Now, consider Muslim society. In the present era, the process of intellectual evolution among Muslims has almost come to a standstill. The primary reason for this stagnation is the dominance of imitative thinking (taqlidi), while the practice of independent reasoning (ijtihadi) has been abandoned, and treated almost as a vice to be avoided. Generally, there is a widespread belief that all knowledge and research have already been accomplished by the scholars of the past (salaf). The prevailing notion is that our only task is to read their books and follow their conclusions. However, this mindset creates a permanent obstacle to intellectual progress.
Muslims today face two possible approaches in their way of thinking:
- “My stature is lesser than that of my predecessors, but I stand upon their shoulders.”
- “My stature is smaller than that of my predecessors, and therefore, I lie at their feet.”
The first approach represents the ijtihadi way of thinking, which leads to continuous intellectual progress. In a community where this intellectual tradition exists, each generation fully respects its predecessors but uses their achievements as a foundation to advance further. This ensures continuous growth and progress.
In contrast, the other school of thought is based on blind imitation, restricting the intellectual progress of Muslims at a certain point. This approach has two disadvantages simultaneously. First, it deprives such individuals of reaching the higher intellectual levels of religious truth. Second, it causes such individuals to fall behind other nations in intellectual and academic fields. In the ever-moving caravan of humanity, they remain behind as mere dust on the road.
This imitative mindset is precisely what the famous pre-Islamic poet Antarah bin Shaddad al-Absi (d. 615 AD) expressed in the opening lines of his Mu’allaqa:
Hal ghaadara ash-shu’araau min mutaraddami
“Have the poets left any patch unsewn?”
In other words, he believed that everything worth saying had already been said, leaving nothing new for others to contribute. This kind of thinking puts a complete stop to intellectual progress, resulting in intellectual stagnation—a state more harmful and dangerous for an individual or community than anything else.
To further understand this issue, here are a few examples from the collection of Hadith.
