A Critique of Freud’s Theory Regarding Man’s Personality Structure from the Quran Perspective

Abstract

Throughout the history of man, the Almighty assigned prophets to lead human beings. Along the same lines, the Almighty assigned the last prophet and provided him with the last divine book to offer to the people and lead them through the most complete religion. Hence this religion and its book would be a criterion for evaluating man’s thoughts. Freud was among one of the theoreticians who had an influential effect in human societies. He had a numerous theories regarding man, one of which was the description of human personality with the three concepts of id, ego, and super-ego. which opposes and is in contradiction with the teachings of the Quran. Hence, this study is after critically analyzing the structure of man’s personality from the Quran perspective. The findings of the study showed: (1) Freud seems to exclusively believe in one sole physical dimension for a man and no other dimensions while based on the Quran perspective and teachings, man is composed of the two dimensions of body and soul; (2) based on the Quran perspective, man is continually under the exposure of the two pulling and pushing forces of Havaye Nafs [Fads or wishes] and wisdom; (3) from the Quran standpoint, the personality of an individual is composed of three levels or layers: Nafs Ammarah; Nafs Lavvamah; and Nafs Motmaennah; and (4) there is reference to and confirmation of the hidden angles of human psych or mind in the holy Koran; yet, there is no reference to any hidden file for the repressed wishes.