Summary of the Book of Thinking - Episode Eight
True political thinking, which is thinking about events, requires five things. The first is following the news, and with practice, one can distinguish which news should be followed and which is important in the knowledge circles. The second is information, even preliminary, about the meanings of events, whether geographical or historical, in a way that allows one to know the true meanings of the news. The third is not stripping the facts of their circumstances, and not generalizing them, as they must be taken individually with their circumstances, but not measured against them, and not generalized to all events. The fourth is distinguishing the news, knowing its source, the location of the event, the purpose of its existence, or who marketed the news, or its brevity or detail. The fifth is correct linking, as linking the news to something it should not be linked to leads to error, for example, linking news related to international politics to local politics leads to error.
It cannot be said that these things are many and difficult to achieve, because they can arise with time and follow-up. Follow-up is important, provided that it is continuous, because if it is intermittent, one cannot link events and understand them.
Political thinking exists in groups as it does in individuals, and it must exist in individuals in order for good governance to exist, because governance belongs to the people, and no power can take it unless the people give it to them, and if it is usurped from them, they either accept it and it continues, or they insist on retrieving it; for all of this, political thinking was necessary for the group, the nation, and the people, and it was necessary to give the nation correct political ideas and truthful news, as this creates life in the nation. The error in understanding politics lies in thinking about it as thinking about intellectual texts, so the meanings of words are understood, or as understanding literary texts, so the words, structures, or meanings of words are understood, although the matter is different, it may be in the words like statements or treaties, and it may be in the meanings, provided that the statement, for example, is revealed to be true or false and what is intended from it through the circumstances, as the declarant may do something that contradicts or agrees with the statement.
Political thinking is what destroys peoples and establishes nations, and its results are among the most dangerous results, so it must be given the utmost care. Therefore, it must be understood that political thinking in individuals is not productive, but political thinking in peoples is what establishes and protects nations, as poor political thinking does not pose a threat to individuals but to peoples and groups, as if poor political thinking swept a nation, the genius of individuals will not benefit, provided that correct political thinking that goes in the right direction in individuals can stand in the face of the nation if thinking moves from individuals to the nation and becomes with the nation as it is with individuals, for what stands in the face of enemies is the thinking of peoples and not the thinking of individuals, as happened when the caliphate was destroyed, for example.
Genius individuals are ordinary people, and if they produce something, it is seen as ordinary at first, and even if they are educated, there are others besides them, and even if they are intelligent, there are others besides them, but drawing attention to their genius was from other individuals who accepted their productions to be like them. But if the genius individual remains in the cocoon of isolation, he will not be able to stand in the face of enemies, so the nation must be politically educated, and the nation must be taught political thinking, as political thinking in facts and events is a sufficient duty, and work must be done to create it in the nation.
Millions of books like this book will not create thinking in the nation, but what creates it are the painful events, especially after groups have been found that think and others that try to think, after the nation has been afflicted with scholars who called for closing the door of ijtihad and people have become embarrassed by it, and man by nature is a lazy animal, so thinking has been disrupted. These two things (painful events, and groups that think or try to do so) create hope that thinking will move from individuals to groups, so that the Islamic nation becomes a thinking nation.
The End
