This project started 3 years ago. As a special interest reading group, we meet once a month, read a section of the Qur’an and a psychoanalytic paper, and discuss ideas that emerge from the readings.

October 2025 reading,

Surat an-Nisa: verses 148-162

148- Allāh does not like the public mention of evil except by one who has been wronged. And ever is Allāh Hearing and Knowing.

149- If [instead] you show [some] good or conceal it or pardon an offense – indeed, Allāh is ever Pardoning and Competent.

150- Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allāh and His messengers and wish to discriminate between Allāh and His messengers and say, “We believe in some and disbelieve in others,” and wish to adopt a way in between –

151- Those are the disbelievers, truly. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment.

152- But they who believe in Allah and His messengers and do not discriminate between any of them – to those He is going to give their rewards. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.

153- The People of the Scripture ask you to bring down to them a book from the heaven. But they had asked of Moses [even] greater than that and said, “Show us Allah outright,” so the thunderbolt struck them for their wrongdoing. Then they took the calf [for worship] after clear evidences had come to them, and We pardoned that. And We gave Moses a clear authority.

154- And We raised over them the mount for [refusal of] their covenant; and We said to them, “Enter the gate bowing humbly”, and We said to them, “Do not transgress on the sabbath”, and We took from them a solemn covenant.

155- And [We cursed them] for their breaking of the covenant and their disbelief in the signs of Allah and their killing of the prophets without right and their saying, “Our hearts are wrapped”. Rather, Allah has sealed them because of their disbelief, so they believe not, except for a few.

156- And [We cursed them] for their disbelief and their saying against Mary a great slander,

157- And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah .” And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.

158-Rather, Allah raised him to Himself. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise.

159- And there is none from the People of the Scripture but that he will surely believe in Jesus before his death. And on the Day of Resurrection he will be against them a witness.

160- For wrongdoing on the part of the Jews, We made unlawful for them [certain] good foods which had been lawful to them, and for their averting from the way of Allah many [people],

161- And [for] their taking of usury while they had been forbidden from it, and their consuming of the people’s wealth unjustly. And we have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.

162- But those firm in knowledge among them and the believers believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you. And the establishers of prayer [especially] and the givers of zakah and the believers in Allah and the Last Day – those We will give a great reward.

Paper:

Bion: Notes on memory and desire

My comments;

Bion’s central tenet in “Memory and Desire” is the injunction for the psychoanalyst to abandon memory and desire while in the clinical session. Memory (the past) is seen as a potentially distorting filter, as it encourages the analyst to fit new data into old, pre-conceived patterns. Desire (the future) similarly interferes by leading the analyst toward what they want to see, rather than what is truly emerging in the moment.

The goal of this abandonment is to maintain a state of “not-knowing” or “Negative Capability,” which allows the analyst’s mind to be maximally open to the raw, transformative truth (which Bion calls O, or ultimate reality).

In reading the above verses through the lense of Bion’s paper, three verses stood out for me; 148- 155 and 162.

In verse 148, Allah prohibits the mention of evil except by one who has been wronged and ends the verse with the emphasis that Allah is the Hearing and Knowing.

This made me think of the listening process in the clinical space. As psychodynamic counsellors or psychotherapists we look for the affect in the communication, the meaning of the communication and its context to intuit “the truth of what is happening”. The verse draws attention to the distorting content of words and what they can carry. The complaints and grievances we hear are in reality a vehicle for an unspoken truth. The truth they cannot voice, the one we do not know about yet. But why?

Verse 155 talks about the concept of a wrapped heart. It comes in the context of a people who are invited to believe but they refuse under the pretext that their hearts are wrapped in old knowledge and too full to receive what is being offered to them. Allah respond to this narcissistic attitude by saying that He has sealed their hearts. It is worth noting here that these are people who know the truth but choose to turn their back to it or be selective with their beliefs. These people’s heart are indeed wrapped but not in the way they described it rather in the way this hadith explains it:

It was narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

“When the believer commits sin, a black spot appears on his heart. If he repents and gives up that sin and seeks forgiveness, his heart will be polished. But if (the sin) increases, (the black spot) increases. That is the Ran that Allah mentions in His Book: “No! Rather, the stain has covered their hearts of that which they were earning.¹.” [83:14]

The analytic process invites a different kind of listening; a listening that unwraps the heart and tries to rid it of the stains accumulated over the years. Islamic teachings put an emphasis on how this process is facilitated. It is worth mentioning here that the heart mentioned in the Qur’an is not the physical heart. The best way to describe what it refers to is an explanation I read somewhere which is that the heart we reference is the mind that is connected to its creator. The mind then gains a capacity for insight and discernment.

To get to the transformative truth O that Bion mentions, one has to go through the process of the mind that is open to receiving from the divine. What Bion refers to as a state of reverie, may rather be then, a state of discernment and insight that transcends the spoken word, where the cover is lifted and the communication between two unconsciouses is possible.

The capacity to fulfil this task requires a capacity to bear the anxiety of not knowing, which Bion refers to as “Negative Capability”.  Negative capability allows the analyst’s mind to be maximally open to the raw, transformative truth.

Verse 162, explains what is needed to have this negative capability. Namely, a strong connection to Allah where proper knowledge/memory—a deep, rooted understanding of the divine message—actively overcomes the lure of misdirected and destructive desire. The guarantee for this state of mind is in believing is the unseen and keeping a strong bond with God through prayers, staying connected to His subjects through acts of charity; acts that continuously seek to purify the heart.