What is an Islamic Personality?

Once again I was given the opportunity to share my thoughts and ideas on the convergence of two topics: Islam and (psychology-based) personality. The first time was in Kuantan, for the Kulliyyah of Pharmacy. Last week, it was my own Kulliyyah that invited me to deliver the same topic. Of course, a few modifications were made, and the slides are as in the link above.

It gave me great pleasure to be able to address the audience, hoping to get feedback and comments on the content. They did not disappoint. The level of interaction was good, considering the 2.45-3.45 timeslot; after Jumaah prayer (who's really interested to sit and listen to ANOTHER khutbah, right?). There was a question from the emcee (after getting a question from the moderator), and no...this was not planned. The gist of the question was why do we observe a big gap between what is the ideal Islamic personality, and the personality demonstrated by the Muslims. Additionally, it is the non-Muslims that are showing Islamic personality.  I can understand the frustration behind that question. I do not deny that there are non-Muslim with a more beautiful personality than Muslims.

Then, collectively, we have to ask ourselves, how much have I made Islam the foundation of my personality? This needs to be a consciously asked question, and also answered with full consciousness. We have to take steps to mould our personality to fit into the Islamic model, instead of giving up and surrender to the external forces (e.g. 'globalisation', financial hardship, etc.). All in all, this is a very interesting topic to discuss. Perhaps we can expand on this to create a society where the Muslims are behaving Islamically.