Book Review 1: Abu Zayd Al-Balkhi's Sustenance of the Soul (Malik Badri)

Full title: Abu Zayd Al-Balkhi's Sustenance of the Soul; The Cognitive Behavior Therapy of a Ninth Century Physician 

Translation and annotation by : Prof. Dr. Malik Badri 

Publisher: International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) 

Pages: 71

Price: Bought at RM30.00 | Current price : RM38.00

Date of reprint: 2018

Bookstore: Pelita Dhihin bookstore on their official online bookstore, Kafilahbuku.com

Link to purchase: https://kafilahbuku.com/abu-zayd-al-balkhi-s-sustenance-of-the-soul-the-cognitive-behavior-therapy-of-a-ninth-century-physician?search=balkhi

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First of all, I have to warn you that this book is ALWAYS out of stock on kafilahbuku.com. Somehow I got lucky to actually get it back in 2018. I only finished reading it in September 2020. It's okay to keep your books piling as long as you actually read it one day. The truth is, I found this book by accident. I was aiming to collect all Prof Malik Badri's books for my personal future reference. The book on al-Balkhi turns out to be less popular than The Dilemma of Muslim Psychologists. However, this book is as precious as gold. 

Sustenance of the Soul is actually the second part of al-Balkhi's manuscript entitled Masalih al-Abdan wa al-Anfus (Sustenance for Bodies and Souls). The book actually begins with 10 pages of introduction on who Abu Zayd al-Balkhi is. 

Then Prof Malik Badri proceeds with an overview of Masalih al-Abdan wa al-Anfus manuscript, including the chapters and its contents. Interestingly, Prof Badri himself took the space to actually explain the significant contributions of al-Balkhi in modern medicine and psychology. In brief, he explained that al-Balkhi was a pioneer of psychosomatic medicine and cognitive therapy. Besides that, al-Balkhi was also a modern counselling psychologist and the first to discover the difference between endogenous and reactive depression. This part was also a gem as readers can be more familiar and develop a sense of appreciation towards this scholar. 

The next part is a complete translation of al-Balkhi's Sustenance of the Soul. Prof Malik Badri translated al-Balkhi's own words and added footnotes if further explanations are necessary. I do recommend the readers to actually read Prof's footnotes as the footnotes could guide us in understanding al-Balkhi's views and look into the matter via contemporary lens. Though al-Balkhi was a ninth-century physician, surprisingly his ideas are easy to be understood and relatable even in the 21st century. 

However, readers still need to be cautioned of outdated medical facts that al-Balkhi explained regarding bodily fluids. 

Chapters:

To further entice you in buying or at least reading this book, let me list out the chapters that are in al-Balkhi's Sustenance of the Soul:

Chapter 1 : Exposing the Great Need for Promoting the Sustenance of Souls
Chapter 2 : Sustenance of Psychological Health 
Chapter 3: Ways of Regaining Psychological Health when One Loses It
Chapter 4 : Enumerating the Psychological Symptoms (Disorders) and Specifying their Distinguishing Attributes
Chapter 5: How to Counteract Anger and Get Rid of It
Chapter 6 : Tranqulizing Fear
Chapter 7 : Methods of Dealing with Sadness and Depression 
Chapter 8 : Mental Maneuvers that Fend Off the Recurring Whispers of the Heart and the Obsessive Inner Speech of the Soul

Arabic Terms 

Since I like Arabic very much, I enjoyed relating to the transliterated Arabic terms that are mentioned in the book such as huzn (sadness), ghadab (anger) and others. It feels like connecting the dots of the Arabic terms for emotions and the psychological concepts of emotions. Besides that, it is not easy to get an accurate Arabic translation for psychology-related terms especially if it regarding diagnosis of psychological disorders (as it somehow must be related to DSM-V terms). 

Favorite part about the book:

I like how al-Balkhi shared coping mechanisms on how to deal with anger, sadness, depression, and obsessive thoughts.  He guided the readers with mental strategies or ways of thinking that relate back to the core beliefs in Islam, specifically Aqidah matters. 

Caution: 
The terms 'depression' used by al-Balkhi in this book may not entirely fulfill the criteria of a diagnosis of depression according to DSM-V. DSM-V stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) that are used as contemporary reference for symptoms of a mental disorder. 

Overall rating: 5 stars
Re-read: Yes
Recommended to: Muslim Psychology majors 

Enjoy reading!