Abu Zayd al-Balkhi's Sustenance of the Soul: The Cognitive Behavior Therapy of a Ninth Century Physician Paperback – Large Print, October 22, 2024

It was a stroke of genius to commission an Egyptian psychiatric professional to translate this landmark work from Arabic to English. The translation is easy to follow and brings out the the author's expertise in the field of mental health, which modern professionals are only catching up to after more than a millenium. Al-Balkhi provides insights into afflictions of the soul, along with symptoms and treatment - something that modern scientists are hard pressed to accomplish with their current orientation.

I like reading about medical history. It amazes me how history could forget about eastern doctors and scientists, but it's true, even when I was learning at university about this topic, we skipped them. Greeks and Romans and their smart philosophers, then nothing till after middle age. And here I could see how smart eastern doctors were, connecting pains of the body with the pains of the soul. The most important thing about health is to be happy, that is to have a healthy soul. Even today some doctors would rather treat lines instead of a patient.

I really learned a lot about psychology and how the mind works from reading this book. It was easy to understand and I enjoyed reading it 😊

Al-Balkhi was certainly very insightful to the human experience, and I certainly gleaned a better understanding of the innate relationship between the soul and body that is not acknowledged in conventional medicine. Additionally, the strategies to relieving granular descriptions of a variety of psychological maladies is worthwhile. This translation only reveals what is in the psychological reference part of Al-Balkhi’s work. I’d be very interested to learn what he wrote in the first part, as he lived to be 88 years of age.

It’s amazing book and I love it. Recommend you buy it.

Excellent book. Amazing that real-time psychological insights and how to deal and cure them was know so very long ago in the Muslim/Islamic world where scholars of the soul and mind worked in tandem. Men of knowledge incorporated their knowledge of the Phydical world seamlessly with the unseen and so balanced things out in the disturbances of mind, body and soul.

Great resource to help achieve stability and peace from a mental, emotional, and spiritual standpoint.In depth, yet concise. Not only great for Muslims to read but great Wisdom for all people to absorb.

The book details really important details of the cognitive behavioral therapy, but it is too hard to apply in life as you need someone specially trained to help you.