When there aren’t lust and doubt, thought is free. All cults across the world including the eastern and western ones, religious or irreligious possess means of sensuality to recruit and create doubts in the divine religions to achieve their material and sensual aims.
The definition and interpretation of free thought framework and logic and its result according to the holy Quran:
Religious free thought is an approach existing in the essence of all divine religions. In fundamental level, religions interpreted human position in the existence system and in social level religions tried to destroy ignorance and superstitions in human being understanding. Divine religions were trying to be sensitive about superstitious thoughts, false traditions or intellectual interpretations originated from false preliminaries to offer him/her the correct path for thinking with illustration in all required arenas proportional with spatial and temporal needs. For this reason, the identity of religions is free thinking.
According to the Cow chapter, verse 170:
«وَ إِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنْزَلَاللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا أَوَلَوْ كَانَ آبَاؤُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَهْتَدُون»
“When they are told, ‘Follow what Allah has sent down,’ they say, ‘No, We will follow what we have found our fathers following.’ What, even if their fathers neither exercised their reason nor were guided?!”
The message of the holy Quran is that don’t say we think so about the value and generosity of human being and the meaning of government and our relationships with nature and etc. because our fathers were so and the previous generations were too.
According to Zomar [1] chapter, verse 17 & 18:
«وَالَّذِينَ اجْتَنَبُوا الطَّاغُوتَ أَنْ يَعْبُدُوهَا وَأَنَابُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ لَهُمُ الْبُشْری، فَبَشِّرْ عِبَادِالَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَه أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَدَاهُمُ اللَّهُ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمْ أُولُوالْأَلْبَاب»
“As for those who stay clear of the worship of fake deities and turn penitently to Allah, there is good news for them. So give good news to My servants who listen to the word [of Allah] and follow the best [interpretation] of it. They are the ones whom Allah has guided, and it is they who possess intellect.”
Allah asks in Ra’d chapter, verse 16:
«هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الاعمی و البصیر»
“Are the blind one and the seer equal?”
Free thinking may be a concept created today, but it was the nature, suitability and necessity of creation of religions and religions have moved on the basis of free thinking.
Free thinking framework:
Freethinking is not deconstruction. Free thinking is the destruction of bases and thin and national beliefs of a country. Free thinking doesn’t mean thinking without criterion and aim. The science of logic which has been accepted by many human beings has provided a framework for thinking. Logic says when you think freely you shouldn’t destroy your certainties; for example, we are sure there are the day judgment and God and divinity.
What does religious free thinking tell me?
You must not think contrary to your real expediencies and also the community and humanity ones. So, we are not following basis breaking in free thinking. We follow thinking in a logical framework which accepts the common sense.
The relationship between freethinking and free stating of thought:
The discussion of thought and thinking is separated from behavior domain. You and I are free to think. For instance, there is a God or not? Or this system is true or false? … Once, we sit in a room and think and confer. This is a stage where human beings can sit and think freely with each other during the periods of time of the holy prophets. For example, a person came to a holy Imam and said: Last night, I felt I lost my faith. The Excellency stated why? I said who has created God If there is a God. Who is the one who has created God? The Excellency did not charge the person with a fault. Some people think such questions will end in atheism, but it seems these apprehensions about God and religion are valuable. So, when we speak with each other in a room and explain out thoughts for each other, this is a stage. It means we let our intellectual apprehension to be exposed for a solution to be found
Nevertheless, another stage is to make thought to be rooted in others and to act based on it. It means that I proselytize my thought to form a social behavior; for example, a person thinks that a special kind of governmental structure is not true, but is he/she allowed to say it in the media?
The aim of religious free thinking must be discovering reality, but beyond it depends on the rules of the country and also the public and national expediencies of that country.
The results of freethinking in the community is destroying the facilities for cults to recruit. Freethinking is seeking for new intellectual births. Freethinking is searching for transformation provides dialogue competitions which are against the cults.
One of the aims followed by free thinking is the discussion of preaching and making culture of thinking in elite and specialized atmospheres and basically the freethinking seats are used for discoveries and also for explaining relationships which weren’t being explained. Freethinking is used for amendment not for destruction.
Religious freethinking gives you authority and privilege to make your addressing group be an elite and thinker not be an intellectual villain, slave and condemned one. One of the actions done by Mu’awiya was the issue of group literacy: Damascus nation thought that Imam Ali (P.H.) didn’t pray. This negative group literacy caused Imam Hussein (P.H.) to be martyred in Karbala. Creating poisonous atmosphere is today being fulfilled by the cyberspace extensively to be benefited by its by its managers.
Imam Hussein (P.H.) stated to the people of Kufa:
«قد ملئت بطونکم من الحرام»
Why didn’t they listen to Imam’s statements and didn’t activate their cognitive powers? Because their bellies are filled with illegitimate things! The holy Quran says:
«لَا يَمَسُّهُ إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُون»
“no one touches it except the pure ones” (Al-Waqia/79)
That is, the contaminated mind cannot enter into the holy Quran privacy. Understanding the holy Quran requires the intellectual purity because the illegitimate and suspicious property will make human being to be doubtful in religion.
Late Mullah Sadra narrates when he encountered a hard scientific problem, he went to the Excellency Masoumeh’s holy shrine and prayed. His mind was opened by the grace of that holy atmosphere.
Conclusion:
A person who quit sins, he/she has omitted one of the barriers of freethinking. The barriers of freethinking are not just racial, tribal, urban and local bigotries, but scientific and practical doubts are barriers of freethinking, too. When there are no lust and doubt, thought will become free. As a matter of fact, the best and the most enlightening strategies is desecration in the society. Cults are using lust purposefully to prevent thought and reasoning in followers. For example, one of the skillful cults and organizations is the Bahaism organization which prevents the members thinking purposefully. For instance, when a person is doubtful about Bahaism organization [2], they will with make him/her busy with financial and lustful weapons, that is, they use lust of property and opposite sex to confront doubt.
Evangelical Christianity cancels intellect completely and answers the members and followers’ questions after being recruited. The members are said their doubts will be removed of you become Christian. when a person is recruited, they keep him/her using lust and other sensual means.
In Sufism cult and even the newly-emerged ones, each kind of doubt and question about the cult is an unforgivable sin and intellection must be completely cancelled and the new follower must completely obey the cult head.
It must be said that just a school which is originated from the divine religions can make human being prosperous. The life-giving school of Islam is the last and the most complete one which creates intellection atmosphere and thinking in the community in order for people to be able to distinguish right from wrong without having any doubt and misgiving.
Muhammad Abedi, the faculty member of the holy Quran seeking group, Islamic culture and thought research institute
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