Summary of the Happiness Project to date

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i have recently collected another 41 reports. The total number of respondents so far is 389. The answers so far are: - 74.6% said that they feel happier - 8.7% did not provide a conclusion to their assignment - 5.9% said that the assignment did not make any difference - 4.1% said that they were not sure whether there is any change - 3.1% said that they feel more calm - 3.6% gave a variety of other answers Lets look at the story behind the numbers. A number of students have given me verbal feedback (typically, "I have started praying now", or "I have stopped drinking alcohol" or "I have stopped watching pornography") which they did not write in their reports. I suspect that some students "disguised" their answers for the sake of the grade. However, having read 389 reports, I think I can now distinguish the sincere answers from the politically correct answers. I suspect that the success rate is closer to 60% rather than 75%. However, even the students who did not take the assignment seriously have learned to process of spiritual development. In their future life, insha'Allah, they can still apply what they have learned when their lives become difficult. On a different note, I am now using two psychological instruments to measure the spiritual intelligence before and after the assignment. The data has already been collected but it will take some time to analyse the data. I assume that I will have some more data by June 2012, insha'Allah In terms of the literature review, I think I now understand both the Islamic perspective and the non-Islamic perspective. Since March 2012, I have been visiting schools and talking to young teenagers (15 to 17 years). These discussions gave me hope that the Happiness Project can be modified to help school children answer their spiritual concerns.

A summary of the Happy in Islam project

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Reflecting on Gretchen Rubin's book

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I have finished Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project" (Harper Collins). It is impossible to summarise in one paragraph what I feel about the book. Gretchen Rubin spends one year doing a happiness project. She chooses a theme for a specific month and uses goals to explore how to increase her happiness. She reviews her goals everyday before going to sleep. The book has been well researched so there are many insightful and valuable lessons. However, it just seems so much hard-work. Everything is so goal-orientated that it ends up being depressing. So, here is my summary

Western perspective: Happiness is a process which requires constant goal-setting and self-evaluation. The basic assumption is that God does not exist and therefore we need to create our own happiness.

The Islamic perspective
: God created us with a purpose. By learning about Islam, we can understand our purpose in life and build a strong and relationship with God, based on gratefulness. One of the benefits is that we develop a sense of contentment (happiness) which arises from the fact that our life is in tune with our real purpose.

Let me make an analogy. In a famous story, a group of people were lost in the jungle. They started going in a direction. Any direction was good enough. But one of them decided to climb a tree to see where they were going. From the top of the tree, he pointed out to the group below that there is a better and safer way. The response from the people below, "It's OK. We are making good progress." That is why Gretchen's book is both fascinating and frustrating. There is a sense of futility because "every way is okay". In reality, there are only two roads. One leads to Paradise and one leads to the other place. Being on the right road is therefore crucial. It is important that the road that leads to Paradise CAN be enjoyable. Although people like to stress on difficult that road is, that is one interpretation. There is another interpretation which states that Muslims can have all the comforts of a modern life while being engaged in ibadah. It is not always about sacrifices. in fact, in one of the most famous hadith, the Prophet SAW said, "Make things easy for people and do not make it difficult. Give people glad news and don't make them run away."

In this project, my conclusion is that 80% of students do benefit from seeking knowledge, getting to know Allah better, understanding al qadar better and re-connecting with the Qur'an by listening to good tafsir. That develops a sweetness of faith which we often call happiness. However, the process of improving yourself is a comfortable process that is done in front of a computer or in group-discussions. And Allah knows best.