By Abdul-Lateef Abdullah
Youth are spiritually disconnected. This is the complaint of many concerned adults who sense that problems among young people are growing more extreme. Even those young people growing up in ‘religious’ homes are among the victims of a number of social ills. The disconnect they sense is young people learning religion yet not practicing it, not realizing it, and not having it influence their lives in a meaningful way. The disconnect they sense is between the knowledge that they are receiving and that knowledge translating into meaningful action and positive, healthy human and spiritual development. As such, the fear is a growing culture of meaninglessness among youth. In such a culture, the only value that many young people receive from the society at large is materialism or the pursuit of physical pleasure. The understood purpose for existence is no more than an accumulation of ‘things’ (Garbarino, 1999).
Youth researchers across the globe acknowledge the war of values taking place inside the hearts and minds of young people. Youth are in desperate need of the skills, knowledge and competencies to moderate the worldliness of our age with understanding that can only come from the wisdom that applied spirituality, also known as spiritual intelligence, can provide.
The gap referred to above is focused around how to transform knowledge of religion into intelligence, i.e. intelligent behavior, which, according to Ford (1994) requires “a motivated, skillful person whose biological and behavioral capabilities support relevant interactions with an environment that has the informational and material properties and resources needed to facilitate (or at least permit) goal attainment”(p.203). For Muslim youth in development, rather than those goals that they might aspire to given personal tastes and affinities, goal attainment in a general sense can refer to their healthy development to adulthood and the subsequent attainment of positive life outcomes. Spiritually, this might refer to the notion of ‘ultimate success,’ i.e. success on a worldly as well as heavenly level, the latter often referred to as paradise or proximity to God. Such success requires a life lived in voluntary, conscious surrender to God’s will and commands. The question before us, therefore, is how to transfer knowledge of religion to young people in a manner that cultivates spiritual intelligence, or the ability to apply, manifest, and embody spiritual resources, values, and qualities to enhance daily functioning and wellbeing (Amram and Dryer, 2007).
Along these lines, we must identify a general process that can be applied to obtain the desired goal of the transformation of knowledge into intelligence behavior. Morris (2005), from his lifelong study of the spiritual life and works of the great Muslim saint, Ibn ‘Arabi, describes the complex process of developing spiritual intelligence into three general phases: experience, reflection and right action. Specifically, he states that:
“…the heart’s distinctive activity of ‘reflection’….refers to two equally indispensable aspects of that universal process of spiritual intelligence. First it points to the complex intellectual and spiritual processes of ‘remembering God (dhikr Allah)’ – to what the Qur’an variously refers to, on every page, as our seeking, looking, probing, thinking, understanding, pondering, contemplating, recalling – all so that we might come to recognize the divine Source and meaning of those phenomena, that task which is our distinctively human capacity, finality and responsibility. Secondly, it alludes to the ongoing practical processes and actions of purification and spiritual discipline, to the often painful task of polishing the mirror of the heart, so that through these trials and lessons it can eventually become a true and effective reflection of each of the divine qualities, of the “Most Beautiful Names” (p.2).”
The process of reflection, therefore, is that stage where experience and knowledge meet, interact and result in a more refined end product, namely, right action or the manifestation of the more refined human being, also known in Islamic terminology as ihsan. Thus, spiritual intelligence is the application of spirituality into right action, the nexus of experience and knowledge, mediated by the human being’s capacity for meditation, contemplation and meaning making culminating in manifested behavior worthy of God’s pleasure. The missing ‘link’ previously mentioned, therefore, is addressed by way of a holistic process that makes use of the entire human being – body, mind and soul – to engage in the development of spiritual intelligence.
It begins with how a person experiences life through the world of the senses. In an effort to make meaning of what is seen, heard, felt, smelled and tasted, the experiences are filtered through the lens of ‘ultimate concerns’ (Emmons, 1999), whereby reflection is applied. The reflective process is guided by way of right knowledge delivered through the medium of the spiritual or religious teacher or guide. Reflection on the experience makes use of knowledge, discourse, reason, meditation, contemplation and prayer, and through the application of these tools, meaning of the experience is arrived at by the individual. Once meaning has been arrived at, the experience becomes internalized or integrated into the individual’s makeup, influencing future action based on the notion of truth put forth by the guide in the form of right knowledge. Thus, right action results, reflective of the right knowledge provided by the guide and confirmed through the experience of the individual.
This transformative, experiential learning cycle is exactly that, a process of application of spiritual knowledge into right action resulting from experience and deep, guided reflection. Providing an experience alone does not create learning per se. The learning comes from the thoughts and ideas that flow as a result of the experience (Boyd 2001), which is achieved through the various processes that occur in the reflection stage. For example, in the context of youth work, between a youth worker and a young person, the learning is two-way and shared. In the youth work context, unlike other formal educational arrangements, the youth worker and young person learn from one another. Learning is not one directional but a process of sharing and mutual benefit. Together, the worker and young person share experiences and engage in a process of guided mutual reflection and understanding thus allowing for mutual growth. Youth workers, therefore, must know how to use experiences with youth to create ongoing learning and values development. This is a conscious "learn by doing" experiential process; the youths’ ongoing contact with the youth worker allows for the establishment and nurturing of this special kind of developmental relationship.
In the case of spiritual intelligence development, the key missing link, therefore, is addressed. The gap between the young person’s worldly experiences and the spiritual or religious knowledge that adults so much wish for youth to acquire is met. The process fully validates the experiences of young people, no matter how mundane or materialistic adults may think them to be, while at the same time applying spiritual knowledge in an effective manner through the spiritual resources reflected in the process of guided reflection and meaning making.
Rather than starting with religious knowledge and transferring it solely in a closed, classroom environment where young people are essentially removed from their everyday settings, the development of spiritual intelligence in the abovementioned manner can improve the facilitation of spiritual understanding and deeper meaning of the everyday. This can help young people to better understand the sacredness in everything they do and experience, making the oneness of God (tawhid) a living reality, rather than a static book-rendered classroom subject.
In this process is the development of spiritual intelligence, and the need for it. Without it, young people cannot connect their lives and the events taking place around them to anything greater and more meaningful; they cannot see the wholeness of life and how they and what they do fits into it. Without spiritual intelligence, it is difficult for young people to strive for ‘ultimate success’ while at the same time live in the world with a fully present heart and mind, understanding both the temporal and eternal significance of every moment in life. The author is thus convinced that the missing link is spiritual intelligence.
Remembrance, Recognition and Realization
Spiritual intelligence, from an Islamic approach can be understood or described as ‘discernment resulting in right action,’ or the ability to comprehend the spiritual reality and thus deeper meaning behind the outward form, and to act accordingly based on that realization. Discernment is what allows us to see with the inner eye of the heart, and to go beyond the physical eye that is limited to the world of form and structure. Intelligence implies action, not merely having knowledge but applying it in a manner that leads to greater well-being for the individual and others. That is why intelligence is often defined or alluded to as problem-solving, and why spiritual intelligence does not stop at merely ‘being spiritual’ or having a certain spiritual inclination or worldview.
Spiritual intelligence as discernment is not limited to extra-sensory experiences, mystical states or special, transcendental meditative abilities, either, for these imply something other than everyday experience. Rather, spiritual intelligence from the Islamic viewpoint is the ability to ‘see’ the spiritual in the mundane and to experience the Divine Hand at work in even the most habitual of acts. It is the ability to discern reality more holistically and to peer beyond the surface and toward the essence of matters.
Along these lines, we can refer to the famous Hadith of Gabriel, and to the Prophet Muhammad’s (SAW) description of the term ihsan as “worshipping Allah as though you are seeing Him, and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you.” This description implies excellence resulting from witnessing, which is why ihsan is often defined as spiritual excellence, as a result of consciousness of Allah at all times and in all matters. In this, there is the implication that spirituality is not relegated to exceptional mystical states or experiences, but every moment of ordinary life. Spirituality in this way is not a form of escapism to another realm of existence but rather a deeper knowing and recognition of the reality that exists before us at all times. The spiritually intelligent, therefore, are those that are conscious of and can see the Divine hand at work in every aspect of life, sometimes referred to as theophany or Divine manifestation in the form of Allah’s Names and Attributes.
Those who believe everything to be created by God see Him in everything.
They find comfort in regarding the Creator and not His creation.
All problems stem from the illusion that created things hold the ultimate power. -Al-Nuri, "The Kashf al-Mahjub"
The spiritually intelligent use this insight and ability to achieve excellence in their deeds and do not discriminate between ‘spiritual’ acts and ‘worldly’ acts, but realize that the two are at play simultaneously in a paralleled harmony and unity of existence. Continuous remembrance of God allows us to recognize Him everywhere, resulting in realization of this Truth.
