The Psychology of al-Ghazzali

Abstract

According to Al-Ghazzali, the spiritual entity or true self of humanity is the Qalb (heart) which abides in the physical body and controls his organic and physical functions . He describes personality as the integration of bodily and spiritual forces . His search for the psychological nature of human beings focused on discovering the nature of the self, its ultimate purpose, and causes of its misery and happiness.

Every human being is born to aspire to know God, according to Qur'anic teachings. The human individual is born in this world as a complex multifaceted personality, consisting of a diversity of attributes of life, matter, intelligence, and divinity. Both positive and negative forces comprise the individual; positive forces 1ead the individual toward God, negative leads away. Nearness to God is equivalent to "norma1ity", whereas distance from God, leads to "abnormality".