Abstract:

This article aims to deal with the concept of faith from a psychological perspective, starting from the discussions on the science of kalam and evaluating Ibn Taymiyya's understanding of faith with the approach of the psychology of religion. The study is a conceptual, and topics and concepts will be discussed descriptively. In the article, first of all, the discussions about the nature of faith on the science of kalam will be discussed. Here, the discussions on the science of kalam will be limited to the issues that Ibn Taymiyya also mentioned in his works. In this way, the relationship between faith, affirmation, confession, knowledge, Islam, and deeds will be mentioned according to the science of kalam. Secondly, the psychological structure of faith will be discussed. Here, a conceptual analysis will be made by considering the individual’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects Following the article's primary purpose, the dimensions of acceptance/confirmation, knowledge, will, emotion, and surrender/behavior of faith will be discussed psychologically. In order to better analyze Ibn Taymiyya's understanding of faith, its comparison with the classical theological understanding and the psychological evaluation of his explanations about the dimensions of faith will be made. Comparisons and evaluations will be made by focusing on the emotional dimension of faith, which Ibn Taymiyyah conceptualized as works of the heart in his understanding of faith. The importance of the works of the heart for the psychology of faith will be discussed. As a result, the similarity of the concept that Ibn Taymiyya brought to the kalam literature in the form of heart deeds will be revealed with psychological phenomena such as love of Allah and trust in Allah, which are discussed in the context of the emotional dimension of faith in the psychology of religion.

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