Prof. Faid Mohammed Said
Introduction: An Age Overflowing with Information and Starved of Understanding
The contemporary human being inhabits an era that may well be described as the noisiest in recorded history an age saturated with information, yet painfully deficient in deep understanding.
Moments of focus and reflection have become rare luxuries: the phone’s screen shifts endlessly, social media pours forth like a ceaseless river, and the mind darts from one scene to another with the same restless haste as a viewer flipping through television channels on a crowded evening.
This relentless flow has given birth to a new cognitive ailment: the malady of mental fragmentation—a mind pulled in all directions yet anchored in none. As a result, people are slowly losing the gift of sustained, connected thinking: the very intellectual blessing upon which civilizations were once built.
Remarkably, the earliest warning against this condition appears in the Qur’an itself:
“God has not placed two hearts within any human being.”
(Qur’an 33:4)
In Qur’anic thought, the “heart” is not merely an organ; it is the centre of intention, will, and decision. And it cannot possibly move in two directions at once.
I. Fragmentation: When the Heart Splits and Direction is Lost
Constant engagement with digital devices—jumping from one page, clip, or notification to another—has disrupted the architecture of human cognition.
One now sees a thousand pieces of information yet settles on none; reads the beginnings of chapters yet knows nothing of their conclusions; begins a subject only to abandon it before grasping its essence.
Psychologists today refer to this as the “Fragmented Mind.”
Such a mind struggles to:
• connect the parts of knowledge,
• build coherent reasoning,
• deepen ideas toward maturity,
• or arrive at meaningful conclusions.
This is precisely the condition from which the Prophet ﷺ sought refuge in his well-known supplication:
“I seek refuge in You from the scattering of affairs.”
Ibn al-Qayyim explains that scattered affairs describe a heart pulled away from its purpose, occupied by what does not benefit, leaving the person “high in motion, low in fruit.”
A perfect portrait of the modern distracted mind.
II. The Qur’an: A Divine Method for Re-Forming the Unified Mind
In contrast to modern media—which fragments thought—the Qur’an constructs within its reader a firm cognitive structure. It trains the mind to connect, focus, analyse, and synthesize.
1. The Story of Yusuf: A Complete Narrative Architecture
The story appears wholly in a single surah.
Imam Fakhr al-Razi notes:
“The gathering of the story in one place is an indication that wisdom is attained only when the full picture is complete.”
2. The Story of Adam: An Analytical, Distributed Method
It is dispersed across seven chapters, each adding a different layer.
Ibn Taymiyyah observes:
“What God distributes across His Book is so the servant may seek knowledge more earnestly and exercise true contemplation.”
Thus, the Qur’an trains the mind to gather scattered elements and construct a coherent map of understanding.
3. The Qur’anic Method of Thinking
Al-Ghazālī states:
“The intellect is not understood unless it orders its thoughts, nor is it safe unless it gathers what is connected.”
This is precisely what the Qur’an does: it does not present isolated meanings, but weaves an interconnected intellectual tapestry.
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III. The Masters on Fragmentation: Wisdom Ahead of Its Time
1. Ibn al-Qayyim: “The Dispersal of Concern”
He writes:
“The greatest barrier between a servant and his aim is the dispersal of his concern and the scattering of his thoughts.”
A strikingly accurate description of today’s notification-driven mind.
2. Al-Ghazālī: “The Overcrowding of Thoughts”
In Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn, he comments:
“The heart is like a vessel; if you fill it with thoughts, its clarity is lost.”
A metaphor tailor-made for our age of digital overload.
3. Ibn Khaldūn: “Fragmented Learning”
In his Muqaddimah, he asserts:
“Knowledge cannot be acquired in a scattered manner; whoever seeks it without order is overtaken by confusion.”
As though he were describing short-form content and rapid-fire learning of the digital age.
IV. The Impact of Fragmentation on Human Life
This condition is more than a psychological inconvenience—it is a civilizational crisis with profound consequences:
• weakened attention and superficial understanding,
• poor decision-making and diminished wisdom,
• decline in scholarly and intellectual productivity,
• loss of inner tranquillity and spiritual depth,
• shallow human relationships based on surfaces rather than substance.
Early scholars realised that scattered thought deprives the human being of the highest paths to excellence.
V. Toward a Unified Mind: Practical Pathways to Restoration
1. Continuous, Uninterrupted Reading
A full surah or a full chapter daily.
2. Reducing Digital Noise
An “information fast” of one hour per day without a phone.
3. Writing Thoughts Down
Writing gathers the scattered parts of the mind.
4. Qur’anic Contemplation
As al-Razi beautifully puts it:
“The Qur’an gathers in the heart what is scattered, and orders in the mind what is dispersed.”
5. Prioritisation
Do not begin a new subject before completing what is in your hands.
Conclusion: The Unified Mind as the Highest Form of Human Honour
The Qur’an teaches us that the heart cannot move in two directions at once, and that understanding cannot be built from cognitive fragments. Between the verse:
“God has not placed two hearts within any human being”
(Qur’an 33:4)
and the Prophetic supplication:
“I seek refuge in You from the scattering of affairs,”
lies an entire intellectual philosophy dedicated to restoring the mind and freeing it from dispersion.
Fragmentation is a malady.
The Qur’an is its cure.
Focus is an act of devotion.
Understanding is a divine blessing.
And when the mind is unified, it creates;
when scattered, it fades.
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