Lesson Two
BACKGROUND TO PROPHETHOOD
In the previous lesson, the background to the appointment of the Prophets was
discussed with regard to a few statements of the Nahj-ul-Balagha. This lesson
is aimed at completing what was mentioned before by analyzing in detail the
peculiarities of two periods which are of concern in our discussion, i.e. the
pre-Islamic period or the 'Age of Ignorance' (the period before the
appointment) and the Islamic period (the period after the appointment).
The Age of Ignorance
According to Ali's words, in the Age of Ignorance, the people suffered from two
kinds of inadequacies: material and spiritual.
Material Inadequacy
In this period, the level of social welfare and security was very low. This is
explicitly expressed both in the Nahj-ul-Balagha (in different sermons) and the
Holy Qur'an. The Qur'an refers to the Age of Ignorance saying (106:4)
Spiritual Inadequacy
Spiritual inadequacy is the very ignorance and bewilderment of the people, i.e.,
they are devoid of a clear way of living and an aspiration for life. It is, in
fact, a great suffering for man and society not to seek a sublime aim in life
but only to try to provide for the daily requirements and necessities.
Unfortunately, this state of living was characteristic of the 'time of
strangulation' (Pahlavi reign), when life was without any aspiration and the
best and most active individuals, in the eyes of people, were those who made
their utmost effort to enjoy a life of welfare or those who did not have any
involvement at all but spent their time in lewdness and buffoonery.
Generally speaking, the middle class, i.e., traders, workers, housewives,
university students and others were all endeavoring to provide for the ordinary
requirements of their lives. The similitude of them was the similitude of the
car which refuels from one gasoline station to another gasoline being a means
for it to constantly go from station to station.
In fact, the people worked in order to gain their daily bread which enabled
them, in turn, to work again. They actually spent their lives in eating bread
and gaining bread. This state of living cannot be perfectly felt by the
idealist youth of today who have specific aims and aspirations in mind, who
work for the establishment of the true Islamic government and who seek the fall
of the superpowers. It is the existence of these aspirations in the society of
today which reveals the spiritual inadequacy (lack of aims and aspirations) of
the society during the Pahlavi rule.
Society during the 'Age of Ignorance', i.e. before the appointment and
revolution of the Prophet, was likewise an aimless and deviated society. The
people were bewildered. They turned round themselves just like the 'mill
donkey' that permanently turns round the millstone, perhaps traversing ten or
fifteen kilometers a day, but never moving more than a short distance away from
the mill. They were ignorant but more ignorant than them were those who
followed destructive aims and aspirations which, if realized, would destroy
themselves as well as the whole community.
In this regard the Holy Qur'an says, „Hast thou not seen those who exchanged
the bounty of God with unthankfulness, and caused their people to dwell in the
abode of ruin?-Gehenna, wherein they are roasted,- an evil establishment!"
(14:28-29)
In fact, all the holders of power and authoritative rulers of the world, all
the great capitalists who commit any crime to establish their vast economic
networks and all those who have brought about great corruption upon the earth
in the course of history can be categorized among the spiritually deviated
people with destructive aims and aspirations.
To say the least, it was in such a deviated society and among such a misled
people that the Prophets were appointed to prophethood. The most outstanding
characteristic of such a society is the alienation of man which causes the
development of material aspirations in a group of people who follow the aim of
making material, monopolies and increasing the rate of material products which,
in turn, results in the poverty of other people.
The Commander of the Faithful says, „I never saw an ample blessing (wealth)
unless beside it I saw a trampled right." Poverty gives rise to class
distinctions which bring about deeper gaps among the different classes of
people and causes other problems such as the unjust division of social
authority under which rich classes gain more power than others, although money
is not always efficacious in gaining power, but sometimes social power, too, is
effective in making use of money and creating material monopolies.
Thus, both social and economic factors are influential in the appearance of
tyranny, exploitation, ignorance and deceit in a society where perversive and
destructive aims have replaced noble aims and aspirations.
This is where Islamic analysis and material analysis come face to face, for
according to materialists, mental possessions, beliefs and whatever comprises
one's soul, mind and thought originate from one's 'class position' which includes
the social, economic and even the cultural dimensions of life, whereas the
Islamic viewpoint is that the origin of all pressures and adversities existing
in a society results from the dominance of ignorance and alienation in that
society. Islam says that it is alienation which brings about class distinctions
and which divides society into two classes, i.e. the oppressed and the
oppressors.
Spiritual alienation is, therefore, an outstanding characteristic of the Age of
Ignorance and the Prophets appear, in effect, to lead the people to the
straight path and to remove their spiritual depravities. This is what the
Commander of the Faithful emphasizes in the second Sermon of the
Nahj-ul-Balagha which was previously mentioned and which is hereunder reviewed
and explained in detail.
He says, „I also stand witness that Muhammad, peace and the mercy of God be
upon him and his descendants, is His slave and His Prophet. sent him with the
illustrious religion, effective emblem, written Book, effulgent light, sparkling
gleam and decisive injunction in order to dispel doubts (shubuhat) present
clear proofs ... „
Shubuha is the plural form of 'shubha' and means doubts and differences of
opinion which exist in the human mind and thought as regards truth and
falsehood. These doubts and differences appear, as far as the people's beliefs
are concerned, when the society at large goes astray. In fact, society comes to
believe that it lacks reality and to disbelieve the most manifest realities.
For instance, during the rule of the previous regime, the people had come to
believe in and accept 'monarchy' which was an untrue phenomenon, and had
completely forgotten a clear and undeniable reality named, 'Imamat'.
Thus, the Prophet was sent by God to remove mental doubts and errors and to
"present clear proofs," as the Commander of the Faithful says i.e. to
save people from the perplexity of philosophical reasoning by offering them
clear proofs. This does not mean, however, that such reasonings are basically
useless and philosophy must be abandoned. Some people today, find fault with
Islamic philosophy, the classic philosophy of Islam on the false basis that it
is mixed with Greek philosophy. They insinuate that Islamic philosophy is mixed
with Aristotelian philosophy. They do not realize that Islamic scholars and
philosophers, centuries ago, cleansed Islamic philosophy of Greek philosophy.
Moreover, they are unaware of the fact that a philosophy with a heavenly
world-view cannot be mixed with a philosophy having a material world-view,
although they may share some common aspects.
Thus, philosophy should not be abandoned, although philosophical reasoning is
not very effective in awakening and provoking people at a time when a
revolution is to be conceived. At such a time, only the clearest proofs and
reasonings can make the people aware of the prevailing
situations, the wrong ways upon which they step and the right path they should
choose.
This has been the manner of all Prophets of God. They called people to the
belief in the One God. They called them to their nature and to their natural
beliefs, without exposing them to ordinary, spiritual reasonings
In the case of the Islamic Revolution of Iran the reasonings of the
intellectuals for fighting the West never contented the least number of people
because the intellectuals themselves were not satisfied with their own
reasonings due to the fact that they never made their appearance in the battle
arena, whereas the words and lectures of the Imam Khomeini, which contained
clear realities concerning the dependence of the tyrannical regime of Pahlavi
on the superpowers and the prevention of the society from practicing their
religion (Islam), doctrinal beliefs and worship, could be perfectly understood
by the people, and finally resulted in that great movement in our society. It
can be concluded, therefore, that the Prophets presented clear proofs and
reasonings which not only elicited but also which the middle class of people
could understand and then follow naturally.
The Commander of the Faithful continues to enumerate the tasks of the Prophet
saying, administer warning through signs and to warn of punishments.» In fact,
he means that the Prophet came to acquaint the people with the signs of
chastisement and with the punishments which happened to the past nations in the
course of history, and to tell them that they would also be afflicted with the
same punishments if they followed the manners of those nations.
Then he portrays the situations during the Age of Ignorance (before the
appointment of the Prophet) and points out the troubles and calamities which
endangered the minds, hearts and the spirituality of the people, which blocked
the ways of guidance to them and which led them astray - the troubles which did
not have anything to do with the material life and apparent welfare of the
people.
He says „... At that time, people had fallen in to vices, whereby the rope of
religion had been broken, the pillars of belief had been shaken, principles had
been sacrileged, systems had become topsy turvy, openings were narrow, passages
were dark, guidance was unknown and darkness prevailed. God was being
disobeyed. Satan was given support and belief had been forsaken. As a result,
pillars of religion fell down, its traces could not be discerned, its passages had
been destroyed and its streets had fallen into decay."
The general message of these words is that the society in which the Prophets
were appointed to prophethood was devoid of guidance and the Prophets' mission
was to lead the people to the straight path so that they could forsake the
state of indifference prevailing among them and seek good aims and aspirations.
As was mentioned before, should a motive more sublime and nobler than eating,
drinking and providing for the ordinary requirements of life become dominant in
the people's efforts and endeavors and should destructive aims and aspirations
forsake society, then social, political and economic conditions will prosper,
class distinctions will vanish and the idols of wealth and power will be
smashed.
This was experienced during early Islam, at the time of all the Prophets and
even in our own revolutionary society (if the opponents let us finish this
experience). This is why we believe that our Islamic Revolution has rendered
useless all the social, political and revolutionary formulas which support the
idea that movements and revolutions originate from material motives, class
distinctions and class quarrels in societies which have apparently political
systems of their own and which are not subject to colonial rule (like Iran
during the Pahlavi regime). What happened in Iran was exactly the experience of
the Prophets, i.e. the people who lived in a mentally-perverted society were
awakened by factors of guidance and hurried towards their natural promise to worship
naught but God, to appreciate God's plentiful blessings and to believe in their
own social power.
Guided in such a way, these people who had for many years been subjected to the
oppression and coercion of the so-called masters and kings, suddenly arose,
revolted by the millions and brought about the Islamic Revolution. Today, to
continue the Revolution and to guarantee its survival, it is necessary to keep
the people's mental guidance intact in order to deepen their belief in God and
Islam and to make them more aware of their human dignity and responsibility.
The Commander of the Faithful continues his Sermon with the following
statements, providing more details about the mental and spiritual atmosphere of
the Age of Ignorance (before the appearance of the Prophet). He says „ ...
People obeyed Satan and tread his paths. They sought water from his watering
places. Through them, Satan's emblems flew and his standard was raised in vices
which trampled the people under their hoofs, and treaded upon them with their
feet. The vices stood on their toes (in full stature) and the people immersed
in them were strayed, perplexen, ignorant and seduced as though in a good house
with bad neighbors. Instead of sleep they had wakefulness and for antimony they
had tears in the eyes ... ".
In fact, he believes that the origin of all adversities, oppressions,
corruptions, sufferings, disorders and crimes existing in society during the
Age of Ignorance, resulted from obedience to the satans of the time who, with
reliance on their social authority, i.e. wealth, power and deceit, wasted God's
noble blessings and devastated the plentiful, vital resources of the time with
unthankfulness and the transient lives of the people or exploited them for
their own benefit, regardless of what happened to the real owners of those
valuable resources. It was on the basis of such obedience that the people went
only the ways which the masters and dominant groups showed them, the ways which
ended in no desired destination, which brought them nothing but increasing
poverty, ignorance and captivity and which provided the dominant groups of
society, i.e. the creators of evil, corruption and decadence, with their
personal interests.
In the Islamic world-view, the human being is considered a thoughtful,
innovative and independent creature. From these three characteristics, the
power of thinking of the human being is more important than others, for it
provides one with awareness which enables one to move and make progress.
Thus, the most significant and fundamental factor for the movement of history
and society are the knowledge and awareness which stimulate human beings to
action. It is awareness which induces humanity to move and act. In the course
of history spontaneous actions and movements have never resulted in a
Revolution.
Maxim Gorki in his book, Mother, endeavors to prove that it was the labor
movements which gave rise to the October Revolution in Russia, whereas a
careful study of his book indicates that these blind movements could obtain no
results. In fact, without the existence of awareness and guidance, the
spontaneous movements brought about in the history of revolutions could never
end in the desired aims.
Thus, class conflicts and wars which materialists emphasize as the origin of
all movements and revolutions have not been effective at all.. Rather, the most
significant factor for the movement of history and society have been
understanding, guidance and stimulating awareness. Without these, all actions
and endeavors have usually ended in undesired effects which can be observed in
a great number of the revolutions throughout the world.
Now, since awareness is the main source of inspiration in societies in which
ignorance is dominant, the antihuman elements (holders of corrupt authority), in
order to retain their tyrannical system, have always tried to stifle any
liberating thought by exposing people's minds to stupefaction and poisonous
instructions and to destroy the origins of consciousness.
As a result, in such societies, the people follow only the desires of these
satans, learn only what they teach and, like sheep, go only towards the water
to which they are led by these treacherous shepherds („they sought water from
his watering places").
It is quite painful that, in the light of the sacrifices and endeavors of the
oppressed people, those who stand against the oppressors and criminals are
usually defeated and killed, while the chiefs of the atheists are rarely
killed. For instance, Mu'awiya, the manifest example of blasphemy, never accepted
Ali's call to challenge him in person because, as a Satan, his emblems flew
through the deprived people who have always been employed in the course of
history as a ladder which the arrogant have climbed to approach their
self-centeredness, dominance and power.
The life of the deprived has always been blended with fear, anxiety, confusion,
poverty, hunger, ignorance, disgrace and lack of awareness. This has been an
out standing characteristic of the ages of ignorance. But according to the
principles of our religion and Islamic ideology and according to the Holy
Qur'an which says, „We have honored the children of Adam ... >", human
beings are honorable. In fact, the belief in the Oneness of God is followed in
Islamic thought by the dignity and worth of human beings.
Generally speaking, those societies in which human beings are honored because
of believing in God and having will-power, and not on the basis of their social
positions, move towards perfection and prosperity; while those societies which
grant no worth to human beings and their thoughts do not tread the path of
improvement and goodness and are usually administered through dictatorship.
Today, other than the Iranian community upon which Islam has shed its light,
all human communities throughout the world are ruled either by black
strangulation (such as the socialist communities in which the Proletariat
dictatorship is dominant and the so-called supporters of the labor classes,
i.e. their leaders, have never felt the hardship and poverty of the laborers)
or by despotism prevalent in such despotic countries as Egypt, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia and so forth.
There are, however, other communities (Western ones) which are ruled by the
stupefaction of the people, i.e. keeping the people amused with passions, sexual
matters, alcoholic drinks and other means of corruption and adversity.
It is only the Islamic community which establishes equal rights for all the
people, whether they be workers, physicians or peasants. But that very Islamic
community will keep aloof from Islam, should decision-making, judgment and
awareness be confined to a special class of people (whoever they might be) and
others be compelled to follow them blindly.
On the whole, what the Commander of the Faithful says is that in societies
which are dominated by ignorance and alienation, although humility and
worthlessness cast shadows over all human aims and aspirations and hunger,
horror, disease, captivity, corruption and bewilderment threaten the society,
the people are surprisingly tolerant and in agreement with the oppressors. This
is what he calls sedition and calamity (fetna), something which brings a person
to the state of consternation and deception, which causes damage to one's heart
and mind and which destroys one's life completely. It is, in fact, under these
circumstances that the Prophets appear.
They do not appear merely to remove poverty, to establish social welfare, to
eliminate ignorance and to teach the people how to read and write. But each of
these is a part of a great whole which comprises the aims of the Prophets. The
Prophets' aim is to eradicate human deviation, alienation and bewilderment and
to give one spiritual elevation. The realization of this aim will, however, be
followed by material welfare, social security, eradication of ignorance and
class distinctions and so forth.
Questions and Answers
Q. You said that alienation gives rise to class distinctions. Now what are the
causes of alienation?
A. The cause of alienation is the lack of the use of the power of thinking, for
this faculty can be effective only if it is trained, educated and used
properly. It is just like a very powerful projector which can offer its
sparkling nature only if it is clean and not covered by dust and mist. The
power of thinking may lose its usefulness under the influence of various
factors, the most important of which being whims and passions. Of course, other
spiritual factors as well as the holders of worldly power are also effective in
this respect, but material and economic factors alone should not be regarded as
a basis for lack of thinking and alienation. Thinking is the faculty by which
the human being analyzes different matters and comes to a general conclusion.
It is, therefore, independent and can provide people with reasons concerning
their doings.
Q. In one of his sermons, Ali says, „I shall bring out the truth from
falsehood.» How do you interpret the leftists' justification of the 'dialectic
conflict' on the basis of this statement?
A. 'Dialectic conflict' cannot be justified by this statement. By this
statement he implies that he can analyze a collection of saying in which right
and wrong have been mixed, distinguish the right from the wrong and introduce
it to the people. This is the art of all the thinkers who know the truth.
Q. What is a classless, monotheistic society? Are monotheism and class not two
contradictory notions?
A. A classless society is one in which there is no legal distinction among
different groups of people and all the individuals are provided with equal
rights and opportunities. In such a society, every individual makes efforts in
accordance with one's physical and mental faculties and whatever one earns
belongs to one's self. No one has the right to ask another for a part of what
one has earned. Of course, if an individual kept a long distance from others,
that person would be advised to assist them. Islam holds equal possibilities
and opportunities for all individuals. Every one has the right to educate one's
self, to enhance one's knowledge, to take one's desired job, to work in the
best possible manner and so forth. At the same time, lazy people are not
permitted in Islam to have a share in what hardworking people acquire. In Islam
the people are free to work and endeavor for themselves, contrary to socialist
communities in which all productive jobs and services are a monopoly of the
governments and thus being wrongly called classless.
As to the 'monotheistic society', it should be stated that it is a society in
which all the people stand at the same level so far as legal, judicial and
social laws and regulations are concerned. In a monotheistic society, there is
no difference between the ruler and a layman before the law. A Jew and a Muslim
are equally treated (the judge calls Ali and the Jew to his presence and addresses
both of them in the same manner).
A monotheistic society is an Islamic society and a classless one is also
Islamic but only within the limits which were explained above. We do not
believe in the classless society which Marxists define. We do not believe in
what they call class, classlessness and class war. These are all Marxist
concepts which the group of so-called Mujahidin (the anti-Islamic group of
hypocrites) have mixed with Islamic notions to deceive people. To say the
least, society should either be called 'monotheistic', which is in conformity
with Islamic culture, or classless (as defined by the Mujahidin) which reminds
one of Marxist ideology.
Q. Are all human beings equipped with equal talents and faculties?
A. No, not all human beings enjoy the same talents and faculties and not all of
them are equal in understanding different matters and performing various tasks.
In fact, every individual has a talent for certain types of work and no one is
found to be devoid of certain gifts and talents.