Over the last two centuries, the technological revolution has unveiled number of mysteries by the research and the logical manipulation of empirical data. The biggest innovation is the science of abstract. The science of human psychology is the biggest innovation that helped the man to successfully control or modify the behaviour of man either by hypnotism, conditioning or by reinforcement. Sigmund Freud, one of the famous Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis; a clinical method of treating psychopaths. His theory of psychoanalysis is the most influential theory in the present world. What is the basic source of his theory can’t be revealed but what he proposed is his theory was already revealed by Islam 1400 years ago. The reality was revealed by the prominent Islamic scholar Dr. Israr Ahmad, after the analysis of Sigmund Freud’s theory and by comparing it with the philosophy of Islam.

Late Dr. Israr Ahmad, who passed away in 2010, was a great advocate of preaching Quran in light of the modern sciences. His deductions were mostly from the Quran and Sunnah. Like, based on the social relationship we categorize a person into extrovert (enthusiastic), introvert (shy) or ambivert (intermediate). Dr. Israr ahmad, after analysing the character of companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) came to the conclusion that above mentioned three psychological categories are close to the classification believers mentioned in Quran. He related introverts to Siddiqeen, Extroverts to Shuhada and Ambiverts to Sualeheen.
On the theory of psychoanalysis Dr. Israr Ahmad said, “I was taken a back by the equity of Freud’s observation.” He explains that psychoanalytical theory divides the human psyche into three levels. Freud, in his essay ‘Beyond the Pleasure Principle’ which is the part of a theory divided the human psyche into id, ego and super-ego. It was derived from his earlier theory called the topographic schema (Conscious, Unconscious and Preconscious).
Dr Israr Ahmad explained that Freud’s theory is very close to the Islamic concept of Nafs (primal instinct), Qalb (Heart), and Rooh (soul). “Although”, he adds, “Freud’s concept of ego and super ego has much more depth in Islam than what Freud has proposed, but his classification into exactly three categories merits him as a man of great intellect”.

Freud’s Explanation of Human Psyche

In the dynamic classification of human psyche Sigmund Freud divided it into the following categories;
The ‘id’ is the hedonistic, completely unconscious, extreme child like portion of the psyche that works on the ‘pleasure principle”. It is the source of all the desires and seeks immediate pleasure and gratification without taking into consideration the norms and principles of society. It is the reservoir of sexual energy i.e, Libido.
The ‘Ego’ is that part of psyche that is usually reflected most directly in a person’s actions. It is the conscious dimension and is based on the concept of reality. It acts as an intermediate between the ‘id’ and the ‘Super-Ego’ and keeps a personality balanced between his desires and the social norms. It satisfies the desires of a person through the legal channels and protects the individual dignity too. It is the moderate level of personality.
The ‘Super-Ego’ contains internalized societal and parental standards of morality and principles. It usually develops in the child at the age of 5 years and is referred to as conscious or the judgement from within. Super-ego tries to perish the human instinct and follow the rule.

Islamic Explanation

‘Nafs’ is the primal instinct that is just like the ‘id’, hedonistic; it seeks pleasure and avoids pain. In the Islamic context it is called ‘Nafs-e-amarah’, If human being fail to control or sublimate the energies of Nafs and let it reign supreme, then they will reflect the animal behaviour. The will reflect the immoral and ignorant behaviour. They will be counted among the socially deviant persons. It is this element of Nafs within the human psyche that Islam seeks to control. So in the Islamic context the highest struggle is the jihad bi Nafs (struggle against once id).
The ‘Qalb’ (Heart) is in a perpetual state of change. In comparison to Freud’s theory heart is the ‘Ego’ and in Islam it is called ‘Nafs-e-lawamah’ It lies in between the Nafs (id) and Rooh (super-ego), at times it is pulled by Nafs on one side and Rooh on the other side. The heart is receives invitation from both the dimensions i.e., Nafs (id) and Rooh (super-ego) and the acceptance of invitation among the two by the heart decides the quality of the individual. Every Muslim should aim to accept the invitation of Rooh (super-ego) which will lead a person to the state of spirituality and control the person’s ill-behaviour.
According to Freud the Super-ego is the moral component of the psyche, which takes into account all the moral values. But in the theory of psychoanalysis Freud didn’t explain all the components of super-ego and partially mentioned few attributed of Rooh with the super-ego. Rooh is what Islam calls ‘Nafs-e-mutmainna’.
The effort to synthesize the theology with modern science broadens our horizons and breaks-down the religious conservativeness. This way of effort makes us familiar about the honour of our Islam. Be flexible to learning, because it’s the only tool that liberates a person form the prison of stress, frown, depression, pessimism.

Writer Student of behavioural science at the central university of Kashmir

Email:----------- freeebird.1949@gmail.com