Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) said:
“Everyone does well (in the fields) which are made easy for him to do”
Sahih al-Bukhari 6596
Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him)’s mentioned this when he spoke about destiny of a person. Basically, he was pointing to the fact how the person was created by God. The words of wisdom and guidance of the Prophet is amazing, as it concurs with the modern findings.
Multiple Intelligence Theory
Howard Gardner, a psychologist from Harvard University proposed that people have different kinds of intelligences. He categorized intelligences into the following:
- Visual and Spatial
- Linguistic and Verbal
- Logical and Mathematical
- Body-Kinesthetic
- Musical and Rhythmic
- Interpersonal
- Intrapersonal
While we have a mix of these intelligences, there will be one kind of intelligence that will be dominant. For example: someone might have Musical intelligence as the dominant kind, while another will have kinesthetic intelligence as the dominant one. A child with dominant verbal intelligence will excel in language related fields like poetry, story writing etc. and a child with dominant kinesthetic intelligence will excel in sports.
Conclusion
Following the guidance of Prophet Muhammad, if the dominant kind of intelligence in the child is identified and nurtured, the kid will be very successful in that discipline. It is high time, the parents realize that every kid is unique and expecting every kid to become a doctor or an engineer is incorrect.
