Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

[Indian Bro]

As-salamu alaykum,

According to 'Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs' theory, humans must go through various stages of growth in life to finally reach what all of us eventually wish to attain - self-actualization. Self actualization is a stage when one finally reaches his/her ultimate potential in life, when one is at the peak of his/her happiness. To reach this state one must go through various stages in terms of:

1. Physiological needs (Air, food, water, sleep)
2. Safety needs (House, resources, employment)
3. Belongingness and Love (Friendship, family, sexual intamacy)
4. Esteem needs (Confidence, respect, self-esteem)
5. Self-actualization (Peak of a human being, happiest state)

Maslow also insisted "self-actualisation...rarely happens...certainly in less than 1% of the adult population." This hierarchy of human motivation follows a particular pattern which may lead to an end result all humans strive for.

Although this theory did come under criticism from different view points, nothing particularly was mentioned about a view of this theory from a religious perspective. According to me, as a Muslim I cannot deny that every human being requires the first stage to achieve "Self-actualization", which is "Physiological needs", because it's hard to imagine that one can be happy without air, water as we need these in order to live. However, I don't think anyone needs the other 3 stages, i.e. Safety needs, belongingness and love, esteem needs, in order to achieve self-actualization. I can state as a fact (from my observation of self and others) that closeness to Allah (s.w.t.) is more than what anyone else can desire to really achieve self-actualization. I always feel faith can turn around any negative emotion and a materialism approach is not required at all for one to attain the peak of happiness. In-fact, a materialism approach is more likely to lead to depression and unfulfilled happiness as Maslow himself claimed that only 1% of the adult population actually achieves the final stage of his hierarchy, so what happens to the other 99%? Do they die failing to reach their highest potential of happiness?

My point of this thread was to prove that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs does not apply to us Muslims, as we don't believe in the materialism approach but rather follow the approach of faith and this is, in my opinion the best way to successfully achieve self-actualization. The closer you get to Allah (s.w.t.) the happier you'll be with your life.

May Allah Almighty guide us all to the straight path.

Salam 3laikum

 

[ardianto]

If you come to my office you could see a donation box from Rumah Zakat Indonesia. This is a big and famous zakat institution that established by Abu Syauqi, who was my brother schoolmate. When Abu Syauqi was teen he active in collecting donation from wealthy people and gave these donation to the poor. Later, after he became adult he started thinking to build a zakat institution. And not just thinking, Abu Syauqi really establish this zakat institution, from small until became a big zakat institution with branches in many cities in Indonesia.

This is an example of how Muslims actualize themselves.

Back to Abraham Mazlow's statement "self-actualisation...rarely happens...certainly in less than 1% of the adult population". Many people are thinking "I want to do ..... I want to be .....", but how many of them who really do something and not just dreaming?.

 

[Abdul Fattah]

Aselam aleykum

From my point of view maslows's hierarchy makes perfect sense, and I think his views are perfectly compatible with Islam as well for that matter.

However, I don't think anyone needs the other 3 stages, i.e. Safety needs, belongingness and love, esteem needs, in order to achieve self-actualization.

Well, no disrespect intended, but in your profile you say you're still a student, right? So you already enjoy the safety and shelter of somebody else I presume? But if you're a father and have a family relying on you, you won't be happy living in the streets. Of course it could be that you are satisisfied with your predicament, and try to get over it with the consilodation that there's life after death, and that life is a test and what-not. That is of course possible, but that's not what Maslow was saying. What Maslow is saying is that our needs have a hierachy. Like if we fast and get hungry, we don't have such a sexual drive. That doesn't mean that we are at that point unable to have sex. It only means it's not on the top of our mind, because our need for food is higher in the ranking. So if you have neither self-actualisation nor shelter, then shelter is the one that will have your mind occipied, and you will not be worrying about your lack of self-actualisation in such a position.

On another note, I don't think you fully understand what is meant by self-actualisation. Off course anybody can be close with Allah, but that will not guarantee that your need of self-actualisation is met. and by that I don't mean to belittle closeness to Allah. What I am saying is that the two aren't the same thing. You can be feeling close to Allah, and still be insecure. You can feel close to Allah, and still be unspontaneous, or prejudesced. Self actualisation means that you are as a person in balance. In balance with yourself, with your enviroment with the world. That your emotional and rational thoughts are synchronised, that you understand yourself, that you understand your world, and that you understand how you fit into this world. Of course religion might be a part of that, but that still doesn't show that one guarantees the other nor vice versa.

So conclusion; yeah Maslow's hierarchy of needs applies to Muslims just the same.

 

[Indian Bro]

Aselam aleykum

From my point of view maslows's hierarchy makes perfect sense, and I think his views are perfectly compatible with Islam as well for that matter.



Well, no disrespect intended, but in your profile you say you're still a student, right? So you already enjoy the safety and shelter of somebody else I presume? But if you're a father and have a family relying on you, you won't be happy living in the streets. Of course it could be that you are satisisfied with your predicament, and try to get over it with the consilodation that there's life after death, and that life is a test and what-not. That is of course possible, but that's not what Maslow was saying. What Maslow is saying is that our needs have a hierachy. Like if we fast and get hungry, we don't have such a sexual drive. That doesn't mean that we are at that point unable to have sex. It only means it's not on the top of our mind, because our need for food is higher in the ranking. So if you have neither self-actualisation nor shelter, then shelter is the one that will have your mind occipied, and you will not be worrying about your lack of self-actualisation in such a position.

On another note, I don't think you fully understand what is meant by self-actualisation. Off course anybody can be close with Allah, but that will not guarantee that your need of self-actualisation is met. and by that I don't mean to belittle closeness to Allah. What I am saying is that the two aren't the same thing. You can be feeling close to Allah, and still be insecure. You can feel close to Allah, and still be unspontaneous, or prejudesced. Self actualisation means that you are as a person in balance. In balance with yourself, with your enviroment with the world. That your emotional and rational thoughts are synchronised, that you understand yourself, that you understand your world, and that you understand how you fit into this world. Of course religion might be a part of that, but that still doesn't show that one guarantees the other nor vice versa.

So conclusion; yeah Maslow's hierarchy of needs applies to Muslims just the same.

As-salamu alaykum,

Brother, when you say "You wont be happy living in the streets", I can assure you that I'll be happy no matter what state or condition Allah (s.w.t.) puts me in because whatever you have is what Allah (s.w.t.) wants you to have. I would strive to make the most out of my life but I would never be disheartened or feel upset if i was in the streets. My point was, if you look at all the "needs" to reach "self-actualization", all of them are provided by Allah (s.w.t.), if you don't have them or haven't achieved them does that mean you'll feel incomplete or unhappy? No, because you'll be happy no matter what you have as long as you have full faith in Allah (s.w.t.). My family has had some financial problems and if anything, It's made me much more humble and closer to Allah (s.w.t.) and a much more happier person, this is contrary to what Maslow claims. This doesn't mean that if you're in a good financial position you cannot get close to Allah (s.w.t.), but I'm only pointing out that you don't need those particular needs Maslow speaks of to reach "self-actualization". Simply put, I feel when you put your full faith in Allah (s.w.t.) you reach "Self-actualization".

A beggar in the streets can be a more happy than a king of a nation if that beggar has more faith than the king. Likewise an unmarried, unemployed, homeless orphan can also be happier than a married, wealthy parent who has a luxurious lifestyle if the orphan has higher faith. Reason being because the orphan knows this world is only temporary and the hereafter is more enduring.

Salam 3laikum

 

[~Zaria~]

Assalamu-alaikum,

JazakAllah khair for an interesting thread.

Just wanted to share the following article: The Islamic Version of Maslows Hierachy of Needs : )

Ibrahim’s (عليه السلام) Hierarchy of Needs
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Posted by Muhammad Awais Tahir
​

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is a theory in Psychology that is taught in universities to students studying behavioral sciences. It is also taught to Marketing Students to understand basic needs of Consumers.

In his study of the theory, Maslow, studied the lives of what he called as ‘exemplary’ people like Albert Einstein, whom he thought to be ‘complete’ in contrast to people who had some mental or psychological illness. Abraham Maslow is considered to be one of the founders of Humanistic Psychology, and his theory is rather a ‘humanistic approach to self-actualization’. This theory was fully elaborated in his book Motivation and Personality.

His theory is well-understood in form of a pyramid with the most basic need at the bottom:

Maslow suggests that the most basic needs must be met before the need of going to the next level if strongly felt. Critics have argued that Maslow’s theory is influenced by his ethnic background. Others have argued that his theory is a strictly individualistic approach to needs. His humanistic views seem to have deeply influenced the theory as well which is evident in the use of word ‘esteem’ instead of religion. So, there are disagreements on either the correct hierarchy of needs, or whether there is any such generic hierarchy at all.

Any study on the hierarchy of human needs, with religious doctrines as the founding principles will deeply change Maslow’s theory because:

[1] The invisible self (spirit, روح) has been ignored by humanist psychologist. A comprehensive understanding of human needs, involves the understanding the needs of the human animalistic self, and the meta-physical self, and the results of their fusion.

[2] The belief that God, as creator, understands humans more than they do themselves. The guidance manual revealed by God tells us much more accurately how to classify and arrange human needs.

[3] The belief in the here-after, changes the line of action and life-styles and divides needs into worldly needs and eternal needs. The belief that the life in this world, is like a day spend in a hotel, and the real destination is yet to come. It also gives rise to the concept of ‘ultimate need’ or ‘ultimate success’.

[4] Humans are born on the true-faith, but as they grow up, their understanding of needs is highly influenced by what is taught to them, and the life-style they are made to idealize.

[5] Prophets were complete humans sent by Allah, so, a religious study of hierarchy of needs would study the lives of Prophets and not those considered to be complete by humans today by using material or normative standards of excellence.



Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) left his wife Hajirah (Peace be upon her) and his child Ismael (Peace be upon him) in Makkah, when it was a completely deserted. There was no source of food or water around. As a man who understood the reality of this world, and the exact hierarchy of needs, this is what Ibrahim prayed for his wife and son:

رَّبَّنَا إِنِّي أَسْكَنتُ مِن ذُرِّيَّتِي بِوَادٍ غَيْرِ ذِي زَرْعٍ عِندَ بَيْتِكَ الْمُحَرَّمِ رَبَّنَا لِيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ فَاجْعَلْ أَفْئِدَةً مِّنَ النَّاسِ تَهْوِي إِلَيْهِمْ وَارْزُقْهُم مِّنَ الثَّمَرَاتِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَشْكُرُونَ


​

O our Lord! Surely I have settled a part of my offspring in a valley unproductive of fruit near Thy Sacred House, our Lord! That they may keep up prayer; therefore make the hearts of some people yearn towards them and provide them with fruits; haply they may be grateful. (Surah Ibrahim 14:38)


[1] Many Prophet’s went through a training period in isolation, away from the World.

Musa (Peace be upon him) spent forty days at the Mount of Tur and Muhammad (Peace be upon him) went to the Cave of Hira.
Similarly, the isolation in the desert will force Hajirah to ask the most basic questions, and convince her on the invisible realities. The belief that the invisible realities are more real than the visible one, is the ‘self-actualization’ in Islam. This is from where the journey starts. If you haven’t understood your correct composition, you might be correctly fulfilling the needs of your visible self, but you might be totally ignoring the invisible self.

[2] Having understood that there is an invisible self in you and that is continually hoping to connect to his Lord (Allah), now you need to know the means and way to connect to your Lord. That is why Ibrahim prayed to Allah to guide them to Salah (prayer).

[3] Next, he asked Allah to bend people’s heart’s towards them, that is some-what similar to love/belonging need in Maslow’s hierarchy.

[4] In the end, he did d’ua for their physiological needs that is represented by food in Ibrahim’s prayer.


Regarding security, he took the ‘risk’ of leaving his family in the middle of the desert, because he had left them under the protection of Allah. There is no ‘limit’ to the extent one can go to safeguard his resources, employment, health etc.

With the belief in ultimate protector (God), you need not worry too much, because you believe in his distribution, and you believe that this life is not where you are going to get everything.

The concept of Shukar (being grateful) mentioned in the end of the above Ayah, is of core importance.
Thanking Allah, whether or not you have variety of food around you to choose from, or diverse range of clothes to select from, is a manifestation of Shukar. You thank Allah for blessing you with the most important and the most basic need, the faith, which in essence is related directly with self-actualization.

Everyone in this world is on an intentional or unintentional hunt for inner gratification. The paths adopted for that inner bliss are fairly diverse, and one can go on trying to earn it in fulfilling the desires and ‘basics’ needs, but it would all end up in a failure, because of the forgotten ‘basic’ need of the invisible self.

So, you can have the sense of ‘all-needs’ fulfilled through inner-gratification, whereas you might be struggling to make both ends meet, and as per Maslow you are still at the bottom of the pyramid.

So, the root-need is self-gratification, and that is only possible through the path laid down by Allah.

Everyone is born already self-actualized, that is on fitrah, and his upbringing might disrupt how he perceives the ‘realities’ once he’s ‘mature’. He might have to rediscover or refresh the reality. And when he knows that the reality is beyond the evident, he’d look for the divine guidance, and revealed steps to reach self-gratification through them.

Then he feeds his soul through the revealed guidance, and feels a strong connection with his Lord, and a time comes when even his wishes become according to what Allah wishes. And, hence, the progress in the right direction increases his inner bliss.

The physiological needs, Safety and Love/belonging etc. are just a fuel for life.
They are not an end-goal in themselves or the primary needs. In general, they are ‘necessary’ in pursuing the path to self-gratification, but there can be exceptions to that even. There example of the physiological issues faced by Prophet Ayub (Peace be upon him) is of great importance, and also the social loneliness of Prophet Nuh.

After the definition of the ultimate-need as the gratification of the inner-self in this dunyah (world) and Jannah (paradise) in the next, we’ve seen that people have adopted different paths reaching the ultimate-need.

There have been people, who’ve been forced to re-think their beliefs because their treasure of money, fame, power didn’t repel the thought of something ‘missing’. And there have been others, who directed their hunt to the correct high-way when sufferings attacked them i.e. the scarcity of the so-called basic needs.

The Maslow’s hierarchy is therefore biased and flawed, and it’s almost impossible to establish such a generic hierarchy.

The theory gives people an impression, that gratification of the inner self is the stage that comes at the very end, where in-fact, it should be the very-root of life, and that is the only real-need in this worldly life.

Maslow’s hierarchy gives a false impression that physiological needs are the most important one, and that’s because he selected the wrong people to base his research on.

Ideal understanding of the needs, would be understood be taking the lives of ideals (i.e. Prophets) as test-cases. Finally, an inverted and slightly customized pyramid would be more accurate than the real Maslow’s pyramid.


Source

 

[Indian Bro]

As-salamu alaykum,

JazakAllah khairan sister Zaria for this valuable piece of information, I was totally unaware of this perspective and it has definitely enlightened me a great deal with regards to the relationship between Maslow's theory and the Islamic view.
Another reminder that we should be grateful to our Creator for whatever we have... And this is one of the lessons of this thread!

May Allah (s.w.t.) guide us all to the straight path.

Salam 3laikum

 

[aamirsaab]

In fairness to Maslow, he never based his pyramid on religious folks in the first place. It was just a basic and general approach for sorting out human psychological needs in an understandable format. I don't really understand why his theory is being criticised in relation to cherry picked moments of some of our Prophets' life either...especially when most of the examples used are extreme circumstances and many of the Prophets had actually met a number of those psychological need too (Nuh [saw] wasn't ALWAYS alone; Ibrahim [saw] may have left his wife and son, be he did have a family right?)

Yeah I'll accept criticism of his hierarchy of needs as I would any psychological methodology, but your criticism actually has to have a point. Criticising him on the bases of neglecting extreme circumstances is a bit much tbh.

The criticism based on individualism is however sound, and that's where his real bias lies. But guess what, it doesn't make the theory un-islamic or wrong because of it. A lot of the stuff on the pyramid still applies to people regardless of their imaan level or religious affiliation for that matter (only a few things really change but that's the exact same inherent flaw in any individualist-based theory - Religious folk tend to be more on the moralistic or communistic side of things, so self-gratification would not be relevant for example)

 

[Indian Bro]

In fairness to Maslow, he never based his pyramid on religious folks in the first place. It was just a basic and general approach for sorting out human psychological needs. I don't really understand why his theory is being criticised in relation to Islam...especially seeing it never was intended to reflect that!

As-salamu alaykum,

Brother, are you implying that Maslow only intended this theory to be applicable towards atheists? If so, then I would just mention that Maslow based his research and studies on religious people, so I do believe he conveyed that his theory applies to both theists as well as atheists. Please correct me if I am mistaken

Salam 3laikum

 

[Abz2000]

Salamz brother, nice post.
Just wanted to mention that the inverted hierarchy, not even inverted but looped, was accepted and put into actual practice by another man by the name of Abraham (pbuh),
He also proved that it worked when his wife (as) needed sustenance to suckle her child,
It was so important that Allah (swt) mentioned it here:

رَبَّنا إِنّى أَسكَنتُ مِن ذُرِّيَّتى بِوادٍ غَيرِ ذى زَرعٍ عِندَ بَيتِكَ المُحَرَّمِ رَبَّنا لِيُقيمُوا الصَّلوٰةَ فَاجعَل أَفـِٔدَةً مِنَ النّاسِ تَهوى إِلَيهِم وَارزُقهُم مِنَ الثَّمَرٰتِ لَعَلَّهُم يَشكُرونَ

\"O our Lord! I have made some of my offspring to dwell in a valley without cultivation, by Thy Sacred House
; in order, O our Lord, that they may
establish regular Prayer:
so fill the hearts of some among
the people with love towards them,
and feed them with fruits:
so that they may give thanks.

Quran 14:37

Brother Anwar Al Awlaki (may Allah grant him status among the highest) mentioned it in one of his lectures and he went into a lot of detail, I think it was "Ibrahim (as) - lives of the Prophets - by imam Anwar Al Awlaki (do a search on the torrents).

 

[~Zaria~]

Assalamu-alaikum,


Apart from what is mentioned in the article, these are some of my own reservations with his theory:

Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher level needs.

- While none can disagree that the basic physiologic needs are critical for survival.....how does 'sex' become a basic need (along with food, water and breathing)?

- How many starving/ ill people turn towards God in repentance and supplication, often more so than the one who has been blessed abundantly.
('Likewise, many of the best and most creative painters and poets – who Maslow would describe as self-actualising – were starving in attics when they did their best work. e.g. where would Vincent van Gogh sit on the hierarchy of needs?')

In other words, how would it be possible for these people to surpass 4 levels of needs to reach this level of 'self-actualization' (according to Maslows theory)?


Other mainstream (not islamically influenced) critisicms of his theory include the fact that:

- Higher needs can sometimes become so strong that they override the lower needs: the need for recognition for example can overcome the need to survive (may be called courage).

- People do not always automatically move from one, satisfied need to a higher one. It’s not because someone’s physiological and safety needs are satisfied that he or she necessarily strives towards recognition or self-development.

- Also, who determines that a particular need is “higher” than another?
Clearly, different cultures place different emaphasis on diffferent needs - so a Muslim (or any other religious scholar) will place 'self-actualisation' much earlier than the actor/ singer who is striving for 'esteem' and fame.


*******

On a general note, I think that we should remember that psychology in itself is mostly based on the opinions (based on some observations) of men......that have been adopted and marketted through ages as 'truth'.
Alhamdulillah, Islam has all the answers, to every aspect of life - and often, when we use this as our starting point, we realise that what the world has gracefully accepted, may actually be fundamentally flawed.


Just my 2 cents......


:wa:

 

[aamirsaab]

As-salamu alaykum,

Brother, are you implying that Maslow only intended this theory to be applicable towards atheists? If so, then I would just mention that Maslow based his research and studies on religious people, so I do believe he conveyed that his theory applies to both theists as well as atheists. Please correct me if I am mistaken

Salam 3laikum

I'm saying he had a generalist and broad approach with his pyramid. The hierarchy of needs he developed covers pretty much everything a human being requires for mental psychological and social stability in a predominantly western (and thus, individualistic) environment.

This being said, you could also argue that it fits certain religion criterion too what with the morality and lack of prejudice aspects in the top section of the pyramid.

Assalamu-alaikum,


Apart from what is mentioned in the article, these are some of my own reservations with his theory:

Maslow's theory suggests that the most basic level of needs must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the secondary or higher level needs.

- While none can disagree that the basic physiologic needs are critical for survival.....how does 'sex' become a basic need (along with food, water and breathing)?

Sex along with the food, water etc all came under the physiological tier of the pyramid. His point was, this is the primary physical stuff needed for basic human needs. Since sex (or procreation if you will) is physical and doesn't really fit into any other of the categories, it makes sense to be placed in the physiological tier

- How many starving/ ill people turn towards God in repentance and supplication, often more so than the one who has been blessed abundantly.
('Likewise, many of the best and most creative painters and poets – who Maslow would describe as self-actualising – were starving in attics when they did their best work. e.g. where would Vincent van Gogh sit on the hierarchy of needs?')

In other words, how would it be possible for these people to surpass 4 levels of needs to reach this level of 'self-actualization' (according to Maslows theory)?

These are examples of extreme circumstances and thus the entire pyramid doesn't apply to them (it was never designed to do so either)

Other mainstream (not islamically influenced) critisicms of his theory include the fact that:

- Higher needs can sometimes become so strong that they override the lower needs: the need for recognition for example can overcome the need to survive (may be called courage).

This is true but Maslow is not arguing this point. He's simply formalising human needs in a readable format.

- People do not always automatically move from one, satisfied need to a higher one. It’s not because someone’s physiological and safety needs are satisfied that he or she necessarily strives towards recognition or self-development.

True. But all he's actually saying is humans generally work up this pyramid ; after the physiological needs are met, then you look for security for example, then onto social side of things.

- Also, who determines that a particular need is “higher” than another?
Clearly, different cultures place different emaphasis on diffferent needs - so a Muslim (or any other religious scholar) will place 'self-actualisation' much earlier than the actor/ singer who is striving for 'esteem' and fame.

Again, true. A lot of Western Psychology based on a western individualistic basis and as I said in previous post, this is where the real criticism lies. It doesn't account for non-western or cultural differences so of course certain aspects are going to be different.

We all need food and water first and foremost because we will die without it. Shelter of course helps, but would you honestly place that before food and water? Self actualisation and esteem I will give you as this varies quite a bit depending on the people and their religious affiliation, but generally speaking the first three tiers I think we'd all agree are in a reasonably accurate position.

 

[Abdul Fattah]

Indian Bro,
Aselam aleykum

First of all, I don't think you get what maslow's theory is about. It is not a list of which priority you need to get first, and it is not a checklist on how to become happy. What Maslow is saying basically is, that if two needs are not met, then the one of the first stages will be what you are longing for. Off course you can find shelter when you don't have food. It's not about what you are 'able' to get or accomplish. Its about which need is strongest in your mind if you don't have it. Maslow doesn't say that you need all these things before you can accomplish self-actualisation. What he's saying is that you will not worry about your self-actualisation, if you still have other needs that are not furfilled. And in that Maslows theory works for everybody, Muslim, non-muslims, materialists, hermits. Your personal views will not affect the physical and emotional desires you have hard-wired inside of you. Of course you can choose to ignore a certain need/desire, or tell yourself that you don't actually need that. But that won't make it go away.


Secondly, I think you need to take the word "happy" with a grain of salt. Emotions come and go. Nobody is happy all the time. We all have ups and downs. Even if you do accept that Allah has decided that you should be poor and living on the streets, even if you are happy with that, and trust that allah has his reasons; you will still find yourself occasionally stressed, or worried for your family/children. Such stress diminishes in your "overall happyness". So yeah off course I understand that people can be happy with little things, but again, that's not what Maslow is saying.