Article appeared Friday, July 31st, 2015 in The News Today, Bangladesh

The Revelation (387) yousuf mahbubul Islam, PhD

Do we reflect and contemplate on our abilities? For example, do we think about our thinking abilities and
what we think? Again, for example, is there any difference between emotional and logical thoughts? If
there is, linking our personality or individual character to both types of thoughts we may consider asking
a question. Should our actions and reactions be dictated solely by our emotional thoughts?

As our thoughts reflect our character, is this an important question? Before analyzing the types of
thoughts, let’s look at the advantages of reflecting about the way that we think and act. If we find that we
are moody and that our moods vacillate without control, we may want to read the article Rethink your
Thoughts about Thinking in the very prestigious journal The Scientific American {1} that says,
“Your beliefs about the way you think can shape your life in a surprising way. A wave of recent
findings suggests that targeting such meta-cognition can help relieve mood and anxiety disorders,
and it may even reduce symptoms of psychosis.” {1}

Thinking about thinking is called meta-cognition. Practicing the art of meta-cognition will not only help
take control of our thoughts, it will help our thinking to be more result oriented and relieve us from
problems with thinking or thinking disorders. So, is it important to analyze our thoughts?

Next, let’s take a look at the type of thoughts humans have. Going through literature on the net, one will
find that people have gone as far as classifying people in tune with the type of thoughts, i.e., logical vs.
emotional people or thinkers vs. feelers {2}. So, apparently,
“Thinking types tend to make their decisions based on data, evidence and rational thoughts.”
while

“Feeling types tend to make their decisions based on values, emotions and impact on people.” {2}

While separating thoughts for the purpose of classification may help isolate the different types of
thoughts, human beings are neither purely thinkers nor are they purely feelers, they would lie somewhere
between the line that connects the two. Given this realization, in addition to purely logical thought,
another website {3} defines psychological and pathological thought. The psychological person tries to
maintain a balance by logically evaluating emotional thoughts before action while a pathological person
follows and acts on emotional thoughts without evaluation.

How would a logical person rationalize thoughts on the Creator? For example, how would such a person
evaluate the following Verse from the Qur’an – a Verse that accuses humans of believing that everything
including the Creator has power over their life,
“And most of them do not even believe in God without also associating partners with Him .”
[12.106]

For example, believers claim that the Creator is all-Powerful, yet they will hang an “evil repellent” or an
“evil eye” or protecting verses on their doors – wanting the evil repellent, evil eye or words to protect as
well. A logical person may ask, what is the process by which these inanimate objects not only recognize
evil spirits, they would also prevent access into the house? Holy Scriptures give us the example of
prophets who collected data and logically worked out the difference between the Creator and all other
assumed powers. Prophet Joseph’s father, Jacob, was one such person. No matter what happened in his
life, he put his firm trust in the Creator and firmly believed in His Wisdom and Mercy. Jacob had been
told that a wolf had devoured his son Joseph. Now he was told that Joseph’s brother Benjamin was
detained by the Azeez of Egypt. Both these losses were too much for him to bear – yet he completely
trusted the Creator and His Wisdom. As pointed out in the Qur’an his trust in the Creator bore fruit.

12.93 “Take this, my shirt, and cast it over the face of my father; he will become seeing
(clearly). And then come to me, together with all your family.”
The Azeez of Egypt, who in reality was Joseph, sent his shirt for Jacob (his father). When Jacob caught
the scent of Joseph, he immediately realized that this was Joseph’s shirt and therefore that he was still
alive. Joseph, now the Azeez, had invited the entire family (parents and brothers) to Egypt.

12.94 “When the caravan left (on the return from Egypt, at that point in time) their father
said, "I find the smell of Joseph, if you did not think me weakened in mind."”
Earlier, even before the shirt had been put over Jacob, he had felt the scent of Joseph. This happened
when the caravan had just left Egypt with his other sons, journeying towards him. The coinciding of the
two events could only be known and revealed by the Creator.

12.95 “They said, "By Allah, indeed, you are in your old wandering mind."”
Those in the household did not believe Jacob. They asserted that grief had driven him to this.

12.96 “Then when the bearer of the good news came, he cast (Joseph’s shirt) over his
(Jacob’s) face and he became seeing (confirmation of Joseph being alive). He said, "Did I
not say to you that I know from Allah that which you know not?"”
Jacob’s trust in Allah was well placed.

12.97 “They said, "O our father, ask for us forgiveness of our sins for we truly have
sinned."”
The brothers realized that they could not continue supporting their tale of Joseph being devoured by the
wolf. They owned up to their wrongdoing and sought forgiveness. However,

12.98 “He said, "Soon I will ask my Lord for forgiveness for you. For indeed, it is He Who
is Oft-Forgiving, the Merciful."”

12.99 “Then when they entered in the presence of Joseph he provided a home for his
parents with himself and said, "Enter Egypt in safety, if it pleases Allah."”
Jacob’s trust in Allah was well founded. Joseph and Benjamin were not only returned to him, he saw that
Joseph was the Azeez of Egypt and his days of remaining poor were over.

12.100 “And he raised his parents upon the throne (area where the throne was kept) and
they bowed in prostration. He said, "O my father, this is the fulfillment of my vision
(dream) of old! Allah has made it a reality! He has been indeed good to me when He took
me out of the prison and brought you (all here) out of the desert (even) after Satan had
sown enmity between me and my brothers. Verily my Lord understands best the mysteries
of all that He plans to do. For indeed, verily it is He Who is full of knowledge and wisdom.”
Joseph related how Allah had been good to him and how He had now fulfilled the dream He gave when
he was young – all his brothers, his father and mother bowing to him in prostration.
“Behold Joseph said to his father: "O my father! I did see eleven stars and the sun and the moon:
I saw them prostrate themselves to me!"” [12.4]
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{Notes}:
{1} http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rethink-your-thoughts-about-thinking/
{2} http://www.preludecharacteranalysis.com/explore/thinking-vs-feeling
{3} http://www.rahul.net/raithel/otfw/threetypesofthought.html