A comprehensive look into the aspects of psychology that are obviously intertwined by the teachings of Islam, but which are easily overlooked by many people. This blog's purpose is to point out the undoubted connection the study of the human brain, mind, soul, and their envrionments have with the teaching of the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah (actions and sayings) of the beloved prophet Muhammed (May God's Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him).

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Returning To Fitrah

When talking about Fitrah, which is the inherent disposition that an individual has, primarily towards good, an individual must first realize that there is an inherent "goodness" that every individual has. This can be exhumed by the example of a baby when first brought into this world. There is a natural disposition towards good, towards our Creator, Allah (swt). There is no sort of corruption that is inherent within the individual, there is no natural evil that is claimed through other belief systems. The beginning of life is the stage which the spirit is fresh from its natural state, its "rooh" or spirit has just came from one phase of existence, actually that is the eternal stage, as when we will perish, that is the state that will be present. It is always naturally present, our spirit, and it is important to know that although we are in this physical state, as human beings, concurrently, our existence is maintained by our spirit, or rooh. This in itself may be an important psychological concept which may have been discussed in my previous blog posts. The reason for this post to be titled the way it is, is that I have reached an epiphany of understanding almost, something that has been rediscovered. I am having the natural tendency to return to my calling, after a long period of time. For those who have been following since the beginning, it is apparent that there has been a severe break from postings throughout the last several years. In the beginning, circa 2006, there were consistent and meaningful posts regarding various topics. Ranging from my notes about Ramadan, to some of my academic work, to a well received note regarding the issue of dealing with parents, this blog seemed very promising from the very beginning. I plan on continuing this theme, the theme of success throughout however long I am able to write. Having a meaningful calling, a desire to contribute has been within me for the past ten years at least. I was very dedicated to the field of psychology, and inshAllah, I will continue to dwell on this topic, however, it is not my academic objective, as it was when this blog first started. My field has shifted from psychology to neuroscience to what it is now, cellular and molecular biology. This is all due to my desire to become a tremendous physician, practicing medicine, as well as earning a PhD. I plan to specialize in certain areas of psychology, therefore, this blog is still extremely relevant. Hopefully, I will be able to shed light into the greatness of the deen of Islam in ways that have never been done before, through understanding of biological, in conjunction with certain psychological/sociological ideas. I want to lay out a groundwork for what direction I will head with this endeavor, and I hope there will be many important findings in this blog. One idea that has been in my mind recently is a very significant one, and hopefully, relevant to what I plan to discuss which pertains to this website. The idea of the existence of religion, and the purpose of it. Speaking from a skeptical perspective, solely for the sake of the argument, there is a lot of difficulty involved in the rational acceptance of religion, any religion, any thing that has been divinely inspired in any way. I should rephrase that to the understanding of religion that can be traced to Abraham, or also known as Abrahamic faiths. These include Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. For the sake of simplicity, and due to my limited knowledge on non-Abrahamic faiths, I will focus on the development of these religions. When I say difficulty, I am speaking from the perspective of people who reject the idea of religion based on their perceptions of this world. My main question, that I ask myself, is "what is the need for religion?" Certainly, there must be a sort of explanation for what the purpose of maintaining a belief system. An Islamic perspective will simply state the Qur'an, and the verse which clearly states, that Allah (Swt) says, "I have not created Jinn or man for no purpose except to worship Me." That is quite indisputable from a view of a devout worshiper, and quite frankly, that is enough to suffice for the understanding of the creation of man. Taking a step in another direction, what may be the worldly benefit in having a belief system such as Islam. Realistically, questions such as this are rather difficult to understand, but if you take a historical approach to understanding the revelation of Islam, then you will be able to gather a significant understanding of why it is so important to have a system such as Islam. Pre-Islamic times in Arabia consisted of much ignorance, or "jahilliya", so much so that that period of time was known as the period of ignorance. Women were mistreated so much so that daughters were buried alive simply due to the fact that they were born female instead of male. There was chaos widespread, and there were very grave injustices which took place. All of these horrible things may be attributed to the beliefs and moral systems of people who turned away from their Creator, and did not believe that there were repercussions for their actions. At that point in time, there was a great need for change, and the way that Allah (swt) brought that change is through the introduction of the world to our beloved Prophet Muhammad (salallahu alayhi wassallam), and he brought the way of life known as Islam. The effect of this was that the whole world was eventually transformed, and the ignorance was not anywhere near where it was before the introduction of Islam. The idea of accountability, and moral responsibility was instilled within people, so much so, that people who were known tyrants eventually accepted Islam to become the great propagators of Islam. Psychologically, the sense of morality, and responsibility became instilled throughout the lands, because of the strong belief in accountability for actions. Due to that, people's perspectives were altered, and ultimately, lead to a new era of belief. When I last posted, I talked about hardships and difficulties, and this may prove to be a recurring topic in this website. Since, I, myself have been through many different difficult times, and have always persevered through, there is no doubt in my mind that these situations will continue in the future, with different tests. These tests all serve a sole purpose, to test my own individual connection to Allah (swt), and it should be something that is instilled within me, the idea that difficulties will arise. As I mentioned before, these hardships and adversities are a blessing from Allah (swt), there is no means to attain nearness to Him than difficulties. I would like to eventually go into biological, psychological, and sociological affects of these trials and tribulations on the believer, and expand the current knowledge base of our understanding of the connection between divine revelation and our place in this life.