Abdul Rahman Chao - Spiritual Intelligence

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Then he sold one of the sheep and earned a dinar back. And when he returned to the Prophet ﷺ, he had a dinar and a sheep. When the Prophet ﷺ saw the business intelligence that I give you one coin and you come back with one coin, and the product that I wanted, this person is smart. So the Prophet ﷺ made du'a for him and asked that Allah bless him in his wealth.

In fact the Prophet ﷺ said, the meaning is that if he had purchased turab, that if he had purchased dirt, Urwah would have somehow made a profit from it. Brothers and sisters, I want you to pay attention to this hadith. In which the Prophet ﷺ, yes, he praised the intelligence of this companion.

But he didn't say, ما شاء الله على ذكائه. He didn't say, ما شاء الله for his intelligence. He said, may Allah bless him in his business dealings. In other words, this is a lesson for the companion and for all of us.

That your intelligence, your skills, and your talents are from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Allah has brought you out from your mother's wombs. You do not know anything.

So these skills that you have should be used for the greatness of Allah. Should be used for good things. That these blessings that Allah has given you, it should lead you to the conclusion that I would be held accountable for how I use them.

That I should give thanks to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Having that ability to discern that your physical intelligence and the physical blessings that you have should lead you to this conclusion, should lead you to understanding that you give thanks to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This points to a different kind of intelligence.

Physical Intelligence vs. Spiritual Intelligence

Not the physical intelligence, not the one of the mind, but the one of the heart. The aql of the soul, of the spirit. The spiritual intelligence that one should have.

And if you look at this word al-aql, intelligence, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about both in the Qur'an. And this word al-aql in Arabic, it's from the same root as the halter that you put on the horse or on the camel to keep the animal going in the desired direction of the rider. And so the reason why our intellect is called al-aql, is because this information and knowledge that you have, that Allah has blessed you with, should lead you to what is good, and hold you back from what is wrong.

Hold you back from your worst impulses, from committing haram. So these two types of intelligence, physical intelligence and spiritual intelligence. We live in a world that highly prioritizes the physical mind, of how smart people are, gifted and talented.

And we have our entire world, and our education system revolves around that. And it is so sad that some people in our community, they tell their kids to go study the deen, if they think that they don't have physical intelligence of this world. And so brothers and sisters, this intelligence that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants us to use, the spiritual intelligence, is something that is cultivated in the heart.

It's not something that you can observe using the scientific method, for all the other things that we see in the world. Like as Allah says in the Qur'an:

Allah has created you, and taken you out from your mother's womb, and you do not know anything. And He has created for you, listening, the ability to hear, and vision, and sight, وَالْأَفْئِدَةَ and hearts.

This is the heart, the spiritual heart. For what? So that what can you do with it? لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ So that you can give thanks to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Paradox of Modern Intelligence

Look at all the great scientists that we have today. Designing artificial intelligence, laparoscopic surgery, doing highly detailed brain surgery using robots. We have these big scientists, Neil deGrasse, Albert Einstein, our favorite nature documentary narrator, David Attenborough. Sir David Attenborough.

And yet, they are agnostic. They cannot fully determine if there is a creator, but they won't rule it out. How is it that these bright physicists and scientists have such strong physical intellect and intelligence, but yet they are blind to the signs of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala around them? How is it that some of the smartest people in the world can solve some of the toughest equations, yet they are lacking in the spiritual intelligence, and bow down to an animal, or bow down to an idol?

We are living in a time where both physical intelligence and spiritual intelligence is going downhill. We've got people saying that dinosaurs are fake, or the earth is flat. And then we have people somehow justifying genocide, justifying the killing of children, and they pride themselves as beacons of intellect and knowledge. This is intellectual degradation and corruption, brothers and sisters.

And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Qur'an:

Have they not traveled through the earth, to have hearts by which to think and to reason, and ears for which to hear, for them to hear. For indeed, it is not the eyes that are blinded, but it is the hearts that are blinded, that are in their chests.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala condemns those people who are physically, intellectually superior of this dunya, but intellectually and spiritually deficient about the akhirah.

Whereas the Prophet ﷺ he says:

(At-Tabarani, Al-Mu'jam Al-Kabir)

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala despises every individual who is an alim, a scholar of this world, of the worldly knowledge around them, but a complete ignorant, an ignoramus of the akhirah. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect all of us.

Evidence of Spiritual Intelligence

So what are some of the evidence that we have that Allah has given us spiritual intelligence? Well, number one, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala didn't create you only of a body, but He created you of body and soul.

So just like the body needs nourishment and practice and exercise, the soul also will require intelligence and exercise and nourishment. But more importantly, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created every human being on earth, every single human being with the fitrah. What is this fitrah? The natural disposition, knowing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has created them.

You look at the story of Prophet Ibrahim when he was a young boy. He saw the idols around him and he knew they were wrong. He was able to use his physical intellect to enhance the spiritual intellect and recognize that the planets, the stars, the moon and the sun are all false gods.

That is the proof that Allah has given all of you some kind of spiritual intellect. And before we close for the second khutbah, I want you to reflect on all the stories of reverts that you have, whether reverts you've met in person or those whom you've seen their stories on YouTube or on social media. And there is a common trend among all reverts.

And they will tell you that there was something in them making them think. They were observing. They were yearning for the truth. They were looking. They were observing. In fact, some of them would say that they would see all the vices in the dunya, the haram, the alcohol, the zina, the riba, all of those things.

And all these other religions would not say much about it or people would turn a blind eye to it except for Islam and the Muslims. And then those people would demonize Islam and say Islam is bad. Got them thinking. They don't reject these evils and vices, but they want to say Islam is evil. Maybe it's time to look into Islam.

Second Khutbah

So now that we have established that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given all of us some foundational aspects of spiritual intelligence through our fitrah, and knowing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is our creator, there are things that can cause you to blind yourself or things that could make you not realize your spiritual intelligence and that is through sin or the way how you are brought up.

Like the Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, 1358)

That every child is born with the natural instinct knowing that Allah is their creator to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but except their parents will either make them into a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.

A companion came to the Prophet ﷺ by the name of Wabisah and the Prophet ﷺ said:

You came to ask about good deeds and what sin is. And the Prophet ﷺ he says:

Seek a fatwa from your heart. In other words, in the things that you, in which you are not sure of, not like seek a fatwa of the heart about whether zina is halal or haram. It's about those things that you are unsure of. And the Prophet ﷺ says, Goodness or sin is what scratches at your conscience.

And in another narration, it's something that you don't want other people to see you doing.

And goodness, a part of it is to have good character. So, using your spiritual intelligence to stay away from haram, that is one of the things that we should work on.

And that's why the Prophet ﷺ he says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, 52)

The halal is clear, haram is clear, and there are some things in the gray area not many people know. So whoever stays away from the gray areas, they have protected their honor and their deen. And every ruler has its limits. And Allah's limits are those things that are haram. So stay away from it.

The Heart as the Center of Spiritual Intelligence

Another aspect of spiritual intelligence is this next part of the hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ says:

In every body there is a piece of flesh. If that flesh is good, then the rest of the body is good. And if that flesh is bad, then the rest of the body is sickly. And the Prophet ﷺ says, it is the heart.

Brothers and sisters, exercising your spiritual intelligence includes knowing that when Allah tests you, that you don't freak out. Yes, you might be scared, you might be frightened, you might be frustrated, but that's why the Prophet ﷺ says, every affair of the believer is good. If something good happens to them, they thank Allah. And if something bad happens to them, they are patient.

And that's why Aisha رضي الله عنها in her hadith, she describes the Prophet ﷺ that whenever he saw something good, what would he say?

All praises due to Allah by His blessing. The good deeds are completed, are done. And when he saw something that he didn't like, he would say:

All praises due to Allah in all situations.

And that is why brothers and sisters, the Prophet ﷺ talks about the one who is spiritually intelligent, he says:

The one who is smart, not the one who is intellectually, physically of the brain who is smart, but the one who is spiritually smart, who holds himself to account, and he prepares himself and works and invests towards the akhira.

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, 2459)

And the idiot, the one who is incapable, spiritually corrupt, non-intelligent, the one who follows his desires and wishes, and doesn't ask Allah for forgiveness, and has all these wishes that Allah, inshAllah, before I die, Allah will forgive me.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to increase us in spiritual intelligence and to use our physical intelligence to enhance our spiritual intelligence and to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala upon knowledge.