Diploma in Islamic Psychology

This course provides a survey of the Islamic intellectual heritage as it pertains to the subject matter of psychology. The focus of the course will be to provide a familiarity with the classical Islamic scholarly literature drawing directly from its primary sources. This will allow students to have an unfiltered exposure to the style of writings found across different Islamic scholarly disciplines and to become well acquainted with the Islamic scholarly tradition through the words of its authorities directly. The primary sources discussed in this course will largely be drawn from the following classical fields: Ṭibb, Falsafah, Taṣawwuf, Kalām and Fiqh. The style of the course will be one that combines both lecture and reading directly from the original text with the instructor’s commentary.

Additionally, classroom discussions and critical thinking exercises will be included. During the course of the classroom readings, there will be a continuous comparative analysis between these classical Islamic texts and modern psychology. A focus on how rich Islamic scholarly tradition can enhance and enrich modern discourses of psychology is explored. The instructor’s commentary and classroom discussions will pivot around the convergence and divergence between them as well as encouraging critical thinking for how to potentially synthesize or sift through the various parts of these disparate bodies of knowledge.

The purpose of these courses is to uncover the conceptual roots and ontological and epistemological assumptions of major methodological schools in social sciences. While surveying the basic assumptions of major schools, the courses will uphold a genealogical approach, that is, it will comparatively discuss the origins and theoretical foundations of each school.

Rather than favoring one approach over another, the courses aim to illustrate the existence of a wide array of methodological approaches in social sciences. Various approaches emanating from different worldviews and ideologies may sometimes appear in tension with one another. The courses aim to bring them into dialogue within a comparative perspective by highlighting their potential strengths and limitations. The courses will provide alternative perspectives highlighting the potential power of Islamic schools of thought to respond to contemporary questions in the social sciences. In this regard, the methods of falsafah, kalām, taṣawwuf and fiqh will be presented alongside social science and humanities perspectives.

This course provides a survey of the Islamic intellectual heritage as it pertains to the subject matter of psychology. The focus of the course will be to provide a familiarity with the classical Islamic scholarly literature drawing directly from its primary sources. This will allow students to have an unfiltered exposure to the style of writings found across different Islamic scholarly disciplines and to become well acquainted with the Islamic scholarly tradition through the words of its authorities directly. The primary sources discussed in this course will largely be drawn from the following classical fields: Ṭibb, Falsafa, Taṣawwuf, Kalām and Fiqh. The style of the course will be one that combines both lecture and reading directly from the original text with the instructor’s commentary. Additionally, classroom discussions and critical thinking exercises will be included. During the course of the classroom readings, there will be a continuous comparative analysis between these classical Islamic texts and modern psychology. The instructor’s commentary and classroom discussions will pivot around the convergence and divergence between them as well as encouraging critical thinking for how to potentially synthesize or sift through the various parts of these disparate bodies of knowledge in order to inform potential theoretical developments and clinical applications.

This course will go through a series of contributions of Muslim scholars drawn both from the Islamic health tradition (Ṭibb) and Taṣawwuf that are most pertinent and relevant to human psychology. It will explore how different tariqas and Sufi scholars have conceptualized the psyche and soul and their approaches to its reformation and treatment. Similarly, the Ṭibb tradition will be explored in light of mental health diseases and classical approaches to treatment within inpatient, outpatient and community settings. The concept of Futuwwah will also be explored to better understand the notion of social and public spiritual and psychological healthcare approaches.

This course will go through a selected reading of forty ḥadīth on themes in psychology. These include ahadith related to human nature, personality, role of a practitioner/murshid, parenting, character and behavioral reformation, principles of self-formation, approaches to cognitive restructuring of one’s beliefs and thoughts and treatment of psychological and spiritual disorders. The forty ḥadīth will be read with the instructor’s commentary drawn from the various known and relied upon classical ḥadīth commentaries. The forty ḥadīth will be explored in light of modern applications.

This course will be a structured reading and explanation of the famous akhlāq al-‘adudiyya that provides a synthesis and summary of the Islamic tradition of character development and provides a classification of the virtues. Commentaries of this text will also be incorporated in order to help expand the discussion of the virtues and vices. The growing movement in positive psychology will also be discussed as well as the developments and work being done on character development in contemporary psychology. A comparative and integrative approach will be used to help inform potential future developments and opportunities for Islamic psychologists to make contributions to this growing discipline in psychology. These may include insights about parenting, character development programs for schools, colleges, workplaces and beyond.

This course will begin with a survey of the various counseling theories in order to provide a diverse range of tools for professional practice for mental health professionals. The course focuses on the philosophical and theoretical foundations of counseling theories and practices, as well as how these are applied to prevention, development, empowerment and change in individuals. Counseling practices related to specific theoretical orientations will be presented and discussed.

After a review of the mainstream counseling theories and practices, the course will explore an Islamically integrative orientation to psychotherapy (TIIP), including foundational tenets and principles of Islamically integrative models with a discussion of Islamic epistemology and the presentation of an Islamic ontological framework of the human psyche. The course will also provide students with concrete skills for how to conceptualize and treat psychological disorders using Islamically integrative models. Interventions are designed to specifically target the elements of the human psyche: (a) ʿaql or cognition; (b) nafs or behavioral inclinations; (c) rūḥ or spirit and (d) iḥsās or emotions. Specific application of therapeutic goals across sessions as a practical demonstration will also be provided. Treatment approaches will focus on Islamic cognitive restructuring, behavioral reformation (tahdhīb al-nafs), spiritual growth promoting strategies and emotional regulation & transformation.

Outside of the TIIP model, other Islamic models of psychotherapy will also be discussed.

Hooman Keshavarzi is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Illinois. He holds a Doctorate and Masters in Clinical Psychology and a Bachelors of Science – specialist psychology track/minor in Islamic Studies. He currently serves as the program director for the Masters in Counseling Islamic Psychology Program in Doha, Qatar, is a visiting scholar for Ibn Haldun University (Istanbul, Turkey) and adjunct faculty at the Hartford Seminary. He is the founding director of Khalil Center – the first Islamically oriented professional community mental wellness center and largest provider of Muslim mental healthcare in North America. He is also a senior fellow at the International Association for Islamic Psychology (IAIP), conducting research on topics related to Islam, Muslims and Mental Health. Hooman Keshavarzi is an international public speaker and trainer providing education on the intersection of Islamic studies and behavioral health.

Hooman Keshavarzi has also authored several published academic papers in recognized peer-reviewed journals on integrating Islamic spirituality into modern psychological practice. 

In addition to his academic training, Hooman Keshavarzi has studied Islamic theology both formally and informally. He is a student of Shaykh Muhammad Zakariya from Toronto, Canada, where he attended his ḥadīth and spiritual discourses for a number of years. After moving to Chicago, he studied informally with Shaykh Azeemuddin Ahmed, later formally enrolling in Darussalam Academy for 4 years. During this time he also did some specialized coursework with Shaykh Amin Kholwadia in Islamic counseling. He then transferred to Darul Qasim where he is continuing his higher Islamic education.

Samar Harfi is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Illinois. She holds Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. She is a fellow at the International Association for Islamic Psychology (IAIP). She has co-authored, trained and presented on topics related to Islamic psychology, Muslims and Mental Health. She has also served as a peer reviewer for scholarly and professional submissions to the annual American Psychological Association (APA) and the Muslim Mental Health (MMHC) conferences. During her formative education, she completed introductory Islamic classes in Aqeeda, Fiqh, Ḥadīth, Tajweed and Quran.

Heba El-Haddad holds an undergraduate degree in psychology of Social Science, a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, and is currently completing her doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology. Heba is a Traditional Islamically Integrated Psychotherapy (TIIP) practitioner and serves as the Clinical Training and Education Director of the Khalil Center Bay Area branch. She is part of a group of clinicians and scholars who contributed to publishing the new text on the TIIP model titled ‘Applying Islamic Principles to Clinical Mental Health Care’ for Muslim practitioners nationwide. 

She previously served as a mental health instructor at Kaiser Permanente teaching classes on Managing Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia, Anger, and Emotional Wellness. Heba has co-authored publications, led trainings, and delivered presentations on a broad range of topics across the U.S. within the field of mental wellness and Islamic psychology, guided by the conviction that prevention is more powerful than intervention. She is a student of knowledge and has studied and completed courses in Tajweed, Islamic Studies, Arabic, and Theology and has been engaged in the formal study of the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn for the past four years under the tutelage of a senior scholar.

Munsif Mubarak is a Hafidh of the Holy Quran who completed his Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto. Upon graduation, he spent seven years in al-Madinah al-Munawwarah studying the Islamic sciences within Masjid al-Nabawī and in the homes and circles of various scholars. Munsif completed his associate degree in Arabic Language and a Bachelor of Arts specializing in Classical Arabic Literature/Linguistics from the Islamic University of Medina. He returned to Toronto in 2017 and went on to complete his Master of Pastoral Studies with a certification in spiritual care and psychotherapy from the University of Toronto in 2021. He is a registered psychotherapist and a member of the CRPO.

Mawlana Bilal Ali Ansari received his undergraduate education in Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois in Urbana, IL, and in the Applied Behavioral Sciences at National-Louis University in Lisle, IL, from where he graduated with a Bachelors in Arts in the field of Applied Behavioral Sciences with a focus on adult learning theory (andragogy). Mawlana Bilal acquired an education in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the Jāmiʿat al-Ḥasanayn in Faisalabad, Pakistan, where he studied classical and modern texts in Arabic, Islamic Theology, Islamic Law, Quranic Studies, and Ḥadīth. His teachers there include Mawlana Khwaja ʿUbayd Allāh, Mufti Aḥmad ʿAlī, and Shaykh Ramzī al-Ḥabīb al-Tūnisī.

Dr. Fahad Khan is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and a Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences. He has also been a student of religious studies, beginning with his memorization of Quran at the age of 16. He currently serves as the Deputy Director at Khalil Center, providing psychological services while supervising clinical and research work. He also teaches undergraduate as well as graduate courses in various academic institutions. His research and writing interests include Muslim mental health and Islamic psychology. He is a fellow of the International Association of Islamic Psychology and serves as a reviewer and editor for various peer-reviewed journals in the United States and Pakistan. He is actively involved in professional organizations and has served on many committees and divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA) as well as Illinois Psychological Association (IPA). For his work and dedication, the APA awarded him the 2021 Early Career Psychologist Champion and 2020 Early Career Achievement Awards.

Dr. Samir Mahmoud is currently Academic Director of Usul Academy. Recently he was Assistant Professor at the Lebanese American University. He has a BA (Hons) in Anthropology & Politics with a focus on multicultural theory and comparative religion, and an MA in Architectural History, Theory & Urban Design with a focus on the traditional townscape from the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. He also holds an MPhil in Theology & Religious Studies with a focus on comparative philosophy and aesthetics. He completed a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Dr. Timothy Winter (Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad).