Posted on 1. March 2015 by Roya Azal

“I once read about a Muslim man who was locked up in a Psychiatric hospital by his family. He begged a young Psychiatrist for help and repeated the Fatihah over and over again. What really got to me was the response of the Psychiatrist. He brushed the man off and could not see how that the man was calling for spiritual help. The most disturbing part for me was that the Psychiatrist himself was a Muslim.”

Popular 21st century medicine categorizes mental health and mental health problems along narrow and highly mechanical definitions of  social, psychological and brain functioning. Mental health “problems” are identified being either of a neurotic nature (psychological disorders without physiological cause, such as certain forms of phobias) or psychotic. A psychosis can be caused by outside factors such as social problems, as well as by internal factors such as metabolic problems, as well as by brain damage. The lines between what is considered neurotic and psychotic are very flux and get constantly re-defined by medicinal, psychiatric and psychological professionals.
“While some psychiatric medication can be valuable to intervene with self-destrutive and debilitating mental distress symptoms they are only in exceptional circumstance justifyable as a permanent treatment.”
Psychotic disorders (the list is not exhaustive) include Schizophrenia, Bi-polar disorder (manic-depressive), Depression, Drug-Withdrawal Symptoms, Manias, Dementia, Personality-Disorders and various forms of Amnesia. All too often very common symptoms of mental unwell-being get declared to be psychotic without proper diagnosis of the entire medicinal, social and personal spectrum of a patient. In other words: Who ever shows signs of mental or social unwellness, however short a period that may be and for whatever reason, can very quickly find themselves labelled as “psychotic”. While some psychiatric medication can be valuable to intervene with self-destrutive and debilitating mental distress symptoms they are only in exceptional circumstance justifyable as a permanent treatment.
“All psychiatric medication come with a wide range of side effects and most patients take a cocktail of psychiatric medications (cocktails of 8 different drugs and more are not unheard of) to counter the various side effects and end up being both drug addicted and debilitated.”
The common treatments for both neurosis and psychosis used to be either talk-therapy/psychotherapy within the various established guidelines of the psychological profession combined with a treatment of psychiatric medication. Medication is favored by psychiatrists.  However, medication is increasingly also favored by psychologists. Psychiatric medication can be prescribed by anybody with a medical degree, which includes general medical practisioners who have no in-depth training in neither psychology nor psychiatry. Unknown to many is the fact that most prescriptions for psychiatric medications such as for tranquilizers (such as valium), barbiturates (sleeping pills) and neuroleptika (such as Haldol) are issued by these general practisioners. All psychiatric medication come with a wide range of side effects and most patients take a cocktail of psychiatric medications (cocktails of 8 different drugs and more are not unheard of) to counter the various side effects and end up being both drug addicted and debilitated.

Sacred World Tree of Endless Roots
The drastic increase in the diagnosis of psychotic disorders in the populations world-wide has a couple of reasons, ranging from financial interests of the medicial professionals (who tend to be on reward schemes of pharmaceutical companies), the pharmaceutical industry and their marketing strategies, the discovery (or invention, depending on the point of view) of ever more psychotic disorders that require medication (ADD, Autism and so on), to the targeting of individuals, families and children through the State run social and medical care systems that increasingly enforce psychiatric medications on people to ensure “normal (mechanical) functioning”. Add to this a general mood of crisis, instability, war and diplacement, the worldwide financial crisis and so on and so forth, and the role of psychiatry in all this becomes rather questionable.
One wonders how anybody can deny any Muslim the belief, that torturers are possessed by evil ideas. Such evil ideas can also be described as spirits as they have in many ways a life on it’s own and have an overall occult signature to them. Certain dimensions of cruelty leave the human realm and appear other worldly for good reason.
The psychiatric profession is regularly critisized to be a tool of political groups and State interests and it is indeed so, that personal, political and social problems are not dealt with any longer in the liberal market dystopia, but are controlled through tools such as surveillance and psychiatry and it’s arsenal of medications, and “treatments” such as electro-shock which has gone through a disturbing PR make over since the 90s. It is more then just a side-note when I add here, that psychiatrists are part of the regular staff at Guantanamo Bay and that inmates are regularly ‘injected with mind altering drugs such as Haldol as well as chemically “restrained”. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/sj.2015.7
One wonders how anybody can deny anybody, not just Muslims, the belief, that torturers are possessed by evil ideas. Such evil ideas can also be described as evil spirits as they have in many ways a life on it’s own. Certain dimensions of cruelty leave the human realm and appear other worldly for good reason. Terrorist, drone soldier, torturer, populist politicans, conflict stirers, weapon dealers – what absurd and appaling, yet ever so powerful evil possesses them?
The Islamic believe in Jinn and other spirit beings has become a standard stereotype about Muslims when one starts talking about “Islam and Psychosis”. On the other hand one discovers quickly that Modernity’s (I use this term in a traditional sense, although I am not per se Anti-Modern) relationship to Muslims and the Islamic believe-systems reveals an endless amount about it’s own psychotic functioning, and the “bad spirits” and bad ideas that possess certain aspects of modern medicine and it’s “Menschenbild” (definition of humanity).  It is for this reason – to look closer as the relationship of “Islam and Psychosis” – that I am writing this short series on “Islam and Psychosis”. If you want to receive updates please subscribe to the newsletter

Category Archives: Islam & Psychiatry
Islam, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
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Esoteric Quarterly & Art Work for Hoger Institut, Belgium
Posted on 1. October 2017 by Roya Azal
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“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about.” ~ Dschalāl ad-Dīn ar-Rūmī
Autumn (2017) – I feel honored to be the featured artist for Esoteric Quarterly, an independent, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the trans-disciplinary investigation of the esoteric spiritual tradition.
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Sacred Dwellings: Celestial Gardens and Garden Artistry in Islam
Posted on 11. June 2017 by Roya Azal
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“O Marvel! A garden amidst the flames.” ~Ibn Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq
“We are unaware of our own manifestation in this garden, the narcissus does not see it’s own spring with it’s own eyes.” ~ Mir Dard
When do we really see and take in the delicate beauty of a flower, the majesty and care of trees, the ever changing colors, forms and appearances of a bloom?
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The Peonie: Queen of Islamic Floral Art
Posted on 17. March 2017 by Roya Azal
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“During the night the Peonie spends medicine and healing, during the day the beautiful “Rose with no thorns” is protected by a jealous bird.”
The Peonie (Paeonia officinalis) is known in phytology lore as “Fuga Demonica” – a repellent against bad energies and demons. It is a medical rose that came back to medieval Europe via the Islamic world from China (who imported it – via Arab, Persian and Syrian traders – originally from ancient Greece). The Peonie is a very stately flowering bush with large, lush dark pink, purple and rose tinted blooms. She is a wonderful floral gift for women.
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Learning from Khidr and Trees – My Life in the Forests
Posted on 2. December 2016 by Roya Azal
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“You think you are a small entity, but within you is enfolded the entire Universe” – Ali ibn Talib (as)
“It is God who splits open the seed and the fruit stone. He brings out the living from the dead, and the dead from the living.” ~ Quran, Surat 6:100
One of the great blessings in my life are my encounters with Al-Khidr, the green spirit (Khiḍr resembles the word “green” in Arabic, though others give other etymologies for the name). One afternoon in England – in a park with a small forest – I encounterd a bright green light (that’s Clorophyl) in the moss and ever since I follow this light and began a conversation with trees and everything that grows. With time I learned more about the vast interconnected natural networks that surround us and I began to venture deeper into communicating and seeking to learn from them.
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Re-Framing Psychosis and the Psychotic Muslim
Posted on 24. November 2016 by Roya Azal
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“So the first step in working with the psychotic individual is to get to know the person’s psychosis – begin to understand the person’s reifications. There is ALWAYS method to the madness.”
Our mental health “issues” deserve to be treated with respect and dignity – our issues relate to our untold stories, our pain our persecution and our ancestral and present-day experiences. There is no dignity in “tricking” those who got stories to tell. I am hence not supporting to “trick” the Jinn, as Jinns are in my book, the Quran and some other books too, sacred story tellers about our sadness, madness, condemption and redemption. Almost all mental ailments require engagement, not supression. And last but not least: Psychiatric medication can be extremely debilitating and can damage our brain, our metabolism, our natural bio-energy flow and pur subtle bodies.
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Spiritual Signatures in Illness and Remedies to Counter Them
Posted on 25. April 2016 by Roya Azal
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“Typhus has a part in Spanish history. The old Spanish name for it was Tarbardoillo, from the word for a red cloak, inspired by the crimson red rash which is one of the symptoms of epedemic typhus fever (…)”~ Spanish Mountain Life, Juliette de Bairacli Levy
The disease was brought to Spain as long ago as the 13th century, by soldiers returning from Cyprus. At the siege of Granada later in the 15th century, typhus was an important factor in aiding Spanish victory, as the fever became epedemic amongst the Moorish defenders and slew more of them then any other weapon of war.” ~ Spanish Mountain Life, Juliette de Bairacli Levy
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About Death and our Minds
Posted on 18. March 2016 by Roya Azal
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“These deaths of dear friends marked the end of the last year for me and before I could even fully comprehend what had happened, many political events took place that grabbed my attention.”
Two friends have died just before the end of last year whose friendship meant much to me. May their souls rest in peace.
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Love Between Humans and Jinn
Posted on 22. August 2015 by Roya Azal
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Jeki Bud, Jeki Na Bud (It was, it was not) ~ Beginning of Fairy Tales in Persian
“So let us return to the matter in hand: this spiritual world surely takes on many different forms and manifests in perceptible forms.” ~ Ibn Arabi, in Futūhāt al-Makkiyya
Once upon a time…
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An Alchemical Marriage of Health and Spirit: Salt
Posted on 1. August 2015 by Roya Azal
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“Consume a small amount of salt before your meal”. ~ Prophet Muhammed (a.s)
The Prophet Muhammed (a.s) recommended to consume a small amount of salt before the actual meal. It seems to contradict modern medical wisdom, which stresses the harmful effects of excess salt consumption. However, a knowledge of the metabolism of the body illustrates the wisdom of this suggestion as well. Natural (not industrial) salt is composed of two key chemicals: sodium and chloride. The chlorides present in salt constitute the only readily available source of chlorides with which the body can manufacture hydrochloric acid, vital for proper digestion in the stomach. Thus, taking in a small amount of salt prior to the meal allows any deficiency of hydrochloric acid to be made up just before introducing new food. (Transmission after Chisthi)
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Protection from Mental Abuse and Manipulation
Posted on 22. July 2015 by Roya Azal
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“I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak. From the evil of that which He created. And from the evil of darkness when it settles. And from the evil of the blowers in knots. And from the evil of an envier when he envies.” ~ Surat Al-Falaq
“I wanted to go and study the religion … hoping that Allah is gonna cure me one day from the evil inside that I used to believe. But the doctors are saying it’s not evil — it’s mental illness.” ~ Sami Osmakac

Fatimah’s (as) Fire Place