Quranic Wisdom

given a special reward for good conduct in this world as well as in the world hereafter. De-condition Your Mind, Introspect T he chapter Al-Isra’ (The Night Journey) of the Quran points out a problem—that of mindset—which is common to all men and women: Say to them, ‘Everyone acts in his own way and only your Lord knows best who is rightly guided.’ (17:84) Acting in one’s own way, that is, according to one’s own mindset, is a psychological phenomenon. It stems from a set of attitudes or fixed ideas that vary from one individual to another and are often difficult to change. The human mindset, according to which all men and women think, is conditioned by the social environment. But this mindset does not provide a set of moral standards. Only God Almighty can do that. It is the duty of every man and woman to examine his or her mindset when he or she reaches maturity. Then he or she must discover the norms that are approved of by God and try to come to terms with the standards set by their Maker. This process can be called the de-conditioning of conditioned minds. It is this deconditioning from which one’s intellectual journey begins. It is the first duty of every human being to examine his conditioned mind, scrutinize it by intensive introspection, and then correct his way of thinking. Without undergoing the process of de-conditioning, one