Recasting the hierarchy of needs with an Islamic approach: Explaining the journey beyond self-actualization

Abstract

The human quest of becoming what one is capable of and even exceeding the limits of this ego-centered existence is one of the concerns in philosophical, psychological, and theological traditions. Among Western approaches of psychology, this quest of becoming is found in Abraham Maslow’s theory of self-actualization, which later included the concept of self-transcendence (Maslow, 1943, 1954, 1971). One limitation of Maslowian framework, is that it considers that human development begins with deficiency, lack or incompleteness, and gradually one proceeds towards self-actualization. Islamic tradition takes the human being with a very different ontological and epistemological start. Islamic psychology considers the beginning with fitrah—the primeval tendency ingrained in the human nature that motivates the self toward truth, moral consciousness, and recognition of the Divine (Qur’an 30:30). In this approach, development is not just a transition, a mere becoming, rather, it is remembrance, return and restoration of what is already there in the fitrah. The becoming is difficult due to the forgetfulness of soul but once attained it is a perfect realignment with an original metaphysical orientation which the soul already possessed. Keeping a comparative theoretical analysis of selfhood, this study explores the growth of the self that starts with fitrah, ascending through nafs dictating physiological, safety, social, and esteem needs, reaches self- actualization through Ruh (spirit), and culminating in self-transcendence manifested through fana (annihilation of ego) and baqa (subsistence in God). A psycho-spiritual journey carried throughout by mahabbah (love of God) and tazkiyah al-nafs (purification of the self).