Motivation Theory: Abraham Maslow Vs. Prophet Abraham (A.S.)

By Muhammad Javed

Abraham Maslow, a social scientist noted that human beings are motivated by a hierarchy of needs. First, humans tend to satisfy these base physical  needs such as food, water, shelter and reproduction that are required for survival. If these base needs are met, then he starts thinking about fulfilling his safety and security needs such as a source of livelihood, resources, security, health and property. If those are met, he wants to socialize and be a part of a family and community to attend to his social needs – the desire to belong and be loved. Within his social network, he or she then tends to seeks self-esteem and recognition from others. Once these needs are met, then he starts seeking self-actualization or reach his/her potential in their unique way.[1]

In Islam, we see that this theory, while affirming parts of it, needs to be modified. Our Creator has informed us that our ultimate purpose is to worship Him and without His remembrance, the soul shall not find rest(spiritual needs). He has all commanded us to strive in His path, which demands putting spiritual needs ahead of base physical needs when needed. For instance, in the command to fast, we again put spiritual purification ahead of physical needs, such as food and physical pleasure. In the battlefield, the mujahid shows he is ready to put his spiritual actualization over all other needs. So, submission to Allah demands that we love Allah the most and are ready to part away with things that we need or desire either temporarily or longer term to earn His pleasure, so we reach our true potential, and seek the ultimate reward, which is meeting Allah ‘azzawa jal and Jannatul Firdaus.

We can see this priority in Ibrahim’s (AS) dua where he put spiritual needs before physical in his du’aa:

“O our Lord! I have left some of my descendants in a barren valley near Your Sacred House. O our Lord! I hope that they perform Salaat there. So, make the hearts of people yearn towards them, and provide fruits for their food, so they may become grateful.” [14:37]

Ibrahim (AS) asked Allah to make them perform Salaah, to establish connection with Allah first, then he asked Allah to take care of their social needs, to make the people yearn towards them and then he asked for fruits to satisfy their base physical needs. He also pointed towards the end goal – that even after providing all the rizq, they should be thankful and become grateful to Allah by worshipping Him alone, which is our ultimate purpose. Additionally, in the updated version of the hierarchy of needs, Ihsan can correspond to self-actualization, where man reaches his peak or excellence in spiritual realm as well as other walks of life. And the true peak man can reach is by honing his/her “Taqwa” of God-consciousness as that is the key to motivation that will unlock the gates of Jannah. At that point, man would have his deeds driven by the intention of pleasing Allah alone and stay away from those deeds that the lawmaker has forbidden, fearing Him alone.

[1] https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html#gsc.tab=0