Ihsan and the Human Mind

First PublishedOct 7, 2026Last UpdatedOct 9, 2026ByCallUponHim.com

The Path of Ihsan:

1. Ihsan: Worshipping Allah as Though You See Him
2. Tazkiyah: Purification of the Heart
3. Tasawwuf: The Science of Ihsan
4. Ihsan and the Human Mind (This page)

The Prophet’s ﷺ definition of ihsan describes an inner state: attention fixed on Allah, and awareness that He sees you.

Allah created the human mind with abilities that serve exactly this purpose.

Modern cognitive science studies many of these abilities, and its findings often echo what the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the scholars of tazkiyah have taught for centuries.

The Abilities Ihsan Draws On

Ihsan is not a feeling that arrives by itself. It uses faculties you already have: attention, meaning, watchfulness, habit.

This table is a map of those faculties. The rest of the page looks at how each one is trained.

Ability of the mind	Its role in ihsan	Related practice
Attention	Presence with Allah in worship	Khushu’ in prayer, dhikr
Language and meaning	Worship becomes a conversation, not sounds	Understanding what you recite
Imagination	Feeling the realities of the unseen	Remembering the Hereafter, standing before Allah
Emotion	Depth: awe, love, hope, and fear	Tafakkur, reflecting on His Names
Sense of being watched	Knowing that He sees you	Muraqabah
Self-observation (metacognition)	Guarding intention, catching heedlessness	Checking your motive before each act
Self-control	Acting on that awareness	Mujahadah, returning focus when it drifts
Habit	Making good deeds second nature	Consistency in small, regular deeds

An Important Limit on Imagination

“As though you see Him” never means picturing Allah in any form, for there is nothing like Him (Qur’an 42:11). It means presence and certainty in the heart. Imagination is used rightly for created realities, as the Companions felt Paradise and the Fire “as though we see them with our own eyes” (Sahih Muslim 2750a).

How to Read the Research

The Qur’an and Sunnah are our evidence. Science is offered here only as a mirror that helps us understand how these practices work on the human mind, never as proof that they are true. Where research is early or limited, we say so.

1. Attention: The Battle Against the Wandering Mind

In a large study using smartphones to sample people’s thoughts, researchers found that people’s minds wandered 46.9% of the time, and during nearly every activity at least 30% of the time. Mind-wandering was also linked to lower happiness [R1].

This is the very problem khushu’ addresses. Allah praises the believers who are humble and present in their prayer (Qur’an 23:1-2), and al-Ghazali taught that the way to presence is to remove distractions, both outward and inward [R2].

In practice: Pause before Allahu Akbar. Each time you notice your mind has drifted in prayer, gently bring it back. That moment of returning is the training.

2. Dhikr: What Repetition Does to the Mind

The Qur’an said it first: “Surely in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest” (Qur’an 13:28).

General research on repetition: In a brain-imaging study, simply repeating a single word silently reduced activity across the brain, centered on the “default mode network,” the system linked to self-focused thinking and mind-wandering. The participants had no meditation experience [R3]. A 2025 systematic review of chanting studies found a similar pattern: activation in regions supporting attention and emotional regulation, and reduced activity in default mode regions [R4].

Research on Islamic dhikr itself:

1. In an fMRI study of 31 healthy, highly religious Muslims, Islamic dhikr, freely thinking about God, and body-scan meditation were compared with rest [R5]. A later review summarized that all three activated brain networks associated with emotion regulation and attentional control [R6].
2. In a randomized controlled trial of 54 hemodialysis patients in Indonesia, a program of dhikr and salawat reduced anxiety and improved sleep quality compared with the control group [R7].
3. In a smaller study, 34 Muslim patients did a 20-minute session of istighfar before a heart procedure, and their anxiety scores dropped substantially [R8]. This study had no control group, so it is weaker evidence.

3. Salah: The Body and the Mind Together

1. A study measuring brain activity during prayer found that alpha waves, associated with a relaxed and calm state, rose in the back regions of the brain during prostration (sujud) [R9].
2. A follow-up study of 30 healthy Muslim men found that during salah, the body’s calming (parasympathetic) system became more active and its stress (sympathetic) system less active [R10].

This recalls the hadith that a servant is nearest to his Lord while in prostration (Sahih Muslim 482).

4. Muraqabah: The Sense of Being Watched

The believer knows that Allah is always watching, in public and in private: “Does he not know that Allah sees?” (Qur’an 96:14)

Human beings are sensitive to being observed. A meta-analysis found that the mere presence of images of eyes was associated with a 35% lower risk of anti-social behavior [R12].

Muraqabah directs this natural sensitivity toward its truest object. People behave better when they think someone might be watching. .

5. Tafakkur: Awe and the “Small Self”

Across five studies with over 2,000 participants, researchers found that experiencing awe, such as standing among towering trees, made people feel their own self was smaller and made them more generous, ethical, and helpful [R14].

This is the fruit of tafakkur. The Qur’an praises those who reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth (Qur’an 3:190-191). Awe of Allah’s creation humbles the ego, which is the very cure for kibr (arrogance) described in Tazkiyah: Purification of the Heart.

6. Muhasabah: Why Writing It Down Matters

A meta-analysis of experimental studies found that monitoring your progress toward a goal reliably helps you reach it, and the effect was stronger when progress was physically recorded [R15].

This supports the nightly muhasabah described in Step 3 of the tazkiyah guide. Umar ibn al-Khattab is reported to have said: hold yourselves to account before you are held to account (Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 2459). Keeping a short written journal of your three nightly questions turns good intentions into steady change.

7. Habit: Why Consistency Beats Intensity

In a study of habit formation, it took an average of 66 days for a new daily behavior to become automatic, with a range from 18 days to a predicted 254 days [R16].

The Prophet ﷺ taught the same wisdom long ago: the deeds most beloved to Allah are those done consistently, even if they are small (Sahih al-Bukhari 6464). Do not expect transformation in a week. Choose a small practice, tie it to a fixed time such as after Fajr, and keep going.

A Double-Edged Sword

Habit can also turn prayer into motion without presence. Heedlessness (ghaflah) is, in part, worship slipping into autopilot. Vary the surahs you recite, learn their meanings, and pause before you begin to keep your worship awake.

Technique Is Not Enough

These abilities describe the human side of ihsan: the effort we make. But ihsan is ultimately a gift from Allah (tawfiq). That is why the Prophet ﷺ did not rely on method alone. He asked Allah to purify his soul and sought refuge from a heart that is not humble (Sahih Muslim 2722).

Do the work, and ask Allah for the result.

Key Takeaways

1. Allah created the mind with abilities, such as attention, self-observation, the sense of being watched, and habit, that serve ihsan.
2. Research on attention, awe, self-monitoring, and habit is strong, and it echoes what Islam teaches about khushu’, tafakkur, muhasabah, and consistency.
3. Studies on dhikr and salah specifically are encouraging.
4. Science illustrates; the Qur’an and Sunnah are the evidence.
5. Ihsan is ultimately a gift from Allah: do the work, and ask Him for the result.

Sources

Hadith (Sunnah.com)

1. Sahih Muslim 2750a: The hadith of Hanzalah
2. Sahih Muslim 482: The servant is nearest to his Lord in prostration
3. Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 2459: Umar’s statement on self-accounting (note: Darussalam grades the Prophetic hadith in this entry as weak; Umar’s statement is quoted as a reported saying)
4. Sahih al-Bukhari 6464: The most beloved deeds are the consistent ones
5. Sahih Muslim 2722: The Prophet’s ﷺ du’a for the purification of the soul

Qur’an (Quran.com)

3:190-191 · 13:28 · 23:1-2 · 42:11 · 96:14

Research references

Attention and mind-wandering

• [R1] Killingsworth, M. A., & Gilbert, D. T. (2010). A wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Science, 330(6006), 932. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1192439
• [R2] Thomas, J., Furber, S. W., & Grey, I. (2017). The rise of mindfulness and its resonance with the Islamic tradition. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 20(10), 973–985. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2017.1412410

Repetition and dhikr

• [R3] Berkovich-Ohana, A., Wilf, M., Kahana, R., Arieli, A., & Malach, R. (2015). Repetitive speech elicits widespread deactivation in the human cortex: The “Mantra” effect? Brain and Behavior, 5(7), e00346. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.346
• [R4] Perry, et al. (2025). Neural correlates of chanting: A systematic review. WIREs Cognitive Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.70018
• [R5] Saraei, M., Newberg, A. B., Hosseini, S. R., Bayati, T., & Batouli, S. A. H. (2023). Comparing the three states of Dhikr, meditation, and thinking about God: An fMRI study. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 13(1), 5–17. (Published online 2022.)
• [R6] Commentary: Rethinking pathways to well-being: The function of faith practice in distress alleviation among displaced Muslim women affected by war. (2025). Frontiers in Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1717898
• [R7] Effectiveness of combination dhikr and salawat on anxiety and sleep quality in hemodialysis patients in Indonesia: A randomized controlled trial. (2025). Journal of Religion and Health, 64(4), 2542–2557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-025-02342-2
• [R8] Wilandika, A., Useng, U., Supriatna, I. D., & Wan Ismail, W. M. (2026). Dhikr istighfar and preprocedural anxiety in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: A quasi-experimental pre–post study in Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.1177/08980101261457667

Salah

• [R9] Doufesh, H., Faisal, T., Lim, K.-S., & Ibrahim, F. (2012). EEG spectral analysis on Muslim prayers. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, 37(1), 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-011-9170-1
• [R10] Doufesh, H., Ibrahim, F., Ismail, N. A., & Wan Ahmad, W. A. (2014). Effect of Muslim prayer (salat) on α electroencephalography and its relationship with autonomic nervous system activity. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 20(7), 558–562. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2013.0426
• [R11] The neurophysiological correlates of religious chanting. (2019). Scientific Reports. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-40200-w

Being watched

• [R12] Dear, K., Dutton, K., & Fox, E. (2019). Do “watching eyes” influence antisocial behavior? A systematic review & meta-analysis. Evolution and Human Behavior, 40(3), 269–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.01.006

Awe, self-monitoring, and habit

• [R14] Piff, P. K., Dietze, P., Feinberg, M., Stancato, D. M., & Keltner, D. (2015). Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108(6), 883–899. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000018
• [R15] Harkin, B., Webb, T. L., Chang, B. P. I., Prestwich, A., Conner, M., Kellar, I., Benn, Y., & Sheeran, P. (2016). Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 142(2), 198–229. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000025
• [R16] Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.674