A Comparison of Favorable Opinion in Religious Texts with Optimism in Psychology with an Emphasis on Sahifah Sajjadiah

Positive psychology is one of important branches of psychology that investigates the psychological positive aspects of human such as well-being, welfare and experiences of flow. Optimism is of this kind of variables and many studies on optimism show that optimists have a better status in terms of psychological variables compared to others, which is one of indexes of mental health. It may be understood that the closest concept to optimism in religious contexts is “favorable opinion” meaning “good thoughts”. The objective of this study is to investigate “favorable opinion” as a mental health index from the perspective of Al-Sahifa Al-Sajjadiyya and explain its difference with optimism.

This study was carried out using analytical and interpretive method by referring to the Quran verses and narrations of other infallibles with an emphasis on Al-Sahifa Al-Sajjadiyya and comparative analysis of the psychological findings. The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Favorable opinion has various concepts in Al-Sahifa Al-Sajjadiyya. In spite of optimism in psychology, which is interpreted from an “individual” and “human” perspective, favorable opinionin Al-Sahifa Al-Sajjadiyya is interpreted from a “God” and “Human” aspects.

The most important innovative aspect of this research is studying the concept of favorable opinionin all supplications of Al-Sahifa Al-Sajjdiyya and interpretive use of the Quranic verses and narrations to show the influence of favorable opinionon mental health. Results of this study show that favorable opinion of God and human may cause spiritual peace, reduction of grief and better communication with the others. These features cause mental health. In spite of some common subscriptions, “favorable opinion” and “optimism” have some differences. A major difference between them, as emphasized in religious contexts is that the human must fully trust God while such a view is not a scientific approach about optimism in psychology. Finally, considering the differences between these two concepts, it may be concluded that the concept of “favorable opinion” is wider and deeper compared to optimism.