Our deen has always encouraged critical thinking.
We forgot our way to think, we were subjugated by the western teachings to obey,
Centuries of colonialism has overpowered us and brainwashed us to become weak.
We say we are a liberated land, free people but our minds have become slave to the false idea of modernity and language (spoken and written English is the parameter of gaging someone’s worth)
Learn how to think,
get guidance from the correct resources,
have patience and make dua,
everything has an answer,
leave laziness and blame game.
Get up and work!
Work towards a better life. And while you and I are doing this our children will learn!
Learn to be humble,
Learn to acknowledge right from wrong
Learn to be courageous
Learn to know and believe that only God is in control and break the shackles of baseless cruel fear.
So how to do you lay down the foundation of building critical thinking in ourselves and our children?
First and foremost we learn!
We start from the basics,
1:Quran
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recitation
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meaning
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Tafseer
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then if you want to develop further in the field or want a long term learning path understand the grammar.
and at this point people interrupt the conversation and say,
well what about other subjects?
and here is where I put the blame on the stagnant mindset. Why does it have to be “either“ or “or”
why can’t it be “we take it all along”
I know the answer,
because of the factories we send our minds to train at and have put time stamps on our intellectual growth!
At 4 pre k at 19 college at 25 masters and PhD and medicine done
the rest of the life pay back loans to live and in some extreme cases just survive.
I put this question forward all the time, “as an adult or a parent who is responsible for me?” And I always get the same answer ”me”
Pick up the courage to change.
Learn from scratch if you have to
consider yourself as a pre k student!
and along the way guide your children with the right tools.
why make them suffer to sort their way later on in life when we can help them build up better than ourselves.
some of the critical thinking building tools as a parent can be
did I do my research and istakhara?
is this decision going to benefit my deen and dunya, my child’s deen and dunya
no one is more sincere to you than your own heart and mind, clear it out often of the unnecessary emotional baggage
this will help you develop a strong destinctive capibity of healthy decision making.
don’t be the sheep! blindly following everything, but don’t be rigid about what others do either! The secret to success is building your self spiritually and emotionally. Just because your journey and path has become different doesn’t mean everyone else is wrong.
only dua and consistent positive work on self, circumstances and patience changes anything.
so be patiently consistent in dua and effort.
parenting is repetition, patience and consistency in doing saying and acting on good. you can’t fast track your child’s journey, only they can!
with the tools YOU provide them with. so provide the correct tools tailored to the child’s needs! There is no one glove fits all.
Let’s give ourselves and our children a better today and the best possible future by empowering them to think with the lense of not just reason and expectation but confidence to work and excel in their God gifted capacities to serve Him and humanity.
