1

Introduction
to Creative thinking &
Problem Solving & Definition
of
Encouragement to think concepts

Department of Fundamental and Interdisciplinary Studies | 2017-2018

Significance of Thinking in Islam

What is thinking?
What is Creativity?
What is Problem-Solving
What is Creative Thinking
What is thinking?

• A complex mental skillful process

that involve cognitive human abilities
and sense to understand and
generate ideas (or make sense of
experience)about our nature, life and
the existing worlds around us.
 Reason is NOT
INDEPENDENT
Faculty

Reasoning is
A Function
 Tafakur (Thinking)| Domains

Values
Human
Horizons
Condition

See &
Self
Unseen

Heavens &
Tafakur Truth
Earth
 Heart | Tafakkur (Reasoning)
Tafakkur

Tafaqquh

Heart
Tadabbur
QALB (Heart)
 Human Reasoning | REVELATION

Revelation is the Highest reference of knowing

Intellect is used to understand Revelation

Revelation guides human thinking

Right Reasoning would never contradict with Revelation

The power of intellectual faculty is limited

Depending on Intellect alone is misleading

 THINKING (Tafakr)| Influential Factors

Worldview

Human Spiritual state

Experience of the self

Human Learning
Activities Institutions

Social
environment
What is Creativity?
 belief

n
t io
Le

en
g

Int
al
Va
lue

Islamic View Western View

 What is Creativity?

• the tendency to generate or

Question of Methodology? recognize ideas, alternatives, or
What to consider? possibilities that may be useful in
(quantitative or qualitative)
/how many/which Criteria?
solving problems, communicating
How Integrating criteria in single with others, and entertaining
assessment?
Who apply the criteria? OURSELVES and OTHERS.
• Ref. Human Motivation, 3rd ed., by Robert E. Franken (p. 396)
 What is
Creativity?
 What is Creative Thinking?

• “A way of looking at problems or situations from

a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox
solutions. Creative thinking can be stimulated
both by an unstructured process such as
brainstorming, and by a structured process such
as lateral thinking”.
Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/creative-thinking.html
Creative
Vis.
Critical
Thinking Ref.
 y at work
1. To change the future of human life
4 Purposes

through breakthrough genetic

interventions (IMAGINE)
2. To sell new drugs (INVEST)
3. To reduce the side effects of medical
treatments (IMPROVE)
4. To foster a community of scientists
committed to ethical applications of this
discovery (INCUBATE)

Ref. Jeff DeGraff and Katherine A. Lawrence, Creativity at Work ; Developing the Right Practices to Make Innovation Happen
p. 22-23 (Jossey Bass, 2002)
1990, 2007, p. 8
Some
Rightness: how far the creative ideas are compatible with divine
Criteria
truth.
For Creative Ideas and Works
Sustainability: the ability to tolerate ambiguity and think laterally.
Abstraction: the ability to think and reflect on an idea through
speech and thoughts
Elaboration: the ability to give details and follow up on an idea.
Originality: the ability to generate unique /new /distinctive ideas.
“Valuability”: which values the creative ideas are generating?
Application: how practical the ideas is and how wide its practical
scope.
Positive Change:
 What is
Problem-Solving?
 “laysa al-‘ilmu ma hufiza,
al-‘ilm ma nafa‘a” (knowledge is
IMAM AL- not that which could be
SHAFI’I
(D.) memorized, but that which
beneficial”
Ref. Badr Din Muhammad ibn Jama ‘ah (d. 733 AH),tadhkirat sami‘ wal mutakalim fi adab al ‘alim wal muta‘alim
(Beirut: Dar al-Basha’ir al-Islamiyah, 3 ed. 2012)p. 48.
 What is Problem-Solving?

A process of working through details of

a problem to reach a solution. Problem
solving may include mathematical or
systematic operations and can be a
gauge of an individual's critical thinking
skills.
Ref. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/problem-solving.html
 Problem-Solving STAGES
IDEAL
I Identify the problem.
D  Define and represent the problem.
E  Explore possible strategies.
A Act on the strategies.
L Look back and evaluate the effects of your activities.
Islamic Worldview of thinking and Creativity

• Ask your self the following two questions

• Why I have to think and why I have to be
“creative/ inventive/ innovative?
• How to think? How to be creative?
• What are the values of thinking and creativity?
Obstacles Weakening thinking and Creativity
 Weak piety

 Weak adhesion to life direction and purpose.

 Passivity in thinking and acting

Personal  Fear of criticism
&  Blind imitation

Social  Exaggerate Justification

 Bad habits (laziness)

 Oppression

 Corrupted social environment

Lies
Falsehood
Error
Corruption What is inside the black-
Disbelief box?
ignorance
Unfounded idea
Wrong attitude
The Prophet and Creativity

C r e a t i v i t y t o s a v e l i v e s
The Prophet • Loves it
• Search for it
• Nurture it
• Encourage it
• Apply it
CREATIVITY • Guide it
THE BOAT
Limits
Of
Creativity
The prophet Yusuf (AS) & Famine in
Egypt
“He said: “You shall sow for
seven years as usual,
but that which you have
harvested, leave it in the ear,
all save a little which you
eat” (Qur’an, 12: 47)
Objective of Creativity
• To please Allah by using
His bounties and serving
His servants.
• To produce
• To reform
• To Improvise
• To eliminate
 2

WORLDVIEW
& CREATIVITY
Human THINKING • process
• reasoning
• Unknown
• Arrangement
• Imagination
• objective
• Subject
• Intuition
• Heart
• Action
• Problem
• Movement
• A Need
 Thinking • Question?

5
CREATIVITY
WORLDVIEW • Does Thinking subject to
worldview?
• What is your thinking
worldview?
• List down 20 words
formulating the essence
CLASS ACTIVITY
Minutes of your worldview.
 The Creator (Allah)

Human Nature

Order of Creation

TAWHID The view of truth, reality &

happiness

A worldview
'Umran (Human
Development)

for Creativity
Values & meanings

Purpose of Life

Knowledge

Life After
 QUR’ANIC Tawhid Fitrah Khalifah Amanah

WORLDVIEW Islah Tafakur Taskhir Hisbah

FOR Itqan Ma’ruf Sadaqah Amal Salih

CREATIVITY
__________ Ihsan Ta‘mir Ibda‘ Ta ‘awun
Key-Terms
Ni‘mah Sa’adah Yusr Hikmah
 Allah
QUR’AN
Self
Human
Thinking World
Domains
Akhirah
Qur’an Gifts
QUR’AN There are more than 15 thinking
styles in Qur’an such as:
Human inquisitive, visual, objective,
positive, reflective, rational,
Thinking emotional, logical, analogical,
Styles metaphorical, conceptual,
intuitive, perceptual, scientific,
hypothetical, and wishful
thinking styles.
 a. Revealing the abilities and their
functions
b. Reward
c. Questioning
QUR’AN d. Provocation and challenge
MOTIVATION
to Think
e. Case-Show
f. Discourage ill form of thinking
g. Praise those who think
h. consequence of lack of thinking
i. Order of Thinking
In-QUR’AN Tafakar
tafaqah
Tadhakar
tadabr
Ta’alam
Ta’araf
Ta’aqal
Qarin

Thinking undhur I‘tabir istanbit Ta’wil

tabasur dhaz takdhib hisab
Vocabulary Ta’bir tasdiq bayan fahm
Shu ‘ur Itba ‘ nisyan Is’al
tayaqun tamthil idrak Ru’yah
taqdir Qir’ah ikhtibar dahz
In-QUR’AN
Thinking INQUISITIVE OBJECTIVE POSITIVE HYPOTHETICAL

Styles
LOGICAL NATIVE CONTEMPLATIVE VISUAL

METAPHORICAL ANALOGICAL EMOTIONAL PERCEPTUAL

INTUITIVE EMPIRICAL WISHFUL THINKING COOPERATIVE

CRITICAL EFFECTIVE SOUND EROUNOUS
 1) Obligatory ‫جب‬J
( ‫لوا‬JJ‫)ا‬
2) Prohibited (J‫م‬J‫لحرا‬JJ‫)ا‬
Creative
3) Recommended ‫مندوب‬
( ‫ل‬JJ‫)ا‬
THINKING
Legal Values 4) Reprehensible (J‫لمكروه‬JJ‫)ا‬
5) Permissible (‫لمباح‬JJ‫)ا‬
 1. Daruriyyat (necessities)? Essential Need
2. Hajiyyat (Complementary Needs)
3. Tahsiniyyat (embellishments)
Daruriyyat

HUMAN-NEEDS Hajiyyat
Three
Tahsiniyyat
levels
 P Religion (al-din)
R
O
T Life (al-nafs)
E
Objectives of C
Dignity or lineage (al-’ird)
CREATIVITY T
I
O
Intellect (al-’aql)
N

O 1.Property (al-mal)
F
 3
THINKING STYLES
IN THE LIGHTS
OF
THE QUR’AN
INQUISITIVE THINKING IN THE QUR’AN
T h e A RT o f A s k i n g Q u e s t i o n s
 Inquisitive QUESTION?

5
CREATIVITY
THINKING
Why do we need
To ask
Questions?
Minutes List 5 reasons. CLASS ACTIVITY
In-QUR’AN 1363 + 40
Questioning
questions Styles
 1. To Obtain Information:
2. To help maintain control of a conversation
Why 3. Express an interest in the other person

We 4. To clarify a point

Need 5. To explore the personality and or difficulties the

other person may have

To Ask 6. To test knowledge

7. To encourage further thought
QUESTIONS?
Ref: 
https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/questioning.html
 HOW QUESTIONS WORK
1. Questions immediately change what we are focusing on
and therefore how we feel.
How come I am so depressed?
Why does not anybody like me?
Rather:
How can I change my state so that I am feeling happy and
am being more lovable?
- The focus is on solutions

Monday, August 22, 2022 al_nuha@iium.edu.my 50

2. Questions change what we delete. Human being are
marvelous “deletion creatures”.

If you are feeling really sad, there is only one reason: It

is because you are deleting all the reasons you could be
feeling good.

Monday, August 22, 2022 al_nuha@iium.edu.my 51

3. Questions change the resources available to us.

How can I turn this around?

Monday, August 22, 2022 al_nuha@iium.edu.my 52

 Linguistic
Communication

Theological
Behavioral Belief
Actions

QUR’AN
DOMAIN OF
QUESTIONING QUR’ANIC QUESTIONING
Juristic
Social Order
tal Fitrah Background
Men ing
k
T h in

Spiritual
States/ Feelings
 FORMS of QUESTIONS
OPEN QUESTION
Open questions elicit longer
answers. They usually begin
with what, why, how. An open
question asks the respondent
for his or her knowledge,
opinion or feelings. "Tell me"
and "describe" can also be
used in the same way as open
questions
CLOSE QUESTION
Closed questions requires a short
focused answer which usually can be
right or wrong. They are usually easy
to answer for the choice of answer is
limited. Closed questions can simply
require a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer, Closed
questions can require to make
a choice from a list of possibilities.
Closed questions can be asked
to identify a certain piece of
information.
 1. Conveying the concept of belief in the One
God
QUR’AN 2. Second is to remind listeners of the Divine
commands, laws and order
Objective Of 3. The third objective is to check errors and

QUESTIONING false assumptions

4. The fourth objective is to create habits of the
heart by way of promoting its abilities and
developing a sense of accountability
5. Clarifying and enhancing the influence by
means of illustration or casting parables.
 STUDY OF QUR’AN QUESTIONS

CREATIVITY 1. Pick the Surah 2. Choose 3

from Qur’an with questions and
the same number study them by
of your name in using basic level
requirement as
the attendance shown in the
CLASS ACTIVITY
list and find 10 table in the next
questions. slide
10 minutes 15 minutes
 Question BASIC LEVEL of Analysis

Who type Objective Tools

Of Persuasion

Question Who asked who Open, close,

conceptual,
What is the
purpose
Images,
comparison,
hypothetical, rewards,
rhetorical, threatening,
evidence
Qqs. And HUMAN REASONING

1. Stimulating al-Fitrah to use its abilities

2. Reminding about the reality (haqiqat)
3. Guiding and building spiritual feelings
4. Correcting false beliefs and practices
5. Motivating for knowing and understanding
6. Challenging human to validate and justify wrong beliefs
 4

IJTIHAD
 “Ijtihad literally means striving
or exertion; it is defined as the
effort by a mujtahid, in order to
DEFINITION infer, with a degree of
probability, the rules of Shari‘ah
from the detailed evidence in the
sources”
Ref. Mohammad Hashim Kamali, Shari‘ah Law: An
Introduction, London: Oneworld Publications 2008, p. p.
162-163,
 Practicing QUESTION?

5
CREATIVITY
IJTIHAD Why do we need
Ijtihad?
List all the
reasons you CLASS ACTIVITY
Minutes
know.
Recommendation of Ijtihad
Some men who were companions of Mu'adh narrated from Mu'adh
that the Messenger of Allah (‫ )ﷺ‬sent Mu'adh to Yemen, so he (‫)ﷺ‬
said:
• "How will you judge?" He said: "I will judge according to what is
in Allah's Book." He said: "If it is not in Allah's Book ?" He said:
"Then with the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (‫)ﷺ‬." He said:
"If it is not in the Sunnah of Messenger of Allah (‫ "?)ﷺ‬He said: "I
will give in my view." He said: "All praise is due to Allah, the One
Who made the messenger of the Messenger of Allah suitable.”
Ref.  Jami` at-Tirmidhi (The Chapters On Judgements From The Messenger of Allah)1327, Vol. 3,
Book 13, Hadith 1327
Recommendation of Ijtihad

• 'Amr bin 'Al-'As (May Allah be pleased with him) said:

• I heard the Messenger of Allah (‫ )ﷺ‬saying, "When a judge
utilizes his skill of judgement and comes to a right decision,
he will have a double reward, but when he uses his judgement
and commits a mistake, he will have a single reward."

[Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

“This Hadith implies that regardless of its results, ijtihad never
partakes in sin. When the necessary requirements of ijtihad
are present, the result is always meritorious and never
blameworthy”
 Domain of IJTIHAD

Work Field Methodology & Tools

1 3 5

2 4

Qualification Objectives
and abilities Problem
QUOTATION
1. Enough knowledge of Arabic.
2. Extensive comprehensive knowledge of the Abu'l-Husayn al-Basri
Qur'an and the Sunnah. (D. 436 AH/1044 )
3. Must be able to confirm the consensus (Ijma) of “Al-Mu‘tamad fi Usul al-Fiqh”
the Companions, the Successors, and the leading
Imams and mujtahidin of the past.
4. Should be able to fully understand the objectives
QUALIFICATION
of the Shari’ah OF MUJTAHID
5. Be able to distinguish strength and weakness in IN THE DOMAIN
reasoning, or in other words exercise logic. OF
6. Must be sincere and a good person.[26] RELIGIOUS
SCIENCES
Ref: Kamali, Mohammad Hashim (1991). Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence.
Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society. pp. 374–377.
 Practicing
QUESTION?

5
CREATIVITY
IJTIHAD
List down all the
internal and external
factors which may hold
you from practicing
Ijtihad (Thinking
creatively). CLASS ACTIVITY
Minutes
 MUSLIM
CREATIVITY
ASPECTS OF MUSLIM
CREATIVITY

 Multi-faceted activity
 Multi-dimensional
cognitive ability
 Related to Human
Role (Khilafah)
 Community
 Reality
 Problem solving
 Moral Value
 What is the
simplest way to
solve the problems
Think faced by the
Ummah of Islam
Creatively today?
 Replace __________
Creative Tool
Paper Linen Rag fiber Papyrus
____________________
__
bark of the Other bust fibre
In the battle of Tallas in mulberry Materials
(751) between Muslims
and Chinese. The Chinese
prisoners gained his life
by revealing the process
of papermaking to the
Muslims.
Creativity
in ART
 My
Map
____________

My
Worldview
Al-Idrisi (1099-1166)
 0
“if no number appears
in the place of tens in a
calculation, a little circle
should be used "to keep
Zero of India (śūnya the rows". This circle
) needs to play a was called ṣifr”
role
_________
Al-Khawarizmi
Concern
Intuitive 0 and numeral 0
IBN
al-Haytham
(d. 1040)

Two Problems
led to One
Great Solution
 Contributions &
Works Methods References
Discoveries
• Al- • Philosophy of • Critique of • Qur’an
The CREATIVE Muqaddimah History Narration • Sunnah
(prolegomena) • Economics • Comparison • Al- ‘Umran
Introduction (400 pages- • Umran Science • Testing • 422 Scholarly
drafted in 6 • History of • Systematic Works in
months) Science Observation Muqaddimah
• Kitab al- ‘Ibar
The • Al-Lubab
• Islamic
Education
• Contemplation
• Deep Sharp
• Muslim’s &
Foreign
MUQADDIMAH • Shifa’ Sa’il Theory.
• Legal Politics
reasoning Sources

Ibn Khaldum • Islamic

(d. 1406) Mysticism
 LENGTH 600 pages
DURATIONS 6 months (Bani Salama village)
REFERENCES
Around 420 references (Muslim non-
Muslim)
History, geography, politics, economics,
COVERED SUBJECTS education, sociology, history of sciences,
arts,
The CREATIVE More then 1500 (books and articles)
Introduction RESEARCH WORKS
(islamicus data base: ???)
GOOGLE ENTRY
1,050,000 (Ibn Khaldun)
37,600,000 (Ibn khaldoun)
TRANSLATIONS
French, English, Urdu, Malay, Turkish,
German, ……
ACHIEVEMNT
New science, new theories, new perspective
of studying human society.
IBN KHALDUN’S SCAMPER
S Substitute Aristotelian logics with natural thinking

C Combine it with history/ politics/ economy/learning

something else
A Adapt something to it Maqassid theory for ‘umran study

M Modify or Magnify it Methodology of History

P Put it to some other use Geography for human development/ biology for
human civilization cycles

E Eliminate something Philosophy/

R Reverse or rearrange it Civilization is a disintegration state of

‘Umran
SLIDE ENDS