The Editor’s Note
The Editor’s Note
The most interesting point – to which we may draw the attention of the reader to – is the fact that the lectures printed in this book were delivered in 28 sessions during the holy month of Ramadan 1394 A.H. (1976 A.D.) in Mashhad, Khorasan, under the strict surveillance of the Shah’s horrendous security organization known as SAVAK.
A secret SAVAK agent present at these sessions thus reports to his superiors in Tehran: “…today, after the noon-prayers at the Imam Hassan Mosque, Khamenei said ‘today we follow our discussion of prophethood and, as I have already mentioned, one of the goals of all divine prophets was the rejection of class systems and class distinctions; they strove to establish a classless society based on divine justice and equality, and to fight all sorts of oppression, despotism and exploitation. Khamenei then claimed ‘there were 4 groups who always opposed and fought God’s prophets. They were the wealthy, the powerful, the despotic rulers and the corrupt, privileged leaders of perverted religions… the audience, apart from some shop-keepers and old, religious people, consisted mostly of university students from the faculties of sciences and medicine.”
In another report he writes: “… Khamenei, who has already published a small book titled “Islamic Thought in The Quran”, tries to convince the audience that the faithful, believing in monotheism, prophethood and Imamat, do have certain moral obligations and practical, religious commitments to carry out, and that, without fulfilling those duties and commitments, they could hardly be called firm believers.”
Thus it seems that the SAVAK authorities in Tehran had correctly understood the essence of the message that young Khamenei was publicizing: he was obviously calling for resistance and struggle against the Shah’s regime which did possess all the qualities and characteristic of those four historic classes opposing the divine prophets!
Consequently, in less than 3 months after the delivery of these clever lectures, an order was issued by the chief of SAVAK in Khorasan ordering the local police to arrest him and dispatch him to ‘Tehran’s Joint Committee Against Sabotage’. (The original SAVAK reports are kept in the archives of the Documents Center of the Islamic Revolution).
Preface
Preface
It is now more than forty years since these sermons were delivered, but throughout all these years, this great valuable work “The General pattern of Islamic thought In the Quran” remained unpublished!
When the young Hojjat-al-Islam sayyed Ali Khamenei began these series of sermons at the half-built Imam Hassan Mojtaba Mosque in Mash-had for 28 sessions in the month of Ramadan 1394 (1975), the city of Mash-had acquired a different atmosphere: The sessions were held following noon-prayers in the heat of summertime when people usually went to their houses to rest for a couple of hours; yet, in a locality in this city many people , young and old, were on the way to attend Khamenei’s unique lectures; if you could look at the audience, you would notice that many people belonging to different social strata: Theology students, high school pupils, university students, shop- keepers, local residents, both men and women, especially young ones, all attended these sessions; medical students had managed to hire two buses to transfer them from the vicinity of the university to this mosque.
In Khamenei’s lectures, everything is different from traditional, spiritual sermons: everyone is given one or two photocopied pages containing a summary of topics to be discussed in the session, the lecturer delivers his speech while standing g on a fasting day and after the end of the lecture, a fine-sounding Quran reciter chants the relevant Quranic verses discussed already. Khamenei’s sessions really resembles an educational class-room rather than a traditional preaching.
Another important point the readers should have in mind is the period these lectures were delivered: the years of the Shah’s despotic rule, torturing of the opponents to the point of death and suppression of all dissident voices. Dark days when Imam Khomeini was sent into exile, in religious gatherings no one dared mention the name Khomeini; nobody was allowed to use the word “Taaghoot” (an arrogant, godless despot). The hellish security organization, SAVAK, had spies and moles everywhere, none was allowed to say anything against “Israel” and the recital of the Quranic verses on Jihad and Islamic struggles were forbidden.
But Khamenei, young man of 35, was already a veteran of the struggle against the Shah’s regime: He knew how to manage his lectures not to fall into the widespread trap of SAVAK; he arranged his lectures in such delicate ways that the listeners themselves were encouraged to think of establishing an Islamic society. He began his lectures with topics such as ‘monotheism’ and ‘true faith’ and then deals with the important themes of ‘prophethood’ and ‘wilayat’. Thus, towards the end of the holy month of Ramadan, he succeeded in planting the seeds of ‘conscious faith’ in the hearts of his audience, especially the youth among them to make them more familiar with the Holy Quran which often used to be recited only at weddings and mourning ceremonies.
For years those who had no clear understanding of the Quran had alienated people from the holy Book by stating various false reasons such as: the Quran is not for ordinary people to understand and you must only read it for its divine rewards! And of course such ways of thinking used to be most welcome to all repressive governments.
Khamenei considered such opinions as plots by the enemies of Islam or due to vague, defective understanding by some clerics. He himself was a lover, a devotee and an honest follower of the Quran and had dedicated his life to rise against the isolation of the Quran. Therefore he stood up, during these lectures, with a copy of the Quran in his hands, and clarified each and every verse of the holy Book and brought back the divine verses into the hearts of Muslims. He also cried out against those satanic elements who wished to do away with the teachings of the Quran and the Traditions of the holy Prophet: Woe to those who try to distance the Quran from the minds and hearts of the people, those who, under various excuses, do not let people read the Book in order to understand it, oh, woe to such people. You, my brothers and sisters, must know how to benefit from the Quran in these days. As our holy Prophet said: ‘When seditions and disasters, like the black parts of a dark night, rush upon you, it’s only the Quran that will save you’. When is that night? Do we not see the darkness around us? Have our eyes become so short-sighted that we do not detect them? Do we not see crooks, brain-washers and deceivers of all kinds and deviated paths laid on our ways to mislead us? When then shall we refer to the Quran; for what periods must we take refuge in the Quran? Shall we wait until the 12th Imam (God bless him) appears? Well, the Imam is himself a talking Quran; so today is the day when we must learn a lot from the Quran.
After these daily lectures in the month of Ramadan came to an end, Mr. Khamenei began to explain Imam Ali’s Nahj-al-Balaagha but, after holding a few sessions, he was arrested and sent to one of the most horrendous prisons in Iran run by the dreadful “Joint Committee Against Terrorism”!
Now, as mentioned earlier, some 41 years have passed since those Ramadan lectures and, apart from the memories of hundreds of people who attended the sessions, these truly valuable lectures remained unpublished for all in our society; it was a pity that such a treasure of faith remained hidden for so long.
We need to mention that the copied pages showing the topics to be discussed in every session were once published in a booklet form, but they did not contain what Mr. Khamenei expressed in these sessions. We were, however, fortunate to come across an old shop-keeper in Mashhad who, in his youth, had recorded the lectures in some old cassettes and kept them in his house, and we had to listen to these semi-audible cassettes over and over again to extract the actual wordings.
Finally we should inform our readers that what Mr. Khamenei dealt with in his Ramadan speeches some 41 years ago, seems delivered only yesterday and that’s why we decided to publish them today. All this is due to the miracle of the Quranic verses and Khamenei’s clear and logical understanding of our holy Book.
Mr. Khamenei had this to say a few years ago about his lectures on those far-off Ramadan days:
“Many years ago I conducted some 28 lectures at the Imam Hassan (AS) mosque in Mashhad. Those days the recording of speeches were not as common as today, but fortunately, some interested, devoted people had recorded my talks at these sessions on some old cassettes. The contents of these lectures are good means to criticize me, that is, to see whether my position and understanding have changed as far as the Quran is concerned! In those gatherings I talked about monotheism, prophethood, imamat, wilayat and other fundamental issues; even now I stand by what I expressed then for they were the ideological pillars and bases for the establishment of an Islamic system. Of course when I delivered those lectures, none of us could imagine that an Islamic order was to come about us in some 5 years. But even if it were to realize after some 50 years, it was still necessary to lay the ideological foundation for an Islamic system, especially for the youth.”1
Some Special Aspect of these Lectures
Some Special Aspect of these Lectures
To point out the most special features of these lectures, we may sum them up in some 9 important features:
1. Khamenei’s style does not follow the genre of ‘kalaam’2 in which only affirmation and negation are concerned; no, he tries to explain the most basic principles of Islamic thinking through the Quran.
2. Presentation of Islamic thoughts to the people of the world, not only to Muslims; the reasoning is so logical and unbiased that they could be beneficial to all.
3. Special interpretation of religion not as some abstract, spiritual principles but as faith and practice inseparable from each other.
4. Bringing Islamic thinking out of the trap of depicting Islam and the Quran as an individualistic belief and subjective engagement that the enemies of Islam had propagated about for many years, a religion that had nothing to do with the societies at large. Certainly Imam Khomeini was the main reviver of the true, Muhammadan Islam in our age; it was through the Imam’s movement that Muslims were reawakened and Islam was once again on the lips of people throughout the world. Some informed religious personalities had felt this vacuum in the thinking of many people and some as Mr. Khamenei, who had benefited from the teaching of Imam as well as Ayatollah Motahhari, tried to draw up a general, ideological pattern of true Islamic thinking based on the holy Quran.
5. A fresh, novel way of looking at the fundamentals of Islam as expressed in the Quran; he often gave a new life to certain concepts that seemed to be worn out or taken for granted. Ayatollah Khamenei has this to say about that atmosphere prevailing when he was addressing these lectures: “A number of people made a lot of noise objecting to what I had said about ‘wilayat’ whereas what I had expressed was not against what they believed in. they believed that ‘wilayat’ meant loving the Shi’ite Imams. Well, we all believe in that and we all believe in the ‘imamat’ of Ali (AS). But what I explained in these lectures was more than that. I went through all verses in the Quran about ‘wilayat’ such as “Hunalika al-valayat lillah” (S.18, A.44). Well, I expressed the opinion that only loving does not suffice, it must be followed by practice and by following the manners and actions of our Imams, an addition and expansion of the true meaning of loving the Imams. As an example, if a physician has something new to contribute, say, to healing a disease, how do people treat him? I think they at least respect him. So it must be in theological matters when a new idea is expressed that adds to, not negates the previous beliefs, it should not be opposed; unfortunately some people behave like that most unfairly!”
6. The cohesion in these lectures with the political ways of struggle by all our Imams for the establishment of an Islamic order and attracting the attention of the people to the characteristics of a true system of government. For this reason Mr. Khamenei often talks about on Alavite system of government. For this reason Mr. Khamenei often talks about Alavite order because mentioning ‘an Islamic system’ would arouse the suspicions of the Shah’s brutal regime.
7. Emphasizing the roots of the prevailing disease in human communities which, according to him, was due to weaknesses in their faiths and beliefs.
8. Avoiding sectarian issues and stressing the importance of unity of the Islamic umma, for he saw clearly that encouraging sectarianism was the lethal weapon of colonialist and arrogant powers against Muslim nations.
9. Paying special attention to the youth as the builders of Islamic societies in the future. The Shah’s regime hated to see so many young students gathering in a mosque and listening to the sermons of a young preacher and that is the reason he was repeatedly arrested after such sessions.
There are many more important points in these lectures which the interested reader will certainly find out for himself.
The Author’s Introduction
The Author’s Introduction
Explaining Islam as a social doctrine embracing coherent, harmonious principle overlooking the social life of humanity is one of most urgent needs in religious thinking.
Islamic discussions and investigations so far have often lacked the afore-mentioned important properties and, for this reason, a comparison of Islam with other social doctrines and ideologies, has not succeeded in satisfying the researches and truth- seekers to obtain fruitful and decisive results, that is, we have, generally speaking, not been able to draw a sketch or plan of Islam as a balanced and homogenous doctrine or to demonstrate its affinities and differences with other schools of thought or religions.
Additionally, as most such studies were subjective discussions, that is, divorced from their objective and practical aspects, specially ignoring the important, social effects, they have only increased people’s subjective knowledge. Most of these researches and studies have paid due attention to people’s social life, specially to the shape and form of an Islamic community and have not clearly discussed the people’s commitments to their principles of faith at least, in a transparent theory.
In other words, the Quran, this indubitable, decisive and final document of Islam, has not had its share in enlightening the people and showing the right paths to them; instead we witness an abundance of minute references to semi- rational thoughts and many conjectured statements and weak traditions- sometimes quoting more credible sources- and as a result faith-related thoughts have been formed and grown in the absence of Quranic tenets. Perhaps such a distance from the Quran or feeling hopeless or needless of a rightful understanding of our holy Book –all due to certain reasons and circumstances-have been the real causes of not deliberating deeply about Quranic verses and being happy with only superficial readings of the Quran which may bring about no worldly or other-worldly rewards. In short, the book of God has become a source of deceiving the ordinary people.
Taking such realities into account, we may consider three important characteristics as most necessary in our discussions of Islamic thinking; disregarding these three issues would be harmful to all Islamic thinkers in our time:
Firstly we should try to bring the Islamic, ideological system and our Islamic teachings out of its absolute abstractness and subjectivity and –like all other social schools-relate them to our practical obligations in our social life. All theoretical discussions should be looked at and evaluated from the viewpoints of what plans or programs they offer for human life and what means they employ to reach their goals.
Secondly it must be emphasized that the questions regarding Islamic thinking should be studied as coherent, connected questions and as parts of a whole, because they are as blocks of a complete structure, that is, harmonious parts of the totality of our religion and are not disjointed and irrelevant to one another. It is through such a method that we may know our religious principles and then reach a complete understanding of our religion as a flawless, unambiguous ideology containing proper dimensions for the multi-dimensional life of humanity at large.
And thirdly we must have in mind that in understanding and inferences of Islamic principles, our sources of reference should be the basic texts and documents of our religion not personal tastes and opinions or the subjunctive deductions of this or that personality; following such a procedure will make our investigation truly “Islamic”. And in this respect the holy Quran is the most perfect and the most authentic document we could resort to because “No falsehood may approach it by any means from any side”3 and “this is a Book with verses firmly rooted in wisdom which is set forth with clearness…”4; and, of course, as the Quran has addressed to deliberate deeply on its verses.
What has been collected in this book indicates a humble attempt to express the above-mentioned purposes as a report about Islam in the course of some successive speeches.
I have tried in these lesson-like lectures to search for the most fundamental, most constructive and the liveliest bases of Islamic thought through the eloquent and clear verses of the Quran and then, while explaining the best ways of deliberating deeply on them, show the audience to learn those fundaments of Islam, and when necessary, to quote some tradition of our holy Prophet (SA) as well as some authentic traditions uttered by our Imams (AS). My purpose throughout was that people would muse over the holy verses of the Quran, get to know its principles for practical action, performance of their obligations in life and their commitment to God Almighty and the Quran in this worldly existence.
Sayyed Ali Khamenei, 1973
Faith
Chapter One
Faith
Faith 1 (in general terms)
First Session
Faith 1 (in general terms)
2nd Ramadan 1394 (Sep, 19, 1974)
“And obey God and the Messenger that you may be blessed by Mercy;(132) and hasten in the race to win your Lord’s forgiveness and a paradise, the width of which encompasses the heavens and the earth, which is prepared for the god-fearing pious(133) who freely give to charity, both in prosperity and in adversity, those who restrain their anger and forgive their fellow-men; certainly God does love the doers of good to humanity.(134)”
(Sura Aali-Imraan, Ayas, 132-134)
In the Name of God, The Beneficent, the Merciful, the Christian monks choose a monastic, secluded life in order not to indulge in sins; they often isolated themselves from the community and went to live in mountainous areas, caves and abandoned places. The Quran says: “…but monkery had been their own invention, we did decree…”5, that is, this form of isolating yourselves from the rest of the society, was not sanctioned by God, it was their own heretical innovation. In Islam, however, we do not have such monasticism, we shouldn’t isolate ourselves from our community and we must not escape from the people. As Muslims we are all responsible and we ought to help one another; every enlightened Muslim should behave like that; in Islam being a Muslim and being responsible are correlative, and inseparable. Muslims ought to assist one another, to help heal the sick and to save those about to drown; these duties are not compatible with neglecting one’s commitments only to salvage his own soul! A Muslim tries to be virtuous; his virtues are his shield against all sins and, once so equipped, he tries to save sinful persons.
Well, is virtuosity the necessary means for victory or not. The answer is ‘yes’. When you mean to heal and save a sick person, if you constantly fear that his disease may be contagious, you will never succeed in saving the lives of people struck by certain viruses. He should have already made himself immune, he must be sure of that in order to save others, he could then do it easily and also be triumphant, yes be “God-fearing”6 that you attain salvation and be successful.
“And guard yourselves against the fire which has been prepared for the unbelievers.”7 And then we read: “Obey God and the Messenger that you may be blessed by mercy.” Well, one may ask: there is no difference between obeying God and the Prophet? Why does the book say: Obey them both? Was it not necessary to add the Prophet? No, because if it only said: ‘Obey God’ and did not mention the Prophet, well, these people who were against the prophet of Islam, would claim that we too ‘Obey God’; because some people do easily claim whatever they want, anybody may claim that we are servants of God too and we do ‘Obey Him.’
At the time of the Prophet, there were many claimants of serving God and obeying Him. Those who were his enemies and even fought against him as well as Christian monks and Jewish rabbis also claimed the same: “And both the Jews and Christian make the claim that we are God’s sons and beloved ones.’’8 Their claimed status was even some degrees higher than our Prophet’s, because he said that he was only ‘a servant of God’; they claimed that they were God’s sons and daughters! They believed that obedience to God was theirs only! Well, the general public may have not thought so but their leaders and some elements who did not really obey God, pretended so. There are some people who, in their seclusion, do know what a horrible record they have and what they say to other people are utter lies but in public they pretend that they are good, honest, God-fearing servants of God. We must separate this group from the real worshippers of God Almighty. That’s why the Quran says: Obey God and the Messenger; both ‘God and His messenger’. Thus if the Messenger was not mentioned, then even the enemies of the Prophet would claim that they too did obey God; this point should have been made quite clear, that is, what is clearly meant by ‘obeying God’; those who claim to obey God, but do not follow the injunctions of God, those who do not respect the laws of God, how could they say that they obeyed God? I repeat, ‘Obey God and His Messenger that you may be blessed by His mercy’.
Now, what is God’s mercy, what is it meant by being blessed by Mercy of God. Here we should make a comparison between the Quranic expression and our layman’s interpretation. We suppose that if we are sinners, if we haven’t obeyed God, if we do not do our duties, our obligations and our commitments and if we do not respect what God has forbidden, then we only have one hope; what’s our hope? God’s mercy and compassion! We usually say this: May God have mercy on us. That’s what we often hear in the society. What use has God’s mercy? It’s useful, in our opinion, when we have not obeyed God and we have not fulfilled our religious duties, in such cases we say: we haven’t practiced what God has ordained, so may God have mercy on us! As if God’s mercy were a substitute for our inaction, irresponsibility and weak faith. But the Quranic verse is the opposite of such understanding, it says: you must obey God in practice, then you may be blessed by God’s mercy. God’s mercy is for a nation that fulfills its responsibilities. God has mercy on the people who obey Him and perform their duties. Should some 700 million Muslims9 just sit idle, do nothing and let oppressors and godless despots do whatever they like to them and wait for God’s blessings to rain upon them! That’s exactly what the enemies of Islam wish for.
Well, what is meant by obeying God and His messenger? It means the fulfillment of our obligations. The noble verse of the Quran says: The faithful, the believers are those who, when differences and contentions among them arise, come to you, they refer their affairs to you, the Prophet and when you issued an announcement or sentence “they cannot be believers until they come to seek your arbitration in their disputes, and have no hesitation in their hearts against your judicial orders…”10. When you make such an order, they will not hesitate for a moment to carry it out without the slightest grudge in their hearts: “yusallimu tasliman”, they submit to your order. That’s how a true believer should be. If a nation, an umma or a community obeys God in such a way, then it will have the upper hand, then it will attain human growth, then it will overcome all sorts of servitude, then it will cut all chains at its hands and feet, and finally it will be blessed by God’s mercy and by God’s compassion, and I repeat the verse “Obey God and the Messenger to be blessed by God’s mercy”.
Next “And hasten in the race to win your lord’s Forgiveness…” Yes, it is a racing field, be speedy and overtake others in attaining ‘God’s Forgiveness’ and towards a Paradise “the width of which encompasses the heavens and earth” and it is “prepared for the god-fearing people”, for the virtuous and the pious. These are some signs to show you what real virtues are.
As you all know, many men compete with each other for some piece of land, for winning some auctions, for acquiring certain amount of capital, a company or a store, for any material privilege, yes, to get hold of these things, you are ready to compete hard, to leave others behind, even at the cost of trampling upon your honour and honesty. Now, certainly those who advise you not to employ your gifts, not to work hard and not to achieve anything, are only liars. Religion tells you, o human, speed up, compete, use your strengths and gifts, but it asks you: Towards what? You must drive toward some goal worthy of your humanity; you great human-being, the most perfect of what exists on earth, after the greatness of the Creator; you are the most sublime, despite your limited small body.
You great creature, do drive on, do compete, race faster, but towards what goal? Unto your Lord and towards God’s mercy and His paradise, towards that paradise which is superior to all skies and stars. One should think deeply about the Quranic verses in order to fully understand them. The Quran says: if you want to strive towards something, you must know that the heavens and the earth are very small compared with Paradise; to reach a higher goal, aim higher; God’s mercy should be important to you, it’s worthier that the heavens and the earth.
What is the exact meaning of God’s mercy and forgiveness? Let us cite some examples: say you have used some swear-words against somebody, then you may go to him and ask him to pardon you and he, may kindly say: well, I pardon you; you may go to some government office to pay certain amount of taxes that has been fixed for you, but you notice it’s too much, it’s not fair, you may beseech the officials or show them a letter of recommendation from some authority and the official may say ‘okay, we ignore the fixed amount, we approve of your excuse’. We notice such actions in our everyday life and we think that God’s mercy is also similar to such pardons! A person who has committed many wrongs and crimes, who has been most sinful and corrupt, could he, on the Day of Resurrection, when his face is full of tears, and claim that he has loved certain Imams? And then God would say: alright now that you are in such a miserable state, We forgive all your sins and wrongdoings! Is this the kind of mercy and forgiveness we expect from God Almighty? Of course, not.
I have often talked about God’s ‘ghufran’ (mercy and forgiveness) and I want you, brothers and sisters who had attended those meetings, to delve in your memories and remember those points about God’s ‘ghufran’. I have repeatedly said that this Quranic word means ‘healing, remedy and filling up certain vacuums. Let’s give some examples: if your body has suffered some injuries, or there is a cut in your arms or legs, the doctors give you some ointment, some medicine, vitamins or some injections, all these help bring together the separated parts of your flesh or a certain muscle, your whole body works towards healing that cut or injury. Now please keep this example in mind so that I could further explain what ‘ghufran’ really is.
Let us say that your soul, like your body, receives a blow or injury whenever you commit a sin. Why do we claim every sinful act is a blow at your soul? Because our souls are there to elevate to higher and more sublime stages and sins are those elements that prevent this elevation and exaltation. In the simile about your body, every sin strikes the soul and creates a cut, an injury and is a draw-back.
If you have seized other people’s property, if you have benefited from usury, if you have drunk intoxicated liquids, if you have made false or malicious accusations against others, well, by committing each of these sins, you have surely injured your soul and made it weak and vulnerable. This soul which was supposed to travel towards perfection, is now far from achieving this end. Here you are in need of ‘ghufran or maghfirat’.
How? As I said earlier, this shortage, this injury, this vacuum in the soul may be removed by compensation, by making amends, by doing good. The man, whose soul has been affected and injured by sins, could make up for them when he does elevate his soul. You may ask ‘how’?
Well, let me cite another example. You’re driving a car to reach a destination fifty kilometers away in 45 minutes, now if you’re stopped on the way for some reason, what should you do? Well, you drive a little faster; you shouldn’t just sit down where you were stopped and do nothing, because then you won’t reach your destination. Or, during a trip to some place, you have wasted your time in an inn on the way for fun, you can’t then say: oh God, I made a mistake, I am sorry. This won’t do because the mistake has already been made, you must move and drive a little faster in order to make up for the lost time; divine mercy works in such ways when you don’t sit idly by.
God Almighty does not say that because you have sinned, no matter how hard you try to do good, we shall never forgive you, God has no grudge against anybody because “Certainly I am Most Forgiving”11. In fact He never said that because of your previous sins and wrong-doings, we shall never pardon you; on the contrary God announces that if those sins were compensated, He is ready to forgive you if you repent and conduct a righteous way of living. He says: “Certainly I am Most Forgiving” and that God could remedy all your ills and wrong-doings. But to whom will God have mercy? To “Those who do repent, and do believe, conduct a righteous living and shall remain guided”12. Now what does repentance (tauba) mean? It means ‘returning’; one should return to strengthen his faith, to do good works and be true believers for talking is not enough, one must resort to action.
Therefore, God’s forgiveness comes to heal those injuries to the soul, when you remedy this, you’ll travelling towards perfection of the soul. It is worthy of men to struggle for their own good and to race on this path. This is most important for receiving ‘Maghfirat’. ‘Maghfirat’ does not mean that God Almighty, willy-nilly, would be kind to someone without his own effort to be included in divine compassion. But “Hasten in the race to win your Lord’s forgiveness and a paradise the width of which encompasses the heavens and the earth, which is prepared for the god-fearing, virtuous people”.
It is common for some people to say to others: you will be a resident of paradise. Well it is a pleasant wish and, if God will, you’re allowed to enter it, it’s many people’s desire. We do, in our prayers, often wish so, we even cite the characteristics and privileges of this Paradise in our prayers, such as Houris of paradise, its wonderful foods and the taste of special meat of its birds, etc. but God says: We have prepared it for the god-fearing, virtuous people; these are the ones who’ll benefit from the amenities and pleasantries of Paradise, not all people.
Please pay special attention to every word I quote from the Quran. Who are the god-fearing? The Quranic answer is: “those who freely give to charity both in prosperity and adversity”13. This is one of the conditions of the god-fearing people. I have already talked about ‘Infaagh’ (giving in charity, alms-giving). This is different from other kinds of spending. Giving in charity means removing the real needs of others and filling certain gaps in other people’s lives. But those who spend millions for some apparently good goals which do not remove people’s real needs, are unfortunate persons whose spending are not ‘infaagh’ at all; they are the subject of this verse of the Quran “Say: shall we tell you who have lost their labour most? They are the people whose endeavours, in the life of this world, have gone astray and yet they think they have done good through their labours”14. If you give 10 Rials to someone who has much more than that and does not need it, this is not ‘infaagh’, but if you give the same amount to a hungry person who could buy a loaf of bread with it, this could be ‘infaagh’. Sometimes, when there is prevalent hunger in the community, the giving of this amount to individuals is not enough, something more fundamental must be done. When a nation has dire needs, you must aim your ‘infaagh’ at those basic needs; otherwise you are just wasting your money. Therefore, ‘infaagh’ is the action of wise, virtuous people who understand what the basic needs are.
Then we have “those who restrain their anger” which means they do not act through their sentiments but always use their wisdom. Yet justified anger is something different; the Quran says “Muhammad is the messenger of God and his followers should be solid of heart against the disbelievers but most compassionate among themselves.”15 In other words, anger against those who have suppressed a nation, is justified, the Quran says ‘restrain your anger’ so that you could decide wisely and carefully against the enemies of Islam and the people wisely, not emotionally.
And then we read in the same verse “And those who forgive their fellow-men.”16 These are the people who forgive other people’s blunders, errors and even their sins. What can’t be passed over are sins not committed ignorantly or unintentionally; intentional sins or acts of enmity may not be forgiven and God may hardly pardon such sins. But blunders, errors, slippings and lesser sins, often witnessed in the behavior of ordinary people, could be forgiven. The verse goes on: “And God does love the doers of good to humanity”.
Now what are some other signs of the virtuous persons? Let me read another Quranic verse: “and those who, if they fall in sin or wrong their souls, they soon remember God and ask forgiveness for their sins.”17 This means that they should not remain in a state of negligence and inattention. There is a most surprising verse in the Quran about the utter importance of remembering God: “Surely when the god-fearing, virtuous people are tempted by a group of satans, they only should remember God and lo! They will be seers again.”18 Listen carefully, it says ‘a group of satans’, that is, in the wide sense of Satan, when they surround you, when they’re afflicting you with some temptations to lead you astray, only remember God, for the remembrance of God Almighty is the sharpest weapon in our hands against all sorts of satans, or a firm rope to save us from the depths of darkness brought about by our satanic enemies.
Yes, such is the remembrance of God; remembering God is truly invaluable. Thus when you do something wrong or sinful, if you remember God and repent and beseech God’s forgiveness, you may be pardoned, because even this asking for forgiveness, is not possible without God’s help and, of course, who else is there to forgive but God Almighty?
You try, you do your best and move forward in the right direction and God will bless you. It’s we who should make efforts, and God may approve of our efforts and endeavours. We should never omit actions and efforts from our worldly life. God says: “…Those who would not knowingly persist in anything they have done amiss.”19 And then we have: “their reward is their Lord’s forgiveness and Gardens with running streams as their eternal dwellings; what a fine recompense for workers of good deeds.”20 Here we notice again that reward and forgiveness is for those who practice and strive in the path of God. The question of action, struggle and doing something is one of the most important injunctions in the Quran.
In the course of these lectures, until the end of the holy month of Ramadan, one of the topics I shall explain and stress on shall be this very important question of deeds.
Faith 2 (in general terms)
Second Session
Faith 2 (in general terms)
3rd Ramadan 1394 (Sep. 20, 1974)
“The true believers are indeed the people whose hearts are filled with awe and veneration when God the One is mentioned, whose faith is further strengthened when a verse of His revelation, is unto them rehearsed, who only in their Lord put all their trust,(2) who steadfastly keep up their prayers and spend of what We have for them provisioned;(3) such are the truly faithful: for them there shall be, with their Lord, exalted ranks of dignity, as well as pardon and provisions noble.(4)”
(Sura Al-Anfaal, Aya 2, 3 and 4)
In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful, “O prophet, you’re asked about ‘anfaal”21. Whose are anfaals?
Well, let us first clear the meaning of ‘anfaal’. We may explain briefly that ‘anfaal’ are the properties which belong to all Muslims. One example of it is the spoils of battle which fall into the hands of Muslims; another example is underground wealth such as mines and the like and there are also arable fields and forests in lowlands and on the mountains. Therefore ‘anfaal’ are special kinds of property that do not belong to any individual or group and, in short, ‘anfaal’ belong to the whole people or nation. The very first time that a question raised about this was after the Battle of Badr. Presumably the Muslims talked among themselves about the ownership of the spoils and asking ‘whom did they belong to’? And they asked the Prophet about this. Then the verse was revealed: “The anfaal belong to God and His Messenger”. The Muslims thought ‘what does ‘belong to God’ mean’? Does it mean that the spoils were not put at the disposal of some of His servants? Of course God is needless and therefore ‘belong to God’ means that they should be spent in the path of God and for divine goals. And now what does ‘belong to His Messenger’ mean? It means that it is the Messenger who decides about the best ways of exploiting them. Otherwise everybody would claim that they were servants of God and so God’s belongings should be given to them to use them for their personal needs. What is God’s should be used for the good of the community but it cannot be given to individuals under chaotic, confused conditions. Who’s going to decide about this? His Messenger who is the guardian and the sponsor of all Muslims. Here the meaning of ‘Messenger’ is not in the context of Prophethood; the Messenger here is the ruler of a divine state. And after the Messenger passes away, then the Imams who have God’s approval for people’s guardianship, will have to fulfill this role.
Anyway, despite the fact that all mines, forests, the battle-spoils and other such properties and treasures belong to the umma as a whole, but they must be decided upon by an Islamic ruler.
Now after the question of ‘anfaal’ was made clear, the verse continues: “thus be god-fearing and set all relations aright among yourselves and do obey God and the Messenger, if you are true believers.”22 This means that you must be god-fearing in the first place and try to settle any differences or disputes you have with one another with truth and virtue in mind, do not quarrel with each other over trifles, silly excuses. So the advice of God and His Messenger is to set aside such petty issues, don’t fight each other, but if necessary, prepare yourselves to fight your enemies, you shouldn’t be fighting your own brethren-in-religion. The third advice is a more general one “Obey God and the Messenger if you are true believers”; this includes doing all sorts of good deeds and avoid all wrongs, vices and sins.
And about ‘real belief and faith’ we should say that faith is not only a heart-felt attitude or intellectual, psychological, ideological tendency or attraction towards a person, to a group or to some centres. Faith or belief is only true when one does act and practice according to it. Only when you do behave according to the commitments and necessities of faith, you may call yourself a believer or a faithful person. You may say you are a believer in God but your life style and your behaviour and action do differ from those who respect God and do not believe in the Creator. We may ask about the difference between a believer and a non-believer. What is the difference of many so-called believers and non-believers in our age? Both commit acts of injustice, both are deeply involved in the material world around them and both are ready to trample upon all merits and virtues for a few more years of living, for further eating and drinking and for some passing mundane joys. The only difference is that one party says ‘I don’t believe in God’ and the other claims ‘I do believe in God’! What sort of faith or belief is this?! Here the Quran is most precise; here it is not a question of some intellectual or rational suggestion which you may have doubts about. It says most clearly that if you are faithful, you ought to do such and such. One of these Quranic injunctions is “Obey God and the Messenger”; obey them and follow them without doubt and hesitation. What are God’s commands? We know that God Almighty has announced certain commands concerning men’s relation with God, with other humans, animals and even plants, and obliged men to certain duties and commitments about them. If you obey God in what He has ordained in these respects, you could rightly claim that you are a believer and faithful person. But the kind of faith only resides in your heart and mind and is never followed by actions, by what your hands and feet do, by what’s truly uttered by your tongue, will not suffice and will be of no use and you shall not be a believer in Islam. This is the obvious logic of the Quran: “Be god-fearing and virtuous and do away with petty quarrels among yourselves and obey God and the Messenger if you are true believers”23.
And then because the word believer is mentioned, the verse goes on to describe who the believers are: “The true believers are indeed the people whose hearts are filled with awe and veneration when God the One is mentioned, whose faith is further strengthened when a verse of His revelation is unto them rehearsed, who only in their Lord put all their trust, who steadfastly keep up their prayers and spend of what We have for them provisioned, such are the truly faithful…”. As you see there are some 5 characteristics mentioned here as the description of the faithful. Of course people may not possess all these characteristics or qualities, yet if they try to acquire or strive to achieve them, and do something to strengthen their faith, they may also be worthy of the epithet of being a believer.
Let’s say a little more about believers. The verse says that the faithful or believers are those whose hearts are filled with awe and fear when God’s name is mentioned. What does fearing God mean? Is it like the fear in the heart of a criminal standing before a judge? Is fear of God a different and more delicate feeling? One may possibly claim ‘I haven’t committed a sin, so I don’t have a fear of God. Well, he may be right if he thinks that fearing God is the same as the fear of criminal before a judge or a prosecutor.
But there is another kind of awe based on knowledge, cognition and insight. Let me explain this in simple terms. Human beings, when facing great phenomena, astronomical wander or glorious infinite facts, do feel some sort of awe in their hearts. This is not because they fear that the sky will fall on their heads, no, it is caused by the greatness of what they observe and the feeling of how small they are in such comparisons. Well, this kind of venerable awe or fear of God Almighty is a proper, pleasant and useful feeling. The person who knows how little and infinitesimal he is vis-à-vis God Almighty and is certain that God encompasses all and everything, tries to tread along the path that the God of the Worlds has shown him; he tries not to go astray. Therefore the firmest guarantee for Muslims and for the Muslim community as a whole is their actual movement, action and practices on the true path of God.
Amir-al-Mo’meneen Imam Ali (AS) writhes, wails and sheds tears in the middle of nights and in the nights of Ramadan, Imam Zein-al-Abedeen, Ali-bin Husain (AS) prays and moans and weeps most intensely and the Messenger of God puts his bed aside on the last 10 days of the month of Ramadan (because he says these are special nights for beseeching God and worshipping Him more than other times, not a time for sleeping); these are not artificial performances as some people suggest; they say the Prophet and the Imam did so to educate the people. How unaware and uninformed is the person who thinks that the Imam, through Abu-Hamza Prayer, intended to educate others but he himself did not share it. No, they shed tears because their knowledge about God was far greater than we ordinary people feel.
Those who say that the Imam, in Abu-Hamza Prayer, is only teaching others how to pray, must be most ignorant about the spirit of such prayer and the sublime quality of these righteous servants of God. Those who think that the Imams’ weeping and their shedding tears were artificial acts for our education, are really mistaken; they wept and shed tears because their knowledge of God was much higher than ours. Imam Ali (AS) sees such greatness in the holy Creator that our short-sighted eyes fail to see. The small mirror of our spiritual entity cannot reflect the awe-inspiring greatness of God, but the Imam sees it clearly and thus weeps and wails so deeply.
When God is remembered, a true believer visualizes that immeasurable greatness and then considers his infinitesimal existence, and that is why this venerable awe dominates his soul. In other words, under such conditions, God is not just a name we habitually use. God for him then is not the Allah we habitually use in such phrases as Ya-Allah, Al-hamdu lillah and Insha-Allah! Such usages are a result of not paying due attention to the greatness of God or hopelessness and tiredness! That is why the Quran says: “The true believers are indeed the people whose hearts are filled with venerable awe when God is mentioned “. This feeling is due to the lofty holiness of God and the smallness of human beings.
The other sign of a true believer is: “…their faith is strengthened when a verse of His Revelation is unto them rehearsed…”. Whether you yourself are reading the Quran or somebody else reads it, which makes no difference, it should increase and strengthen your faith. This faith is like a seed in your soul, it grows and it enlarges as a plant, and its roots gradually become so firm that it cannot ever be uprooted. Those people who learned something about being a believer when they were children, if they have doubts about it as adults, then the seed in the soul becomes smaller and weaker as they age; maybe some half-truth remains in their souls but even that may become slenderer because of certain events in their lives. Such faiths may one day fade away completely. A believer’s faith should not be like that. A true believer strengthens one’s faith daily by deeply thinking and deliberating religious and divine truths; a true believer will never allow his faith to fade away.
According to this verse of the Quran, by reading the Quran a believer’s faith is strengthened. And on the authority of this Quranic verse we say we should counter those who keep saying: ‘Don’t translate the Quran, don’t explain its meaning and don’t interpret it because our human intellect cannot understand it’! Well, if we cannot understand the Quran, then how could our faith be strengthened by reading it? So, it is clear that the Quran is not a book of riddles, mysteries and codes; it is a Book that ought to be read for the purpose of understanding it so that we could increase and strengthen our faith; this is the second characteristic of a believer.
Then we have: “…who only in their Lord put their trust…” What does trust in their Lord mean? Does it mean that they should do not do anything, sit idly by and say that God Almighty will put everything right for them? No, this is not real trust in God. The person who does not do a thing and does not employ his gifts and powers to fulfill all his duties, obligations and commitments but waits for a miraculous act on the part of God, should know that the Quran rejects all such nations. The Quran addresses the sons of Israel who told Moses: “…thus go, you and you Lord, and fight them, we will be sitting down right here.”24 This means: you and your Lord go and fight them, we are sitting here comfortably in the shade and when you win, let us know and then we’ll join you! The Quran clearly rejects this. This was the attitude of those Israelites who were really ignorant of their religion and strangers to a real faith. The Muslims should never behave like that, for this attitude lacks any trust in God. And I should add here for all to hear and understand that true trust in God is not the sort of trust some people have and thus claim:
‘Well, God will put everything right Himself, poor human servants of God cannot do anything’. This is quite wrong because if people were not able to try and eradicate corruption and other vices, then God Almighty would not mobilize His prophets and would not ordain that people should follow those divine prophets who did their utmost in earthly battle-fields to fight vices, evil practices and all sorts of corruption.
Now you may have this question in mind: What does ‘trust in God’ mean then? Well, truly our hope and our trust should always be in God Almighty but this trust should not have the form and function of a pain-killer, a kind of narcotics which gives you an opiating effect. No, the way I see it, and have already explained, trust in God has a motivating, energy-giving and encouraging effect for striving further on the path of God.
What do people do when they face hardships, insurmountable obstacles or certain crises in their lives, and they cannot remove them? What do they do? Some three attitudes or approaches have often been observed. One is to give up, to submit to superior powers and say to oneself: what can I do but being submissive? They may kneel down at the foot of an enemy or a more powerful person; some others force themselves to be content with what’s going on. Another group tends to end their lives by suicide under such circumstances. In short, these are some of the so-called solutions chosen by those lacking any faith in God. When such people are in a cul-de-sac in their life, when they think there will be no doors opened to them, and when they believe there is no way out, no escape, no solution, as I said, they will submit to force or let themselves be playthings in the current of affairs or commit suicide. But for true believers in God who do have trust in Him, there are no cul-de-sacs; all dead-ends could be opened up by God for there are no dead-ends as far as the Almighty God is concerned.
Was there a dead- end in the battle of Uhud for the Muslim troops? No, but as they thought that they had defeated the enemy, they were covetous of the spoils of war, so they abandoned their tactical positions, specially those bowmen who were guarding a mountain pass which did not allow the enemy horsemen to enter the battle-field. So, when they were busy gathering spoils with their swords and horses away from them, the enemy assaulted them from left and right; as a result many of them were killed and many ran up to the mountain to take shelter. And some people, inspired by Satan, always most active at such times, cried out that the Prophet was also killed. Under such tough conditions, what are believers really to do? Horses and swords are away from them, there is no escape route and the armed enemy has dominated the battle-field and, worst of all, the false news that the Prophet was also killed.
Is this now the worst cul-de-sac for the believers? A true believer should think ‘even if the Prophet is killed, well, his God is alive’. What does a Muslim with trust in God do under such adverse circumstance? They should have acted just like Imam Ali (AS) who was shielding the Prophet from harms together with a few other brave trustful believers in God and, as you know, from various narrations, they did save the Prophet’s life. And what did those do who had no trust in God? They ran away like frightened dogs to reach the walls of the city of Medina!
Those who think that ‘trust in God’ means sitting and doing nothing, no effort, no movement, in the hope of some unknown future, with no faith in the powers and gifts God has bestowed upon them, such people neither know what Islam is, nor what ‘trust in God’ means. There are also some people who lack honour and dignity and interpret ‘trust in God’ in such ways as to lead other people astray.
Anyway, in my opinion, trust in God and patience as understood in Islam are two powerful wings for Muslims to fly for their earthly efforts. In fact any umma who employs these two wings could be immune from all shots fired at them by earthly enemies. Well, this was the third sign in a believing person. But about the quality of faith and its peculiarities, we must talk further in detail (and I shall have a full discussion about it tomorrow, if God will).
Now after the verse ‘and in their Lord they trust’, we have, as the fourth sign of a believer: “…who steadfastly keep up their prayers…”. Please pay attention to the two verbs Yusalloon and Yughimoon. Yusalloon means ‘doing the prayers’ and if it was only the question of a physical performance, that is standing, bowing and sitting, then it would not be necessary to use the verb Yughimoon. It is obvious that by stating “steadfastly keep up prayers”, something much higher is meant; there is a superior truth.
Thus you may ask: what is this higher truth? There are a few probable interpretations and all of them may be right. One is to say that because the root meaning of Yughimoon is iqaama in Arabic and it means ‘to do a thing in perfect manner’, then we must perform this precept or ordinance of God, in a perfect way as the Quran says: “Thus set your face upright towards the Faith…”25. If one performs one’s prayer in the best possible way, with complete attention and in its most perfect form, he could certainly expect his soul’s salvation. (I have already talked about the topic of daily prayers and their importance for a few weeks in our other mosque26 and so I don’t repeat them here.
Let me add that for a person who performs good prayers, all problems become solvable. You must have heard that some Islamic dignitaries, when faced with hardships and disasters, performed two units of prayers. You must have heard also that the holy Prophet, during certain hardships and crises, would tell Balaal: ‘Please let us at ease, freshen up our heart’27, meaning ‘go and say azaan’.28 Truly if a person performs his prayers as it should, with proper attention, humbly and consciously, he shall definitely attain what has been promised to the believers.
Well, that was one probability. The other probable interpretation is that by “those who steadfastly keep up prayers”, is meant that you should try to keep up prayers throughout the community. As we know there are people who do perform their prayers, all the 17 units and even more than that by also performing many recommended prayers. If they’re warned that the prevailing conditions are driving many people from religion, they don’t care at all because they’re only engaged in saving their own souls; they say that they’re hardly saving themselves, they don’t have time for others! This attitude is not a sign of faithfulness. If you only do your own prayers and are not concerned with others, your behavior is not properly Islamic, that is, your prayers are not perfect.
So again, what are the signs of faithfulness? This interpretation obliges you to keep up the performance of prayers throughout the society, and to encourage each and everyone to do prayers. This doesn’t mean that such and such a person does not perform prayers. I would like you to go above the meanings of ordinary words; we have to consider the more sublime meaning of the words. We must be thinking of a community that is remembering God all the time and striving in the path of God every moment. A community who says in unison: “Thee only do worship and unto Thee alone, do we appeal for help.”29 This means that a true believer never worships anybody or anything but God, he has no trust but in God and never asks for help and assistance but from God. A true prayerful community is one that constantly declares its immunity from the chiefs of corruption on earth, that is, the people who are the objects of ‘the wrath of God’ and their followers who ‘have gone astray’ from the path of God.
So Iqaamat-al-Salaat means that you try to urge others to perform their prayers; this would be a great effort on the path of absolute servitude to God Almighty, an attempt to eradicate corruption and removing the question of ‘I or we’, trying to establish human, social unity among all people as well as among the members of the Islamic umma. To urge others to do five times of daily prayers when they say repeatedly that “Thee only do we worship and from Thee only we seek help”, is a great act by the true servants of God. Therefore the Iqaamat-al-Salaat could also be interpreted in its social sense as I explained.
What is the next sign of a true believer? The Ayah continues: “…and those who spend30 of what We have for them provisioned…”. Yesterday I pointed out the meaning of infaagh and explained it on several occasions, and today I repeat that its real meaning is to fill up certain gaps and remove certain needs in other people’s lives. But there are actions which may not be considered as such. For example, the walls of this mosque we’re in are oil-painted and they look alright, now if you spend some money to paint it afresh, it is not infaagh. ‘Of what provisioned for them’, it is not a question of money. What We have granted them may include the life God has granted you, children He has granted you, everything else God has granted us: our reputation, our physical powers, our tongues, our brains and our intellect and all other potentials because the Quranic verse says ‘of what We have provisioned for you’; what should they do with all these powers and potentials? They ought to employ it in the right way of infaagh.
Yes, O faithful brother, apparently a believer, when someone calls you a believer, you enjoy it, but if you are rightly admonished for something, you hate it. You say you spend in the path of God; I know, in these evenings of the month of Ramadan, you prepare all sorts of delicious food and set up colorful food-tables and invite some people who do not really need them, you spend a lot but do you really perform an act of infaagh?!
There are preachers and lecturers who breathlessly talk about doing good, using their utmost powers of speech, exhausting their nerves and lungs, yet the question is: how much of these efforts are really in the way of infaagh. Talking too much is not an appreciable art. And there are people who, using their reputation and influence, try to find a good-salaried job for someone they like; and there are people who spend a lot of money in the name of religion, but are they all done as acts of infaagh. This is a bitter fact, and don’t be surprised by hearing this from me because such actions do not really fill up a gap or remove a real need, they don’t heal any social pains and do not really help the community. So true infaagh is another sign of a believer. From now on take care and think deeply whether what you’re spending is infaagh or expenditure for other purposes.
Finally we read in the same Ayah: “These are the rightful believers and the truly faithful; for them there shall be exalted ranks of dignity with their Lord and Pardon…”. I explained the word maghfirat (Pardon and Forgiveness) in full yesterday. When God grants Pardon to a person, He is healing an injury in his soul caused by committing some sins, and this Pardon in followed by ‘rizghun karim’ (noble provisions); God grants people such noble provisions without any adverse conditions attached to it.
There are some apparently faithful people who claim ‘thank God, we obtain our daily bread, without begging others and we are living comfortably’. But if you do some investigation about their deeds, you find out that they win their daily bread through most shameful ways and they are not aware of the shamefulness of their jobs, their behavior and their deeds. In a wider sense, a community will obtain its provisions properly only when it obtains them through honourable, pure and spotless means. If we are true believers and behave righteously, then all those slogans and ideals that today some false politicians promise about peace, freedom, welfare and brotherhood in a highly-educated, most progressive societies with a really high human culture, would be realized in practical terms. Yes, all such promises and prospects will be realized only in a faithful society.
Well now I call on our dear Quran reciter to come here and recite the verses we have already explained in order that you may, God willing, pay more attention to their real Quranic meanings.
I will, in our coming meeting, tell you more about true faith, conscious faith, faith not being based on prejudice, ignorance or blindly following others in order to make the question of faith most clear for you all.
Faith Based On Consciousness
Third Session
Faith Based On Consciousness
4th Ramadan 1394 (Sep.21, 1974)
“In the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of the nights and days, surely are many Signs for those who see with open eyes;(190) those who remember Allah always, standing, sitting or lying down, and who reflect on the creation of heavens and the earth with prayers. Our Lord, You have not brought about all this in vain; Your Glory is above and over such things, so pray deliver us from the scourge of Fire.(191)”
(Sura Aali-Imraan, Ayas 190&191)
In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful, the Ayas we recite today (also written down in the copies you have in your hands), show some two or three characteristics of faith or being faithful. The first and foremost is that faith is an outstanding characteristic of the prophets of God and their followers. The great difference between the divine leaders and the world statesmen and politicians is the fact that those politicians have no faith in what they say.
It has been reported that, after India gained independence, one of the atheist leaders of Soviet Union, who visited India on this occasion, had pointed the figure of one of India’s spiritual leaders on his forehead to impress the religious masses of India!
By the way, for your information, I may add that most of the leaders of India’s independence movement were Indian religious authorities as well as Muslim maulanas31 such as Maulana Shah-Mahmoud Dehlavi, Maulana Mahmoud-al-Hassan, Maulana Abol-Kalaam Azaad, Maulana Muhammad Ali and Maulana Shaukat Ali. By mentioning the Independence Movement of India, I meant to stress how important the role of spiritual leaders was; they practiced what they believed in and fought for it, and I believe that in their action and behavior you do find very special, spiritual and metaphysical aspects.
Now, as we said earlier, the divine prophets do practice what they preach; they were the very first to act upon what they advised the people and their followers; it would have been unfruitful if they did otherwise. But many worldly politicians and leaders do not practice the advice they give to others. If you and I are a group who is dying of thirst due to certain condition and I keep saying to you: ‘there is a wonderful fountain up on the mountain with refreshing, drinkable water, so make haste, run fast to reach it’, but I myself sit down in the shade of a tree and don’t make a move, then you would be justified to object: ‘ you’re as thirsty as we are, so if you’re telling the truth that there is such a fountain up there, why aren’t you running for it with us? So we think you’re lying, you don’t believe in what you say.’
This is the reason that divine prophets were always the first to move towards their goal, they were the vanguards and the carriers of divine flags who firmly and steadfastly paved the way and went ahead. The Prophet Abraham says ‘my God, I was the first person to submit to you, then others followed. A divine prophet should behave like that. The Prophet of Islam also behaved like that; he was always the one who welcomed the most dangerous events of early Islam. It is true that some of his most sincere followers went through intolerable hardships: Abdullah Mas’oud32 was badly beaten, Khabbab33 was brutally tortured and Ammar Yaaser34 was the target of many scourges, but he was the one who suffered most and was the target of all sorts of tortured, violence and insolence.
True faith is one of the characteristics observed in divine prophets and here faith means a firm, unshakable belief in what you aim at, and the sign of this belief is that you move forward before others. That’s why the Quran says: “The Messenger has faith in what has been sent down to him from his Lord”.35 And those who joined and followed the Prophet also enjoyed such a firm belief for the same verse goes on: “…and so do all the men of faith; each one believes in God, His angels, His book as well as in all His messengers.” All prophets of God and their true followers had such firm beliefs in God, in His angels, His revelations and made no difference between His prophets as in the same verse uttered by believers: “…and we make no distinction between a single one of His messengers.” This is because they all were treading the same godly path. We, as Muslims, do the same today; we respect and revere them all: Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Jesus, and Jerjees.36 They all were apostles of God; they all gave us the same good news to win God’s paradise. I will give you a brief account about the question of prophethood in coming days.
And now listen to this ‘they say we heard and obey’; this confirms what we have already said, that is what all prophets and all the faithful people declare. This ‘we heard’ means we understood the message; hearing is different from understanding, now that I am talking to you, say, ten meters away, of course you hear me but what those believers said was different, they meant we received the message, we understood it and we shall obey it. Our obedience is based on conscious understanding not a blind following. What we want from you, our God, is your ‘Pardon’ because ‘to you is our final return’. And about this ‘return to God’ there are interesting things to say and, God willing, I shall briefly explain them if these meeting continue and if I am still alive by then!
Up to here what we understood from the Quranic verses was that our faith really depends on our firm belief in what Islam calls us to. Those who have no faith but have only followed others as a precautionary measure, cannot be included in the sphere of Islamic thought; no need to stand on ceremonies: Faith means a firm belief, clearly understanding and following the attraction of the Quran and our Islamic religion and if these have not found their place deep in your hearts, that is, if the faith is not rooted in the hearts, those hearts are dead, because our hearts beat through the energy of Islam.
The next topic-marked 2 in the copied papers you have in your hands- is the fact that we observe two different kinds of faith. The first is the kind of faith based on imitation and prejudice. This means believing in something because our parents and elders so believed or just because something is written in the books we read, we follow it without deep thinking. Many among ordinary people are like that. If you ask them: How do you know that our Prophet was right and truthful, they don’t have an answer; they may only say: ‘Because our parents said so or our teachers so taught us’; such people just follow others; they do have some kind of faith in the holy Prophet, let’s admit it, but this faith is blindly imitative.
The faith based on prejudice is similar to the faith based on imitation. Such people sometimes are disrespectful of other prophets of God because of their intense love of our holy Prophet! Some such people think that, even in the kingdom of God, there are disputes and differences among the prophets of God! I’m afraid to say that such prejudices are even witnessed among some intellectuals from whom we do not expect such opinion, which I don’t wish to elaborate upon! In short, such faiths are not based on logic and reason. This kind of sentimental, prejudiced opinion that everything they do in other divine religions is wrong, does not stand to reason.
I should tell you, dear audience, that this sort of prejudiced or imitational beliefs is not valuable in Islam. This kind of faith may as easily be done away with as it was ignorantly acquired in the first place. A faithless
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