Ep 19 — The Goals of Prophethood

Session 17: The Goals of Prophethood. delivered Saturday, 13 Mehr 1353 / 18 Ramadan al-Mubarak 1394 The verse of Surat al-Hadid is this: Surat al-Hadid (57:25). We have indeed sent Our messengers with clear proofs, and sent down with them the Book and the Balance, so that people may uphold justice; and We sent down iron, in which is great force and benefits for mankind, and so that God may know who helps Him and His messengers in the unseen. Indeed, God is Strong, Mighty. And as for the second verse, which is in the blessed Surat al-A'raf, verses 156 and 157: …And ordain for us good in this world and in the Hereafter; indeed, we have turned to You. He said: My punishment — I strike with it whomever I will, and My mercy encompasses all things; I shall ordain it for those who are God-fearing and give the alms-due, and for those who believe in Our signs — those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written down with them in the Torah and the Gospel; he enjoins upon them the good and forbids them the evil, makes the wholesome things lawful for them and forbids them the foul things, and relieves them of their burden and the shackles that were upon them. So those who believe in him, honor him, support him, and follow the light that has been sent down with him — those are the ones who prosper. These two verses, and several other verses in the Noble Qur'an, set forth the goal of the great prophets of God. Our discussion of prophethood reached this point: the prophet — that one roused up by God — does for society what he first does within himself. Just as he brings about a kind of resurrection within his own inner self, he brings about a resurrection within society as well. He creates a change and a transformation in the very fabric of the community. Today we want to understand this transformation: what is its purpose and aim, and the aim of all the activities of the divine prophets in general? Knowing this is useful for us in several respects — indeed, necessary. What goal does the prophet pursue? After what aim and what object does he run? The prophet has one principal, primary goal. On the way toward it, other goals also come up for him, and among these one is more important than all the rest and more attractive to him. But the primary goal of the divine prophets can be summed up in a few words: the prophets come into this world to bring the human being to the destination of his exaltation, and to the perfection that has been ordained for him. The human being, as a being who possesses talents and faculties and abundant energies, can become something higher, loftier, more precious, and more noble than what he now is. Fundamentally, the human being, from the first moment of his birth, from the beginning of his formation, in his own little world, is always in the process of becoming complete; he is always in the state of advancing and of attaining greater perfection. In the condition of the body and the outward frame of the human being, you observe this matter very well. The newborn infant lacks many of the characteristics of a complete human being. He lacks teeth, he lacks a strong hand, he lacks a powerful jaw, he lacks legs that can run, he lacks the internal apparatus — the digestion and so on — that would enable him, like an ordinary grown person, to carry his life forward; he lacks a powerful brain and a powerful nervous system and organization. Then, after a while, all of this comes into being for him. It is certain that they do not give him anything from outside; it is that same little jaw of his that becomes strong and powerful, it is that same weak hand of his that becomes powerful and large and strong, it is those same little, delicate feet that become firm, steady steps, it is those same weak nerves that later become powerful, it is that same feeble brain that later becomes the discoverer of the most important and most complicated problems of life. They give him nothing from outside; it is he himself, it is his own talents, it is the latent, hidden capacities within him, that gradually, with the passage of time, with his being placed in particular conditions, blossom in him, flower, and come into the stage of manifestation and emergence. Within him there was the talent of speech, which later makes him a speaker. Within him there was the talent of understanding things, of becoming a thinker, of becoming a scholar, which later all comes about. So the human being is always in the state of becoming complete: things which he was not, and which he later becomes — he was not powerful, then he becomes powerful; he did not have intellect, then he comes to have intellect; he did not have experience, then he comes to possess it, and so forth. In matters relating to the outward frame of the human being — as all of you have now noticed and affirm — you see that the human being is always in the state of becoming complete; that is, in the state of acquiring and coming to possess things that were not previously prepared for him and that he did not possess. In spiritual matters, in the realm of the soul and the human virtues, the matter is exactly the same. A whole world of talent is latent within the human being. The human being can be likened to a very strong, deep, and abundant mine, such that when you extract from this mine you find within it many things; but until you have extracted from it, it is a mere existent — a dry, barren plot of land, without any beautiful display of life. Let me give an example — I usually, in such cases, liken the human being to those mosaic tiles that they pour at the edge of a pool, at the threshold behind a door. Have you noticed? They pour the mosaic. When they first pour this mosaic, they set the mold and spread this material there and it dries; and when you look at it, you see in it no sign of beauty or delicacy. There is a dark, grimy, lustreless, charmless mass there. Then the turn comes for them to rub it, to grind it, under special machines or by hand; they begin to grind and rub these. When a certain amount of this grinding has passed, you suddenly see that this dark mass has become translucent through being ground — which is a natural thing; many things that are dark, when you grind them, become translucent. But that is not all. You find something in it you were unaware of: now that you have ground it, you understand that beautiful stones, of many colors, with various patterns, with interesting and pleasing hues, existed within the belly and depths of this dark mass — things you could not have seen, could not have benefited from for their beauty, could not have used to fashion something ornamental. Now that it has been ground, all these stones have come out. When you place before yourself a fine, ground piece of mosaic, you see it is a beautiful design, it is lovely indeed — whereas before the grinding there was nothing. Liken the inner talents of the human being to those very same glittering, interesting, beautiful particles that exist within the depths of the belly of this dark mosaic. This human being whom you see, this unhewn, unpolished creature whom you see in the market, in the street, this little child who cannot yet speak, who has not a particle of refinement for anyone except his father and mother — this very one at whom you look is a rich and abundant mine; in him are materials of grace, in him are displays of beauty, and these are the talents of the human being. It is the very thing of which they said, in the old poetic tongue: "You have seen the flight of the bird — you, from the fetter of lust: / Come out, that you may see the flight of humanity." It is the very thing that, again in various tongues — poetic and non-poetic, mystical and others — they have told us from of old, and it is right and it is true. They said that the human displays raise the human being higher than the angel and the celestial spirit; they make the human being a gushing wellspring of goodnesses, beauties, manifested talents, and interesting, attractive powers; that is, they make him the complete human being, the upright human being, the perfected and exalted human being. The true goal of the prophets is to make human beings into this — the very thing which, in the Qur'anic expressions that we have written here, is named "purification" (tazkiyah) and "instruction" (ta'lim). They purify human beings of bad traits, draw them away from caprices, and rescue them from the displays of a brutish, animal way of life. He said: "O you who have torn the cloak of the Josephs: / you shall rise from this heavy sleep a wolf." Those who, with a human exterior, do the work of a wolf; those who, with a beautiful, adorned human face on the outside, do the work of beasts of prey, dogs, savages, and ogres — these cannot be called human. That human being for whom bloodshed is pleasurable, that human being for whom the destruction of the lives of other human beings is a means of amusement, that human being for whom the spectacle of others' sufferings is not distressing, that human being who sees the sorrow of others and feels no sorrow — this human being is not a human being, whatever his exterior may be. Is he very learned? Is he very wealthy? Is he very powerful? Is he very tidy and well-pressed in appearance? Even if he is all of these, none of them is humanity. It is tidiness, it is being learned, it is being powerful; being a human being is something else. The prophets come to purify human beings. In the environment of the prophets' call you see no trace of brutishness; in the environment of prophethood's life you observe no sign, no trace of the displays and manifestations of an animal, savage way of life. There, whatever there is is the light of purity and humanity, and this is the art and the great miracle of prophethood. People look for the miracle of prophethood in extraordinary deeds — deeds that ordinarily do not occur in the natural order: the splitting of such-and-such a wall, or such-and-such a body, or the coming-forth of a tree. Very well, let those things be too — there is no objection. But the great miracle of prophethoods consists in the making of good human beings, adorned with virtues; this is the greatest miracle of the prophethoods — it is no joke. When a person looks, he sees that people in whom there is every disposition to crime and corruption, when they come under the grindstone of the call of Islam, when that grinding apparatus that the prophet sets in motion falls upon them — the human being suddenly sees that the very savage of yesterday, the very criminal of yesterday, that same unhewn, unpolished man of yesterday upon whom you placed no reliance whatsoever, becomes a human being of immense grandeur. Who was Abu Dharr? Was Abu Dharr anything other than a rough, desert-wandering man, indifferent to humanity, unaware of humanity? Abu Dharr was a man of whom, if you saw ten thousand of his like before you, it would not matter to you if all ten thousand of them perished and were annihilated in a single earthquake. A man who neither understands nor wishes to understand, in whom there is not a particle of the sign of human grace, in whom there is not a particle of the trace of interest in becoming good — barefoot, dirty, rough, grown up in the desert: were such a man set before you — not you, but any great reformer, any human being of grandeur — how much would the heart burn for such a man? The so-called great reformers of the world, those who consider themselves reformers and great reformers, complain even of men more substantial than themselves, that "they did not appreciate our worth, they did not recognize us, they did not understand us." Their desire is that human beings circle around them like moths, around their heads, that they sacrifice themselves for them — and to what end? Whether they have carried out a portion of their commitment or their human mission, or not — there is even doubt about that. Faced with such persons, when those kinds of people are set before them, they assign them no value whatsoever. The prophet takes this very creature, this very black stone, this very unhewn, unpolished boulder, whose name is Abu Dharr, and brings it under the grindstone of revelation and the call, and from him fashions a human being such that there is no human virtue of which there is not a sign in him; this is the great miracle of the prophet. From him he fashions a human being whose whole self has been absorbed, dissolved, sacrificed, offered up on the way of the goal — that whole self, this "I," this "I" which for ordinary people is the axis of all activity, every aspect of it. Can you find such a man? We want everything for ourselves, or for what is connected to ourselves: for our shop, for our title, for our children, for our good name — in the end it comes back to ourselves. Abu Dharr sacrifices everything that comes back to himself for God, for the goal, for that direction in whose path he is moving. A human being of that kind is transformed into a human being of this kind. What is it that does this? The revelation of prophethood, the call of prophethood; out of black, dark stones it fashions clear, bright mirrors, and this is the goal of prophethood: the making of an upright human being. It is true that the formation of a sound system is a very interesting thing — and I am coming to this point; in deciding whether to accept a statement or to reject it, do not be hasty until we finish the statement. It is true that the formation of a prosperous system, a free and flourishing system, is a very interesting thing. But here is what I want to see. Suppose a flourishing, free, prosperous system, accompanied by equality and social justice and the absence of class, has been formed, and human beings in that new, lofty, interesting society have busied themselves with living — to what end? And after that? The materialist schools — for the human being, for humanity, after the era of reaching the ideal society — what goal have they envisaged? What is the goal of humanity? Human beings should make sacrifices, perform acts of self-denial, strive, struggle, to build a flourishing home out of this world; now we have built the flourishing home — and after that what? In this flourishing home, what do we wish to do? Well, we toil and build this mosque; then, when the mosque is finished, we must have a purpose. The purpose is that people should come here and, for example, pray, or listen to a lecture, or whatever. It makes no sense for us to say that we want to build a mosque — hue and cry, noise and clamor — we built the mosque, we raised it up; once it is finished, now what do we want to do? Nothing — after that we have no goal at all. This is absurd; this is breaking one's leg halfway down the road. The materialist schools have all broken their leg halfway down the road — all of them. The materialist schools say: let us make the world flourish, let us abolish poverty, let us abolish ignorance, let us build a lofty society, let us build a human society, a society in which there is no oppression, no classes, no exploitation, no discrimination. Very well — we have built it; now, what does the human being wish to do in this society? They have no answer. In this society, where does humanity wish to arrive? They have no answer. Does it wish to eat and sleep? Does it wish to live comfortably — is that all? Does the human being exist only for a comfortable life — that is, comfortably acquiring, comfortably consuming, and comfortably excreting? Is it for this that he must struggle, and is this to be his goal? It is here that the materialist schools' mount goes lame. The divine schools say: No, the goal is beyond this. The lofty goal is the refining of the human being; the lofty goal is that the children of Adam should become human. The children of Adam are not the same as the human being. "Children of Adam" is this very creature that walks on two legs — with all this pretension, this is a child of Adam; but to become human means that all these virtues and wellsprings of talent within his being should come into flow. You say: and after that what? We say: there is no "after that." The human being is unlimited; to the extent that God's power is unlimited, there is no "after that." "Indeed, we belong to God, and indeed, to Him we return." When the human being has fallen into the course of perfection, there is no longer any end; this is the idea of those who worship God, the thought of the monotheists of the world and the religions of the world. It is always advancing, always progressing, always ascending, always perfecting and exalting — it has no end and no terminus, and the prophets come for this. The prophets come to purify human beings of evils, of basenesses, of ignorances, of moral vices, of the keeping-hidden of inner talents; to deliver them; to fashion them into the complete and exalted human being — this is the primary goal of the prophets. Hence in the Qur'an it has come in several places; of course, I did not cite its verses here today, because previously one of its verses had passed. God has indeed shown favor upon the believers when He raised up among them a messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His signs and purifies them, and teaches them. The refining, the adorning, the cleansing of vices, the adorning of the human being with virtues — this is the goal of the prophets. Hence you see that our Prophet says: A saying is related: "I was raised up to perfect the noble traits of character". I was sent to complete the noble traits of character, the beautiful traits, the good traits. This is the first statement. But the more important statement is the second statement. The first statement is one that is uttered a great deal; some people are also very fond of having it repeated. The reason is that if the whole matter were merely refining — only purification (tahdhib) and tazkiyah — then someone says: "Sir, we have found the way, we have understood where to go. Set aside the tumult of society, and 'excuse the war of the seventy-two nations, all of them'; we will go to the corner of a hermitage, busy ourselves with monasticism, and there busy ourselves with the purification and refinement of the soul, and save ourselves, our own selves. If we are able — if someone comes who has the capacity for it — we will say a word in his ear too, and we will draw him out of himself, and make him too into a real human being." This statement is repeated a great deal precisely because it can serve as a pretext — a pretext for laziness, for shortcomings, for self-preservation, for comfort-seeking, for the love of ease. Both the people are fond of it, and the leaders are fond of it. Those upon whose shoulders rest the responsibilities of guidance and instruction are fond of this saying. To refine people is a trouble-free task, a flawless task, a task that does nothing to harm or injure the cattle and sheep of a person. One gathers a group of people, croons a lover's lullaby in their ears, draws them out of themselves, refines them, purifies them. And for the people too it is easy; that is, it appears easy — though of course it is not actually easy. So up to this point of the statement it is well-known; from this point of the statement onward, it is not well-known; from this point of the statement onward it is not said. What is it from this point of the statement onward? This is the question: by what means did the prophets refine and adorn the people? What did they do? Did they come to the people and, one by one, take the ear of each individual, take the hand of each individual, lead them alone into the seclusion of a house, a chamber, a school, a maktab, and begin to instruct and educate them? Did the prophets, like the ascetics and mystics of the world, sit in their own monasteries so that the people might come, observe their spiritual state, and become of one belief, fellow-travelers, and in step with them? Did the prophets, like the philosophers of the world, open a school, hang up a sign, and also issue an invitation: "Whoever wishes to learn doctrine from us, let him come here to us and learn doctrine" — were they like this? Or rather, the prophets do not believe in individual education, the prophets do not believe in fashioning human beings one by one, the prophets do not believe in tidy, neat tasks — that you should imagine that, like Socrates and Plato, Abraham the Friend of the Merciful, or Moses, or Jesus, or our Prophet, would sit in a school and the people would go and benefit from him. They are not like this. And of course the saints (awliya') are like the prophets — for in the matter of the Imamate I will say that our Imam al-Sadiq too is of that kind. It is an error if someone imagines that Imam al-Sadiq sat upon a pulpit and four thousand students sat at the foot of his pulpit — as some heedless persons interpret it. It came about this way: Ibn 'Uqdah, a renowned scholar of biographical traditions of old, counted four thousand persons among the students and the transmitters of the hadith of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him. From this, a group imagined that these four thousand persons used to come and sit — imagine, for example, in an enclosure twice the size of this enclosure, four thousand persons would sit, and his Lordship Imam al-Sadiq, the blessings of God be upon him, would, upon the pulpit, recite hadith, expound rulings, deliver admonitions. They imagine it was like this. No — neither Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, nor his grandfather the Prophet of Islam, nor all the prophets of the world, had this as their method. School-playing, admonition-mongering, and individual education are not the work of the prophets. The prophets have only one answer to this question: how can human beings be fashioned? How can human beings be educated according to the correct divine models? Their one answer is this: in order to fashion the human being, one must build a suitable environment, a sound environment, an environment that can nurture him within itself — that, and nothing else. The prophets say: you cannot cast them in molds one by one; you must build a factory. The prophets say: if we wished to fashion human beings one by one, night would fall and a whole lifetime would pass. A society is needed, a system is needed; human beings must be fashioned into the desired shape in the press of a system — that, and nothing else; it is only this and nothing else. The prophets say that the human being is like a tree, like a sapling. Consider a sapling, a date palm; consider an orange sapling. This has certain conditions, certain characteristics, and these characteristics require that it be in warm air, in suitable air. Plant a date palm in southern Iran, in the southern regions of Iran, or in Tabas, or in some of the Arab countries, and see what delicious, excellent dates it gives — it is an interesting thing, isn't it? Why? Because this sapling needs air of a certain number of degrees, humidity of a certain percentage of the air, soil of a certain kind, and other conditions — dozens of other conditions; and these conditions are gathered together in Tabas, these conditions are gathered together in Khuzestan, these conditions are not gathered together in Mashhad. What can be done about it? Go, take thousands of date-palm saplings, dig them up, bring them here, plant them in the ground, water them too, give them air too — is it possible? You can only do one thing; only one thing can be done, and that is this: that you bring one date-palm tree here into the garden of your house, or take an orange into a room, toil, take care, give it fertilizer, give it water, work upon it so much that after a while — "O 'Ali, help!" — it gives one or two dates. You say, "Yes, we too brought a date-palm sapling to Mashhad and got two, three dates." Well, why should we do this? Why should we do this? If we could establish a date-ripening, date-nurturing environment, build it, there would be no need for all this care, no need for all this heartache, no need for all this fastidiousness; and moreover, it would not give just two dates — it would give hundredweights, tons of dates. Is it not more reasonable for the human being, instead of attending to a single date-palm tree one by one in an unsuitable environment, if he is able, to build a suitable environment — if he is able, to build an environment that itself nurtures dates? Of course, it is clear that the toil and the heartache that a person must bear for the building of a suitable environment is far greater than the toil that a person bears for a single date-palm, a single date-palm sapling. That toil is far greater than this; but reckon its benefit, reckon its yield. Here you toil over one individual, you fashion one single human being; there you fashion a whole society, you build a whole system, you make millions of human beings, generations of humanity. This was the work of the prophets. This point that I have made is among the statements upon which we have taken our stand, among the statements upon which we insist, and we believe that the followers of the prophethoods must understand this statement. This is a matter upon which you must reflect deeply; do not pass over it easily. Refer to the verses of the Qur'an, refer to the history of the prophets, refer to the narrations that exist concerning the prophethoods, scrutinize, reflect; neither accept it quickly nor reject it quickly. The matter is very important. All the difficulties arise from precisely this point. A certain group cannot understand that the prophets wished to build a suitable, favorable environment; they imagine that the prophets wished to fashion human beings one by one — whereas fashioning human beings one by one is far beneath the station of the prophets. What we understand from the Qur'an is the prophets' answer to this question — "How can human beings be fashioned?" that is, refined and adorned. The answer is that one must build a divine society, a monotheistic (tawhidi) society, a suitable environment, so that the human being may be fashioned in this suitable environment — not one of him, not ten of him, not a thousand of him, but in groups upon groups — fashioned of themselves, by the natural warmth of the radiant light of the teachings of Islam. When the help of God and the victory come, and you see the people entering into the religion of God in throngs. In the pagan environment of Mecca, when the prophet wishes to fashion a human being, he is compelled to fashion them one by one; because, in order to bring about such a system, a number of select persons are needed, a number of cornerstones and a foundation are needed, and these are first fashioned one by one. This does not contradict the prophets' overall plan. The prophet, in order to fashion and hew the cornerstones of the civic society, is compelled in Mecca to engage in individual person-making: one Abu Dharr; one 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud; another, and another, and so on — at most he fashions a hundred persons, two hundred persons. These become the building stones for the formation of the future civic society — that is, the monotheistic and Islamic society. The prophet there, in that way, fashions human beings one by one — with what toil, with what hardship, with what heartache! Fathers prevent their sons from understanding anything; the sons set their hearts on the world, they do not come to follow the prophet to learn doctrine; everyone who develops a little inclination — there is toil and hardship and heartache. All these tasks are carried out. But when the turn comes for Medina — when that divine and Islamic society is formed in Medina, and the prophet is at the head of that society and ruling by the ordinances and commands of God — there, then, God Almighty speaks in this way: When the help of God comes, and the conquest, and you see the people entering into the religion of God in throngs. This is the upshot of the matter concerning the goals of the prophets. Let me summarize the matter — and of course we have written the summary here too. The summary of the matter is this: the prophets have two goals, two important goals. One is the fundamental goal: the fashioning of the human being, the purifying of the human being from evils, the adorning of the human being with goodnesses and virtues and excellences — in short, making the human being human. This is the higher goal. But the other goal that the prophets have, which lies halfway along the road to this goal, is this: the formation of a monotheistic society, the formation of a divine system, the formation of the government of God, the formation of an organization administered by divine laws and ordinances. This is the goal of all the prophets. If someone imagines that the great divine prophets did not have this goal, he must study more in the Qur'an, in the hadith, in history. Now, we have brought here two verses — though of course there are many verses in the mighty Book of the Lord from which this matter may be derived. We have cited only two verses here; only, it is necessary to reflect on these two verses, it is necessary to scrutinize and ponder a little. The first verse, as we mentioned, is from Surat al-Hadid. I shall merely translate the verse and give a brief explanation. We have indeed sent Our messengers with the clear proofs. The statement of the prophets, the arguments of the prophets, are clear arguments; they are not something that an intelligent, thinking person fails to understand. They understand; everyone understands the statement of the prophets. And We sent down with them the Book. What is the Book? We have said it repeatedly: "the Book" means the collection of teachings and ordinances from which the very essence of religion is constituted — the religious instructions and teachings; this is the Book, the comprehensive ideology of the religion. In brief, with a slight looseness of expression, we can equate the Book with what is today called, in the terminology of the modern schools, "ideology" — that is, the constructive principles and teachings, the intellectual principles that have a tangible, constructive effect in practical domains. The Book is one thing; then, with them, We also sent down the Balance. The Balance means a scale. What does this mean? Does it mean that every prophet who came had a scale under his arm — large or small? No. "The Balance" means the apparatus for creating social equilibrium and balance — this is the meaning of "the Balance." The Balance means the instrument by which one can bring about social equilibrium and balance. Here, incidentally, it becomes clear that the regard is to society; for if the prophet were not meant to be at the head of a society and to form a society, what would he need the Balance for? What would he need that by which social equilibrium and balance can be established? An instrument has been sent with the prophet by which social equilibrium and balance can be created. What is that instrument? The divine judicial apparatuses — this is one; judicial ordinances — this is one; the executor of the law, the guarantor of enforcement — the Balance can also be applied to this. There exist ordinances, and a guarantor of enforcement, and an overseer of the enforcement of ordinances. It is the very thing that today, in the terminology of the democratic countries, they call the "executive power," which consists of the government, so to speak. In countries where there is a government, a parliament, legislation, and an executor, the executive power is that which has supervision and oversight over the enforcement of ordinances in society; the executive power may be this "Balance." And in studying the narrations that have come in commentary on this verse, I saw one of the interpretations they gave of the Balance: it says, "The Balance is the Imam." And I saw that it is entirely correct, it applies; we take inspiration from this hadith. The Balance is the Imam. The Imam is the one who, in society, must separate truth from falsehood; it is he who must distinguish the ranks; it is he who must establish social equilibrium and balance. Why? Because he is the ruler of society. Of course, some persons may also have mistaken, vulgar interpretations of this phrase and of that hadith; we have nothing to do with those interpretations — we believe just as we ourselves say. The Imam is the Balance, is the measure; evils and goodnesses are weighed by him, paths are gauged against him; moreover, it is he who is the overseer in society, watching that people do not depart from balance and equilibrium; and he supervises the ordinances. The narration too confirms this. So the Balance means that instrument by which social equilibrium and balance are established; this too We sent with the prophet. Why did We do these things? What was the Book to accomplish for the prophet? Indeed, what was the prophet himself needed for? What was the Balance to accomplish? The reason is this: so that people may uphold justice. "Li-yaquma 'l-nasu bi-'l-qist" can, in terms of Persian phrasing and translation, be rendered in two ways — both of which, of course, have one meaning. We have chosen one of them and rendered it here, and I will also mention its other meaning. "Li-yaquma 'l-nasu bi-'l-qist": so that human beings may establish a just life — in parentheses we have written: and an environment of justice and equality. Human beings should establish a just life; this is one meaning. The other meaning is this: so that human beings may stand upright upon the basis of justice (qist), may live upon the basis of equality. I said there are two meanings; if one scrutinizes, these two meanings differ from each other in terms of Arabic parsing and construction — except that the import of the two meanings is one. I wanted to explain this so that no one finds any objection or difficulty in some of its "kana-yakun" (grammatical niceties). "Li-yaquma 'l-nasu bi-'l-qist" — the upshot of its meaning is that human beings should live in a just environment, should live in a just society and system. The prophet came for this in the first place. So what did the prophet come for? For the formation of a just system and environment. He came to make the world just; he came to bring a just society and system into being; it is precisely for this that the prophet came — and of course it is in a just system that human beings find the opportunity to attain perfection and exaltation. "Li-yaquma 'l-nasu bi-'l-qist." Then, following it, He says: And We sent down iron. Yes! We brought iron too. By mere talking, by mere preaching — "People, come, build a just system" — is that sufficient? Suppose they did build a just system: do the devils and wolves and thieves and beasts of prey allow this just system to remain? Hence We sent iron too. Why did We send it? So that the authentic values might be defended by means of iron. Here too we referred to the books of hadith, and we see that, when the Imam, peace be upon him, interprets the verse and reaches this point — "And We sent down iron" — he says: "Weaponry (al-silah)"; the sword, the spear, the weapon, which is made of iron. God Almighty, alongside the call of prophethood, mentions weaponry. Alongside the preaching that is incumbent upon the prophets, alongside the idea of forming a monotheistic and divine system, the Lord of the worlds mentions weaponry and coercive force. "And We sent down iron" — and We sent iron, and, as the Imam, peace be upon him, says, weaponry and the weapon. In which is great force and benefits for mankind, and so that God may know who helps Him and His messengers in the unseen. The expression "so that God may know" — although God does know — means that it may be made distinct, made manifest, become determined in the external world. "Who helps Him and His messengers in the unseen" — those who help God and His prophets in the unseen, with faith in the unseen, possessing faith in the unseen, or unseen: God they did not see, and some did not see even the prophet; they bring faith in him and help him. Indeed, God is Strong, Mighty. Incidentally, notice: these conclusions of the verses are very meaningful. These that you see at the end of every verse — "Indeed God is Strong, Mighty," "Indeed God is Hearing, Knowing," "Indeed God is Forgiving, Merciful" — these are not just there by chance, so that a person might find at the end of a line of poetry some rhyme to stick on. It is not like that. Every one of these phrases that has come at the end of a verse carries, in keeping with the content of the verse, a certain meaning and a certain point — did you notice? Therefore, in this noble verse too, the matter is just the same. "Indeed, God is Strong": do not imagine that the prophets came and are unable to bring into being this society that we have sketched and to establish the people upon justice. No — God, who is the One who sends them, is Strong. Do not fear that they will struggle and contend against the prophets of God — let them. "Mighty ('aziz)" — God is invincible. I render 'aziz as "invincible." What has come in the meaning of 'aziz in the lexicon is "the Overcomer who is not overcome" (al-ghalibu 'lladhi la yughlab). 'Aziz means the one who prevails, but no one prevails over him. The Persian expression we found for this is the word "invincible" (shekast-napazir), which is both beautiful and concise. God is Strong and invincible. This is one verse. And now the verse of Surat al-A'raf. In the preceding verses the discourse is about Moses, peace be upon him. We have nothing to do with the preliminaries of the episode that this verse follows, because it was this verse that we wished to interpret; we have brought one verse from before it as well, so that the matter may be clear. The discourse is of a believer, or believers, who are speaking with God. What do they say? Now pay attention; listen to the verse, until we reach the points in question. They say: And ordain for us good in this world and in the Hereafter; indeed, we have turned to You. He said: My punishment — I strike with it whomever I will — I bring My punishment upon whomever I will and intend. Of course, God's will is not haphazard and arbitrary either — that He should wish to punish one and not wish to punish another. No; the Lord's will too follows criteria and standards that He Himself has laid down. It is the bad, evil-doing person whom God Almighty wishes to punish. "I strike with it whomever I will" — I bring harm; not "harm" exactly — it is "usibu"; no, "usibu" means "I make to be struck," only in the Persian expression we have brought the word "harm." I bring harm by means of this punishment of Mine upon whomever I will. And My mercy encompasses all things. I shall ordain it for those who are God-fearing and give the alms-due, and for those who believe in Our signs. Which ones? "Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet (alladhina yattabi'una 'l-rasula 'l-nabiyya 'l-ummi)" — those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered (ummi) Prophet. We have translated ummi in its very form ummi, because there is disagreement over the meaning of ummi. Some say ummi means illiterate; some say ummi means "of the common folk," "of the masses" — that which pertains to the common mass of people, related only to the mother, not influenced by the cultures around him; some say ummi means "of the Mother of Cities (Umm al-Qura)," pertaining to Umm al-Qura, that is, Mecca. Because there were these disagreements, I did not wish to present a piece of research on this subject, so we rendered ummi by the very word "ummi." "The unlettered (al-ummi)" — that unlettered Prophet — "whom they find (alladhi yajidunahu)" — whom they find — "written down with them (maktuban 'indahum)" — written down in their own possession — "in the Torah and the Gospel (fi 'l-tawrati wa-'l-injil)" — in the book of the Torah and the book of the Gospel; for these two books gave glad tidings of the coming of the Prophet. What is the characteristic of this Prophet? From here on, pay attention. "He enjoins upon them the good (ya'muruhum bi-'l-ma'ruf)" — he commands them to do goodnesses, the virtues recognized by the intellect and by the human primordial nature (fitrah). "And forbids them the evil (wa yanhahum 'ani 'l-munkar)" — he forbids them from wrongdoings, the things unrecognized by the human intellect and nature. "And makes the wholesome things lawful for them (wa yuhillu lahumu 'l-tayyibat)" — he makes lawful, makes possible, makes permissible for them the wholesome things and the good things — every good thing that there is in the religion. "And forbids them the foul things (wa yuharrimu 'alayhimu 'l-khaba'ith)" — and he makes the foul things forbidden to them; that is, he keeps them away from them, holds their hand back from bad things. And the Islamic society is like this. In the Islamic society, all the things that are good for the human being — for his mind, for his heart, for his soul, for his body — are within the reach and disposal of all. Knowledge, literacy, godfearing-ness, money — whatever is good and beneficial for the human being is at the disposal of all. Whatever is bad for the human being is at the disposal of no one. "And forbids them the foul things" — either they are not within easy reach, or, by way of binding laws, they have been removed from their reach. And relieves them of their burden. Among the characteristics of the prophet is this: that he lifts the heavy load — the heavy load of ignorances, the heavy load of false traditions, the heavy load of foul, inhuman systems, the heavy load of dictatorships and despotisms and tyrannies and exploitations. Every heavy load he lifts from their shoulders. And the shackles that were upon them. What fetters and chains were there, then? Was it that, when the prophet was raised up, a chain had been bound to the feet of every one of the people of Mecca, each one of them? Had a shackle been placed on their necks? Were they all imprisoned? Well, it is clear that the shackles and chains were not of iron. They were shackles and chains — but what kind of shackles and chains? Think for yourself and find out. What kind of shackles and chains were there upon the hands and feet and necks of these people? The shackles and chains of bondages, the shackles and chains of submission to coercion, the shackles and chains of human-made traditions, ordinances, and impositions; the prophet comes and undoes these. What are these but the formation of a human, monotheistic system? So those who believe in him, honor him, support him, and follow the light that has been sent down with him — those are the ones who prosper. The light and radiance of illumination that has been sent down with him — that is, this Qur'an; they follow after it. They are the victorious, the ones who partake of felicity (falah) and who have reached the goal and destination.