Personality Psychology from an Islamic Perspective

Personality in Islam is viewed as a multidimensional entity comprised of body, mind, and spirit that interact with one another and constitute an individual human being. In the Qur'an, the Muslim holy book, humans are encouraged to reflect on the signs within and outside themselves so they can know their real self and their relationship with their Creator. From an Islamic perspective, the concept of personality is derived from human nature, which is considered dialectical. On the one hand, there are biological needs and instincts of a person and on the other hand there are spiritual ones. Al-Ghazali wrote extensively about human nature and emphasized that all psychological phenomena originate with the self. He described the nature of human soul and causations of psychopathology. Very little work on personality theories is offered by the Muslim world but there is significant activity in the area of standardized personality test developments.