G. Hussein Rassool. Islamic Counselling: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Hove, East Sussex: Routledge, 2016.

He is also the author of several books on addiction and dual diagnosis and papers on alcohol and drug misuse (Amazon 2016).Islamic Counselling: An Introduction to Theory and Practice (2016) encompasses current theory, research, and an awareness of practice implications in delivering appropriate and effective counseling interventions for Muslim clients.This book is designed as an introduction for counselors and informs both the Muslim and non-Muslim reader about how the Islamic counselor's diverse roles can be integrated to incorporate spirituality and provide the guidelines for a potentially integrated theoretical framework. 1 Throughout his book, Rassool establishes respect for Islamic beliefs and practices as the greatest factor in treating Muslims.Based on this Islamic framework, he evaluates the most common secular theories, among them psychoanalysis and psychodynamic counseling, client-centered therapy, solution-focused brief therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy, while also examining marital and addiction counseling approaches.Rassool differentiates between mainstream and Islamic counseling, and accepts those mainstream approaches and techniques that align with Islam or can accommodate the Qur'ān, Sunnah, ḥadīth, and Islamic ethics (p.18).Given that Islam is both an individual and a communal religion, Rasool outlines the importance of naṣīḥa: giving advice (when appropriate), educating the clients in Islam's creed ('aqīdah) and jurisprudence (fiqh), and working with them to facilitate their psychological and spiritual growth and development (p.22).He believes that naṣīḥa is an Islamic obligation (farḍ kifāya), especially when a sufficient number of people are affected by a particular problem (p.18). 2 Even though this obligation can be greatly appreciated by traditional and religious Muslims, Rassool over-emphasizes the directive approach, as such approaches need to be used with caution, especially when working with Muslim clients with varying cultural values and levels of religiosity.Nonetheless, naṣīḥa, as Rassool puts it, must be paired with the Islamic counselor's positive characteristics as a person with good psychological health, self-awareness, open-mindedness, empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness and congruence, non-judgmentalism, the instillation of hope, tolerance for ambiguity, cultural sensitivity, and competence (p.20). 3