Thinking Based on Imitation
When the thinking level declines, the individual will be unable to conduct any original research on his own. In this situation, the individual will adopt already-existing ideas established by others when faced with any case or issue that requires any type of original thought or research. Whether in political, legal, or any other issues, such a person will turn
to others to provide him with the answers. And after taking the answer or opinion from others, he will defend and justify this opinion as if it was his own without researching the related evidences, only because of his trust in the one who established the opinion.
This type of thinking is widespread among Muslims in spite of their large numbers, whereas the amount of original thinking is almost nonexistent. Such taqleed (imitation) is acceptable in fiqh for those unable to conduct ijtihad and is also acceptable for the mujtahid is some issues where he does not have to exercise his own ijtihad. However, this type of thinking is not allowed in the Aqeedah, as it is well known that Muslims are prohibited from adopting their Aqeedah through taqleed. Such an approach towards the Aqeedah originated from the non-Muslims who simply follow their ancestors without initiating any type of thinking or research into their beliefs. Furthermore, the definition of Iman leaves no room for the taqleed in the Aqeedah because Iman is defined as the conclusive belief that agrees with the reality and is based on conclusive evidences. Taqleed cannot establish such an Iman because it requires thinking about the issue and building one's case based on daleels that establish the conclusive belief. Therefore, it is incorrect for anyone to say "1 believe in Allah and the Messenger" because his father or shaykh said so.
Regarding the political thinking and the intellectual issues, the prevalence of taqleed in these areas is a strong indicator of the declined status of Muslims. The Muslim cannot shift aimlessly from one opinion to another while having no opinion or original thinking of his own. Rather, he must build his culture and thinking based on original research and study. If the Ummah carries a creative way of thinking, its members will no longer constitute a discordant mass of bodies that will shuttle from one opinion to another like cattle. Furthermore, the members of such an Ummah will no longer accept for themselves to follow personalities, which will translate into a creative Muslim Ummah.
Because of the taqleed and the lack of thinking and creativity, the thinking of Muslims was reduced to a personalized type of thinking that became connected with personalities and not ideas. Nowadays the idea carries no value unless it is connected to a well-established or high-ranking personality. And any existing research in this case will focus on the person and not the thought (i.e., the discussion will emphasize "Who said what" rather than "What is being said."). Any person who opposes the opinions of such personalities will be attacked severely, and the "character assassination" will dominate the focus of any discussion. At the end, the individual will view the correct idea as the idea that comes from a personality that he respects, and the wrong idea is the idea that comes from a person that he does not respect. And the only way to explain the fallacy of any idea in this context will be to focus the discussion on the personalities.
Such an approach indicates the lack of thinking among Muslims. When the Muslims had a high level of understanding, they would evaluate the personalities based on the ideas they carried and not vice versa. Ali (ra) used to say, "Recognize the truth first; then, afterwards, you will be able to recognize the people who adhere to the truth." Furthermore, they realized that digging into the intentions of the individuals and discussing their personalities was not their function because only Allah knows the intentions and what is hidden in the hearts of men. Even when some Muslim scholars began documenting the reliability of hadith reporters, they never probed into the hidden or attempted to decipher the intentions of the reporters. Instead, they addressed each reporter from the perspective of his truthfulness, accuracy, and his memorization capability in relaying the report.
Therefore, the entire discussion should focus on the issues and the ideas where the. evidence, and not a personality, serves as the reference. Only through independent thinking and encouraging the sound and original research can Muslims break free of this imitation and the intellectual tribalism' that results from it.
'(Arabs before Islam had an excessive loyalty and attachment to their tribe of origin while simultaneously possessing excessive racism towards members of other tribes. No one was allowed to oppose their respective tribe, and each individual would blindly follow the crowd. Islam shattered this norm and called the people to think and adopt ideas based on their correctness, while evaluating people based on the ideas they carry and not based on their origin or status. However, if Muslims begin looking to the idea based on the persona of individuals or groups who carry such ideas and begin to take any idea and justify it for no reason than because it came from a particular group or personality, then in reality the Muslims are viewing their ideas as a tribe. And gradually this behavior would evolve into a new form of tribalism.)
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.}
(Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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