We believe that a true and comprehensive
understanding of Islam would not be possible without careful recognition of the
Prophetic Tradition and the Prophet's Household. And Allah is the Source of Strength.
Critical Thinking Critical
" The way of Ibrahim (AS) is the way of a monotheist. And what was the way of Ibrahim (AS)? He was a critical thinker and he was unbiased.
Ibrahim (AS) challenged why the sun cannot be a god for it sets, and for the same reason the moon and the stars, why the idols cannot be a god for neither they talk nor they have the capability to defend themselves, why a man cannot be god because he cannot rise the sun from the west rather than east.
The people who rejected the Prophets always gave the same excuse, that they cannot leave the religion and the customs of their fathers. The fight between the prophets and their opponents was a fight between such blind following vs the critical thinking the prophets asked their followers to do.
But critical thinking alone is no guarantee to guidance. Quran testifies in Surah 37, Ayah 84, that Ibrahim (AS) came to his lord with a free heart. Free from what? From biasness and desires. It is only then that your free heart and thinking mind meet, the thinking of the mind and the sincerity of the heart will always lead you to the truth.
It is a reason therefore today, that to rule over us, our nation as a muslim, is discouraged to think and only to follow the customs of our fathers. Neither do we question the ahadith and traditions we listen to, nor do we think over the fatwas we receive in our every day life. Our populations still follow blindly the "Gadi Nasheens", the Molvis and the Peers. This has lead to a society which does not accept rationality and has grown intolerant because they have let go off the ability to think for it brings tolerance with it.
Allah has called those who do not hear or see or understand as cattle. Because following something unreasonable or irrational blindly is a sign of ungratefulness to Allah who gave us aql for a purpose. But when we close it down and come down to the level of a cattle, then surely we are to graze and to die and our life serves no better purpose. "
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