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Introduction
Prophets and Human Guidance
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)
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