Toward a Positive Psychology of Islam and Muslims (eBook)

This book integrates research in positive psychology, Islamic psychology, and Muslim wellbeing in one volume, providing a view into the international experiential and spiritual lives of a religious group that represents over 24% of the world's population. It incorporates Western psychological paradigms, such as the theories of Jung, Freud, Maslow, and Seligman with Islamic ways of knowing, while highlighting the struggles and successes of minoritized Muslim groups, including the LGBTQ community, Muslims with autism, Afghan Shiite refugees, and the Uyghur community in China.

It fills a unique position at the crossroad of multiple social science disciplines, including the psychology of religion, cultural psychology, and positive psychology. By focusing on the ways in which spirituality, struggle, and social justice can lead to purpose, hope, and a meaningful life, the book contributes to scholarship within the second wave of positive psychology (PP 2.0) that aims to illustrate a balance between positive and negative aspects of human experience. While geared towards students, researchers, and academic scholars of psychology, culture, and religious studies, particularly Muslim studies, this book is also useful for general audiences who are interested in learning about the diversity of Islam and Muslims through a research-based social science approach.

Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi, PhD, is a professor of psychology at Houston Community College and teaches social science courses at the University of Houston-Downtown, USA. She has worked as an international educator for almost 20 years focusing on language development and cultural studies with an emphasis on Muslim populations. Her articles have appeared in a number of professional journals including the Journal of International Women's Studies, Ethnicities and Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. She is the author of The Colour of Mehndi, a novel that explores acculturation, family values and mental illness within the Pakistani-American community and the lead editor of Mirror on the Veil: A Collection of Personal Narratives on Hijab and Veiling. She also co-edited the book volume: Positive Psychology in the Middle East/North Africa with Dr. Louise Lambert. Dr. Pasha has presented at several international conferences on topics related to English language learning, religiocultural diversity and Islamic feminism.