Is modern therapy really neutral? Imam Abdullah Hasan argues that beneath many popular approaches to psychology, counselling and psychotherapy lie assumptions about what a human being is, what suffering means, what constitutes illness, and what healing should look like. And when Muslims adopt those frameworks wholesale — then simply add Qur’anic verses, hadith or Islamic terminology — are we actually producing “Islamic psychology”? Or are we importing an entirely different worldview into Islam? In this fascinating OnGuard conversation, Dr Hamza Andreas Tzortzis sits down with Imam Abdullah Hasan, who combines traditional Islamic scholarship with formal study in psychology, counselling and psychotherapy. They explore the philosophical foundations of Freud, Carl Rogers and modern therapy; why Imam Abdullah believes Muslims must build from an Islamic understanding of the qalb, nafs, rūḥ and fiṭrah; the development and criticism of psychiatric diagnosis; the “chemical imbalance” narrative around depression; pharmaceutical influence; grief and human suffering; trauma culture and self-diagnosis; the effect therapeutic language can have on families; and what an authentically Islamic approach to human flourishing might look like. Imam Abdullah also shares the deeply personal experience of losing his mother, and explains why Islam does not promise us a life without pain — but gives suffering meaning, purpose and a path through it. This is not an argument to ignore genuine suffering or deny people support. It is a challenge to Muslims to examine the assumptions underneath the solutions we are being offered — and to rediscover the extraordinarily rich understanding of the human being already contained within our own tradition. Chapters 00:00 Coming up 02:44 Meet Imam Abdullah Hasan 04:47 Is modern psychology harming Muslims? 14:00 Building psychology from an Islamic worldview 28:52 What’s wrong with “Islamic CBT”? 31:46 Who decides what counts as mental illness? 43:11 The chemical imbalance theory and antidepressants 50:46 Can secular psychology really be “Islamised”? 65:00 Grief, depression and the meaning of suffering 75:51 Trauma, suicide and turning back to Allāh 84:10 Has therapy culture made us more fragile? 86:16 Should Muslims study psychology? 90:48 What is actually causing the mental health crisis? 95:05 Where to learn more from Imam Abdullah Hasan 99:54 A final warning to the Muslim community
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