TRADITIONAL VERSUS CREATIVE MINDSETS — Closed- and Open-Mindedness

H UMAN minds fall into two categories: Traditional or taqlidi (imitative of past precedent) and Creative or ijtihadi (creative reinterpretation). The former denotes a closed mind; the latter: its opposite, an open mind. The traditional mind attains a certain level and then stagnates, while the creative mind keeps travelling ahead, stopping only at death. The traditional mind attains a certain level and then stagnates, while the creative mind keeps travelling ahead, stopping only at death. The difference between traditional and creative mind-sets can be illustrated with the help of an example. Shakespeare was a famous English writer, and so was George Bernard Shaw, who was born some two hundred and fifty years after the former's death. Shaw's contribution to English literature was less than that of Shakespeare, and he himself admitted this when he said, 'I am smaller in stature than Shakespeare, but I stand upon his shoulders'. This is an example of a creative way of thinking, and a society characterised by such people constantly progresses in terms of creative thinking. Each new generation in such a society builds on the contributions of its predecessors, adds to them and then transmits its legacy to the generations that come after it. But contemporary Muslim societies present a completely different picture. In modern times, their intellectual development has almost come to a standstill. This is because they have developed a traditional, as opposed to a creative way of thinking, and consider ijtihad—creative reinterpretation of religious concepts or the exercise of judgement with reasoning on such issues—to be almost a sin. Many Muslims mistakenly believe that in terms of scholarly study, the ulema of the past have already accomplished all that was possible to do, and that today our task is simply to study their books and strictly follow them. This approach is a major hurdle in the path of our intellectual progress. In this regard, Muslims can adopt one of two positions: to recognise, as Shaw did with regard to Shakespeare, that their stature might be TRADITIONAL VERSUS CREATIVE MINDSETS Closed- and Open-Mindedness