Attainment of Wisdom
One of the benefits of thinking well is it may assist in the attainment of wisdom. We have demonstrated that the end of good thinking is wisdom. Wisdom is the perfection of human intellect and character (Miskawayh, 1968). Therefore, wisdom is of great value; and a person who is given wisdom is indeed blessed. Allah makes clear in the Qur’an that the duty of the prophets is to teach mankind the Scripture, wisdom and to purify them which mean that teaching for wisdom is one of the highest aims of Islamic education.
Our Lord! And raise up in them an Apostle from among them who shall recite to them Thy communications and teach them the Book and the wisdom, and purify them; surely Thou art the Mighty, the Wise (al-Baqarah: 129).
Manifestation of Thankfulness (Shukr)
Another value of good thinking is the manifestation of thankfulness for being endowed with ‘aql which makes man superior than other creations. This means that the intellect is the greatest favor that Allah has bestowed onto human for it differentiates man from the brute beasts. That is why every human being is obligated to be thankful (shukr) to Allah (al-Qur’an, al-Baqarah: 152; an-Nisa’: 147; al-Qasas: 73; al-Mu’minun: 78; an-Naml: 73) for “being alive and endowed with a soul”, an immaterial substance that leads man to realize that life in this world is for a purpose, which in turn leads him to believe in God through a logical process of thought (Asad, 1980: 132). Allah is pleased with those who are thankful to Him (al-Qur’an, Ali ‘Imran: 144; az-Zumar: 7; al-Qamar: 35). Thankfulness is manifested by using the favors according to the purposes they are created and to be thankful is an obligation for every individual Muslim (Saiyidain, 1999; al-Ghazali, 2006). If a person received a priceless gift from his or her loved one, but that person never even opened the gift let alone used it for his or her benefit, then the person is disrespectful of his or her loved one and made the loved one felt unappreciated. What is more, the gift is a total waste of resources; and wasting resources is the act of the devil.
A Form of Worship
Deep thinking or contemplation is one of the highest forms of worship (Badri, 2000) if it is done for the sake of Allah and with good intention. Ibn Rushd (1976) and al-Aqad (n. d.) conclude that deep thinking is an obligation for every Muslim man and woman. This conclusion is made based on the great emphasis the Qur’an made on thinking and the beneficial effects thinking has on spiritual, intellectual and emotional development.
Intellectual Emancipation
The fact that there are so many verses that urge readers of the Qur’an to think convey the message that Islam demands its followers to be intellectually and spiritually active. The reality that Muslims all over the world are intellectually dependent on Western knowledge and thinking shows that many Muslims disregard the teaching of Islam or have been reading the Qur’an without understanding, that is without using good thinking. The effect is the tendency to view the Qur’an, on the one hand, as just a religious book for the enhancement of religious life which is considered private and separated from the worldly life. On the other hand, some Muslims make simplistic argument that the answer for every problem can be found in the Qur’an but never once plunge themselves into studying the Qur’an thoroughly to find methodology of delivering the ummah from the present predicament for the fear of making wrong interpretation. The consequence is the propensity to imitate blindly from other cultures without critical evaluation or much thought. In order to alleviate the guilty feeling for not being able to provide Islamic solution, some Muslims give religious flavor to solution adopted from Western thinking and try to find justification from Islamic sources to force the solution to fit in the Islamic belief.
Defense of Islamic Belief
The present Muslims encounter with ideologies such as Liberal Islam, feminism, religious pluralism, humanism, materialism, empiricism, secularism, and other ideologies which maintain that their way is the right way to the truth. Not only that, millions of information travel through media at the speed of light into Muslims’ home everyday. Muslims are overwhelmed with choices. Some Muslims, because of weakness in thinking, fall prey to these ideologies and make wrong choices. The present Muslims need good thinking like never before. Good thinking makes one to be selective in choosing. It acts as filter of information so that false knowledge is sifted out. Through critical analysis and evaluation; and creative choosing of information; together with moral policing of ethical thinking and remembering of God’s scrutiny; one can be and feel save from being influenced by alien ideologies and worthless and dangerous information. Lang (1997) agrees that “critical analytical method is absolutely necessary” for preservation of religion among Muslims.
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