Journal of Indonesian Islamic Studies
Vol. 5 No. 2 (2026): Journal of Indonesian Islamic Studies (April)

Qana’ah as a Qur’anic Spiritual Disposition: Its Conceptual Relevance to Mental-Health Self-Diagnosis in Digital Contexts

Teguh Perdana (Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara)
Achyar Zein (Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara)



Article Info

Publish Date
03 May 2026

Abstract

The growing circulation of mental-health content on social media has expanded access to psychological vocabulary while also increasing the possibility that individuals interpret ordinary distress as a clinical disorder without professional assessment. This article examines the conceptual relevance of qana’ah to mental-health self-diagnosis and specifies the safeguards required for a responsible Islamic response. The study uses a qualitative conceptual design that combines thematic Qur’anic exegesis with an integrative literature review. Six passages—Q. 9:59, 16:97, 20:131, 57:23, 65:3, and 49:6—were analyzed through al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, Hamka, and M. Quraish Shihab, while peer-reviewed studies on qana’ah, mental-health literacy, misinformation, self-diagnosis, and help-seeking were coded comparatively. The analysis identifies qana’ah as an active disposition comprising gratitude, sufficiency, proportionate desire, continued effort, and reliance on God. Conceptually, these qualities may support emotional regulation and create an interpretive pause before distress is converted into a diagnostic identity. Qana’ah alone, however, does not establish diagnostic accuracy. Its protective relevance becomes more coherent when joined to tabayyun as information verification, mental-health literacy as symptom-context differentiation, and professional consultation as a clinical safeguard. The article therefore proposes qana’ah as a complementary spiritual framework rather than a substitute for psychological or psychiatric care. Because the model is conceptual, its proposed pathways require empirical testing across diverse Muslim populations and digital environments.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jiis

Publisher

Subject

Religion Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Other

Description

Journal of Indonesian Islamic Studies is a high-quality open-access and peer-reviewed research journal with e-ISSN 2808-8395. Journal of Indonesian Islamic Studies providing a platform that welcomes and acknowledges high quality empirical original research papers about is a publication media to ...