"The Best of the Intellect Is a Person's Knowledge of His Own Self": Exploring the Psychological Aspects of Imam Reza's Hadith Using Structural Equation Modeling

In Islam, hadith is regarded as a secondary source after Holy Quran covering various aspects of life including psychological and anthropological matters. Due to the critical role of hadiths in Islamic cultures, the researchers of the present study decided to scrutinize one of the Imam Reza's hadiths from psychological points of view. The present study, therefore, is an attempt to provide psychological and statistical evidence for the hadith: "The best of the intellect is a person's knowledge of his own self," exploring the strength of causal relationships among the pertinent variables. To do so, 327 university students responded to six questionnaires measuring spiritual intelligence, self-fulfillment, mindfulness, emotional self-awareness, self-esteem, and personal best goals. The analysis of structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that spiritual intelligence is a positive indicator of self-fulfillment and mindfulness directly and indirectly, respectively. Besides, self-fulfillment was found to influence mindfulness, emotional self-awareness, and self-esteem positively and significantly. Moreover, mindfulness predicted emotional self-awareness and personal best goals directly. Self-esteem, emotional self-awareness, and self-fulfillment were also significant predictors of personal best goals.