Mouood Mouood English Edition
The Important responsibility of the leaders, outstanding personalities
And intellectuals of the world of Islam to confront the machinations that
Are designed by the arrogant powers
The Muslim Ummah must be vigilant. It must stand up to these enemies. The most important duty lies on the shoulders of Muslim politicians. Government officials and heads of Islamic countries must be vigilant. Some of the politicians of the world of Islam may act as the mouthpiece of the enemies, but we must not make a mistake in this regard. We will not make mistakes in detecting the major causes of discord. The politicians of the world of Islam may shout the slogans of the arrogant powers.
It is the arrogant powers that are opposed to Islamic unity. Even if such divisive slogans are shouted by the members of the Islamic Ummah, we have to believe that these Muslims have fallen for the enemies’ machinations. Those slogans do not belong to Muslims. They belong to the arrogant powers. We can recognize their slogans. The most important duty lies on the shoulders of politicians and government officials of Muslim countries as well as Muslim intellectuals and those who can influence the hearts and minds of the people – namely, religious scholars, intellectuals, writers, journalists, poets, men of letters, and the scholars of the Muslim world.
These people have to shoulder the major portion of the responsibility to inform the people of the causes that may disrupt the process of achieving this unity or take this firm divine handhold away from Muslims.
The Quran tells us clearly to “hold fast by the covenant of Allah all together and be not disunited.” It is possible to “hold fast by the covenant of Allah” one by one, but the Holy Quran has told us to do it “all together and be not disunited”.
“be not disunited” 1
We have been ordered to stick together and even when adhering to the divine covenant. The Holy Quran has advised us against adhering to this divine covenant one by one, let alone choosing to let go of the covenant or adhering to a satanic covenant.
Muslims have to stay together and preserve their unity even when they are supposed to adhere to the divine covenant. That is the greatest issue for the world of Islam. 2
Human minds and tongues have expressed numerous things about Be’that which is in fact a vast area, and it will not be possible in the foreseeable future to delineate the aspects of this great event. As time passes and as man goes through numerous experiences and gains a better understanding of the problems and flaws that plague his life, the different aspects of the Holy Prophet’s (S) appointment to the divine mission reveal themselves more and more clearly. This Be’that was in fact a call that invited people to the arena of moral, intellectual, and legal education. These are the things that are needed for a peaceful and developing life.
1. Rational lessons
Intellectual education is the first priority. Intellectual education – that is, extracting man’s reason and making it dominant over his thoughts and actions, or giving man the beacon of wisdom and enabling him to find his way by its light – is of primary importance. Regarding the Holy Prophet’s appointment to his divine mission, reason and wisdom are the primary issues that have been raised.
Similarly, throughout the Quran and the Holy Prophet’s teachings, you can see that the main focus has been placed on such things as reason, wisdom, thinking, reflection, and pondering. Even on Judgment Day, the Quran quotes sinners as saying:
“Had we but listened or pondered, we should not have been among the inmates of the burning Fire.”3
They say, “The reason we came to suffer from hell fire is that we did not refer to our wisdom, we did not listen, and we did not pay attention. Therefore, today on Judgment Day we have to suffer from this everlasting, bitter destiny.”
Inviting people to reason was the first priority for all divine prophets, and this was not peculiar to the Holy Prophet (S). Of course, the call to reasoning is stronger and clearer in Islam.
Therefore, regarding the appointment of prophets to their divine missions, the Commander of the Faithful (a.s.) says in Nahjul Balaghah: “To ask them to keep the promise that has been built into their nature … and raise what has been buried deep in their wisdom.” 4
2. Ethical lessons
Prophets have been sent down to dig out the treasure of wisdom. This treasure is our hearts. The problem is that we are sitting on the buried treasure, but we are not aware of it. As a result, we cannot benefit from this treasure and die of hunger. Our situation is something like that. When we do not refer to our wisdom and do not use it in our judgments, we cannot engage in genuine intellectual education. As long as we do not harness our passions with our wisdom, the situation will be like this.
We can have access to this treasure, but we choose not to use it. Then ignorance and lack of wisdom and the numerous consequences of these two create many problems for our life in this world and the hereafter. In a tradition by the Holy Prophet of Islam (S), wisdom has been described as a leash. “Wisdom is the leash of ignorance.” 5
Then the tradition continues, “Human passions are like extremely unruly animals … Unless there is thinking, they will go astray.” 6
That is what human passions are like. When you do not curb these passions, they will go astray. Human passions will go astray like a wild animal that does not know where it is going. Then human beings and human societies will face problems in their individual and social life. That is what wisdom is.
Provoking thoughts and strengthening the ability to think were the first things that the Holy Prophet (S) did. That is the panacea for all problems. It is wisdom that can lead man to religion. It is wisdom that forces man to serve God. It is wisdom that prevents man from engaging in stupid and ignorant actions and from being allured by the material world. That is what wisdom is. Therefore, strengthening the ability to think is the first thing that has to be done in a society. That is our obligation.
Despite our inherent flaws and weaknesses compared to the Holy Prophet (S), we decided to build a modern society following the example set by the Holy Prophet’s (S) Islamic community. In this society, like the early Islamic community, rationality must be the standard. Moral education is the second priority in education. “I appointed you as prophet to complete moral virtues.” 7
Morality is the pleasant air that human beings could breathe and have a healthy life if it were present in human societies. Life will become difficult when there is no morality, when immorality becomes dominant, and when such vices as greed, carnal desires, ignorance, love for the material world, spite, envy, and suspicion step into man’s life. Then the atmosphere will become stifling, and it will be difficult for human beings to breathe normally. That is why in several places in the Holy Quran the word “purification” namely, moral growth has preceded the word “teaching”. “Reciting to them His messages and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom.”
In the tradition about wisdom by the Holy Prophet which I cited earlier, when wisdom is mentioned, it is pointed out that wisdom leads to patience and patience leads to knowledge. We must pay attention to the order of these items. First, wisdom creates patience and endurance. When this state of patience is present, it will prepare the ground for increasing the society’s or the individual’s knowledge.
That is to say, knowledge comes after patience. Patience is a moral virtue. Similarly, in the Quranic verse “Reciting to them His messages and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom”, Allah has placed “purifying” before “wisdom”. That is an instance of moral education. Today we desperately need this moral education. The Muslim Iranian community living in this specific geographical location, the Islamic Ummah, Muslim societies, and the entire world need this moral education. These are our most urgent needs.
