Recovering historical Muslim scholarship on "Depression": An Islamic Liberation Psychology approach

There has been a call for a decolonised approach toward psychology, particularly with populations that have lost their voice as a result of colonisation. Such an approach requires a change of focus away from the ahistoricism of Western psychology towards a psychological approach that considers the historical contributions of populations. Such a change can be achieved using Martin-Baro's (1994) Liberation psychology framework, which proposes three tasks for a de-colonized approach to psychology to empower marginalised populations: prioritising marginalised populations, challenging their internalised ways of thinking, and recovering their historical scholarship. Using Liberation psychology as a framework and focusing on the third task of Liberation psychology, the present paper aims to empower Muslims by recovering Islamic historical scholarship on concepts related to "depression". By examining Islamic scriptures, Islamic mental health articles, and historical Muslim scholars' original works, the present paper begins by contextualising and introducing Islamic Liberation psychology as a framework for psychological knowledge production and empowerment of Muslims. The discussion then turns to how psychological sufferings such as sadness and sorrow were conceptualised during the time of the Prophet Muhammad. An overview of Muslim scholars' contributions to the understanding of "depression" during the Golden Age of Islam and their resemblance to contemporary approaches will then be provided. The theme of holistic healing, such as the connection of mental health to physical health, runs through the Islamic history of scholarship on "depression". Finally, the present paper will discuss the implications of such knowledge in relation to Western psychology. it is anticipated that Islamic knowledge could enhance interventions in clinical settings and promote religious/culturally sensitive strategies to meet the unique needs of Muslim individuals and communities.