روان شناسی و دين

The aim of the present research is to identify and explain the methodological foundations of Islamic psychology. For this purpose, first-hand Islamic sources including the Qur'an and narrations as well as the philosophical sources were referred to, and data related to methods and tools of cognition were collected. The data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis and compared with psychological topics. The findings showed that firstly, three general positivistic, hermeneutic and critical frameworks or paradigms govern the existing methodology in psychology. Secondly, the experimental method dominates the contemporary psychology for discovering the psychological realities. The experimental method and specifically the laboratory method - both of them – have risen from the fundamental ideas of materialism about humans and the exclusiveness of cognition to sensory channels. What is obtained from Islamic sources includes: 1) Research method always depends on the nature of the subject and is not arbitrary. 2) The methods of discovering facts are diverse and the experimental method is only sufficient for one group of facts. 3) The experimental method is reliable; it provides customary assurance and is sometimes certain. 4) The narrative method is used to know extra-sensory and extra-intellectual realities; it is one of the ways of discovering the reality. 5) The way to know immaterial realities, such as the nature of human, is mainly rational reasoning. 6) The ultimate tool of knowledge that dominates all methods is reason. 7) Value governs the selection of methods and techniques. 8) The framework or paradigm governing Islamic methodology is "rational realism".