Any discussion should be based upon a table and some important principles. If there were not any principles or rules which control any discussion, this discussion would turn to be an argument. This argument will exactly look like smoke; not only useless but also harmful. There are many different discussions that can be hold between friends, seminars, evening parties, round table, working sessions, the ministerial meetings, or even the family meetings to discuss something between its members. The discussion may continue for hours and hours, discussing many different subjects that some times have no relation to the main cause of the discussion from the very beginning. Time passes and the discussion develops to be, at some times, an argument, then a fight. After many hours, the discussion comes to its end, and the attendants go back as if nothing had happened.

The first base to hold a good useful discussion is to discuss with an honest wise man who wouldn't mind changing his point of view as soon as you convince him with its defects and correct them for him. He can easily convince with what is right even if it was against his personal point of view. Allah told us in the holy Quraan that: "hold to forgiveness; command what is right, but turn away from the ignorant" (surah al-A'raf, Ayah 199, translated by Yousif Ali). Also al-Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb, peace and blessings be upon him, said : "the wise man can be discussed and convinced, but never can be the ignorant".

Also another important base to achieve profit from the discussion is to have a table of the points that are going to be talked about during the discussion or the meeting. These points should be in the favor of the subject, the main cause of the discussion in general, before any discussion the main points should be determined, as the discussion shouldn't be completely open and free, it gradually will turn to be a mere chatting about many different subjects that may have no relation to the main cause of the meeting.

The time table is always very important. We can't let the discussion free and endless, we can't let the time pass till the attendants may fell asleep. The attendants should be watchful paying a due attention to every word said during the meeting. You can't go to a meeting when you are exhausted and sleepy. We may notice in some meetings and national conferences that some attendants are so exhausted that they may fell asleep, and at the next day we see their photos in the news papers; important conference and sleepy attendants!

Many meetings are hold to discuss some superficial subjects. These discussions always end with nothing, no change, but it may increase the gap between the attendants who came to the meeting upset and get out more upset as they couldn’t achieve any positive step. Such discussions are useless and are hold just to amuse and waste time. Their aim is only to go to the meeting hole smiling, taking some shots, thinking that this proves that we are civilized and seriously aim to solve a problem, while the poor citizens feel satisfied and happy thinking that all problems are coming to an end, but the real end for their problems is as far as the distance between earth and stars.

Some people made satire on the useless system of committees and their endless meetings, they said: if you want a project to stop working; just form committees to work on it. The point is that the work system of meetings and committees is very monotonous and useless, its only effect is wasting time. We talk more than we work. And this is the mainly because the Arab always follow their need to speak and narrate, and the Arab people are characterized by their eloquence, good style, and their ability to narrate and invent stories.

In the ancient times, in the countryside, the women had a strange hobby, which was to sit in groups just to talk, talk about every thing and any thing, talk about who had married, who divorced, or exchange some recipes. About men; their hobby wasn't  so much different, they also sit in groups at a café also to talk about many things. Also at the hairdresser's, the barber's role wasn't limited on his job, but also it represented an amusing means to his client by telling him some news and stories. And this is not spontaneous or by accident, but it was something of the folklore and the popular culture of the Arab. Also there was some one who works as a narrator, and he had an important role in the Arab countries. His job was to tell stories in streets, cafes, or in any public ceremonies.

So, narration was something is very important to the Arab people, it wasn't just a means of knowledge, but also a hobby that satisfies the curious minds of the Arab. On the contrary, in the western countries, the practical style of life doesn't allow talking or telling stories for a long time.

We should keep in mind that the Arab have good intentions in their discussions, that may continue for along time, but these discussions some times turn to be a sort of sophism. Sophism is an ideological philosophy which appeared for the first time in the end of the 6th century in Greek. Sophists neglected mathematics and physics in their education. They cared only about arts which enabled them to dispute, as disputation was their only way to learn. This belief depends upon some imaginary ideas and rules. They ignore every concrete things, or even denied what is material, they denied every thing was proved to be real by logic. They depended on cheating to change facts and they never answered any question.

Nowadays, we have many discussions, meetings, and conferences that all are only about useless disputations. This is very obvious in TV shows, seminars, or even business meetings, they all are useless.

Talking about politics; we have a real example for the useless meetings and conferences which Israel calls for all the time. Israel claims that it really concerns to achieve peace. All the time they call for conferences and meetings, and then meetings are over, they wash their hands of all treaties and cases they have just discussed in their meetings. And again they call for another meeting after a month, and again what happens is a serial of events that repeat itself again and again and fore ever, and no step is taken. The Palestinians make no profit of all these meetings. Israel just make use of the propaganda that comes before and after every conference. They used it to convince the world that Israel calls for peace.

What is really strange is that in the case of these political meetings fail, avoiding the feeling of failure and embarrassing, the attendants come out smiling and pretending that they have agreed to hold another meeting to discuss the term again. This is only what they agreed to do.

Some Arab writers make a satire on these false endless conferences and these continuous discussions, they said" the Arab agreed that they will never agree". This statement implies a satire and a severe criticism that reflects the critical situation of the Arab.

The new sophists are talking about the importance of the discussions all the time, they call for more meetings, hold more conferences, but they really have no idea about the simple rules of the real fruitful discussions. And as a result, all this time is a mere waste of time, money, and effort, and the hot disputation is still on.