Flex Slider Integration with WordPress - php

Question

[SOLVED]
I'm trying to integrate Flex Slider (flexslider.woothemes.com) with WordPress. I've included all JS/CSS files needed.
Then, I added this code to show the featured images of a certain category - the famous WP_Query with $args set to a certain category. Then using echo the_post_thumbnail(); I'm showing the posts' images. It's working fine. I just need to make the images linked to post URLs (imgs are hrefed). Please provide help and thanks in advance.
<?php
$args = array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'category_name' => 'one',
'posts_per_page' => 5
);
// The Query
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
// Check if the Query returns any posts
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
// Start the Slider ?>
<div class="flexslider">
<ul class="slides">
<?php
// The Loop
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
<li>
<?php }
// The Slide's Image
echo the_post_thumbnail();
</li>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</ul><!-- .slides -->
</div><!-- .flexslider -->
<?php
// Reset Post Data
wp_reset_postdata();
?>
New code that's working:
<?php
$args = array(
'post_type' => 'post',
'category_name' => 'one',
'posts_per_page' => 5
);
// The Query
$the_query = new WP_Query( $args );
// Check if the Query returns any posts
if ( $the_query->have_posts() ) {
// Start the Slider
?>
<div class="flexslider">
<ul class="slides">
<?php
// The Loop
while ( $the_query->have_posts() ) : $the_query->the_post(); ?>
<li>
<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
<?php echo the_post_thumbnail(); ?>
</a>
</li>
<?php endwhile; ?>
</ul><!-- .slides -->
</div><!-- .flexslider -->
<?php }
// Reset Post Data
wp_reset_postdata();
?>

Answer 1

If I understand what you're asking, I think the answer is
echo '<a href="'. the_permalink() .'">';
echo the_post_thumbnail();
echo '</a>';