(ii) He has said that they must not deny a thing unless they...

(ii) He has said that they must not deny a thing unless they have sure knowledge about it (Warning against hasty denial). In one verse Allah says: "Were they not asked in the Book to give an undertaking that they would speak nothing concerning Allah except the truth?" (Surah al-A'raf, 7:169) In another verse He says: "In fact they denied that of which they had not enough knowledge." (Surah Yunus, 10:39) IV.

Traditional Thinking and Looking to the Past Man has a natural tendency to readily accept an idea or a belief that was accepted by the past generations, without giving it any further thought. The Holy Qur'an reminds people that they should have independent thinking and should not accept anything without judging it carefully, simply because it was accepted by others in the past. The Holy Qur'an says: "We follow the traditions of our forefathers. What!

Even though their forefathers did not understand anything and had no guidance." (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:170) V- Cult of Personality Another cause of wrong thinking is the cult of personality. Because of the great respect in which they are held, the celebrated historical and contemporary personalities influence the thinking and the will of others. In fact the famous personalities control the thinking of others, who think as they think and have the same opinions as they have.

Other people do not dare differ from the great people and so lose their independence of thought and will. The Holy Qur'an calls upon people to think independently and not to follow their elders and other influential personalities blindly, because to do that is likely to bring them bad luck. The Holy Qur'an tells us that the misguided people will be saying on the Day of Judgement: "Our Lord! We obeyed our chiefs and great men who misled us from the right path." (Surah al-Ahzab, 33:67) Previous…