Malik Badri, professor of psychology, and member of the British Psychological Association since 1977, has gone out.

In the report published by the French site "mizane info", the writer Yannis Miel said that history will witness the achievements of this scholar, teacher and Islamic thinker.

Malik Badri moved to the top companion on Monday 8 February 2021 in Malaysia, where he was receiving care 8 days before his 89th candle was extinguished.

He was born on February 16, 1932, and grew up in the Riffa region in Sudan.

Living through different eras and historical events.

His father, Babiker Badri, was a sheikh who was appreciated and respected by the Sudanese due to his pioneering role in promoting women's education and the establishment of the Ahfad School in 1907.

Malik was a serious student and passionate about science, as he traveled to Lebanon, and there he obtained a BA in Psychology from the American University of Beirut in 1956, then continued his education in England, and in 1958 he obtained an MA from the University of Leicester, then a Ph.D. in 1961.

In 1966, he obtained a post-doctoral degree from the Department of Psychiatry at Middlesex Hospital, University of London.

In 1977 he was elected a member of the British Psychological Association.

He was appointed an expert for UNESCO, and the World Health Organization chose him as a member of the Traditional Medicine Committee in 1980.

A spiritual approach to psychology

The writer said that Malik Badri developed an Islamic approach to psychology, by linking Islamic spiritual concepts with concepts of Western psychology, thus adding his voice to the voice of Muslim authors who theoretically nourished his approach to the "Islamization of knowledge", similar to Mawdudi.

Malik has been influenced by Western authors who denounce the dominance of Freudian theses and promote the behavioral therapy thesis, such as the British psychologist (of German origin) Hans Eysenck and the South African psychiatrist Joseph Wallb.

In London, he studied under Dr. Victor Meyer, a British psychiatrist and founder of the British Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapy, who was known at the time as a pioneer in the field of behavioral therapy.

Dr. Badri was trusted and appreciated by Meyer and even sent some of his patients to supervise their treatment.

Badri criticized some behavioral therapy approaches and was quick to question the approach that had practically turned patients into "Pavlovian dogs".

He also believed in a "humane" approach to psychology and in patient self-consideration through dialogue and listening.

His work on this topic was published in the late 1960s in the American Journal of Psychology, which described him as a "pioneer" in the transition from behavioral therapy to cognitive therapy.

This new approach has humanized behavioral therapy.

Over time, his theories proved successful.

His vast experience - as a therapist in the Islamic world, such as Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco - enabled him to apply his treatment methods to many Muslim patients.

He achieved impressive results due to the adaptation of his treatments to the Islamic cultural context.

These practical experiences also fed his theoretical thinking.

Psychology and Culture

Badri introduced psychological data and approaches in the history of Islamic thought, so he wrote a rich work on the encyclopedic physicist Abu Zaid Al-Balkhi in the ninth century, and extracted from his book "The Interests of Bodies and Souls" as a therapeutic method to enhance mental and physical health.

Al-Balkhi spoke centuries before Europeans of the difference between psychosis and neurosis, and classified emotional disorders according to a very "recent" classification.

Some of the writings of leading classical Muslim scholars - such as Al-Ghazali, Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah, Ibn Sina, and Al-Razi - can be considered pioneers in cognitive behavioral therapy.

The writer emphasized that psychology is closely linked to the cultural and intellectual environment;

So Malik Badri encouraged Muslim psychologists to study classical Muslim authors, and expressed his regret that Western psychology researchers considered that only Greek philosophers were pioneers in this field, completely ignoring Muslim authors such as Al-Balkhi.

Malik is also known for his works and writings on AIDS, addiction, and medical ethics, and his criticism of human sciences teaching in the Islamic world, death, and innovative treatments against phobias and anxiety, in light of a "spiritual and Islamic Islamic" curriculum. He has books in Arabic and English, most notably the "AIDS catastrophe", and “Islam and Analytical Psychology,” and “Islam and Alcoholism.”

His revolutionary work earned him the title "Father of Modern Islamic Psychology".

His numerous books on this subject attest to his significant contributions to the emergence of "Islamic psychology".

Malik Badri's works were famous and appreciated by many Muslim societies in the Western English-speaking countries and by many Western authors and scholars.

Traveler Psychologist

He spent some time in the United States in the 1970s, particularly in Chicago, where he met Imam Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, and expressed his regret that the latter had not used his charisma and influence "to promote true Islam in the United States".

Malik Badri knew - personally - Muslim leaders and thinkers who left their mark in the twentieth century, so he got to know the Pakistani Abu Al-Ala Al-Mawdudi, who admired his moral commitment, humble lifestyle, intellectual depth and educational method.

He also had relationships with personalities such as Dr. Ishaq Al-Farhan from Jordan, and Dr. Saeed Ramadan from Egypt, but the most important character he had a friendship with is Malcom X.

While he was a prominent "minister" of the Nation of Islam movement, Malcolm X traveled in 1959 to various countries in Africa and the Middle East, with the aim of promoting his organization, but this trip marked the beginning of a transformation for the famous African-American leader. When he arrived in Sudan in the summer of 1959, Malik Badri took care of him. And wandered with him in Khartoum and Omdurman.

In a smart way, Malik Badri spoke with Malcolm X about monotheism, the Prophet Muhammad Khatam of the Prophets, and the story of the Companions.

Badri remembers that Malcolm X listened intently to him and seemed to ponder everything he had discovered.

Malcolm X admired Sudan and the Sudanese, their history, ingenuity, and cultural development.

He also took many photos to explain to his followers once again that Africa is the land of civilization, unlike the image that is being promoted in the United States.