TRADITIONAL VERSUS CREATIVE MINDSETS — Closed- and Open-Mindedness

less than that of the ulema of the past, but that, despite this, they are standing on the latter's shoulders; or to believe that because their stature is less than that of the ulema of the past, they must remain forever at the latter's feet. The first of these two approaches represents a creative way of thinking, one conducive to constant intellectual development. In a society characterised by such an approach, each new generation fully respects those that went before it and, building, on the contributions of its predecessors, makes even more progress. In a creative society, each new generation builds on the contributions of its predecessors, adds to them and then transmits its legacy to the generations that come after it. In contrast, the second approach represents a traditional way of thinking, which stagnates Muslim thought, preventing it from moving in the direction of the constantly progressive stages of the higher level of thinking that Islam stands for. It also causes Muslims to fall behind other communities in the intellectual field, killing their intellectual faculties. This matter can be further elaborated with the help of some Hadith of the Prophet. Respect for Humanity Several narrators of Hadith have recorded that once, in Medina, when a procession carrying a dead body for burial passed by the Prophet, he stood up in deference on seeing it. When his companions who were with him pointed out to him that the deceased was a Jew, the Prophet simply remarked: “Was he not a human being?” This incident is included in the Hadith collection of Imam Bukhari, who made an immense contribution to Hadith studies by collecting over 7000 reports that he considered authentic from several hundred thousand reports that had been attributed to the Prophet. He mentioned this Hadith in the chapter on burial in his Sahih Bukhari. Now, if we were to adopt a traditional approach and consider this Hadith as simply relating to burial, and nothing more, we will not be able to learn anything new from it and would simply go on parroting what the earlier commentators on Hadith have said about it. While we must respect the intellectual contributions of the earlier exegetes of Hadith, we cannot accept all