This is the doctoral dissertation presentation made to my dissertation Committee at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara on August 13, 2012. The Dissertation Committee comprised the Chairperson or Advisor, Dr. Mary Watkins, author of "Toward Psychologies of Liberation"; Dr. Zaman Stanizai, a Fulbright scholar and the internal reader who teaches the mythology of Islam at Pacifica; and Dr. Robert Frager or Sheikh Ragip, author of "Heart, Self & Soul" and "The Wisdom of Islam," and founder of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, now known as Sofia University.
Apologies in advance for the quasi-legibility of the slides. You can watch the slide show here:
You will find the psychological interpretation of Al-Fatiha in the previous post. The following is the abstract for the dissertation.
Towards an Integral Psychology of Islam:
From Al-Fatiha,
The Opening,
to the Gardens of Paradise
by
Jalaledin
Ebrahim
Emerging in the 7th century,
Islam inspired the dominant global empire and ascendant world civilization for
over 800 years. It is now at the epicenter of world turbulence and turmoil. It
has been the source of political terrorism and extremism, gender
discrimination, attitudes of religious and cultural supremacy as well as
movements for social justice and personal spiritual transformation. It has
served as a model for an ideal society and state based on Prophet Muhammad’s
governance of the nascent Muslim community. Today, as a worldview or weltanschauung, Islam inspires profound
levels of devotion and mysticism, as well as Islamophobia, sectarian strife and
religious bigotry. Islam is clearly a faith in crisis.
This hermeneutic study explores the shadow
of Islam’s trajectory from its conception to the Arab Spring, within the
context of its complex history and cultural diversity. It critically examines
the opening chapter of the Qur’an, considered by Muslims to be a direct
revelation of the Divine Will. Comprised of seven verses known as al-Fatiha, The Opening, it is thought to
contain the quintessence of the entire Qur’an. Muslims recite al-Fatiha multiple times in daily
canonical prayers, guiding and inspiring the psyche of 1.65 billion adherents
of Islam.
Using the eco-archetypal image of the
Gardens of Paradise, the soul’s ultimate destination, the hermeneutic
methodology engages alchemical, imaginal and ecological dialogues to approach
the sacred text from various perspectives of the depth and transpersonal psychological
tradition. It explores the psychological contents of al-Fatiha in order to formulate an Integral Psychology of Islam,
inspired by Ken Wilber’s four quadrant model of psychology. The Qur’anic
Gardens of Paradise, al-Janna, are
fed by the four rivers of water, milk, honey and wine. At its center is a
fountain named Salsabil. This study
uncovers the psychological implications of al-Fatiha
within the context of the four rivers of self psychology, social and political
psychology, cultural psychology, transpersonal psychology and the fountain of
feminine psychology, in pursuit of a future of peace and equilibrium through an
enlightened Islam.
