Counseling Values and Objectives

Counseling has established itself as a helping profession with an academicbase. Its development has been influenced largely by the socioeconomic,occupational, and technical changes found in western societyas well as the various personal and social problems getmane to its societalorganization. Although emerging as a profession only during thetwentieth century, its origins can be traced back to the post-Renaissanceera. It therefore has a distinct orientation, identity, and focus. The existingbody of knowledge and the relevant repettoire of counseling techniquesand ptactices address the demands of western society within its sociomodvalue structure. The question then arises as to whether adding thetetm "Islamic" to the available discipline of counseling catties any legitimacyat this stage.This paper is an attempt to examine critically the evolutionary contextof counseling, the value system in which it is immersed, and the objectivesit endeavors to address. The framework used for this examinationis the Islamic outlook on life and the associated objectives and values thatIslam regards as detettninants of human behavior. It is assumed that thiscompatative approach to the underlying perspectives, objectives, andvalues will explain the congruence or incongruence between the existingmodel(s) of counseling and any alternative Islamic model(s).It must be realized that Islamizing the prevalent secular-materialisticcounseling thanes and practices cannot be accomplished by merely affixingthe label "Islamic." Thus this paper should not be seen as an attempt ...