When you hear the words "mental illness," "mental disorder," or "mental disease," what comes to your mind?
Most people immediately associate these terms with physical illnesses-cancer, diabetes, infections, or neurological diseases. We imagine scans, medication, and clinical treatments. But this automatic link between mental distress and biological disease is not innocent. It is a result of decades of intentional narrative construction, funded and promoted through billions of pounds spent on pharmaceutical marketing, institutional lobbying, academic conditioning, and mass media repetition.
Language is not neutral- it shapes our conceptual worlds. The phrase "mental illness" pushes us to see human emotions, behaviours, and spiritual struggles through the lens of disease. It places the soul into the hospital. Over time, these terms become so deeply ingrained that even Islamic scholars and teachers adopt them without pausing to question the theological, sociopolitical, and epistemological baggage they carry.
This leads to major consequences: not only in how we see and deal with human struggles, but also in how we interpret the Qur’an, Sunnah, and Prophetic life. Increasingly, Muslims read the Sirah through secular frameworks, interpreting the Prophet's ﷺ grief as "depression," his strategic caution as "anxiety," and his patience as "trauma coping." In this process, the divine becomes colonised by the psychological. Some Muslims are interpreting the Qur'an through secular theological paradigms and may be unknowingly approaching the borders of blasphemy (kufr), reimagining divine revelation through man-made ideologies.
The DSM: The “Scripture” of a Manufactured Faith
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is known as the “Bible of Psychiatry.” With each edition, the boundaries of "illness" expand. Sadness becomes depression. Fear becomes anxiety. Childlike energy becomes ADHD. Shyness becomes social phobia. Grief becomes a treatable chemical imbalance.
But most importantly: no objective pathology exists for the vast majority of these conditions. There are no scans or biomarkers to confirm them. Diagnoses are based on subjective interpretations of behaviour and self-reported feelings, organised into categories decided by committee vote- not biological evidence.
Despite this, the field claims medical legitimacy and insists it is “just like any other medical specialty.” But is it?
Why Claiming “Psychiatry Is Just Like Other Medical Specialties” Is Deeply Misleading
This claim is more strategic than honest. Here’s why:
Medical diagnostics are mostly objective. They involve blood tests, imaging, biopsies, and identifiable pathology. Psychiatry, on the other hand, relies on subjective observation and self-reporting, matched to constructed categories of distress decided by panels- not biology.
Psychiatry wields coercive power. Unlike cardiology or endocrinology, psychiatry involves forced hospitalisation, court-mandated medication, and police-assisted treatments. This opens the door to systemic abuse- especially against vulnerable populations like minorities, women, and the poor.
The mechanism of psychiatric drugs remains poorly understood. Antidepressants, for instance, are widely prescribed despite ongoing uncertainty about how- or even if- they work. In other branches of medicine, mechanisms and outcomes are biologically grounded. Psychiatry targets symptoms of distress, not identifiable diseases.
Psychiatry medicalises (pathologises) normal human life. No field has expanded its reach more aggressively, pathologising grief, sadness, worry, rebellion, trauma, shyness, fatigue- transforming ordinary struggles into permanent "disorders" needing lifelong treatment.
It faces deep public mistrust. Unlike other specialties, psychiatry suffers high rates of patient regret, iatrogenic harm (harm caused by treatment), and backlash. There is no anti-cardiology or anti-neurology movement. But there is an anti-psychiatry movement- and with good reason.
Psychiatric diagnosis is driven by cultural, political, and economic agendas. What gets defined as “illness” often reflects social control, pharmaceutical interests, and political utility more than objective truth.
Its research is weak and short-term. Drug trials are often only 6–12 weeks long, despite prescriptions being lifelong. In contrast, cardiac or diabetic medications are studied over years. Psychiatry’s evidence base is shallow, yet its influence is enormous.
In short: psychiatry is not like other medical fields. It is built on subjective judgments, coercive structures, pharmaceutical lobbying, and ever-changing social norms. To equate it with real medicine is a falsehood- and a dangerous one (Adapted from Dr James Davies)
The Global ‘Church’ of Psychology and Mental Health
Psychology today is not just a field- it’s a religion.
Multiple psychologies exist, each offering different interpretations of the human being. They create competing frameworks for behaviour, motivation, emotion, and healing. Each has its own categories, virtues, diagnoses, and vision of the “flourishing human.” These are, in the words of philosopher Robert Roberts, “alternative spiritualities.” They serve the same functions that religion does: interpreting life, prescribing purpose, explaining suffering, and offering salvation- without God.
Counselling and therapy, therefore, are not neutral conversations. They are structured rituals based on man-made theologies. Therapists become priests, directing the soul toward imagined wholeness- usually detached from divine revelation. These theories shape not just behaviour, but the heart, the ruh, and the nafs. They aim to reform the soul without God.
Institutions like the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), American Psychiatric Association, Royal College of Psychiatrists, and others function as modern temples:
They train missionaries (therapists, clinicians).
They author scriptures (DSM, ICD).
They define ethical codes- modern Shari'ahs for how to live.
They require oaths of loyalty to codes of conduct.
They impose ideological conformity, and label
dissidents as harmful or dangerous.
They propagate da’wah through media, schools, clinics, universities, and workplaces.
Those who resist these doctrines are treated like heretics- accused of stigma, ignorance, or backwardness. The language is secular, but the function is religious.
Sadly, Muslims have been deeply indoctrinated. Many now defend these systems more passionately than they defend Islamic teachings. They quote from the DSM, not the Qur’an. They call cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) a solution, not tawbah or sabr. They see safety in psychoactive drugs, not tawakkul. Their faith now lies in Freud, Rogers and Big Pharma, not Allah and His Messenger ﷺ.
Even Muslim counsellors and psychologists often operate under alien paradigms, submitting to secular charters that contradict Islamic ethics, metaphysics, and theology. In doing so, they unintentionally promote an alternative religion.
Islam Has Its Own Theology of the Soul
Islam offers a complete epistemology and ontology of the human being- rooted in the Qur’an and Sunnah:
Humans are composed of the nafs (self), qalb (heart), ruh (spirit), and ‘aql (intellect).
Suffering is not always an illness; it can be a test, purification, or means of elevation.
Emotional pain may arise from sin, heedlessness, injustice, envy, or lack of dhikr, amongst others.
Healing comes through tazkiyah (purification), tawbah (repentance), sabr (patience), shukr (gratitude), tawakkul (reliance), and ‘ilm (knowledge of Allah).
Islam does not deny mental and emotional pain- but it does reject the idea that the soul can be pathologised, diagnosed, and treated like a broken machine.
Muslims must liberate themselves from the false religion of psychology and return to the only true Deen: Islam. If platforms are needed to discuss spiritual and emotional issues, they must be grounded entirely in Qur’anic theology, Prophetic practice, and the intellectual legacy of the Ummah- not based on alien systems.
It is time to stop submitting to psychological secularism and start reclaiming the sacred.
A. Hasan
Most people immediately associate these terms with physical illnesses-cancer, diabetes, infections, or neurological diseases. We imagine scans, medication, and clinical treatments. But this automatic link between mental distress and biological disease is not innocent. It is a result of decades of intentional narrative construction, funded and promoted through billions of pounds spent on pharmaceutical marketing, institutional lobbying, academic conditioning, and mass media repetition.
Language is not neutral- it shapes our conceptual worlds. The phrase "mental illness" pushes us to see human emotions, behaviours, and spiritual struggles through the lens of disease. It places the soul into the hospital. Over time, these terms become so deeply ingrained that even Islamic scholars and teachers adopt them without pausing to question the theological, sociopolitical, and epistemological baggage they carry.
This leads to major consequences: not only in how we see and deal with human struggles, but also in how we interpret the Qur’an, Sunnah, and Prophetic life. Increasingly, Muslims read the Sirah through secular frameworks, interpreting the Prophet's ﷺ grief as "depression," his strategic caution as "anxiety," and his patience as "trauma coping." In this process, the divine becomes colonised by the psychological. Some Muslims are interpreting the Qur'an through secular theological paradigms and may be unknowingly approaching the borders of blasphemy (kufr), reimagining divine revelation through man-made ideologies.
The DSM: The “Scripture” of a Manufactured Faith
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is known as the “Bible of Psychiatry.” With each edition, the boundaries of "illness" expand. Sadness becomes depression. Fear becomes anxiety. Childlike energy becomes ADHD. Shyness becomes social phobia. Grief becomes a treatable chemical imbalance.
But most importantly: no objective pathology exists for the vast majority of these conditions. There are no scans or biomarkers to confirm them. Diagnoses are based on subjective interpretations of behaviour and self-reported feelings, organised into categories decided by committee vote- not biological evidence.
Despite this, the field claims medical legitimacy and insists it is “just like any other medical specialty.” But is it?
Why Claiming “Psychiatry Is Just Like Other Medical Specialties” Is Deeply Misleading
This claim is more strategic than honest. Here’s why:
Medical diagnostics are mostly objective. They involve blood tests, imaging, biopsies, and identifiable pathology. Psychiatry, on the other hand, relies on subjective observation and self-reporting, matched to constructed categories of distress decided by panels- not biology.
Psychiatry wields coercive power. Unlike cardiology or endocrinology, psychiatry involves forced hospitalisation, court-mandated medication, and police-assisted treatments. This opens the door to systemic abuse- especially against vulnerable populations like minorities, women, and the poor.
The mechanism of psychiatric drugs remains poorly understood. Antidepressants, for instance, are widely prescribed despite ongoing uncertainty about how- or even if- they work. In other branches of medicine, mechanisms and outcomes are biologically grounded. Psychiatry targets symptoms of distress, not identifiable diseases.
Psychiatry medicalises (pathologises) normal human life. No field has expanded its reach more aggressively, pathologising grief, sadness, worry, rebellion, trauma, shyness, fatigue- transforming ordinary struggles into permanent "disorders" needing lifelong treatment.
It faces deep public mistrust. Unlike other specialties, psychiatry suffers high rates of patient regret, iatrogenic harm (harm caused by treatment), and backlash. There is no anti-cardiology or anti-neurology movement. But there is an anti-psychiatry movement- and with good reason.
Psychiatric diagnosis is driven by cultural, political, and economic agendas. What gets defined as “illness” often reflects social control, pharmaceutical interests, and political utility more than objective truth.
Its research is weak and short-term. Drug trials are often only 6–12 weeks long, despite prescriptions being lifelong. In contrast, cardiac or diabetic medications are studied over years. Psychiatry’s evidence base is shallow, yet its influence is enormous.
In short: psychiatry is not like other medical fields. It is built on subjective judgments, coercive structures, pharmaceutical lobbying, and ever-changing social norms. To equate it with real medicine is a falsehood- and a dangerous one (Adapted from Dr James Davies)
The Global ‘Church’ of Psychology and Mental Health
Psychology today is not just a field- it’s a religion.
Multiple psychologies exist, each offering different interpretations of the human being. They create competing frameworks for behaviour, motivation, emotion, and healing. Each has its own categories, virtues, diagnoses, and vision of the “flourishing human.” These are, in the words of philosopher Robert Roberts, “alternative spiritualities.” They serve the same functions that religion does: interpreting life, prescribing purpose, explaining suffering, and offering salvation- without God.
Counselling and therapy, therefore, are not neutral conversations. They are structured rituals based on man-made theologies. Therapists become priests, directing the soul toward imagined wholeness- usually detached from divine revelation. These theories shape not just behaviour, but the heart, the ruh, and the nafs. They aim to reform the soul without God.
Institutions like the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), American Psychiatric Association, Royal College of Psychiatrists, and others function as modern temples:
They train missionaries (therapists, clinicians).
They author scriptures (DSM, ICD).
They define ethical codes- modern Shari'ahs for how to live.
They require oaths of loyalty to codes of conduct.
They impose ideological conformity, and label
dissidents as harmful or dangerous.
They propagate da’wah through media, schools, clinics, universities, and workplaces.
Those who resist these doctrines are treated like heretics- accused of stigma, ignorance, or backwardness. The language is secular, but the function is religious.
Sadly, Muslims have been deeply indoctrinated. Many now defend these systems more passionately than they defend Islamic teachings. They quote from the DSM, not the Qur’an. They call cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) a solution, not tawbah or sabr. They see safety in psychoactive drugs, not tawakkul. Their faith now lies in Freud, Rogers and Big Pharma, not Allah and His Messenger ﷺ.
Even Muslim counsellors and psychologists often operate under alien paradigms, submitting to secular charters that contradict Islamic ethics, metaphysics, and theology. In doing so, they unintentionally promote an alternative religion.
Islam Has Its Own Theology of the Soul
Islam offers a complete epistemology and ontology of the human being- rooted in the Qur’an and Sunnah:
Humans are composed of the nafs (self), qalb (heart), ruh (spirit), and ‘aql (intellect).
Suffering is not always an illness; it can be a test, purification, or means of elevation.
Emotional pain may arise from sin, heedlessness, injustice, envy, or lack of dhikr, amongst others.
Healing comes through tazkiyah (purification), tawbah (repentance), sabr (patience), shukr (gratitude), tawakkul (reliance), and ‘ilm (knowledge of Allah).
Islam does not deny mental and emotional pain- but it does reject the idea that the soul can be pathologised, diagnosed, and treated like a broken machine.
Muslims must liberate themselves from the false religion of psychology and return to the only true Deen: Islam. If platforms are needed to discuss spiritual and emotional issues, they must be grounded entirely in Qur’anic theology, Prophetic practice, and the intellectual legacy of the Ummah- not based on alien systems.
It is time to stop submitting to psychological secularism and start reclaiming the sacred.
A. Hasan
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