The quality of a person's life is determined by the quality of their thoughts. And the quality of a person's thoughts is determined by their thought model. A thought model is the route a person's mind takes to conclude: whether something is right or wrong, whether something is good or bad, whether something should be done or not..., and so on. In short, a thought model is the mind's own way of finding the truth. Failure in this search for truth leads to tragic psychological conditions such as: sadness, disappointment, regret, anger, and despair.
Human beings, by their innate nature, always have a tendency to seek the truth. Truth is a parameter of life that can calm logic and make the ego submit without feeling pressured. The truth is often not found because the ego doesn't always agree with logic. Logic reasons purely on a database, while the ego prioritizes freedom of expression without having to care about logic. As a result, the combination of the two is like a person who is cold and tends to burn themselves just to get warm. It is both funny and concerning at the same time.
Humans live in a modern age that demands accurate and precise calculations. And that is where a classic problem often arises: why is human thought often not as accurate and precise as a computer's calculation in determining right and wrong? Why does a person who knows the truth still make the wrong decision? Is a person aware that they have often been deceived by their own thoughts?
All those questions lead to one simple conclusion: the mind is not the benchmark in the search for truth. Our logic cannot produce truly valid truth, because the ego only considers truth to be what it likes. And this is where we need an external validator to get a fairer logical reasoning result: free from bias, contradiction, and stable, or relevant for all conditions. And the only validator that meets those criteria is: the Qur'an.
The Qur'an was once used as a guide in the conquest of two great empires: the Roman and Persian. The Qur'an has also been able to maintain its stability through changes over more than 14 centuries. The Qur'an's stability from the changes of time is proof that the Qur'an's relevance to human life is very high. If the Qur'an did not have a high relevance to the needs of the times, then it would have been abandoned long ago, just as Darwin's hypothesis was abandoned for stating that humans and apes are one lineage.
If the Qur'an could conquer two great empires so easily because it only needed one generation to make it happen, then the Qur'an is very capable of navigating our minds from ego interference. The Qur'an is very powerful when used to conquer our absurd thoughts. Yes, we do need to use a stable external validator to validate our thoughts. Our need for this validator is reasonable, namely: because our minds are not independent enough to determine what is good and what is bad, what is wrong and what is right, and what should be done and what should be left behind.
Humans are indeed perfect creatures. But human perfection is not the perfection that God has—which has no weaknesses. Humans have weaknesses in their thought process framework. This is because the existence of the ego often interferes with the final decisions that the mind has made. And the mind cannot always oppose the ego because it is a part of the human self as a whole.
Therefore, we need a way, which is also logical, to form a fair thought framework: free from bias, free from contradiction, and relevant in all conditions. And the most logical way to overcome the absurdity of thought is by not giving full trust to the mind itself. Rather, it is to hand over the final consideration of our mind's decisions to a more competent external validator, namely to the judgment of the Qur'an. In this way, our minds no longer have to determine: whether it is right or wrong, whether it is good or bad, and whether it should be done or not. Everything is handed over to the judgment of the Qur'an, taking into account its logical consequences. Our mind only performs standard reasoning without having to conclude: whether it is appropriate or not, whether it is permissible or not, whether it needs to be done or not. If this method of thinking is applied then: the emotional burden of our minds will drastically decrease, the effectiveness and productivity of our minds will increase, and most importantly, we don't have to work hard to find arguments just to silence the arrogance of our own ego.
The discomfort in our feelings, the errors of our thoughts, and the inconsistency of our actions... are the clearest evidence that we should not truly trust ourselves. That is why we need a truly robust external validator that can judge us from outside our logical framework.
So, it is very reasonable for us to have to doubt the decisions we make or the actions we are about to take, to check their validity.
Do you believe in your decision? Do you believe in your thoughts?
If not, use the Qur'an as an external validator to validate our decisions. The Qur'an does not force a particular choice. More than that, it always tries to provide the most logical assessment based on the consequences that must be borne with each choice.
Case Example 1: A person wants to drink alcohol. He is not sure whether it is good or bad. According to science, it is bad for health, but the majority of society considers it good. The person's mind also tends to justify the opinion of society, even though he does not reject science. What is the logical validity of it?
Qur'an Validation: In Qur'an 2:219 it is mentioned that intoxicants do have benefits, but their sin (harms) are far greater than their benefits. So the consequences are clear, drinking intoxicants brings small benefits and one must bear a great harm (sin).
Case Example 2: A man loves a beautiful woman. Is his decision correct?
Qur'an Validation: We must refer to the criteria for a good woman according to the Qur'an. We also need to refer to Hadith references about the criteria for a woman who is worthy of being married. Because the Qur'an also commands that the Prophet's Hadith be used as a reference for the Qur'an. This can be easily done in this day and age by sending a prompt to ChatGPT: "What are the criteria for a good woman in Islam, complete with evidence from the Qur'an and Hadith?" Then you will get a detailed answer, a truly clear answer, that is far from the interference of your ego.
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