Blog Archives

The Nine Types of Intelligence

76ba5cf5011898c4356d0dedf0a60d2a_large

By: Howard Gardner

  1. Naturalist Intelligence (“Nature Smart”)

Designates the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations).  This ability was clearly of value in our evolutionary past as hunters, gatherers, and farmers; it continues to be central in such roles as botanist or chef.  It is also speculated that much of our consumer society exploits the naturalist intelligences, which can be mobilized in the discrimination among cars, sneakers, kinds of makeup, and the like.

  1. Musical Intelligence (“Musical Smart”)

Musical intelligence is the capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, timbre, and tone.  This intelligence enables us to recognize, create, reproduce, and reflect on music, as demonstrated by composers, conductors, musicians, vocalist, and sensitive listeners.  Interestingly, there is often an affective connection between music and the emotions; and mathematical and musical intelligences may share common thinking processes.  Young adults with this kind of intelligence are usually singing or drumming to themselves.  They are usually quite aware of sounds others may miss.

  1. Logical-Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart)

Logical-mathematical intelligence is the ability to calculate, quantify, consider propositions and hypotheses, and carry out complete mathematical operations.  It enables us to perceive relationships and connections and to use abstract, symbolic thought; sequential reasoning skills; and inductive and deductive thinking patterns.  Logical intelligence is usually well developed in mathematicians, scientists, and detectives.  Young adults with lots of logical intelligence are interested in patterns, categories, and relationships.  They are drawn to arithmetic problems, strategy games and experiments.

Read the rest of this entry

55 Important Ways to Maintain a Happy Marriage

1911831_10152047848947894_2857327240804054899_n

Source: Happy Muslim Family and Friends

Marriage is a highly recommended Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (saws).

The purpose of marriage in Islam is to increase the Muslim community and not only to enjoy pleasure as Muhammad (saw) said; “Multiply your wives, multiply your children and I shall be proud of you on the Day ofJudgement.”

Although marriage is encouraged in Islam, Allah and his MessengerMuhammad (saw) haven’t left us to our rationality to discover what marriage entails and what things make a successful marriage. Thefollowing few pages highlight what makes a happy marriage based on the Qu’ran and Sunnah and how the husband and wife can gain each othersheart.

Read the rest of this entry

How Successful People Stay Productive and In Control

1e750f2

Source: talentsmart.com

By: Dr. Travis Bradberry

TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that the upper echelons of top performance are filled with people who are high in emotional intelligence (90% of top performers, to be exact). The hallmark of emotional intelligence is self-control—a skill that unleashes massive productivity by keeping you focused and on track.

Unfortunately, self-control is a difficult skill to rely on. Self-control is so fleeting for most people that when Martin Seligman and his colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania surveyed two million people and asked them to rank order their strengths in 24 different skills, self-control ended up in the very bottom slot.

And when your self-control leaves something to be desired, so does your productivity.

Read the rest of this entry

Ways to Build Self-Esteem

self-esteem-216x300

Source: productivemuslim.com

By: Anum Ali

Self-Esteem is the value that we give ourselves and the opinion we have of ourselves. Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) blessed us with an all-encompassing way of life called Islam over 1400 years ago, and it advocates the rights of all creation (men, women, elderly, children, animals, and our own ‘self’).

Read the rest of this entry

When the light of faith tries to enter

faith

By: Asmaa Hussein

“When the light of faith tries to enter sometimes it hurts – like the first moment you emerge from a dark room into the sunlight. You squint your eyes and shade your face from the sun’s intensity. But after a moment or two, you can see that whatever the light has touched has been brightened and beautified so much more than before.

Read the rest of this entry

CELEBRATING THE NEW YEAR

Source: blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com

By: Dr. Bilal Philips

Origins

January is named after Janus, the Roman god of doors and gateways. He was commonly depicted in statues, carvings and paintings as a two headed man with one head facing forward and the other head facing backwards. In 46BC Julius Caesar chose January 1st as the first day of the as Janus symbolically represented the door to the . Wild parties and orgies were held on the night before the ’s Day as a re-enactment of the chaos which Roman mythology depicted as preceding the cosmos or the ordered world whose organization was set by the gods. Furthermore, by that time, Janus had become, in practice, the highest god receiving the ritual sacrifices of Roman worshippers before the other gods, including the chief god, Jupiter.[1]

Thus, in its essence the of the New Year on January 1stand New Year’s Eve, the night before, are a part and parcel of pagan religious rituals based on idolatrous beliefs in false gods. Consequently, it is completely Haraam (sinful and forbidden) for Muslims to participate in or adopt any of its related rituals, customs and symbols.

 If a non-Muslim greets a Muslim, “Happy New Year”, the Muslim is not allowed to respond in a similar manner or say, “Same to you.” Instead, in order not to offend or hurt the feelings of non-Muslim friends or acquaintances, one may say instead, “Happy holiday.”

DB poster27

 

As for celebrating the New Year according to the Islamic calendar which begins with the month of Muharram, this is also not permissible from a number of perspectives. First and foremost, if one does so believing that it is pleasing to Allah to do so, thereby transforming it into an act of worship, it becomes a  Bid‘ah or cursed in the religion about which the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Every in religion is misguidance and all misguidance leads to the Hellfire.” If one does so merely as a custom, it is still impermissible as it falls under the prohibition of of pagan customs about which the Prophet (pbuh) said, “Whoever imitates a people becomes one of them.”


[1] Pope Gregory 13th who set the modern calendar, the Gregorian calendar, also officially fixed the first day of the year for ChristianEurope as January 1st in 1582.

Devine Carama Presents: “Power of Words” – Hiphop & Poetry (Video)

info-pictogram1 My presentation focuses on poetry and hiphop and how those forums can be used as an alternative outlet in expressing their feelings (as oppose to lashing out or fighting) as well as a way to inspire others. I also talk about how students talk to each other as well as certain names that they call each others. My main focus is how the words we use have power so its up to us to choose whether we use that power in a good way or a bad way. My presentation varies depending on the age group and/or specific things individual teachers or principles want me to touch on.

Read the rest of this entry

A Strange Analogy

Blog-Post-weight-slider-1-578x420

Source: blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com

By: Nasmira Firdous

My heart beats vehemently against my chest, almost ripping my ribs apart. My breathing gets heavier and I look around to see everything happening in a jiffy. Amidst the swarms of people hustling and bustling all at once, I look forward to spot my train which is yet to arrive.

Given my very rare train-traveling experiences, I constantly look at others around me, trying to figure out how they manage to remain calm and peaceful amidst the incessant noise that is deafening to my ears. Everything around me was calm, except my heart. A flight of steps to take me up and down with a bag to carry; and then, comes a series of strange thoughts that keep me occupied for the next hour or so.

Read the rest of this entry

Abiodun Oyewole: Something Beautiful (Video)

info-pictogram1 Legendary Last Poet Abiodun Oyewole wants to say something beautiful but bad feelings, bad thoughts and unresolved history seem to be getting in his way. Abiodun Oyewole is a founding member of The Last Poets who cleared a path for the birth of hip-hop.