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What? Had he flipped his lid? Was he out of his mind? This would kill the child! What kind of a solution is that? "No!" screamed the younger of the two women, as she used her body to keep the baby from harm. "Give her the child, just do not harm this baby." The older woman stood silent. Sulaiman knew that the real mother would sacrifice herself and her role as mother instead of letting harm come to her child. He ordered that the infant in question be given to the younger woman. Using creative problem solving the Prophet Sulaiman thought "outside the box" to come up with the answer. The Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) too, was a creative problem solver and thought "outside the box." Even before he was a prophet of Allah (swt) he was well known for his problem solving abilities. In 605 CE the Kabah was damaged by a flood. The walls had been destroyed
and it was up to the people of Makkah to rebuild it. And rebuild it
they did. But when it came time to place Al Hajr Al Aswad (the black
stone) each ruling tribe wanted the honor and no one could decide. The issue and dispute could have started a war but in the last gasp of cooperation the tribes agreed that whom ever would be the first to walk through the gates of Al Suffah would be the mediator of the argument. The first to pass through was Mohammad (pbuh). Mohammad looked at the problem, and thought about how to set the stone and still keep the peace in Makkah. He decided to place the stone upon a cloak, then a member of each of the ruling tribes would take a corner of the cloak and together, move it into place. It worked! War was avoided and reconstruction of the Kabah was finished! While the majority of us will never face making a decision or creating a solution in matters of life and death and to avoid war, we all need to become problem solvers like the prophets whose examples we are charged to emulate. Learning to think "outside the box" is a key ingredient to creative problem solving.
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