Jihad Against One's
Self
The best remedy which is recommended by
the moralists and the Gnostics for these corruptions is that you are to
find out each one of these ugly qualities, be aware of it and to manly
act contrary to it for a while, and to strive to do contrary to your
desire for a period, and against that ugly quality, imploring Allah, the
Exalted, to help you in this jihad. Surely after a short while that
ugly quality will be removed, and Satan with his soldiers will run away
from this trench, and the soldiers of the Beneficent will take their
place. One of the evil qualities which causes man's perdition and the
pressure of the grave and tortures man in both worlds is to be
ill-humoured with the members of one's family, the neighbours,
colleagues, the market-people and the co-dwellers in the district. It is
an evil produced by anger and bad desires. If the striver tries for a
while to take care that when there are inconveniences and his flames of
anger rise high, attempting to burn his inside, and inciting him to
start abusing and reviling, he acts contrary to his desire, remembering
the evil consequences and the ugly results of such ill-temper, and tries
to be mild, and curses Satan in his mind and takes refuge in Allah from
him, I assure you that if you practice this method several times, that
ill-temper will completely change, and good temper will reside in the
inside of your domain. But if you act as dictated by your soul's desire,
you may perish in this very world. I take refuge with Allah, the
Exalted, from anger, which can destroy man in both worlds, such as
causing him to kill a person. In a fit of anger one may be tempted to
curse-God forbid-the divine sanctity, as we have actually seen that some
people, in a fit of anger, are tempted to be sacrilegious and may, in
fact, become apostate. Some wise men are quoted to have said: "A ship,
without a captain, in a stormy sea, is nearer to be rescued than a man
in a fit of anger." If you are- God forbid-a man of dispute and argument
in scholarly discussions-as some of us, the theology students, are-try
to do contrary to your desire for a while. In an official gathering of
scholars and common people, where there may be a discussion, and your
opponent is right, admit your mistake and confirm your opponent's
correctness. It is hoped that in a short time this evil will be removed.
God forbid that what is said by some scholars, who claim to be inspired,
should be true, to the effect that the argument of the dwellers of
Hell is the argument of the people of knowledge and
hadith, as
informed by Allah, the Exalted.
Struggle and
Inspiration
Strive to send the word of
tawhid
[Monotheism], which is the greatest and most lofty word, from your
intellect to your pen, as the intellect's share is the decisive and
proved belief. If this proved result does not reach by struggle and
inspiration to the heart, it will be of little use and effect. So often
some of these people of intellectual proof and philosophical reasoning
are more trapped by Iblis [Satan] and by their own evil souls than the
others: "The legs of the people of reasoning are wooden"158, otherwise,
this evidential and rational leg changes into a spiritual and fiducial
leg, reaching from the intellect to the heart, and the heart believes in
what the intellectual reasoning has confirmed.
Reflection a Condition for
Struggling Against One's Self
Do know that the first condition for
striving against one's self and moving towards Allah, the Exalted,
is reflection. Some moralists take it at the beginning to be at the
fifth degree, in which they are right. Reflection, in this respect,
means that man is to try to reflect, at least once within 24 hours, even
for a little while, about his Lord Who has brought him into this world,
provided him with means of comfort, healthy body, sound organs, each of
which has so many astounding advantages, the Lord Who has spread before
him so much favours and mercy, and sent, on the other hand, so many
prophets, revealed Books, guided to the right path and called to it. So,
what should our duties be towards this Lord, the Owner of the Kings? Are
these extensive provisions just for this animal life and for meeting the
desires through which we are partners with the animals? Or is there any
other purpose? The honourable prophets, the respectful godly men, the
great wise men and the scholars of every nation who invited the people
to the law of reason and religion, asking them to be cautious against
the animal desires and this transient world, had they any enmity with
the people, or did they not know what was in our interest, we the
wretched, the indulgent in lust, as we know? If a sane man reflects for
a moment, he will realize that the objective of these extensive plans is
something else, and the purpose of this creation is a higher and a
greater world, and that this animal living is not wanted for itself, and
a sane man must think of himself and have mercy on his own helplessness
and tell himself: O my wretched soul! You have spent so many long years
of your life in pursuit of satisfying your desires, getting nothing
other than regret! It is good to have some mercy upon yourself, to be
ashamed of the Master of the kings, and to take some steps along the
road to the original objective, as it brings everlasting life and
permanent happiness. Do not sell out the permanent happiness for the
sensual desires of a few transitory days, which, nevertheless, are not
yet attainable even through unreadable toiling. Think a little about the
condition of the people of this world, from olden days till now. Notice
their toiling and sufferings, how much more they are compared with
their comforts, and still not all of them get their looked-for comfort
and ease. There may be a man who takes the form of a human being,
whereas he is a Satan's soldier and sent by him to invite you to cling
to your desires, telling you to provide for your material life. So
contemplate your own condition and question him: Is he content with his
own condition? Or is he himself afflicted and wants to afflict another
wretched one with him? Anyhow, ask your Lord, with humility and
humbleness, to make you familiar with your own duties which are to be
observed between you and Him. It is hoped that this contemplation, which
you do with the purpose of struggling against Satan and your
evil-commanding soul, will show you a different way and assist you into
the next stage of struggle.
Repetition and
Practice
The Books which have come to make man,
such as the Qur'an and the books written on ethics, aiming at making
man and constructing the society, their topics are repeated in
accordance with their importance. In the Qur'an there are many
repetitions. Some question this repetition, whereas they are necessary.
One of the things which is useful in constructing man is repetition. If
a man himself wanted to make himself, he must repeat to himself the
relevant matters. If a point was wanted to have a fixed effect in the
soul it must be repeatedly suggested to oneself so as to be imprinted in
the soul. The point in repeating the du`as and the salat many times
in the day and night is that by saying and hearing them, such as
repeating to oneself suratul Hamd [The surah of the Opening], there
will be a good teaching lesson, a constructing lesson. Man should
repeatedly suggest them to himself and prepare himself to hear them.
When one says something, the hearer hears it and it enters his heart,
but it is first stamped on the sayer's heart, and then he utters it, and
once again he hears it, and once again it enters his heart. Repetition
is of the necessary things. My repeating one thing sometimes to my
friends is because the thing is important, it concerns the making of a
community, a nation. Unless a nation, a society, is well built, it
cannot implement its lofty objectives. So the important matters are to
be repeated. The sayers should repeat them, and the hearers are
to repeat them to themselves, so that it may have its effect in the
soul, insha'allah.
Encouraging and Honouring the
People
What is good to be in the radio, TV and
the publications is that which brings some advantage for the country.
For example, if a farmer did well and got a good product, introduce him
to the public. Put him, instead of the authorities, on the front pages
and print under his photo what this farmer did and publish it. If an
employee did well, or if a physician performed a good operation, put his
photo on the front pages and write down what he did. This will encourage
the physicians and cause them to be more adherent to their job. If
somebody discovered something, he and his discoveries are to be
publicized with his photo and with details. If someone arrested a thief,
his photo is to be published-likewise a farmer, an artist or a surgeon,
but regretfully we see neither their names nor their photos, while these
deserve to be referred to in the press. In short, the principle of
encouragement is to be for the people who are active in this country, as
they are serving it, and they have the right to be in the press,
on the radio and the TV, while our right to them is proportionally
little.
The Role of the Prayer in
Education
These prayer's bring man out of
darkness. When man is out of the dark, he becomes humane and works for
the sake of Allah, uses his sword for Allah, fights for Allah, and his
rising is for Allah. The Prayer retains man from many things desired by
men, who pin all their hopes on this world, and whatever is behind this
place is, to them, imaginary. But there will come a time when they
realize that those were concrete and these were imaginary. All the
prayers, the sermons of Nahjul Balaghah and Mafatihoul Jinan159 help
man to become a human, in which case he will apply all these acts. He
will continue his farming, but for Allah. He will fight, but for
Allah.
The Prophets'
Educational Objective
All kinds of worship are means. All
prayer's are means. All are means for the exposition of man's innermost
essence, to show up what is man's gist and to change his potentiality to
actuality so that he becomes a human, a potential man becomes an actual
man, a natural man, and changes to a godly man, such that everything in
him becomes divine, such that he sees only the Truth. The prophets had
come for this purpose. All of them are means, too. The prophets did not
come to establish governments. What for do they want the government?
This is possible, but the prophets did not come to manage the world. The
animals also have their world and they manage their world. Talking about
justice is talking about Allah's attribute. Those who have eyes (to
see), talk about justice. The social justice is also in their hands and
they form governments, governments of justice. But this is not the
objective. They are all means for man to reach another degree for which
the prophets
had come.
The Quran and the Prophet as
Educators
This is one of the motives of the Book
and of sending the Prophet: He sent him to you. The Messenger who
recites to you the Quran, the divine ayahs: Purifies them and teaches
them the Book and wisdom. Probably this is the objective of this
recitation: He recites for the purpose of purification and for teaching,
for teaching all, teaching this Book and teaching wisdom, which is from
this very Book, too. So, the motive for sending the Prophet is the
revelation of the Quran, and the motive for reciting the Quran to
mankind is to purify them, to refine the souls from the darkness
existing in them, so that after refining them, their souls and minds
become susceptible to understanding the Book and wisdom.
The Educational Dimensions of
Islam
Islam wants to make man a complete
human, i.e. to develop him as he is, a natural development as he has a
share of nature, a barzakhian development as he has a share of the
barzakh, a spiritual development as he has a share of
spirituality, a rational development as he has a share of rationality,
and a divine development as he has a share of divinity. All the shares
which man has are incomplete, immature. The religions have come to ripen
this green fruit, to complete this incomplete fruit.
The Educational objective of
Islam
Islam wants the people to assemble under
its banner. These people who are afflicted, bewildered, puzzled,
wandering hither and thither in quest of perfection, knowing not what
the absolute perfection is, Islam has come to take these people out of
their bewilderment and to guide them all to the straight path and lead
them to the end ... Whatever is there in Islam is but for the
reformation of the nations, for the reformation of mankind. Islam wants
to redress the deviated and bring them back to the straight path, the
path of safety, so that all may be brothers with one another, to
befriend each other, to have affection, to be like the people of
Paradise: As brethren (sitting) on bedsteads face to face, (al-Hijr:
47) harbouring no hatred and no envy. They have been
cleansed.