<![CDATA[Abū Zayd Aḥmad ibn Sahl al-Balkhī (235–322 AH/849–934 CE) developed a systematic account of fear (al-khawf) and panic (al-fazaʿ) in Chapter Six of Maṣāliḥ al-Abdān wa al-Anfus. This article examines his definitions, causal explanations, and treatment strategies and compares their therapeutic functions with selected constructs in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT). A textual-conceptual analysis was conducted using the Arabic primary text of Chapter Six, supplemented by an independent thematic reading of selected Qur’anic passages concerning fear and its regulation. Direct textual evidence shows that al-Balkhī distinguished panic as an intensification of fear, identified anticipatory threat appraisal and unfamiliarity as amplifiers of distress, and recommended cognitive reappraisal, learning from prior and observed experience, acquisition of knowledge, repeated sensory familiarisation, and riyāḍah al-nafs. These strategies have functional correspondences with decatastrophising, modelling, psychoeducation, exposure, and repeated skills practice, although they are not theoretically identical to modern CBT. The Qur’anic analysis further identifies normalisation of fear, meaning-oriented reappraisal, tawakkul, dhikr, and graded responsibility as faith-sensitive modifiers of clinical practice. The study concludes that al-Balkhī offers a historically significant therapeutic framework whose contemporary use requires textual precision, avoidance of anachronism, and a clear distinction between his explicit prescriptions and later Qur’anic integration.]]>
