Maryam doesn’t seem to be managing her work/life commitments very well, especially with the unexpected COVID-19 challenges. She is a 35-year-old, 1st generation, successful Muslim professional working in a senior management role at a Fortune 10 company in Dallas, Texas. Though she is happily married with two girls, she has been experiencing major stress juggling between work, home, and self-care while trying to maintain her spiritual practices.
She wants to contribute to a financially stable household, but she is starting to lose motivation at her current job. She feels she is not able to give enough time to her girls and has not taken time out to nurture her marriage due to the daily grinds.
These challenges have become a bit more intertwined as the lines between her work and home life became blurry when she started working from home due to COVID-19. She also has her mom and in-laws at home during this quarantine period due to personal circumstances.
Maryam feels she is not her best self: she is generally more distracted, worried, on the edge, and realizes she needs to invest in herself to deal with the challenges and uncertainties more positively. She prays to Allah to grant her more Hikma (wisdom) to see the good in everything and know how to move forward in her life. But can more Hikma really help her?
[If you want to understand your own level of Hikma, take this free assessment]
What is Hikma and Why You Need it in Uncertain Times
Hikma or Wisdom from Allah 
is the ability to see the beauty and purpose in everything we go through in life. One of Allah Names is Al Hakeem- the All-Wise. When we trust His Wisdom and process everything through the wisdom revealed in His Book, we can gain more clarity and positivity in life.
Allah says:
“The Most Compassionate. Taught the Quran. He created human beings. And taught him speech.” [Quran 55:1-4]
Significantly, Allah mentioned: “taught the Qur’an” even before the mention of the creation or the intelligent speech of human beings because the Quran gives humans the ultimate intelligence and guidance to deal with the ups and downs of life more gracefully. The Quranic knowledge is not only about the ‘aql or intelligence of the mind but also the spiritual intelligence of faith and guidance that is rooted in the heart.
One of the words used to describe the Quran is Al Hakeem: the wise book. Allah, The All-Wise, revealed the Quran to teach us wisdom. This type of intelligence is paramount to our success that Allah swears by it: “
“Ya, Seen. By the Quran, rich in wisdom!” [Quran 36: 1-2]
Allah revealed the ultimate wisdom or intelligence through the Divine revelations to His chosen messengers whom He instructed to teach and reflect His Hikma to people. Allah commanded the Prophet Muhammad 
:
“Invite to the way of your Lord with Hikma and kind teaching.” [Quran 16:125]
To revive dead hearts, guide lost people, bring certainty during the uncertainties of life, the quality Allah asked the Prophet to use was Hikma. The Beloved Prophet Muhammad not only needed to adopt a high level of wisdom when working on reviving barren hearts, but he was the perfect example of wisdom in his life dealing with all the challenges and uncertainties he faced when he started calling people to Allah’s path.‘Hikma or Wisdom from Allah SWT is the ability to see the beauty and purpose in everything we go through in life. When we trust His Wisdom, we can gain more clarity and positivity in life.’ Wadud Hassan, founder of Mindfulness Matters Leadership Institute,CLICK TO TWEET
Developing Hikma: the 6 Traits of Spiritual Intelligence
[If you want to understand your own level of Hikma, take this free assessment]
So how can we develop Spiritual Intelligence? There are 6 traits highlighted in a special chapter of the Quran where Allah teaches us wisdom through one of His chosen servants -regarded as a Prophet by some and a very special servant of Allah by others- called Luqman The wise. Allah dedicated an entire chapter of the Quran to his wisdom, Surat Luqman. Allah says:
“Indeed, We endowed Luqman with wisdom.” [Quran 31:12]
Luqman was called al Hakeem, the wise, and Surah Luqman captures his beautiful wisdom in the forms of his advice to his son. We propose the HEART of Spiritual IntelligenceTM framework here based on the advice of Luqman:
| Central Message of the Verse | Quranic (Q) and Prophetic (P) Principles |
|---|---|
| H: Heal with Mindfulness of God | |
| [31:13] Worship God Alone | Do not associate any partner with God, and it will be your right upon Him to protect you.Prophetic Hadith |
| [31:16] Be Mindful of God, He is all aware | Remember God, He will remember you. Quranic verseBe Mindful of God, He will protect you. Prophetic Hadith |
| [31:17] Be Excellent in Prayer | Prayer brings you under the protection of God. Prophetic HadithEstablish prayer, God will grant you success in everything you do. Prophetic HadithCome to Salah, Come to Success. Prophetic Hadith |
| E: Engage with Purpose | |
| [31:14] God is our final destination | Whoever makes the hereafter their main concern, God will make this world easy for them.Prophetic Hadith |
| A: Achieve with Gratitude | |
| [31:14] Give thanks to God and your parents | Be grateful, and God will increase you.Quranic verse |
| R: Rise with Patience and Humility | |
| [31:17] And bear with patience what befalls you | Be patient, and God will be with you.Quranic verseDesire makes slaves out of kings, while patience makes kings out of slaves.Imam Ghazzali |
| [31:18 -19] God does not like the arrogant | Adopt humility for God, Allah will elevate your ranks.Prophetic Hadith |
| [31:19] Lower Your Voice | God does not give with harshness what he grants with gentleness.Prophetic Hadith |
| T: Thrive with Compassion & Service | |
| [31:14] Be Dutiful to Parents | The best of you is the best to his family. Prophetic HadithServe your parents and relatives, God will increase your provision and life span. Prophetic Hadith |
| [31:17] Enjoin Good, Forbid Evil | Help and Aid the Cause of God, God will aid you. Quranic verseBenefit people and God will benefit you. Prophetic Hadith |
The heart of a believer embodies these beautiful traits of Luqman the wise as captured in the HEART of Spiritual Intelligence model. The HEART model, based on Quranic and Prophetic principles then, represents a type of intelligence that elevates a human being to the presence and pleasure of God and causes a ripple in the unseen system of God for protection, blessing, assistance, and elevation.
This Spiritual Intelligence was perfectly embodied by none other than our beloved Prophet Muhammad and here are some of those Prophetic qualities of Spiritual Intelligence you and I can strive to bring into our own lives:
1. Mindful of Allah 
in everything I do:
- Feeling His presence in everything I do
- Seeing His Wisdom and Power in all situation in life – good or bad
- Experiencing tranquility in His remembrance
- Transforming worries and weakness into relief and strength through reliance on Him
- Turning my entire life as worship through being mindful of my intention
2. Focused on our purpose on earth so that everything is connected to:
- Understanding our unique place and purpose in this world
- Aligning my personal purpose with the Pleasure of Allah
- Finding motivation in everything we do through my purpose
- Filtering distractions and negativity by focusing on that which is best aligned to my purpose
- Connecting the preparation of our return to Him and the Hereafter to everything we do
3. Deeply grateful so that we are:
- Embodying an attitude of deep gratitude to God, and then parents, family, friends, and community
- Internally aware of all the blessings in our life big and small, apparent and subtle, the special and the regular
- Externally manifesting a radiating attitude of positivity and abundance
4. Patient and humble during difficulty and uncertainty with the highest expectation of:
- Allah’s Presence
- Promised Reward
- Promised Relief
- Using Prophetic silence to help regulate our negative thoughts, emotions
- Thinking of others as better than the self, overlook their shortcomings, focus on their positive qualities,
- Be humble while doing good:
- Hide good deeds
- Hope for God’s acceptance and rewards
- Fear our sins and shortcomings
5. Compassionate in the way I represent Allah and His Prophet and connect with people
- Reflecting the mercy Allah
- Embodying the Prophet’s compassion of
- Being a source of healing in people’s lives
- Listening with no judgment
- Making people feel safe through verbal and physical affirmation
- Serving without any expectation from people and only to seek the compassion of God
“And whosoever is granted wisdom is indeed granted abundant good.” [Quran, 2:269]
Maryam’s Story
Applying the HEART Model
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| H: Heal with Mindfulness of God | |
| She was feeling distracted. | She is taking time out to incorporate Mindful breathing with Istighfar and Dhikr. She is treating Wudhu and Salah as spiritual self-care. She is starting to find healing in Quranic recitation and meditation. She is taking some time for only her and Allah SWT to let go, relax, find focus. |
| E: Engage with Purpose | |
| She was feeling lost and confused about her meaning and purpose in life. | She is starting to look for wisdom in how everything that is happening in her life can be a way for her to get closer to Allah . She has started reflecting and journaling to connect her values, interests, and strengths to the purpose of worshipping God, being of service to humanity, and preparing for the hereafter. |
| A: Achieve with Gratitude | |
| She was starting to focus on her negative thoughts and stressors in life. | She is now taking time every day to look for, reflect on, and express gratitude for all blessings – big and small. |
| R: Rise with Patience and Humility | |
| She was losing her calm more often than usual. | She is taking time to pause, breathe, and make Dhikr before responding. |
| She realized that due to not taking time to take care of her spiritual, emotional and physical self, she started resenting others and seeing the faults in others.v | She decided to set healthy boundaries for personal self-care time and started journaling about the positive characteristics of everyone in her family. She is starting to reframe any negative thoughts into positive and saving her energy for her own self-development goals instead of trying to change or control others. |
| T: Thrive with Compassion & Service | |
| She was coming across a little direct and at times not easily approachable. | She is now focusing on taking a pause before responding immediately. She is visualizing the Prophetic compassion in dealing with and serving others before taking action. |
The HEART Model of Spiritual Intelligence is helping Maryam build herself up spiritually, physically, and emotionally. It’s helping her be more calm, mindful, and positive about her life instead of getting carried away by her ever-growing to-do list, demands of her home/career, and the stresses of juggling between all her roles and responsibilities.
