News / Food for Thought

Dr. Salman Sayyid speech on critical thinking

Monday, 09 November 2015 9:51 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 03 January 2016 2:09 PM ]

Dr. Salman Sayyid

Thought only occurs when you try to solve problems. Thinking is a problem-solving activity.

Thinking is a response to crisis and it is a reflection on things, which are not working. But this kind of thinking is not critical thinking. There are two types of thinking: away from following rules, which is quite common and critical thinking, which requires us not to follow but invent rules and it also persuading.

The ultimate decision of what Islam means doesn’t lie with us as individuals, it doesn’t even lie with the Quran. It lies with the Ummah's understanding of the Quran at any particular moment and time. What we understand from Quran is not specific to any particular community. Critical thinking is a kind of conversation we have about things, which are important to us.

In that regard, we have to lose the model of understanding Islam as a religion and think of it as a language, which we use to talk about ourselves, our future, and our past. In this way you work to understand the idea of Islam practiced by all Muslims who have been, who will be and who are.

The relationship between the Quran and Ummah is central relationship. Anyone can have an opinion about the Quran, but the only opinion that matters is the opinion of Ummah as a collectivity.

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