Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

302 Sasan Vaseghseem to be more suitable for most Muslim patients(p. 100). (4) Psychoanalysis or insight-orientedpsychotherapies have sometimes been regardedas counterproductive in Muslim clients, leading topremature dropouts or worsening of the patient’scondition. (6) Indeed, cognitive- behavioraltherapy is also the psychotherapy with the mostempirical evidence. (8)Is Islamic psychotherapy really effective?Unfortunately, there are only a few studies inthis regard. These show that Islamic-orientedcognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, when addedto the usual secular therapy, leads to significantlyfaster recovery in anxious or depressed Muslimpatients. (9–11) But to use Islamic concepts in thetreatment of Muslim patients, the therapist needssome expertise in Islam, and most clinicians arenot experts in Islam. The way to partially overcomethis problem is to be aware of this lack ofknowledge and seek more information regardingthe patient’s religious and ethnic backgroundfrom trusted sources. There are case reportsthat show this approach can be very helpful. Forexample, Ali et al. (12) report an interesting casein which a non-Muslim male counselor couldeffectively help a young Muslim female clientonly after using this approach (see below).The goal of this chapter is to suggest importantclinical points and psychotherapeutic techniqueshelpful in therapy with Muslim clients.Both Islamic teachings and psychotherapy areso extensive that it is impossible to fully describethem in this chapter; therefore, I will begin with ashort introduction to Islam basics and then I willbriefly describe several Islamic techniques usefulin problems common to Muslim patients.1. ISLAM BASICSIslam literally means submission , that is, submissionto the word of God. Muslims believethat all previous prophets, such as Jesus, Moses,Noah, Abraham, and others, were Muslims, forthey really obeyed God (who Muslims referto as Allah). According to the Koran (Islam’sholy book), the Prophet Muhammad is the lastprophet, and the only religion acceptable to Godis Islam.The pillars of Islam are five fundamental beliefsor behaviors that are shared by almost all Muslimgroups. These are Shahadat (the profession thatthere is no God but Allah, and Muhammad ishis Prophet), Siyam or Sawm (fasting in the holymonth of Ramadan), Salat (Islamic five-timedaily prayers), Zakat (a tax providing financialhelp to the poor), and Haj (a pilgrimage toMecca) (p. 16). (4) The first pillar is the mostimportant and is enough for one to be regardedas a Muslim, that is, one need only acknowledgethat he or she believes there is no god butAllah, and that Muhammad is Allah’s messenger.Because Islam’s official language is Arabic, thesetwo acknowledgments usually are said in Arabicand are referred to as “shahadatain ,” that means,“the two acknowledgments.”Just as some Christians apply their knowledgeof Jesus’s life and try to model their behaviorafter his, (13) religious Muslims try to followthe Prophet Muhammad. So the ProphetMuhammad’s Sunnah (meaning his sayings anddeeds) is one of the main sources of Islamic laws.The other source is the Koran, the holy book ofthe Muslims. The Koran is believed to be God’swords revealed to the Prophet Muhammad bythe angel Gabriel. Only ten years after the foundationof Islam in 610 AD, it became acceptedby most people in the Arabian Peninsula in spiteof strong opposition. The Koran was one of themost important factors in the fast spread of Islambecause it sounded so beautiful that many Arabsaccepted Islam after hearing only a few versesfrom it. Indeed, Koranic verses were so effectivethat when some of the early Muslims immigratedto Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) and recitedverses from the Koran about the Blessed VirginMary in front of the Abyssinian king and hisChristian clerics, the latter were highly impressedand began to weep (p. 181). (14) In addition, Islamannounced equality and brotherhood for all peopleand prohibited violent acts such as buryingtheir daughters alive and torturing slaves, thusmaking it more attractive.