With the Heart in Mind
Overall, I’m impressed with Shaykh Mikaeel work and would put it in one of top recommendations for any Muslim that desires a deep and intellectually embedded framework for personal and societal development. It’s a book that I would make required reading for individuals that want to grow within in themselves — as well as individuals that serve in a capacity of responsibility. This includes, but not limited to MSA leaders, masjid board members, Muslim board members, educators, parents, and religious and pastoral leaders.
— Mubarrat Choudhury, Medium
Smith strings together psychology, philosophy, theology, and history to illuminate an alternative model of emotional and moral intelligence centered on God, His revelation, and the examples of His prophets and messengers. Though just under 200 pages in length, reading With the Heart in Mind requires deliberation. It is not simply a summary of the life of the Prophet ﷺ and esteemed scholars in the Islamic tradition, but a work that calls for using our intellectual capacity for intentional transformation of the self and our communities.
— Heraa Hashmi, Traversing Tradition
A great book for a book club bc it’s dense and has good topics to dissect and explore. It aligns with a lot of what I’ve learned in other settings and frames it a different way. The community is hungry for more books/knowledge on this topic and it’s a topic I hope continues to gain more classes & books.
— Kinza, Goodreads
A book I will need to visit and revisit again. At the heart of it is a call to reassess how we give meaning to intelligence and the vital role and purpose of our intellect. Current markers of intelligence often revolve around pursuits of knowledge — PhDs, publications, the next discovery or invention— but rarely will we label a gracious person loved and respected by their community, or a person willing to fight for what is morally upright as someone ‘intelligent’. Isn’t that odd? In fact, these two other aspects of intelligence, emotional and moral, are the vehicles that will allow the knowledge we acquire to be succesfully implemented, inspiring deep change in our communities for a higher purpose or ‘the greater good’…
— Salma, Goodreads
With the Heart in Mind is a ground-breaking work that should be read by everyone who wants to be serious about religion and wants to be serious about building a better life. If we remain unaware of our emotional and moral intelligence, we run the very real risk of jeopardising all aspects of our lives – including the lives of those we hold most dear.
— Wardah Books
I love learning from Sh. Mikaeel Smith, I feel a connection to his approach and his gentle mannerisms. May Allah increase him in all that he does and put barakah in all his affairs, Ameen
This is an excellent book. A very needed book in the field of psychology from an Islamic perspective. Highly recommend.