Sometimes, laypeople tend to use the iman, kafir, fasiq, munafiq without understanding that Islamic scholars had used them on more than one context which gives different meaning. Similarly, if Muslims psychologists were to accept the soul as part of the study of psychology, it too has more than one meaning depending on the context. Knowing different contextual meaning of a religious term will avoid unnecessary argument or worse, inappropriate label to other people e.g. kafir, fasiq, and munafiq. In Islamic psychology, there are at least two issues with two different context that need to be clear before a Muslim psychologist can conduct research.
The first is whether iman is a continuous variable (increases and decreases) or a discrete variable (either/or). Sometimes the Qur’an uses the word ‘iman’ (belief) to mean ‘acceptance of Islam as a religion, including the unseen’ as opposite to ‘kufr’ (disbelief) which is ‘total rejection of the truth’ (Qur’an, 2: 255). As early as surah al-Baqarah, the Qur’an has already differentiated the behaviours of al-muttaqin (the pious), kuffar (the rejector), and munafiqin (the hypocrites) based on their acceptance and rejection of the truth (Qur’an, 2: 1-20; see also 6: 20; 16: 106-107). A classic definition of ‘iman’ involves acceptance of the religion not only with the heart, but also acceptance with the tongue and behaviour. Classic Islamic literature has also listed behaviours and mental processes that can nullify the iman/shahadah which means that iman can be interpreted as a discrete variable. At the same time the Qur’an also highlights that a person who already possesses iman (al-mu’min) may realise that his iman may increase and decrease (Qur’an, 8: 2; 3: 173; 48: 4) without reaching the kufr level. Abu Darda’ (RA), a companion of the prophet said: “One of the indicators of a person’s understanding is when he/she knows whether his/her iman increases or decreases.” Behaviours that lead to the increase of iman are, in general, `amal (good deeds), dhikr (rememberance), and tafakkur (contemplation), just like any ma`siyah (bad deeds) will lead to decrease of iman. Therefore, psychologists need to differentiate between iman as the opposite of kufr (discrete variable); and iman as the level differentiating between a good mu’min and a bad mu’min (continuous variable). As mentioned, even the iman of a good mu’min may fluctuate from time to time depending on his `amal (behaviour). Psychology teachers and students have to be able to differentiate between these two different conceptualisations of the soul when reading and interpreting psychology literature, and when studying psychological variables.
This bring us to the second challenge regarding the direction of relation between the soul and behaviour (also mental processes); is the soul the only determinant of behaviour and mental processes, or can behaviour and mental processes also influence the soul, or is there a bi-directional relationship between them? Reading the Qur’an carefully one will notice that the term `amal salih (good deeds or behaviours) is paired with the term iman more than 70 times indicating their close relationship. As discussed in various Qur’anic verses, iman plays an important role in influencing behaviours and mental processes. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “Iman is not just about hope and observable decoration, but it is what grows inside the heart (mental processes) and made evidence by the (observable) behaviour” (narrated by Ibn Najjar and Dailami). On the other hand, behaviours and mental processes can also influence iman, as mentioned by the Prophet (PBUH), “Purity is part of iman” (narrated by Muslim Vol. 2, No. 0432) and his companion by the name of `Abdullah ibn Mas`ud “The slave continues to lie (an observable behaviour) and a black spot grows in his heart (a soul factor) until all his heart becomes black. Then he is written, in Allah’s sight, among the liars” (narrated by Malik, Book 56, No. 018). The Qur’an also mentions that although the hypocrites behave observably like the believers (including declaring their iman or faith), because their mental processes (Qur’an, 2: 8-9) are contradictory to their observable behaviours, their heart is full of disease and because of that Allah increases their disease (Qur’an, 2:10) indicating the influence of the behaviours on the development of the soul. Psychology teachers and students have to be able to differentiate between the soul as an independent or predictor variable and the soul as a dependent or criterion variable when reading and interpreting psychology literature, and when studying psychological variables.
This will avoid unnecessary argument among two people who talking about two different things using one similar term.
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