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Introduction
What is Man Created for?
Did God create man as part of the
chain of reproduction, to be a cog in a machine, and to be counted only as an
automaton? Was man created only for his own enjoyment? Was he created only to
amass as much wealth as possible through any means, direct or devious, so as
to satisfy his material wants? Is there no greater idea behind His creation? A
large number of people regard only man's material aspect and neglect the other
side of the cion, because they have not understood the profundity of the
nature of man, or because they have not correctly evaluated it.
Men of great understanding have
ascribed three dimensions to man:
1. Individual material life.
2. Social life. 3.
The world of the spirit and insight.
Those who give importance only to
the first dimension, and believe in absolute freedom for man, even though it
be harmful for him, overlook the profound character of man and they have
forgotten the other two important dimensions. Those who land importance to the
first and second dimensions, but neglect the third, only succeed in creating
an environment which lacks spiritual and moral values.
Arnold Toynbee, the great British
historian, in a long interview with the American magazine, 'Life', said that
man had submitted himself to materialism, and that from that point of view we
do not lack anything. However, he said, we have become bankrupt on the
spiritual side of things. However, I think there is still time, he continued,
to leave this incorrect view of things and return to religion. So, a serious
investigator goes further than the first two dimensions, and looks at and
studies man and the aim of creation from all three dimensions. Because the
reality of man is thus, and man cannot be known in himself in any other way
than this.
Moreover, the third dimension gives
man the power to evaluate his entrances and exits on the stage of personal and
social life. This is the correct way of living. Man must reach his perfection
by making his way through various dimensions, and he must find this way, for
he is created for this purpose. The question now arises of whether one's
conscience can lead one through these dimensions. Let us begin to analyse this
problem with a view to find an answer.
Conscience
Some psychologists deny the
existence of conscience. They believe that what is called conscience is really
only the result of early childhood training. On the other hand, many scholars,
like Rousseau, believe that there is a power hidden in the depths of man's
nature which can distinguish good from bad. Children who are not under the
influence of an environment which trains them in a certain way, whose
conscience has not been perverted, can understand good and bad, basically and
instinctively. (See Rousseau's Emile, especially Book IV). We can agree that a
part of good and evil is according to custom; for example, dress, food and
such things which may be good at one time and place and bad in others.
But the intelligent and reasonable
who are governed by thinking cannot accept that all goods and evil are like
this, because trust, fulfilment of obligation, help for the poor and the weak,
work for humanity, brotherhood, equality and the such like have deep roots in
the nature of man. On the other hand deception, injustice, breaking
agreements, selfishness and the such like have always and in all places been
condemned.
One cannot, therefore, say that
they came to be regarded as instinctively bad. One must, therefore, accept the
existence of conscience but with the following necessary condition: that
conscience, by itself, cannot guide man completely - it needs training. It
must, like minerals in the grounds, be extracted and refined. Otherwise, it
may be perverted under the influence of a corrupt environment, with the result
that these psychologists cannot recognise it and therefore deny its existence.
This is an indication that man needs infallible prophets.
Human Ideologies
From early times up to now, man has
been putting forward many ideas for the improvement of society and the
individuals who it comprises. But because man is not completely aware of the
secrets of spiritual and material well-being, and his ignorance is very great,
he has never been able to put forward any ideas which have been able to
satisfy the full requirements of human nature. Dr. Burrows said some years ago
that at Princeton he heard Einstein say that science tells us what is there,
but religion tells us what should be there, and Victor Hugo said that as much
as man progresses, his need for religion becomes greater. Another difficulty
with such ideologies is that whatever intelligence tells us, however right it
may be, no guarantee can be made that we will follow its ideas.
Many people know through their
intelligence and knowledge that gambling, alcohol, stealing and crime are not
good, but nevertheless they fall victims to such practices. Today we see that
the United Nations, with over 150 members from countries all over the world,
is a weak body whose resolutions generally remain merely in their minutes and
only on paper. This is because intelligence and knowledge are no guarantee for
action. But the Divine scheme, because it comes from an unlimited source of
knowledge, can have no room for error, and because it issues forth from the
immaculate hearts of the prophets, it has influence on mankind.
Moreover, the reward and punishment
for not carrying out His instructions causes man to implement this scheme.
Alone, intelligence and thinking is not enough; a confirmation must be found
through Divine assistence. These faculties are only, fields for training
through the Divine discipline of the messengers so that man may reach felicity
without being diverted. Imam Ali (A.S.), in the first sermon in Nahj
al-Balaghah explains the reason for the sending of messengers thus:
Then Allah sent His messengers and
the series of His prophets to them (mankind) to make them fulfil the pledges
of His creation, to recall to them His bounties, to exhort them by preaching,
to unveil before them the hidden virtues of wisdom and show them the signs of
His Omnipotence.
However, supposing that man has a
correct ideology, do the dictators and those who wish to enforce their own
ideas allow us to distinguish the true from the false? Don't they rather try
to cover the true face of ideologies? In this way people, through ignorance of
correct beliefs, do not rise up against oppression and are successfully
deceived. However, a law that comes from God can be made known to all through
the miracles and signs of truth which God gives to His messengers, and people
can understand its truthfulness and believe in it, and will then be unable to
find any excuse for disobedience.
The Necessity for the Sending of
Messengers
a) The personal, social and
spiritual perfection of man is one of the aims of creation. b) Conscience alone is not enough for the true
perfection of man. c) Human ideologies cannot
completely satisfy all the demands of man's nature, and there is no guarantee
for their implementation. d) Prophets have been sent
and their prophethoods proved through miracles so that man distinguish the
truth and no one can excuse his disobedience by saying that he could not find
the truth.
Through these four points, we
discover that the prophets are necessary for the perfection of man, and that
they were sent to inform man of what he requires in the way of perfection, so
that they may tread the path of happiness. One cannot imagine that the Wise
God could leave man without instructions, laws and obligations, or that He
could leave them in the hands of tyrants, so that they might become the
victims of human desires and be prevented from reaching perfection. Ibn Sina
wrote in "ash-Shifa":
More necessary for the continued
existence of man and his essential perfection than even the growth of eye
lashes and eyebrows and the concavity of the soles of the feet is the sending
of prophets by Allah.
Thus, in arriving to the aim of
creation and to spiritual and material perfection, God must have sent some
people as messengers, as indeed we see that he has, so that they might guide
people by the radiant torch of revelation. A tradition is related by Hisham
ibn al-Hakam that: Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq, in answering an atheist who had
enquired about the need for the sending of prophets, said: "When we have shown
that there is a Creator Who fashioned us and Who is above us and all of His
creation, and that this Creator is Wise and Elevated in the sense that He did
not allow His creatures to see or touch Him, so that He might be together with
them, and they might be together with Him, and that He might argue with them
and they might argue with Him, then it becomes clear that He has emissaries in
His creation so that they can speak from His Presence to His creatures and
servants, and they might guide them to their advantage and benefit and to that
in which is their continued existence and in the absence of which is their
extinction.
So it has become evident that there
are some who command and prohibit on behalf of the Wise, the Knowing to His
creation, and who speak from His Glorified Presence, and these are the
prophets, and His chosen from among creation, wise and trained through wisdom,
and raised in it. They are apart from man in all their conditions - in spite
of sharing with him in his form and fashioning - they are sustained in wisdom
by the Wise, the Knowing. Then the above is evident in every epoch and era in
which the messengers and prophets brought evidence and proofs so that the
earth of Allah might not be deprived of a witness with whom there is a sign
which refers to His Truthfulness and Righteousness." (Usul al-Kafi, Kitab
al-Hujjah)
Of course, Divine plans are not
conceived on only one level. Rather they guide us from all directions.
Worship, government, justice, economy, power, individual and social duties,
and also the general laws which govern individual problems. All of these are
the aims of religions and they enable man to perfect himself in all the three
dimensions of his nature. Again Divine plans do not restrict themselves to one
class of society, but encompass all levels of society and uphold the rights of
all people, so those who think that religion was invented by the ruling or
wealthy class, and that it was invented in feudal and capitalist societies to
serve the purposes of these societies are clearly wrong, because these people
have not paid proper attention to the foundations of religion.
In addition to this, history bears
witness that the upper and wealthy classes did not participate in the
movements led by the prophets, and Divine religions always opposed the
oppression and transgressions of feudalists and capitalists. Leaders,
scholars, the simple, the poor and others, all come to religion because only
by its clear objectives can they satisfy the demands of their natures and
emotions, and they realise that only religion can guide them to real
perfection. This is the only reason why man turns to religion. Fortunately,
today, educated people are more aware of the value of religion, and they
believe that real peace and perfection can only be had in the shade of
religion and belief in God.
The necessity for
miracles
After man has realised that he
needs the guidance of prophets in order to reach an all-embracing happiness,
and that he can only construct the glorious edifice of perfection through
their instructions, he naturally feels affection for those teachers who work
for his benefit and sacrifice their sinless souls for his advantage. Thus
belief comes to reach such a degree that people do not spare themselves any
hardship in order to advance the aims of the prophets, and they prefer the
demands of the prophets to the demands of their own souls. But this
deep-rooted and comprehensive influence and importance of the prophets, and
the love and belief of people in them cause some ambitious persons to take
advantage of them, seeking to become influential and obtain their desires by
claiming prophethood. So, if someone claims prophethood and people gather
round him, one cannot believe in him without some investigation.
For it is possible that he falsely
proclaims prophethood, as many people have done up to the present day, and
thus collects a following. In order to find out if someone is a genuine
prophet, this latter must bring some evidence with him so that people can be
sure of him and accept his claim. Thus the real prophets can be distinguished
from the false. This evidence that distinguishes the true prophets from the
false is known as miracles, and God gave miracles to His prophets and
messengers so that people could be saved from mistakes and the dangers of
those who seek to deceive them, and so that the face of truth may never be
hidden from people. So far we have seen that messengers must bring miracles so
that people can know that they bear a message from God, and that what they say
is true, and so that they may be completely obedient to them and follow their
teachings with faith and conviction.
What Are Miracles?
Miracles (mu'jizah) are what the
prophets did according to the Will of God in order to affirm the prophethood
they claimed, and which others are unable to copy.
Miracles are only a proof of
prophethood. A group of those who sought excuses for their lack of faith
demanded various things as miracles, not through a desire to have the
prophethood confirmed, but in order to oppose the prophets. They even asked
for things that were logically impossible. However, because the prophets
brought enough miracles they did not accede to these demands and told these
people that the position of a prophet is to guide, to bring good tidings and
to warn. This is why miracles are according to the Will of God and in
situations where they are necessary, as is mentioned in the Qur'an with
reference to such people:
"Say: The signs are only with Allah, and I am only a plain
warner." (XXIX: 50)
"It was not for any Messenger to
bring a sign, save by Allah's leave." (XL: 78)
(The Roots of Religion, p. 67-75)
