Wouldn’t it be nice if we are able we can send messages to our friends via mind-reading, can see/hear things which are not in front of us, and can predict future event (like Paul the Octopus!). Unfortunately, it is not accurate as it seems. An experimental study on a seemingly intelligent horse called the Clever Hans who can answer mathematical question showed that he was not able reproduce the same ability in a highly controlled laboratory. It was found out that the horse learn to use the hints that his instructor unconsciously gave during the exercise. Scientific experiments can show whether all these amazing abilities are genuine or occur by chance only.
That is why extra-sensory perception (ESP) is one of the most controversial topic in modern secular psychology which is also in the realm of a sub-field called parapsychology. Modern secular psychology defines ESP as a response to an unknown event not presented to any known sense. First and foremost, we need to find out whether Islam acknowledges the ‘existence’ of extrasensory perception. But, Muslim psychologists need to accept the inclusion of the concept of soul first in order to understand this area better. Therefore, parapsychology can be a useful sub-field of psychology to promote the concept of soul in psychology.
The first type of ESP is telepathy, that is, direct transmission of thought from one person to another. Read the rest of this entry »
Is it true that the Muslims really hate the Jews and the Christians? I somehow cannot conceive the idea when I read about the history of Muslims and their interactions with the People of the Book i.e. The Jews and the Christians. We were so nice to them! After all, prejudice and discrimination are considered as bad attitudes/behaviours in Islam. And because of that, I cannot understand why we can’t be like our forefathers (the Sahabah RAA, and the rest of the Salaf al-Salih) when interacting with the Jews and Christians (who are not in enemy with Muslims). I notice that surah al-Baqarah in the Qur’an talks a lot about the Jews and to some extent the Christians. Perhaps, I can find some answers there. As been cautioned by al-Qaradawi and other Islamic scholars, when reading the stories of ancient Jews and Christians, be sure to reflect more on our behaviours rather than theirs in order to maximise our potential to receive hidayah or divine guidance.
Have you ever wondered what’s the wisdom of the Qur’an immediately jump somewhat abruptly from talking about the story of Adam AS and the human nature (see previous posting here), to talking about multiple stories of the Jews? Perhaps the wisdom is: there are still a lot of unanswered questions on the story of Adam AS and the nature of human being. Perhaps, Allah SWT wants me to read real examples of how a group of human being has either follow his positive nature (`aql/intellect) and/or his negative nature (hawa/lust) in fulfilling their role as the khalifah in this world. It just so happened that the story started in a negative way, warning me of my potential to be a transgressor and (Allah forbid) be punished by Him… Read the rest of this entry »
Would we Muslims be ‘psychologically’ ready to defend ourselves and ‘psychologically’ confident of winning, if a powerful country with huge armies and sophisticated weapons is planning to attack us? What if it happens when the weather and environmental conditions are unbearable, the weaponry is not as sophisticated as the enemy, the lacking of logistic preparation, the distance of the war field, the scarcity of resources, and on top of that, the season where you’ll be receiving the resources (e.g. food/money) is approaching? This is the scenario faced by the Sahabah/Companions RAA before the War of Tabuk took place. This is the superpower Roman empire we are talking about (imagine a superpower country during our time) not just the Meccan people or just any Arab tribes. Are we ‘psychologically’ prepare for that? It is timely for us to ‘psychologically’ review this event since it happened during the month of Rajab.
Other blogposts related to the month of Rajab are “Why are Some Muslims Psychologically Obsessed with the Month of Rajab?” and “The Psychology of Isra’ and Mi`raj.
Some of you may have answered ‘yes’ to the above question, alhamdulillah. I would too - conceptually-speaking. But when reviewing what some Sahabahs/Companions did before - operationally-speaking, it makes me feel fearful that I may not have that strong iman to join the war myself. Read the rest of this entry »
He is `Abd al-Mun`im Salih al-`Ali al-`Izzi popularly known as Abu `Ammar and well-known for his book Al-Muntalaq. Through this book, many enthusiastic du`at (callers to Islam) learned to be more rational (rather than emotional), mature (rather than childish), proactive (rather than reactive), organised (rather than haphazard), etc. Most of the time, we thought that we are among the mu’mins who contribute to the spread of Islam when sometimes we may do more harm than benefit to Islam with our way of promoting Islam.
Below are books by Muhammad Ahmad al-Rashid that had provided me with some psychological lessons that I don’t learn from modern contemporary psychology particularly Industrial/Organisational Psychology. Read the rest of this entry »
Can you imagine what life would be like if we are not able to smell with our nose, to taste with our tongue, and to touch/feel with our skin? I think life would be dull, boring, and nothing to be compared with, nothing to be creative in, nothing to be motivated to, nothing to be thanked for, and nothing to be patient with. If we can understand the underlying basic structure and function of these sensory processes, we might be better `abids/servants and khalifahs/vicegerents to Allah SWT.
OLFACTION/SMELL
You might think that this biologically-oriented knowledge are the product of Western secular knowledge. After all, why would Muslims want to study the detailed about the nose, when we are better off studying aqidah, fiqh, and akhlaq, right? Well, you’re wrong. Shehata (2003) mentioned several early Muslim scholars who had written detailed description of the anatomy of the nose. They are al-Razi, ibn Sina, `Ali ibn `Abbas, `Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, ibn al-Baladi, ibn al-Zuhr, al-Zahrawi, and ibn al-Nafis. You may be surprised that most of them are well-versed in the traditional religious knowledge as well like tafsir, hadith, fiqh, and tasawwuf! I believe we should be inspired to like them i.e. not secularising between human knowledge and the so-called religious knowledge and promoting both types of knowledge to increase and spread hidayah. Read the rest of this entry »