Islamic and Positive Psychology in Education: Reclaiming Eastern Thought for Holistic Learning

Abstract

This study explores the integration of Islamic Psychology and Positive Psychology within educational contexts through a reinterpretation of Eastern psychological thought. Contemporary education often prioritizes cognitive achievement while marginalizing moral, emotional, and spiritual development. Islamic Psychology, grounded in the Qur’an, Hadith, and classical scholars such as Al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina, and Ibn Khaldun, conceptualizes human beings as integrated intellectual, emotional, and spiritual entities. Positive Psychology, emerging from modern empirical traditions, emphasizes strengths, virtues, resilience, and well-being. Employing a qualitative hermeneutic-comparative methodology, this research analyzes classical Islamic texts, contemporary Islamic psychology literature, and positive psychology scholarship to identify conceptual convergences and distinctive contributions. The findings reveal significant parallels between constructs such as shukr and gratitude, sabr and resilience, raja’ and optimism, while highlighting Islamic psychology’s unique emphasis on tawhid, taqwa, and mīzān as foundations of meaning and balance. The discussion demonstrates how integrating these traditions can inform curriculum design, pedagogy, counseling, and holistic assessment in education. This integration contributes to the decolonization of psychological knowledge by reclaiming Eastern intellectual heritage and enriching positive psychology with spiritual depth. The study concludes that a Positive-Islamic educational model offers a comprehensive framework for fostering academic excellence, psychological well-being, moral character, and spiritual consciousness.