The Quran and Psychology: Which Outdoes the Other in Changing a Person's Thought and Behavior?

These are reflections and passing thoughts in which I compare the methodology of the Noble Quran with the methodology of psychology in changing a person: in his behavior, in his beliefs, and in his thinking.

And where did these reflections come from? From experiences; some I saw, some I heard, and others from personal experience during my journey of memorizing the Noble Quran, which took a year and nine months by the grace of Allah the Exalted.

I did not take them from particular books or sources; rather, I believe that the truest knowledge is what comes from the sweetness and bitterness of experience, because books and studies may contain excess philosophy that a person does not need, like a tree whose branches, boughs, twigs, and offshoots are excessive and need to be trimmed, and a person can barely find in it the fruit he seeks and wants.

As for a person's experience, it is truer in knowledge and in bringing the truth closer.

And when I compare with the methodology of psychology, then, as Dr. Abdullah Al-Jaber mentioned in an episode titled, I believe, “How Can We Be Happy in Our Relationships”: the problem with psychology is that it has confined the human being to a very narrow field and space, namely feelings and emotions.

It has placed a person's illnesses in the emotions alone: anxiety, depression, and panic. Do you know of anything else? Has anyone told you that there are other psychological illnesses? Treatment and disorders are restricted to feelings and emotions, as if a person had no problems other than these, whereas the human world of problems is vast: problems of the tongue, linguistic problems, cultural problems, social problems, and other issues, as well as spiritual problems and problems of faith.

Dr. Abdullah Al-Jaber was right on these points when he said: the methodology of Islam (or, to go back to his words, I say: the methodology of the Quran) is that a person's illnesses are in the heart. In its methodology for changing a person, the Noble Quran focuses on the diseases of the hearts and places them before the eyes of its reader and whoever sits with it; it tells us about the diseases of the hearts, such as doubt, hypocrisy, conceit, and showing off: (And [also] those who spend of their wealth to be seen by the people), and much else besides.

This does not mean that psychology is wrong in everything it contains; it has sound theories, and I owe it, after Allah, a debt in correcting and changing many ways of thinking and habits of mind, and other things. I do not deny that; it is a respected, independent specialty, but it has some problems, and it is this "some" that we are talking about.

The Noble Quran focuses on moral treatment in terms of thought and in terms of behavior. And the way of seeking healing and treatment through the Noble Quran differs from the psychological way; it relies on repetition, on a constant daily portion (wird) that a person keeps up, and on deepening the relationship and branching it out: the “branches of the relationship with the Quran,” as I have called them.

That is, a person will not benefit from the Noble Quran in healing and guidance without multiplying the branches of his relationship with it; he should not limit himself to a portion of recitation only, or to listening alone, but should add to them understanding the Quran and its tafsir, reading about it, reflection, and action.

And when a psychologist comes along and says: sometimes someone comes to me who has memorized the Noble Quran, who is a mosque imam and preacher, and who nonetheless has psychological problems! We hold this psychologist to account and say to him: you should not say this and spread it among people. Why? Because this is an individual problem, his own problem; he may have an error in his understanding of the Quran. Let us give an example:

One of the educators, Dr. Mustafa Abu Saad, mentioned in one of his episodes that a preacher and mosque imam came to him at the clinic with a psychological problem (no need to mention it), a certain bad addiction. So what was the reason? How can someone like this keep up the prayer and then fall into something like that? This creates a problem for the listener when he hears such stories, and he says: so even religion won't help, and even the Quran won't help, so why waste my time? That is why the case must be explained.

He mentioned that this man used a legal stratagem (ḥīlah fiqhiyyah) to justify this wrong to himself; he says: I know the Sharia, so I went searching until I found a fatwa permitting me this thing according to my desires and my mood. So this problem he fell into, and this disease in his soul, he himself is the cause of it; the Quran is not the cause, and religiosity is not the cause.

He has a problem; Allah the Exalted says in Surat al-Baqarah: (In their hearts is disease). The scholars said: this is evidence that the disease comes from the servant himself: (In their hearts); that is, the disease is from the servant's own self, not from religiosity nor from the Quran, so do not attribute it to the Sharia. He has an error in his methodology with the Quran, an error in understanding the prayer, and an error in understanding the Sharia; so why is this case not explained to people?

Why this general statement? And why do you cite it and say: I know many religious people, and a mosque preacher, who have addictions and problems? Why don't you explain to us the error this person fell into, instead of linking things in a way that muddles a person's understanding and becomes a cause of his doubting his religion? I know this is not the psychologist's intention when he says that, but there is no need for these words as long as they are a general statement.

This person has an error in his methodology of understanding the Quran; he uses legal stratagems. Some scholars see no harm in using legal stratagems in their proper domain; they use them to remove hardship and the like, but they are not used to escape prohibited rulings, the prescribed punishments, and so on.

So we return to this issue once more: when a person claims that the Noble Quran has not treated the problems and diseases in him, we say: it is because he has a problem and an error in his dealings with the Quran and in his methodology with it, and the problem may be a lack of action. For Allah the Exalted says in Surat al-Ma'idah: (Say, "O People of the Scripture, you are [standing] on nothing until you uphold [the law of] the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been revealed to you from your Lord."), which is the Quran.

That is: you are on nothing until you act upon the Quran and apply it. The matter is not that you memorize the Quran so that if we ask you: how many verses? you give us the answer (ma sha' Allah), or that you memorize it in the ten readings; rather, there is an important aspect: that he upholds it. Allah the Exalted says: (And establish prayer), so what does it mean? That he responds to the prayer and keeps its conditions, pillars, obligations, and humility, and so on; that is, that he acts.

If he does not act upon the Quran, he is bound to face problems, the diseases will persist in his soul, and the Quran will not benefit him. Yes, for the Quran is either for you or against you.

That is why one of the reasons that made me hesitate to memorize the Quran was that I would find bad examples and models among those who had memorized the Quran, because they do not apply the Quran; I would find in them negative, bad behaviors and wrong morals, and I would say: why should I memorize the Quran and then become like them?

Frankly, they gave me a bad model. But my way of thinking changed after that, with my understanding of His saying, the Exalted: (O you who have believed, upon you is [responsibility for] yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you have been guided); this verse was the answer to that. So if a person has problems of hypocrisy, or psychological illnesses, or problems of faith and spirit, this is because of him, not because of the Quran; because he did not apply the Quran or act upon it.

And perhaps the reason is his shortcoming in understanding the Quran; the matter is not that a person reads the Quran and that's the end of it. You must keep up a daily portion of the Quran, and this is fine and good, but attention must be drawn to branching out the relationship in treating these problems and diseases; branching out the relationship means that a person multiplies his relationship with the Quran: at times through understanding and tafsir, at times through reflection and contemplation, at times through listening and seeking healing, and in this way the meaning of seeking healing and being healed through the Noble Quran is realized.

But to read and not apply it, then naturally he will fall into psychological problems. And to read without understanding the Quran or knowing what it says, then his seeking healing through the Quran will be deficient.

Now we come to the Quran's methodology in changing a person: it relies, as we mentioned, on multiplying the branches of the relationship with the Quran, such as reflection and action, and diversifying them, and not limiting oneself to only one kind of relationship with the Quran.

The second point: the Noble Quran relies on repetition for change. Memorizing the Quran relies on much repetition, and then after memorizing, the memorizer keeps up a certain portion of the Quran, and in this there is repetition; no sooner does he finish a portion and a complete recitation than he begins another complete recitation, so the wisdoms, the knowledge, and the healing are repeated over him. This repetition has a role in changing a person, and the subject of repetition and its importance in changing a person is well known in media and in psychology.

The third point: the methodology of long companionship, sitting together, and intimacy. Whoever goes to a psychologist today sits with him for an hour or two, a session or two or three, and I don't think it's more than an hour or two, and for a short, limited period. That is why a person may relapse (in the psychological sense of relapse), and his bad behaviors return to him, and he needs the clinic again; because psychology's change of the human soul is a secondary change, not a fundamental, essential, or radical one; it changes the surface and does not change the depth.

That is why a person may remain in psychology and its sciences for perhaps eighteen years, reading books and so on, and nothing in him changes; in fact, his problems and frustrations only increase.

So tell me, then: why does the Quran change a person in just one year by a hundred and eighty degrees? Read about that, and listen to the experiences and stories of those who have memorized the Quran, and how the Quran changed them until they became a person other than who they had been; (On the Day the earth will be replaced by another earth, and the heavens), and likewise the human soul is replaced after the Quran; the soul is not the same soul, and the spirit is not the same spirit. It is as if the Quran takes our old nervous system and throws it away, and gives us a new nervous system; that is how I see it: it gives us new blood, a new spirit, and a new life.

That is why do not be surprised when you see many who have memorized the Quran saying: today I was born, today is my true birthday.

And His saying, the Exalted: (Say, "If Allah had willed, I would not have recited it to you, nor would He have made it known to you, for I had remained among you a lifetime before it. Then will you not reason?"); I understand from it (and this is a reflection of mine on it) as if he is saying: my life and my years before the revelation came to me were one thing, and my life and my years after the revelation are something else; after the Quran I had a new date of birth. (For I had remained among you a lifetime before it); I understand from the verse that there is a lifetime after it, as if it were a new life.

In any case, we were saying: whoever goes to a psychologist sits with him for an hour or two or three, and that is why his change is not a real change. But whoever memorizes the Noble Quran sits with the Quran five or six hours a day, and many who have memorized the Quran say: we used to sleep only four or five hours a day, and the whole time we were reciting and repeating.

And after he memorizes the Quran, he gives it his time so that he does not forget it; otherwise, what would be the benefit of the year or two in which he memorized the Quran? So the reciter and companion of the Quran, through his long sitting with it, acquires the attributes and names of the Quran.

Among the names of the Quran: al-Karim (the Noble), al-Hakim (the Wise), and al-Muhkam (the Precise). And al-Muhkam (this word just came to me), along with ḥukm (judgment) and ḥikmah (wisdom), all carry the meaning that it regulates a person: it regulates his will, his desires, his whims, his thoughts, and his beliefs.

That is because the Noble Quran regulates a person in these respects; it is precise and makes a person precise. It is human nature that thoughts come to a person: let's do such-and-such, and the Quran restrains him, so he says: I don't want to do such-and-such, I don't want to say such-and-such. It makes a person precise, and the Quran straightens its reader with lofty attributes; the Quran is noble and makes its companion noble, and the Quran is wise and makes its companion wise; you find in him wonderful reflections and beautiful contemplations on the Noble Quran.

And the Quran is called al-Azim (the Great), and its companion is great; in the meaning of the authentic hadith from one of the Companions: the one among us who read al-Baqarah, that is, memorized it, became great in our eyes; that is, he becomes a great person, and his greatness lies in people's acceptance of him, and so on.

Among the names of the Quran also: the Rope; (And hold firmly to the rope of Allah), and the rope of Allah is the Quran. And in the meaning of the authentic hadith as well: the Quran is the rope of Allah extended from the heaven to the earth, one end of it in the Hand of Allah and the other end in the hand of the servant who holds on to it.

This image always comes to my imagination: I imagine that there are ropes extended from the heaven to the earth, which those who have memorized the Quran hold on to, and there are people who are not holding on to these ropes. I imagine the globe and people holding on to these ropes; these are the saved, by Allah's permission, if Allah wills, because this matter is in the Hand of Allah the Exalted. But these, the Quran saves them from desires, and saves them from the adornment of the life of this world, its splendor, and being deluded by it.

As Dr. Ahmed Abdel Moneim said: the more a person reads the Noble Quran, the more it makes him renounce this world and long for the Hereafter. And I now recall the verses of Surat al-Baqarah: (And who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in faith]).

Here restriction (ḥaṣr) is used in wa bil-ākhirati hum yūqinūn ("and of the Hereafter they are certain"); certainty is restricted to the Hereafter alone, as if certainty about anything else were not much of anything; a person may be certain about this world, but He restricted certainty and singled it out for the Hereafter.

Among the names of the Quran: the Light, and it passes on light to its companion. And this light is a real, distinctive light; that is, springing from the person's origin. As for the hypocrite, he may benefit from the Quran, but it is a slight benefit and a slight light, and this light that the hypocrite has is an external, outward light.

As for the light of the believer, it is an inward, internal light, because of the real, original light he has in his heart. (Their example is that of one who kindled a fire, but when it illuminated what was around him, Allah took away their light); here Allah the Exalted describes the hypocrite as having light (nūr), and He did not say "their radiance" (ḍiyāʾihim), because the hypocrite does not have radiance like the believer; he only has light (and light, as you know, is lighter and less than radiance). And (it illuminated what was around him) is evidence that the hypocrite's light is an external light, its source external. Further evidence is His saying istawqada ("kindled"); that is, he sought help from others in kindling this fire.

Had this light been from its own essence and origin, He would have said awqada ("lit"), but He said istawqada. So the light of the believer is an original, real light; the Quran illuminates his face, his heart, his spirit, and his tongue.

Likewise, the shortcoming of psychology in change becomes apparent; it changes only feelings and very light things.

As for the Noble Quran, its change is comprehensive; it changes even the tongue, even the language, even eloquence changes in a person, even memory; you find those who memorize the Quran saying: our memory has become strong. And don't ask about this, for those who have memorized the Quran do not talk about it; they are, truly, in bliss, but some of them keep silent about this bliss out of fear for it and concern for it.

And I say: every pleasure short of the Quran is incomplete. If a person memorizes the Quran, reflects on it, and reaches it, his pleasure is complete, even if the pleasures around him are lacking, even if the world around him is lacking.

Sheikh Abdulsalam Al-Shuwaier mentioned in one of his lectures that a non-Arab Muslim memorized the Quran and made no grammatical errors; the Sheikh says: I did not find a single mistake from him. Why? Because the Noble Quran passed on eloquence to him, and among the names of the Quran are al-Bayan (the Clarification) and al-Mubin (the Clear): (These are the verses of the clear Book); that is why it passes on to its companion eloquence, rhetoric, and language, and it straightens and treats a person's problems of tongue and language.

Does psychology do this? Psychology treats limited things. And we do not marginalize the value of psychology; these are reflections with no idle talk in them. It is an independent science that people study for years, so no one should come along and mark it as wrong! Nor do we diminish its importance; it is important, and its theories are important, but we are pointing out some problems in it: that it confines the human being to the soul alone, then confines the soul to emotions and feelings, whereas the human being, in whole and in detail, is greater than that.

A person has a connection with his Lord, and in this connection there are problems he must solve, and the Quran helps him solve them. And he has problems in his connection and communication with himself, and problems in his connection with others and his interaction with them, and all of these the Noble Quran treats.

Also in terms of source, as Dr. Ahmed Abdel Moneim mentioned (and we salute him for this observation): the approaches of psychology, such as Freud's school of psychoanalysis, then the behavioral school and others, have problems and errors, because they are man-made. As for Allah, glorified and exalted is He, He is the One who created human beings and the human soul, and He knows best what sets it right and what flaws it has: (Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Acquainted?). Allah the Exalted knows best this soul and what sets it right and what heals it; that is why the Noble Quran is the soundest and best of approaches in straightening and correcting the human soul.

— Shoroog Almehmadi