Choose Well: A Map for Daily Life Decisions Series

In this series of lectures, followed by a interactive discussion of 11 practical case studies, we will study select aspects of Islam’s spiritual and rational sciences that give us the tools to make keener rational and spiritual choices in our daily lives — and to live, ultimately, a noble life of optimal material and spiritual well-being.

We will be drawing our principles from the field of purification of the soul (tazkiya al-naf); and the fields of Islamic legal theory (usul al-fiqh), the higher objectives of the law (al-maqasid al-shar’iyya) and legal maxims (al-qawa’id al-fiqhiyya). Our map for decision making will be a hybrid of select principles in each field.

The intent of this series is not to train people to becoming Islamic scholars or reach a legal verdict. Rather, we wish to learn the following:

1. Familiarize ourselves with the application of select Islamic rational principles

2. Make our thinking more dispassionate, rational and rigorous

3. Become more critical of our own intellectual blindspots

4. Connect the spiritual and rational principles together in our daily decision making

5. Make choices that are beneficial for ourselves, families and communities