Your Spiritual Personality: Eye of Vigilance

Your Spiritual Personality: Eye of Vigilance

Knowledge Type: Experience 

Behavior Type: Restraint

Explanation of Your Personality

 This spirituality type unites the caution of Restraint with the vision and foresight of Experiential knowledge, resulting in unparalleled awareness of the dangers and threats to true faith and worrisome trends in society. There is a focus on heeding warnings, escaping evil, and reflecting on the end-times and the afterlife.

 Example: Uthman ibn Affan was a tremendously reflective soul, contemplating the afterlife and punishment in the grave. It is narrated that when he stood over a grave, he would weep until his beard would become wet. He worried about the negative consequences of seemingly mundane actions. He paid tremendous attention to the prophecies of the end-times and when the rebels surrounded his home, he warned them of the internecine violence it would lead to, and he forbade anyone to shed blood in his defense. In one of his famous sermons, Uthman said, “O people fear Allah, for fear of Allah is a great treasure. The smartest of people is the one who checks himself and strives for that which comes after death, and gains from the light of Allah light to illuminate his grave.”

 What role can I play in the world?

The Sage 

People with the Eye of Vigilance spiritual personality type have the potential to become wise Sages! People who love to experience the world that Allah has created, but are careful not to be fooled by the deception of Shaytaan. The Sage’s sight penetrates beyond the surface of things to recognize the true reality that is often hidden from others. Seemingly innocuous societal trends become serious issues with grave consequences when viewed with an Eye of Vigilance.

 Action Item: 

No matter how much the darkness and injustice in the world intensifies, never forget that the Prophet foretold of times in which holding on to one’s faith would be like grasping a burning coal. Increase in dhikr (remembrance of God) and du’a (supplication), spending time with loved ones, and take some personal time for reflection!

Note: These results based on a small number of questions do not represent an absolute or definitive characterization of who you are. They simply highlight some tendencies in your spiritual personality which you may find useful to understand what actions will be most conducive to your spiritual development and growth.

To learn more about the theory of spiritual personality types, how it relates to Islamic scripture and theology, and how it relates to personality psychology, read the Yaqeen Article:

Four Spiritual Personality Types

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FAQs

What does my spiritual personality tell me about myself?

 The spiritual personality type you receive is a general approach to Islam that is based on a combination of your knowledge and behaviour type. In other words, it tells you what aspects of Islam you are naturally most inclined towards in your everyday lived experience. Just as the companions of the Prophet were all unique and each served Islam in their own way, thus do we find differences amongst ourselves today. Every single person is unique, and no single personality description can capture all of the traits that make you special. However, it is useful to have an understanding of the general strengths and weaknesses associated with your knowledge and behaviour type. This can aid a person on their journey of self-discovery, as it points them in the right direction and provides a framework to build from. Self-knowledge allows a person to focus on doing those activities that are most conducive to their own spiritual growth, rather than measuring themselves according to a standard that does not match them.

Are these profiles based on scientific evidence?

 The field of personality psychology as a whole has increasingly become the subject of rigorous scientific investigation, accumulating empirical data for personality type classifications. These classifications start with an interesting idea of how people differ, formulate that idea into a logical classification scheme, and then acquire data to support and develop it further. Our spiritual personality profiles have been constructed using a conceptual analysis of the Islamic theological and spiritual tradition, drawing on a vast array of evidences from sacred scripture (Qur’an and Sunnah) as well as the writings of scholars. One of the reasons for undertaking this personality quiz project is to accumulate empirical data from people regarding their spiritual tendencies to enhance our understanding of the personality types. As we gain more information, we will be able to provide further analysis of each personality backed by statistical analysis and add greater nuance to some of the descriptions.

 Are the questions in this survey valid and reliable in measuring a person’s spiritual personality?

This survey contains both research questions (which do not impact a person’s results) and measurement questions (which determine which personality result one gets based on points accumulated). The research questions explore the spiritual habits and forms of religious expression of the test taker. These allows us to accumulate more information to enhance our understanding of the spiritual personality types. The measurement questions assess people on knowledge and behaviour dimensions. They differentiate one’s knowledge type into experiential or judgment, and one’s behaviour type into action or restraint. These questions have undergone an initial round of testing to ensure face validity and test-retest reliability.

What if my description doesn’t sound like me at all?

 There are a number of reasons why a person may experience low concordance between their current understanding of themselves and the spiritual personality description. First, quiz questions can be interpreted differently by the respondent, and sometimes this changes when attempting the quiz a second time. Secondly, a person’s baseline level of religious expression will influence the extent to which he or she manifests a particular predilection for a subset of religious activities or interest, i.e. without doing enough spiritually motivated actions, their spiritual personality may be ‘latent’ waiting to be discovered — this is what the “Activity Index” describes. It lets you know whether you should take your results with a very large grain of salt. Thirdly, the quiz asks about certain activities and interests using these as a substitute marker for a particular psychological substructure (such as a preference for action over restraint), and it is possible that other activities/interests would better represent that substructure for the individual in question; this is a challenge with all personality tests. Fourthly, it is possible that a person has become accustomed practice activities in Islam in a way that is not consistent with their natural personality thus limiting their potential to experience higher states of faith and spirituality. Entertaining the possibility that our self-knowledge may be inaccurate is an important step to self-discovery.

I think I fit into more than one category, is it possible to be a combination of two profiles?

 These personality types are based on where a person stands on two dimensions: knowledge and behaviour. It is possible if a person is quite balanced in these domains that their personality encompasses more qualities. For instance, a person who may be balanced on their knowledge dimension, but is action-oriented, may find that both heart of inspiration and hand of power descriptions fit with them. Conversely, someone who is balanced on their behaviour dimension, but is experience-focused may find that both heart of inspiration and eye of vigilance suits them. It is also possible that a person gets two personality types which seem to represent opposite domains (such as getting both Heart of Inspiration and Voice of Justice, or getting both Eye of Vigilance and Hand of Power). This is an interesting situation which may be due to the interplay between the variables or the presence of other missing variables. As we learn more about everyone’s spiritual personality through data accumulation, we will be able to understand these interactions in greater detail.

Compiled, edited and adapted by Khalid Latif

www.thekhalids.org