128 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 19:1 

Contemplation: An Islamic Psychospiritual Study 

Malik B. Badri. 

London: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2000. 136 pages. 

The book under review is a translated version of Badri's Arabic edition, Al

Tafakkur min al-Mushahadah ila al Shuhud, first published in Cairo in 
1991. This English text is intended for general readers as well as special­

ists, in the hopes of discussing and developing the author's ideas on Islamic 
contemplation. The book is divided into nine chapters with a section of 

notes at the end of the book, bibliography, index of Qur'anic citations, and 

a general index. 

Chapter I deals with contemplation from a modern psychological per­
spective. It differentiates between Islamic contemplation and the medita­

tion procedures offered by secular psychology. While meditation is primar­

ily derived from eastern religions and aims at altering states of conscious­

ness, Islamic contemplation is derived from Qur'anic injunctions and aims 
to seek insightful knowledge of God as the Creator and Sustainer of the uni­

verse. Different schools of psychology are discussed in their inability to 

successfully deal with inner cognitive thought and feelings. This, the author 
contends, is a logical outcome of psychology's constant attempt to claim 

itself as "science" and its neglect of people's consciousness, mental 

processes, soul, and their spiritual essence. Although cognitive processes 

are now studied in psychology, modern psychology falls short of the spiri­
tual vision of humankind and is obsessed with the "scientific" model, while 

ignoring the spiritual component, despite mounting evidence of its role in 

human lives. 

Chapter 2 summarizes the works of certain early Muslim scholars and 
attempts to give a rationale for contemplation based b oth on recent scien-