behaviour, Women smoking could once again receive wide public acceptance. This time the first option is the one being chosen. Many women, and happily men also, are beginning to give up smoking. Once again, a position of harmony is being approached where there will be less effect from cognitive dissonance because there will be less discrepancy between belief and behaviour. In recent times, much human behaviour has strayed far from society’s long held system of beliefs and values. Vast numbers of the world population suffered great mental trauma as the discrepancy between beliefs and behaviour widened. So great was this emotional pain that, virtually overnight, long held social beliefs and values shifted to keep pace with changing social behaviour. In that way, cognitive dissonance was reduced, mental pain was eased. This was not really a successful strategy because the cost was far too great. We once discussed the fact that all levels of material form, including the human level, must act in harmony with natural law. It is possible to vary to some degree from that natural order, but if the degree of variance is too great, there is a penalty. The penalty, if the divergence becomes extreme, is the termination of that particular line of material development. Natural law must be followed. If the divergence of the human race reaches that disastrous extreme, the result will be the extinction of the species. Many of the human behaviours which strayed from society’s long held beliefs and values also diverged from the natural order. It was bad enough that behaviour violated natural law, but when belief followed behaviour in order to reduce mental discomfort, the future of the human species was put at dire risk. Now it is obvious to understand why I say the cost was too high. We cannot afford to put the human race at risk to eliminate the mental trauma of cognitive dissonance, neither could humanity continue to exist in that state of mental

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trauma. The reason why human behaviour in recent times begin to stray so greatly from the long established beliefs and values of human society was because those long held beliefs and values underwent scrutiny and reassessment based on a newly emerging worldview. They were found wanting. Those cherished beliefs and values did not appear to fit in the grand scheme of that newly emerging worldview. It would not have been so damaging if the emerging worldview had been correct, but unfortunately, the emerging worldview took humanity further from the understanding of the true nature of the reality of our existence than we have perhaps ever been. Spiritual/Mystical knowledge Mystical knowledge is spiritual knowledge; the world can surely use a lot more spirituality. As long as we don’t diverge from the truth, the distinction between the spiritual and the material is only a matter of language. All truth is connected as part of the unified whole. Our minds have reached a degree of harmonious union. I am sure we will have no difficulty understanding each other no matter how we speak of the truth. Since our discussion may fast be coming to an end, we should set no more limits on how we should proceed. What is now most important is that we left nothing unsaid. Now that we are not limited to the formal discussion of the laws of learning, I would like to discuss how all of human society can come to understand the new worldview presented in Positive Islamic Psychology. This is reasonable because once we know how individual consciousness, or personality, develops we will be better able to know how individual consciousness can change. After we know how individual consciousness can change, since human society is made up of the consciousness of billions of individuals, then we would be better able to understand how all of human society can change and come to hold this new worldview. Moreover, once we know how one person develops

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and changes, then we will have a pretty good idea how the society develops and changes. Our thoughts and feelings are very much physical activities. Concerning the question that if our thoughts and feelings are physical activities, then why can’t they be observed? The answer to that question goes back to our earliest discussions about the nature of physical existence. Our bodies are made up of physical matter. Our physical bodies are made up of an extremely complex grouping of subatomic particles; mainly protons, neutrons, and electrons. For instance, then large groupings of those subatomic particles, which make up an arm, all move together then we have no difficulty observing that movement. Our brains are also made up of physical matter. Whenever we think of any thought or experience, any feeling there is, because of the way that the mind works, a movement of an infinitesimal number of subatomic particles in the brain when compared with the multitudes which make up an arm. Not only are there many fewer particles of matter involved in thinking a thought than in moving an arm, but the subatomic particles of the brain, involved in thinking a thought, move distances which are much less than the smallest we are easily capable of perceiving. The physical body of each individual is a grouping of subatomic particles, those particles being no different from the subatomic particles which make up the body of any other individual. It is the particular learning experiences which each grouping of subatomic particles making up a human body undergoes that sets each individual apart as unique, different from all other human beings. This fact of our existence does not in any way diminish our unique importance as an individual. Without the effect of learning experiences as we interact with our environment, we would have no exciting, creative, and beautiful differences between individuals. Without the effect of learning experiences, we would not even be dull, boring, identical human beings; we would be nothing

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more than meaningless blobs of protoplasm, having no more personality than an amoeba. It always seems hard to give up setting the characteristics of human beings apart from all other aspects of existence in the physical universe. It is very difficult for us to realise and accept we are truly part of the material existence, that our essential nature is identical with the nature of the universe around us. We are one with the universe. Whatever we come to know of the universe around us, we come to know of ourselves. It will be good when we are no longer limited by beliefs which require us to deny the truth to maintain an illusion. As we seek to attain perfection in every aspect of our being, we must give up all illusions so that we can be fully open to the true nature of our existence. So we should now have no difficulty accepting the fact that each human being becomes a unique individual as determined by the sum total of their interactions with the environment, their past learning history. Conclusion In the 1st, 2nd and 3rd principles of this book, I have elaborated the nature of the Creator and the created universe, the true nature of the human self and our role as vicegerent of God on Earth. These principles will be used as a basis for the development of our holistic existence and the nature of our spiritual and mystical experience. Any new language is hard to get used to at first; but once we become used to that new language, it becomes as easy and as comfortable as the old language. By using that objective, scientific language I find I can better understand the influences upon my behaviour; and then I have much greater control over the direction my life takes as I develop into adulthood. As always, the greater the amount of knowledge the greater the ability to exercise free will. It is for this reason that I want you to understand how

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learning takes place at all different levels. When this greater understanding of how learning takes place becomes widely known throughout human society, then humanity as a whole will be better able to exercise free will. Once the human race has achieved this greater ability to act out of free will, rather than be pushed around by external forces, we will be able to live more fully in accord with our true nature, which is peaceful and loving. In my own life, I can see that happening. The more I come to know of the true nature of reality the more I desire to be a peaceful and loving person; the better able I become to use my free will to choose peaceful and loving thoughts, peaceful and loving words, and peaceful and loving deeds. If I find my desire to live in a peaceful and loving manner increasing as my knowledge increases, and if at the same time my ability to exercise my free will also increases, thus allowing me to more successfully choose to follow the path of peace and love, then what happens to me as an individual must be expected to happen to all of the human race as soon as this new, more correct worldview permeates the consciousness of humanity. It can be no other way. If the collective consciousness of human society comes to possess a new, more correct body of knowledge, then humanity will move further along the path to perfection. Any place further along the path to perfection from where we are now, will definitely be more peaceful and loving. In fact, any place further along the path to perfection from where we are now will necessarily be better in every positive characteristic. I have given many examples of the effects of some of the laws of learning; there are many more laws of learning that affects human behaviour which are yet to be discovered. Further research in understanding the integrative transcendent nature of human learning and behaviour will allow us to frame a comprehensive theory of human learning. I am proposing the Positive Islamic Psychology model as one

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of the ways to achieve comprehensive laws of learning of learning and human behaviour. I will also include practical application of this PIP model to transform individual and contemporary human society towards goodness, peace, love, happiness and success. Insya'Allah!

CHAPTER FIVE

POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY MODEL

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Introduction Our Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) Model attempts to define and create a framework of positive psychology in our effort towards creating a positive global worldview. The four basic principles of Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) outlined in the previous chapters are: 1st Principle: Understanding the Creator and the Created Universe. 2nd Principle: The True Nature of the Human Self. 3rd Principle: On being the Vicegerent of God in this Universe (Khalifatullah fil ard). 4th Principle: Holistic Principles of Human Behaviour and Laws of Learning. Certainly, there is a tremendous need for the Muslim Ummah to become more positive and contribute towards the development of the twenty first century humanity. Therefore, more research need to be done by Muslim psychologists and others throughout the world to expand on this work. We will then be able to understand the true transcendent nature of human existence and expand the scientific basis of this reality. Only then can we really understand who we are as human beings and work collectively towards achieving peace, happiness and success. By examining the transcendent nature of the human self from an Islamic perspective, it is clear that the Concept of Perception and Total Past Learning History (TPLH) transcend the physical world. The sum total of human existence which is inclusive of all of his perceptions, behaviour and actions are the basis of his Total Past Learning History (TPLH). This transcendental model should be understood based on the principles described in the previous chapters.

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In sum, human existence in this world, based on AlGhazali’s Ihya’ Ulumuddin is described in the following diagram: Physical realm fused into spiritual realms

Spiritual realms

Qalb (Heart) Ruh (Spirit)

Nafs (Self)

Jasad (Body)

Aqal (Mind)

Diagram 4: The 5 realms existing in both our spiritual and physical domains as we live on Earth based on Al-Ghazali’s model.

We understand that the human self consists of five realms/ domains, namely: spiritual (ruh), emotional-heart (qalb), mental-mind (aqal) and the physical body (jasad). These four domains combine to constitute our real self (nafs) as a fifth domain, as we exist in this physical world. From the above diagram, we can understand the interface of the SEMP (Spiritual-Emotional-Mental-Physical) realms. It should be noted, however, that we are existing

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beyond space and time when our inner speech develops from the unconscious realm. When we think consciously, however, that inner speech interfaces transcends the unconscious realm to the conscious realm that is bounded by space and time. Over the last hundred years, there has been a number of interesting, even useful, personality theories offered by adherents of the various ‘schools’ of psychology and psychiatry. In general, these theories have shown considerable insight into the human condition, but none has ever dealt sufficiently with the full range and complexity of variables which influence human development. A theoretical construct of personality development was needed which provided a mechanism by which we could come to objectively understand the influences, both within and without, which determine the course of our development. Without this knowledge, we would never be able to gain control over our own development by utilising to its maximum the great potential of our free will. It is necessary to consider all of the variables in the environment influencing the development of the personality. Modern research in neurology points to the importance of the limbic system and the brain stem in processing human consciousness. All the neural and dendrite connections of both the left and right brain is network into the limbic system and the brain stem; the centre or the hub of all our brain function both conscious and unconscious. The limbic system/ brain stem of the brain help to coordinate and process all our conscious and unconscious inner speech. We also now know that the physical brain is just one aspect or domain of our existence. Modern brain science is proving the true nature of the transcendent human self that is consonant with Islamic principles. From Positive Islamic Psychology perspective, human beings have six sensory capabilities which can transcend beyond the realm of space and time. The laws of learning must

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be holistic to cater to all of the human domains of existence, i.e. SEMP domains. Moreover, the totality of human life is a learning environment for his SEMP domains that is governed by laws of learning. If human laws of learning only cover the five sensory physical aspects, it will not be complete and cannot be the real holistic laws of human learning. As we have better understanding of the quantum nature of this universe, we will begin to understand the existence of the realm that is beyond our five physical faculties. Our understanding of quantum mechanics is already transforming our notions of relationship. As Danah Zohar, in “The Quantum Self, Bloomsbury”, 1990, observes, Both the concept of an entity being an indeterminate wave/ particle dualism and a concept of movement which rests on virtual transitions presage a revolution in our perception of how things relate. Things and events once conceived of as separate, parted in both space and time, are seen by the quantum theorists as so integrally linked that their bonds mocks the reality of both space and time. They behave, instead, as multiple aspects of some larger whole, their individualist existence deriving both definition and their meaning from that whole.

Quantum experiment on pairs of correlated photons has proven the non-local influences of these photons behavioural pattern. Even though they are separated across the universe, they are linked together across space and time. Quantum theory also suggests the possibility of many universes or worlds, in each of which, we can a version of our selves. Each different from the other, and having pursued different developmental progress, depending on the nature of that world or universe. In the same vein, John Eccles, neurologist and Nobel prize winner, conducted outstanding researches of the human nervous system concluding that human brain is not just mere mechanical nervous system but has an independent “self-conscious mind”. This non-material entity fully controls

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all nervous and behavioural activities of the human self. We can call this non-material entity as “our spirit” or “our soul” as described in most transcendent /religious belief system. According to Eccles, this self-conscious mind continuously scans and controls the brain. Similarly, Eccles and another renowned philosopher Karl Popper in their book The Self and Its Brain, concluded that the “self-conscious mind” transcends death. They wrote: Finally, of course we come to the ultimate picture, what happens in the death? Then all cerebral activity ceases permanently. The self-conscious mind that has had an autonomous existence in a sense ... now finds that the brain it had scanned and probed and controlled so efficiently and effectively through a long life is no longer giving any messages at all. What happens then is the ultimate question.

Modern biological research cannot resolve the problem of true human nature. In fact, there are many experiments that demonstrate that the signal from the heart controls human brain. In his Evolution’s End, for example, Joseph Pearce observes that; “actions in the heart precede the actions of both body and brain... We know now that the heart... controls and governs the brain action through hormonal, neurotransmitter, and possibly fineer quantum-energies of communication”. Pearce also discovered that when we are in deep spiritual contemplation, we are connecting our physical heart to the spiritual universal heart which in turn communicates with our brain cells that influence our thinking and behaviour. Interestingly, classical Islamic Theologist/ Philosopher Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in his monumental work IhyaUlum alDin described this phenomenon one thousand years before Joseph Pearce. Al-Ghazali explained that our spiritual heart (qalb) controls all our function including our physical heart. We will elaborate on al-Ghazali’s finding later in this chapter.

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Moreover, research conducted at internationally renowned Heart Math Institute found that the heart’s intrinsic nervous system (the heart brain) contains sensory neurites as well as local circuit neurons of several types. The sensory neurites, which are distributed throughout the heart, sent and respond to many types of biological information, including heart rate, pressure, hormones, and neurotransmitters. The local circuit neurons are arranged in progans with input from the heart’s sensory neurites. From there, the neurological information from the heart travels to higher brain centres involved in emotional processing, decision making, and reasoning. It must be remembered that in Islam, our relationship with the universe is not mechanical but multi-dimensional. Our relationship with God is based on the principles of tawhid, i.e. the oneness of Being that transcends all realms, all time and space and all universes. Human being was created for a purpose; to understand and learn the nature of the oneness of the Creator. We are progressing towards understanding that this life in the physical realm is a learning process and experiences towards self perfection. We have a greater existence in the eternal spiritual realm beyond space and time in the timeless future. Given the fact that humans are created with the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical domains, they are multi-sensory beings capable of perception beyond the physical visible realm. Indeed, their perception, intention, behaviour and actions at all levels affect us at all realms of existence. Similarly, their existence, intention, behaviour and actions affect this physical universe as well as all realms of the spiritual worlds. Moreover, their personality and behaviour are shaped by the learning environment in this world at both physical and spiritual level. Consequently, the choices that they make as humans affect their progress towards perfection in the eternal spiritual

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realm. Imprinted within their human nature are the deeper questions of our existence such as; is there purpose in life? Does God exist? Is there life after death? ... as well as other critical questions of life. In Islam, man is created as the vicegerent of God on Earth (Khalifatallah fi al-ardh) to experience and fulfill our life in answering the above perennial questions. In fact, human being is the only creature equipped with the ability to make choices through free will. Similarly, he is also the only creature given the knowledge to realize the grandeur of this universe and the greatness of the Creator. Inputs that Shape Human Perception From the above description of our integrated transcendent self and our journey in life, we can develop a holistic framework of Positive Islamic Psychology. Whatever inputs that shape our human perception, we must see this from the integrated aspects of the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical domain. It is actually very difficult to find the boundary of the sources that shape our human perception. However, from modern psychological research, we can have some understanding of these inputs. From our research, it appears that three major sources of input shape human perception. They are the physical environment, interpersonal communication/ social environment and inner speech. However, there are many other inputs towards shaping human perception and behaviour which we classify as subsidiaries that compliments these three major inputs. First Input: Physical Environment The physical environment is the starting point of our existence in this physical plane. We are affected by all aspects of the

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physical environment for us to exist on this Earth. Our basic requirement is our food, clothing and shelter. In addition, we are also affected by our genetic makeup that can affect our physical, mental, and emotional state. For example, a)

If the nutrition level in our food intake is insufficient it will stunt our physical and mental growth. Many children in the Sub-Saharan region are stunted both physically and mentally as a result of famine and gross malnutrition. We also have the opposite problem of excessive food intake in the western world resulting in obesity and lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, as well as psychological problems such as anorexia and bulimia.

b) We need proper clothing and shelter. There are hundreds of shanty towns where the poor live in abject poverty with no proper housing or sanitation. These shanty towns are the breeding ground for diseases, as well as social and psychological problems such as rape, murder, incest, drug addiction, gangsterism and other major societal problems. c)

We are also living in a world that is increasingly polluted. Due to our excessive material greed and consumerism, we are plundering planet Earth to the point of no return. We are seeing catastrophic climate change, as well as environmental degradation that will make all biological life extremely difficult in the future. This environmental disaster that can wipe out human life within the next hundred years is due to our imbalanced way of life. We can say that modern humanity is collectively insane. We know that we are destroying ourselves and our future, yet we continue doing wrong things that will finally destroy all of humanity. Is this not a sign of a collective insane behaviour?

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There are many studies currently being conducted to determine the extent to which DNA/genes affect our behaviour. For example, some research claims that we may have a genetic disposition towards alcoholism. However, if the environment does not encourage the consumption of alcohol then alcoholism will not be a problem in that society even though some of the members in that society may have some genetic predisposition towards alcoholism. Another global problem is addiction to drug. Some existing researches also claim some genetic predisposition that contributes to drug addiction. However, in many western countries, extensive drug addiction are due to availability of drugs. In countries where laws are strictly enforced, the incidents of drug addiction is nominal. This goes to show that the physical environment will be the final determinant in shaping the behaviour of drug addicts. Similarly, the new science of epigenetics shows that the inherited genes are largely influenced by the physical and social environment.

There are many more examples of the physical environment that we can quote. However, we need to understand that the physical environment that affects our TPLH at the individual human level or collectively as a society or globally as a civilization takes into account all physical factors that we encounter as we exist on this physical Earth. Second Input: Interpersonal Communication/ Social Environment The next input that affects our Total Past Learning History (TPLH) is the interpersonal communication/social environment. It must be explained why interpersonal communication/social environment is considered as a

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separate source of input rather than as part of the physical environment. According to social scientists, human being is a social animal which interacts with other human beings by forming social bonds. We are the only species given the gifts of language as means of communication, interaction and learning. We are also the only species given free will to act in a good manner to make the world better and happier or in evil manner that causes destruction and unhappiness. The complex interaction of good and evil is reflected through our interpersonal communication and social environment. There are many scientific researches and discoveries in the field of Communication and Sociology that point to these complex interactions. The detailed elaboration of these interactions, however, is beyond the scope of this book. For the purpose of research in this Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) model, we will discuss how the physical environment, interpersonal communication/social environment interact holistically with our inner speech. Third Input: Inner Speech As we have explained the transcendent nature of inner speech, it transcends the spiritual, emotion, mental and physical domains. Our inner speeches are also influenced by the physical world/universe, as well as the spiritual universes, i.e. the Angelic realm (al-alamal-Malaki) and other spiritual influences which we will elaborate later. At this point, it might be of benefit to refer to the diagrams below that illustrate the three sources of input in relation to an individual personality. We must remember that when we discuss about the three sources of input, we are also referring to all realms of existence that interact with us that shape our persona.

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PERSONALITY CONSTRUCT- BASIC FRAMEWORK Personality A

3. Physical Enviroment 2. Interpersonal Communication/ Social Enviroment 1. Inner Speech

Perception

Three Sources of Input

Total Past Learning History

Diagram 5: Personality Construct- Basic Framework

Source 1 : Physical Environment

Physical Enviroment

Perception

Personality A

Total Past Learning History

Diagram 6: Physical environment impinges directly on our various sensory

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Source 2 : Interpersonal Communication / Social Enviroment Personality B

Personality A

Perception

Total Past Learning History Physical Enviroment

Total Past Learning

Diagram 7: Personality B can only communicate (impinge on the sensory inputs) with Personality A through the manipulation of the physical environment; but the self source is not empirical, rather it is an abstract concept.

Source 3 : Inner Speech

3. Inner Speech

Perception

Personality A

Total Past Learning History

Diagram 8: Note: Inner speech originates within Personality A, becomes a conscious process through entering the perception: and, as do the other sources, affect the Total Past Learning History (TPLH).

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In addition to considering the effect these three sources of input have on the development of human personality, this model of personality development provides additional important consideration we will like to call “concept of perception”. In essence, humans are not directly affected by their environment; but instead, by their perception of the environment. For example, consider two people who arrive at a meeting late, they both step through the doorway at the same time, all those at the meeting stop what they are doing and look at the late arrivals. One may perceive what is occurring as indicative of negative feedback (input), the people present are critical of the late arrival, and the other may perceive this situation as positive feedback (input), the people present consider the late arrival to be appropriately fashionable. On the basis of this input, the first may resolve never again to be late at a meeting. While the second may find himself arriving late more often, this result could be independent of the true feelings of those already present at the meeting. Of course, the reason the two persons (personalities) perceived and responded to an identical environmental situation differently is that the two individuals brought to that environment vastly different past learning histories. Not only does our past learning history affect our behaviour, but it also affects our perceptions of the environment. Each input, from whatever source that enters the individual’s perception, has an effect greater than zero on the Total Past Learning History (TPLH); and each change in the TPLH has an effect greater than zero on the individual’s perception. The effect of any perceived input while always greater than zero will have a range of effect from negligible to all pervasive. Of course many, perhaps most, of the inputs from the environment will have a negligible effect on the TPLH, but it is possible for a single input to have such great significance as to result in a major change in the course of the development of the personality. It is also the case that

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any change in the TPLH has the same possible range of effect on the perception of future inputs from the environment. We also have to take into account the effects of our spirituality, as explained in the earlier chapters on our TPLH. Other effects on TPLH include physiology, biochemistry, heredity etc. But their effect is determined by our perception of them and how they alter our interactions with the environment. In the purest theoretical sense, with this ‘tabula rasa’ personality construct, we would have to say that there is a time, probably pre-natal, when the first sensory input, probably from the physical environment, is perceived, processed, and stored. The early inputs would have a greater effect than the later ones since they have less past learning history to dilute their effect, and they would also have a greater effect because they would be more influential in determining the perception of future inputs from the environment. This would account for the presumption common to most personality theories that the basic personality is formed in the very early years of childhood. This theoretical model addresses several of the major, but simplistic, challenges to and reservations about behaviourism. One reservation is the idea that behaviourism is a tautology since we define our stimuli by their effect on the responses they are made contingent upon. This is answered in theory, although not in practice due to the state of the technology by the fact that it would be possible to determine ‘a priori’ with absolute certainty, the effect of any stimulus in any contingent relationship with a response if we fully knew the total past learning history of that individual. A second much asked question is, “how do two people who grow up in a seemingly identical environment can become two very different people?” Those who would ask such a question are taking a naive view of the environmental variables affecting human development; and based on this model, they have probably neglected to consider the input from source three, inner speech. Additionally, they have not considered that the inputs from the so-called ‘identical’ environments

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have been mediated by each individual’s unique perception of that environment. A third and very compelling reservation about behaviourism is that the practical application of the theory, while changing behaviour, does not change the ‘inner’ person; and it is less than a true therapeutic agent. From this learning, it is clearly based on personality theory, as we affect the individual’s behaviour by a manipulation of environmental variables, we are affecting the ‘inner’ person, the personality. I would agree though, since behaviourists have largely ignored the inner being, they have not been nearly as effective as they could be in developing behavioural generalization from the therapeutic environment to the outside world. Finally, there are many who believe that since behaviourists say that the individual becomes the person he is based on his interaction with his environment, they are saying that the individual is not responsible for his actions. I believe this has been misinterpreted. What is actually the case is that at any given point in time, the individual could be no other than he is, based on his past interactions with his environment; but it is also true that the humanists were right, that the individual is responsible for and in control of his own destiny. At any given point in time, the individual is free to choose any of the infinite courses of action available. Our past learning history may determine the course of action we choose, but we can determine our own past learning history. Nature of Inner Speech Famous psychologists Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), propounded the idea of “automatic thoughts” that can affect our emotion and behaviour. Beck’s theory of the causes of depression consists of:

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a) Negative automatic thoughts:

Negative thoughts are mental reflects that “just pop into the head” or “come out of the blue” without any thinking. When we accept this distorted negative idea, it will constantly play in our mind automatically reinforcing our negative view of the self which eventually leads to depression.

b) Depressive “schemata”

As we live in this world, each and every one of us has their own “Schemata”. Schemata are sets of attitudes or assumptions which shape our beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world, as we interact physically and socially. Our depressive schemata are influenced by automatic thoughts that play in our mind throughout our lives.

c) Logical errors in thinking

These negative thoughts can then spark a change of cognitive reaction. For example, negative thoughts usually affect our feelings and moods which consequently become our depressive behaviour. We will then magnify the feeling of being hopeless and feel rejected. When we are psychologically depressed, we then tend to avoid all social contact and then become reclusive.

In his book Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders, Aaron Beck described these new ways of looking at thoughts and feelings. He writes, This new approach to emotional disorders changes man’s perspective on himself and his problems. Rather than viewing himself as the helpless creature of his own biochemical reactions, or of blind impulses, or automatic reflexes, he can regard himself as prone to learning erroneous, self-defeating notions and

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capable of unlearning or correcting them as well. By pinpointing the fallacies in his thinking and correcting them, he can create a more self-fulfillling life for himself.

Part of our inner speech is the automatic thoughts that Beck describes in the above discovery. Experiment by neurologists shows that when we produce positive automatic thoughts, our brains will then fire up neurons which produce the neurotransmitter dopamine that gives us the feeling of joy and happiness. Conversely, if our automatic thoughts/ inner speech dwells on negative thoughts and emotions, we will then tend to become psychologically depressed in life. Beck believed that some people are vulnerable to depression because they develop negative or dysfunctional thoughts and feelings about themselves as a result of early learning experiences. The above discovery of Aaron Beck that leads to the development of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) was actually discovered by Muslim scholars eight centuries ago. For example, Ibn al-Qayyim, in his book al-Fawa’id (spiritual benefits) explains that a person’s action begins with his inner thought, a concealed speech or an internal dialogue, (khawatir). This automatic thought/khawatir/inner speech in the human mind are like a rotating millstone that never stops rotating. It grinds continuously day and night throughout our lives. Those who feed their inner thought/inner speech with goodness are like those who put wheat in their millstone which then produce good flour, i .e. a positive and good happy life. However, many of us are using our millstone to grind dirt and stone, i.e. constant negative inner thoughts like sadness, jealousy, deception, arrogance, and other negative inner thoughts that lead to frustration, anguish and failure in life. As Ibn al-Qayyim observes, You should know that the beginning of any voluntary act is automatic thoughts and concealed whisper (khawatir). It is used in the Qur’an to describe the inner temptation of Satan. These automatic thoughts lead to conscious thinking. Next, thinking

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will be transferred to or stored in the memory and the memory will transform it into volition and a motive which will be acted out in real life as an action. Repeating the action leads to a strong habit. So, eliminating an emotional or lustful or bad habit is easier at an early stage before it gains strength and become harmful.

Similarly, al-Ghazali describes in his book Ihya ‘Ulum al-Din that if we want to change our self-image we must change our thoughts. Positive thoughts will lead us to positive behaviour. Likewise, negative thoughts will lead us to negative behaviour. Al-Ghazali also described the Pygmalion Effect which is the self-fulfilling prophecy. If we have good thoughts and are constantly intending to do good actions, it will finally lead to the actualization of good actions. Conversely, if we constantly have evil thoughts and evil intentions, it will finally lead to the actualization of evil actions. Al-Gazali describes in his book that, Good manners can be acquired by practice; by feigning or assuming the actions issuing from those manners at first until they eventually become part of one’s nature. This is one of the wonders of the relation between the heart and the organs. I mean, the soul and the body. Every quality that appears in the heart will have its influence flowing to the organs so they act only in accordance with that quality. Similarly, the effect of every action that issues from the organs may reach the heart. This continues in a circular system.

Let us summarise this contemporary finding of our ancient scholars such as Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Ibn Miskiyyah, Imam al-Ghazali and other scholars. Throughout the glorious period of Islamic civilization, they have conducted many researches that complemented the transcendent nature of inner speech with modern psychological ideas that are astounding. In fact, they are more advanced in their psychological theory framework that incorporate the holistic nature of the human self than modern day secular psychologist.

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From the previous chapters, we can understand the nature of the transcendent human self. Our SEMP domain operates both in the conscious physical realm and the unconscious spiritual realm simultaneously. We exist within space and time as we experience physical life and all its psychological and physical activities. We exist beyond space and time because we are continuously linked to the unconscious spiritual world. All the influences from our integrated inner speech will then affect our perception and behaviour. Every human being would have his inner speech being influenced at the SEMP level that comes from two main sources which consist of the external and inner sources. Diagram 9 summarizes the holistic nature of the human self and its effect on our total past learning history (TPLH).

Diagram 9: The Human Self-Total Past Learning History (TPLH), SEMP Influences on Inner Speech

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Diagram 9 gives us a greater understanding of research done by traditional Muslim scholars over the last one thousand years. For example, al-Ghazali elaborated that the idea of evil suggestion/influences (khawatir shaytani) which consists of greed of worldly material things, excessive appetite, excessive sexual desire, evil prompting self and suggestion (nafs al ammarah), as well as excessive worry/psychological disorder (waswasa). This evil suggestion is usually linked to our external sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, as well as excessive indulgence in this physical and material world. Our good inner speech that leads to perfection of our perception and behaviour usually comes from our inner sources. There are many categories of these inner capabilities, for example, prophetic inspiration (wahy), inspiration (ilham), knowledge of God (Ilm al-ladunni), true insight (firasah), spiritual vision (Mushahadah), contemplation/reflection (tafakkur/tazakkur), meditation/ remembrance of God (Zikrullah/Prayers). We are linked to the universe and we are also influenced by nature and the spiritual existence. As al-Ghazali elaborated how good suggestions from the universe, God and the Angelic realm (khawatir malaki) influences our inner speech that affects our perception and behaviour. This includes receiving divine guidance (tawfiq and hidaya), positive suggestion from the spiritual realm (khawatir ruh), that leads to Divine suggestion on realizing God (khatir al-yaqin).

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FROM INNER SPEECH TO ACTION

Positive/ negative natural inclination (Mayltabi) shapes the personality of the person.

Inner speech inclinations/ suggestions/ influences lead to conviction to act (i'tiqad), our personality already shaped by the three sources of input, i.e. physical, social and inner speech.

Physical and spiritual actions based on the decisions of the heart, that was influenced by the previous factors (hamm) Physical and spiritual actions based on the decisions of the heart, that was manifested in the personality, life values and actions of the individuals.

Bad actions (Munkar)

Good actions/ deeds (Ma'aruf)

These actions naturally lead to unhappiness, failure and frustrations, anguish, failure in life. Negative Total Past Learning History (TPLH)

Happiness, fulfillment, achievement, success in this life hereafter. Positive Total Past Learning History (TPLH)

Diagram 10: Inner Speech motivation to action

Our inner speech is the sum total of both the positive and negative influences from all realms. Our perception and behaviour will be shaped as described in diagram 10. For example, a) Positive/negative suggestion of a person (mayl tabi) shape the personality of the person. b)

Inner speech suggestion/influences lead to conviction to act (i’tiqad). Our personality is already shaped by 3 sources of input, i.e. physical, social and inner speech.

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Physical and spiritual actions based on the decisions of the heart that was influenced by the previous factors (hamm) i.e. negative or positive.

d) This leads to bad action (munkar). These bad actions naturally lead to unhappiness, failure and frustrations, anguish, failure in life. On the other hand, good, positive actions and deeds (maaruf) lead to happiness, fulfillment, achievement, success in this life and the hereafter. The Journey of Life towards Perfection By understanding the holistic and transcendent nature of our inner speech, we can shape our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical selves towards becoming loving, compassionate and wise human beings through directing our inner speech in a positive way. By aligning our holistic inner speech, we will be able to understand the subtle inner feelings and intuitions beyond our five senses. When we align our inner speech from the negative aspects of anger, fear, hatred, vengeance, frustration, cynicism, and so on, we can cultivate our holistic personality to become more loving and compassionate. In Islam, this is the journey of life openly available for every human being towards achieving perfection of his existence (al-Insan al-kamil), as illustrated in the diagram below: Journey of Life

Diagram 11: Journey of Life on Earth towards Perfection

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In Islam, the purpose of human existence is the journey towards perfection in striving to serve our Creator and realising our role as the vicegerents of God on Earth. The perfection that we have to strive for is the holistic transcendent perfection of our spiritual domain (ruh), emotional domain (qalb), mental domain (aqal), and the physical domain (jasad). This positive striving in life will allow us to develop our SEMP as we progress towards trying to achieve perfection (al-Insan al-Kamil). This journey of life begins from the primordial existence before our birth on this Earth and ends at our point of death in this physical world. We will then journey in the realm of life after death, as elaborated in the second principle in this book. There are a number of key psychological concepts in Islam that allowed us to journey towards perfection. Great Islamic scholars have elaborated these concepts in detail. For our purpose in this book, let us summarise a few of these concepts as follows: a) Journey towards perfect goodness (Ihsan): are actions of the heart (qalb) that involves thinking according to the standards of truth and forming the intention to do good, and by this is followed by performing the good deeds and acts of worship with full consciousness that God sees us. To attain this perfect goodness in our journey of life, we have to align our thoughts, feelings and perceptions based on the full belief in the oneness of God. This belief system can be actualized by practicing the essential principles of Islam. This continuous practice of Islam will tune our hearts to receive Divine gifts and illuminate it with the light of His manifestations. b)

Insight and Discernment (Basira and firasah). As we develop our higher consciousness, the eye of our heart opens and aquire some of the reality of the spiritual world. The pleasure of having this insight gives us a deeper realisation of the truth

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in the spiritual, emotional and mental realm. We experience the gift of seing beyond our physical realm. We begin to see through the radiance of God’s light and receive the pleasure of nearness to God. c)

Achieving serenity and peacefulness (sakinah and itmi’nan): Modern man is living in restless and purposeless life based on secular materialism. Our journey in life is to train our inner SEMP self towards achieving serenity and peacefulness. This will strengthen our belief and help us receive the gifts of peacefulness and serenity. In this stage of our journey in life, we will not be shaken by worldly fear, grief, and anxiety and find peace, integrity and harmony between our inner world and the outer world. We will then become dignified, balanced, confident and assured human beings. We are confident in our relationship with God the Almighty. We will then be able to abandon egoism, vanity and self-pride. Every spiritual gift received is attributed to God by thanking Him through humility and selfdiscipline. All dissatisfaction and uneasiness are ascribed to personal weakness and examined in the light of self-criticism. By continuously directing our inner speech towards the above path, we will achieve peace, happiness and success. Framework for Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) Model

The above Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) model takes into account the three sources of input i.e. the physical environment, the interpersonal communication, social environment and inner speech. This model also explains that our Total Past Learning History (TPLH) is the sum total of our existence in this world. It also integrates the nature of

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influence at our spiritual (ruh), emotional (qalb), mental (aqal), and physical domain as we exist within space and time in the physical world. We also include our transcendent nature that exists beyond time and space within the spiritual world. In reality, our total past learning history is the result of the constant interaction of our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical (SEMP) domains that is integrative, holistic and which has no boundary. The sum result of our actions and behaviours will then determine the nature, success or failure of our life i. e. The sum of our Total Past Learning History (TPLH). We can describe these influences in the following Diagram 12:

Spiritual Existence

Ruh-Qalb-Aqal (spirit-Heart-Mind)

Enviroment : 3 Sources

Social Enviroment

Physical Existence

PERCEPTION

Physical Enviroment

Physical Body (Jasad)

THE HUMAN SELF (SEMP / NAFS) TOTAL PAST LEARNING HISTORY (TPLH)

Inner Speech

Diagram 12: Positive Islamic Psychology (P.I.P): Model to Achieve Peace Happiness and Success. This model integrates the spiritual, emotional and mental domains in the Spiritual Existence realm with the Physical realm as we exist in this Earthly life.

1. The positive Islamic psychology model integrates all the SEMP domain of the human self and the

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three inputs of physical environment, interpersonal communication/social environment and inner speech. 2.

Every thought, action, habit and behaviour are the result of our personal choice and responsibility. We creatures are given the free will by God to make the choice between good and bad.

3.

As we develop the positive aspects and domains of our lives, i.e. the development of positive SEMP coupled with positive physical environment, interpersonal communication/social environment and inner speech, we will then nurture the development of our positive Total Past Learning History (TPLH).

4. Conversely, if we indulge in the negative aspect of our SEMP, we will negate our human development and this causes the development of negative TPLH. 5.

Our life on Earth is a sum total of both actions and behaviour which then become our TPLH.

6. If we nurture out of our free will and choice to develop more and more of our positive SEMP then we will achieve peace, happiness and success in life. 7.

Conversely, if we indulge in negative and destructive inner speech, action and behaviour, then we will face failure, frustration and anguish in life.

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THE HUMAN SELF (TPLH) PIP MODEL

Personal Choice and Responsibility in our thoughts, actions, habits and behaviour

Development of Negatif (TPLH)

Development of Positive (TPLH)

Life on earth is the sum of total both positive and negative TPLH

More Negative TPLH

More Positive TPLH

Failure in Life

Success in Life

Diagram 13: P.I.P. Model: Personal Choice and Responsibility

This model is the most comprehensive integrative transcendent model of human nature. This Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) model can be the basis of the future development of the Muslim Ummah to achieve peace, happiness and success. Once this model is implemented within Muslim society, we hope we can influence non-Muslim societies to accept our Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) modality for 21st century civilization. We will elaborate how PIP model affect the consciousness of individual and society. By understanding the nature of our consciousness, we will be able to imprint a positive worldview that can change society.

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Positive Islamic Psychology: Model of Human Consciousness A human being comes into the world with nothing evil written on his consciousness. In Islam, we are born in a state of fitrah, i.e. pure, good and innocent. The Islamic concept of being born pure, good and innocent is the most positive concept for human existence on this Earth. In reality, we are created as Vicegerent of God on Earth to achieve peace, happiness and success as we journey through life influencing our TPLH in a positive manner. However, we can use our free will to color our TPLH in a negative way. This choice involves having wrong perceptions, behaviours and actions that lead to unhappiness and failure in life. From the Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) model, the influences from the three sources of the environment will write millions of messages onto our consciousness. However, there are fundamentally only two types of messages – good or bad messages – that can come into our consciousness. So every message that enters the consciousness is either good or bad. In Islam, and also in the science of Physics, there is a fundamental law: no moment is the same as the one before. In the flow of time, a moment following the one before can be in either one of two places – to a higher degree or to lesser degree. There is always movement, never stagnation. All day long, messages (good and bad) are constantly being written onto our consciousness, whether we are aware of them or not. Each time a message is written on our consciousness, it enters our Total Past Learning History (TPLH). The next message that comes in cannot leave us at the same place we were a moment before. There are only two possible places we can be. If it is a good message, we move closer to God; and if it is a bad message, we move away from God and closer to evil. God has made the world that way: we come into the world in a state of fitrah, and then we are going to have messages written onto our consciousness (TPLH). God gave us Islam as our way of life to give us a society that is to function like a process of

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social engineering, guiding us to all that is good and right. If we live in a right Islamic society, all the influences, particularly from the social environment will be directed toward writing good messages that are consistent with the Will of God. See Diagram 14, where G2 represents good messages from the social environment and G1 represents good messages from the physical environment (which we do not have to be unduly concerned about). Both the physical and social influences are from external sources. Also, the thoughts that we think in our minds must be consistent with what God tells us is right, and wrong. Bad thoughts must be corrected, overwritten and replaced with good thoughts. So, from the third source of the environment, which is an internal source, the inner speech, we will have good messages (as represented by G3) written onto our consciousness.

1. Physical

2. Social 3. Inner Speech

PERCEPTION

ENVIRONMENT 3 : SOURCES The Human Self Total Past Learning History

Just Good Global Islamic Society

G1 G1 G1 G1 G1 G2 G2 G2 G2 G2 G3 G3 G3 G3 G3

G1, G2 = Good

Diagram 14: Good Messages Written onto the Consciousness in a Right Islamic Society.

It should be noted, however, that we do not live in totally right Islamic society. In the Modern 21st century, secular materialistic civilization we get a huge number of bad messages, especially from the social environment, into

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our consciousness. The powerful negative influence of the electronic media such as TV, films, the Internet, and the printed media, are destructively harmful. Bad messages such as it is “cool” and “fun” to indulge in promiscuity, indecency, drug abuse, smoking, alcoholism and violence (as represented by `B’ in Diagram 15) are mercilessly impinging on our consciousness. The sad reality in the world today is that the number of bad messages overwhelmingly out numbers the good messages. Even in the consciousness of the average Muslim living in an Islamic country, the bad messages have begun to outweigh the good messages. Across the planet, we have a whole lot of bad messages and only few good. For example, messages saying: “Smoking is cool”, “Drinking alcohol is OK”, “Using drugs is acceptable”, “Promiscuous sex is allowed”. There are even people in the world who think that “WAR is OK”. Some Western politics leaders today, in their consciousness, (although they were all born with a pure consciousness, in a state of fitrah), have come to think it is right to send the most sophisticated modern military hardware that ever existed over to regions in the world where people live in mud huts and kill them by the hundreds of thousands! They have no qualms at all about doing that! Because the messages written into their consciousness tell them it is right to do such obviously wrong horrible things. The military top brass around them, likewise, have similar messages written into their consciousness that turn their soldiers to kill innocent civilians. Another of the world’s ill is murder. We have thousands of murders committed in the world every year because we have millions of people who have messages written into their consciousness that tell them that murder is somehow acceptable. Likewise, for drug sale and abuse, corruption, pollution, theft, violence and crime – all these evil things happen in the world because people in the world have messages written onto their consciousness saying in a wide

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variety of ways that all this evil is OK! We are increasingly becoming an insane civilization that is doomed to implode if we do not change our way of life towards goodness.

1. Physical

2. Social 3. Inner Speech

PERCEPTION

ENVIRONMENT 3 : SOURCES The Human Self Total Past Learning Histoy

Bad Evil Unjust Global Society

BGBBBB B G B BB G BB

B = Bad G = Good

Diagram 15: Bad Messages Outnumber the Good in Today’s World

World Consciousness is the Sum Total of Individual Consciousness What I have just described is a reality that is happening at every moment in this world. The consciousness of an individual human being develops and interacts with others in the world. There are about 7 billion people in the world. Each one of them has a consciousness that has messages written on it. If we were to combine the individual consciousness of every human being in the world, we would have a world consciousness of world society. What will it be like? It will be just like in Diagram 15, where the consciousness of one individual has many bad messages, and only a few good messages are written into it; so, world society likewise, has many bad and few good messages written into it. So, it is absolutely impossible not to have a world with so many wrong

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things happening like we have today because so many bad messages are being written into the world consciousness. All the evil in the world is happening because of the messages that are written onto the collective consciousness of world society which say that these bad things are O.K. That means we have a society that writes those messages into the world’s consciousness. As long as we have a society that writes wrong messages into the consciousness of individuals, as they develop all of the terrible problems facing our world, it will continue to exist. To get rid of the terrible problems facing our world, we have to get rid of bad and wrong messages being written into the consciousness of the world’s individuals. Doesn’t all this information seem very logical to you? This is almost undeniably why problems exist in today’s world. Of course, we have yet to address the question as to why does the world write so many wrong messages in the first place, but so far the logic of this explanation seems unassailable. Basically, the answer to why all the terrible problems exist in the world is because we live in a world society that conditions people to do all these bad things. It teaches people that it is somehow alright to do all of these bad things – war, crime, violence, corruption, pollution, etc. Could there be anyone who does not consider this a sufficiently logical answer to the question: “Why do the problems in the world exist?” It is all so clear it just has to be the correct answer!

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Application of Maqasid al-Sharia in Positive Islamic Psychology model The fundamentals of Maqasid al-Sharia are deeply rooted in the principles of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence. To achieve peace happiness and success in the 21st century, we have to integrate this Maqasid al-Shariah in our Positive Islamic Psychology model. It is worthy to note that the four essential characteristics of justice as developed in Islamic system are derived from the Qur’an and Hadith. The objectives of Maqasid al-Sharia are therefore, to regulate the Usul Fiqh (the principles of Islamic jurisprudence), to the extent they reflect and conform to the highest principles relevant for humanity in the 21st century. The parameters which guide the understanding and applicability of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence were expounded by two of the greatest Islamic scholars of the medieval era; Shamsuddeen bin al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH), and his mentor Imam Ahmad Ibn Taimiyyah (d. 728 AH). Ibn Qayyim, for example, observes that “the Islamic law is all about wisdom, and achieving peoples’ welfare in this life and the afterlife. It is all about justice, mercy, wisdom, and good. Thus, anything that replaces justice with injustice, mercy with its opposite, common good with mischief, or wisdom with nonsense, is a ruling that does not belong to Islamic law. It is critical for the development of Ummah in the 21st century to ensure that principles of Maqasid al-Shariah are applied in relevant fields of human civilizational development. Indeed, this is essential for the development of Positive Islamic Psychology in the context of the globalized world. The sociological, psychological, geopolitical and other factors that impact the Ummah in the 21st century are radically different from what the Ummah had to reckon with in the past. There are quite a number of contemporary Muslim scholars now striving to integrate 21st century needs to ensure the survival

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and growth of the Ummah. For example, contemporary scholars like Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyh, Professors Yusuf al-Qardawi, Tariq Ramadan, Robert D. Crane, (Faruq Abd al-Haqq), Muhammad Ali Choudry and other contemporary scholars have developed framework to incorporate Maqasid al-Sharia in the development of Muslim Ummah in the 21st century. We would like to use the framework developed by these great scholars in engaging with these principles of Islamic Jurisprudence in the modern era making special reference to Crane and Choudry as elaborated in three websites with in-depth research in these area; http://www.cesj.org/, http://www.peacefromharmony.org/ and http://www. theamericanmuslim.org/. The integration of Maqasid al-Sharia in Positive Islamic Psychology model to achieve peace happiness and success in the 21st century can be represented at the following four levels of these Maqasid. 1) Primary Maqasid (Purpose)

The highest level of generalization consists of purposive principles that cannot be reduced to still higher principles other than justice as the highest principles. These maqasid spell out the meaning of justice by providing paradigms of thought to identify still more specific sub-paradigms.

2)

Secondary Hajjiyat (Goals)



The next highest level of generalizations consists of a secondary level of goals that spell out the meaning of their parent principles and, in turn, provide a more specific paradigm for breaking each objective down into still greater specificity.

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3)

Tertiary Tahsiniyyat (Objectives)



The third level of specificity consists of objectives that spell out the meaning of their parent goal and provide guidelines for specific programs of actions. The tahsiniyyat come from the term hasan, which means good and is often translated as embellishments. Another less common but more accurate term is takmiliyyat, which means from the term “kamil” or “perfect” and means “to enhance the higher purposes by perfecting them in application.”

4)

Fourth level Amaliyyat (Program of actions)



The lowest level of guidance in spelling out the meaning of justice and applying it in action is known as “amaliyat” from the word ‘aml or action (plural). Each such program, in turn, may be broken down into individual projects.



Crane and Choudry succinctly illustrated the integration of Maqasid al-Sharia for the 21st century under eight headings:

Maqasid al-Shariah Covered 1.

Respect for Divine Revelation (Haqq al-Din)

2.

Respect for the Human Person (Haqq al-Nafs)

3.

Respect for Family and Community (Haqq al-Nasl )

4.

Respect for the Environment (Haqq al-Mahl)

5.

Respect for Economic Justice (Haqq al-Mal)

6.

Respect for Political Justice (Haqq al-Huriyyah)

7.

Respect for Human Dignity (Haqq al-Karamah)

8.

Respect for Knowledge (Haqq al-Ilm)

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Positive Islamic Psychology model and methodology is in consonance with the above Universal Principles of Human Rights and Responsibilities. The chart below as published in www.peacefromharmony. org by Professor Crane illustrates the basis of Positive Islamic Psychology Model within the framework of Maqasid al-Sharia for the 21st century to achieve peace happiness and success in the global community. Universal Principles of Human Rights and Responsibilities 1.

Respect for Divine Revelation PRIMARY

(Maqasid- Pur-poses) 1. Respect for Divine Revelation (Haqq al Din)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

Belief in one God

TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives) Islam Arkan al Islam …… (Pillars of Islam)… Submission to the Will of God, the first level of faith.

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal) The Five Pillars of Faith: - Declaration of Faith (Shahadatain) - Prayer (Salah) - Charity (Zakat) - Fasting (Saum) - Pilgrimage (Hajj)

Iman Arkan al Iman (‘Aqida)

‘Aqida or Belief in: Existence of God (Tawhid) Angels (Mala’ika)

(Creedal Principles of Faith)

Divine Scriptures (Kutub)

Practicing pure faith with sincerity in one’s heart, thus achieving the second level of faith.

All the Prophets (Nabi, Rusul) Day of Judgment (Qiyama) Absolute Power of God (Qadr)

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(Maqasid- Pur-poses)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

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TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives)

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal) Other Elements of Iman: - Loving Awe of God (Taqwa) - Love of God (Hubb) - Reliance on God (Tawakkul)

Ihsan

Absorption of oneself into the presence of God (Fan’a)

Achieving perfection in worship based on one’s personal Eternal presence of awareness of God’s God (Baqa’a) presence, love, and compassion. The Prophet Muhammad said, ”[Ihsan is] to worship God as though you see Him, and if you cannot see Him, then indeed He sees you”. (Hadith of Gabriel.) Freedom of Religion

Spiritual Purification(Jihad al akbar)

Equality in human dignity

Unity in Diversity

Universal conditions for salvation Equality of prophets Diversity of legal systems: - Maqasid shari’ah: The objectives of universal principles of Islamic law for all communities; - Minhaj shari’ah: Methodology of applying those principles.

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2. Respect for the Human Person PRIMARY

(Maqasid- Pur-poses) 2. Respect for the Human Person (Haqq al Nafs)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives)

Respect for the Human Soul (Haqq al Nafs and Haqq al Ruh)

Personal spiritual renewal

Peace Making and Peace Keeping

Societal renewal (tajdid)

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal)

Peace through justice (Jihad al kabir) Conflict resolution Respect for Life (Haqq al- Haya)

Doctrine of the just war (limits on the use of violence to protect the human rights of self and others)

Just Cause and Intent Violence only in self defense Legitimate authority Last resort (attempts at conflict resolution must precede use of violence) Probability of success (realistic assessment of the threat and consequences) Benefits must exceed the harm Minimize civilian casualties Cessation of hostilities on offer of peace

Protection and return of prisoners of war Avoidance of vengeance after war

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PRIMARY

(Maqasid- Pur-poses)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

Duty to Protect the Unborn

3.

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TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives) Recognizing that God provides for all. Recognizing the rights of the unborn. Stressing the role of marriage and family

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal) Abstinence education to prevent pregnancy outside of wedlock Adoption

Respect for Family & Community PRIMARY

SECONDARY

3. Respect for Family & Community

Personalism: Every community gets its meaning and sovereignty from its individual members, each of whom is subject to the ultimate sovereignty of God.

A community with a common sense of the past, common values in the present and common hopes for the future, should have legal standing in international law.

Right to economic self determination

Sacred Nature of Marriage

Equal Rights

Right to own property

(Maqasid- Pur-poses)

(Haqq al Nasl)

(Hajjiyat- Goals)

TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives)

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal)

Right to political self determination Right to International Recognition

Right to choose a spouse Equal right to divorce with different procedures Right to education Right to work Right to community leadership Equal access to a Masjid Equal Responsibility

Equal responsibility to care for the elderly Equal responsibility for household chores

Separate Responsibility

Inheritance based on different responsibilities by gender

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(Maqasid- Pur-poses)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

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TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives)

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal) Women’s right to retain and spend own earnings Women’s primary right to custody of young children Women’s primary responsibility to nurture young children Men’s primary responsibility to provide for personal and financial security of the family.

4. Respect for the Environment PRIMARY

(Maqasid- Pur-poses) 4. Respect for the Environment (Haqq al Mahid)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives)

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal)

Stewardship of creation (khilafa)

Conducting Scientific Study of Life

Implement conservation policies:

Respecting the balance of all that God has created

Creating Awareness of the Issues through Education

Protect the atmosphere

Respecting the Sacredness of nature

Conducting CostBenefit Analysis

Preserving Ecological Diversity

Shaping Environmental Policy

Develop alternative energy resources

Preserving the Ecological Balance (mizan)

Developing Institutions

Develop organic farming (limiting the use of harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers)

Protect water resources Protect the forest

Developing Environmental Laws

Limit nuclear weapons Limit unsafe deepwell drilling Protect wildlife

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5. Respect for Economic Justice PRIMARY

(Maqasid- Pur-poses) 5. Respect for Economic Justice (Haqq al Mal)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

Personal Responsibilities (Fard ‘Ain)

TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives) Personal Ethics

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal) Avoid immoral economic activities (bribery, unfair trade practices, gambling, sale of alcohol, pork, etc.)

Concern for the Poor Charity for the poor (Zakat and Sadaqa) Interfaith and broad community volunteering Respect the sacred nature of private ownership of the means of production. Broaden capital ownership

Remove barriers in access to capital credit Introduce pure credit based on prospective future wealth Tax reform Two-tier monetary policies (elimination of interest on selffinancing loans) Capital homesteading for individuals and for Community Investment Corporations and Community Land Banks

Provide a Safety Net for the Disadvantaged

Institution building

Universal Health Care

Institution building

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6. Respect for Political Justice PRIMARY

(Maqasid- Pur-poses) 6. Respect for Political Justice (Haqq al Hurriyyah)

SECONDARY

TERTIARY

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal)

Responsibility of Leaders and Followers to God (Khilafah)

Practice Virtue in Public Life

Education to develop an awareness of God and virtue

Participatory Political Democracy

Open and Responsive Political System

Institution building (broadly representative parliaments)

Through the Six Estates:

Leverage the strengths of all institutions to bring out the best for the good of all.

(Hajjiyat- Goals)

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives)

(Shurah) Consensus Building Among Community Leaders (Ijma)

Executive Legislative Judicial Media Think Tanks & Foundations Academia

Independent Judiciary

Equal Justice Under the Law (‘Adl)

Institution building

Freedom of movement, residence, and citizenship

Policy formulation

Institution building

7. Respect for Human Dignity PRIMARY

(Maqasid- Pur-poses) 7. Respect for Human Dignity (Haqq al Karamah)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

Gender Equity

TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives) Right to own property Rights to choose a spouse Equal right to divorce with different procedures Right to education Right to work Right to community leadership

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal) Build social consensus for recognition, respect, and implementation of these rights for women provided by Islam more than fourteen centuries ago.

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(Maqasid- Pur-poses)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

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TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives)

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal)

Equal legal right to be a witness, originally limited for women in commercial transactions Equal access to a mosque Respect for all of the Principles of Islamic Law

Divine Revelation

Institution building

Respect for the Human Person Family & Community Environmental Justice Economic Justice Political Justice Human Dignity Knowledge

8. Respect for Knowledge PRIMARY

(Maqasid- Pur-poses) 8. Respect for Knowledge (Haqq al ‘Ilm)

SECONDARY (Hajjiyat- Goals)

Duty to Seek Knowledge

TERTIARY

(Tahsiniyyat Objectives) Divine Revelation(Wahy) Natural Law (‘Ain al Yaqin) Rational Thought (‘Ilm al Yaqin)

Freedom to Acquire Knowledge

Policy formulation regarding: Freedom of Speech

ILLUSTRATIVE ACTIONS (A’mal) Apply the knowledge through Ijtihad in order to pursue the good and provide the bad (al-‘amr bi al - ma’ruf wa al-nahy 'an al munkar) Legislation for implementation

Freedom of Press Freedom of Assembly Duty to Share Knowledge

Outreach Policy and Planning to preserve and expand knowledge Protect Internet Freedom

Teach by Example Build Educational Institutions, Research Centers, and Think-Tanks

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The above charts give a bare outline of the univer-sal principles of normative Islamic jurisprudence, known as the maqasid al shari’ah. The ethical framework of the guiding principles in Islam is the good of the community, known as maslaha mursala. These principles originate from human reasoning in the form of induction from what Islamic jurisprudents consider to be the three sources of knowledge, often known as the ‘usul al fiqh or roots of legal maxims. These are haqq al-yaqin, which is the sum of all the divine revelation to all of the prophets throughout hu-man history, ‘ain al-yaqin, which is scientific observation of the material world, and ‘ilm al-yaqin, which is the use of human reason to understand the first two sources. The above eight universal principles of human right and responsibilities are very important for the development of the Ummah in the 21st century. The societal structure of the 21st century civilization will be extremely challenging and can be hostile to Muslims and Islam throughout the world. In this situation, the Muslim Ummah will be marginalized and regressive and will be seen as the worst of humanity. We do not wish that we will end up degraded and marginalized. It is important for us to incorporate the guiding principles of Maqasid al-Shariah with the Positive Islamic Psychology model. The principal objective of our Positive Islamic Psychology model is to fulfill our role as God’s Khalifah on this Earth. Our responsibility as the vicegerents of God on Earth is very important for God’s cosmic plan. Our responsibility as Khalifah on this Earth is to perfect oneself, to perfect the society and to perfect the physical world of time and space. Put simply, our true responsibilities as the Khalifah is to make goodness prevail in our self, in the society and the physical world. Thus, we have the responsibility to make our self good, help others to be good and to make this physical world good, beautiful and pleasing for all creatures and God.

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More research in the integration of Maqasid al-Sharia into the Positive Islamic Model needs to be done to ensure that the Ummah play a leading a role in the 21st century civilization to achieve universal justice, peace, happiness and success for all of God’s creature in this Earth. A World that is Truly Good Once we have the answer as to why all the problems exist in the world, we must find a solution. The solution is also obvious! To remove all the terrible problems in the world, we have to stop the wrong messages from being written onto the consciousness of individuals and the collective consciousness of world society. There is no other way! We cannot have a society that receives wrong messages and not have these terrible problems. If we have a society that writes only good messages onto the consciousness of the whole of humanity from the three sources of the environment, all of these terrible problems will disappear.

1. Physical

2. Social 3. Inner Speech

PERCEPTION

ENVIRONMENT : 3 SOURCES The Human Self Total Past Learning History

No problems in the world only good prevails

G G G G G G G G G G G G G G G

G = Good

Diagram 16: Collective Consciousness of Humanity that has Only Good Messages Written into the Mind of Individuals

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Whatever is in the consciousness, it will determine our every action – whether they are physical, verbal, or thought actions. If we have bad messages written in our consciousness, we will have bad physical actions, bad words, and bad thoughts. But if we have good messages written in our consciousness, we will have good physical actions, good words, and good thoughts. It is as simple as that! What is not so simple is how to get from the present situation in the world, as illustrated in Diagram 15, where most of the messages written into the consciousness are bad and wrong to a virtually utopian situation as illustrated in Diagram 16. Every good message is a message from God. A good message is not only like “Be nice to others”, but “2 plus 2 equals 4” is also a good message, which is from God. However, “murder is ok,” or “2 plus 2 equals 5” is a bad message. It is from the realm of the evil because it is not right or good. Hence, everything that is good, right, positive, and beneficial in the whole universe is a message from God. God gives us the opportunity to have a right way of life. God has revealed guidance on all aspects of our life on Earth – the right personal and social behaviours, the right spiritual practices and even the right way of doing business. Unfortunately, we live in a world where we are not doing all the right things God has instructed us to do. At risk of being labelled fanatical, I believe the most poignant message that I have to convey is that to have a world that is truly right, it has to be a right Islamic World. Then we will have a world that will write only good messages onto the consciousness of individuals and all of humanity.

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Conclusion Positive Islamic Psychology model provides solutions for the twenty first century societal problems that is in line with the rightly understood and practice of Islam, since Islam which God has perfected for us and given to us as our way of life, is the perfect plan for the social engineering of a good and right society. Through understanding Positive Islamic Psychology model of learning and parenting, all parents and educators can raise children in the right way. As a result, they are able to create a right family, community, and ultimately, create a right world. Hence, a world of right communities becomes an ever more right Muslim world; and an ever more right Muslim world creates ever more right communities that can live in peace with all communities in 21st century regardless of their ideologies or religions. To achieve this, we need to transform the Muslim first, this transformation will form the basis for the global peace, happiness and success in the modern world.

CHAPTER SIX

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY I: APPLYING PIP IN OUR DAILY LIFE TO ACHIEVE PEACE, HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS

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Introduction to Practical Application of Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) The scope for the application of Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) is vast. We can use Positive Islamic Psychology to transform the Ummah and humanity at large. The current socio-economic and psychological problems of modern civilization need a new direction. Positive Islamic Psychology can be one of the tools to help solve these problems. There is a tremendous scope for the research and practical application of PIP. For this reason, we encourage all members of Muslim societies, mosques, universities and Islamic institutions to further create new applications for PIP. In the following five chapters, we will demonstrate some of our research and findings in the practical application of Positive Islamic Psychology. These are as follows: Chapter: 6. Applying Positive Islamic Psychology in Our Daily Life to Achieve Peace, Happiness and Success. Chapter: 7. Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Positive Islamic Cognitive Behavior Therapy (Pi-CBT). Chapter: 8. Manual for Parents in Shaping Excellent Character of Children. Chapter: 9. Handbook for Positive Change: The Khalifah Circle Approach to Help Create a Just, Peaceful and Happy World. Chapter: 10. Integrating Permaculture with Positive Islamic Psychology – The Khalifah Circle Way

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A. Practicing Basic Principles of Islam as a Way of Life Modern 21st century humanity has all the luxuries of life yet fails to achieve peace, happiness and success in their true sense. We are getting more disconnected with nature and Daily Life to Achieve Peace, Happiness and Success our Creator. Our ego is driven by material possessions and hedonistic desire. We now know that material satisfaction is not enough to guarantee happiness in this world. Every human being yearns to have a peaceful, happy, and successful life. We must begin to have a more balanced life based on inner knowledge of our spiritual transcendent nature. Our heart and our mind must be able to feel the presence of the Sacred and the Divine. Once we are able to realize the existence of God as a vital and living reality we will be able to understand the ultimate truth. Our dormant spiritual, emotional and mental selves can be directed by inner speech to give us positive experiences that transcend material things. Positive Islamic Psychology provides the pathway to heal this world. This include directing our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical (SEMP) self to achieve a balance that can give us peace, happiness and success. As Muslims, we can begin by practicing the principles and practice of Islam as revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). This process towards a psychological balance, peace and happiness begins with understanding the inner dimensions of Islam its belief system and rituals. Let us discuss these factors so that we can apply them in our daily lives. The Pillars of Islam Five tenants form the core of every true Muslim’s belief.They are called “the five pillars of Islam”.

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1. Inner Dimension of the Belief in One God (Tauhid) Believe in one God demands absolute loyalty to God because it is the ultimate spiritual basis of all life. Moreover, our loyalty to God virtually amount to our loyalty to our own ideal nature as the vicegerent of God on Earth. Believing in the Oneness of God means to internalize the fact that there is nobody and nothing above us, nobody to seek comfort in, expect mercy or sustenance from, except from God alone. Allah the Almighty has ninety-nine Divine Names (Asma Ullah al-Husna) which represents different aspects and attributes of His Majesty. Constant remembrance of these attributes uplifts us above the mundane contingent realities that surround us. A firm belief in the Shahada essentially makes real to the believers that the contingent and transient reality of Earthly life has no power over us. The One Who Created us: Knowing our Creator from Authentic sources gives life its true meaning and happiness The Beginning There are no accidents in the universe. Scientists say the universe had a beginning. It began with the “Big Bang” from nothingness. Who caused the origin of the universe? It is God. Knowing God In Islam, knowing God is the key to real happiness in this Life and in the Hereafter. We are incapable of knowing God fully on our own. We can know God better from what God has revealed about Himself in authentic sources. The authentic description of God is found in The Quran, the exact Word of

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God, in Arabic, revealed to His Final and Universal Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). God’s Name The Quran begins, “In The Name of Allah,” [Al-Qur’an 1:1], God calls Himself “Allah” in The Quran. This Arabic Name is the proper Name unique to The One and Only God. It has no plural and is gender- free. Muslims all over the world call God “Allah”. Indeed, everyone- regardless of language and beliefmay call God by His proper Name “Allah”. But they must say only the truth about Allah which He Himself has revealed in The Quran. Knowing Allah fills the hearts of Believers with awe, love for Him, along with faith and hope. They know only Allah is worthy of worship. They joyfully submit, as Muslims, to His Will, earnestly seeking his Pleasure for their every thought, word and deed. Allah also calls Himself: The Beneficent (Ar-Rahman) The Merciful (Ar-Raheem) The All- Loving (Al-Wadud) The All- Knowing (Al-Aleem) The All- Hearing (As-Samee) The All- Seeing (Al-Baseer) The All- Powerful (Al-Qaadir)

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Who is Allah? The Eternal Creator “All Praise is for Allah, Lord of the Worlds” Allah is Infinite, outside of space and time. He was not created. He existed before Creation and will remain after its end. “Allah is the Ever- Living, Self- Subsisting.” (Al-Qur’an 2:255)

Things exist only by the Will of Allah. Allah is the Originator of the universe.

“When Allah decrees any matter, He says to it, ‘Be!’ and it is”. (Al-Qur’an, 2:117) “To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the Earth, and all that is therein, and it is He Who has power over all thi ngs” (Al-Qur’an 5:120) “(Allah is) regulating and governing all things”. (Al-Qur’an 10:3)

Allah is not God of only Muslims He is the Creator and Sustainer of you and me, and everything in the universe! Allah sent all Prophets, who include Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (pbuh), to convey the same Message of Islam: “Worship none other than Allah.” (Al-Qur’an 21:25)

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Allah told Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to declare to all: “Allah is our Lord and your Lord”. (Al-Qur’an 42:15)

Where is Allah? Allah is unseen Creator. Allah is unlike anything that the human mind can imagine. He does not in any way resemble His Creation. “Nothing whatsoever is like Him” (Al-Qur’an 42:11)

Allah exists without form or place. He is not in His Creations or part of it. Is Allah distant from us? No, on the contrary, we are never alone! “He is with you wherever you may be. And Allah sees well all that you do”. (Al-Qur’an 57:4)

Allah Is Not … An Human No language can adequately describe Allah. Using pronouns such as “He”, “Him”, and “We” is not intended to ascribe human qualities to Allah. Islam does not humanize the Creator, or attribute divinity to His Creations. “No slumber can seize Him or sleep.… and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving (the heavens and the Earth) for He is the Most High, the Supreme.” (Al-Qur’an 2:255)

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“It is He Who feeds (all His Creation) but He is Himself not fed.” (Al-Qur’an 6:14)

Not a team Allah is not a “Supreme Being” heading a team of “minor assistant gods”. Allah has no partners or associates, whether equal, superior or subordinate. No “rival gods” compete with Allah. “(If there were many gods), behold, each god would have taken away what we had created. And some would have lorded it over others!” (Al-Qur’an 23:91)

Allah’s Divine Attributes cannot be made into “subgods” (or “goddesses”), for example, the “god of Fortune” or the “goddess of Mercy”. Allah is the “Invisible” and the “Indivisible” Not a family’s person Allah has no parents, child, siblings or spouse! “And exalted is the Majesty of our Lord: He has taken neither a wife nor a son.” Al-Qur’an 72:3]

Not a Trinity Allah warns us: “They do disbelieve who say: ‘Allah is one of three in a Trinity,’ for there is no God except One God.” [Al-Qur’an 5:73]

Indeed, Prophet Jesus said:

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“Worship Allah, my Lord and Your Lord.” [Al-Qur’an 5:72]

One God, One Religion Some claim, “One God but many Paths.” Would God teach His Prophets different religions which have conflicting descriptions of Himself? Times have changed, but the Creator of Time is still the same! And so is the Religion He gave us. “The Religion with Allah is Islam- Submission to His Will.” (Al-Qur’an 3:19) … The same Religion given to all Prophets.” (Al-Qur’an 42:13) “If anyone seeks a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted from him, and he will be loser in the Hereafter.” (Al-Qur’an 3:85)

Muslims are respectful of other faiths because Allah has given everyone freedom to choose. “There is no compulsion Religion. Truth stands clear from error.” (Al-Qur’an 2:256)

Worship Allah … the Right Way Our Creator is also our Guide. Through Prophets and Revealed Books, He teaches us the Right Way to worship Him:

Alone, without any partners or associates



Unseen, without images and idols



Direct, without worshipping intermediaries such as

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prophets, angels, priests, saints- living or dead

Pure, without superstitions and assigning Allah’s Perfect Attributes of Knowledge, Protection, Power and others, to created things. These include stars, tombs, spirits, fortune- tellers, trees, idols, animals, amulets, good- luck charms and pieces of string



Follow Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) example

To worship Allah in the wrong way as well as to worship false is the worst form of ignorance, ingratitude and injustice, and the greatest sin. Their good works in this life will be fruitless on the Day of Judgment in the Hereafter. Islam teaches: Worship the Creator, not His Creations, or your creations! A Happy Ending True happiness is attained when you know and fulfill the purpose of your life. Allah says, “I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship me”. (Al-Qur’an 51:56)

Believers know that everything “Belongs to Allah and will surely return to Him.” (Al-Qur’an 2:56)

Only Allah knows the time- span of each creature and of His entire creation. Believers strive their utmost to achieve a good ending to this worldly life by adhering to Allah’s Guidance in The Quran and following the Way of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Certain of Accountability before Allah,

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Believers pray for Allah’s Mercy on the Day of Judgment when He will rule with Perfect justice. [Al-Qur’an 21:47] “Then whoever is saved from Hellfire and admitted into paradise will be truly successful.” (Al-Qur’an 3:185)

This is the truth from Allah. Know Allah better, read The Quran, submit to Him and be a better person. Serve His Creations, help make a better world. Live the Right Way of Islam, be happy. The End “Everything will perish except Allah.” [Al-Qur’an 28:88] in the end, Allah “fold up the heavens …” And just as He “originated the first creation, He will produce a new one.” (Al-Qur’an 21:104)

The Return “Allah gives you Life, then causes you to die, then He will resurrect you and assemble you for the day of Judgment.” (Al-Qur’an 45:26)

The other part of the Shahada (Muhammad Rasulullah) testifies to humanity’s special person in the created order. God revealed the truth, the whole truth, to guide humanity through one of its own kind showing mankind the road to salvation and ascendance. This is the role of all prophets of God, that truth is unchangeable and the message has been

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constant through various revelations and prophets, though its nature and emphasis have varied with the needs of a particular era and society. The Prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the seal of all previous revelations revealed to earlier prophets. His mission encompasses all the messages that came before him. The Final Prophet: Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) His Legacy of Truth, Justice & Peace continues to inspire to a better world The man & his message

“Muhammad is the messenger of God and the last of the prophets.” [33:40]

God (Allah) chose him to convey The Qur’an, His Final Revelation and Guidance. Previous Prophets, who include Abraham, Moses and Jesus (pbuh), were sent to guide only their people. Muhammad (pbuh) was the universal Prophet sent by Allah to all of mankind till the end of time. Muslims do not worship or idolise Muhammad (pbuh). He was not the founder of the religion of Islam. All Prophets were Muslim who preached the Message of Islam in different stages of history: “Worship only Allah, and avoid evil.” [16:36] As the Final Prophet, Muhammad’s mission was to call humanity back to Islam.

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Why no Prophets after Muhammad? Allah does what He wills. In His Infinite Wisdom, Allah chose Muhammad (pbuh), an unlettered Arab man in 7thcentury Arabia, to be the seal of the prophets. Allah’s Qur’an contains the complete Divine Guidance which is universally applicable. Allah has guaranteed to preservethe Qur’an intact in its original authentic from. Muhammad (pbuh) was the “living Qur’an” – the perfect role-model to emulate in this life and to prepare for the Hereafter. His life-example, known as the Sunnah, provides the ideal example for implementing the Qur’anic teachings for us and our society. The Sunnah has been preserved in the Book of Traditions (called Hadith). Through the Qur’an and Sunnah, Muhammad delivered the message of Islam in its renewed, complete and perfected from for all humanity, for all time. The greatest Man Born in 570 CE in Makkah (Mecca), Arabia, Muhammad (pbuh) was an orphan. His prophetic mission began at age 40 years, till his death in 632 CE. Allah gave Muhammad (pbuh) the greatest task- to convey the truth to all humanity. However, he was not only a spiritual leader, but also a ruler, reformer, peace-maker, commander and soldier, husband, father, friend, and more. Always humble, he reminded his followers: “I am only the Lord’s servant. So call me ‘the servant of Allah and His Messenger’.” A testimony to Muhammad’s greatness: His Prophethood is part of Shahadah, the muslim’s Declaration of Faith: “There is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, and Muhammad is the (Final) Messenger of Allah.”

Note: A Prophet was a man appointed by Allah to receive & convey Divine Revelation. A Messenger was a prophet sent to deliver the message of Islam to a nation.

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How he received Revelation Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) never told a lie. Since his youth, he was known as “As-Sadiqul Ameen” which means “the Truthful and Trustworthy.” None doubted his integrity. So believe him. Muhammad (pbuh) said he received Revelation from Allah in several ways, which included: direct communication from Allah, revelation conveyed through Angel Gabriel, who sometimes appeared to him in the form of a man. Through Divine inspiration. The Qur’an Muhammad (pbuh) did not write The Qur’an, nor could hehe was illiterate. The Qur’an is a miracle because its intact preservation makes it “everlasting.” It can be seen, heard, read and conveyed in its authentic form as it was revealed more than 14 centuries ago. Muhammad (pbuh) taught us to honour all Prophet He said: “All Prophets are brothers; they have different mothers, but their Religion is One.” [Bukhari]

Muhammad and other prophets Muhammad and Abraham: Muhammad (pbuh) was a direct descendant of Abraham through his first son, Ishmael. Muhammad (pbuh) instituted the rites of Hajj (pilgrimage) to Makkah) which commemorate Abraham’s piety. He taught Muslims to reaffirm, in every prayer, Allah’s blessings on Abraham and his family, who include both Arabs and Jews. Muhammad and Moses: Muhammad (pbuh) told his followers:

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“Do not say that I am superior to Prophet Moses.” [Bukhari]

He also said: “If Moses was alive today, he would surely follow me.” [Ahmad]

Muhammad and Jesus: Muhammad (pbuh) said: “I am the closest of all people to Jesus, son of Mary, for there was no prophet sent between us.” [Bukhari] Thus, Jesus was the second-last Prophet and the forerunner to Muhammad (pbuh) who came 600 years after him. The Qur’an states that the coming of the Final Prophet, Muhammad (pbuh), was foretold in the original Torah of Moses [7: 157] and in the original Gospel of Jesus. [61:6]. Earlier Divine Books are lost or altered. However, their present –day versions still contain traces of Truth. Scholars who have studied them have found numerous references that point to Muhammad (pbuh), the “unlettered” Prophet. What Muhammad gave Humanity He gave us a living legacy of Truth & Dignity, Mercy & Morals, Justice & Peace. Whoever follows it becomes a better person. Any society that adopts it thrives harmoniously. Truth & Dignity: Through the Qur’an, Muhammad (pbuh) brought the truth from God about God, about the purpose of life, Accountability in the Hereafter and how to attain Happiness in this life and the next. Mercy & Morals: The Sunnah details the excellent character, beautiful manners and noble morals of Muhammad (pbuh). Allah says: “We have not sent you, O Muhammad, except as a mercy to all creatures.” [21:107]

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Following it, we attain inner peace with others, and also with the environment. Justice & Peace: As ruler of Madinah, Muhammad (pbuh) established a model society based on freedom of religion, justice, equality and human rights for all. This is a perfect example for different races and religions to live together in peace and harmony. Muhammad’s Legacy provides solutions to the problems in our world, and thus, secures the peace and happiness we all long for. “Whoever obeys Muhammad obeys Allah.” [4:80] “If you love Allah, follow him and Allah will love you” [3:31]

Muhammad’s Legacy Love & compassion: “No one truly believes until he loves for his fellow-men what he loves for himself.” [Bukhari]

End Racism: “All humanity is from Adam. There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, nor a white man over a black man, and vice versa, except in righteousness.” [Tirmidhi]

Be Peace-makers: “Better than prayer, fasting and charity is to remove internal dissensions and to restore peace between contending parties for dissensions ruin society.” [Tirmidhi]

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Protect Non-Muslims: “Beware! On the Day of Judgment, I shall myself oppose anyone who wrong a non-Muslim citizen of a Muslim state, or withhold his right, overburdens him, or takes from him without his consent.” [Abu Dawud]

Honour Women: “Men have right over women, and women have rights over men. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and helpers.” [Tirmidhi]

Love Animals: “A good deed done to an animal is like a good deed done to a human being, while cruelty to animals is as bad as cruelty to people.” [Bukhari]

Go Green: “If a Muslim plants a tree or sows a field, and then people, animals and birds benefit from it, he has indeed given charity.” [Bukhari]

Islam, as a systematic way of life, recognizes the importance of tauhid, i.e. the faith in One God in strengthening the bond of humanity and cementing our bond with God. For this reason, Tauhid became the basis of Islamic Ummah. To believe in the Oneness of Allah means to believe in the oneness of existence, the oneness of the origins and the end of all things in the universe. This belief is the central principle in Islam. The concept of tawhid necessitates that one must not associate partner with God in any form.

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Associating partner with Him is the most grievous act one can commit. As He makes it clear in the following verse: “God forgives not that partner should be set up with Him, but He forgives anything else to Whom He pleases; to set up partner with God is to devise a sin most heinous indeed.” (Al-Qur’an, 51: 51)

Full understanding of the concept of tawhid and living in accordance with it will ensure internal equilibrium– spiritual, emotional, mental and physical. Also, absolute faith in the oneness of God, and acting on the basis of that faith will ensure serenity, peace and happiness. 2. Prayers (Solat) The five daily prayers are the means to maintain awareness of our Creator. It helps us to get a clear mind. They also help the believers to strengthen their determination through prayer and the power of positive affirmation. Furthermore, they provide the believers with powerful techniques that help them to positively shape their experience of faith and reliance in God. The ritual prayer has an outer and inner dimension. The former is the physical prayer that involves standing, recitation of the Quran, bowing, prostrating, kneeling and audibly repeating certain prayers. The inner dimensions of prayer are of the realization of our need for God. Through observing regular daily prayers, the level of our emotional and spiritual strength is continually increased. This shows that five daily prayers represent the strongest way to keep on honouring and sharpening our SEMP to a higher level. Prayer must involve the heart as well as the body to be complete. In other words, it cannot be just a mechanical

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movement. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “Ritual worship is possible only with a quiet heart”.

In the Qur’an, Allah the Almighty says, Everyone has a direction towards which one turns, therefore, emulate (one another) in good deeds. Wherever, you are, Allah will bring all of you together; Allah has power over all things. (Al-Qur’an, 2: 148)

Historical records have also shown that whenever the Prophet was in difficult situation, he would hasten to prayer. He would say to Bilal (a man whose responsibility was to say the call to prayer), “O Bilal, Give us comfort with it.” The prayers are performed in an identical manner by all Muslims around the world. The prayers punctuate the life of every Muslim, keeping one close to God, the Creator, and the spiritual blessings flowing to all His creatures. We are often surrounded by a hectic, superficial world that emphasizes the external to the exclusion of our spiritual connection with God. To stay on the straight path, we have to constantly observe our prayers regularly. The Almighty says: And establish regular prayer, for prayer protects from the objectionable and the sinful. (Al-Qur’an, 29: 45)

We are also often calmer, more peaceful, clear-headed and more effective in whatever we do after observing our daily prayers. Allah the Almighty says: Once you have completed the prayer, go about your business and ask for the assistance of God. (Al-Qur’an, 62: 10)

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3. Fasting (Sawm) Allah the Almighty prescribed the devotional act of fasting upon Muslims to control our overwhelming lusts and desires of our evil self and align our SEMP towards God. Fasting as a form of worship are common in most religions. In other words, fasting was prescribed upon those before us. A study of ancient religions shows that in the past the conditions and etiquette of fasting were much stricter than they are in the Islamic Shariah. Fasting is unique among the devotional act of worship. This uniqueness lies in its ability to train and reform our inner self. By fasting, we are able to overcome greed, lust and excessive desire of the physical things in life. Like prayer, fasting has an outer and an inner dimension. On the outer dimension, we refrain from food, drink, sex and other sensual pleasures during the daylight hours. God says, You may also eat and drink up to the brink of dawn, then resume the fast until nightfall. (Al-Qur’an, 2: 187)

On the inner dimension, fasting involves refraining from greed, lust, envy, jealousy, backbiting: it means cleansing the heart from everything that is illusory and not true. Moreover, fasting reaffirms in our heart the core of our faith. For the confession of unity, shahada, the first Pillar of Islam, represents an affirmation of our surrender to the Creator. Prayer, fasting, zakat and performing Hajj are the actions that make the shahada concrete. There is an intimacy between the Creator and the created who is fasting. God speaking through His Messenger (peace be upon him) said, Fasting is for Me and I will reward my servant who fast for Me. (Hadith al-Qudsi)

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Fasting is our best opportunity to cultivate that inner dimension that will stay with us even after the outer dimension of fasting is completed beyond Ramadan. Ramadan is all about abstinence and reflection in order to cut one off from the continual and devouring flux of carnal life. Fasting cleanses the body, and energizes the soul. One feels lighter and more comfortable inside. Not only that, medical professionals have recognized the physiological and psychological benefits of fasting. The practice not only cleanses the system, but also induces self discipline and empowers those who fast to have a greater sense of confidence. If we can conquer our most basic of desires – food and drink, we can also conquer the secondary impulses to which we often succumb without much thought. Fasting makes us feel comfortable internally that strengthen our SEMP 4. Alms Giving (Zakat) Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, and it is usually mentioned immediately after the prayer in the Qur’an. The root meaning of the Arabic term Zakka suggests that it is a means of purification and development. The essence of Zakat is all about giving others with no expectation of reward, publicity, or praise, and without making the poor any less for accepting the gift. God the Almighty says: Those who spend their substance in the cause of God and follow not up their gifts with reminders of their generosity or with injury- for them their reward is with their Lord. On them, shall be no fear nor shall they grieve. Kind words and the covering of faults are better than charity followed by injury. (Al-Qur’an, 2: 262-263)

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Charity must be practiced anonymously, unless otherwise necessary, and must be given with no expectation of reciprocity. Charity does not just have to be material. It can be kind words, good advice, relieving sorrow and discomfort, and contributing to the welfare of fellow humans as an individual or a collective effort. Its significance lies in its application as a critical tool to ascertain the extent to which an individual love his God. It should be noted that Zakat and Tauhid are linked in some ways. Tauhid, literally means to testify that there is no deity that deserves to be worshipped but Almighty God and Muhammad is His apostle. However, the complete fulfillment of this obligation requires the affirmation of the Divine Unity and readiness to sacrifice for the sake of God. There is little value in mere verbal affirmation. The degree of love is tested only by separating the lover from the things he loves. Worldly goods are an object of love in everybody’s eyes, being the means by which they enjoy the benefits of this world. Material gains usually make a man feel more attached to life and shy away from death. But those who affirm the Divine Unity, fulfill their covenant and renounce excessive worldly goods. They are ready to willingly give all they have as charity. We should not give away a tainted product as a gift to someone because it is not acceptable in the sight of the Almighty. Charity in the final analysis is a gift to God so it has to be from something that we cherish. In other words, Charity will only be rewarded if what is given is honourably earned and valuable. That is the giver has to give what he values and not something he intends to discard anyway, and only if one happily gives it. Allah says: “O you who believe! Give of the good things which you have honorably earned, and of the fruits of the Earth which we have produced for you, and do not even aim at giving anything which

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is bad, in order that out of it you may give away something which you yourself would not (want) to receive. And know that God is free of all wants, and Worthy of all praise.” (Al-Qur’an, 2: 267)

5.

Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)

This is the fifth pillar of Islam that stipulates that every Muslim who has the financial and physical capabilities is obliged to make pilgrimage to Mecca once in his lifetime. The Qur’an narrates that the Ka’aba (the Holy Mosque) in Mecca was first built by Prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael (peace be upon them). In fact, some of the rituals observed by Muslims during the pilgrimage trace back to Prophet Abraham. In practical terms, however, it was Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who explained to his Companions in detail how the rituals are to be observed. In Hajj, the rulers and ruled, the rich and the poor, the strong and the weak are all similarly dressed and all stand as perfect equals; the worldly distinctions are left behind. We must understand here that even though Hajj represents a physical ritual journey to Mecca, spiritually, it is a journey of the heart to its Creator. For example, every pilgrim must chant “labbayka-Allahumma labbayk” meaning “Here I come, my Lord” as they go about the Hajj rituals. The pilgrims have left behind all worldly concerns and possessions. Even the dress, two pieces of unstitched cloths for males, represents a readiness to leave this world at any moment. After a pilgrimage well done, a person goes back “as pure as the day he was born” with all his sins forgiven. The above principles of the Islamic way of life can increase our happiness and we can achieve peace, happiness and success in this world and in the next realm of the hereafter.

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B. Practical Application of Contemplation and Meditation to Achieve Peace, Happiness and Success A major aspect of all modern psychotherapies is that they are not related to any metaphysical principles. The focus of modern psychology has always been on individual memory and on the analysis of behaviour patterns resulting from early childhood without the incorporation of the nature of the human self and its connection with God. Consequently, modern psychology represents a non-religious imitation of the traditional psychology based on non-spiritual doctrines of who man is and how his needs are fulfilled purely at the material level. When the soul disconnects from God and strays from the Straight Path, the spiritual body becomes imbalanced. The only way for spiritual healing and salvation of the soul is submission to God (Islam). While this is a well-known fact, many people intentionally ignored it in their search for happiness and peace of mind in worldly gains and short-lived insignificant pursuits. People nourish their bodies physically, by eating, drinking, bathing, working, learning and resting, but they often forget to nourish their souls in the SEM domain – they overlook the connection of the soul with its Creator, and how it strives to gain God’s pleasure, compassion and satisfaction. As a result, they suffer from psychological and spiritual illnesses, such as hopelessness, aimlessness, anxiety, insecurity, and fear. They lack equilibrium, harmony, and inner peace within their lives, and only achieve superficial material success. The pursuit of worldly knowledge and the desire for ever more sensual experience have led modern man away from the traditional perspective and from the spiritual disciplines of religions. However, it has also allowed modern man to reassess and re-establish personal priority to be in contact with the inner self and the spiritual world. This may be due to the fact that the high-tech world we live in today has overpowered

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the modern man with multiple experiences which he can hardly process, much less internalize. Current research have demonstrated that believing in God is the best coping strategy for various life challenges and demands, be it in managing daily hassles and discomforts or in dealing with life’s crises and serious misfortunes. With more and more people realizing the spiritual vacuum that exists within themselves, they struggle to rebuild their faith and connections with God, especially among the younger generations. They are finally acknowledging that having a close-minded attitude and a totally materialistic focus would only result in an imbalanced and unhealthy body and soul. Today, an increasing number of people are inclined to the practice of meditation as a means of introspection, exploration, spiritual discovery and as an “escape” from the materialistic world. For many, meditation offers the silence and the stillness that is the “one thing lacking” in today’s enriching, yet hectic and overwhelming life experiences. Man’s reason and the pursuit of worldly knowledge may lead him beyond his literal and rational thinking into the realms of thought that draws on the traditional wisdom made available through revelation. As Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has said: “Know thyself in order to know God.”

The relative sense of the distance between man and God is in accordance with their spiritual capacity and level of spiritual achievement and consciousness. The more the believers can “remember” God through the spiritual disciplines and practices, the closer they come to God. Spirituality in Islam manifests at different levels and degrees, i.e. the levels of being, levels of spirituality, levels of enlightenment and human perfection. Allah says in the Qur’an:

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Such people are indeed true believers. They have high ranks with their Lord. (Al-Qur’an, 8: 4)

The levels of spirituality are reflected through degrees of faith in the Divinity, through piety that distinguishes the good from the bad. Through intense efforts and commitment, and through the higher level of meditation, the human mind can focus on deeper levels of consciousness. Each of the five Earthly duties of Islam, especially the shahadah, has the remembrance of God as its root and source. By performing the five Islamic duties (arkan), a person will be able to pull his mind away from the mundane affairs of the world and focus his mind and heart on the one God as the unifying and one Reality. The remembrance through these five duties also provides the believer with the blessing and the inner spiritual peace that is the root of his being. As mentioned in the Qur’an: Those who have believed and whose hearts have rest in the remembrance of God. Verily, in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest. (Al-Qur’an, 13:28)

In a hadith, Prophet Muhammad said that the Muslims should “meditate not on the Essence but on the Qualities of God and on His Grace.” Through prayers, Qur’anic recitation and the invocation of the Names of God, man is able to realize his true identity through the Supreme Identity. As Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said in a hadith qudsi: My slave ceases not to draw nigh unto Me with devotions of his free will until I love him; and when I love him, I am the hearing with which he hears, and the sight with which he sees, and the hand with which he grasps, and the foot on which he walks.

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God confirms once and for all, time the real relationship between the human and the Divine Being is one of complete inseparability, a relationship that begins with the performance of traditional spiritual practices, and ends in the consummate unity (tawhid) with God. There are three types of prayers in Islam: the obligatory prayers – constitutes a ritual ceremony in Islam

the private prayers – spills from the human heart as a matter of spiritual instinct

special prayers practiced by the Prophet (the Sunnah) – supplement and extend the canonical prayers. There are also higher gradations of spiritual communication that are available to the aspiring soul: supererogatory prayers (nawafil) – include the prayer of tahajjud or night vigils

invocation (dhikr) of the Sacred Name

the practice of meditation on the qualities and attributes identified through the 99 Names of Allah in the Qur’an, attributes that are human reflections in man of the divine aspects of God. And celebrate the name of your God morning and evening, and part of the night. (Al-Qur’an, 76: 25)

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Contemplation in Islam

Contemplation occupies a centre-stage in Islam. This is because it provides an excellent opportunity to a person to think deeply and connect with his God. To better understand the role of contemplation and meditation in Islam we need to approach the human psyche and its behaviour from an open-minded Islamic perspective, combining traditional and contemporary knowledge. This approach was earlier adopted by Professor Malik Badri in his book titled “Contemplation: An Islamic Psychospiritual Study” (Al-Tafakkur min al-Mushahadah ila al-Shuhud). Contemplation can generally be described as a free form of worship which is not limited by space or time, or any obstacles, be it seen or unseen. Islamic contemplation is different from other forms of thinking or transcendental meditation as when Muslims contemplate the creation, the self, and the laws of the Almighty therein, they excel over other contemplators because they have higher incentives and expectations from God. While the words ‘meditation’, ‘contemplation‘, ‘reflection’, and ‘cogitation’ seem to be the nearest terms available to express the Islamic form of contemplation, or tafakkur in Arabic, they do not give the term its true Islamic religious dimension. In fact, using the term meditation to explain tafakkur may be misleading. This is because the aim of tafakkur is necessarily spiritual in nature as it is a refined form of worshipping God by appreciating His creation in His vast universe using the rational mind, emotion and spirit. In Islamic contemplation, altered states of consciousness are not an end in themselves, as the goal is a deeper insightful knowledge of God as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. In other words, the real value of Islamic meditation lies in its connection with the worship, remembrance and glorification of the One God and pleading for His help.

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Islamic contemplation can be categorized in four interconnected stages: a.

In the first stage, knowledge of the contemplated object comes through sensory perception directly, or indirectly, i.e. through imagination. Such information can be purely mental and often has no relation to emotional or sentimental aspects.

b. The second stage of contemplation involves fine appreciation, delicate feelings and powerful passion. It starts when a person takes a closer look at these data, inspecting their aesthetic aspects and particular qualities. It is a shift from mere perception to a state of wonder at the beauty, excellence, vastness of structure, and miraculous appearance of the perceived object. The believers who reach this stage and appreciate the beauty of creation, its magnitude and precision will be inevitably drawn closer toward the Maker and Regulator, and will begin to feel their own insignificance and helplessness in comparison with all His signs in the heavens and on the Earth. c.

In the third stage, the meditator crosses the boundary between the created object of contemplation and its Creator – carried away by feelings of submission to and appreciation of the One because the meditator realizes that there is nothing in existence but God who created every existence of creations.

d.

The fourth stage, the spiritual cognition, takes place when the refined meditation in stage three is repeated and reinforced with continual remembrance of God. In this stage, the spiritual feelings associated with deep contemplation become part of the worshipper’s nature, and make him or her more loving toward and fearful of God and His sublime Attributes. These feelings, continually experienced, are beyond verbal description.

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Islamic contemplation is based on the progression from meditating on the creation to its creator. It is a smooth rational movement since the Islamic faith is uncorrupted by any association of creatures or objects with the Almighty or any polytheistic deviations. Atheists may contemplate the immense beauty of the universe with the vague understanding that it is ‘Mother Nature’ or the ‘Big Bang’ that brought it into existence, or they may avoid the issue of how this world came to be what it is altogether. They contemplate with emotional passions, completely disregarding the rational issue of how the universe was created. Similarly, pagans or polytheists who believe that it is many gods, fighting among themselves, who created everything, will find it very difficult to meditate with their rational minds and hearts since these may contradict each other. For this reason, Westerners who wish to have a ‘mystical’ experience are advised to avoid ‘reason-based form of worship’. As for the practicing Muslims, their contemplation is a spiritual practice in which all their cognitive and spiritual faculties are activated in pursuit of the true cognizance of the Almighty. It is not an irrational or emotional endeavour to cure a disorder, nor a painful exercise in which the body is tortured by standing for several days on one leg or sleeping on beds or sharp nails. Islamic contemplation is a form of worship that binds the heart with the mind, the rational with the emotional, and the sensible with the passionate, so that sober contemplators may be in a better spiritual state in which their prayers, God willing, be more acceptable. There are many verses in the Qur’an which urges us to contemplate over God’s creations: Do they not look at the she-camels, how they are created? And at the heaven, how it is raised? And at the mountains, how they are rooted and fixed firm? And at the Earth, how it is spread out? (Al-Qur’an, 88: 17-20)

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Verily, in the heavens and the Earth are signs for the believers. And in your creation, and what He scattered [through the Earth] of moving [living] creatures are signs for people who have faith with certainty. And in the alternation of night and day, and the provision [rain] that Allah sends down from the sky, and revives therewith the Earth after its death, and in the turning about of the winds [sometimes towards the east or north, and sometimes towards the south or west, sometimes bringing glad tidings of rain, and sometimes bringing the torment], are signs for a people who understand. (Al-Qur’an, 45: 3-5) Say, travel in the land and see how [Allah] originated creation, and then Allah will bring forth [resurrect] the creation of the Hereafter [resurrection after death]. Verily, Allah is Able to do all things. (Al-Qur’an, 29: 20)

Though contemplating believers cannot decipher the glorification of God by the universe, they feel the harmony between their glorification and that of all other creatures. This feeling becomes deeper with the continuation of contemplation until it reaches spiritual sublimity and a sense of joy and spiritual pleasure that is incomparable to any worldly bliss. Describing this state of bliss, Ibn al-Qayyim says in Madarij al-Salikin: The contemplative believer who remembers God will begin to enjoy solitude and places of seclusion where voices and movements are hushed... There he will find strength of heart and will, and he will no longer be worried or depressed... Then he will begin to taste the sweetness of worship, of which he cannot have enough. In it, he will find abundance of pleasure and comfort – more than what he used to find in diversion and play, or in the satisfaction of worldly desires... When he experiences this state, many of the worldly concerns will disappear, as he is in a completely different world from the rest of humanity.

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What a difference there is between the practising Muslim contemplators and those atheists and pagans who suffer under numerous layers of darkness, who can reach but a glimpse of these wonders through meditation in their quest of what is beyond perception! It is as though the Qur’an was referring to them when it says: Whenever the lightning gives them light, they walk therein, and whenever darkness falls around them, they stand still. (Al-Qur’an, 2:20)

Islam fully integrates contemplation and the centering of self into the matrix of life within the society. Beings, thoughts and actions are interrelated and harmonize with one another. Our thinking is the by-product of who we are in our being; our actions are previewed in our thoughts and their consequences are poured back into our being like waves rushing onto the shore. Nonetheless, correct action depends on a correct way of thinking, and correct thinking stems from a correct mode of being. That is why Muslims seek help and sustenance from God through spiritual acts of worship. ii. Meditation in Islam Meditation is a means for spiritual transcendence in getting closer to God, to liberate the mind from superstitions, doubts and any thoughts that lead to sin, and fill it instead with certainty, love, compassion and purity. It is often used as a powerful tool in stress management, self-improvement and healing programs whereby it helps individuals to take control of their emotional responses as well as of their thoughts and actions. Certainly, meditation inject happiness, psychological calmness, clarity of mind, and intimacy into the heart of meditator. Indeed, it is a therapeutic exercise that can relieve suffering from his physical and psychological disorder. This

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is because he knows that every atom in this universe glorifies and praises the Almighty. The Qur’an states: There is not a thing but celebrates His praise; but you [humans] do not understand how they declare His glory. (Al-Qur’an, 17:44)

For this reason, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said in a hadith: An hour of meditation is better than sixty years of acts of worship.

In addition, meditation has the following benefits: 1)

It teaches one about patience, surrender and love for the Creator.

2)

It is a powerful relaxation tool that heals the physical body and enhances intellectual performance.

3)

It helps one to be detached from daily struggles and worldly distractions while relaxing and recharging the mind.

4)

Regular practice of meditation helps in controlling an individual’s feelings and reactions, while regulating and harmonizing internal body functions.

5)

Meditation not only relaxes the mind and voluntary muscles, but also the involuntary body structures such as the digestive, cardiovascular and pulmonary systems, leading to physical wellbeing and spiritual transcendence.

6) Meditation also induces positive physiological changes as it regulates breathing, harmonizes the heartbeat, improves blood circulation and relaxes the mind.

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There are two forms of meditation in Islam, i.e. contemplation and invocation. Meditation in the form of contemplation is an important means of focusing oneself to God, as it serves as a valuable source of spiritual enlightenment, an incessant source of peace, gratefulness and gratitude for God’s gifts and blessings. Reflecting upon God’s creations provides one with a feeling of tranquillity and harmony; filling the soul with relief and submission to the Creator. It gives one a sense of security, warmth and protection. Meditation induces a state of mindfulness that employs the body, the breath, and the mind of the individual through the unifying goal of focusing on a deeper individual consciousness. The need to establish the profound link between the body, the mind and the soul/spirit is through the breath. In the explanation of the creation of man in the Qur’an, Allah says, And breathed into him of My Spirit. (Al-Qur’an, 15: 29)

Breathing serves as the connective function between the conscious and the unconscious planes, in both voluntary and involuntary levels. It is the bodily function that is closest to the mind because, while it is fundamentally involuntary, it can be made into a voluntary, regulated and experienced function that creates a relationship with the conscious mind by being virtually directed by it. The first step in heightened awareness within the meditative process is by consciously following the breath in and out of the whole body. When the body itself, through the breath, takes part in the meditative experience, then consciousness will enter the entire body, thereby creating a totality of experience that includes the body, the mind and heart of the individual to embrace the total self, and then by extension the immediate world and the cosmic world.

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Those who desire to extend their effort through more intense forms of worship and praise, may opt for the second form of meditation in Islam, which is invocation of the sacred Name, or dhikr. The repetition of the first part of the profession of faith, i.e. the shahadah is routinely practiced in certain mystical circles, in conformity with the hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): “the best invocation is ‘there is no divinity but God’”. Although the invocation of the sacred Name is a method that has been particularly distinguished within the Islamic frame of reference, it is not exclusive to Islam. The invocation of the name serves as a profound and effective means of focusing the mind on the remembrance of God. Dhikr, translated as remembrance, implies recollection, mindfulness, and repetition of the name through invocation. While the shahadah is identified in the Qur’an as the absolute essence of the doctrine; dhikr embraces all of the Islamic spiritual practices and is the essence of the methodology of the religion, “the greatest thing” (Al-Qur’an, 29: 45). The remembrance of God through dhikr represents the forgetting of the self and a neutralization of the ego which encourages such forgetfulness. Invocation, therefore, focuses the mind through a specific form of methodology that helps a person remember who he is, namely a theomorphic being made in the image of God, and reinforces man’s predilection toward forgetfulness by encouraging the forgetfulness of who man is not, namely a secularized and fully rational being created as a mirror reflection of the human ego. Meditation through the invocation of the Names of Allah is called dhikr (remembrance of Allah). It can be practiced either orally/verbally in a low tone or as an essential meditation of the heart i.e. meditation from our inner speech. While the names of God are many, the invocation par excellence is the Name of Allah, the unqualified and unparalleled name of the Divinity, the Supreme Name (al-ism al-a’zam), alternatively

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called the Unique Name (al-ism al-mufrad) and the Name of Majesty (ism al-jalalah). As the Sufis have said, “God is present in His Name”. Some of the benefits of meditation in the form of an invocation: 1) It raises the level of human consciousness to the threshold of the heavenly spheres, and ultimately, the very presence of God. After a brief session involving the invocation of the Sacred Name, the invoker would bring the effects of this heightened consciousness back into the world with him, altering his perception and understanding of the world with this overlay of divine remembrance. 2) It provides the ultimate means of discrimination that permits the invoker to experience the spiritual realities as a human reality. 3) It provides the invoker with spiritual energy and blessings and grace, which gives the believer with feelings of confidence, inner contentment, tranquility, happiness and peace. 4) It provides the invoker with the truth of certainty (alhaqq al-yaqin), which is the ultimate gift of heaven which negates all doubt within the heart. Prophet Muhammad has stressed the significance of dhikr in a hadith: “Shall I tell you the best of your deeds? The purest in the eyes of your King, He whom you hold to be at the highest level, Whose proximity is more beneficial than the act of giving gold and silver or of meeting your enemy and striking him down or being struck?” The Companions of the Prophet said, “Tell us.” The Prophet answered, “It is the invocation of God the Most High.”

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In another hadith, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “There is a way of polishing everything and removing rust and that which polishes the heart is the invocation of God.”

And finally: “Men never assemble to invoke Allah without being surrounded by angels and covered by Divine Blessings, and without peace (sakinah) descending on them and Allah remembering them.”

The holy invocation of the Name Allah can be seen as operative on three different levels: 1) The invocation of the tongue (dhikr al-lisan) – the very gift of speech that distinguishes man from the animals, the outward form of sound that verbalizes the substance of the inner consciousness. It unites all aspects of man to focus on none other than God through the Name. 2)

The invocation of the heart (dhikr al-qalb) – focuses the mind and the consciousness on the human center of the heart, through which flows the knowledge and love of God.

3)

The invocation from the very core of the heart, the blessed center (dhikr al-sirr) – the human secret as a reflection of the Divine Mystery.

Among the benefits of Dhikr-Allah: 1) It brings one closer to Allah, and He responds to his calls. Therefore remember Me [through prayer and glorification]. I will remember you...” (Al-Qur’an, 2: 152)

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It dissolves distress and grief, relieves the anguished heart and brings joy, happiness, tranquility and serenity. “... Verily in the rememberance of Allah do hearts find rest.” (Al-Qur’an, 13: 28)

3)

It repels evil and enlightens the heart, showing this light as beauty and a glow on one’s face.

4)

It strengthens the body by diverting the mind from the source of anxiety, thus, giving the body the chance to heal.

5) It revives and nourishes the heart and soul – a remedy for cruelty and mercilessness. Several hadith highlight the significance of God's rememberance (dhikr-Allah). Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: The example of the one who remembers Allah and the one who does not is like the living one and the dead.

The merit of invocation has also been mentioned in the Qur’an and hadith. In the Qur’an, Allah says: And when My slaves ask you [O Muhammad] concerning Me, then [answer them], I am, indeed, near [to them by My Knowledge]. I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me [without any mediator or intercessor]. So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright. (Al-Qur’an, 2: 186) Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “No Muslim invokes with an invocation, as long as this invocation is not a bad deed or to cut off one of his relatives, but Allah gives him one of the following three: He promptly answers his invocation, delays it for him until the Hereafter, or keeps Him away from

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an equivalent evil.” They (the companions) said, “So we invoke more.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Allah is the Most Generous. (Related by Tirmidhi and Ahmad)

The Manners of Invoking Allah 1)

Be sincere to Allah.

2) Begin your invocation by praising and glorifying Allah. Then pray for Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) at the beginning and at the end of your invocation. 3)

Be determined in your invocation and be sure that Allah will answer it.

4)

Be patient in your invocation and do not hurry.

5)

Be sure your heart is aware during the invocation.

6)

Lower your voice to a level between a whisper and being edible.

7) Acknowledge your sin, ask Allah to forgive you, acknowledge your Lord’s bounty upon you and thank Him for it. 8)

Supplicate and submit to Him.

9)

You may supplicate to Allah by His magnificent Names constantly to receive His blessings.

10) You should enjoin righteous deeds and forbid wrong and evil deeds.

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C. Basic Techniques that We Can Practise: Calm Breathing Focus Technique and Asma al-Husna This is the most basic form of meditation. It is done by clearing and relaxing one’s mind from thinking about daily life problems. It is normal for one to be interrupted by intruding thoughts which prevents total concentration on the breathing. When this happens, the person just need to refocus on his breathing and allow himself to breathe naturally, without trying to control the movements of his lungs. The calm breathing focus technique may be practiced in two ways: 1) While sitting in a quiet room, by closing the eyes and visualizing anything which brings peace and tranquility to the person. 2)

In the open space, while looking at or surrounded by beautiful scenery, e.g. the beach, waterfalls, or green hills and so on, etc.

With regular practice, the calm breathing focus technique brings the consciousness on one’s inner peace, escaping from all materialistic interest and striving to overcome all tensions, distractions and negative emotions. It also helps one to see the world from a different point of view – free of any selfish thoughts, increasing spiritual awareness of the beauty and perfection of the creation and the Creator; teaching one to simply let go and just be. This technique may be performed as follows: 1)

For five minutes, focus on your breathing – slowly inhale and exhale while being aware of the air entering and leaving your body.

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Do not try to control, force your breathing, or adjust its rhythm; just relax and allow it to harmonize on its own.

Gradually, you may be able to increase your meditative time and reach a clearer mental state more rapidly. There are variations of the calm breathing techniques for us to achieve higher level of cognitive awareness, sense of peace and closeness to Allah the Almighty; 1.

We can combine calm breathing with invocation. As we breath in and out, we can also quietly recite an invocation with a low voice which we can hardly hear by moving our lips. In this technique, we first focus our breathing as it is coming from the heart (focused-heart breathing). As we slowly inhale and exhale in slow rhythmic fashion, we can include our invocation as in the examples below: i.

If we want to seek forgiveness from God we can recite "astaghfirullah al-azim" as we breath out.

ii. If we are in a state of fear and we want to overcome our fear, then we can as we exhale recite “Ya Allah Ya Hafiz” repeatedly, each time we exhale for every breath in calm breathing. iii. If we face financial difficulty and we are living in poverty, we seek God’s help by reciting “Ya Fattah Ya Razaak” repeatedly. There are many variations to the above-mentioned matter which we will be explained later in our list of Asma alHusna. A reciter should choose the relevant God’s name that corresponds with the context and the relevant situation and needs in our lives.

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We can also use the same techniques as above only that in this situation there should be no verbal invocation. A recite should focus on reciting dhikr that depends solely on inner speech/thought/ mind. In other words, a reciter does not have to use his lips in making the recitation, he should rather focus on inner meaning of dhikr i.e. inner recitation from the heart. Dhikr-Allah With Asma al-Husna

Dhikr-Allah is one of the easiest acts of worship and meditation which works by increasing your concentration regardless of the time or place. This is performed by choosing a word or a small phrase which makes one feel good when saying it, such as one of the Names of God, or a dhikr. This form of meditation may either be passive, i.e. helps one in relaxing and clearing the mind; or it may be active, i.e. helps one in achieving a relaxed state of mind to solve daily problems, or in directing one’s concentration to some new meaning the person wants to add in his/her life. This may be in the form of seeking for God’s guidance, health, or provision. This technique may be performed as follows: 1)

Sit in a relaxed position, keeping your eyes closed and breathing freely and regularly through your nostrils.

2)

Each time you exhale, repeat your word or phrase.

3)

While doing so, try to ignore any intruding thoughts and concentrate only on your chosen word / phrase /dhikr.

4)

Just stay calm and relax, and focus on the words as deeply and profoundly as you can, feel the meanings behind each word you are saying and recognize the

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energy and sacredness that they carry. Enjoy the holy rhythm and shut your five senses to the outer world. 5) Prayer beads may be used to help one in focusing. However, it is better to use the fingers of your right hand as how Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to do. Some Hadith and Qur’anic verses related to the significance of dhikr: A man once came to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) asking him to specify an important Islamic ritual for him to cling to. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Keep your tongue moist from (repeating) Dhikr-Allah.” (Tirmidhi, Ahmed, and Ibn Majah) And remember Allah by your tongue and within yourself, humbly and with fear, without loudness in words, in the mornings and in the evenings, and do not be of those who are neglectful.” (Al-Qur’an, 7: 205) O you who believe! Let neither your property nor your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. And whosoever does that, then they are the losers.” (Al-Qur’an, 63: 9)

Chanting the dhikr aloud, or repeating it silently, both offer great benefits to one’s heart and soul. The body absorbs the energy generated from these holy words. Through their frequencies, the whole system of the body is relaxed until it reaches a stage of serenity and peace, releasing suppressed anger, fear or resentment and reducing stress.

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Modern research has shown that with regular practice of deep meditation and reflection techniques, the brain falls into a meditative level, i.e. when the brain activity is in the frequency of between 7.5 to 13 Hz, creating an extremely relaxed rhythm, yet a fully conscious level of awareness. In this state, the mind is at its best learning state, optimum creativity and inspirational potential. At this level, one would be able to manage his stresses and negative emotions in the best way. Three requirements for performing Dhikr-Allah: 1)

It should be performed with the intention of drawing closer to Allah the Almighty.

2)

It should be performed in abundance and repeatedly.

3)

One should feel the words with the heart as well as murmur them with the tongue; with perseverance and persistence, so that the heart will feel them and surrender to the Creator.

More Qur’anic verses relating to the second requirement of performing dhikr: And remember the name of Allah much [both with tongue and mind], so that you may be successful.” (Al-Qur’an, 8: 45) O you who believe! Remember Allah often and much. (Al-Qur’an, 33: 41)

As it is the nature of man to forget, neglect, lose focus and get distracted from the main purpose of his creation, divine remembrances through Dhikr-Allah performed a few minutes on a daily basis will help one in restoring balance, remembering his true goal, reorienting his life and setting

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his priorities straight. As with any other forms of meditation, Dhikr-Allah needs to be performed with total concentration and absorption, so that they let one take charge of his thoughts and restore control over his life. Listed herewith are the list of the ninety nine beautiful names of Allah i.e. Asma al-Husna, each of these names refers to the perfect attribute of Allah. By meditating and invoking the specific names/attribute of Allah, we are communicating with God to achieve our closeness to God, as well as to receive the gift of our invocation being fulfilled by God. This list also includes appropriate names for specific dhikr, as well as the meaning of each name. By reciting these names we will get spiritual, emotional, mental and physical (SEMP) benefits. In practicing the dhikr of these divine names of Allah, it is highly effective if we can limit it to one to three names within one breath. This is because it might not be easy to recite more than three names in one breath. Similarly, we should also be specific in our invocation to fulfill our specific needs according to our situation in life. Please read through the list “Remembrance and dhikr of Divine Names/Attributes of Allah”. Kindly choose the appropriate name according to your need/situation. For example, 1.

If someone is in a stressful situation as a result of the lost of love of the people around, he can recite “Ya Wadud” to get the divine love of God or “Ya Allah, Ya Wadud”.

2. If he needs to receive the gift of inner strength, greatness, and success of life, he needs to recite “Ya Allah Ya Azim” or just “Ya Azim”.

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3. If he needs to attain success , greatness, success and gratitude he should now include three names of Allah; “Ya Allah,Ya Azim, Ya Shakur”, or just “Ya Allah,Ya Shakur”. 4.

If he needs to attain self-contentment/sufficiency, he needs to recite “Ya Allah,Ya Sabur”or just “Ya Sabur”.

5. If he needs to receive divine gift, he should be reciting “ Ya Allah Ya Mu’uti” or just “Ya Mu’uti”. Note: As a matter of fact, you can select your own combination of Divine Names and make it your regular dhikr.

These Positive Islamic Psychology techniques in contemplation, meditation, and invocation can be the basis of our therapy for all psychological problems facing humanity today. As modern human beings are living in the state of fear, depression, anxiety, grief, enmity, hatred, despair and the whole range of psychological disorders, this PIP approach can be a solution to all the problems. Finally, we can achieve peace, success and happiness in our lives. Please read and practice the “Remembrance and Zikr of the Divine/Attributes names of Allah” as your daily practice. As highlighted earlier, you can choose the appropriate Divine names according to your needs in facing the trial and tribulations of life. By doing that, you will achieve peace, happiness and success, God-willing.

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Remembrance and Zikr of the Divine Names/ Attributes of Allah SWT No 1

Divine Names Attributes

‫الله‬

Dzikr

Meaning

Allah / Ya –Allah/ Allah-hu

The Sacred and proper Name of God

Remembrance and Dhikr of Ya Allah / Allah-hu at any time for all the benefits of all the 99 beautiful attributes of Allah / God.

Ya Rahman

The Most Compassionate

Receive compassion from God and from all His creations.

Ya-Raḥīm

The Most Merciful

Receive Mercy from God and from all His creations.

Ya-Malik

The Sovereign King and Lord

Receive power to control our life and influence others by God’s grace.

Ya-Quddus

The Most Holy and Pure

Receive the gift of freedom from fear and anxiety.

Ya-Salam

The Ultimate Source of Peace

Receive peace from God and able to give peace to others.

Ya-Mu’min

Guarantor of Faith,

Receive protection and safety in our faith in God.

Ya-Muhaimin

The Ultimate Protector

Receive God’s protection in every critical situation in our life.

Ya-‘Aziz

The Almighty

Achieve victory over those who unfairly suppress us.

Allah

2

‫ال َّر ْح َٰم ُن‬

Ar-Raḥmān 3

‫ال َّر ِحي ُم‬

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Ar-Raḥīm

4

‫الْ َملِ ُك‬

Al-Malik 5

‫وس‬ ُ ‫الْ ُق ُّد‬ Al-Quddus

6

‫السالَ ُم‬ َّ

As-Salam

7

‫الْ ُم ْؤ ِم ُن‬

Al-Mu'min 8

‫الْ ُم َه ْي ِم ُن‬

Al-Muhaimin 9

‫الْ َعزِي ُز‬ Al-'Aziz

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Divine Names Attributes

‫الْ َج َّبا ُر‬

Dzikr

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Meaning

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Ya-Jabbar

The Irresistible Compeller

Receive protection to stop those who intend violence against us.

‫الْ ُمتَك ِّ َُب‬

Ya-Mutakabbir

The Supreme Majestic

Receive God’s help to reduce our ego and self-greed.

‫الْ َخالِ ُق‬

Ya-Khaliq

The Creator

Realize the greatness of God who created this universe with complete balance and harmony.

ُ‫الْ َبا ِرئ‬

Ya-Bari

The Ultimate Designer and Evolver

Realize the splendour of God’s creative design in creating us, the Universe, and all His creatures.

Ya-Muṣawwir

The Ultimate Fashioner and Shaper

Receive the gift of beauty, Uniqueness, and understanding of perfection from God.

‫الْ َغفَّا ُر‬

Ya-Gaffar

The EverForgiving

Receive constant forgiveness from God and blessed to become a forgiving person.

‫الْ َق َّها ُر‬

Ya-Qahhar

The AllDominating

Receive the power to subdue all evil foes and overcome tyranny on Earth.

‫اب‬ ُ ‫الْ َو َّه‬

Ya-Wahhab

The Ultimate Bestower

Our request will be fulfilled by God, The Ultimate Bestower, and we become a generous person.

‫ال َّرز َُّاق‬

Ya-Razzaq

The Ultimate Provider

Receive constant sustenance from God for ourselves, Family, and all creatures in the universe.

Ya-Fattah

The Opener and Solver

Receive the gift of solving all our problems in life and open the door to total success in this world and the hereafter.

Al-Jabbar 11

Al- Mutakabbir 12

Al-Khaliq

13

Al-Bari

14

‫الْ ُم َص ِّو ُر‬ Musawwir

15

Al-Gaffar 16

Al-Qahhar 17

Al-Wahhab 18

Ar-Razzaq 19

‫اح‬ ُ َّ‫الْ َفت‬

Al-fattah

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Divine Names Attributes

‫اَلْ َعلِ ْي ُم‬

Dzikr

Meaning

395

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Ya-‘Alim

The All-Knowing Omniscient.

Receive the gift of knowledge, wisdom, and Divine light.

Ya-Qabiḍ

The Constrictor, The Straightener

Overcome all barriers and contractions that block our path towards the truth.

Ya-Basit

The Extender / Expander

God open His gateway and gives us ease, relief, joy, and abundance in life.

Ya-Khafiḍ

The Abaser

Receive the protection from God and victory against all abusive evil doers.

‫ال َّرا ِف ُع‬

Ya-Rafi’

The Exalter

Receive the gift of being exalted by God and achieving greatness in life and hereafter.

‫الْ ُم ِع ُّز‬

Ya-Muizz

The Giver of Honour

Receive honour and friendship from God and from all His creatures.

‫امل ُ ِذ ُّل‬

Ya-Mużil

The Dishonourer

Receive the protection from God against all harm by dishonourable and jealous people.

‫الس ِمي ُع‬ َّ

Ya-Sami’

The All-Hearing

Receive the blessings of God to hear and understand all truth easily.

‫الْ َب ِص ُري‬

Ya-Baṡir

The All-Seeing

Receive the blessings of God for being able to see and understand the truth easily.

‫الْ َح َك ُم‬

Ya-Hakam

The Absolute Judge and Arbitrator

Strengthen our trust in God’s perfect judgment in all our difficult situations in life.

Al-Alim

21

‫الْقَاب ُِض‬ Al-Qabid

22

‫الْ َب ِاس ُط‬ Al-Basit

23

‫الْ َخا ِف ُض‬ Al-Khafid

24

Ar-Rafi

25

Al-Muizz 26

Al-Mudil 27

As-sami

28

Al-Basir

29

Al-Hakam

396 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

No 30

Divine Names Attributes

‫الْ َع ْد ُل‬

Dzikr

Chapter 6

Meaning

Ya-‘Adl

The Absolute Just

Receive the gift of justice from God and overcome all injustices in the world.

Ya-Laṭif

The Subtle

Receive the gift of understanding the subtle meanings of every situation in life and of the spiritual realm.

Ya-Khabir

The All-Aware

Receive the gift of awareness and intuition of understanding the inner meanings of all things.

Ya-Halim

The All Forbearing and Gentle

Receive the gift of forgiveness towards those who mistreat us and avoid taking revenge.

Ya-Aẓim

The AllMagnificent

Receive the gift of inner strength and greatness from God.

Ya-Gofur Ya-Goffar Ya-Gofir

The All-Forgiving

Receive continuous forgiveness from God and overcome our evil ego and become repentant, seeking forgiveness from Allah.

Ya-Syakur

The EverAppreciative

Become ever grateful and appreciative to God who will open the gate to all His bounties to us.

Ya-Ali

The All-Sublime and Most High

Receive the gift of virtue and the sublime gift of good destiny in this world and the hereafter.

Ya-Kabir

The Most Great

Receive the gift of perfection and greatness in faith and life.

Al-Adl

31

‫يف‬ ُ ‫الل َِّط‬ Al-Latif

32

‫الْ َخ ِب ُري‬

Al-Khabir 33

‫الْ َحلِي ُم‬ Al-Halim

34

‫الْ َع ِظي ُم‬

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Al- A’zim

35

‫الْ َغفُو ُر‬

Al- Ghafur 36

‫الشَّ كُو ُر‬

Al- Shakur 37

‫ل‬ ُّ ِ ‫الْ َع‬ Al- Ali

38

‫الْ َك ِب ُري‬

Al- Kabir

Practical Application Of Positive Islamic Psychology I: Applying Pip In Our Daily Life To Achieve Peace, Happiness And Success

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Divine Names Attributes

Dzikr

Meaning The Absolute Preserver

Receive the gift to remember and preserve God’s revelation and way of life.

Ya-Muqit

The AllSustainer and Nourisher

Receive the gift of sustenance and nourishment direct from God by passing God’s creations.

ِ ‫ال‬ ‫يب‬ ُ ‫ْحس‬

Ya-hasib

The Absolute Accountant

Receive the gift of good accounting all the good deeds in our life for a safe judgement in the hereafter.

‫الْ َجلِ ُيل‬

Ya-Jalil

The All-Majestic

Receive the gift of being majestic in life and overcome those evil-boasters.

Ya-Karim

The Most Generous

Receive the gift of understanding the infinite generosity of God and becoming a generous person in life.

Ya-raqib

The EverWatchful

Receive the gift that God is ever watching us and freedom from fear from all evil oppressors.

Ya-Mujib

The AllResponsive

Receive the gift of our prayers and needs being quickly given by God.

Ya-Wasi

The AllEmbracing

Receive the gift of the all embracing love, forgiveness, and generosity of God.

Ya-Hakim

The Perfectly Wise

Receive the gift of wisdom and knowledge which keep a person’s body, mind, and soul alive.

40

‫املُقيِت‬ Al- Muqit

Al- Hisab

42

Al- Jalil

43

‫الْ َكرِي ُم‬

Al- Karim 44

‫يب‬ ُ ‫ال َّر ِق‬ Al- Raqib

45

‫ِيب‬ ُ ‫الْ ُمج‬ Al- Mujib

46

‫الْ َو ِاس ُع‬ Al-Wasi

47

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Ya-hafiẓ

‫الْ َح ِفي ُظ‬ Al- Hafiz

41

397

‫الْ َح ِكي ُم‬ Al- Hakim

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Divine Names Attributes

Dzikr

Chapter 6

Meaning

‫الْ َو ُدو ُد‬

Ya-Wadud

The Loving

Receive the gift of total compassionate Divine love and mercy, and we become a kind loving person.

‫الْ َمجِي ُد‬

Ya-Majid

All-Glorious, The Majestic

Receive the gift of character and morality with the virtues from the All Glorious.

Ya-Ba’it

The Resurrecter

Receive a purified heart and resurrected to good eternal life.

‫الشَّ هِي ُد‬

Ya-Syahid

The Witness

Able to witness and receive divine truth.

‫الْ َح ُّق‬

Ya-Haqq

The Truth, The Reality

Receive protections from all falsehood in life and become the propagator of God’s truth.

Ya-Wakil

The Trustee / The Dependable

Receive the trust of Allah s.w.t and become a trusted servant of God.

‫الْ َقو ُِّي‬

Ya-Qawi

The Strong

Receive strength and safeguard from the devil, corrupt men and, all forms of evil.

‫الْ َم ِت ُني‬

Ya-Matin

The Firm, The Steadfast

Receive the strength for us hold on to our religion regardless of difficulties.

‫الْ َو ِ ُّل‬

Ya-Wali

The Patron and Helper

Receive Allah s.w.t’s help through His Divine light.

‫الْ َح ِمي ُد‬

Ya-Hamid

The AllPraiseworthy

He who repeats this Name will be loved and praised by all creatures.

‫الْ ُم ْح ِص‬

Ya-Muhṣi

The Reckoner

Receive honour from God and become aware of His every deed.

Al- Wadud 49

Al- Majid

50

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

ُ‫الْ َبا ِعث‬

Al- Ba’iths 51

Al- Shahid 52

Al- Haqq 53

‫الْ َو ِك ُيل‬

Al- Wakil 54

Al- Qawi 55

Al- Matin 56

Al-Wali 57

Al- hamid

58

Al- Muhsi

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Divine Names Attributes

ُ‫الْ ُم ْب ِدئ‬

Dzikr

Meaning The Originator/ The Initiator

Receive the secret of the knowledge of the Originator of this universe.

‫الْ ُم ِعي ُد‬

Ya-Mu’id

The Restorer who Brings Back All

Receive the secret knowledge of resurrection and afterlife.

‫الْ ُم ْح ِي‬

Ya-Muhyi

The Giver of Life

Receive the keys and ways in which one can overcome the burden of life.

Ya- Mumit

The Destroyer

Receive a pure heart that can overcome enmity.

Ya-Hayy

The Living

Receive good long life in the world and in the eternal afterlife.

‫الْ َق ُّيو ُم‬

Ya-Qayyum

The Subsisting, The Guardian

Receive the intuition and knowledge of truth.

‫الْ َوا ِج ُد‬

Ya-Wajid

The Perceiver

Receive the intuition and knowledge of truth.

‫ال َْم ِج ُد‬

Ya-Majid

The Illustrious, The Magnificent

Receive praise and honour and realize the Magnificent Creator.

Ya-Wahid

The One, The Unique

Receive the ability to realize the oneness of God, The Unique.

‫األَ َحـ ُد‬

Ya-Ahad

The Unity, The Indivisible

Receive the realization in which all names and attributes of Allah are united and are indivisible.

‫الص َم ُد‬ َّ

Ya-Ṣamad

The Eternal / The Absolute.

Receive the gift of independence from God’s creatures by relying on the Almighty God.

Al- Muid

61

Al- Muhyi 62

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Ya-Mubdi

Al- Mubdi

60

399

‫يت‬ ُ ‫اَلْ ُم ِم‬ Al- Mumit

63

‫الْ َح ُّي‬

Al- Hayy 64

Al- Qayyum 65

Al- Wajid

66

Al- Majid

67

ِ ‫ال‬ ‫ْواح ُد‬

Al- Wahid 68

Al- Ahad 69

As-Samad

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Divine Names Attributes

Dzikr

Chapter 6

Meaning

Ya-Qadir

The Omnipotent

Realize and witness the truth that everything is made by the God the Omnipotent.

Ya-Muqtadir

The Determiner, The Dominant

Receive the secret knowledge from God on the nature of creation.

Ya-Muqaddim

The Expediter, He Who Brings Forward

Receive an easy way to achieve our vision and good ambitions in life.

Ya-Mu’akhkhir

The Delayer, He Who Puts Far Away

Receive the kindness from God and postponement of punishment that will motivate us to stop sinful acts.

‫األ َّو ُل‬

Ya-Awwal

The First, The Beginning-less

Receive the awareness of eternity and endlessness of The Creator.

ِ ‫اآلخ ُر‬

Ya-Akhir

The Last, The Endless

Receive the secret of realizing the beginning and the end of everything in this universe.

Ya-Ẓahir

The Manifest, The Evident, The Outer

Receive the knowledge of inner meaning of outer things that we see in the world.

Ya-Baṭin

The Hidden, The Unmanifest, The Inner

Receive some knowledge of God’s hidden reality.

Ya-Wali

The Protecting Friend, The Friendly Lord

Receive bounties and protection from God, The Ultimate Protector.

Ya-Muta’ali

The Supremely Exalted, The Most High

Receive from God reward for continuous consciousness, remembrance, and devotion to Allah.

‫الْقَا ِد ُر‬

Al- Qadir 71

‫الْ ُم ْقتَ ِد ُر‬

Al- Muqtadir 72

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

‫الْ ُم َق ِّد ُم‬

Al- Muqaddim 73

‫الْ ُم َؤ ِّخ ُر‬

Al- Mu’akhkhir 74

Al- Awwal 75

Al- Akhir 76

‫الظَّا ِه ُر‬ Al- Zahir

77

‫الْ َب ِاط ُن‬ Al- Batin

78

‫الْ َو ِال‬

Al- Wali 79

‫الْ ُمتَ َع ِال‬

Al- Muta’ali

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Divine Names Attributes

‫ال َ ُّْب‬

Dzikr

Meaning The Good, The Beneficent

Receive all the qualities of good; both material and spiritual from Allah.

Ya-Tawwab

The Ever Returning, Ever Relenting

Receive the power to overcome the desires of flesh, lies and other worldly desires.

Ya-Muntaqim

The Avenger

Receive protection from revenge and from our egotism which is our greatest enemy.

‫ال َع ُف ُّو‬

Ya-‘Afwu

The Pardoner, The Effacer, The Forgiver

Receive true faith, love of Allah s.w.t., and pardon from our sins.

ُ ‫ال َّر ُؤ‬ ‫وف‬

Ya-Rauf

The Kind, The Pitying

Receive Allah s.w.t’s kindness, pity, mercy, and compassion.

Ya-Malik-ul-Mulk

The Owner of all Sovereignty

Those who remember this Divine Name will have esteem among people.

Ya-Dhūl-Jalāli wal'ikrām

The Lord of Majesty and Generosity

Those who repeat this name many times will be given richness at all levels

Ya-Muqsiṭ

The Equitable, The Requiter

Those who repeat this name will be free from harm and become a perfect believer.

Ya-Jami

The Gatherer, The Unifier

Understand the hidden truth of the heart in all aspects of life as a unified truth.

Ya-Ḡhanī

The Rich, The Independent

Receive fulfillment of all our needs from Allah s.w.t. and become independent

‫اب‬ ُ ‫التَّ َو‬

Al- Tawwab 82

‫الْ ُم ْنتَ ِق ُم‬

Al- Muntaqim 83

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Ya-Barr

Al- Barr 81

401

Al- Afu

84

Al- Rauf

85

‫َمالِ ُك الْ ُمل ِْك‬ Malik-ul-Mulk

86

‫ذُوالْ َجالَ ِل‬ ‫َواإلكْ َر ِ ُام‬ Dhūl-Jalāli wal-'ikrām

87

‫الْ ُمق ِْس ُط‬ Al-Muqsiṭ

88

‫الْ َجا ِم ُع‬ Al- Jāmi'

89

‫الْ َغ ِن ُّي‬

Al- Ḡhanī

402 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

No 90

Divine Names Attributes

‫الْ ُم ْغ ِني‬

Dzikr

Chapter 6

Meaning

Ya-Muġnī

The Enricher, The Emancipator

Receive wealth in both material and spiritual life and the ability to distribute wealth to others.

Ya-Māni'

The Withholder, Defender

Receive protections and defence by Allah S.w.t against harmful evil schemes.

Ya-Ḍārr

The Distressor, The Harmer, The Afflicter

Receive the gift of overcoming distress, harm, and afflictions caused by evil doers.

Ya-Nāfi'

The Propitious, The Benefactor, The Source of Good

Receive the goodness and distribute the beneficence of Allah s.w.t to all.

Ya-An-nur

The Light

Receive the blessing of inner light and the knowledge of the ultimate truth from Allah s.w.t.

Ya-Hadi

The Guide, The Way

Those who repeat this name will be guided to receive spiritual gifts and knowledge.

Ya-Badi

The Incomparable, The Unattainable

Receive the knowledge that Allah s.w.t is the Creator of everything in His essence, attribute, and actions which cannot be attained by His creatures.

Ya-Baqi

The Immutable, Infinite, Everlasting

Receive the knowledge of eternity and the gift of everlasting eternal hereafter.

Ya-wariṡ

The Heir, The Inheritor of All

Receive the secret of the name Inheritor and receive Divine wisdom to become inheritor of the world.

Al- Muḡhnī 91

‫اَل َْمنِ ُع‬

Al- Māni' 92

‫الضا ُّر‬ َّ Aḍ-Ḍārr

93

‫ال َّنا ِف ُع‬ An-Nāfi'

94

‫ال ُّنو ُر‬

An-Nūr 95

‫الْ َها ِدي‬ Al- Hadi

96

‫الْ َب ِدي ُع‬ Al- Badī'

97

‫اَلْ َبا ِقي‬ Al- Baqi

98

ُ‫الْ َوارِث‬

Al- warith

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Practical Application Of Positive Islamic Psychology I: Applying Pip In Our Daily Life To Achieve Peace, Happiness And Success

No 99

Divine Names Attributes

‫ال َّر ِشي ُد‬

Dzikr

Meaning

‫الص ُبو ُر‬ َّ

As- Sabur

SEMP Benefits of God Remembrance/ Dzikr

Ya-Rasyid

The Guide to the Right Path

Receive righteousness and reach at the right path that leads to submission to Allah’s will.

Ya-Sabur

The Timeless, The Patient

Receive perfect balance and moderation in life and overcome difficulties in life through joyful patient striving.

Al- Rashid 100

403

D. Practical Application of Inner Speech Dialogue Technique (ISDT): Using Inner Speech Dialogue Technique (ISDT) to achieve Peace, Happiness and Success We are all seeing the manifestation of the madness of our 21st civilizatison so clearly today. In Positive Islamic Psychology, we have to transform our selves at the SEMP level to achieve our inner awakening. In trying to find peace, happiness and success, we have to align our inner self with the need of every other inhabitant on this Earth. In Islam, this is basically the purpose of existence. Without this realignment, we will still continue the unending struggle of 21st century full of depression, unhappiness, meaningless in life and focusing only on the physical pleasure of the world. Muslim scholars over the centuries have been using this technique to overcome their ego-driven selves (al-nafs alammarah). We are taught to reflect, contemplate and meditate, on aspects of our lives to ensure that we are on righteous path (al-sirat al-mustaqim). This approach of inner dialogue consists of daily contemplation, meditation and reflection. For example,

404 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 6

1.

In line with the hadith of the Prophet, all Muslims are enjoined to contemplate and reflect over the action had done during the day before they sleep. Upon reflection, this gives them the opportunity to seek God’s forgiveness for all the evils deeds and devilish thoughts they might have committed during the day. By using their inner speech and invocation, they can meditate a way forward to become better persons throughout their lives. By practicing this inner speech dialogue, they are actually shaping their SEMP domain to be align towards goodness and in the process reduce their egoistic self (al-nafs alammarah).

2.

Muslims are also enjoined to continually reflect on death, as the saying goes “die before you die” which means to reflect on death before you actually face it. We are to reflect the process of death stage by stage. For example, at a point of our death, our soul will be wrenched from our physical body by the angel of death (Malak al-Maut). For the believers, the process is super easy just like removing a feather floating on water.



On the other hand, for the evil doers, the situation will be terrible because their death will be painful just like uprooting a big true with it roots clinging to deeply in Earth. Their death will be painful and horrible in the sense that they are deeply-rooted in the physical world and see nothing beyond life on Earth.



When they face the reality of the new spiritual world, they feel very sad and regret the life they wasted and evil they committed on Earth. Muslim scholars also teach us to reflect on the process of life after death and its various stages i.e. question in the

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405

Grave by the Angels, new existence in the spiritual realm called Al-Barzakh, resurrection of the Day of Judgment and finally reaching our destination of either Heaven or Hell based on the good or evil we committed on Earth. There are many examples in traditional Islamic practices of using our inner speech to redirect and shape our lives towards goodness. In Positive Islamic Psychology, we can call this process Inner Speech Dialogue Technique (ISDT) By using this technique, we can direct our inner self to realize our meaning and purpose in life. ISDT technique will slowly shape our perception towards realizing our true purpose in life as the vicegerents of God on Earth. We only have three duties; making our self good, helping others to be good, and making this world good for all inhabitants and pleasing to God. We need to use our inner speech as described in the earlier chapters. Basically, all of us have all kinds of positive and negative thoughts throughout the days and in our lives. ISDT techniques require us to be able to analyze these passing thoughts and begin the process of inner dialogue to heal our inner selves. Let us illustrate with a few examples of how we can analyse, realign and finally transform our inner speech using ISDT technique to achieve authentic peace, happiness and success. Example 1: Illustrates how Mr Ahmad uses ISDT to find his purpose and meaning of life

406 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

Mr Ahmad

Chapter 6

: I don’t really know what I want in life. I am just floating around like a zombie day by day without any meaning and purpose in life. I hate my job, but I must wake up every day to go to work so that I can survive. This life is hell…

Inner Speech : Can you do something to change your life? Do you remember the times when you are happy doing things that you like? Remember when you are helping the poor, Rohingya refugees in Cox Bazaar you feel so happy doing this welfare work. Why think only of yourself? At least, you have a home you have your nice children and family and food on the table… Mr Ahmad

: Yes! But now I feel so stressed because I am worried for the future of my children’s education. The world is getting worst every day. I do not see a future for them...

Inner Speech : Why not begin to feel more positive and appreciate with grace and satisfaction for your existing condition? Your life is not that bad. You can plan for a better future for yourself, your family and the world if you begin to act in a more positive manner. You and your friends can do some small things for the poor refugees like collecting old clothes from family and friends and giving those to them. They will be happy and you too will be happy. Why not start tomorrow… Mr Ahmad

: Maybe that is a good idea for me to forget the gloom and doom of this life. If I help others, I am sure God will help me to make my life more peaceful and happy….

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Example 2. Illustrates how Mr Anas overcome his matrimonial crises and found happiness by appreciating the salient qualities of his wife. Mr Anas

: What the hell is happening in my house? My wife and I are so disconnected that we don’t have any joy at home anymore. Every day, I have problems with my wife who has stopped communicating with me.

Inner speech : You need to think positively on how to address this problem. Mr Anas

: Oh, what can I do?. I have to think.

Inner speech : You may, for example, examine her two sides, the good and the bad side. If she does not communicate with you, you can sometimes begin to talk to her every day when you come back from work. You can also praise her for the delicious food that she cooks for you. You can ask her about the daily activities of your children. Mr Anas

: That sounds like a good idea.

Inner speech : Recall your beautiful relationship with her for the last 10 years. Maybe you are so caught up with your office work that you do not even have time for her. Also recall, how in the past you used to have dinner with her in a restaurant once month. Are you still as loving as you were before? Mr Anas

: I need to change and be positive by following the Islamic way of how the Prophet led a

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Chapter 6

happy family life. By doing this, I need to have a psychological balance in my inner speech which eventually can give peace and happiness in my matrimonial life. This practical application of positive thinking/ psychology is illustrated in the Quran where Allah warned us against despising our wives because if we hate our wives, it is quite possible that you may hate something and Allah the Almighty put abundant khair in it (4: 19). Inner speech : Can you explain this further? Mr Anas

: The khair mentioned in the verse could be spiritual pleasure, such as happiness or material pleasure which is wealth.

Inner speech : Is positive thinking doing anything to solve this problem? Mr Anas

: Yes, because a husband’s positive attitude of tolerance, forgiveness and gratitude can yield positive results of resolving internal conflicts and overcoming problems created by domestic disharmony.

Similarly, we can find another practical example in the life of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), who has warned that a Muslim should not despise his wives. If he abhors her, he should think of her positive side which he will find pleasing. Inner speech : In Sya Allah I will change to be more positive from today…

Practical Application Of Positive Islamic Psychology I: Applying Pip In Our Daily Life To Achieve Peace, Happiness And Success

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Example 3 Ms Rohana failed in her exams and found herself in a deep depression for her failure and thought of committing suicide because of family pressure. Her family members are all professional and successful in their career. Ms Rohana

: Oh my God! How can I fail this important university entrance examination? I worked so hard for it. Am I that stupid? Why..? My elder brother and sister are so successful and completed their university degree with first class honors. Now, they hold good jobs. I feel like committing suicide because I am a failure.

Inner speech : But ending one’s life is the gravest mistake that one should never commit. Instead, think positively. Think of other positive way of overcoming your problem rather than killing yourself. Ms Rohana

: Why am I so unsuccessful in life? I want to end it.

Inner speech : Oh, why? Ms Rohana

: Because every single member of my family is successful now and have made accomplishments, but I am nowhere close to achieving what they have achieved.

My future success lies with my good results at school, but as it is now, the future is not promising. Inner speech : Oh, really? Ms Rohana

: Yes because I am failing every course and

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Chapter 6

this means I have to pay for the price of failing later in my life. That is why I decide to end my life now, to prevent this horrible situation. Ms Rohana

: Oh, how can I do that?

Inner speech : Think of your failure as a challenge and think of success as a destination which you should work towards. Your failure at this early stage does not really matter. In case you don’t know, most successful people fail many times before they become what they are. Ms Rohana

: That sounds reasonable. Even Bill Gates, the richest man on the planet, and Steve Jobs, were university dropouts.

Inner speech : Think deeply and positively to find the answer. Rather than being negative, think about your skills in arts and design which you enjoyed so much in school. Ms Rohana

: Ah ..! Now, I understand. I think I can be a good graphic designer. I may not be good in academic subjects but I always get “A” in my Arts subjects.

Inner speech : Ah ..! If this is the case, then what can you do about it? Why not start thinking of a new career in graphic design? You do not need to go to university. You only need to get a diploma in graphic design which is all practical work. Ms Rohana : Now, I can see my way out. I can be a successful graphic designer and open my own company in the future. I think, I can

Practical Application Of Positive Islamic Psychology I: Applying Pip In Our Daily Life To Achieve Peace, Happiness And Success

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earn more money than all my siblings put together. Inner speech : This is a good approach. But why is this very important now? Ms Rohana

: Oh! this is good inner speech, In sya Allah I will change my attitude, be a better Muslim, and develop positive thinking. And this positive thinking reminded me that Allah the Almighty enjoined us in the Qur’an to work hard and He will be with us, and in this case, our success is guaranteed. I can find other examples in the life of the Prophet where he and his companions demonstrated practical example of overcoming problems in life. They strove and faced the unbelievers to spread Islam despite the challenges involved. It was the result of their determination that formed the basis for success of the prophet and the spread of Islam in the world.

From the above dialogues, we can learn the ISDT technique. Each time we are confronted with negative and selfdefeating inner speeches, we can slowly transform the dialogue towards a more positive inner speech. So long as we live, we will always be confronted with all types of rambling thoughts that affect our level of satisfaction, peace and happiness. The way to change our inner speech is for us to immediately counter negative inner speeches with positive inner speeches. This process takes a long time because we have to shape our inner speech to face many instances of negativity in our lives. Try using ISDT and with the God’s grace, you can overcome your problems in life and achieve authentic peace, happiness and success.

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We can also combine ISDT technique with the dzhikr of Asma ul-Husna as mentioned earlier in this chapter. This way we can guide our ISDT towards remembrance of the Attributes of Allah the Almighty. This combined dhikr and ISDT approach can be more effective in overcoming stress, anguish, frustration and rambling thoughts that can be negative. More experimentations and researches on this combined technique will be useful in developing our future Pi-CBT programs. Integration of ISDT Technique with Islamic Healing Techniques, Energy Healing Modalities and Other Complimentary Therapies We need to do further research to integrate ISDT techniques with other healing modalities. As we have elaborated in this book, the human self comprises of four or more domains; i.e. the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical (SEMP) domains. Islamic healing traditions have always been holistic that integrates our SEMP domains to heal diseases and achieve total wellness. If we study from the prophetic authentic traditions, we will find that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his companions used Suratul Fatiha, the first chapter in the Quran, to affect healing through reciting the Surah and blowing on their hands and rubbing on their bodies or their patients for healing. The Prophet, his companions and the Muslims still practice the tradition of reciting three Quls (the last three chapters of the Quran) and blowing on to their hands after reciting and rubbing their whole bodies starting from the hand all the way down to the legs. Ironically, modern atheists and secularists will laugh at such practices. However, modern science today has proven that we are all energy beings at the fundamental level. If we break down our physical body cells to molecules, to atom, to

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subatomic particles, we will then end up with energy and its manifestations as the basic building block of our existence. We have explained this earlier through our discussion on SEMP domains that integrates our physical body with our spiritual body. Islamic holistic healing always integrate these four SEMP domains to cure diseases and achieve wellness. We can do research to integrate ISDT Techniques with energy meridian techniques. For example, acupuncture/ acupressure. We know in Islamic and Chinese traditions, we have the art of cupping/bloodletting on energy meridian of the body to cure diseases. In the process of applying these therapies, we can use our inner speech dialogue to accelerate our one hundred trillion cells of our body to respond to the signal from our inner speech. Our body cells will respond to the energy input at spiritual, emotional and mental frequencies. With positive ISDT, we can redirect the cells from disease to homeostasis, wellness and finally, freedom from all diseases that affects us. In what follows, we will give three practical examples of these integrated ISDT, energy meridian techniques, bio herbal natural therapies and other holistic complimentary therapies. Example 1: Overcoming and Healing Spiritual, Emotional, Mental and Physical Diseases All of us in the world, at some point, may have some diseases or problems at spiritual, emotional, mental and physical levels. The techniques below can be used for healing of all diseases. You can try applying the following techniques to self-heal your disease or problems at SEMP levels. Let us apply this one example to overcome panic attacks and anxiety disorders.

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We know hundreds of millions of human beings today are suffering from severe panic attacks and anxiety disorders. We can integrate ISDT technique with CBT techniques as we will elaborate later on chapter on Pi-CBT Technique to address this problem. We can also experiment the integrated ISDT with energy meridian and Islamic healing techniques. The basic protocols for healing are as follows. a. Start with reciting the Fatiha and the three Quls and recite ya Allah ya Shafi’ a few times and then blow them on to our hands and rub up our whole body. When you recite these beautiful names of Allah, you are spiritually connecting yourself to your Creator who by His command, can completely heal you. This healing may happen immediately or over time depending on our sincerity and confidence in God as the ultimate Healer. b.

As we are rubbing our whole body, we will continue reciting “Ya Allah” and “Ya Shafi’” and tell your inner speech using ISDT techniques: “with the grace of God, I am healed ...I am healed ... I am healed” many times. Using the above techniques, we are integrating our SEMP communication with God by reciting the Qur’an and calling upon God using His beautiful names and attributes. Through this, we are integrating our SEMP cells to be in alignment. The one hundred trillion cells in our body will then be in coherence to effect healing.

Example 2: Healing of Pains, Like Back Pain, Migraine, Joint Pains and Other Forms of Pain. Millions of human beings are suffering from all kinds of pains throughout their lives. We can use ISDT Technique and integrate it with energy meridian modality, like acupressure.

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For this reason, we encourage you to try these techniques to overcome your pains, migraine, joint and whatever pains you may have in your body. a. Start with reciting the Fatiha and the three Quls and recite “Ya Allah” “Ya Shafi’” a few times and then blow them on to our hands and rub up our whole body. b.

As we are rubbing our whole body, we will continue reciting “Ya Allah” and “Ya Shafi’” and tell our inner speech using ISDT techniques: “With the grace of God, I am healed... I am healed ... I am healed…” many times.

c. After rubbing, we can then start applying acupressure technique at specific acupressure points (you need to refer and know the specific acupressure points. By applying the acupressure, you simultaneously recite “ya Shafi’” while closing your eyes and feel the healing at the specific part of your body in which you are having the pain. Using the above techniques, we can try to heal all kinds of diseases that we have by redirecting your SEMP energy given by God to heal the physical body. In Sya Allah, you will find these techniques to be very effective. Example 3: Integrating ISDT Technique with Bio Herbal/Natural Therapies to Heal all Diseases In one of his authentic traditions, Prophet Muhammad says that for every disease, there is a cure. It is, therefore, pertinent to refer to traditional Islamic/bio herbal/natural therapies and integrate it with ISDT Technique to achieve complete healing.

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We can apply the above integrated techniques for all diseases at the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. The protocols for this approach are follows: a.

Refer to the above mentioned examples of therapies. Repeat the protocols as mentioned above.

b. Find herbal remedies and prepare it according to Islamic/Bio herbal protocols. c.

As we consume our bioherbal remedy we use our inner speech dialogue by reciting “Ya Allah, Ya Shafi’” or just “Ya Shafi’” and seek God’s help to heal us. For example, if we have cancer we will start drinking the herbal remedy at a specific time of the day. Meanwhile, throughout the day we direct our inner speech towards remembering and seeking help from Allah reciting these two names, “Ya Allah, Ya Shafi’” Who is the Ultimate Healer. In Sya Allah, we can be healed even of diseases like cancer by the will of God. Most importantly, we must have full confidence in God, our Creator to heal us because He can redirect all our one hundred trillion body cells from being cancerous to becoming healthy normal cells.

These are preliminary researches done by us to help in integrating ISDT techniques with complimentary therapies to help heal all diseases. Whatever disease that we have, it can be healed by the will God. Our role therefore is to seek healing of our disease by choosing (ikhtiyar), by applying integrated techniques to achieve wellness. We are also researching and experimenting the integration of these techniques with Positive Islamic Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Pi-CBT) techniques which we will elaborate in the next chapter.

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Having said that, we strongly advise all other Muslims around the globe to experiment on integrating Islamic traditional healing with ISDT and other complimentary therapies. In Sha Allah, we will find the best modality that can heal our disease and receive the blessings Allah.

CHAPTER SEVEN

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY II: COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY (CBT) AND POSITIVE ISLAMIC COGNITIVE BEHAVIOUR THERAPY (PI-CBT)

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Introduction There are many substantial researches in the field of psychology throughout the world, especially in the top universities. One of the most researched modality is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy or CBT. CBT is now widely used in the treatment of the whole range of psychological problems. Even though it has demonstrated a significant rate of success, it is still imperfect. This is essentially due to its secular materialistic approach that denies the fundamental nature of the spiritual domain in the human self. This denial of the spiritual aspect of the human nature limits the efficacy of CBT. The real key to success in any behaviour therapy is to understand the nature of our existence. Hence, it is very important for everyone to be always asking himself some important questions such as “what is my purpose in life”, “who I am”, and “where shall I go after death” e.t.c. From the Islamic perspective, we are spiritual beings temporarily experiencing a physical existence on Earth. We have outlined the four basic principles of Positive Islamic Psychology namely: 1) Understanding Universe.

the

Creator

and

the

Created

2) The Holistic Transcendent Nature of the Human Self. 3) On being the Vicegerent of God in this Universe (Khalifat al-Allah fil ard). 4) Holistic Principles of Human Behaviour and the Laws of Learning. Using the above four principles, we have developed the Positive Islamic Psychology Model as outlined in Chapter 5.

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In this chapter, we are providing the details of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) as the basic framework for us to develop an Islamic version of CBT. We call this Pi-CBT. We will use all the good outcomes, researches, practical tools and application of CBT as the basis for this Pi-CBT model. Both Muslim and Non-Muslim psychologists are encouraged to expand the body of research in the field of PiCBT. We also need to do qualitative and quantitative analysis of Pi-CBT efficacy. This ongoing process can provide a better and more holistic approach for the treatment of psychological problems. We hope these expanded research and practical application of Pi-CBT can result in better psychological therapies, especially for those who profess the Muslim faith. The Pi-CBT can also be used for others who believe in the spirituality of the human self. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) A revolution in the field of mental health was initiated in the early 1960s by Aaron T. Beck, MD, then an assistant professor in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Beck identified distorted negative cognition (primarily thoughts and beliefs) as a primary feature of depression and developed a short-term treatment, one of whose primary targets was the reality testing of patients’ depressed thinking. Beck further developed a form of psychotherapy in the early 1960s that he originally termed “Cognitive Therapy”. “Cognitive Therapy” is now used synonymously as “Cognitive Behaviour Therapy” or CBT. In a nutshell, the CBT proposes that dysfunctional thinking (which influences the patient’s mood and behaviour) is common to all psychological disturbances. When people learn to evaluate their thinking in a more realistic and adaptive way, they experience improvement in their emotional state and in their behaviour. For lasting improvement in patients’

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mood and behaviour, Cognitive Therapists work at a deeper level of cognition: patients’ basic beliefs about themselves, their world, and other people. Modification of their underlying dysfunctional belief produces more enduring change. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy has been extensively tested since the first outcome study was published in 1977. At this point, more than 500 outcome studies have demonstrated the efficacy of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for a wide range of psychiatric disorders, psychological problems, and medical problems with psychological components. Practical Application of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

(1) Psychiatric Disorders

(2) Psychological Problems

(3) Medical Problems with Psychological Components

Major depressive disorder

Couple problems

Chronic back pain

Geriatric depression

Family problems

Sickle cell disease pain

Generalized anxiety disorder

Pathological gambling

Migraine headaches

Geriatric anxiety

Complicated grief

Tinnitus

Panic disorder

Caregiver distress

Cancer pain

Agoraphobia

Anger and hostility

Somatoform disorders

Social phobia

Irritable bowel syndrome

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Conduct disorder

Rheumatic disease pain

Substance abuse

Erectile dysfunction

Attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder

Insomnia

Health anxiety

Obesity

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(1) Psychiatric Disorders

(2) Psychological Problems

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(3) Medical Problems with Psychological Components

Body dysmorphic disorder

Vulvodynia

Eating disorders

Hypertension

Personality disorders

Gulf War syndrome

Sex offenders Habit disorders Bipolar disorders (with medication) Schizophrenia (with medication)

Source: Judith S. Beck (1995). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: Basics and Beyond.

There are 10 basic principles of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. They are as follows: 1)

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is based on an everevolving formulation of patients’ problems and an individual conceptualization of each patient in cognitive terms.

2) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy requires a sound therapeutic alliance. 3) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy emphasizes collaboration and active participation. 4) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is goal oriented and problem focused. 5) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy initially emphasizes the present.

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6) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is educative, aims to teach the patient to be her own therapist, and emphasizes relapse prevention. 7) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy aims to be time limited. 8) Cognitive Behaviour structured.

Therapy

sessions

are

9) Cognitive Behaviour Therapy teaches patients to identify, evaluate, and respond to their dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs. 10)

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy uses a variety of techniques to change thinking, mood, and behaviour.

These basic principles apply to all patients. Therapy does, however, vary considerably according to individual patients, the nature of their difficulties, and their stage of life, as well as their developmental and intellectual level, gender, and cultural background. Treatment also varies depending on patients’ goals, their ability to form a strong therapeutic bond, their motivation to change, their previous experience with therapy, and their preferences for treatment, among other factors. These above principles and approach are some examples where we can integrate Pi-CBT to other effective psychological treatments and modalities. In Pi-CBT, we essentially do not reinvent the wheel. Rather, we use all the good modalities in CBT and its related therapies. Attached below are some current modalities in addition to CBT. Pi-CBT uses all these modalities plus current psychological treatments as well as Drug Therapy modalities. Pi-CBT also uses realignment of our Spiritual, Emotional, Mental and Physical Domain (SEMP). Indeed, there is need

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for Muslim psychologists to make extensive research in PiCBT. This research process will finally enable Pi-CBT to be the most effective psychological therapy modality specifically for Muslims and non-Muslims. Pi-CBT can, and will, extensively use all Islamic principles, way of life, prayers, invocations, contemplation, meditation and all the techniques outlined in Chapter Six. These include: A.

Practicing basic principles of Islam as a way of life.

B. Practical application of contemplation and meditation to achieve peace, happiness and success. C. Basic techniques that we can practise: Calm Breathing Focus Technique and Asma al-Husna. D. Practical application of Inner Speech Dialogue Technique (ISDT). Pi-CBT also uses all modalities including CBT and other current psychological protocols and therapies listed below in the tables.

No.

Psychological Problems/ Phobias/ Behavioural Problems etc.

Pi-CBT uses all new Islamic modalities including CBT and other current psychological treatments protocols/therapies as listed

1

Simple phobias

Behaviour therapy, relaxation, and coping-skills training

2

Social phobias

Cognitive-behaviour therapy, relaxation, and coping-skills training

3

Cognitive delays in childhood development

Multisystem family-based early intervention programmes including home visiting, child stimulation, parent training and support, conjoint parent- child sessions to promote secure attachment.

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Psychological Problems/ Phobias/ Behavioural Problems etc.

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Pi-CBT uses all new Islamic modalities including CBT and other current psychological treatments protocols/therapies as listed

4

Adjustment problems in children with autism/ ADHD/ intellectualdisabilities/ sensory disabilities/ behavioural problems

Multisystem family-based and school-based early interventions, applied behavioural analysis, structured learning principles, speech and language remedial therapy, behavioural parent training, family therapy, child management skills training, social problem solving skills training, drugs intervention

5

Teenage problems

Peer-led school-based programmes involving psycho education, coping skills training, problem solving skills training, family therapy

6

Panic disorder and agoraphobia

Cognitive-behaviour therapy with family support, relaxation and coping-skills training

7

Obsessive compulsive disorder

Behaviour therapy with family support, relaxation and coping-skills training

8

Depression

Cognitive therapy, social skills training and interpersonal/marital therapy

9

Generalized anxiety disorders

Cognitive behaviour therapy, relaxation and coping-skills training

10

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Behaviour therapy, relaxation and coping-skills training

11

Schizophrenia; bipolar mood disorder

Multimodal treatment involving psychiatric/drugs intervention, family therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, cognitive therapy and social skills training

12

Alcohol / drug addiction / smoking problems

Family-supported multimodal treatment involving family-based engagement of client in treatment, detoxification, self-control training, social skills training, stress management training and drugs intervention

13

Psychosexual problems

Sex therapy

14

Relationship problems

Cognitive-behaviour therapy,psychoeducation and problem-solving skills training

15

Bulimia

Cognitive-behaviour therapy, psychoeducation and problem-solving skills training

16

Anorexia

Refeeding and psychodynamic psychotherapy

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No.

Psychological Problems/ Phobias/ Behavioural Problems etc.

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Pi-CBT uses all new Islamic modalities including CBT and other current psychological treatments protocols/therapies as listed

17

Insomnia

Multimodal treatment involving drugs intervention, stimulus-control techniques, sleep restriction, relaxation training, and challenging thinking styles

18

Chronic pain management

Family-supported operant pain management, cognitive-behavioural treatment, psychoeducation, relaxation and cognitive coping-skills training

19

Other psychological/ social problems

CBT and all other psychological modalities

In Pi-CBT, we will have to develop an approach that emphasizes SEMP areas that are already elaborated in this book. We need to make Pi-CBT the mainstream modality for all psychological disorder. This will ensure the future development of Pi-CBT as a unique therapy modality for Muslims and others. We encourage further research by Muslim psychologists to expand the depth of Pi-CBT framework and format. This research encompasses: 1. Pi-CBT Spiritual wellness/healing modalities / practices / methods /protocols etc. 2. Pi-CBT Emotional wellness/healing modalities / practices / methods / protocols etc. 3. Pi-CBT Mental wellness/healing modalities practices / methods / protocols etc.

/

4. Pi-CBT Physical wellness/healing modalities / practices / methods / protocols etc. 5. The combined SEMP Pi-CBT new modalities and protocols.

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The above four domains of our human self i.e. SEMP must be approached in integrative manner. This integrative approach results in Pi-CBT integrative SEMP modalities / practices / methods / protocols. We are current at a very early stage in our research on Pi-CBT. We hope for collaboration and other research initiatives by all interested parties. The following format/forms are some examples of practical application of Pi-CBT in our therapy session. We have to create a centralize Pi-CBT resource centre to collect, store, disseminate all Pi-CBT research papers, protocols, testimonials, format and other relevant materials examples of some forms for Pi-CBT attached.

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Example of form, 1 1. Pi-CBT: Seeking meaning and purpose in life Review Technique Define your meaning and purpose in life

Summarize your past experiences

Why are you in your current situation/problem/ psychological dilemma?

What's the future that I want for myself/family/career, etc.

Practical Application Of Positive Islamic Psychology II: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) And Positive Islamic Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (Pi-CBT)

Example of Form 2 PIP Programs that I can do to shape my future to achieve peace, happiness and success S : Spiritual Programs

E : Emotional Programs

M : Mental Programs

P: Physical Programs

429

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Example of form 3 Definition of Psychological/Challenges in Life etc ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ Pi-CBT prescription by therapist

Pi-CBT techniques,values, principles to be implemented in life

1

2

3

Summary of positive Daily Activities to be implemented in life

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Example of Form 4 Using Inner Speech Dialogue Technique (ISDT) Journal

Positive values to practice using ISDT. Examples of the themes below

Journal of Dialogue and using ISDT to transform self i.e. from inner speech to new behavior/ habits and way of life.

1. Gratitude (shukr) 2. Forgiveness (Maghfirah) 3. Repentance (tawbah) 4. Serenity/seeking peace (Sakina) 5. Love and compassion (al-Hubb wa al-Hanan) 6. Patience (Sabr) 7. Reliance and confidence in Allah (Tawakkul and Tawbah) 8. Developing good character/ personality (khuluq) Above are some values that you can use. Be creative! Think of other positive values you wish to develop & create your own journal form. ADD YOUR ADDITIONAL VALUES 9 10 11

Example of Form 5

431

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SHAPING POSITIVE VALUES TO ACHIEVE PEACE, HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS

Positive values

Journal of Dialogue using ISDT to transform self. i.e. from inner speech

1. Connecting with love and joy with family, friends, and society 2. The joy of giving and helping others 3. Acceptance of changes in life 4. Overcoming sadness, depression and grief and challenges in life 5. The joy of being the vicegerent of God on Earth a) Making myself good b) Helping others to be good c) Making this world good and to please God and all creatures on Earth ADD YOUR ADDITIONAL VALUES 6 7 8

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Example of Form 6

Sunday

Saturday

Friday

Thursday

Wednesday

Tuesday

Time

Monday

Pi-CBT Islamic Spiritual Practices/Activities Diary

4 am/5 am 6 am 7 am 8 am 9 am 10 am 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 4 pm 5 pm 7 pm 8 pm 10 pm The Islamic spiritual practices consist of the ritual such as prayers, fasting, zakat, invocation, contemplation, reflection, good deeds/actions, etc. as outlined in this book.

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Example of Form, 7 Pi-CBT SEMP 40 Days Habit Forming Diary Days

Aspects Spiritual

Monday

Emotional Mental Physical Spiritual

Tuesday

Emotional Mental Physical Spiritual

Wednesday

Emotional Mental Physical Spiritual

Thursday

Emotional Mental Physical Spiritual

Friday

Emotional Mental Physical Spiritual

Saturday

Emotional Mental Physical Spiritual

Sunday

Emotional Mental Physical

Status (OK/ Not OK)

Good Habits/Actions Taken/Done

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The SEMP 40-Days-Habits-Plan reviews our daily actions at the SEMP levels. At each level, we review what we have done and try to incorporate new good habits/behaviors/ etc. Group Counselling Approach in Pi-CBT Pi-CBT therapy can be delivered on a one-to-one basis. This will be done by trained psychologist certified in PiCBT methodology. This approach will take a long time in developing the necessary human resource and expertise in Pi-CBT. To resolve this issue, we can also develop practical Pi-CBT using group counselling approach. We can conduct short courses to certify qualified individuals to become PiCBT group counsellors. This people need not be professional psychologists but people with sufficient training in counselling technique and basic Pi-CBT protocol. There are many sound reasons for using a group approach to problem solving or counselling in Pi-CBT. Some are common to all groups; others pertain only to specific kinds of groups. Two basic reasons for using the group approach to almost any kind of group are for the efficiency and availability of more resources or viewpoints in group settings. Bringing together a group of people for a common cause saves time and effort, thereby increasing efficiency. A group of people can offer more viewpoints, and hence, more resources. Group members often relate that one of the most helpful aspects of their group is the variety of viewpoints expressed and discussed. When 2 people get together, it is possible they will possess similar information, values, or ways of seeing the world. As such, it may be difficult to generate new ideas or methods of solving problems. On the other hand, in a group setting, members usually will have a variety of opinions and ideas, thus, making the experience interesting and closer to real life.

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Support Groups in Pi-CBT Support group is usually composed of 4 to 12 members and meets monthly, weekly, or even twice weekly. In the meetings, the members would share thoughts and feelings about themselves. This hearing and listening to others provide multiple viewpoints which serve as a basis for examining issues and developing a feeling of commonality among members. Support groups enable members to learn that other people struggle with the same issues, feel similar emotions, and think similar thoughts. There are tremendous needs for helping those with psychological problems in the Muslim world. Support groups can be set up as part of the mosque/community activities. We have to train future leaders so that they can lead in the Pi-CBT group therapy sessions. Using the basic Pi-CBT format can be the basis in group therapy sessions. The Experience of Commonality / Universality In a group setting, people often discover that they are not alone. Other people might have similar thoughts and feelings like theirs. Below are some examples of groups in which they shared common experiences that can be helpful: a) People/youth with drug/alcohol addiction and other related problems. b)

Youth with addiction to online video games, online pornography and other related problems.

c) c) Parents who have autism children ADHD/ learning difficulties sharing experiences on how they are managing and parenting their children.

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d) Family members of mentally ill patients share how they are coping with the stresses and stigma from the society. e) Children of divorced parents talk about their experiences and adjustment. f)

Elderly people confined to convalescent centers support each other in their effort to cope with loneliness and alienation.

g)

Family members of cancer/chronically ill patients find comfort in hearing that others are also experiencing grief and struggling to carry on with their lives.

h)

Individuals with disabilities share their feelings and fears about their disability.

i)

Stay at home mothers seek comfort and friendship with other housewives.

j)

Recently divorced individuals and single mothers discover how others are coping.

k) Troubled youth going through adolescence/ sexuality/ morality/religious issues, etc. l)

Victims of a natural disaster share feelings about the loss of loved ones, loss of property, or their sense of helplessness.

m) Burnout and stress management overworked employees, etc.

groups

for

n) People suffering from AIDS and other related chronic diseases. o)

Prisoners share their concerns about their loss of freedom, upcoming release, or loneliness.

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p) Many other socio-psychological problems that we currently face. The feeling of commonality is helpful and therapeutic for most individuals and cannot develop in individual counselling. Many people carry around fears they believe to be unique to them. As group members grow comfortable with one another and begin to take risks in sharing personal concerns, thoughts, and feelings, they are often amazed that others in the group have similar concerns. This provides a sense of “we-ness” that is greatly reassuring. Sense of Belonging It is well-acknowledged that humans have a need to belong, and this need can be satisfied by being part of a group. Members will often identify with each other, feel accepted and thus, feel part of a whole. Skills Practice Groups provide an arena for safe practice in such that the members practice new skills and behaviours they have learned in a supportive environment before trying them out in real life contexts. This can be done through role-playing activities. The range of new behaviours to explore is nearly limitless. Apart from role playing, members may also experiment with new behaviours while relating to one another during the session. Feedback Groups provide an opportunity for members to receive feedback. In groups in which behaviour rehearsal is a major component, the suggestions, reactions, and perceptions of others can be valuable as members would have so many

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chances to hear how others experience them. Often, members would have the opportunity to hear both first impressions and updated impressions. Feedback is generally more powerful in a group setting than in an individual counselling session as a single viewpoint may be repeatedly emphasised. This is because clients often have an unrealistic perception of themselves, thus, feedback from a group may help them in expanding and altering their self-perceptions. Vicarious Learning In many kinds of groups, clients discuss issues that are very meaningful to them. As such, they have the opportunity to share and listen to others with similar concerns to their own. A member may sit in silence and yet, learn a great deal by watching how fellow members resolve their personal concerns. The leader of a group should always be aware of the vicarious learning aspects of groups. A member who appears quiet may still be learning about him/herself as much as those who participate actively in the group. Real Life Approximation As people are not islands, but rather they live in an environment composed of others, groups come closer to replicating real life than does one-to one therapy. While interacting with others, people experience fear, anger, doubt, worry, and jealousy. In the comparatively safe atmosphere of the group, those same emotions can surface and be identified and, hopefully, resolved. The group setting becomes a temporary substitute for the community, family, work site, or organization in which those feelings repeat themselves. The social context of the group experience also helps in a way that members are given the opportunity to discover

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how people honestly react to them over a period of weeks or months. In addition, they are exposed to a variety of human behaviours and attitudes such as encouragement, support, anger, confrontation, genuineness, rigidity, and etc. Being exposed to these in a group environment enables one to learn methods of relating and coping that may in turn carry over into their everyday living. Contracts and Commitments The group can be a place to make important and helpful commitments or contracts to work on specific, individual concerns. A contract is essentially an oral or written statement indicating what a member is willing to do either in or outside of the group session. While such commitments are often made in one-to-one situations, the motivation to honor them seems to be stronger when they are made with a number of people. In support groups, such as those which help smokers, alcoholics and gamblers overcome their addiction problems, members make at least an implied commitment to stop smoking, drinking, or gambling; to make a certain number of job contracts; or to practice assertiveness. The combination of support subtle expectations and fear of letting down the group if the commitment is broken is a powerful motivator for behavioural change. Practical Examples Combining CBT and Pi-CBT The following two practical examples of using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of depression and panic attack/anxiety are useful baseline for us to expand with the Pi-CBT principles, values and approach as elucidated in this book.

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Practical Example 1: Using CBT/Pi-CBT to Overcome Depression Signs and symptoms of depression A person may have severe depression if he/she feels depressed nearly all the time, on most days, lose interest or pleasure in routine activities. In addition, the person experiences five or more of these symptoms over two weeks:

Loses or gains a significant amount of weight.

Feels excessively sleepy or unable to sleep on virtually all days.

Markedly slow down and feels sluggish.



Lacks energy and feels tired.



Experience inappropriate guilt or feel worthless.



Loses concentration and faces difficulty in making decisions.



Thinks about death or suicidal attempts

Depression may manifest in different types (e.g. unipolar vs. bipolar/manic-depressive illness, postnatal depression, seasonal affective disorder) and degrees of severity (e.g. severe/major depression vs. mild/minor depression). Depression is the emotional equivalent of “learned pain” The brain gets so familiar with the feeling of misery that it no longer responds to changing circumstances. It is locked into negative feelings. What is needed is to “unlearn” the negative feelings – by nudging the brain back to responding differently or thinking new thoughts. New thoughts occur when new neural pathways are formed between brain cells. If thoughts

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are repeated these become permanent. Unlearning negative thinking, therefore, involves building new thought pathways and abandoning the old. During the period of depression, brain cells which produce feelings of pleasure fail to produce or respond to the neurotransmitters that usually turn them on, and thus, become “dead” to outside stimulation. Brain cells also die off if they are not used, so a person who suffers a period of intense sadness in childhood may lose some capacity to feel happy later on in life. It should be noted that depression can occur at any age to anyone. Depression can also cause physical symptoms in the absence of any psychological sign that a person is feeling depressed. Some common physical or psychosomatic symptoms associated with depression are backache, chest pain, dizziness, general aches and pains, fatigue, indigestion, joint pains, loss of libido, palpitations, weight gain or loss. CBT suggests that how we think largely determines how we feel. The focus on CBT is on thoughts, beliefs, assumptions and perceptions – on everything affecting how we know and interpret the world. In depression, gloomy thoughts take over and we interpret things in a negative way. These negative responses cause depressed thinking and feelings which can become self-perpetuating, leading to a vicious circle, locking you into depression. Think negatively, and you will begin to feel unhappy, sad or overwhelmed, and this may ultimately affect how you behave. You may stop seeing your friends or other things you enjoy. CBT aims to break this think-feel-behave cycle.

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Depressed

Do nothing

No energy to do anything

Diagram 17: The Depression Cycle

Beck’s theory of depression includes three main components:

a.

a.

Negative automatic thoughts

b.

Depressive schemata

c.

Logical errors in thinking

Negative automatic thoughts

These are thoughts or mental reflexes which just “pop into the head” or “come out of the blue” without being in the forefront of our minds. We may automatically accept them even if they are distorted or irrational. One negative idea then amplifies another. Beck describes depression

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as “a cognitive triad”: one component can reinforce the next:

b.



A negative view of the self (“I’m a worthless”)



A negative view of the world (“This city is helpless”)



A negative view of the future (“There are no prospects for me”)

Depressive schemata

Any negative or dysfunctional thoughts and feelings we develop about ourselves early in life are reflected in schemata – the building blocks of cognition. Schemata are sets of attitudes or assumptions which shape our beliefs about others, ourselves and the world. We have schemata about everything and none are more important than those relating to “the self system”: self-esteem, self-awareness, self-image, self-blame, etc. The origin of our schemata will date back to our childhood and the relationships we had with our parents, family, classmates – and the other people who are prominent in our life. They may change throughout life, but the old ones never completely disappear, and may re-emerge as a result of stress. How do we interpret these relationships and what they say about us? How do we put together the mental bricks which make up our schemata? We usually regard our schemata as statements of fact. They produce core beliefs – which may be positive or negative. Once activated, a negative core belief can produce a cognitive shift away from the positive. What this means is that the susceptible individual begins to distort incoming information to fit into their negative schemata.

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The aim of CBT is to challenge any false assumptions and change an anxious self schema into a healthy one. c.

Logical errors in thinking

Beck described these categories:

Arbitrary inference: A conclusion reached on the basis of insufficient evidence or no evidence at all. E.g. Salim becomes convinced he won’t get his promotion because his taxi to the interview is late.



Selective abstraction: A conclusion based on just one of many factors. E.g. Salihah is a good conference organizer. She runs a successful meeting, manages to get many excellent speakers, good attendance and running on time, but one speaker fails to turn up and she blames herself for the “failure” of the entire event.

Over-generalization: E.g. A PhD candidate was criticized during his viva examination for a minor mistake in the methodological section of his research, but he feels that his whole research is a total failure.

A motivational speaker wins critical acclaims, but berates himself for making minor negative remarks on the first night, although the audience hardly notices it. He draws the conclusion that he is a terrible motivator/speaker.



Magnification: E.g. Ahmad was a perfectionist who feared that his entire routine was going to fall apart because he had not jotted down a minor task in his diary.

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Such errors of thinking can spark a cognitive chain reaction.

THOUGHTS

BEHAVIOUR & REACTIONS

FEELINGS & MOODS

Diagram 18: The Depressive Chain Reaction

What Makes CBT Different from Other Therapies? CBT relies on the patient playing an active role and developing a collaborative relationship with the therapist to identify and resolve a problem. Just like in a scientific study, the patient’s negative thought become a scientific hypothesis or idea that is tested by collection and evaluation of data. Putting Theory into Practice for CBT and PiCBT Duration: A typical CBT/Pi-CBT programme may comprise 15 – 20 weekly sessions, perhaps twice weekly, initially in the case of severe depression. A typical session lasts 50 – 60 minutes.

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The session agenda: This is worked out at the start of each session and may take ten minutes or so. The therapist will ask what you want to discuss and set targets for the session. Structure: Time will be allocated to specific issues. CBT/ PiCBT tends to be highly structured to encourage a business-like, problem-solving approach. The patient may do increasingly more of the agenda setting and structuring sessions as they get to know the routine. Session target(s): Meeting targets is the major focus of each session. This may involve breaking down a particular problem into different components to see it in a new perspective. Different approaches work for different people. Working out what’s best for you may involve trial and error. Homework: A vital part of CBT/Pi-CBT. Assignments may include “reality testing” and keeping a diary to monitor mood changes day by day. Reviewing homework is a routine part of a session. Feedback: The therapist may constantly seek feedback throughout the sessions to check if the patient feels things are going in the right direction. Feedback also reduces any chance of the patient not speaking out if a session – as can happen – makes them depressed or anxious. This is because self-examination is not an easy process. What Can I Expect From My Treatment? There are many techniques used in CBT/Pi-CBT. Some are used for treatment sessions, some for homework assignments, and some for both. Most are aimed at modifying negative or anxiety-provoking thoughts. Some of the techniques are as follows:

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1) Examining the Evidence for and against a Negative Thought: E.g. in a case of a patient feeling disliked by his boss, this technique may involve asking questions such as, “What was the evidence that I am disliked by my boss?” “Was there another interpretation of the evidence?” “Was there any evidence that I had done a bad job?” “Was there anything wrong about feeling anxious in my situation? Wasn’t it just a natural reaction?” 2)

Reality Testing:

The therapist may encourage the patient to test the validity of his negative thought by creating a reality chart which involved the following stages:

Identifying the notion/hypothesis and rating it in terms of belief (does he really believe in it?) on a scale of one to a hundred.



Working out what it could predict (i.e. the end of a relationship).



Revaluating his method of data collection, as well as re-rating his original belief.

The patient might also be given a homework, whereby he needed to collect evidence to test his fear/hypothesis. More importantly, he would need to assess if there was any real evidence that might point towards his hypothesis (negative thought). In cases where a person’s negative thoughts are justified and when other people’s behaviour is not so easily modifiable,

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another strategy would be needed and this could be the basis of more traditional counselling. 3) Success Therapy / Graded Task Assignments: As lack of energy in depressive illness can often lead to inactivity, success therapy is designed to encourage routine activities such as going to work, cooking, going for a walk, shopping, playing a game, or watching TV. In this technique, therapist and patient will agree targets for the week, graded according to how long each one may take and how hard it is. An initial “cooking target” may be something basic like boiling an egg or toasting a piece of bread. New targets are set as you achieve “success”. A therapist will probably challenge a patient who says “I can’t do that”, and seek evidence of their inability and ask them to compile an activity schedule. Completing it may in itself encourage a patient to do more. 4)

Activity Scheduling:

A person who is depressed usually stops engaging in activities and as a result, their mood gets worse. Activity scheduling seeks to reverse that process and enables you to log your progress over a period of days, weeks or months. Looking over your progress in written forms can be surprisingly encouraging. Activity scheduling may involve Beck’s concept of mastery and pleasure. The theory behind the concept is that we all need to feel good about ourselves – and that we need to have this feeling reinforced, e.g. by compliments, passing an exam, etc. Such accomplishments or mastery can be rated on a ten-point scale. Pleasure, referring to pleasant, enjoyable feelings from a specific activity, could also be rated on a ten-point scale.

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Keeping a Diary:

This helps to log thoughts and feelings, and may involve “thought catching” – you monitor your feelings and “catch” the accompanying thoughts and record them in a “thought diary”. This may pinpoint critical differences between absolute negative thoughts and rational responses to a particular event. A behaviour diary can establish the link between feelings, symptoms and behaviour, as well as help you to achieve your “target behaviour” or goals. Cognitive Rehearsal, Role Play and “Alternative” Therapy Negative thinking convinces people they can’t do certain things. In cognitive rehearsal, they imagine themselves trying “the impossible”. The therapist might take them through their thought processes step by step, asking: “What would you be thinking about at this time when faced with your particular problem?” This can help to identify mental blocks. In “alternative therapy”, the patient is asked to imagine an alternative to a depressing situation. There may be several alternative solutions to a particular problem. Alternative therapy seeks to encourage the patient to view their “alternatives” to being depressed, and help them see their alternatives as potential realities. In CBT, the patient and the therapist should decide which activities are most suitable for the patient to attempt if he/she is having difficulty getting motivated.

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Additional notes about CBT/Pi-CBT

CBT/Pi-CBT works as well as antidepressants in the treatment of depression of varying severity and it may be more effective in the long term, i.e. in preventing relapse.



Combining drugs and CBT/Pi-CBT is more effective than using CBT/Pi-CBT alone.



CBT/Pi-CBT alone sometimes works better than drugs alone.



CBT/Pi-CBT increases the time patients remain well.



Through CBT/Pi-CBT, patients learn coping skills which can be applied outside the therapy session, hence, preventing a full episode of depression from occurring. Furthermore, the changes made during therapy bring about a permanent shift in a patient’s cognitive style.



Patients with an active, rather than a passive style of coping are more likely to benefit from CBT/PiCBT. Potential Problems with CBT/Pi-CBT



Some patients may not be used to writing, or feel shy or embarrassed from lack of practice, or fear of spelling mistakes. They may also think their thoughts are too silly to write down.



Some patients insist that no thought goes through their mind when they feel depressed or anxious. Out of the blue, the emotion just overwhelms them.

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Some patients “intellectualize” their problems, describing them in great detail, without taking into account their own or other people’s feelings. They may block emotions, believing that expressing them is “weak” or “unmanly”, or that they are “trivial”.

Some patients claim they “don’t need any more therapy” and have been “feeling fine all week”. They may be ashamed about needing help and fear for their privacy.



The patient becomes dependent on the therapist and is reluctant to stop treatment.

Depression and Drug Therapy

How Do Antidepressants Work? Antidepressants work by inhibiting or blocking the processes which lead to the destruction or removal of monoamines. These are the neurotransmitters responsible for activating brain cells which produce feelings of wellbeing. There are two main categories of antidepressants:

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

Monoamine reuptake inhibitors. These include the tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including Prozac, and selective noradrenalin reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). The MAOIs block the enzyme responsible for destroying the monoamines, while the tricyclics and reuptake inhibitors

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decrease the absorption or “reuptake” of the monoamines into the cells from which they come. In other words, they both achieve the same effect – keeping monoamines in the synapse – in different ways. While it is easy to assume that depression may be due to low levels of available monoamines, and that the cure is to push the levels up, this is not the case. Neurotransmitter levels may be boosted within hours after a drug is taken, but something else has to happen before the raised neurotransmitter levels have an effect on someone’s mood. Nevertheless, nobody knows what it is. The “something else” – perhaps some reordering of neuronal receptors or a change in cell structure takes time. As such, antidepressant drugs do not start working immediately. People tend to feel better within one or two weeks but it may actually take longer to achieve a full antidepressant effect. However, some side effects, which are not uncommon, may kick in quickly. A Cumulative Effect Feeling worse than better at the start of treatment often leads many people to give up the drugs before they have a chance to do any good. Current evidence suggests that about half to two-thirds of patients with moderate or severe illness get relief from the first prescribed drug. The proportion goes up to 60 – 80 per cent if patients try a second or third type if the first does not work. Successful treatment may mean trial and error. In cases whereby patients do not respond well to a single antidepressant, the doctor may suggest combination therapy – combining two drugs working on different parts of the brain.

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Why do People Say Antidepressants Don’t Work? There are several reasons why antidepressants do not in general deliver the 75 – 90 per cent success rate that studies suggest they could. Different types of drugs suit different people. At least a quarter of patients will not respond to the first one they take. At the present, there is no way of knowing what will work for whom, so prescribing is a hit-and-miss affair. Patients may be reluctant to try a second, or third drug, if the first fails. Many people, initially suffer unpleasant side effects, stopping their drugs before they have time to work and deciding against trying another type. Moreover, family doctors / GPs (not psychiatrists) are reported to prescribe antidepressants at too low a dose, and for not long enough, for them to become effective. Common reasons for failing drugs: a) Patients stopping treatment because they do not know how long it takes for an antidepressant to start working. Some people stop treatment after a few days, assuming it is not working, especially if the prescribed drugs cause troublesome side effects. (Antidepressants commonly take three to four weeks to start working). b) Some patients suddenly stop treatment, believing that they have been “cured” because their symptoms have disappeared. While this means that the treatment is working, it can also cause a relapse or serious withdrawal symptoms. Therefore, it is recommended that treatment is continued after remission for at least four to six months. People with recurrent depression need “maintenance therapy”, usually, in reduced doses, for at least five years, possibly indefinitely.

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c)

Genetic and environmental influences account for wide variations in people’s individual responses to drugs.

d)

Inadequate dosing.

e)

Inappropriate prescribing.

f)

Lowering or upping the dose without proper doctor’s advice.

g)

Taking the medication at the wrong time or forgetting to take it at all. Side Effects

About one in four users of antidepressants are reported to experience side effects. These side effects may take a couple of weeks while waiting for the antidepressant to “kick in” and may seem more distressing than the illness itself. Most side effects are temporary, but some persist. These include: Nausea, vomiting, indigestion, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, dry mouth, nervousness, anxiety, headache, insomnia, tremor, dizziness, lack of strength, drowsiness, visual disturbances, sexual dysfunction.

Antidepressants may also affect driving and other machinery-related tasks. Are Antidepressants Addictive?

There is some controversy over whether or not antidepressants are addictive. However, this is not true. A patient does not need higher and higher doses to maintain the same effect unless the depression “breaks through” the medicine. This

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occurs when the dose is no longer high enough to work – but this is more likely due to fluctuation of the underlying condition than a tailing off of the drug’s efficacy. Some people suffer a recurrence of depression after stopping antidepressants, but this may be the original illness reasserting itself. However, many antidepressants cause clear withdrawal symptoms that are quite different from depression or anxiety. At least a third of patients coming off antidepressants will be affected by “discontinuation syndrome” – symptoms which occur when a patient stops taking a non-addictive prescribed drug. Usually within five days of the last dose. The symptoms may be completely new or similar to the illness. Mild symptoms usually subside within a few days. There also seems to be a link between increased suicidal risk and the start of antidepressant therapy. However, the current evidence is insufficient to confirm a causal association between SSRIs and suicidal behaviour. The Maudsley 2003 Prescribing Guidelines reported that:

If antidepressant therapy is stopped immediately on recovery, half of patients will experience a return of their depressive symptoms.



The risk of a recurrence is anyway high.

In the case of recurrent depression, long term treatment has been found to reduce the risk of symptoms returning by about two thirds.

Antidepressants do not lose their effectiveness over time.

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They are not known to cause new long-term side effects.



Stopping medication must not be done suddenly because this can result in unpleasant effects. Conclusion

To integrate Pi-CBT with the CBT protocols above to treat depression is quite simple. The basic principles and techniques of CBT are almost similar to Pi-CBT. The 3 areas of Beck’s theory of depression i.e. negative automatic thought, depressive schemata, and logical errors in thinking is a useful reference point for Pi-CBT. Our approach in Pi-CBT will encompasses the above 3 aspects plus the understanding of the SEMP of the human self. It also includes our unique, Inner Speech Dialogue Technique (ISDT) in Pi-CBT which can more effectively overcome the depressive chain reaction in CBT. Moreover, our ISDT technique can transform negative thoughts to positive ones that will then create positive feeling and mood which finally, result in positive behavior change in the virtuous circle of self improvement. There are advances in drug therapy in psychiatric and psychological problems. These medical advances can be integrated into our Pi-CBT methodology to make it more effective in providing a holistic approach to healing. However, all drug prescription for mental and psychiatric disorders can only be prescribed by qualified psychiatrists/doctors. These psychiatrists can be trained in Pi-CBT techniques/protocols. By combining drug therapy and Pi-CBT, we can reduce the drug usage and finally allow the patient with psychiatric and psychological disorder to be drug-free in the long run. This is our ultimate goal in having an all-inclusive, holistic approach for Pi-CBT.

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Practical Example 2: Using CBT/Pi-CBT to Overcome Panic and Anxiety Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety An anxiety disorder may be indicated if a person has experienced some of the following symptoms more often than not during the past six months (when triggered by anxious feelings):

Restlessness or feeling on edge



Tiring quickly



Inability to control feelings of anxiety



Difficulty concentrating or inability to focus on anything



Short temper/frustration/irritability



Muscle tension



Disturbed sleep patterns (difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless sleep)

If a person feels anxious most or all of the time, over a prolonged period in the absence of any of the above additional factors, this may also indicate the presence of an anxiety disorder. Panic attack: Sudden, intense fear and feelings of impending doom, shortness of breath and chest pain.

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Some Anxiety Disorders Include: a.

Agoraphobia: Avoidance of places or situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing, or in which help may not be available in the event of a panic attack or panic-like symptoms; usually accompanied by feelings of anxiety or depression.

b.

Specific Phobia: Intense dread or fear of a particular object or situation such as a snake, insects, the sight of blood, flying or taking examinations. The distinction between phobia and normal fear is that the former is disproportionate to the danger. Many people have mild phobias, which don’t significantly affect their lives, but for some, phobias can be severely disabling.

c.

Social Phobia: Anxiety in public or performance situations.

d.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (OCD): Anxious, repetitive thoughts and rituals beyond an individual’s control. Obsessions may cause pronounced anxiety and distress. Compulsive acts, like repeated hand washing, door checking, etc. can have a reassuring, comforting effect in the short term, but they are often followed by intense anxiety.

e.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): reliving extreme trauma like a major accident or war or sexual assault can cause severe, emotion-numbing anxiety. An existing anxiety or depressive disorder may increase the risk of PTSD. Acute stress disorder produces similar symptoms to post-traumatic stress disorder in the aftermath of an extremely traumatic event.

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Risk Factors for Anxiety Disorder: a.

Repressed Feelings: e.g. pushing oneself from thinking about negative/uncomfortable and unpleasant feelings, avoiding arguments, avoiding talking about embarrassing/ worrying things, etc.

b.

Personality Types: including style of coping, social support mechanism, exposure to stress.

c.

Coping Style: including positive/negative thinking, habits, addictions, etc.

d.

Social support: including social contact, neighborhoods, family, colleagues and friends, etc.

e.

Family History: research suggests anxiety disorders run in families and that fear is encoded in our genes.

f.

Stress: a major risk factor. Stress

When the body responds to stress, fear and anxiety, it automatically triggers a number of physical changes in preparation to fight or flight. The body makes no distinction between real and irrational, imagined fears. However, stress is not all bad. Stress gives a sharp edge to our performance. The body reacts to acute stress by releasing two types of chemical messengers: hormones in the blood and neurotransmitters in the brain. The primary stress hormone, cortisol, is very important in marshaling systems throughout the body, including the heart, lungs, blood circulation and immune system. Other stress hormones include adrenaline and noradrenaline.

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Stress is essential for human survival. It alerts us to danger, helps us to cope with the demands of daily life and can sharpen our performance: Too little stress would result in insufficient challenge to achieve a sense of personal accomplishment. When there is optimum level of stress, life is balanced despite its ups and downs. When there is too much stress, one would constantly feel like he/she has to do too much every day, resulting in permanent overdrive and emotional and physical exhaustion, and finally, a burnout. The Impact of Stressful Situations Generally, people react to different situations differently. While one particular situation may be stressful to one person, another person may not feel stressed about it at all. In other words, it is the way that a situation is perceived by the person which affects how stressful the situation is for that person, rather than the stressor itself. This is because different people interpret situations and events that happen to them differently. For people with anxiety disorders, they may have more tendencies to jump to the wrong conclusions without examining the evidence for their thoughts and feelings. While negative feelings are sometimes justified, people with anxiety disorders often have no real basis for their worry and fears. According to Hans Selye, the physiological response to stress takes place in three phases, called the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS): Refer to Diagram 21.

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Selye Three Phases General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) ALARM PHASE • • • • • • • •

Heart rate increases to pump more oxygen rich blood to the brain. Breathing rate quickens to meet the demand for more oxygen. The blood is flooded with red blood cells to carry more oxygen into the limbs and brain. Blood-clotting time shortens, making severe bleeding from any wounds less likely. Muscles tighten to prepare the body for “fight or flight”. The liver provides fuel for quick energy by releasing sugar and fats into the blood. Perspiration cools the body. Digestion stops to enable blood to be diverted to the brain and muscles – where it is most needed.

RESISTANCE PHASE • • •

The body gets into a more or less balanced state and develops some resistance to the stressor. The body works to ensure that all its different body systems – from cardiovascular to skeletal – are working in harmony. This phase is of limited duration because its extra work uses vital energy which may be needed for other physiological functions.

EXHAUSTION •

The body reserves will ultimately be exhausted if the “fight or flight” reaction continues for too long.

Diagram 21 General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Brain

Heart

Lungs

Diagram 22 Relationship between the Brain, Heart and Lungs

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Diagram 22 shows the experience of stress to be a complex relationship between the mind and body. While the brain registers fear, the lungs and heart react, making breathing shallow and difficult, and the heart beat increases. In panic attack sufferers, this can in turn produce more fear – fear of a panic attack itself. Causes of Anxiety 1)

Misguided Thinking: This theory is based on the idea that anxiety stems from negative or dysfunctional thoughts and feelings. This, in turn, affects behaviour.

2)

Repressed Feelings: According to Freudian psychoanalytic theory, feelings of anxiety may date back to childhood – e.g. unresolved arguments with parents which made a person think twice about speaking out.

3)

Biological Abnormalities: This theory advocates the use of drugs to correct chemical imbalances in the brain of an anxious person. Drugs can remove the sharp edges of anxiety, but they can also cause unwanted side effects. Types of Anxiety Disorders

1)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)



Persistent worry, typically moderate in intensity, which may ebb and flow, but tend to occur on more days than not. Patients describe themselves as being tense, nervous and constantly on edge. They often fear that something bad is about to happen, even though there is no reason

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for it. There may be no obvious reason for worrying, but it may result in worry about health, money, family or work. GAD can be exacerbated by additional stressful events, real or imagined. Simple domestic setbacks can seem like a major disaster.

People with GAD may also suffer from other emotional disorders, e.g. panic attacks, phobic disorders or depression.

2)

Panic Disorder



A panic attack is a sudden burst of unexplained severe anxiety lasting from a couple of minutes to half an hour or more. It is characterized by severe physical symptoms and catastrophic thoughts such as: “I’m going to die”, “I’m having a heart attack”, or “I’m losing control”, etc. These irrational fears can seem very real because of the accompanying physical symptoms, which may include nausea, excessive sweating, feelings of tingling or numbness, a pounding heart, a feeling of choking or breathlessness and a churning stomach. The speed with which a panic attack takes hold and the wide-ranging nature of the symptoms adds to the overwhelming sense of helplessness and despair. Attacks are often linked to a specific place or activity, but they can also occur totally out of the blue.



Many people prone to panic disorder also suffer from major depression.



Risk Factors for Panic Attack May Include:

Family history



Unsupportive families

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Over-protective parents



Exposure to shocking events or abuse



Trauma of an accident or disease



Specific patterns of thought

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1)

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)



OCD results in anxiety-provoking obsessions and compulsive repetitive rituals to relieve the anxiety. People with OCD know they are behaving oddly, but are unable to stop. Common OCD related behaviours include constant washing, counting and rearranging objects in a particular order.

2)

Specific Phobia



Irrational fears of certain objects or situations such as snakes, blood, injections, the dentist, darkness, etc. Many people with a specific phobia may have an additional anxiety or mood disorder.

3) Agoraphobia (a specific type of phobia)

Anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape may be embarrassing or difficult, e.g. in a crowd or queue or on a bridge. A person suffering from a panic attack may be at risk of developing agoraphobia.

4) Social Phobia

Persistent, chronic fear of being watched and judged by others. Social phobia can be severely disabling as it can

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interfere with routine activities and preclude speaking or performing in public. The onset of social phobia often occurs around adolescence, so a lifelong social phobia could even stem from an embarrassing situation at school.

Social phobia often occurs along with generalized anxiety disorders, specific phobias and panic disorder.

5)

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)



Reaction in the form of extreme stress to an event such as a car accident or major disaster involving death or threat of death or serious injury to the individual or others. This may include flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive memories. The sufferer avoids thoughts which remind them of the event and may become emotionally numb and detached.

They may have difficulty staying awake or sleeping, or concentrating, and they may be prone to angry outbursts and irritability. The basic ideas of CBT/Pi-CBT in relation to treating anxiety disorders are:

The way we interpret and assess information (think and feel) affects our behaviour.



Anxiety and depression promote negative thinking.

Identifying and changing negative thinking can relieve anxiety.

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Beck isolated certain characteristics of anxiety disorders:





Repetitive thoughts (“false alarms”) about danger: the patient is preoccupied with a persistent irrational flow of thoughts about impending danger.



Reduced capacity to process the fearful thoughts: although the individual may know or suspect that they are behaving in an irrational way, they cannot weigh up or quell their anxiety-provoking thoughts.



Stimulus generalization: almost any sight or sound or change is perceived as a threat. Albert Ellis called this “catastrophizing” – the susceptible individual is gripped by the fear of the worst possible outcome in a particular scenario. While the anxiety if an average person decreases as they adjust to a stressful situation, the anxiety-prone individual is increasingly worried. The latter is unable to discriminate between the “safe” and the “not safe”. In fact, physical processes take over very quickly – which helps explain how panic attack grip sufferers in moments.

Shortness of breath

Anxiety, Panic

Further shortness of breath

Anxiety increases

Shortness of breath increases

Breathing muscles tire

Diagram 23: Panic Attack Cycle

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Diagram 23 shows that in panic attacks, mood disorder is manifested as significant physical symptoms. Some examples on the logical errors in thinking:

Errors arising from failure to accurately assess the potential danger of a situation.



Errors resulting from thinking about the negative and not the positive.



Over-generalizing – reaching a general conclusion about a situation on the basis of one factor alone.

Schemata in anxiety disorders often relate to the need to be in control, or to stay calm, or to be able to avoid new situations. Research suggests that basic schemata lie dormant during periods of remission. They may be reactivated during times of stress by specific triggers. The “self-censor” within the brain then applies them to an increasing number of situations, resulting in more and more distorted thinking. CBT/Pi-CBT Treatment for Anxiety 1. Time: Allow for up to 10 or more weekly sessions, each lasting up to an hour. 1.

Aims and Objectives: These are determined at the start of each session and may take 10 minutes or so. You will be asked what you want to talk about. This is an important part of setting the agenda and deciding targets. Time is allocated for specific talking points and targets are set.

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2.

Style: CBT/Pi-CBT is designed to promote an efficient, target-based approach, but there is no magic formula. Different approaches work for different people, working out what is best may involve trial and error and breaking down anxietyrelated problems into different components which can show problems in a new perspective.

3.

Homework: This is a critically important part of any CBT/ Pi-CBT program. Assignments may include keeping an anxiety or panic diary and mood monitoring. Homework is routinely reviewed.

4.

Feedback: The therapist may seek constant feedback to see how the client feels about the session. This also reduces any risk of the client not speaking out if the session makes them anxious or depressed. At the same time, when someone who tends to get overly anxious is asked the reasons for their anxiety, it can often help them realize their feelings are groundless. Sometimes, they may begin to feel that they are not as anxious as their brain would lead them to believe. In general, the complex effects of CBT/Pi-CBT make it difficult to trace the attainment of goals, but making and keeping it to targets and constantly evaluating progress is undertaken by patient and therapist together.

CBT/Pi-CBT Treatment Techniques for Anxiety 1) Examining the Evidence for and Against a Negative Thought: The therapist sets to challenge the patient’s belief by asking questions such as:

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“How do you know you are going to die when you have a panic attack?” “You haven’t died before, so how can you know what it feels like?” The patient would consider an alternative scenario and ask herself: “How much do I believe I am going to die when I am having a panic attack, and how much do I believe it now?” “Why do I misinterpret the feelings that lead to me thinking I am going to die?” “How can I control them if I have another attack?” 2)

Reality Testing: The therapist asks the patient to test the validity of his fear (of panic attack) by:

3)



Identifying it and rating it in terms of belief on a scale of 1 to 100



Working out what it could predict



Devising a homework project to test out his fears

Success Therapy: Setting targets to complete routine activities and thereby encouraging new habits to form.

4)

Keeping a Diary: To help track the patient’s progress and the inevitable ups and downs. Divide each daily entry into segments to make it easier to complete. The timekeeper diary

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records specific daily times and activities, relating them to emotional states. After a session of CBT, rational responses can be filled into the diary entries with the help of a therapist. A diary may also include rating activities, on a scale of one to five, in terms of the pleasure they bring and the extent to which they have been successfully completed, in accordance with Beck’s concept of mastery and pleasure. Alternatively, a simple thoughts and feelings diary may involve “thought catching’. In this process, the patient monitors his/ her feelings, “catch” the accompanying thoughts and record as a “thought diary”. 5)

Cognitive Rehearsal: The exercise involves the role play of anxiety-provoking activities with the help from a therapist. The patient imagines himself/herself trying to do things he/she fears are beyond him/her in order to help identify mental blocks. The therapist might take them through the role-play step by step, asking: “What would you be thinking about at this time?”, “What did you fear most?”. The therapist would ask the patient to write down these negative automatic thoughts, identify the distortions and think of an alternative rational response.

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Rationalizing Responses (Example of Homework) Thoughtprovoking event Presenting first lecture to students

Feelings

Negative thoughts

Anxiety, fear, concern

I’m going to fail.

I’ll lose my Job and finish up on the dole. I’ll embarrass the family. Belief rating: 90%

Rational response

Result

It’s only natural to feel nervous.

Patient re-evaluates his belief rating – giving it a zero-score.

It’s actually good to be nervous.

Belief rating: 0%

It’ll keep me on my toes.

Tingkat kepercayaan: 0%

My employers think I can do it.

Examples of Thought Distortions and Possible NEGATIVE THOUGHT

DISTORTION

I will tremble & Shaking. My mind will go blank The audience will laugh or feel sorry for me I will finish up getting sacked

Negative of the self

RATIONAL RESPONSE It’s only natural to feel nervous I am a real in my field

Negative view of the world Negative view of the future

I am as good as the rest of the team

Anxiety and Drug Therapy Drugs are regarded as a secondary, rather than a primary treatment for anxiety disorders – as something to try if other measures don’t work. For example, self-help groups, tapes, leaflets, breathing exercises,cutting down on caffeine,

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cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), and not using cigarettes or alcohol as a prop. Nonetheless, drug therapy has unquestionable benefits in some cases – sometimes even lifesaving. The selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) family of antidepressants is now regarded as the first choice pharmacological treatment. Tranquilizers are now prescribed much less frequently as they are addictive if used for long periods. However, people argue that because anxiety has a constructive role, removing its sharp edges with medication can discourage people from taking stock of their problems. But doctors have seen patients who have benefited from anti-anxiety drug therapy. Antidepressants and Anxiety Disorders Antidepressants act on neurotransmitters (monoamines such as serotonin) which play a key role in generating feelings of well-being. They seem to work by inhibiting or blocking the processes which lead to the destruction of monoamines or their removal from the synapse, the gap between adjoining nerve cells. Anxiety and depression occur together in more than half the cases. Nearly two thirds of patients with GAD also suffer from depression. Antidepressants have been found to be effective in treating anxiety-related symptoms such as tension, irritability, and worry. Studies have found that at least half of patients are much improved after 3 months of antidepressant treatment. Although the benefits can be dramatic and life transforming, they may not be sustained.

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Why are Antidepressants Used to Treat Anxiety Disorders? It is estimated that between 10 and 20 per cent of adults visit their doctor each year with an anxiety or depressive disorder. More than half of these are reported to have both clinical depression and anxiety, and are at greater risk than patients with just one or the other. They are more likely to have a chronic condition, to take longer to recover and to have a recurrence. Research has shown that early effective drug therapy can reduce the risk of a long-term problem developing. Although named antidepressants, this group of drugs have many different pharmacological properties – some of which help anxiety disorders. Why Do Antidepressants Fail? 1) Inappropriate prescribing: Antidepressants are designed to treat people with moderate or severe problems. However, they are often prescribed for people with mild problems, sometimes because of lack of appropriate psychological therapies such as CBT. 2)

Side effects – These may occur within a short time of starting treatment, before any therapeutic benefit emerges. Most side effects don’t last long, but some persist. Some patients who are unaware of this stop treatment.

3)

Not knowing how long it takes for an antidepressant to work – it may take several weeks for an antidepressant to achieve maximum benefit. Some patients give up treatment before the benefits are noticeable as they do not believe the medicine to be working.

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4) Giving up treatment when symptoms disappear, without consulting a physician. 5)

Forgetting to take medication.

6)

Taking doses at the wrong time.

7)

Wide variations in the genetic responses to drugs.

8) Lowering or upping the dose without seeking medical advice. 9)

A dose that is too high or too low. Summary of CBT and Pi-CBT Combined Approach

From the above two examples of depression and panic/anxiety disorders, we can see the extensive depth of research and practical applications of CBT/ Pi-CBT in overcoming panic attack, anxiety and related psychological problems. In the anxiety and panic disorder, the patient will have intense feeling of fear, impending doom, chest pain, insomnia and so on. These will result in continuous sense of frustration, irritability and inability to focus on any positive aspect of their life. We believe that Pi-CBT approach is more holistic. Mainly, problems and symptoms are result of negative inner speech as elucidated in our PIP model. The three input of Pi-CBT that shape our thought processes are namely the physical environment, interpersonal /social environment and inner speech. All these three aspects are linked to SEMP nature of the human self. By using the various Pi-CBT techniques, including ISDT techniques, we can effectively provide a better solution to panic attack and

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anxiety disorders. We believe that by understanding the integrative nature of our human self. (i.e. Spiritual, Emotional, Mental and Physical Domain), we can overcome most panic and anxiety disorders. Refer to our chapter Applying Positive Islamic Psychology in our daily lives to “Achieve, Peace, Happiness and Success”to find the necessary protocols and techniques that can heal most of panic, anxiety disorders and related psychological problems. Drug therapy used in healing panic and anxiety disorder and related psychological problems is an expanding field. There are many new drugs that have fewer side effects which can be used to treat the above problems. These medical advances can be integrated into our Pi-CBT methodology to make it more effective in providing a holistic approach to healing. However, all drugs for mental and psychiatric disorders can only be prescribed by qualified psychiatrists/ doctors. These psychiatrists can be trained in Pi-CBT techniques/ protocols. By combining drug therapy and Pi-CBT, we can reduce the drug usage and finally allow the patient with panic and anxiety to be drug-free in the long run. From the above, two examples of depression and panic/ anxiety disorder, we can seamlessly integrate CBT into Pi-CBT. All the extensive research in CBT can be modified to make it compatible with Pi-CBT. By taking these integrative combined approaches, we can similarly tackle all other psychological/ psychiatric problems. In essence, Pi-CBT is an improvement to all the good research and practical application of CBT and all other techniques that have proven useful in modern psychology.

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Substantial Free Resources on CBT There are number of free downloadable cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) worksheets, formulations, and self-help resources. The most comprehensive is to be found at www.psychologytools.org. These are free to use, to be given to clients, to share, and are not to be sold. Go to these free web CBT resources. Some examples of these resources available are:

Blank formulations and format for CBT



Thought records format for CBT



Cognitive restructuring format for CBT



Diaries / data gathering format for CBT

Mechanisms (Maintaining processes) format for CBT Information sheets on psychological disorders format for CBT

Techniques/procedures format for CBT



Useful tools format for CBT



Forgiveness tools format for CBT



Formulations for specific disorders format for CBT

Psychologytools.org also provides detailed protocol for CBT. We can list a number of examples to show you the depth of research and practical application of CBT for your reference and further research.

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Example 1: Information Sheets and Worksheets for Bipolar Disorder Information Sheets What is bipolar disorder? What causes bipolar disorder?

Worksheets Bipolar symptoms Medication record

Self-Help Programme Overview of bipolar disorder treatment options

Stress vulnerability Self monitoring

Medications for bipolar disorder

Early warning signs Behavioural strategies Plan of action

Psychosocial treatments for bipolar disorder Detecting early warning signs

for managing depression Mood monitoring Symptom monitoring

Cognitive strategies for managing

Behavioural activation

depression

Mood and symptom monitoring

Weekly activity schedule

Cognitive strategies

Vicious cycle of depression

Weekly goals record

for preventing mania

Behavioural activation

Thoughts and emotions

Behavioural strategies

Fun activities catalogue

Thoughts diary

for preventing mania

Improving how you feel

Balance sheet

Coping with stress

Thinking and feeling

Organizing ideas list

Analysing your thinking

Coping resources

Unhelpful thinking styles

Problem solving

Cognitive changes in mania

Self management plan

Preventing manic thinking

Goal setting

Preventing mania Organizing and prioritizing Coping with stressful events Problem solving Staying healthy



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Example 2: Information Sheets and Worksheets for Depression Information Sheets

Worksheets

Self-Help Programme

What is depression ?

sysmptoms of depression

Overview of despression

What causes despression ?

Behavioural activation

Behavioural strategies for managing depression

Psyhotherapy for depression

weekly activity schedule

Vicious cycle of depression

weekly goals record

The thinking-feeling connection

Behavioural activation

Making the connection

The ABC analysis

Fun activities catalogue

Thought diary

Unhelpful thinking styles

Improving how you feel

Core beliefs worksheet

Detective work and disputation

Thinking and feeling

Healthy Me

Analysing your thinking

Goal setting (end of therapy)

The end result Core beliefs changing your thinking Self management Unhelpfull thinking styles What area core belefs Problem solving Staying healthy Grief and bereavement

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Example 3: Information Sheets and Worksheets for Generalized Anxiety and Mindfulness

Information Sheets

Worksheets

Self-Help Programme

What is generalized anxiety disorder?

Anxiety symptoms Record

Overview of generalized Anxiety

What is mindfulness? Mind fullness & Letting go How worry works Accepting uncertainty Behavioral experiments Calming technique Progressive muscle Relaxation Postpone Your worry Situational Exposure Coping with stress

Breathing rate Record

Overview of worrying Negative beliefs about Worrying

Monitoring relaxation Situational exposure Diary Postpone your worry Letting go with mind fullness Accepting uncertainty Challenging Intolerance of uncertainty

Positive beliefs about worrying Challenging worrying Accepting uncertainty Problem solving Relaxation Self-managemen

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Example 4: Information Sheets and Worksheets for Panic

Information Sheets

Worksheets

Self-Help Programme

What panic ?

Breathing rate record

Overview of panic

Biology and psychology of panic

Anxiety symptoms record

Mora about panic

Monitoring relaxation

Thie thinking-feeling connection

Vicious cycle of anxiety Situational exposure diary Calming technique Internal exposure record Progressive muscle relaxation Behavioral experiments

The ABCs of thinking and feeling Unhelpful thinking styles Detective work and disputation

Situational expores Physical sensations and panic

Evaluation and balanced thinking Core beliefs Coping with physical alarms The calming technique Self management

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Conclusion We now have very substantial CBT worksheets formulations, self-help resources, formats etc. These are wonderful sciencebased tools in psychological therapy. Our hope is that one day Pi-CBT can be developed by Muslim psychologists throughout the world to help solve the psychological problem of the Muslim Ummah, specifically and other human beings in general. Positive Islamic Psychology model can be adopted by the 21 century humanity to be the premier tools in overcoming the huge psychological problem of the modern world. Later, through our Khalifah Circle format, we will set up networks of Muslim psychologists interested in furthering research in Pi-CBT. Similarly, we will collaborate and create Pi-CBT free resource similar to psychological tools provided by www. psychologytools.org. This Pi-CBT website will be the most comprehensive psychological research centre in the world, In Sya Allah. st

CHAPTER EIGHT

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY III: MANUAL FOR PARENTS FOR SHAPING EXCELLENT CHARACTER OF CHILDREN

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Introduction Children are a sacred trust given by Allah the Almighty to parents as confirmed in the Qur’an And know that your properties and your children are but a trial and that Allah has with Him a great reward. (Qur’an 8:28)

It is also narrated in authentic tradition of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that every child is born in a state of purity and cleanliness of heart without vicious inclinations. Based on this, al-Imam Al-Ghazali proposed that a child is like an uncut gemstone. The parent’s responsibility, therefore, is to cut, shape, and polish their child’s nafs (soul) until it becomes a glitteringly beautiful jewel, pleasing to Allah. Clearly, it is the parents who determine whether their children will become of fine character or not. While it is every parents’ wish to raise their children to become noble souls, who are good in every way, many of them do not know how to achieve that goal in an effective manner. There are two primary requirements in shaping the character of a child: 1. Parents have to know how a child’s character or personality is developed. 2.

Parents must themselves possess right values that will act as the basis for shaping their children’s character. These right values are the traditional values of Islamic character, and children must be raised to understand their role as God’s vicegerents on Earth (Khalifah of Allah).

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By combining these two necessary aspects of character development, parents will be able to shape their children to be excellent individuals in this world and the next, In Sya Allah. The Procedure for Shaping Character The primary factor that determines every person’s character is their environment. The environment consists of three aspects that will influence an individual’s character – the physical environment, the social environment, and the inner speech. The physical environment refers to the material world around us. The social environment involves the interpersonal communication that takes place in our daily lives. This includes direct human interaction that takes place between 2 or more persons, or indirect human interaction which takes place through man-made communication media, such as the television, radio, and the internet, to name a few. The inner speech refers to the things that we say to ourselves with our thoughts and our feelings. It has an important role in determining our individual actions. Inner speech arises from the accumulated life experiences stored in our Total Past Learning History (TPLH), and is a big factor in how we perceive all things. The inner speech plays a special role in our ability to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong, and in exercising the free will granted to us by God. Additionally, the effect of the environmental factors is coloured by the individual’s unique perception of his/her environment. Perception interprets all information received by our five senses and acts as a filter. This filter is not objective, it is always coloured in some manner. As different people would have unique experiences of physical and social environment, inner speech, and ultimately, Total Past Learning History (TPLH), every individual would then form

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different perceptions. For example, a smoker may perceive the act of smoking as something pleasurable, stylish, and status enhancing; while a non-smoker may perceive smoking as foul-smelling, endangering health, and a waste of money. In other words, the same form of behaviour or situation may be perceived differently by different people. As such, parents need to help their children in developing an Islamic perspective, so that they could see the world from an Islamic point of view no matter what the circumstances may be. Ultimately, the right perspective, i.e. an Islamic perspective would help individuals in determining right from wrong, and good from bad.

Physical Environment

Social Environment

PERCEPTION

Diagram 24 illustrates the shaping of character as influenced by the three environmental factors:

Total Past Learning History (TPLH)

Inner Speech

Diagram 24. The three factors of influence

A child’s character development depends on their exposure to either positive or negative influences. All such exposure, whether positive or negative, will be imprinted in the child’s mind as part of their Total Past Learning History (TPLH). The Total Past Learning History (TPLH) determines a child’s character and behaviour, and is influenced by the previously mentioned three environmental factors, of which social interaction and inner speech are the most important.

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Our Total Past Learning History (TPLH) will determine our personality, thoughts, words, actions and everything else about who and what we are. As it is our responsibility as parents to mould positive characteristics/traits in our children, we have to ensure that only positive messages are written in our children’s Total Past Learning History (TPLH) so that our children can become excellent individuals. Directed Positive Influence Directed Positive Influence means ensuring children are rewarded every time they do something good or when they refrain from doing something prohibited, as well as pointing out their mistakes in a caring manner when they do something wrong. In this way, children will be encouraged to do more and more good things, and will leave the bad alone. They will do this because they will come to love what is good and despise what is bad. To ensure that positive messages are written in children’s Total Past Learning History (TPLH), parents have to practice a procedure called the "Directed Positive Influence" in their daily life. This can be done through the following ways: 1. By rewarding children for every positive (good) action that they do. 2. By rewarding children for refraining from every negative (bad) action. 3.

By giving calm and gentle feedback about any wrong that are done and clear instructions on the right way to do things.

Rewarding children for doing something good does not mean that we have to give them presents. Rewards can be given in many forms, including paying attention to what our children have to say/do, showing respect towards them,

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praising them and giving them words of encouragement, and expressing our appreciation to them by thanking them. Rewards can also be in the form of mentioning the good deeds performed by our children to others in front of them, showing care and compassion in our words and actions towards them, and by smiling and giving them a hug. We could also bring our children along on walks or trips as a form of reward. Material forms of reward, such as giving presents, should only be done occasionally. Most importantly, children must be taught to reward themselves using their own inner speech. Inner speech can influence someone’s actions in either a positive or negative manner. It all depends on the Total Past Learning History (TPLH) and that individual’s own perception of their circumstances. Educating children from an early age to be God’s vicegerent on Earth (Khalifah of Allah) will assist in the development of positive inner speech. The following story shows the importance of inner speech in determining the decision and actions of a young man: The Role of Inner Speech: The Story of Yusuf Yusuf came from a small village and was raised with lots of care, compassion and with strong religious teachings. While waiting for his final secondary examination results from high school, he went to visit his aunt in Kuala Lumpur (but this could happen in almost any big city in the world), and was taken by his cousin to a birthday party. This party involved only teenagers, and there was loud rock music with dancing. Suddenly, a group of young men brought out a carton of beer, and started distributing beer cans to all who were present. Yusuf was offered a can of beer which he refused, but his new found friends kept on offering it to him.

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“Relax, man…. Just give it a taste. It’s not like we’re gonna get drunk. We’ve all tried it before, and nothing bad happened.” Yusuf said to himself (with his inner speech), “Alcohol is definitely haram, and I must be strong in my stand on this. Let them call me old-fashioned if they want, but I will not let this offer of temporary pleasure shake my conviction. It doesn’t matter if they will not befriend me. Perhaps, I should leave this party. Even before this, I was already uncomfortable with all the dancing and open flirting that’s going on here.” Yusuf persuaded his cousin - who himself did not imagine that the party would be like this - to leave with him. On the way home, Yusuf said to himself with his thoughts, “I’m very happy with myself for not being easily influenced away from what I know is right. May Allah always keep me on the straight path” In the story above, Yusuf used positive inner speech in two separate instances: 1.

In assuring himself that he would not be pressured by his peers into doing something wrong.

2. In rewarding himself in his mind after he had successfully refrained from committing any wrongdoings.

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Laws of Learning Just as Allah has made it His Law (Sunnatullah) that all events, natural phenomena, and creatures should obey the laws of physics, chemistry and biology, He has also made it His Law (Sunnatullah) that a child’s character will be developed according to the Laws of Learning. The Laws of Learning explain how all learning takes place, including the development of character. Every action or trait, whether good or bad, is developed through either the giving of reward or the applying of punishment. Giving a reward after any action will increase the likelihood that the action will be repeated in the future. Both the frequency of the action, as well as the wholehearted willingness to do that action, will increase. This principle should be given much weight in the moulding of a child’s character. On the other hand, applying punishment after any action will decrease the likelihood of that action being repeated in the future. However, besides having serious negative side effects, punishment will often lose its effectiveness in the long run. Therefore, reward will shape an individual’s positive character much better than punishment. The best process for shaping character is through small rewarded steps that move progressively towards any goal (e.g. attaining good character). This is called the “Shaping Process”. Every small achievement should ideally be reinforced positively through the giving of reward. This shaping process can be made even more effective by helping our children learn to reward themselves through their inner speech.

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Diagram 25 below illustrates how shaping process takes place.

OBJECTIVE 5 SMALL STEPS

4 3 REWARD

2 Step 1

TIME Diagram 25: Shaping Process

Shaping Process: Practical Example The Objective: Your child is to keep his bedroom neat and orderly. This objective can be achieved through the following small steps (rather than requiring it all at once) that the child is rewarded for performing:

Step 1: Towels are to be hung up to dry and dirty clothes are to be put into a laundry basket; do not allow clothes to be scattered on the floor.



Step 2: The bed is to be made up every morning and the floor swept.



Step 3: Dust is wiped and the books are neatly stacked on the desk.



Step 4: The room is decorated.



Finally, the whole room is always neat, clean, and orderly.

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When each step is successfully completed, the child is given a reward in the form of words of encouragement, appreciation, and occasionally, some little treat, such as an ice-cream. In the process of planning for the shaping of children’s character, parents should discuss the goals they are working toward with their children so that the goals may be clearly understood and agreed upon. It is also important that the whole family is involved in understanding the Laws of Learning so that they can be shared and practiced together. This is also to ensure that all parties give their cooperation in helping to achieve the goals that have been agreed upon. It is also important for parents to reinforce good behaviours and traits through directed positive influence. In doing so, parents have to realize that good behaviour does not spontaneously happen but must be a continuous and carefully planned part of family life. The continuous effort to develop good character in your child must be carried out through small rewarded steps (shaping) that lead towards the final objective. Applying the Shaping Process We can see that by correctly applying the knowledge of the Laws of Learning, a complex task that is seemingly impossible in the beginning can be taught in small stages. Every action that is followed by a reward will reinforce that action, and result in it occurring more often in the future. It is also important to note that a specific goal is needed in every small step. Completing all the small goals in each step will lead towards successfully attaining the final, larger objective.

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To apply the Laws of Learning to children, it is important for parents to determine a suitable and specific objective for the task/behaviour that you want to achieve. If the objective or task is too complex, it has to be broken down into small steps. A reward is given for every small step toward the goal that occurs in each stage. Give a reward for every positive act performed by your child that is a step along the path to the positive objective they are working toward, and continue doing this until that specific objective is achieved. Children need lots attention from their parents. At every moment, our children’s development is being shaped by their environment, including what they are learning from their parents. As such, it is important for parents to pay attention to the positive/good behaviour that is exhibited by children. Parents should not pay too much attention to the negative/ bad behaviours that are exhibited by children. Instead of punishing the children, they should be gently reminded of the better ways of doing things. When this procedure is carried out carefully, we can help our children achieve any positive goal, and the positive traits learned will be permanently imprinted in our children, In sha Allah. Reward There are many different forms of reward. These include words of praise, words of encouragement, giving children attention and acknowledgement for the good things that they have done, and expressing your appreciation to children. Rewards may also sometimes, but not too often, be in the form of gifts or presents.

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Rewards are best given immediately after any response by your child that you consider to be good and that you would like to see happen more often in the future. Therefore, you should always pay attention to every good thing that your children do. Reward may be given by telling your child, with sincerity and gentleness, about the good things that they have done. It is important that the child is told exactly what is the good deed that he/she has done. It is good to use different words of praise every time, and to avoid using the same phrases over and over. The following story is an example of how we can use words of praise as a form of reward. The Story of Omar and His Little Sister A girl named Fatimah fell down while playing, hurting her knee. She starts crying. Her brother, Omar, saw her fall and immediately went to pick her up and sooth her. The mother saw what happened and told her son: “Omar, you did such a good thing by helping your sister. Mommy is so lucky to have a son who loves his sister so much. Allah will reward you for helping Fatimah like that.” There are five things to note from the example above: 1.

The mother tells her child that what he has done is something good.

2.

The mother explained exactly what that good thing was.

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3. The mother expressed that she was proud of her son. 4.

The mother took this opportunity to make her son aware of how much he loves his sister.

5.

The mother took this opportunity to foster the love of Allah in her child by telling him how much Allah loves those who do good. Children Need Attention

Every child needs and seeks attention. Our children would do almost anything to gain our attention. Given a choice, our children would definitely want attention in a positive manner, i.e. words of appreciation, praise, love, etc. When children do not receive any attention from their parents, they would do anything that they could to attract attention, even if the attention given is negative in nature; for example, getting scolded, punished, or even beaten. In other words, children would rather be scolded than to receive no attention at all. Unfortunately, parents frequently forget to express their appreciation when their children are behaving well. For example, some parents forget to acknowledge their teenage son who does not smoke even when his peers do. Parents with such child should acknowledge their son’s good behaviour by telling him that they really appreciate it that he does not smoke, and that he is strong enough to resist the negative influence of his friends. This will help in encouraging the son to stay away from smoking in the future. In the eastern culture, specifically in the Malay culture, parents seldom give acknowledgment when their child has done something good. Parents would usually keep quiet, giving no praise, and this sometimes causes children to feel unappreciated. Parents always assume (wrongly) that their

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children will understand - that when they keep quiet it means that they are pleased, and are satisfied with their children’s behaviour. On the other hand, when the children are caught doing something wrong, parents are quick to scold them, raising their voices at the children, and punishing them. Indirectly, the children would assume that many things that they do are not right, and that they might incur their parents’ anger no matter what they do. In the Malay culture (and probably other cultures too), parents seldom or never praise their children, especially after they have started schooling, and this lack of praise gets even worse when the children become teenagers. Sometimes, parents feel awkward and embarrassed to tell their children that they appreciate them, and how much they love them. This problem is compounded by the fact that the vocabulary for expressing praise in the Malay language (and perhaps other languages) is poorer compared to that of the English language. To overcome this problem, parents need to be creative and invent their own phrases to express appreciation and give praise for their children’s good behaviour or positive traits. These words of appreciation and praise, after frequent expression, will come to flow out naturally in due time. Parents need to remind themselves to constantly praise their children, but praise them only at the right time and only for the right reasons. Parents must start to inculcate positive traits from birth onwards. A growing child needs lots of love and tender loving care. This will enable the child to develop trust and mutual love for their parents. As the child begin to grow, they need to be positively persuaded with love on being disciplined, clean, good natured, loving, caring and all the positive traits of a confident loving child. The show of temper and tantrum behavior can be minimized, provided the child get positive praise and feedback continuously as they grow. The following story depicts an example of how good behaviour is often ignored:

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The Story of Ahmad at the Canteen Ahmad, a kindergarten student, likes to yell and disturb other kids, throwing his food around during recess. One day, the teacher who was monitoring the children scolded Ahmad with a raised voice. The next day, Ahmad continued to behave badly in the canteen, yelling, disturbing other kids, and spilling his drink. The same teacher, losing her temper, scolded and pinched him. On the third day, Ahmad behaved very well in the canteen during recess, neither yelling nor disturbing his other schoolmates, and he finished his meal politely - but, the same teacher who had previously punished Ahmad ignored him as if she didn’t even notice he was there. Try to imagine how Ahmad would behave on the fourth day. It is almost certain that Ahmad would start yelling and behaving badly again because it was only by behaving badly that he was able to gain anyone’s attention, especially that of his teacher. From the story, it is obvious that the teacher paid attention to Ahmad’s negative behaviour but ignored him when he behaved well. As Ahmad discovered that he will not be acknowledged when he behaves well, he would likely behave badly in the future so as to gain his teacher’s attention. This kind of scenario is not uncommon in many homes. Therefore, parents need to be constantly sensitive and observant, so that their children get the acknowledgement that they deserve for their positive behaviour. It is important to pay less attention to children when they are behaving in a negative manner than when they are doing something positive. In this way,

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children are guided to always act in a positive manner, and do not need to do negative things to get attention. Punishment Punishment is the most common method used by parents to control their children. Although punishment often seems to be an effective way to stop or reduce a child’s negative behaviour, using it is not recommended as it has serious negative side effects. Nevertheless, sometimes (but very rarely) applying punishment is necessary when a child exceeds certain limits of behaviour. Punishment generally causes more harm than good and should only be used as a last resort after all other positive approaches have failed, and the gain is considered to be worth the harm that will be caused. Ideally, a child ought to be raised using positive influence, which means giving many more rewards than punishments. From an understanding of the Islamic use of reward and punishment, a ratio of about 350 times (350:1) as much reward as punishment is ideally recommended. The Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) never scolded or raised his voice with children when he was advising them. He was always gentle, kindhearted and tender with children; he never hit any child (or woman) in his entire life. The Messenger of Allah (Peace Be Upon Him) always practiced the concept of giving reward and not punishment in the matter of raising children to be right Muslim adults. A hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud relates: A companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him) once said, ‘When I was little, I loved to throw stones at date trees so that the date fruit would fall down. One day, the Messenger of Allah (Peace Be Upon Him) came upon me doing this and advised me to just pick up the date fruit that had already fallen from the tree, and not throw stones at the tree to make them fall. He then ruffled my hair and invoked a blessing on me.

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Punishment may be carried out in the form of doing something to children that they do not like, e.g. by scolding or hitting them; or by taking away something that they like, e.g. forbidding them from watching TV. Most often, punishment only satisfies the anger of the one doing the punishing, and is not used to help children in learning right from wrong. Punishment is only effective when children feel threatened by it. As such, once the punishment no longer threatens them, they will continue with their negative behaviour and they will try to hide their negative actions to avoid getting punished. In other words, they will still do the wrong things, but they will hide it from their parents. Children will also learn that punishment is the way to get what they want and this will affect the way they interact with other people. Consequently, children who grow up with this concept will raise their children the same way. In addition, punishment also causes children to feel anger and hatred towards those who punish them. These are some of the reasons why punishment is not effective when used to shape positive traits. While punishment is not recommended, this does not mean that parents should be permissive with their children. Being permissive means allowing children to do anything they want, virtually without limits. Permissiveness is even more harmful to a child’s positive development than the use of punishment. Nevertheless, punishment is sometimes necessary when there are no successful positive ways of stopping or reducing serious negative behaviour. Parents should not be paying too much attention to their children’s bad behaviour lest it becomes a way for them to get attention. When a child has done something wrong, it is important that the parents explain to the child in a gentle manner, how what they have done is wrong, and how that behaviour has exceeded important limits. The parents should also explain the harm that might have come from doing that

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wrong thing. However, it may not always be necessary to point out the child’s bad behaviour to him/her. Sometimes, it is enough that the parents just explain to the child how much they like the good behaviour that is the opposite of what they did wrong. Nevertheless, when punishment is necessary, it is important that the parents do not embarrass or shame their child in public. It is best to advise children privately of what they have done wrong, and to do so in a warm and caring manner. When good advice does not seem to affect any positive change, parents may take the next step of denying their children’s favourite activities. For example, if a child likes to go cycling in the afternoon, he could be prohibited from doing so for a week starting from the day he did wrong. The parents should also explain to him why this is done. This is an example of the second type of punishment i.e. taking away from a child the opportunity to do something that he/she likes doing. If all else fails, and the child still persist in behaving badly, physical punishment may be necessary. But parents should remember that this is to be the absolute last resort, and while it is allowed in Islam, it is not recommended. Among the things that should be noted when administering physical punishment are:

Parents must not hit their child when they are angry. This is because anger causes us to exceed the limits in administering punishment.



Caning is to be only symbolic and should not cause pain or injury.



Before acting on physical punishment, parents/ caregiver must use the “Time-off” method to cool down and think/apply a rational plan to shape the child’s future behaviour.

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Parents/caregiver can use a chair or a safe room for the child as punishment rather than caning to treat his/her misbehaviour.



Explain to the child the reasons for the punishment.

All things considered, punishment should be avoided as much as possible, and love for your child should be unconditional, although expressed at the most appropriate times. Importantly, giving lots of sincere love will create a harmonious family environment that will contribute to healthier overall development for children. Punishment versus Firmness We need to be firm with our children. If we say something, we need to stand by it and not waver. Our children need to know that we are serious and that we will carry out what we have said. But we must be realistic with what we expect from our children. We should not be excessive in the matters on which we wish to be firm. For example, to punish children by totally banning them from watching the television or totally forbidding them from going out with their friends are considered excessive. We could instead use more realistic approaches to be firm with them. For example, instead of totally banning them from watching TV, they could be limited to watching only one or two TV programmes. If they wish to go out with their friends, they must first agree and promise to pray at any available prayer room (surau) whenever it is time for prayer, and they must be at home by 6.00 p.m. While it is clear that educating children in a soft and gentle manner has so much more advantages than chastising or punishing them, this does not mean that parents should be permissive and pamper their children without limits. Permissiveness means parents let their children do whatever they like. Children need to be told of what is right and what is

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wrong. They should not be allowed to do whatever they like – there must be limits to their freedom in everything that they do. The younger the child is, the greater the limits to their freedom should be, and parents need to explain these limits clearly to their children. The limits to every person’s freedom of action are determined by Allah. Permissiveness will not only have a negative effect on a child’s development, even more so than administering punishment; it will also lead children towards breaking the limits of freedom set out for us by Allah. As such, parents should not pamper their children so much that they avoid being firm, or afraid to point out their children’s bad behaviour. Children raised permissively will grow up doing whatever they feel like doing because they have never learned the difference between what is right and what is wrong. On a larger scale, raising children permissively will result in a permissive society, which is characterised by free mixing between sexes, moral decay, drug abuse, dishonesty, and everything else that is concerned purely with pleasure while ignoring that which Allah has made lawful for us. Parents should never forget their responsibility to correct their children’s wrong behaviour just because they love their children so much. Forbid your children from doing wrong things with gentle firmness. Your children need to know that you really mean what you say. Sometimes, parents will be permissive and are afraid to correct their children in fear that they will be hated by them, but parents must remember that this will only cause their children to do more wrong things. The following story gives an example of how a bad behaviour is shaped from a single wrong act.

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The Story Of The Grandfather And His Grandson One day, a grandfather and his grandson were on their way to the mosque. While resting outside the mosque awaiting the call to prayer, a small kitten approached the little boy. At first, the little boy just pushed the kitten away with his foot. He looked at his grandfather to find out his reaction. The grandfather just smiled when seeing his beloved grandchild push the kitten away with his foot. The starving kitten approached the little boy again, and this time the boy kicked at the kitten. The grandfather, seeing this, just smiled at his grandson again. When the kitten approached for the third time, the little boy now tried to kick the kitten as hard he could; but he missed the target and fell down on his bottom. This story illustrates how even bad acts can be caused to happen more often by being rewarded. A bad act that is not corrected immediately will only make the child brave enough to do something worse, particularly if it is rewarded. Some lessons that we can learn from the story: 1.

The grandfather should have corrected his grandson and forbidden him from hurting animals with gentle words right from the start.

2. Because the grandfather loved his grandson so much, he helped develop a negative trait in his grandson even without realizing he was doing so. 3.

It is generally true that if a child’s negative behaviour is not corrected immediately, that behaviour will become worse.

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There are parents who will just smile if their young child does something wrong. These parents do not understand that this encourages their child to repeat that wrong action again.

5. It would not be surprising if a child raised permissively, without positive attention for their good behaviour, and without firm guidelines as to what is acceptable or unacceptable behaviour, grew up to be self-centred, arrogant, rude and disrespectful of his elders.

Islamic Character: Man as Khalifah (God’s vicegerent) The Concept of Khalifah Allah created human beings with two roles – to be humble servants who worship Allah, and to be Allah’s Representative, or Khalifah on this Earth. In the Qur’an, Allah has said: Remember when your Lord said to the angels ‘Verily I have created a Khalifah on the Earth’… And He taught Adam the names of all things… (Al-Qur’an, 2: 30-31)

A Khalifah is someone who carries out his/her role as the representative of Allah on Earth, carrying out the Will of Allah using the powers and abilities Allah has in His Mercy endowed us with. It is a special honour for us to be chosen as Allah’s Khalifah. As a Khalifah of Allah, we must: 1. Make ourselves good - to be a Muslim who obeys Allah’s injunctions.

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2.

Make a good society - establish a life for all that is based on Islam, and which gains Allah’s pleasure.

3.

Make the physical world around us good - to be a garden paradise which will please Allah greatly.

The role of Khalifah of Allah is to be fulfillled by Jihad- by striving towards everything good and avoiding all that is evil. Jihad does not mean Holy War. Instead, it is a continuous struggle to defeat our inner desires and to overcome the influence of Satan, in order to attain Allah’s pleasure. Jihad is to be carried out by commanding the right and forbidding the wrong. This is best done through beautiful words and wise actions. We can build a world of Islam that is characterized by everything that is good and beautiful if all Muslims educate each future generation to fulfill their role as Allah’s Khalifah. This role and responsibility of being Allah’s Khalifah has to be effectively taught to our children from a very early age. As such, every parent must fully understand the concept of Khalifah and instil this pure and noble value in their children, so that their children will come to clearly understand their role as Allah’s Khalifah. Parents must help their children understand that it is a great honour and privilege for us to be chosen by Allah to be his representatives on Earth. Children must come to understand that true victory in life means success in defeating our wrong desires and overcoming the evil influence of Satan, who is always tempting us in our daily lives. We cannot afford to lose to Satan in the battle of good against evil; we must continuously struggle against our Earthly desires and want only what Allah has made right for us. In explaining the concept of Khalifah to very young children, parents can tell them the following:

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1.

Before Allah created us, He created all other things.

2.

Allah created the sun, the moon, the stars and the Earth.

3.

Allah created the air that we breathe and the water that we drink.

4.

Allah created all the plants and all the animals.

5.

Allah created all this so that when He created Adam (Peace Be Upon Him) and all of mankind, including us, we would have a beautiful place to live.

6.

Allah created us to be different from all other things in His creation by giving us a wonderful and brilliant mind to think with.

7. Allah made us special because He loves us very much. 8. Allah made us special because He has a very important task for us to perform. 9.

Allah made us His Khalifah, and this means that it is our responsibility to fully carry out His commands.

10. Allah knows better than anybody else, all that is good and all that is bad. 11. Allah wants us to learn from Him and His Messengers about what is good and what is bad. 12. Allah wants us to love everything good and keep away from everything bad. 13. Allah wants every person to do lots of good things and not do anything bad.

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14. Allah wants mothers and fathers to help their children understand what is good and what is bad. 15. Allah wants us to help other people close to us understand what is good and what is bad. 16. Allah wants us to take good care of this world so that it will always remain healthy and beautiful. 17. We feel very happy that Allah has chosen us to fulfill this most important responsibility as His Khalifah. 18. Although we may sometimes feel that fulfilling this awesome responsibility is difficult, we must always remember that to be Allah’s Khalifah is the highest honour and the greatest pleasure possible. 19. If we perform our work well as Khalifah of Allah, this world will become a very special place for us, it will become a paradise beyond our fondest dreams. For adult children, parents can explain to them that: 1.

As Allah’s Khalifah, it is important that we carry out all our duties correctly; therefore, Allah has shown us the right way to do all things.

2.

Allah is Most Beneficent to us so that we can be His successful Khalifah.

3.

The way to fulfill our role as Allah’s Khalifah is through Jihad.

4.

Jihad means to do all that is good and to keep from doing anything that is bad.

5.

Allah loves all good deeds and dislikes all bad deeds.

6.

Satan will oppose all things loved by Allah.

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7.

Satan wants us to do all those things that are bad and he dislikes us doing any good thing.

8.

Jihad means battling Satan by abstaining from doing bad deeds.

9. We are all warriors of Allah who do battle against Satan. 10. Even young boys and girls are Allah’s warriors who must battle against Satan. 11. We will win in our battle against Satan if we love Allah and not do bad things. 12. Sometimes, Satan influences our thoughts and tries to make us do bad things. 13. Satan can influence us to do bad deeds through our actions, our speech, and our thoughts. 14. We must fight hard against Satan so that he will not succeed in making us do bad things. 15. Allah wants us to only do good things, and because we hope for Allah’s pleasure, we need to try very hard to do good. 16. Satan will always tempt people to do bad things and to rebel against Allah’s commands. Therefore, we must strive to help other people stop obeying Satan and doing bad things. 17. We must strive hard to be good ourselves so that we can help to defeat Satan when he tries to influence other people to do things that are wrong. 18. We must strive hard to become strong in our belief and practice of Islam so that we cannot be influenced by those people who obey Satan.

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19. Satan will never stop trying to make us do bad things, therefore, we must always be vigilant against wrong influences, and always remember Allah. 20. We must restrain ourselves from doing bad things no matter how small or trivial they may seem, this is because if we do even small bad things, this means that Satan will have won and we have lost in the battle of good against evil. 21. If Satan wins by making us do small bad things, it will become easier for him to make us do bad things that are bigger in the future. 22. If we love Allah and we do what is good and right as Allah has commanded, we will enter Paradise and this is what every Muslim desires. Conclusion The application of Islamic values in raising our children is the best way to encourage the development of positive character. It is best to shape our children’s good character from an early age, but it is still not too late to correct the character of children of any age group. Children should be encouraged to be well behaved through Directed Positive Influence. This can be done by rewarding them immediately when they do good, and gently admonishing them immediately when they do wrong. Parents should also explain to them what they have done wrong, and clarify why it should not be repeated. In addition, children need to be educated to observe certain limits in their freedom of action, as have been clearly set out for us by Allah when He gave us Islam as our perfect plan for a right life. In doing so, parents need to be firm but kind, and consistent in encouraging positive values at every time and in every place.

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While the Laws of Learning seem simple and clear, the application may vary in certain cases. For example, the way parents handle problematic children may be different from non-problematic children; and younger children are generally treated differently than teenagers. The following are some guidelines on how to manage these differences. For problematic children, punishment at an early stage might be needed to stop some bad behaviour, but we must ensure that this punishment will not destroy the good relationship between parent and child. The preferred punishment is to deny the child something that they like. As with any children, parents should try to never shout, nag or hit children. At the same time, it is important to start strengthening good behaviour, through Directed Positive Influence by using reward. Gradually, more focus should be given to strengthening good behaviour using reward, and eventually, punishment can be discontinued. Parents should also remember to always explain to children what the good behaviours are that they want them to have, and what benefit they will gain from those behaviours. It is also beneficial to have warm, sincere and heart-to-heart conversations with the children to help solve any problems. As for the case with managing teenage children, parents should try to be very close to them and to love them unconditionally. Parents should not condemn or belittle their teenage children, but value and respect them and show that you care for them. As with other cases, parents need to clarify the difference between right and wrong to their teenage children, and to strengthen positive behaviour through directed positive influence. When children are young, we care much for them, and show them many outward signs of our affection. When they become teenagers, they still need our attention and many outward signs of affection. Let us together increase our Islamic faith, do good deeds and strive hard to educate our

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children to be successful Khalifah of Allah. For our mutual reflection, let’s give some thought to the following verses of the Qur’an and hadith. Allah (SWT) says in the Qur’an: O my son! Establish regular prayer, enjoin what is just, and forbid what is wrong; and bear with patient constancy whatever betide thee; for this is firmness (of purpose) in (the conduct of) affairs... (Al-Qur’an, 31: 17) Oh, you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is men and stones… (Al-Qur’an, 66: 6)

Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) said: When someone dies, all his deeds will come to an end except in three instances: charity, knowledge that is of benefit, and pious children who will make supplications for him. (Related by Muslim)

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him), narrates: The Messenger of Allah (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) kissed his little grandson, Hassan bin Ali. At that moment, Aqra’ bin Habis who was sitting next to him said, “I have ten children. I have not kissed any one of them.” The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) looked at him, and then said: “Whoever is not compassionate, nobody will feel compassion for him!” (Related by Bukhari)

The Messenger of Allah (Peace Be Upon Him) said: Every one of you is a leader. And every leader will be responsible for his leadership. The Imam is a leader, responsible for his leadership. The man is a leader in his family, responsible for his leadership. The woman is a leader in her household, and responsible for her leadership. Even the servant is a leader, given charge of his master’s property, responsible for his leadership. (Related by Bukhari and Muslim)

CHAPTER NINE

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY IV: HANDBOOK FOR POSITIVE CHANGE: THE KHALIFAH CIRCLE APPROACH TO HELP CREATE A JUST, PEACEFUL AND HAPPY WORLD

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Introduction It is our firm belief that the unique social and historical conditions of our time, combined with new knowledge in the fields of science and technology, make it not only possible but highly likely that within a generation or so we will have a peaceful world where Muslims can fully and truly practice Islam in a just, peaceful and happy world. We would like to introduce an innovative plan on behalf of Islam. It is called “Khalifah Circle” (you can create your own name if you so wish). It is a concept rather than an organization. As Muslims, we accept that there is no path to a right and just world but Islam; therefore, we want to do our utmost to bring rightly guided, committed belief and dedicated practice of Islam back into every aspect of life for all members of the Muslim Ummah. Of course, we also desire to make Islam both acceptable and attractive to non-Muslims. While many of our pious brothers and sisters are attempting, both as individuals and within organizations, to achieve this same worthy goal we will be using a new approach. We will be using powerful new techniques of social influence and sophisticated modern information technology to disseminate the traditional knowledge of Islam. Our ultimate goal is a fully and truly united Islamic world, contributing towards peace and happiness for every human being in a just world. The Positive Jihad We call upon all Muslims to work with us in this positive Jihad to make this world a much better place to live, according to the Will of Allah. If we do nothing, the materialistic secular influences of the Godless modern culture will rob us of our Islamic values and make our lives increasingly meaningless. Today, the evil powers of secular materialism are attacking human beings everywhere. The world is growing

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more insane each day. In all societies across the world, we find large increases in crime, violence, drug abuse, alcoholism, prostitution, pornography, homosexuality, and many other moral and social ills. Today, the environment is being continually degraded, while the world’s poor nations and peoples are being subjected to a degree of exploitation which reduces their lives to extremes of poverty and humiliation. For example, 50% of the global wealth is owned only by just 1 % of the greedy capitalist. The balance of 50% of the global wealth is shared by the rest of the 7 billion people of the world. This is unjust and not sustainable in the long term and can lead to the destruction of our 21st century human civilization. Secular materialism creates in the minds of our children atheistic thought, disrespect for parents and elders, hopelessness for the future, disregard for knowledge, and love of a debased animalistic lifestyle focused on only the crudest pleasures of the flesh. What is Khalifah Circle? A Khalifah Circle is a small group of Muslims who regularly gather together to better understand their role as Khalifah of Allah: a) Who desire to have love for Allah grow in their hearts. b)

Who desire to live peacefully according to the Will of Allah.

c)

Who will be kind and caring toward other members of their group, all of humanity and all creatures on this good Earth.

d)

Who are willing to work together to do simple self projects and programs to improve the lives of all humanity. These programs can be in developing

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skills and education for the poor, charity schemes, small business development and many other programs as listed later in this chapter. e)

Who are willing to change the world towards a just society and make it a better place where everyone has their fair share of the wealth and play by the same set of rules.

f) Who are willing to learn how modern science supports the essential truths of Islam; g) Who are willing to learn about an undeniable scientific proof of the existence of God; h) Who are willing to learn about how Allah created His physical world (the universe and everything in it) that is consistent both with all facts of modern science and with our traditional Islamic beliefs of Creation; i)

Who are willing to learn about the Laws of Learning by which Allah directs all biological life, and allows the children of Adam to direct themselves as His Khalifah on Earth;

j)

Who are willing to use this knowledge to raise their children to become Muslims of excellent character;

k)

Who are willing to share this knowledge with other Muslims to improve our Ummah;

l)

Who are willing to help create a fully and truly just, peaceful and happy world for all.

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Simple Step- By-Step Guide to Setting Up Khalifah Circles a) The Khalifah Circles are so easy to set up, and are very likely to succeed. It is hard to believe until you actually try. Basically, you only need to decide that you want to do this task for the sake of Allah, and even if you don’t know very much about the Khalifah Circles, and have no particular skills in management or public speaking, you will be able to set one up. b)

First, you learn a little about what it means to be a Khalifah of Allah. Since Allah created you (and all human beings) to be His Khalifah on Earth, this most magnificent and wonderful of roles is easy to understand.

c)

As a Khalifah of Allah, you act as a representative of Allah doing very important tasks for Him. You are to carry out Allah’s Will, not your own; and with His help.

d)

Allah wants you to be responsible to do three things as His Khalifah: make yourself good, help others become good, and make the physical world good (clean and beautiful) in a just world.

e)

Having understood this concept, it is the time to get some of your friends and relatives interested in also learning to become a good Khalifah of Allah. When there are a few of you working together, you have successfully set up a Khalifah Circle.

f)

Next, set times to meet as a group, and together learn the techniques of acting rightly as a Khalifah of Allah.

g) The three responsibilities of the Khalifah of Allah are carried out by positive Jihad. Jihad does not

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mean Holy War; Jihad means Holy Struggle – the never ending battle of good versus evil. h)

Jihad in the Khalifah Circles is carried out by commanding the right and forbidding the wrong. We command ourselves and others to act according to what Allah has decreed to be right, and we forbid ourselves and others to do the things that Allah has decreed to be wrong.

i)

Of course, if we are going to be commanding the right and forbidding the wrong, we must know well what is right and what is wrong according to the Will of Allah and act upon this. To adhere to this very well according to the Will of Allah, means you have developed high taqwa. If the taqwa of the Khalifah Circles members is not yet high, then you can improve by discussion, study and greater practice of Islamic way of life and values.

j)

Allah has told us the best way to command the right and forbid the wrong. It is most effectively done with beautiful words and wisdom, and without harshness which causes bad feelings.

k)

What this means is that any time you or members of the Khalifah Circles do anything good or show some positive characteristics those good things should receive positive notice (warm and honest praise) from the members of the circle.

l)

Any positive acts or characteristics that are followed by sincere praise will tend to happen more often in the future, thereby, resulting in an increase in all that is good.

m) Sometimes, you or members of the Khalifah Circle may do things that are wrong or show negative

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characteristics. The members of the circle have the responsibility of finding kind and positive ways to help correct anything that is wrong. n) Any negative acts or characteristics that are followed by kind, but honest, disapproval will tend to happen less often in the future, thereby, resulting in a decrease in all that is bad. While doing this, remember to make sure nobody’s feelings are hurt or you will not be so successful in decreasing the things that are negative. o) If you or members of the Khalifah Circles have children, you should teach them the same things you are learning and treat them the same way Khalifah Circles members treat each other. p)

This means; explain to your children how they are the Khalifah of Allah; explain to your children the three responsibilities as a Khalifah of Allah (make yourself good; help others become good; and make the physical world good); remind your children often in nice ways that they are the Khalifah of Allah; give your children warm and loving praise for good things that they do and for good characteristics that they show; and set firm, reasonable rules for your children and enforce those rules consistently with kind discipline (without harshness).

q)

By now, you will surely be seeing positive changes in yourself and in other members of the Khalifah Circles. Additionally, you are virtually guaranteed to see positive changes in your children by the grace of God.

r)

As soon as you start seeing these expected positive changes in yourself, other Khalifah Circles members and in your children, you will begin to understand

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the great power for positive change behind this simple, easy to implement plan. s) As you begin to understand the great power for positive change behind this simple, easy to implement plan and the improvement it makes in your life, and in the lives of those you care for, you will likely feel motivated to start sharing with others information about the success available through the use of the Khalifah Circles. t)

The more people in your local community who are participating in the Khalifah Circles the more general good you will see happening in your community, and the less evil you will see happening in your community.

u)

Next, the more people in your local community who are participating in Khalifah Circles and teaching their children to be a good Khalifah of Allah, the more children of good influence your children will associate with.

v)

As your community becomes more successful in its belief and practice of right Islamic principles, and more and more Muslims become good Khalifahs of Allah, other communities will see how wonderful this positive way of life is and Khalifah Circles will start up in those other communities until the whole nation becomes a nicer place to live.

w) When Muslims in other nations see the many positive social changes occurring in nations whose populations are living as good Khalifahs of Allah they will want to learn about and share in those positive social changes. x) When non-Muslims see how much success Muslims are having in solving the many terrible

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social problems that they are also facing, and how good life has become for Muslims who are living as good Khalifah of Allah, they will begin to have good feelings toward Islam and Muslims, and may even want to become Muslims themselves. y) By working together, we can help create a just, peaceful and happy 21st century where all of humanity have their fair share of the wealth and resources of the world as given by Allah the Almighty. This just world must be sustainable for our future generations, as well as all species and creatures on Earth. We all must live in a balanced ecosystem to create a paradise on Earth full of peace and happiness. z) If we really make use of this plan of Khalifah Circles to assist us to live our lives as good and true Muslims who well understand and love their role as a Khalifah of Allah, it really could help to bring about a fully and truly Islamic world within a generation or so. How to Do Positive Jihad Through Khalifah Circles The Jihad in this millennium is the Jihad of knowledge and is about influencing the minds of all human beings. We must know how to fight this battle and what weapons to use. Islam gives us the answer. This is not to be a Jihad of the sword, or of guns, bombs and violence. Not only would that be wrong, but also we would have no chance of success against the military might of the Western world. Non-Muslims must know they will never be harmed by this Jihad. This is to be a Jihad fought only in the battlefield of the mind with weapons far more powerful than any sword, gun, or bomb.

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Using Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) to Create a Just, Peaceful and Happy World Justice in its most general formulation entails practicing moral duties or precepts that are associated for the purpose of the common life. This entails acts of common good of all, avoiding inflicting injury to one another, giving everyone what he rightly deserve, as well as equal distribution of wealth, position, status, rewards and punishments. The issue of social justice is very important in Islam given the fact that the religion stands for justice and fair play and promote them. Moreover, Islam accords justice the foremost importance after tawheed, and for this reason, the issue of justice underlies the principles and fundamental teachings of Islam. It should be noted that justice in resources distribution has always been the fundamental concern of Islam. In fact, it was the first issue to be addressed by the prophet of Islam who was sent by God to establish a fair and just society. Islamic view of distributive justice entails the following three elements; 1.

To guarantee of fulfillment of the basic needs to all human beings.

2.

To ensure the equity of distribution of wealth.

3. To eliminate extreme inequalities in personal income and wealth. The issue of social justice and the fulfillment of the basic needs formed the basis of Islamic economics. This theory expound that the fulfillment of the basic needs of every human being is guaranteed by Allah the Almighty. The Quran 18:46 clearly explains that:

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There is no moving creature on Earth but its sustenance dependeth on Allah. (al-Quran, 18:46)

Similarly, Islam emphasizes and encourages giving excess money for the reward in the life hereafter. This is beautifully illustrated in the Quran; Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah , the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes prayer and gives Zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and [those who] are patient in poverty and hardship, and during battle. Those are the ones who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous. (al-Quran, 2: 177)

Similarly, in another verse Allah the Almighty says, And spend in the way of Allah, and do not throw [yourselves] with your [own] hands into destruction [by refraining]. And do good; indeed, Allah loves the doers of good. (al-Quran, 2: 195)

Another relevant verse says: And from their properties was [given] the right of the [needy] petitioner and the deprived. (al- Quran, 51: 19)

Islam discourages inequalities, and for this reason, it prescribes Zakah to ensure moral justice, promote mutual love and kindness, and prevent hatred among the members of the society.

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The concept of Zakah, therefore, exemplifies distributive justice concerns. It is essentially needed to establish social justice, Through Zakah a comprehensive guideline is given on how to relieve poverty and how the wealth should be distributed equally. The management of Zakah system in Islam eradicates abject poverty which deprives human beings from fulfillment of basic needs. Creating a Just World in the 21st century In the 21st century, the gap between the rich and the poor is getting bigger. In many countries, 1% of the population owns more than 80% of the wealth of the nation. This is unjust and can lead to social upheaval. It is important for Muslims to support the creation of a just global society in the 21st century. This can be achieved by applying the principles of distributive justice that promotes equitable distribution of wealth among all the members of society. The basic assumptions of socio-economic justice in the 21st century will have to take into account the impact of technology on human work in the development of modern civilization. Moreover, we have to overcome the systematic political and moral flaws of national “full employment” policies and how modern global economic order creates an everexpanding gap in economic power, opportunity and incomes between the wealthy elite and poor people of the world. In promoting the development of a just society, we Muslims have to advance liberty and justice for every person through equal opportunity and access to the means to become a capital owner.

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Muslims and non-Muslims as citizens of the world in the 21st century can be part of a growing global network of citizenactivists, servant leaders and social entrepreneurs. While they come from different backgrounds, countries and faiths, they share a vision of human freedom and empowerment based on universal moral principles. This just society is based on universal core values and code of ethics common to all religion. Using the principles of Positive Islamic Psychology, Muslims can conduct studies, teach and promote the concept of the Just World. Applying the principles of economic and social justice, we develop practical solutions to systemic problems at the enterprise, community, national and global levels, empowering directly every man and woman with the means of acquiring productive capital as an independent source of income. Design-scientist Buckman Fuller’s “Challenge” is to make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense, or anyone’s disadvantage. It is against this background that we have to develop plans to promote liberty and justice for every person through equal opportunity for all. Similarly, we need to promote understanding of the principles of economic and social justice in a free market environment guided by the Golden Rule. Using this approach, we can develop practical applications, policy reforms and comprehensive strategies. We will work with servant leaders, citizen-activists and other organizations to build justice-based enterprises, communities and nations of economically independent citizen-owners. We will develop a framework for comprehensive reform that enables every person to become owner of incomeproducing capital. This can be done by lifting unjust barriers to equal economic freedom, opportunity and power through capital ownership as a fundamental human right. We will also restructure our monetary, tax and other basic institutions

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to create new money and interest-free credit to finance broadly owned, sustainable, private-sector growth through vehicles like Capital Homestead Accounts, Citizens Land Banks, Homeowners Equity Corporations, and Justice-Based Employee Stock Ownership Plan etc. Primary Programs: Practical Action Plans and Activities to Create and Promote a Just Global Society in the 21st Century There are many practical programs that we can do individually in small Khalifah groups, community based groups as well as programs at national and global levels. Some examples are; a) Promoting a “Just World” ideology at all levels starting from the family, local community, national and right up to global initiatives. b) Organizing programs and campaigns to eradicate modern-day slavery and the evil of oppression such as force labor, child labor, trans-border human trafficking, sex slavery and prostitution. c) Promoting fair minimum wage for labor in all sectors of the economy throughout the world. A fair minimum wage must be at an acceptable level for the worker to live comfortably above the poverty line and have decent wages and working conditions. d) Organizing peaceful but forceful campaigns to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. e) Promoting safe workplaces, occupational safety and health initiatives as well as legislation for all workers in the world. f) Ensuring the accumulation of retirement fund for all workers via Employee Retirement Fund,

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Employee Provident Fund (EPF) etc. These funds are contributed by the employer and employees to be invested and given annual return through the central fund management schemes organized by the government or the private sector. g)

Working together with international organizations and government to increase taxes on the rich. Similarly, we can initiate campaigns to eliminate Tax Havens throughout the world so that will be no tax evasion by the super-rich.

h) Encouraging philanthropy among the rich people of the world to help in poverty alleviation, disease eradication, education for the poor and other initiatives. i) Creating Citizen Trust Fund/Equity Promotion Fund to purchase companies or shares on behalf of workers. By doing so, the workers will also partly own the companies. j)

Promoting cooperative movement throughout the world as an alternative to private capitalism.

k)

Promoting a free/low cost universal health care for all citizens of the world.

l)

Promoting free universal education for all children at primary, secondary and college levels throughout the world.

m) Addressing the issue of the impeding global climate change that affects particularly the poor countries of the world. n) Integrating Permaculture with Positive Islamic Psychology – The Khalifah Circle Way. In a truly and fully just world, we have to take care of all

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creatures that share this good Earth with us. As such, we have to take care of the environment to ensure that all species on Earth are taken care of in a balanced ecosystem. This program must be part of our education system as well as the promotion of a sustainable life-style. o) Be creative. Think of new programs and many more activities that promote the creation of a just, peaceful and happy world in the 21st century. Other Projects and Programs of Khalifah Circles Apart from our core program of creating a just world in the 21st century, we also need to simultaneously work on many other projects. Remember, Khalifah Circles are positive Jihad, implemented to make this world a better world for both Muslims and non-Muslims. As such, Khalifah Circles can take projects into any area that will benefit the spiritual, social, and economic well-being of all members of the society to help create a just, peaceful and happy world. Secondary Program: Examples of Other Programs and Projects for Khalifah Circles a)

Development of each child’s positive potential.

b) Improvement in education and school systems, especially, the Islamic school system, vocational training/skills development centres. c)

Implementation of Khalifah Parenting methodology.

d)

Family development programs.

e)

Youth transformation projects.

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f) Projects for empowering women/the poor/the disabled, etc. g)

Clinics and community hospitals for the poor and needy.

h)

Holistic Healing Centres for counseling and healing those with mental/social/psychological problems, etc.

i)

Social, economic, and educational projects for all sectors of society, i.e. adult learning, study groups, life-long learning, open universities, etc.

j)

Entrepreneurship and small business development and networking.

k) Social improvement programs for reduction of crime, addiction, immorality, corruption and other destructive social issues. l)

Environmental improvement programs, etc.

m) Other locally relevant projects, etc. Spreading the Message of Islam Through the Khalifah Circles Approach Islam is the most positive, right and powerful message in the world. Islam provides the solution to every problem that presently exists or could ever exist. The ultimate power of this positive message is a power of winning the hearts and minds of every Muslim in the world. It also has the power to influence and win over the world’s non-Muslims, because it gives them a totally true understanding of the meaning of life in this physical world, as well as a glorious future in the spiritual world and the hereafter.

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This moment in history is the age of information and communication technology. We can spread this positive message of Islam throughout the world in a very short period of time. Every single effort toward a right Islamic world is like a drop of rain that will flow to form rivers, which then spread and reach out to become oceans. This is the power of Islam that can be manifested through the Khalifah Circles approach by the grace of God. Who Can Participate in This Positive Jihad Khalifah Circles are not an exclusive club or organization. We encourage every Muslim individual in the world to network and start Khalifah Circles in their own local areas, beginning with their families and close friends. We also encourage mosques, suraus, Muslim organizations, clubs, companies, and government agencies (where allowed) to start Khalifah Circles. By networking together through Khalifah Circles, we can then improve ourselves to become better Muslims, help others to become better Muslims and help make the world a better place for all.

General Plan a) Our intention is to utilize the motivational and educational potential of the Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) model and the traditional Islamic concept of human beings as Khalifah of Allah by forming Khalifah Circles worldwide. We will also encourage wide use of the internet to empower and unite the Ummah.

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b) It is proposed that if any individual or group of any size (up to and including all of human society) is provided with a positive, accurate and motivational world view (which is Islam understood scientifically and objectively, in combination with traditional interpretation) and a broad understanding of the laws of learning by which our relationship with the physical, social, and inner environments effects our development, then there will naturally and inevitably be resulting in those individuals or social groups moving toward everything good and right. c)

To encourage the wide use of modern knowledge and technology by Muslims on behalf of Islam.

d) Use powerful motivational techniques from the social sciences to encourage Muslims to unite and participate in Khalifah Circles to help bring about a truly Islamic Ummah. e) To show how modern science itself, and the necessary logical implications of modern science, have reached a point where they are consistent in all ways with the revealed truths and essence of Islam, including an undeniable scientific proof of the existence of God. f)

To use Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) model to transform the world towards peace, happiness and success. To achieve these goals, we will have to strive to create a just world for all of humanity and for all creations on Earth.

g)

To work together with the many thousand Islamic organizations throughout the world in this Holy Struggle against the devastating power of the onrushing wave of secular materialism poised to crush our Islamic way of life. (NOTE: We will

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acknowledge that there are within the Muslim world a number of differences in opinions regarding issues of Islamic belief and practice. While in no way discounting the importance of some of these issues, but fully realizing the effects of the dissension and disunity this causes among the Ummah, we take the position that during this critical period in human history. When the influence of Shaitan is being so widely and successfully spread throughout the world, it is not the right time to focus our energies on the resolution of these theological issues. Until the battle against the forces of evil is resolved, and a just and right Islamic Ummah established, we will accept without negative comment all Muslims, regardless of their varied beliefs and practices, as our beloved brothers and sisters. h)

Khalifah Circles is not a movement or an organization, but simply a loosely-structured worldwide network of “like-minded” Muslims striving proactively to achieve our goal in life to successfully fulfill our responsibilities as Khalifahs of Allah.

i)

Khalifah Circles will operate as an open source format where all interested individuals or groups can help spread the correct Islamic understanding of our role as Khalifah of Allah.

j) The Khalifah Circles approach is deeply rooted in the traditional beliefs and rituals of Islam. To ensure that this Khalifah approach never becomes a sect or a cult, we have to bear in mind the following.

Belief system: There is to be no additional belief system in the Khalifah Circles apart from the belief system revealed by Allah to his final Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). We lovingly follow the way of our beloved Prophet through the Qur’an and sunnah.

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Ritual: There are to be no additional rituals in the Khalifah Circles approach beyond those traditionally practiced in Islam. All the basic rituals of Islam, such as prayer 5 times each day, fasting, zakat and hajj will likely be increasingly practiced by all members of Khalifah Circles. Any additional ritual must follow strictly the practice (sunnah) of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).



There are no Sheikh / Pir / Cult Leader / Group President / Great Leader / Founder etc. in the Khalifah Circle. We are all equal in the sight of Allah. We lead by example for Allah alone and not for power, wealth, influence or praise.

The Khalifah Circle is not a formal Organisation but is based on people’s power to organize and change the world. There is no membership fee, no entry requirements, no compulsion and no brainwashing.

We can conduct Khalifah circles and networking joint programs/conferences etc at local, national and international levels to promote a just, peaceful and happy world in the 21st century.

Cooperation, Synergy and Working Together for a Just World In undertaking Khalifah Circles projects/programs, we should network with as many individuals and organizations as possible. We must operate with a global mindset.

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a) We should network with Muslim individuals and organizations to help one another to achieve the goal of reforming this world into a fully and truly Islamic world. Even though we may sometimes have differences of opinion with other Muslims, these differences should not be allowed to hinder us from working together. b)

Khalifah Circles can also work with non-Muslim individuals, organizations, NGOs and societies as long as these organizations can accept and cooperate to achieve global justice and peace.

c)

Our primary focus is to create a just world in the 21st century. This should be on mutual respect basis. We can work on common projects, such as tackling universal issues of poverty, crime prevention, drug, alcohol rehabilitation, moral development and other projects which can help bring about the development of a right, civil and moral society for all. We can work together to create a peaceful and happy world for all in the 21st century.

Discussion Approach to Developing Action Projects a)

There must always be discussion (syura) concerning every Khalifah Circle program and project.

b) The discussions must always be positive and constructive. c)

There is no place for arguments and disputes over who is right and who is wrong.

d)

There should be a very clear focus on what is being discussed, and a positive and constructive plan to achieve any goal.

e) Every member in Khalifah Circles should ask

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themselves:

What can I contribute?



How can the idea or contribution be turned into action?



How can we implement these positive ideas on the short term, mid-term and long term basis for success?

How to Achieve our Goals as Khalifah on Earth a)

We must take a successive series of small rewarding steps (called the shaping process) to actively improve our lives, our projects, our ideas, and our future.

b) These small steps must be done consistently, thoroughly, and effectively. Each Khalifah Circle must try to do their task through small rewarding steps and successfully complete the task within a set time frame. c) Each Khalifah Circle will need to: i.

Develop Discipline: To strive for success and be on time – be punctual even in executing small projects.

ii.

Be Confident: Since we are all Khalifahs of Allah, be confident that whatever good deeds/ projects we attempt will be blessed by Allah. With Allah’s help all good things are possible.

iii. Be Cooperative: We must help each other to improve ourselves as we work to make our projects successful. By achieving some positive result, we will all get the satisfaction from the success of project.

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iv. Be in Control: We expect all members of Khalifah Circles to be able to develop a simple project control management system to track small projects. A simple format can be as follows. v.

Be Contributors: Each and every one of us can contribute in small ways or large ways. Each and every one of us should think positively about how to make the projects we do be successful. Be sure to never take on an attitude of weakness such as, “I don’t know what to do”, or, “I have no power to do this” because this would cause us to think and act negatively, thereby, increasing the chance of failure.

vi. Be True:

Be tolerant of other people.



Do not criticize. Listen to the views of others, and consider alternatives.



Reduce laziness, sloppiness and unreliability –those are all un-Islamic characteristics.



Do not take offense easily.

vii. Continue Striving all the Time. Allah created us to forever strive in our practice of Islam, and He gave us Islam as our way of life, so we should:

Not be passive, but be positively assertive.



Not be helpless and depending on luck for success.



Not give up easily if things do not immediately work out the way we hoped.

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Be a Muslim who never stops striving, if we never stop striving we will eventually succeed, and by doing so, we are participating in positive Jihad to make this world a much better place to live for all.

viii. Be Respectful and Loving: In Khalifah Circles, we must respect, love, and care about each other. We are equal in the sight of Allah. We should work together in a kind and respectful manner. What to Do in Khalifah Circles Meeting a)

Ritual: Have weekly, bi-monthly or monthly meetings as required. Every meeting should follow the rituals of Islam. It is suggested that you start with recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah and du’a to get the help and blessing of Allah.

b)

Time: Khalifah Circles meetings should be short and meaningful. There must be a specific goal and direction which will be decided by members through brain storming and consensus. List of projects and programs can be added as, and where required.

c)

The following format and agenda is suggested: (i)

Recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah – 3 minutes

(ii) Building relationship (taaruf) – 5 minutes (iii) Discussion/brainstorming identification – 15 minutes

and

project

(iv) Progress report of existing programs – 15 minutes. (v) Overcoming problems and challenges and setting targets for next task/project – 20 minutes

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(vi) Closing with Surah Al-‘Asr and short du’a – 2 minutes (Total 60 minutes of meeting) d)

Reporting of Progress and Achievement: There is no need to report your progress and achievement to anybody except to Allah. However, if you wish your project to be adopted by other Khalifah Circles, you can post it in our website and promote it to other Khalifah Circles worldwide. Ensuring Success of Khalifah Circles Programmes and Projects

All members of Khalifah Circles should strive with dedication to ensure their projects are successful. Apart from hard work, dedication and working together, all Khalifah Circles members should be trained in basic project management, control, and implementation skills. We should use basic management tools which have been used successfully in transforming multi-national companies to achieve world class standards. Khalifah Circles headquarters can provide many types of management training on a seminar basis, on-line or via inhouse training program. Skill areas that should be developed by all Khalifah Circles’ members are: a) Good working Knowledge Psychology (PIP).

of

Positive

Islamic

b)

Basic QCC – Quality Control Circles ideas/format used by global companies.

c)

Basic project management skills.

d)

Brainstorming and creative problem solving skills.

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e)

Group dynamics and team building.

f)

Other management skills that can ensure successful project implementation and control.

These tools will enable Khalifah Circles to achieve great success in their programs and projects to help bring about a truly Islamic world. Future Programs to Promote Positive Islamic Psychology to the World We intend to implement a strategy/plan to Dakwah and promote Positive Islamic Psychology to the world. Some of this strategic programs are:

To upgrade our official website :www.Islamic-world. net to promote Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP).



To create a back-link for the official website using word press, blogger and other platforms.

Creating a global network with other Dakwah organization throughout the world. Joining online Dakwah, and Islamic awareness forums

Conducting Positive Islamic Psychology Certification Program.



Provide PIP training and consultancy service to individuals, corporate bodies and government throughout world.



Jointly develop accreditation programs at degree, postgraduate and doctorate levels with reputable universities.

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Develop a university to train full-fledged Positive Islamic Psychologists for the future development of the Ummah in the 21st century. Self Development and Continuing Education For Members of Khalifah Circles

As Muslims, we should strive to be the most knowledgeable Ummah on Earth. We should strive to master not only the knowledge of Islam, i.e. Qur’an and the Sunnah, but also to master all areas of science and technology. We strongly encourage all members of Khalifah Circles to make knowledge the central focus of their life. Members should put aside some time every day for self-improvement through learning opportunities. Khalifah Circles headquarters will provide learning materials not only on Islam, but also on science, technology, skills development and other training materials to help develop the Ummah, Insya-Allah. Conclusion This is the second version of our handbook to promote Khalifah Circles worldwide. Please remember to consider all proposals made in this handbook on how to run Khalifah Circles as only suggestions. You may well come up with better ideas and ways to run your Khalifah Circles than what we have suggested. We welcome your ideas on how to improve or to help make this project even more successful. The Khalifah method, which is based on traditional Islamic belief and practice, understood objectively and scientifically, is an idea so powerful that if practiced to its maximum has the potential to solve most of the world’s problems in a generation or so, and ultimately bring about a virtual paradise on Earth, Insya-Allah.

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CHAPTER TEN

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY V: INTEGRATING PERMACULTURE WITH POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY – THE KHALIFAH CIRCLE WAY

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Introduction If we look around at our planet Earth through the eyes of intelligent visitors from another world, they would assess the condition of the world today as destructive and insane. 99% of our problems come from destructive economic activities that has the potential to cause the destruction of this Earth. Our unlimited greed, self-interest and exploitation of people and resources will make our planet inhabitable for all of us. At this point, humanity will completely disappear as a species on Earth. Today, massive climate change and the destruction of the global environment is impacting the future of more than 2 billion poor inhabitants in third world countries. Massive famines are now occurring more frequently and if we do not change our way of life in a sustainable way, we are all doomed to suffer collectively in about 100 years’ time. We need to progress though permaculture to save the world’s food production. With the adoption of permaculture globally, we will have no need for industrial monocultureagriculture in the present form. Conventional chemical based farming is obviously and certainly unsustainable and will never be sustainable to feed the growing global human population. The 1.7 billion Muslim inhabitants of the world today will have to lead others through the application of our Islamic principles of life as the Vicegerents of God (on being Khalifah of Allah) on Earth. We will implement globally the permaculture way of food production to achieve sufficiency in food for all of humanity. In Sya Allah, we will lead the world to ensure the bio-diversity of nature and the survival of all life forms on Earth.

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Permaculture Permaculture is a system of agricultural and social design principles centered on simulating or directly utilizing the patterns and features observed in natural ecosystems. The term “permaculture” (as a systematic method) was first coined by David Holmgren, then a graduate student, and his professor, Bill Mollison, in 1978. The word permaculture originally referred to “permanent agriculture”, but was expanded to stand also for “permanent culture”, as it was understood that social aspects were integral to a truly sustainable system as inspired by Masanobu Fukuoka’s natural farming philosophy. It has many branches that include, but are not limited to ecological design, ecological engineering, environmental design, construction and integrated water resources management that develops sustainable architecture, regenerative and self maintained habitat and agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems. Mollison has said: “Permaculture” is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor; and of looking at plants and animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single product system.” Permaculture in Islamic Civilization During the long glorious period of Islamic civilization, we have developed permaculture in its totality for over eight hundred years. Muslim agriculturalists developed holistic systems of integrating water resources, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sustainable township development to create a wonderful holistic green civilization. Our Islamic civilization in Andalusia is a great example of permaculture in action. We

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created large permaculture gardens, farms, domestic animal zones and forest reserves that resulted in greening of the whole of Andalusia. It was a beautiful, sustainable and a happy place to live for all its inhabitants. Muslims have been able to create “heaven on Earth” throughout the eight hundred years of Muslim civilization from Andalusia to Baghdad, and throughout Asia. In Sya Allah, we will be able to recreate this wonderful “heaven on Earth” in the 21st century through our permaculture initiative – the Khalifah Circle way. The leading figure in permaculture today is Geoff Lawton, a Muslim revert. He and his team at the permaculture Institute of Australia are striving positively to train thousands of permaculture enthusiasts and specialists. They are also implementing permaculture projects throughout the world. Now, millions of people are aware of the potential of permaculture to improve our way of life. We can produce abundance of food on a holistic sustainable basis for all of humanity. By developing the Islamic permaculture way of life, we will be able to reverse the impact of climate change and avoid the looming catastrophic destruction of planet Earth. Three Core Tenets of Permaculture Care for the Earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy Earth, humans cannot flourish. Care for the people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence. Return of surplus: Reinvesting surpluses back into the system to provide for the first two ethics. This includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness. The third ethic is sometimes referred to as “Fair Permaculture design emphasizes patterns of landscape, function, and species assemblies. It determines where these elements

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should be placed so they can provide maximum benefit to the local environment. The central concept of permaculture is maximizing useful connections between components and synergy of the final design. The focus of permaculture, therefore, is not on each separate element, but rather on the relationships created among elements by the way they are placed together; the whole becoming greater than the sum of its parts. Permaculture design, therefore, seeks to minimize waste, human labor, and energy input by building systems with maximal benefits between design elements to achieve a high level of synergy. Permaculture designs evolve over time by taking into account these relationships and elements and can become extremely complex systems that produce a high density of food and materials with minimal input. Design Principles of Permaculture The design principles which are the conceptual foundation of permaculture were derived from the science of systems ecology and study of preindustrial examples of sustainable land use. Permaculture draws from several disciplines including organic farming, agroforestry, integrated farming, sustainable development, and applied ecology. Permaculture has been applied most commonly to the design of housing and landscaping, integrating techniques such as agroforestry, natural building, and rainwater harvesting within the context of permaculture design principles and theory. These are the twelve permaculture design principles articulated by David Holmgren in his Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability: 1.

Observe and interact: By taking time to engage with nature, we can design solutions that suit our particular situation.

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2.

Catch and store energy: By developing systems that collect resources at peak abundance, we can use them in times of need.

3.

Obtain a yield: Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing.

4.

Apply self regulation and accept feedback: We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well.

5.

Use and value renewable resources and services: Make the best use of nature’s abundance to reduce our consumptive behavior and dependence on nonrenewable resources.

6.

Produce no waste: By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.

7.

Design from patterns to details: By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go.

8.

Integrate rather than segregate: By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.

9.

Use small and slow solutions: Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes.

10. Use and value diversity: Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes

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advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides. 11. Use edges and value the marginal: The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system. 12. Creatively use and respond to change: We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time. Zones in Permaculture Zones are a way of intelligently organizing design elements in a human environment on the basis of the frequency of human use and plant or animal needs. Frequently manipulated or harvested elements of the design are located close to the house in Zones 1 and 2. Less frequently used or manipulated elements, and elements that benefit from isolation (such as wild species) are farther away. Zones are about positioning things appropriately, and are numbered from 0 to 5. Zone 0 The house or home center. Here permaculture principles would be applied in terms of aiming to reduce energy and water needs, harnessing natural resources, such as sunlight, and generally creating a harmonious, sustainable environment to live and work. Zone 1 The zone nearest to the house, the location for those elements in the system that require frequent attention, or that need to be visited often, such as salad crops, herb plants, soft fruits like strawberries or raspberries, greenhouse and cold frames, propagation area, worm compost bin for kitchen waste, etc.

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Raised beds are often used in Zone 1 in urban areas. Zone 2 This area is used for siting perennial plants that require less frequent maintenance, such as occasional weed control or pruning, including currant bushes and orchards, pumpkins, sweet potato, etc. This would also be a good place for beehives, larger scale composting bins, and so on. Zone 3 The area where main crops are grown, both for domestic use and for trade purposes. After establishment, care and maintenance required are fairly minimal (provided mulches and similar things are used), such as watering or weed control maybe once a week. Zone 4 A semi-wild area. This zone is mainly used for forage and collecting wild food, as well as production of timber for construction or firewood. Zone 5 A wilderness area. There is no human intervention in Zone 5 apart from the observation of natural ecosystems and cycles. Through this zone, we build up a natural reserve of bacteria, moulds and insects that can aid the zones above it. People and Permaculture Permaculture uses observation of nature to create regenerative systems. The place where this has been most visible has been on the landscape. There has been a growing awareness though that, firstly, there is the need to pay more attention to the people care ethic, as it is often the dynamics of people that

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can interfere with projects, and secondly, that the principles of permaculture can be used as effectively to create vibrant, healthy and productive people and communities as they have been in landscapes. Using Modern Technology in Permaculture They are numerous beneficial modern technologies that can be integrated with permaculture. These include:

Energy generation using solar energy, wind power, mini-hydro, bio-gas generation etc.



Modern satellite mapping technology.



Laser beam technology for accurate measurement of distance, space and contour mapping.

Microelectronics control technology for water management, irrigation, automation and sensor technology for farming, agriculture and animal management etc. Drone technology for contour mapping, spraying of natural nutrients, non-toxic natural biological insecticide etc. Robotic technology to assist in improving the productivity and cost effectiveness of permaculture. Other technologies that can integrated permaculture i.e.biotechnology,chemistry,physics ,bio-engineering etc. to make permaculture more productive than modern monoculture.

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Implementing Permaculture through Khalifah Circle We urgently need to develop large numbers of activists and Khalifah Circles throughout the world. The proposed approach can vary from country to country. However, generally, we can implement permaculture at 5 levels. Level 1: Khalifah Circle activists to provide awareness, training and implementation of permaculture at family level, i.e. to include Khalifah ideology of being good i.e. making ourselves good via the permaculture way. Implementating family based permaculture gardens and food production initiatives, including small scale free range chickens for eggs and chicken meat etc. Level 2: Khalifah Circle activists to provide awareness, training and implementation of permaculture at village/ community level. At this level, the villagers are trained to implementation of permaculture at village/community level, individually and collectively. A village/community level-2 master plan will be drawn up to set consensus, as well as to ensure sustainable village level ecology. Also to develop a “Fair-Share” system to share the results of increased abundance for all villagers. Level 3: Khalifah Circle activists to provide awareness, training and implementation at district/provincial level. At level 3, many village level permaculture farms are already in production. Level-3 large permaculture farms at district/provincial level are then created via cooperatives, crowd funding and government assisted funding. Level 4: Khalifah Circle activists to provide awareness, training and implementation on countrywide basis to fully implement permaculture at national level. At level 4, the country can showcase the increased production of

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food for all the inhabitants/citizens of the country using permaculture as a way of life. Level 5: Khalifah Circle activists to develop global use of permaculture to ensure sustainably of food production, as well as reduce the impact of climate change. In Sya Allah, we will then be able to create a world that is just, peaceful and full of happiness for all humanity and all of God’s creatures on Earth. Conclusion This is a challenge for all Muslims in the world today to lead in developing and implementing permaculture individually, regionally and globally. Let us be the new leaders of permaculture to create a new, just and peaceful civilization that will be sustainable for generations to come, In Sya Allah.

Resources

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Resources: www.Geoff Lawton.com External links Permaculture for agroecology: design, movement, practice,and worldview systematic review of the permaculture literature, from the perspective of agroecology. The Permaculture Research Institute (http://www. permaculturenews.org/) – Permaculture Forums, Courses, Information, News and Worldwide Reports. The Worldwide Permaculture Network (http://www. permacultureglobal.com/) – Database of permaculture people and projects worldwide. The Permaculture Association (http://www.permaculture org.uk/), UK. The 15 pamphlets based on the 1981 Permaculture Design Course given by Bill Mollison (http:// www bettertimesinfo.org/pdc_all.pdf) (cofounder of permaculture) all in 1 PDF file. David Holmgren’s web site (http://www.holmgren.com. au/) (cofounder of permaculture) Ethics and principles of permaculture (http://www. permacultureprinciples.com/) (Holmgren’s)

554 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

Permaculture a Beginners Guide (http://www.spiralseed co.uk/permaculture)–a ‘pictorial walkthrough’ Permaculture – Sustainability and sustainable development (http://www.save.me/permacultureandh orticulture/) Urban Permaculture Design (http://www. urbanpermaculturedesign.com/) – a city lot with over a hundred perennial edible varieties. Permaculture land acquisition discussion. A quarter acre suburban property in Eugene, Oregon (http://www.suburbanpermaculture.org/) – grass to garden, reclaim automobile space, elevated/edible landscape, rain water catchment, passive solar design, education The Permaculture Activist (http://www permacultureactivist.net/) is a coevolving quarterly produced by a dedicated handful of entirely parttime folks Permaculture Commons (http://permaculturecommons. org/) is a collection of permaculture material under free licenses.Retrieved from “https://en.wikipedia.org/w/ index.php?tit le=Permaculture&oldid=721603850” Categories: Permaculture Permaculture concepts Sustainability Environmental design Sustainable environmental design Sustainable agriculture Sustainable gardening

POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY:

A TRANSCENDENT MODEL TO ACHIEVE PEACE, HAPPINESS AND SUCCESS IN THE 21ST CENTURY EPILOGUE

Epilogue

556 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

Epilogue Throughout the writing of this book certain questions keep coming to our minds; the most important is how to find the appropriate words or phrases to write about the most profound of human aspiration. This aspiration is to create a world that is just, peaceful and full of happiness for all humanity and all creatures on this good Earth. This aspiration is not only for ourselves, but for the future destiny of this civilization in the 21st century. As we see the turmoil and insanity of this civilization, we know deep in our hearts that we are destined towards self destruction. Our destructive focus on secular materialism will finally end with the end of our own within the next hundred years. This is not only our conclusion but something acknowledged by most intellectuals and experts in various fields such as climatologists, biologists, environmentalists, sociologists, psychologists and other intellectuals. It is with deep sense of humility that we promote the idea of Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) to the world. We pray to Allah the Almighty to bestow upon us His Divine love, grace, mercy and guidance. May He also give us the courage and resilience to pursue the way of truth? Hopefully, our collective journey can redirect humanity toward the path of enlightenment, perfection and create a new heaven on Earth. This is our natural inheritance to create a just, peaceful and happy world for all. Positive Islamic Psychology (PIP) answers the paramount questions of knowing the meaning and purpose of our life. Our true primary purpose of life is to seek peace, happiness and success. The superficial 21st century global lifestyle of secular materialism cannot, and will not be able to give us real peace,

Epilogue

557

happiness and success. We have to know our inner purpose in life while not forgetting our outer purpose of our existence on this physical plane. Our inner purpose is to know our Creator and to know that we are His vicegerents on Earth. The basic principle of Positive Islamic Psychology is to make ourselves good, helping others to be good, and making the world good and to please God and all of His creation. Indeed, this is the real purpose of our existence on Earth. By sharing this understanding of Positive Islamic Psychology we can help you and others in this world to realise this inner purpose and strive to live in this inner alignment upon us which we will then have a foundation for achieving thorough peace, happiness and success. This journey of life for all of us will not be easy. However, if we believe in the Divine love, grace, mercy and guidance, and through hard work and struggle and determination, In Sya Allah, we will see the transformation of this world towards peace, happiness and success. We must shift our consciousness towards the awakening of our sacred selves. We are not merely physical beings living in a purely physical world, we are spiritual beings living and having experience towards perfection in a physical realm. This is the awakening that with the grace of God, we will be able to move away from meaninglessness in life. In this process of awakening, we shall be able to realize the grandeur of our Creator and the beauty of His creation which is our outer purpose. This awakening will resonate with our innermost fitrah (intrinsic nature of our being), as imprinted by God in our spiritual self. We witness the madness of the 21st century civilization manifested in negative Inner Speech that finally resulted in the fragmented, unhappy and unjust world. Let us now begin by living in the Spirit of Tawhid (the concept of oneness of God) and the interconnectedness of all existence.

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This interconnectedness of our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical self, towards all creatures and in the universe will finally lead us to the Source, the one and only Creator, Allah the Almighty. May Allah the Almighty shower us with Divine love, grace, mercy and guidance and accept our humble work. We also seek that Allah the All-Loving shower His love and blessings on us, our readers and the practitioners of Positive Islamic Psychology till the end of time. We ask you, O’ God, the Most Merciful and Most Forgiving to pardon us for any of our thoughts or statements that is untrue. We ask you, O’ God, to clean our hearts from the disease of arrogance, self-aggrandizement, egotism and pride. Let us pray to the Lord of the Universe who sent the final Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) as a mercy to all the worlds. Peace and blessings of Allah SWT be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW who received the Divine light and transmitted this light to all of humanity until the end of time. Ameen!

Online Certification Life Coach Training Program

559

ONLINE CERTIFICATION LIFE COACH TRAINING PROGRAM

OBJECTIVES: 1.

Provide training programs to certify PIP Life Coaches throughout the world

2.

Set up a pool of PIP Life Coaches as volunteers to transform the Ummah

3.

Help create a flourishing Muslim Ummah

BENEFITS: 1. Transform yourself: attain Peace, Happiness & Success in this life and the hereafter 2.

Become a certified PIP Life Coach

3.

Build a career as a PIP Life Coach

4. Help the Ummah: Conduct programs for parents, schools, institutes & communities

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? 1.

Any person interested in dakwah

2.

University students

3.

Youth Activists

4.

NGO Activists

5. Parents

560 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

6. Teachers 7. Care givers 8. Coaches 9. Corporate Trainers 10. Psychologists 11. Managers 12. Counselors REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE CERTIFICATION LIFE COACH TRAINING PROGRAM: 1. Purchase the PIP handbook, either hardcopy / softcopy

Hardcopy: USD 30, Softcopy online purchase: USD 10 per copy



Study the PIP handbook as per the training program content at your own pace and time

2. There are 4 areas of specialization as provided below; a). a). Certified Coach for Children & Family Achievers (CCCFA) b). Certified Coach for Youth Achieers (CCYA) c). Certified Coach in Community Development (CCCD) d). Certified Coach in Counseling (CCIPC)

Islamic

Psychology

Online Certification Life Coach Training Program

3.

561

Select one (1) of the above mentioned topics as your area of specialization.

Example, CCFA / CCCD / CCYA / CCIPC. 4.

5.

Select 30 videos from our YouTube channel (Islamic Psychology PIP) which are related to your chosen Topics-There are 589 videos. You can also view other YouTube Channels at;

Islamic Psychology

PIP

- 600 + Videos



Islamic Motivation

PIP

-169 videos



Islamic Coaching

PIP

- 200+ videos



Islamic Mentoring

PIP

- 22 videos



Islamic Counseling PIP

- 332 Videos



Ruqyah

- 69 videos

IIH

Based on the topics and videos that you have been selected as for your field/s of specialization. Next, prepare your assignments / projects according to the topics and videos that you have chosen.

6. The assignment or project at least 30 slides summary in power point presentation form. 7.

You are required to do 1 /2 practicum / practical actual project with your client or group or family member. Show proof via pictures and video or YouTube.

8.

Submit your assignment / project to our office through email / whatsaapp.

9. Your assignment / project Power point slides and practicum will be checked by Life Coach Mentor.

562 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

Life Coach Mentor will provide feedback to your assignment / project and practicum. 10. Upon completion, Khalifah Education Foundation and Positive Islamic Psychology Centre will be awarded you PIP Life Coach Certification. Sample of certificate will be attached / uploaded in our website: www.islamicpsychology.net. You can also visit our website and email at; 1.

www.islamicpsychology.net

2.

[email protected]

REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE CERTIFICATION LIFE COACH TRAINING PROGRAM: 1. Purchase the PIP handbook, either hardcopy / softcopy •

Hardcopy: USD 30, Softcopy online purchase: USD 10 per copy

•

Study the PIP handbook as per the training program content at your own pace and time

2. There are 4 areas of specialization as provided below; a). Certified Coach specialization: Children & Family Achievers (CCFA) b). Certified Coach for Youth Achievers (CCYA) c). Certified Coach in Community Development (CCCD)

Online Certification Life Coach Training Program

563

d). Certified Coach in Counseling (CCIPC) 3.

Islamic

Psychology

Select one (1) of the above mentioned topics as your area of specialization.

Example, CCFA / CCCD / CCYA / CCIPC. 4.

5.

Select 30 videos from our YouTube channel (Islamic Psychology PIP) which are related to your chosen Topics-There are 589 videos. You can also view other YouTube Channels at;

Islamic Psychology

PIP



Islamic Motivation

PIP



Islamic Coaching



Islamic Mentoring



Islamic Counseling PIP

- 300+ Videos



Ruqyah

- 69 videos

PIP PIP

IIH

- 600 Videos - 169 videos - 200+ videos - 22 videos

Based on the topics and videos that you have been selected as for your field/s of specialization. Next, prepare your assignments / projects according to the topics and videos that you have chosen.

6. The assignment or project at least 30 slides summary in power point presentation form. 7.

You are required to do 1 /2 practicum / practical actual project with your client or group or family member. Show proof via pictures and video or YouTube.

8.

Submit your assignment / project to our office through email / whatsaapp.

564 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

9. Your assignment / project Power point slides and practicum will be checked by Life Coach Mentor. Life Coach Mentor will provide feedback to your assignment / project and practicum. 10. Upon completion, Khalifah Education Foundation and Positive Islamic Psychology Centre will be awarded you PIP Life Coach Certification. Sample of certificate will be attached / uploaded in our website: www.islamicpsychology.net. You can also visit our website and email at; 1.

www.islamicpsychology.net

2.

[email protected]

Online Certification Life Coach Training Program

565

FLOW CHART There are 4 areas of specialization as provided below; a). Certified Coach specialization in children & Family Achievers (CCFA) b). Certified Coach for Youth Achievers (CCYA) c). Certified Coach in Community Development (CCCD)

d). Certified Coach in Islamic Psychology Counseling (CCIPC)

Select one (1) of the above mentioned topics as your area of specialization. Example, CCFA / CCFA / CCYA / CCIPC.

Select 30 videos from our YouTube channel (Islamic Psychology PIP) which are related to your chosen TopicsThere are 589 videos. You can also view other YouTube Channels at: 1.

Islamic Psychology

PIP

- 600 + videos

2.

Islamic Motivation

PIP

-169 videos

3.

Islamic Coaching

PIP

-200+ videos

4.

Islamic Mentoring

PIP

-21+ videos

5.

Islamic Counseling

PI

-332 + videos

6.

Ruqyah

IIH

- 68

566 POSITIVE ISLAMIC PSYCHOLOGY

Based on the selected topics and videos, please, prepare your assignments / projects according to the topics and videos that you have been selected.

The assignment or project at least 30 slides summary in the power point presentation form. Besides that, you are required to do 1 / 2 practicum / practical actual project with your client or group or family member. Show proof via pictures & videos to us at our office in Malaysia.

Submit your assignment / project to our office through email / whatsapp.

Your assignment / project of Power point slides and practicum will be checked by Life Coach Mentor. Life Coach Mentor will provide feedback to your assignment / project & practicum

Upon completion, Khalifah Education Foundation & Positive Islamic Psychology Centre will be awarded you PIP Life Coach certification. Sample of the certificate will be attached / uploaded in our website: www. Islamicpsychology. net

Completed / END

Bibliography

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Al’Mahdi, Muhammad. (2004). Understanding the Concept of Khalifah, Darul Ihsan: The Khalifah Institute. Al’Mahdi, Muhammad. (2005). Effective Islamic Parenting, Darul Ihsan: The Khalifah Institute. Al’Mahdi, Muhammad. (2005).The Unified Theory Of Existence: “ The Created Universe”, Volume I, Darul Ehsan: The Khalifah Institute. Al’Mahdi, Muhammad. (2005). The Unified Theory Of Existence: “ The Law of Learning”, Volume II, Darul Ehsan: The Khalifah Institute. Al’Mahdi, Muhammad. (2005). The Unified Theory Of Existence: “Human Social Behaviour”, Volume III, Darul Ehsan: The Khalifah Institute. Al’Mahdi, Muhammad. (2006). Getting Serious About BoyGirl Relationships in Islam, Darul Ihsan: The Khalifah Institute. Aspinwall, Lisa G. and Staudinger, U.M., (2002).A Psychology of Human Strengths, Fundamental Questions and Future Directions for a Positive Psychology, American Psychological Association Washington. Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naquib. (1990). The Intuition Of Existence: A Fundamental Basis Of Islamic Metaphysics, Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC).

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_____________ (1990). The Nature Of Man And The Psychology Of The Human Soul: A Brief Outline And A Framework For An Islamic Psychology And Epistemology, Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC). ______________ (1994).The Degrees Of Existence, Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC). ________________ 1995).Prolegomena To The Metaphysics Of Islam: An Exposition of the Fundamental Elements of the Worldview of Islam, Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC). Bakar, Osman, (1991). Tawhid and Science: Essays on the History and Philosophy of Islamic Science, Maziza Sdn Bhd. _____________ (2007).Tawhid and Science: Islamic Perspective on Religion and Science, Arah Publications. Barry, Thomas J. (1996). Where will Your Journey Leads To: Developing Personal Effectiveness and Values. Federal Publications Sdn, Bhd. _________________ (1997). How to Nurture, The Creative Thinking Organisation: Beyond Motivation to Nurturing, Federal Publications Sdn, Bhd. Badri, Malik, (2000). Contemplation: An Islamic Psychospiritual Study. Shelbourne Enterprise Sdn, Bhd.

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Carr, Alan, (2004). Positive Psychology The Science of Happiness and Human Strengths, Brunner-Routledge. Hove and New York Chopra, Deepak (1993). Ageless Body, Timeless Mind: A Practical Alternative to Growing Old, Harmony Books, New York. Chopra, Deepak. (2000).How to Know God: The Souls Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries, Crown Publisher New York. Cooper, Robert K. & Ayman Sawaf, (1996). Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organisations, Grosset, Putnam, New York. Cohn-Sherbok & Irwin Michael, Exploring Reality, Allen and Unwin Publishers London. Culliford Larry, (2011), The Psychology of Spirituality: An Introduction, Jessica Kingsley Publisher. Constable and Robinson Ltd. Dweck, Carol S. (2006). Mindset: How you Can fulfill: Business, Parenting, School, Relationship, First Avon Books Printing. Dyer, Wayne. W. (1990).You’ll See it When You Believe it: The Way to Your Personal Transformation, First Avon Books Printing. _________________(1995). Your Sacred Self: Making The Decision to be Free. Harper Paperbacks, A Division of Harper Collins Publishers.

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Eaton, Gai, (2000). Remembering God: Reflections on Islam, Islamic Text Society. Eker, T,, (2005). Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth. Harper: An Imprint of Harper Colins Publishers Fatoohi, Louay, (2002), Jihad in The Quran; The Truth from the Source, AS Noordeen. Galbraith’s, Paul, Mediate Rejuvinate: (1997) The Handbook on Releasing Stress Naturally, Media Masters Singapore. al-Ghazzali, Abu Hamid, (1964). Alchemy of Happiness. Lahore: Ashraf Publication. ________________(1988).Remembrance and Prayer: The Way of Prophet Muhammad, Islamic Foundation, UK. Gulen, M. Fethullah, (2004) Key Concepts in The Practice of Sufism, The Fountain publishing. Hey, Tony, & Walters, Patrick (1987), The Quantum Universe, Cambridge University Press. Herlihy, John, (1998). Veils And Keys: Possibilities of a Contemporary Spirituality In the Light of Traditional Islamic Wisdom, A.S. Noordeen. Herlihy, John (1990). In Search of the Truth: Contemporary Reflections On Traditional Islamic Themes, Islamic OutReach Pakistan.

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Hill, Napolean, (1984). The Law of Success, D.B. Taraporevala & Sons & Co. Private Ltd. Howard, Pierce J. (1994). The Owner’s Manual for the Brain: Every Day Applications from Mind-Brain Research, A Baard Production, Austin. Texas. Hopson, Barren & Mike Scally, (1996).12 Steps to Success Through Sevice, S,. Abdul Majeed & Co: Publishing Division. Husain, M.G. (1992). Psychology and Society in Islamic Perspective, Kuala Lumpur: Synergy Books International. Intellectual Discourse, volume 9, (1), 2001, International Islamic Unversity Malaysia. Rahman, Afzalur, (1994). Al-Quran Index, Pencetakan Zafar, Kuala Lumpur. Robbins, Anthony, Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement, Simon and Schuster. New York. Unal, Ali, (2004), The Resurrection and the Afterlife, The Fountain Publishing. Jarvis, Peter, (2006), Towards a Comprehensive Theory of Human Learning. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, London and New York. al-Jilani, AbdulQadir. (1994).The Secret of the Secrets: Islamic Text Society, UK.

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