| |
|
Name of Questioner
| Jansje Netherlands |
|
Title
|
Schizophrenia, do Qur'anic verses
help? |
|
Question
|
As a social worker, I have a client
who is a Muslim and he is diagnosed as having schizophrenia. in addition
to the treatment by a psychiatrist he is going to his home-country,
Morocco to be treated by a Muslim healer. This healer treats him with
verses of the Koran. could you enlighten me about the nature of this
treatment? The effect is not very clear to me but neither is the treatment
of the psychiatrist. What does Islam say about the cause of schizophrenia?
I would be very happy if you can answer my question so that I will
be able to help my client. Do you where I can find more information
about the Islamic view on psychiatric illness? cause, treatment. thank
you very much. |
|
Name of Counsellor
| Mohammad
Sadiq |
|
Topic
|
Non-Counseling |
Answer
|
Your question is very important and merits a
very detailed response. The Islamic perspective on mental illness
cannot be satisfactorily explained in a short answer; and this forum
is not meant for long explanatory responses. However, I will attempt
to clarify a couple of points you have raised.
◊ How does healing through Qur'anic verses work, or does it
even work?
Muslims understand the holy Qur'an to be the word of Allah s.w.t.
It is meant to provide: guidance for daily life, clear indications
of what is right and wrong - what is desirable and undesirable, what
is safe and what is risky, what is dangerous and clearly harmful,
and what is good and evil. It's words, phrases, and verses are also
believed to have the power to cleanse and heal from the filth and
diseases of body and soul with the Will of Allah the Almighty.
The last phrase of this last sentence is very important to remember.
What it essentially points out is that the holy Qur'an is not
a book of spells and charms, or a prescription book for various diseases
that may be tested in a laboratory or in the field through scientific
research, simply because the effects of the independent variable (the
verses of Qur'an) are determined by many other independent
variables that may not be controlled, such as, the spiritual enlightenment
of the healer, the beliefs of the person being healed, the environmental
conditions, and ultimately the Will of Allah. This is not much
different or unique than measuring the effects of a psychiatric, psychological
or medical treatment, which are also dependent on similar independent
variables - the knowledge and experience of the professional, the
psychological and bio-chemical make-up of the patient, the patients
willingness to follow the treatment regimen, various other environmental
conditions. So, does this healing work? We, the Muslims, believe it
does, but the effects and length of time it takes varies based on
some of the independent variables I mentioned above.
Islam does not specifically address the issue of schizophrenia or,
for that matter, any other mental or physical disease. Islam is a
faith, and like other faiths, it is meant to provide guidance and
principles for a healthy, meaningful, and successful life. In this
vein, the holy Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) provide hints to factors that may cause a person
to act like a mad man, and it also provides guidance about prevention
and healing from such madness. As I mentioned in my introductory sentence
above, it will take a lot of explaining to clarify all the concepts,
beliefs, causes and effects of these factors.
To help us understand further Wa'el
Hindi comments:-
What is important to emphasize is that using the Qur'anic verses in
treating psychiatric patients is a form of religious psychotherapy
which can help believers only , and in fact not all believers but
those who can understand the meaning of the verses.
Then in which form of psychotherapy could the meaning of Qu'ranic
verses be put, the answer is surely in the cognitive form, for this
reason we can't use it with an actively psychotic patient (one who
is deluded or hallucinating), then for using the holly Qur'anic in
treating a chronic schizophrenic Moslem could only be helpful when
cognitive psychotherapy could be applied, to help him restructure
his cognitions in a way that is compatible with his religious culture
.
The use of Qur'anic verses in treating a schizophrenic Muslem patient
thus needs:
◊ The healer who knows what is schizophrenia
◊ the patient who is a suitable candidate for cognitive psychotherapy.
When we search for the healer in the Arab world we only talk of psychiatrists
or advanced psychologists or social workers who carry at least a master
degree , however most of such healers neither practiced nor talked
about treating schizophrenics using Qur'anic verses, simply because
most of them have western way of thinking !
Then the person who was treating your patient in Morocco was a traditional
healer. Whereas Western science looks into the etiology of schizophrenia,
Islam says Allah Knows for is a multi-factorial disorder that
has its origin in the total psycho bio-social constitution of the
patient, which needs management with scientifically qualified persons,
the psychiatrists and their co-workers, the Islamic view is originally
the same like that of behavioral sciences. |
| |
|