Therapy can come in many forms. For psychotherapist Tariq Elsaid, poetry and translation are two primary forms through which he practices psychotherapy. A graduate of the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work, Elsaid uses translation exercises with Muslim young adults who do not speak Arabic fluently in his poetic psychotherapy workshops. He came on Stateside to discuss these workshops and his other work.
Elsaid said he decided on pursuing psychology after a vehicle accident, a catalyst that shifted his priorities from pursuing a lucrative career to a fulfilling one. Drawn to Islamic psychology, a practice that combines Islamic spiritual practices and psychotherapy, Elsaid connected with the Khalil Center in Chicago. It was here that his career in psychotherapy was set in motion.
While Elsaid was pursuing his master’s in social work, he was also working toward a graduate certificate in Critical Translation Studies.
“I was a really big fan of, and still am a really big fan of, the Arabic language: the way that it expresses itself, the way that it's used to reach certain meanings, certain emotions, et cetera,” Elsaid said. “And honestly, through the process of translation, I found a universe of ideas and theories and philosophies of translation in and of itself through the actual process of translating an Arabic literary poem.”
He knew there was something in this translation work to explore further. Encouraged by his translation studies advisor, Dr. Yopie Prins, Elsaid worked to fuse his interest in Arabic poetry and translation with psychotherapy at the Khalil Center.
Once Elsaid had paired these two disciplines together to develop his practice, his supervisor at the Khalil Center, AbdulAziz Syed, suggested that he present his translation exercises at a conference in Chicago. By happenstance, the cohort Elsaid was assigned to at this conference did not speak Arabic beyond the basics.
With this cohort, Elsaid played a classical Arabic song without the translation and asked participants to reflect on what memories, thoughts, and places the song had left them with. To Elsaid and his supervisor’s surprise, many responded with stories of love and loss — real themes present in the song.
While many, Elsaid reflected, are eager to engage in these sorts of exercises, others are more hesitant as a byproduct of larger taboos around mental health. But as Elsaid pointed out, there have always been Muslim scholars studying and speaking about mental health and mental disorders. One of those scholars was physician Abu Zayd al-Balkhi.
“We have polymath scholars who, in the ninth century, who spoke about a lot of things that we would call today OCD or depression or anxiety,” Elsaid said. “Our scholars and our tradition and the people who come from this faith background have been speaking about this for centuries. It's just that most recently there has been a divide between faith and … mental health. … But that's quite frankly, incorrect historically and religiously and traditionally.”
When thinking about poets he particularly admires, Elsaid spoke about how Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish stands out among modern poets.
"He comes from a place of trauma, yet he shows perseverance through that trauma, and he shows hope through that trauma, while also embracing the emotions of distress and sadness,” Elsaid reflected. “He really goes into depth into each of these emotions, and I feel as though he gives them their due right in his poetry."
For Elsaid, poetry reflects one’s perspective of reality, whether true or false. He echoed the words of one of his teachers in Chicago, Shaykh Mohammed Amin Kholwadia, who said that if there is no poetry there is no culture. In looking at classical Arab poets, Elsaid noted how keenly and deliberately they observed the world. From these observations came poems tied to the reality these poets saw.
“I think that poetry has a huge role to play, not just in culture, but just in the way that we see the world at large and the way that we connect with reality, hopefully as objectively as possible.”
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