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Emotional Intelligence – The X Factor

 (Excerpt from the Book - Emotional Intelligence: Reflecting on the Prophet’s Way by Muhammad Javed)

 Edited by Fatuma Hirsi

So, what about the age-old formula of success that has been drilled into our heads by our parents, teachers at school, “Study hard, do well at school and you will succeed”?

Interestingly Lewis Terman, a social scientist and psychologist, had a theory that it was the intelligent high IQ individuals that were the movers and shakers, shaping the world in every field of influence from science, politics to business, medicine etc. So, he decided to get evidence to back his theory and selected more than one thousand high IQ students (with IQ score140 and above) and followed them through their adulthood. The results in their adulthood did not quite turn out as he expected.

Indeed, a small portion of them were very successful, but many were average people and a good number of them ended up as...

Emotions - The Great Blessing

(Excerpt from the Book - Emotional Intelligence; Reflecting on the Prophet’s Way)

Edited by Fatuma Hirsi

Let us step back and get a deeper understanding of emotions and Emotional Intelligence. Emotions are feelings that we experience, and they are created by Allah. Allah says, “Indeed Allah is the One Who makes you laugh and cry” (Qur’an 53:43). So we don’t have control over the emotions that we feel, but we have the ability to regulate and choose how we react to those emotions: either to let it grow, intensify, take control of us and do something we regret, or to pause, control and choose the appropriate response.

Imagine, for a second, that we had no emotions! How would life be? No happiness, sadness, no excitement or surprise, no fear or anticipation, no love or hate. Life would be paler than black and white, wouldn’t it?

Psychiatrists have observed many cases where highly successful professionals become...

How the Sahabi (RA) exemplified Emotional Intelligence?

(Excerpt from the Book - Emotional Intelligence; Reflecting on the Prophet’s Way by Muhammad Javed)

Edited by Fatuma Hirsi

Even though they had faced the toughest of battles with armies ten times their size in the past, what they faced paled in comparison to the biggest calamity to have struck the companions of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Their beloved Prophet, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, their guide in worldly affairs and the hereafter, their last resort in good and bad days, more beloved to them than their parents or children or their own selves, had left this world.  He had returned to His Lord, the “The Highest Companion”. The companions’ attachment to the Messenger has no parallel in history. It was a combination of love, awe, respect, adoration and commitment to the extent that one companion said he would rather give up his life than that a hair of Rasoolullah ﷺ gets hurt.

When this news spread, there...

Emotional Intelligence (EI) Explained

(Excerpt from the Book - Emotional Intelligence; Reflecting on the Prophet’s Way)

Edited by Fatuma Hirsi

In his book, Emotional Intelligence; Reflecting on the Prophet’s Way, Muhammed Javad, takes us on a journey to understand Emotional Intelligence and Spiritual Intelligence (or Self-Purification as labelled by the Author) from an Islamic perspective. He makes us see how these two are interrelated and how together, they are critical, not just for success in the worldly sense, but by being self-aware, practicing self-regulation, being motivated about Jannah, interacting with others while following the boundaries of Sunnah, and following the examples of the Guide to Mankind, Muhammad Mustafa ﷺ, is critical to attaining ultimate success in the after-life.

The term “Emotional Intelligence” (EI) first appeared in 1964 in a paper written by Michael Beldoch. In 1989, Stanley Greenspan conceptualized “Emotional...