An Attitude Valued Both In Islam & Philosophy — To Question Things
Do you let unexamined beliefs run your life?
I - The Importance & Utility Of Questioning
Having the habit of questioning things is essential for finding and living with truth. Before I answer why, let me define what what I mean by "questioning": I mean looking into something before believing, accepting, and lableling it as true or false.
Why is that important? Because it helps you choose what you believe intentionally, thereby increasing the chances of you believing what's actually true.
Think about it.
If you just believed whatever you were told, could you really say your beliefs were true?
This is the current state of the masses nowadays. They've been indoctrinated to believe that going to school, getting a job, and retiring at 65 is the correct path to a successful and good life.
And most people do that without ever questioning it—because they were never taught to verify their beliefs. Rather they were programmed to be slaves to the system.
In this letter, I wish to show you how to avoid such a mindless existence by utilizing questioning. And interestingly, questioning is valued both in Islam & philosophy.
Islam values tafakkur (تفكر)—reflection on (which involves questioning) creation. As for philosophy, questioning is built into the activity of philosophy itself.
Islam and philosophy both value questioning. How so? I'll be explaining that in this letter.
Here’s a roadmap of the journey ahead of us:
- Elucidating what I mean by questioning and what I’m trying to teach you
- What questioning is in Islam
- What questioning is in philosophy
- How do they correlate?
- How to develop the habit of examining what you believe
Let's begin.
II - What Do I Mean By "Questioning"?
1 - The Goal Is Truth-Seeking:
The goal isn’t questioning itself. The goal is truth-seeking. Questioning is a tool to help us find truth.
And when I say *question*, I mean question anything and everything you encounter in order to understand it better or verify its validity.
That brings me to an important distinction: questioning and doubting are not the same.
2 - Questioning ≠ doubting:
Questioning is not the same as doubting. You can question something to understand it better, not necessarily because you suspect it to be false.
And while we're on the subject of doubt, I don't want you to walk away from this letter thinking you should just keep on asking one question after the other and never believe anything.
That's excessive doubt, and it is pointless. It may even lead to or be a form of waswas, in which case it even becomes harmful.
What I’m trying to tell you here is this: question something, find reasons for its validity, and if the reasons are good enough, believe it.
Don't stay stubbornly stuck at questioning.
Questioning isn't about doubting everything—it's about refusing to let unexamined beliefs quietly run your life.
Thus, for all these reasons, I am not really trying to teach you how to develop the habit of questioning things—but rather how to regularly examine your beliefs.
III - What Questioning Is In Islam (according to Ibn Kathir’s commentary)
1 - Tafakkur (Islamic contemplation)
We find "questioning" in Islamic contemplation—tafakkur (تَفَكُّر)—because it’s about reflecting on creation which involves examining it and questioning why it exists, what purpose does it serve, or what benefit can it bring.
I don't want to make it sound like tafakkur itself is necessarily "questioning why something exists"—that's one way questioning can occur in contemplation.
Moreover, tafakkur is not the same as modern critical thinking because it’s contemplation that leads the intellect back to Allah and changes how a person lives.
Allah says in the Qur'an (3:190-194, interpretation taken from Ibn Kathir's commentary):
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth and alteration of the night and day are signs for people of understanding. 3:190
Those who remember Allah while standing, sitting, and lying on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth, saying, “Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose. Glory be to You! Protect us from the torment of the Fire.” 3:191
Allah describes the people of understanding as those who remember him in all states and situations, and deeply reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth.
Their reflection then leads them to a conclusion: Allah did not create all this purposelessly.
By saying Glory be to You (سبحانك), they are acknowledging Allah’s perfection and declaring that Allah never does anything purposelessly or in jest.
This acknowledgement leads to a concern: ending up in Hell. So they ask Allah: Save us from the Fire.
If creation has purpose for its existence, the believer understands his existence has a purpose too. Therefore, his actions matter, and they could lead him to Hell if he's not careful. So he asks Allah to protect him from it.
The following supplications (in the verses below) indicate what happens when the believers acknowledge creation's purpose. They ask Allah to:
- Protect them from Hell
- Forgive their sins
- Erase their misdeeds
- Make them die among the righteous
Our Lord! Surely whoever You admit into the Fire, You have truly disgraced them, and the wrongdoers will have no helpers. 3:192
Our Lord! We have heard a caller inviting to faith, saying, “Believe in your Lord,” so we believed. Our Lord! Forgive our sins, erase our misdeeds, and let us die among the righteous. 3:193
Our Lord! Grant us what You have promised us through Your messengers, and do not disgrace us on the Day of Resurrection. Surely You never break Your promise. 3:194
They say they have heard a caller caling to faith. Ibn Kathir identifies this caller as Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
What they do is: hear the call → believe → seek forgiveness → seek righteousness → hope for Allah's reward.
Good reasoning and revelation aren't competing paths. Creation points the intellect toward Allah, while the revelation tells the believer how to respond to Him.
What's interesting is that there's a pattern sitting underneath all this:
Creation is abundant with signs → the person with good understanding naturally thinks about them → reflection shows Allah’s existence, power, and intelligence → this falsifies the notion that life is meaningless → the believer glorifies Allah → becomes aware of the Hereafter → seeks forgiveness and protection → then responds via action and worship.
That is why Islamic contemplation is different from modern critical thinking. It's specifically about reflection and questioning bringing the intellect back to Allah and changing how somebody lives according to what pleases Him.
There's actually a very clear demonstration of the pattern from the Prophet ﷺ:
Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet ﷺ woke during the night, looked at the sky, and recited the opening verses from this passage:
"Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and day are signs for people of understanding.” 3:190
He then performed wudu and prayed night prayers. (Recorded by Bukhari & Muslim)
He connected looking at creation, remembering Allah, reflecting on His signs, and worshipping Him.
2 - Criticism of the blind following of ancestors
In the Qur'an, Allah repeatedly critisizes people who had been blindly following their ancestors without questioning anything. The verses containing this criticism are numerous, but here's one:
When it is said to them, “Follow what Allah has revealed,” they reply, “No! We ˹only˺ follow what we found our forefathers practicing.” ˹Would they still do so,˺ even if their forefathers had ˹absolutely˺ no understanding or guidance? 2:170
This is a clear criticism in the Qur'an of blindly following whatever one is told growing up, and an encouragement to question the teachings lest one lets lies run his life.
IV - What Questioning Is In Philosophy
Questioning in philosophy is largely different from how it is in Islam, duh. But how so? Let me explain.
Questioning is integrated into philosophical activity itself. Philosophers constantly ask questions as such:
- What do we mean by this?
- What evidence supports this?
- Is this actually true, or do I want it to be true?
- What if the opposite were true?
These are philosophical techniques and moves. Although, this isn't all what's philosophy is about.
Philosophy isn’t just questioning—it involves constructing arguments, examining evidence, comparing explanations, and more.
But questioning is usually where the whole process begins. And here's the interesting part: not all philosophers view questioning the same way, and it serves a different purpose for each for them.
Thus, I shall show you what questioning was for some philosophers.
1 - Socrates:
Socrates didn't just like questioning, it was a tool of examination for him. The Socrates portrayed by Plato links examination to taking care of the soul and living a good life.
He argues that people spend substantial time pursuing power, wealth, and reputation without paying attention to whether or not they are actually becoming good and wise people.
Questioning helps us examine what we believe, why we believe it, and whether or not it has any worth to living a good and meaningful life. Without examination, we can't distinguish between what has worth and what doesn't.
That’s why he said the unexamined life is not worth living.
2 - Epictetus:
You probably know that Socrates was executed for the way he used to behave. But when he died, his philosophy of questioning didn't die with him.
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For example, Epictetus was also particularly attracted to the elenchus. He would especially direct the elenchus inward by encouraging his followers to apply the elenchus on themselves. He was essentially saying:
Test your own notions as well rather than solely others’.
V - How Does Islamic Contemplation & Philosophical Examination Resemble Each Other?
Now let's connect the dots.
We discussed what questioning is Islamically and philosophically, but now that raises a question: where do they overlap? What is the one common idea concerning questioning that they agree upon which makes both sides sync?
I shall elucidate.
Islamic contemplation:
Examine creation → recognize signs therein → understand your relationship with Allah → live accordingly.
Philosophical examination:
Examine claims → expose inconsistencies/ignorance → refine understanding → live more wisely.
The common principle:
Don’t just inherent a belief. Examine it so that your relationship with reality—and therefore your actions—can be more truthful.
VI - How To Develop The Habit Of Examining What You Believe
I shall teach you to be more questioning with one core method: the elenchus—the Socratic way of examining a notion.
And then I shall show you how to make it a habit.
How To Apply The Elenchus
There's no need to carry out a 50-question colossal investigation every time you encounter a thought. For everyday time, these five questions will help you practice the elenchus nicely.
1. "What exactly am I claiming?"
Sharpen your claim.
Social media use is bad.
Define what kind of use and bad in what way.
2. Why do I believe this?
Identify your evidence or reasoning.
All the people I know to be using social media waste time scrolling for hours everyday.
This is different from actual evidence.
3. What assumption am I making?
Look beneath the statement and find the underlying assumption.
All the people I know to be using social media waste time scrolling for hours everyday.
Assumption:
The way people that I know use social media defines whether social media use is good/bad.
4. Does the belief survive difficult cases?
Search for counterarguments, exceptions, or consequences which could invalidate the coherence of the statement.
Examples:
- What about people who share genuinely valuable content using social media?
- What about people who use social media to learn valuable skills?
5. What should I believe now?
This is pretty darn important because you don't wanna walk away thinking:
I was wrong. So I should believe nothing.
You want to now update your belief according to the data you’ve gathered. This question can help you do that:
What is the strongest, most accurate version of this notion after examination?
This is what distinguishes questioning in pursuit of truth and questioning for the sake of doubt.
How To Make This A Habit
I’ll give you a simple process I found in The Coaching Habit:
1. Define why you want to adopt this new habit
2. Identify the trigger which compels you to do the old habit
3. Identify the old habit itself—which you want to substitute for the new one.
4. Define the new habit.
Use this worksheet to do it (btw, you can use this whenever you're trying to form any new habit):
- Intention:
- Trigger:
- Instead of:
- I will:
This is how it could look like:
- Intention: I want to actively examine what I believe to evaluate whether or not my beliefs are actually true
- Trigger: When I see other people on social media (location) talking time about their world views (time)
- Instead of: immediately believing what I just heard
- I will: deliberately pause to question it by applying the elenchus.
In everyday life, I recommend using the elenchus for questioning, but you don't always have to use it. Sometimes simple questions like "is this true?" and "is the source actually reliable?" can be sufficient.
You could also try this out in reading/learning. Every few claims, ask questions like:
- Is this actually true?
- Why is this important/why is the author saying this?
- Is this relevant to me at all?
You could save the elenchus for the few bigger, and more important ideas.
Potential Problems
You may encounter certain problems when trying to become a more questioning person. Here are the ones I could think of, and how to deal with them.
1 - Always asking and never believing:
This is probably the most important potential mistake to address. I've addressed it earlier in this letter: the real goal isn't really to question, but to seek truth.
Therefore, don't just keep on questioning, darn it.
Do not keep on asking one question after the other and never believe anything.
Question something, find reasons for its validity, and if the reasons are good, believe it.
2 - Questioning everything is not the goal:
You absolutely do not need to suspend belief in everything unless you question it.
There are some things that you should accept without personally deriving its truth.
For example, as Muslims we're told that eating camel meat breaks wudu. Logically, it doesn't seem true. But this is what the Prophet ﷺ had told us, and we accept it. We hear, and we obey.
But let's flip the notion on its head just for fun and say you should question everything. If that is so, does that mean we need to personally rediscover every fact in mathematics, medicine, history and science?
Obviously not. That’s as unnecessary as climbing stairs carrying a 50kg gas cylinder on your shoulder when you can use the elevator instead.
I will place my palm on your shoulder when I tell you this:
You should think critically about what you accept, while acknowledging that justified trust in competent sources is sometimes necessary.
3 - Labeling is not an obligation:
When you pause to question something, and try questioning it, but aren’t able to decide whether it is true, false, or something else, just leave it be.
You do not have to always slap a label on everything you examine. It is absolutely alright if you just leave certain notions without making any judgements on them.
4 - What if you question a notion you’re sensitive about?
If you feel unusually sensitive or triggered when questioning a notion, do not continue if you're under emotional influence.
Wait some time to let your emotions pipe down instead of making a decision when a volcano is violently irrupting inside you.
Second, and do this only if you're not so emotionally triggered, try examining the notion again. Apply the elenchus.
If you manage to think it through properly and land at a good conclusion, congrats. That's the desirable outcome.
However, if thinking about the notion causes greater confusion, just leave the notion be. Do not engage with it for now. Perhaps return to it in the future if it seems appropriate.
VII - Final Thought
Through what I have conveyed to you in this letter, I want you to become someone who thinks:
I don’t question because I enjoy doubting. I question because I care whether what I believe is actually true—and because truth deserves to shape my way of living.
The point isn't to question everything.
The point is examine, seek truth, update when necessary, and live accordingly.
Thank you so much for reading this letter. I hope I have been able to deliver something of value to you today.
I shall see you next time. Bye ❤👋
