Are You Making Spiritually-Intelligent Decisions?

Assalamu'alaikum,

I hope this finds you well.

You may have noticed a brief hiatus in our weekly newsletter. I've spent the last few weeks journeying across Turkey and Bosnia for the Productive Muslim Certification program and Productive Muslim Retreat.

While I had planned to keep up with the newsletters, I found myself immersed in delivering the programs and engaging with the wonderful attendees - add to that a mix of rich culture, history, and some family time, and I fell off the grid :).

Alhamdulillah, I'm back now and refreshed to help you become the best version of yourself: spiritually, physically, and socially insha'Allah!

Thank you so much for your patience and thank you to everyone who emailed asking about the newsletter. It means a lot that you care about these weekly letters :). 

Are you making spiritually-intelligent decisions?

You may have heard of emotional intelligence - the ability to understand and manage your and others' emotions. However, have you heard the term "Spiritual Intelligence"? This is the idea of tapping into our spirituality to make God-centered decisions that serve Allah SWT and His creation.

Although the term "Spiritually Intelligence" was first coined by management thought leader Danah Zohar in her book "Spiritual Capital: Wealth We Can Live By." However, I believe Islam has greatly codified the mechanics of tapping into our Spiritual Intelligence through daily rituals, and mindsets/values that were role modeled by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companions.

One of the areas where spiritual intelligence is important is when making important decisions.

Let's say you want to buy a house:

• A person who only uses their intellect/logic to make a decision may make a cost/benefit analysis about the cost of the house and how much value it'll appreciate over time and what's the best location for the house, etc. They are asking the question: What's in it for me?

• A person with emotional intelligence may think about how buying the house may make them and his family feel, how others will make them feel once they buy the house, and if it'll invite jealousy or envy from family and friends. They are asking: How will this decision make me feel and how it will make others think of me?

• A person with spiritual intelligence will pray istikhara about the house purchase and think about their intentions for the house and how this purchase will help them get closer to Allah SWT and serve others. They are asking: How will this decision please Allah SWT?

Try to repeat the above exercise for the following decisions:

• Where to travel for your next vacation?

• Whether to apply for a new position at work or not?

• Which schools should your kids go to?

Do you notice the shift in your decisions from thinking from your intellect/emotions to a spiritual perspective?

To be clear, I'm not suggesting you ignore your intellect or emotions. I'm recommending that you make spiritually-centered decisions first and then use your intelligence and emotions to align with these spiritually-intelligent decisions.

If you found the above challenging, check out our Istikhara Notepad—a practical tool to help you make big (or small) spiritually intelligent decisions. You can learn more about it here.

Until the next newsletter - have sincere intentions and work hard!

From Our Archives