Effect of spiritual intelligence on spiritual health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

According to the Islamic thoughts, conditions for spirituality have been proposed to be theism, prophecy, resurrection, piety, knowledge and so forth. However, non-religious spiritual schools have various shortcomings, the most important of which are temporary, devoid of truth, contradictions and one-dimensionality. Hence, the present study investigated the relationship between spiritual intelligence and spiritual health of Muslim medical students of Penang, Kuala Lumpur and in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, 1000 medical students were selected as the statistical population by simple sampling method and standard questionnaires were used to collect data. Data analysis confirmed a positive and significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and spiritual health amongst medical students (r = 0.78, p = 0.00) by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Moreover, results indicated the benefit of Islamic teachings with the spirituality required by human beings. Modern human life, with its significant advances in the material areas, has not been successful in paying attention to spirituality and thus neglected it. Therefore, various mental diseases are caused by material domination in the lives of today’s people that are devoid of spirituality. Furthermore, the emergence of various secular spiritual schools verifies that Western societies, in particular, after the failure of the church, are one of the reasons for the emergence of such false spiritualties. With regard to the unity of spirituality and religion, therefore, spirituality cannot be separated from religion in different ways. Contribution: This article contributes to the relationship between spiritual intelligence and spiritual health of Muslim medical students.