THE SEVEN STAGES OF CHANGE PSYCHOTHERAPY GHAZALIAN (MINHAJUL ‘ABIDIN)
Al-Ghazali, in the ihya ‘ulumuddin, is in the view that worship cannot be separated from man’s life and it is the final purpose which is most aspired by the Muslim Community. It is a very difficult journey which is full of twist and turns, challenges and obstacles that has to be overcome. It is difficult to the extent that many people do not arrive to the purpose. Therefore, man needs to do purification of worship where the heart disease (amradhul qulub) is not sufficient to be healed merely by rational knowledge; rather it needs also the rules which are derived from the Syari’ah of the religion, such as the duties of worship and practices which are arranged by the prophets to the improvement of the heart. This is what differentiates the model of Islamic psychotherapy and the Western model. Islamic psychotherapy does not focus merely on the goodness of this world but also bring about goodness in the hereafter.
The management of change is a changing process in which the changing process is the basic element in every psychotherapy. The changing process in Western Psychology is identified how a person is trying to change with or without therapy, a person is involved or trying a series of solutions to modify problematic thought, lack of function, problematic behavior, or unpleasant effect. Every stage has a period of time as well as duties which are needed for the movement to the next stage.
Figure. The stage of Change
Even though the time which is spent by every individual in each stage is different and the duties executed are also varied, for every transformative stage, the changing process and different relational attitude bring optimum progress. The following are the seven transformative stages in ghazalian psychology with the pattern which is adopted from minhaj al-‘abidin.
Stage 1: ‘Ilm & Ma’rifah (Knowledge & Recognition)
The source of difficulties, suffering, tiredness, unfortunateness, and grief is the absence of knowledge. Knowledge is the basic foundation of behaviour. Al-Ghazali stresses the importance of knowledge in transforming behaviour. The first stage is in the form of knowledge and recognition which covers observation, seeking evidence, and teaching. Al-Ghazali quotes hadith which is narrated by Muadz RA: “Knowledge is the leader of practice, whereas the practice is its follower.”
In the strategy of cognitive psychotherapy, the way the individual feels or behaves is mostly determined by individual judgment towards the psychological event or problem which is kept due to maintaining incorrect thinking and non-beneficial scheme. At the beginning of cognitive therapy, the individual is brought to an awareness of non-beneficial beliefs and then modifies them.
It is the same with al-Ghazali, the troubled individual is brought to do research and seek evidence, maturing the mind and studying and questioning what is happening to him. As indicated in the Qur’an, “On the Day when every soul will be confronted with all the good it has done, and all the evil it has done, it will wish there were a great distance between it and its evil.” (Ali Imran [3]: 30). Then align the problem with the three necessary knowledge to be understood by the individual. First, the knowledge of tawhid is to adjust the problem with tawhid and to re-invite the self to acknowledge that he has God the One, the Most Powerful. Second, the knowledge of Syari’ah that is re-adjusting the problem with Syari’ah and the maqashid syari’ah (the objective of the Syari’ah).
Stage 2: Tawbah (Repentance)
After acquiring insights and knowledge, so that new meanings are present, the self started to think about his mistakes and realize that he has done so many injustices, as well as knowing the calamity and suffering which was the result of the injustice or the act of over the limits towards oneself and the other. The act of transgression prevents someone to do obedience and worshipping Allah Ta’ala. For, it is the pile of sin that burdens the person’s step towards goodness and makes a person lazy to change towards obedience to Him. In that situation, the troubled person will enter the next step which is tawbah. There is a hadith which is narrated by Ibn Majah “regret is repentance”, with the word ‘regret’ which is referring to repentance and the reality of repentance is to return to obedience to Allah Ta’ala.
Stage 3: ‘Awaiq (distraction)
After a person passed through the stage of repentance the next one he will be conscious and need to understand the distractions which often approach him and how to face them. Every distraction or disturbance will obstruct, prevent and hamper, as well as divert one’s attention from the focus and the purpose of worship. To understand the forms of distraction, al-Ghazali categorizes them into four types. Two temptations in the external environment or outside of the self, that is the affair of the world and man, whereas the other two temptations in the internal environment or within oneself are the animal soul and the devil. When qalb (heart) interacts with the external environment, then the animal soul and the devil react to it from the internal side of the man and work in the form of khathir (flashes of the heart). According to al-Ghazali, it is this khathir which whispers and bring bad behavior, such as mentioned in the surah An-Naas [114] verse 5 that “Alladzi yuwaswisufi sudurinnas”, the one who whispers (evil) into man’s heart. In the literature on cognitive behavior, there is a working principle which is the same as khathir (flashes of the heart) that is automatic thought which is the belief which will bring harm to oneself. It is called such because the thought itself occur very fast and could be realistic to the owner of the mind and could also occur in the form of a picture or an image.
Stage 4: ’Awaridh (problem)
After being able to manage the khathir or his flashes of heart and the distractions from the four sources, in this stage, the self is entering the discussion of knowing the problem which becomes the subject matter regarding preventing a person from thinking in the context of achieving the desired objective. There are four forms of man’s problem according to al-Ghazali, and generally, people consult their problems around these problems because it brings stressful condition to some people, which are:
- Concerning livelihood and the demand of desire. With too many desires and needs sometimes will busy the self in the form of thought and anxiety so it divert the focus of worship, even to the extent of experiencing narrowed heart and limited body movement and unsteadiness of the soul. In this problem, the adab and therapy is by tawakkal by standing upon the strength, intelligence, smartness, and perfect true faith upon Allah Ta’ala’s promise.
- It is in the form of all wants that flash in the mind (khathir) and the self is not sure whether there is goodness or badness in those wants, either the goodness which is feared and hoped, or the one which is wanted or hated. Despite that, one does not understand the positive and negative impacts. And the causal factor which occurs is still vague and not clear, so the self is drowned in the problem itself. As an effect, there is a possibility that the self is falling into desperation and self-destruction. This problem could be treated by teaching adab in the form of tafwidh that is to leave the choice or not choosing something in which there is something which bring anxiety by submitting all the wants to Allah Ta’ala who is the Ablest to Choose, so that Allah Ta’ala will choose for the best.
- Qadha or Allah’s decree, either the sweet one or the bitter one. Sometimes both forms of decree bring anxiety or sadness towards something that will happen or is yet to happen. Oftentimes, the animal soul brings anger and spread slander due to not being satisfied towards Allah Ta’ala’s decision. If the heart is filled with sadness and anger, is there any room for Allah in his heart? If that is happening, then the blessing in life will disappear. In this situation, the adab that could bring calmness to the heart is ridha (voluntarily accepting or receiving). Ridha or accepting is abandoning dissatisfaction, and it is mentioning something outside the one that decreed by Allah Ta’ala. For example, a woman failed to get married with his lover. Over time with the sadness which she experienced, she expresses “O Allah only if I did not fail to get married, indeed my condition will not be like this.”
- Misery and calamity are measured by the magnitude of the bitterness that is experienced, the amount of misery and disaster which one is going through, how hard the sadness and anxiety which he prevent, and how big the disaster which he met. The misery and disaster could bring anger, sadness, bad assumption and hatred toward the situation, all of which does not bring benefit and bring only helplessness. Then, the adab to calm it down is by performing patient.
Stage 5: Bawa’its (Motivation)
After passing stage four, the individual who is urged to do good will need a “driver” which is hoped to be able to push him to do goodness and obedience, as well as stimulating oneself to be more intensive in doing worship. He also needs a “preventor”, which is able to prevent him from doing badness and sin. The “driver” and “preventor” is referring to hope (raja’) and fear (khauf) because both are the emotional anchor to push to goodness and preventing from badness. “These (there) were ever quick in emulation in good works; they used to call on Us with love and reverence, and humble themselves before Us,” (Al-Anbiya’ [21]: 90).
Harapan Hope is the driver of great reward from Allah Ta’ala and many types of nobility that are promised. By remembering the greatness of the reward, the person will be driven into obedience, as well as moveing and providing stimulants on those activitives. Whereas, the fear is a preventor from the acute pain of Allah Ta’ala torture as well as difficulties. Exactly, both things are the anchor which is able to press and prevent it from violating God’s law, as well as keep him away from doing sin.
The function of anchor in raja’ (hope) is as a push toward obedience and activating ihtimal that is the power or endurance to bear a burden in many difficulties so the struggle to achieve the hope becomes something of ease and light. The attitude of ihtimal is described metaphorically by al-Ghazali with a bee farmer who is taking the honey, and he does not care about the sting of the bee when he remembers the sweetness of the honey.
In this stage, so that the individual is consistent in the path of goodness then he needs to make an anchor by doing the four muqaddimah (opening), on fear (khawf) and hope (raja’).
Stage 6: Qawadih (Destroyer)
This stage is the stage of rechecking the things that could destroy worship (qawadih) and brings heart diseases. Besides recognizing bad behavior which destroys the self in the past when facing the problem of life, the self also needs to recognize the thing which destroys worship. The destroyer of worship is a great threat in worshipping which could eradicate reward and destroys obedience. So that Allah Ta’ala accept the good deeds, then the person need sincerity so that he can go through this destructive stage in a serious, careful, and vigilant manner.
Knowing the destroyer of worship is within the phase of maintenance and preservation. By knowing this, we will be able to keep away from the characteristics of destroyer and the pattern which cause the coming heart disease as well as the bad behavior in the self. Indeed through this knowledge, we will be able to prevent ourselves from the pulls of bad habits in the past which are currently programmed to be weakened and eradicated.
Stage 7: Al-hamd wa Syukr (Praising and gratefulness)
This stage is the stage of praising (al-hamd) and thanking (asy-syukr) by taking troubled people to praise and thank Allah’s entire blessing. Rasulullah said: “Indeed blessings have savagery, like the savagery of the wild animal, so tied the blessing by being grateful.” And Allah said: “Yet was it ungrateful for the favours of Allah: so Allah made it taste of hunger and terror (in extremes) (closing in on it) like a garment (from every side), because of the (evil) which (its people) wrought.” (An-Nahl [16]:112).
The praise is an actualization of tasbih and tahlil which belongs to the category of external efforts. Whereas, gratefulness is an actualization of patience and submission and it is included in the category of internal effort. If a person is done going through this stage then the intention and purpose will be achieved. After that, the person will find easiness from Him, yearning, and His love.
Gratefulness is evidence that the person is aware of Allah’s blessing. In this stage, the troubled individual is practising (riyadhah) to develop a sense of gratefulness by means: First, to be aware of the giver of the blessing. Second, to be aware of the previously received blessings. And third, to make action-plan to use the blessings in goodness. Therefore, the individual needs to make a daily journal about what are the things that can be done from those blessing for goodness in the future as a form of gratefulness to Allah Ta’ala. So that this gratefulness could be a fortress to avoid misery, “What can Allah gain by your punishment, if ye grateful and ye believe?” (An-Nisa’ [4]:147). “And remember! Your Lord caused to be declared (publicly): “If ye are grateful, I will add more (favours) unto you; But if ye show ingratitude, truly My punishment is terrible indeed.” (Ibrahim [14]: 7).
Salam
Ricky Firmansyah
Director fo Ghazalian Institute
Founder of Ghazalian Psychology