Spirit of Islam · RIGHT THINKING

RIGHT THINKING

Spirit of Islam, Jan 2013, p. 28

By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.

RIGHT THINKING A S human beings, we have the capacity to think, in the sense that we can, at a purely intellectual level, conceptualize and discriminate between right and wrong, good and bad. Animals, on the other hand, are governed by their instincts. The greatness of humanity lies in our ability to think and plan a course of action. Animals have no need to do this and are not liable to err, for their actions are governed by their natural instincts. Since human beings are endowed with the ability to decide on a course of action (and cannot, in reality, do otherwise), it is necessary for everyone to fully awaken their senses and bend their mental faculties to the right way of thinking. Once we start thinking right, our actions will consequently be right. THINK POSITIVE Right living is an art. Those who have learned the art can construct a successful life in this world. Those who are oblivious to it have nothing but failure in store for them. To put it briefly, this art can be described as ‘positive thinking’. That is, keeping an open mind, so that we can rise above the psychology of reaction or retaliation and plan objectively, after having arrived at rational conclusions. If positive thinking gives us the direction to use our intellectual capacity, negative thinking acts as a check upon the development of that intellectual capacity. Those who have a tendency towards negative thinking, think and plan only under the influence of external situations, which may or may not be particularly good. Right thinking leads us to progress and development. Wrong thinking leads us in the opposite direction.

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