The Islamic Way Of Thinking by Hasan Abdullah

Islam is a unique ideology based upon a unique Aqeedah which serves as the foundation for a unique system of rules. The distinct nature of Islam would lead someone to ask whether or not Islam came to also shape the thinking process, which is a process common to all human beings.

No doubt, thinking as a function of the human being is the same for all people. In this process, an individual transmits his or her sensation of the reality to the brain through the senses, and then connects this sensation to previous information about the reality to produce a thought. Thus, a reality must exist, which a person senses either directly or indirectly,1 and this reality is transmitted to the brain through one of the senses.

However, thought does not result from the sensation alone but results only by linking this sensation with any previous information that the human being possesses which pertains to the reality at hand.

Thinking does not only consist of the reflection of the reality onto the brain as the Marxists claim.

The Marxists claimed such an idea for no other reason than to prove that matter precedes the Fikr, that the reality is the source of the culture, civilization, social order, and awareness, and that all evolved through the evolution of matter. Such a claim is false because the reality and the brain are not sufficient to produce thought.2 Although these two elements produce sensation, the sensation differs from thought because sensation exists among humans as well as animals. However, the human being is distinct in the process of connecting the sensation with previous information to produce a new thought.

Thinking in this method is universal, like the processes of eating and walking. However, because human beings adopt different Aqaid, and the adoption of any Aqeedah builds a person intellectually in a specific format, then the Aqeedah serves as the intellectual framework that defines the outlook towards life as well as the reference and foundation upon which the person builds all other thoughts.

Thus, the Aqeedah by its nature mandates a distinct way of thinking. And adopting the Islamic Aqeedah in a correct intellectual manner (based upon sound intellectual thinking and not based on imitation of ancestors, blind faith, instinctive emotions, or benefit) will undoubtedly change the individual into an intellectual ideological person who thinks in a distinct method with a distinct style and inclination. And this distinct thinking will manifest in a distinct pattern of behavior.

Hasan Abdullah