Abu Zayd al-Balkhi’s Sustenance of the Soul: the Cognitive Behavior Therapy of a Ninth Century Physician

by Malik B. Badri

Al-Balki explains symptoms and treatments giving advice on preventive measures and how to return the body and soul to their natural healthy state. In doing so he displays a keen understanding of the human condition and the medical nature of the human emotional state. An astonishing feat given that many of the conditions he discusses were left largely unknown and untreated for centuries before being clinically defined as such, only as relatively recently as the 20th century. A genius, his insights on human psychopathology as well as diagnoses of psychological ailments including stress, depression, fear and anxiety, phobic and obsessive-compulsive disorders, together with their treatment by cognitive behavior therapy, relate to us in every way and are in sync with modern psychology. Importantly, they also incorporate a greater dimension to include the soul and the worship of God.

Genres: Psychology, Islam, Nonfiction, Religion, Mental Health

75 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 2, 2016

About the author

Malik Babikr Badri Mohammed (16 February 1932 – 8 February 2021) was a Sudanese author and professor of psychology. He was the founder of the modern Islamic Psychology and published such influential books as The Dilemma of Muslim Psychologists and many others. He was sometimes affectionately called Baba Malik. He died on February 8, 2021, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He was the son of Babikr Bedri who had established the Ahfad University. He was married with 7 children.

Reviews

[Rida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and you can download it free on Amazon 😎 go read it imo

[Teté Simim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating to read. Especially with the fact that 11 centuries before the “understanding” of mental health was “discovered” and how to treat it like psychotherapy and more- it had already been in discussion by early century physicians like al-Balkhī. I think the most astonishing part was him not just discussing different forms of depression, but also what we understand TODAY to be OCD and even discussing the likes of intrusive thoughts and more.

Great quick read.

[Whimsicalmaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abu Zayd Ahmad ibn Sahl al-Balkhi was a ninth century polymath. He composed about sixty works in the fields of, among others, philosophy, mathematics, history, geography and medicine. While Professor Malik Badri was a Sudanese author, clinician and a Professor of Psychology.

As a ninth century scholar, al-Balkhi’s understanding of mental health is ahead of his time. This book discusses the emotional conditions of human beings, ailments, treatment and preventive methods. Some of the conditions he discussed were only re-discovered recently.

His work is not limited to patients with mental health disorders; he also covers the emotional abnormality of normal persons. The most memorable discourse for me was when he said mental ailments is a lot more common than physical illness, for most people will have experienced some kind of psychological symptoms (e.g. distress, anger, sadness), but not everyone will experience physical illness in their lives.

“For this reason no man should be heedless of being concerned with the sustenance of his soul or neglectul in making an effort to shield it from disturbance and anxiety which leads to an unhappy life.”

He emphasised the need to make an effort to preserve and sustain one’s health as part of the methods in dealing with mental health issues. He argues that it is indeed possible to prevent psychological symptoms by preparing ourselves with the correct frame of thoughts, so that they can be used as a defense mechanism when our faculties are disturbed.

A third of the book contains the introductory section and a commentary from the translator. The later two-thirds of the book is the translation of the actual book, with some footnotes by the translator. This section is divided into eight, like the original book. They are (i) elucidating the need for promoting the sustenance of the soul, (ii) endeavouring to keep perpetuating the health of the soul, (iii) making an effor to bring back the healthy condition of the soul if it loses it, (iv) specifying and classifying the psychological disorders and enumerating them, (v) suppressing anger and rage and obliterating them, (vi) methods used to tranquilize fear and panic, (vii) methods of managing sadness and depression, and (viii) how to ward of obsessions of the chest and the inner speech of the soul.

I feel that the language used in this translation is simple enough and quite easy to understand. However, I couldn’t judge on whether or not this book is suitable for someone who does not have a medical or psychological background, as I am from the medical fraternity myself.

[Abu Kamdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating translation of a 1000-year-old psychology book dealing with topics like depression and OCD. This book shows how advanced the ancient Muslim civilizations were during their Golden Age, even in the field of psychology.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skimmed this to get 40 NF books done in 4 months. But I will want to reread it more slowly in 2023, as it was very interesting to see a 9th century Muslim point of view regarding anger, depression and soul healing.

[Yunita]

At the 7th IAMP, Dr. Rania Awaad where she presented this book, so many new things that I eager to tell you..
1. How amazing this manuscript 'exist' again after a millennium, a full thousand years, to the right person Prof. Malik Badri, when we (Muslim Scholars) felt that Psychology has lost its soul.
2. Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, of course he says "We can't tear apart the body from the soul, we can’t tear away the mind from the body from heart, we can’t tear things apart from each other, they must be throughout together". And Dr. Rania Awaad said: if al-Balkhi was here today in 2022, he would be quite sound, he would be saying the same thing to the medical professionals today, that there is still kind of be ignoring of psychological.
3. ​Also, she said, our predecessors/Muslim scholars (for example al-Balkhi, al-Razi, and Ibn Sina/ Avicenna) when she look at Islamic scholars in the early Islamic civilizations who have theories and ideas, they didn't stop there. They prove of their work (was the institution that they built) they put into practice. As they built this Maristan it is called Daar Ash Shifa in Arabic, and Hospital in English. Maristan had many different aspects of health. But Maristan became known over time was the mental health care, psychological and psychiatric care. The point, we need to prove our work.
4. These symptoms, even the hospitals with the systems, existed as far back as the 9th century. This means this illness with these symptoms all together diagnose illness from many many centuries overtime.
5. Also, if you feel this exciting, please look up maristan.org or Muslim Mental Health and Islamic Psychology lab at Stanford or IAMP International Association of Muslim Psychologists

Thanks for reading :)

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The translator, Malik Badri, has made some impressive claims for this book, in the title and also in gushing footnotes throughout. There is a great deal of wisdom in the book but I wasn't convinced that it was really a kind of proto-CBT.

There is also a great deal of less helpful advice. This is especially striking when al-Balkhi discusses depression, where he suggests what amounts to mentally beating yourself up - for example, thinking how weak and pathetic you are. This is very unlikely to help depressed people. In another place, where al-Balkhi deals with fear, he suggests that understanding the causes of things can help relieve it and gives the examples of eclipses - and earthquakes. Here, even the translator feels obliged to comment that he can't have lived in a country that was subject to earthquakes.

It's a very mixed bag. For everything that is insightful, there is something that is, frankly, medieaval.

[sigh ra · Rating 3 out of 5]

a strong foundation! this is a simple outline of problems in the human psyche (fear, sorrow, anger and overthinking/repetitive thinking). for the time that this was written, it's absolutely phenomenal to come to these conclusions that are still validated to this day. for me, the reading experience was short, repetitive and somewhat simplistic. i recognize this text as foundational and absolutely essential to the field of psychotherapy in an islamic context but the text itself was not phenomenal in today's context.

essentially, if someone has cited this book in their work/writing, the sentence or paragraph or chapter that they've written in citing al-balkhi's work is probably good enough analysis. you don't necessarily *need* to read the book.

[haz · Rating 5 out of 5]

it took me a month and a half to finish this book just because i had to sit with the emotions that arose and all my thoughts needed to calm down before i could continue. i absolutely love how all of the treatments mentioned are still used in today's modern psychology but on a more spiritual level. there were a few things i disagreed with; e.g.: calling oneself a coward if they are anxious about a certain situation, it's giving toxic masculinity... but at the same time, i understand why it was mentioned as the manuscript was written in the 9th century and Al-Balkhi was writing under the help of a ruler at the time.

[Auni B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buku yang agak terhad pengeluarannya. Alhamdulillah sempat beli di Pelita Dhihin. Sangat menarik apabila al-Balkhi yang hidup berabad lalu merungkaikan beberapa ciri penyakit mental (mental disorders) seperti anxiety, depression, OCD berserta cadangan rawatan untuk setiap penyakit tersebut. Walaubagaimana pun pembaca perlu berhati-hati dengan fakta-fakta perubatan tentang cecair badan (bodily fluids) yang outdated dalam buku ini.

[Muhamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fascinating book. Bless Professor Badri for bringing this manuscript to light. Although, his tone in the introdcution is a little bit much but a great work to translate this precious book. I am very impressed by Balkhi's approach and knowledge all those years ago. Incredible to know the first book on psychology was written in such way. This definitely calls for a rewriting of the history of psychology.

[fayza R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tidak seperti ditulis saat abad ke 11, karena situasi kondisi dan cara penanganan depresi nya sangat kekinian. Padahal (mungkin, sepertinya) menurutku triggering untuk depresi tidak seberantakan saat ini yg dimana-mana banget, tapi penulis dapet sampe poin terkecil, such a wow.

[Isabella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hailed as "the real father of CBT", the commentators conveniently leave out the fact that the author repeatedly recommends self-shaming as an internal motivating force to get out of anxious & depressive states...

[tanzimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! Very concise, easy to read with good footnotes.

[Ziyy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fascinating read!
Semoga bisa bikin reviewnya dengan baik & tepat 😂 (I really don't want to ruin how good this book was)