The International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Institute of Knowledge Integration have launched the second season of the IIIT lectures series for CIS countries. On September 28, Dr. Olga Pavlova (Moscow, Russia), Associate Professor at the Department of Ethnopsychology and Psychological Problems of Multicultural Education at Moscow State Psychological and Pedagogical University, Head of the Association of Psychological Assistance to Muslims, gave a lecture titled "Muslims in Pursuit of Happiness: Theological and Psychological Analysis."
Dr. Pavlova began her lecture quoting the eminent ninth-century Muslim scholar Abu Yusuf Ishaq al-Kindi, who said "We should strive to be happy and be on guard against being unhappy."
In her presentation, Dr. Pavlova gave a brief review about understanding of happiness in various aspects of human life and activity, such as economics, psychology, etc.; she drew attention to the researches on happiness and the perception of happiness as public policy. Lecturer analyzed rating of the countries of Central and East Asia in the World Happiness Report, published annually by the Gallup Institute, and pointed that the happiest among them are citizens of Uzbekistan. Listeners also learned that there has been established the Ministry of Happiness in the United Arab Emirates since 2016 to ensure public good and satisfaction.
Dr. Pavlova, separately focused on understanding of happiness from the Islamic perspective and from the perspective of modern psychology. She singled out four kinds of virtues in Muslim ethics: the virtue of faith (iman), the virtue of knowledge (ilm), the virtue of worship (ibadat), and the virtue of morality (ahlaq).
In the second part of the lecture, participants asked questions and shared their ideas about understanding happiness in Islam.
The topic attracted more than 60 participants from different countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
The next lecture will take place on October, 16, the topic "Sharia in the female dimension of the Turkic space" will be presented by Dr. Ranetta Gafarova.
