In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful, our discussion on the question of Faith is in fact a rudimentary one. All of us, in order to comprehend our religion and to recognize the basic principles, need to seriously follow the comprehension and cognition of the religion and do this in an enthusiastic manner and, to attain this comprehension, we ought to first come to know the value and the quality of Faith; so we do talk about Faith from this angle.
We have already talked about two or three fundamental aspects concerning Faith, that is, Faith being a conscious, not a blind, profession; the other aspect was that Faith must be accompanied by commitment and action, not based on a barren, dry belief resting in your mind or soul. The third point we mentioned was that Faith could not be occasional; this means that a believer’s faith should be a continuous, comprehensive one. It should not be an opportunistic, occasional one or for some personal benefits; we discussed these in our previous sessions.
Now before I enter the main subject of Islamic teachings today, I must briefly explain a topic rather necessary and so I begin today’s talk, and I think the whole discussion will take two sessions to complete, today and tomorrow. Therefore the main thing to discuss about Faith, the faithful and the consequences of being a faithful person or a true believer is to first find out what promises and good news God has given the believers, that is, to find out and comprehend what God gives the believers for their firm belief and their good deeds. Men who are used to trading things and to giving and taking will want to know what they get in their deals with God Almighty and what good news He shall give them.
I searched throughout the Quran and came across some 600 verses in which God has given the believers promises and many pieces of good news and pleasant things to come about. And I think that in some 40 verses God has made His promises dependent on the firmness of the believers’ faith. I give you these figures for you to know how my style of research is. All these 30 to 40 promises are great privileges for the believers absolutely necessary for their happiness and solution.
One of these good pieces of news is the question of Paradise: “They shall deservedly be living in the Gardens of Paradise, with streams beneath them flowing…”. As I said I noticed some 40 such verses but if we were to go over all of them, it would take 4 to 5 days. So I selected two verses for today’s discussion but I’ll take about a few more of them tomorrow, if God will.
Well, as I have jotted down in the pieces of papers given to you, we face the question: What does man require in order to embrace complete, comprehensive happiness and success? Everything required for this perfect happiness, have already been explained; they are about 12 subjects which I have written down for you. They include everything that provides the conditions for all human needs that we may imagine.
What I say is not based on prejudice about our religion and beliefs. No, these items written down for you, cover the conditions for the happiness of materialists and disbelievers also. Now we read these verses one after another and we’ll see, whether even a materialist, if he possesses such conditions, will feel happy in his heart or not! And then, after we explain them fully, we’ll return to the holy Quran, listen to its heart-pleasing verses about all those pleasant things that have been promised to the believers; and certainly: “…Allah and His Apostle did speak the truth…”. God and His Messenger never tell lies; this of course is our own belief who do believe in God the One, not that of the materialists!
The first need of men is ‘guidance’; I try to explain this. What are the needs of a human being? He needs to know his goal of happiness and prosperity, what he wants to achieve, what his aim is in his life and how he wants to reach his goal. In addition to recognizing his aim, he should know from the beginning which ways he should travel on to reach it and which ways will take him there earlier. Isn’t happiness the very element in man’s life? And do not think that in this respect the view-point of a believer in God and a non-believing materialist differs at all; the latter also feels this and agrees with it. In the notes I handed to you I have called this need ‘for having a goal and knowing the ways to read it’ as ‘guidance’.
The second need of man in life is to do away with ignorance, arrogance and whatsoever dulls his wisdom and prevents him from understanding things clearly. There are many such obstacles to rational thinking and wisdom: ignorance, arrogance, illusions and superstitions are factors that prevent an individual, a group or a nation from using their God-given wisdom. Some despotic and oppressive systems also try to keep their people in utter darkness. All sorts of external and internal factors could block man’s clear thinking and understanding and leave him in darkness of ignorance. One of the firm pillars for people’s happiness and prosperity is to free themselves from any element that dulls their senses and their wisdom so that one could not see and understand things in the bright light of truth, so I called this second element ‘light’ as you read in your copies of my short notes.
The third point is that man should, in the long march towards happiness, free himself from all sorts of internal temptations, whims, anxieties and fears. Here please pay attention to my emphasis on ‘internal’ because internal factors that block man’s progress to happiness are much stronger than external ones. Let me give you a simple example: sometimes a person’s advance is blocked; he’s told ‘you have no permission to go this way, we don’t let you’! Experience tells us that such people become more resistant and will defy the blockers in any possible ways; this is the external factor which is usually accompanied by force. But, at other times, the road is open but the intention to walk the path is weak, he says to himself: could you really walk all this long way? Maybe you’ll never reach it! Perhaps there are thieves and robbers on the way, maybe there are wolves. They advise you, cool-heartedly or even in a fatherly tone; yet the road is open and you could go on. This sort of tempting and indirect urging is much more discouraging then creating a barricade of stones and lumbers and saying: you can’t go beyond this barrier.
This kind of unjustified anxiety and confusion has often been witnessed in our human history. You know how intensely some Jews supplicated to Moses and claimed that Moses could be mistaken and that God’s promises to him might have been false! The Quran says that poverty, distress and affliction were so bad that they even shook some eminent believers and made them ask Moses: “…when will the help of God come…?” You see now that internal doubts and uncertainties may even shake the belief of some strong believers. So if one is to win happiness and success and to reach his desired destination, he must overcome such internal uncertainties and doubts, his spiritual non-safety and other anxieties. Thus, in the course of the long march towards a happy ending, one of the most important requirements is to do away with all internal and external factors that make him doubtful or uncertain. Perhaps it would be apt to mention a line from the famous Kumail Supplication when we say: ‘O God, O God, O Lord, pray make all my limbs and senses strong enough to serve You, and make my heart and mind able to decide’ ; this means: please make me able to decide, to overcome all doubts, whims, temptations and weaknesses.
The fourth point is being sure that your actions will have results, fruitful results. Those who are hopeless of attaining their goals, will certainly not reach the destination of success and salvation. One must be absolutely certain that his actions and behaviour will definitely bring about pleasant results, that every step one takes on the right path, he or she will be one step nearer to the final goal. If you happen to be in a desert, when you already know which direction you must take, you’ll finally reach your destination, but if you don’t know which way you must go, you will be bewildered, going different directions, coming back or go in circles. That’s why we say that you should be certain about your direction, and certain that you are on the right path and that your endeavours will be fruitful.
The fifth point, and a very important point, is that one’s errors, wrong-doings and deviations could be compensated and could be forgiven. Any person, in the course of one’s life, could commit mistakes and do wrongs. Now if one’s wrong-doing stays on as an incurable wound or some act that may not be recompensed, he or she may commit more mistakes and always remain in a state of hopelessness. But if one is sorrowful of one’s mistakes and sins and resolutely decides not to repeat them and truly repents, then his enthusiasm and hope for reaching the desired goal is redoubled; this is what we have written down for you as ‘forgiveness and mercy’.
The sixth point is that the believer must always have something to fall back on; he must be certain that everywhere and under any condition, there is something or some assistance he could resort to. It’s like a person who has a detailed, comprehensive road-map; he has this map in his pocket and so, whenever in doubt, he takes it out, looks at it and finds the right path.
The seventh point is that the believer, facing enemies and adverse circumstances, should seek and beseech God’s help; this is another factor for attaining success and prosperity. Of course, a materialist does not believe in God, so with such a person, we do not bring in God, but we tell him: “Sir, while you are engaged in what you do, in your social activities, in the campaign for certain goal, if you were aware that a certain power, say, a metaphysical power, is behind you to assist you, even if you presume there could not be such a power, what would you then say?” His response to such a supposition might be: “it would be quite good, very interesting that a man could have some metaphysical power to help him when faced with enemies, adverse conditions, plots and ruthless violence and butchery.” Well, believers do believe that such a great, metaphysical power is their patron and helper. Of course, materialists never have God in their calculations, they don’t believe in the existence of God despite the fact that they are not absolutely certain that He does not exist! But believers do believe in God the Creator. With their reliance on God’s boundless dominion over all that exist and beyond, they could certainly take longer and faster strides to achieve their happy goals.
The eighth point to be taken into account is for the believers to feel sure that they are superior to all adverse parties and to know for certain that finally the superiority will be theirs. This factor also has a wonderful effect on man to travel his path more easily.
The ninth point for the believer is to be sure that he will finally overcome all adverse elements that block his path to success; one shouldn’t think that his intensive effort will result in defeat! Such an approach will not end up in happiness. One of the most important components for man’s happiness is certainly about final victory and this is true for individuals and social groups who believe they will overcome their enemies.
The tenth point is what we called ‘fowz and falaah’ meaning ‘success and salvation’, that is, after enduring all hardships, pressures and stumbling blocks, the believers shall reach their final destination.
The eleventh point is that one must employ all opportunities, provisions, reserves and treasures stored for man on the earth and in the sky: God’s bounties on earth such as forests, mines and other materials vital for his life, the clouds and rains from the sky for cultivation and above all the God-given human intelligence, wisdom and initiative; he must employ and enjoy all such potentials. There are also factors and elements for man’s happiness and success. All these factors are at work when man is alive and tries hard to benefit from them.
And finally the twelfth point is about man’s post mortem life. When a man dies and apparently becomes inanimate, the believer knows that this state is like his first step in a new life. If he has spent his life doing good and worshipping God, then this new state is time for his real rest, for receiving rewards and enjoying the unimaginable blessing, boom and favour of God Almighty. Of course materialists do not believe in life after death and so the final results of all their endeavours come to an end when they die. One may raise an impossible question (according to them) and ask them: Suppose the moment you die, will be the beginning of your joy, tranquility and success, how is that?! But let’s return to believers: for them the end of earthly life with all its hardships and sufferings is the beginning of a new life, rewards and the joys of God’s paradise.
Well, the 12 points we enumerated were the necessary conditions for happiness and salvation; they are necessary for the happiness and beatitude of an individual, a community or a society. And now we are going to listen to the Quran to see that all these good things are promised to firm believers with commitment to faith and proper deeds. The Quran promises many factors and elements bringing about happiness to the true believers; it says all these are for you: the light of Guidance, safety and security and spiritual tranquility. It also explains how fruitful your efforts shall be; and we could witness the realization of all these promises if we look carefully at history of humanity because God’s tradition is always the same.
Now we listen to some verses of the Quran from various Suras. The first is a verse from Sura Jonah (Younus): “those who believe and do good works shall be guided by their own Lord because of their faith; beneath them streams will flow in the Gardens of Bliss”. You see, it refers to those who did believe and did good works; I must explain that the word ‘saalih’ (good, virtuous) indeed refers to actions carried out on the basis of faith, for faith commits one to certain deeds and carrying out such deeds in doing ‘saalih’ works. As the verse confirms God will guide them as a result of their firm faith, so the fact of being faithful will help them find their ways. Yet some people ask ‘how could we be guided to the final destination’? And when you consider the attitude of such doubtful persons, you find out that their faith is not firm or if they do have faith, it is not followed by deeds. Yet if they act upon their faith, they’ll receive guidance automatically. When one has faith and acts according to it, the ways and means of reaching the goal will be there and the paths will be open to them.
Taking the first step towards faith, none of the faithful, leaders or followers, may know what their tenth step would be. I sometimes give a smile to explain this: imagine you are in a desert at night and you only have a small torch or lantern that only sheds light about one meter in front of you, but the safe spot you want to reach is a few kilometers away. Now if you’re told that you must travel all this distance by this small lantern, you may surprisingly say: but I can only see things in front of me for one meter! Well, the answer to this blind logic is: you take one more step and you see another meter in front of you, if you have faith and a persistent determination, you’ll travel your long distance and you’ll reach the desired location; isn’t this a logical suggestion? You take firm steps and God will guide you because of your true faith.
In many other verses of the Quran, references are found about the question of a firm Faith. In one verse it is said that whenever a new verse was revealed, the disbelievers, the hypocrites and others with sickness in their hearts, asked: “Each time a Sura is revealed, some of them question: which of you has increased his faith by it?” Then the Quran answers them: this verse helps those who are believers and those who are on the right path to increase their faith and make it more steadfast; this means that it is in fact their own sincere faith that helps them receive more guidance. Now let’s listen to another verse: “O Humankind, you have now lucid evidence from your own Lord for it is indeed a glorious Light We have revealed to you.” But the point concerning our discussion is the next verse: “Now those who do believe in God and hold fast unto Him, shall be admitted soon to His Mercy and to His graceful Boon and He will guide them to Himself upon a very direct Road.” So you see that God promises all that bliss and boom to those who believe, and we hear in this verse, a heart-felt faith is not enough, they must hold fast unto Him, that is, to follow God’s ways and the injunctions of the revealed religion, then He will guide them to Himself, guides them to choose the closest and fastest ways to Him. This sort of guidance is for the true believers only because if you have faith but do not act upon it and forget your religions commitments to God, he will not guide you to Himself and you will be deprived of the Light mentioned in this verse which concerns the true believers only.
The next verse we read in this respect is an oft-repeated one, it says: “But those who struggle in Our cause, We’ll surely guide them in Our ways, and the doers of any righteous deed, have God with them indeed.” Again you notice that God says ‘in Our ways’. Well, what are God’s paths or His ways? The answer is: towards divine goals, all God’s aims on earth. What are God’s goals in more detail? We can mention justice, safety and security, serving God Almighty, the spiritual growth and perfection of His servants, cultivation of the land, prosperity of the people, happiness in the hearts of men and women and a happy preparation for the next world; We may add to the list of God’s goals: absence of suspicion and jealousy, absence of polytheism, removal of disbelief, abolition of violence and savagery and the annihilation of rebellion, crimes, etc. So, God addresses those who struggle in His path and says that He will undoubtedly show them Our ways, He won’t let them be confused and bewildered. There is a line of poetry by Attaar which summarizes this particular discussion; he says:
Set out for the journey and be stable
The road will tell you how to travel!
Well, God guides those who struggle on His path. This is true in all fields, not only in theology and understanding religion, but also in other investigations, social or international; anyone who has divine incentives and takes some firm steps, God Almighty will guide him towards the final goal for ‘God is with those who do righteous deeds’.
What we said so far about ‘guidance’ was based on some verses from the holy Quran about God’s guidance but there are many more verses in the Quran about ‘guidance’ and if we were to mention them all, we had to talk for 3 to 4 days. I have already said that ‘light’ is necessary for a happy, human life; this is the ‘light’ that has been promised to true believers: “God is the Walee (Patron) of the faithful, He leads them out of Darkness in to the Light…”.
Now what does the Arabic word ‘walee’ mean exactly? It has been translated as ‘friend’, ‘helper’, ‘patron’, guardian, etc. But I prefer to say that ‘walee’ is the one who is always with you because the word ‘welaaya’ originally means ‘connection’, ‘adherence’, and ‘union’. So God is always with true believers, and He takes them out of darkness into Light. And what is meant by darkness? Darkness mans all those factors and elements which keep humanity in spiritual and mental prison such as ignorance, superstition, arrogance, oppression in human systems and everything that keeps people away from knowledge, from human values and the light of cognition. God helps and guides the believers to free themselves from such chains but never guides the disbelievers, the unfaithful, the doubtful and the polytheists; these people are always anxious and restless and they receive no light and so they don’t have a true recognition or understanding. How about ‘kuffaar’? The Quran says: ‘those who disbelieved’; those are the people who were most ungrateful, who rejected the divine gift to them. When you consider the original meaning of the word ‘kaafir’, you find out that they are not called ‘kuffaar’ because they rejected the religion. No the religion of Islam was a gift from God; it was revealed for their happiness, safety and prosperity; this is what they rejected, these ungrateful, unfortunate, stupid people. Thus the Quran says: “…but the infidels’ patrons are the devils who will drive them out of light into Darkness; they shall be the inmates of the Hell-fire, and lasting dwellers.” As you notice, they were rejecters of God’s bounty and bliss, they followed the satans and devils and so God left them in their darkness of hearts and minds and so they will be the companions of the Fire forever.
Well, in a few minutes our dear Quran reciter, Mr. Rezaee will recite the verses we discussed today in his pleasing voice and you’ll then find out that the verses become more pleasant in your ears. Now I only read out the few verses I selected for finishing today’s discussion: “O you believers do remember Allah most often; and celebrate His praise morning and evening; He it is Who sends blessings on you as do His angels that He may bring you out of utter Darkness into Light.” These are the glorious promises of the Quran to true believers; such promises and good news are abundant in the Quran and if I was to quote them all, it would have taken days. Tomorrow I’ll try to bring this discussion to an end, if God will.
