Human Nature in Islam - Free Public Lecture

The concept of human nature (or fitrah) is central to both Islamic and Western intellectual traditions, as manifested in the rich legacy of literature on human psychology in both. Early Muslim scholars such as al-Farabi, Ibn Sina and al-Razi wrote extensively about human nature and called it ilm-al Nafsiat or knowledge of the self. In many cases, their works seem to be the original ideas for many modern day psychological theories and practices. Interestingly a lot of what early scholars wrote was blended with Islamic philosophy and religious ideas. Contemporary Muslim scholars have added to this knowledge to provide a fitrah/based model for building human civilization, linking Islamic law to psychology. This presentation discusses human nature gleaned from the Qur’ān, Prophetic narrations and works of Muslim scholars and outlines some of the challenges faced by today’s Muslims in adapting to the Western theories on human nature.

Dr Nada Ibrahim is a Senior Research Fellow with the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education (CITE). Her background is cross-disciplinary including psychology (with an Islamic Psychology intersect), Islamic studies, education, and criminology. Her expertise is in building healthy family relationships including intimate partner violence (IPV) in Muslim communities, domestic and family violence (DFV) in culturally and linguistically diverse communities and has been involved in many cross-cultural training activities with service providers on IPV, DFV and Muslim related issues.

Nada's expertise has driven her work at the grass-root level to set up culturally and religiously appropriate services for survivors/victims of family violence, perpetrators, families afflicted with domestic violence and children that grow up in those homes. Her focus is on a preventative and recovery approach.