Word 30: The one who pays attention to the knowledge and the action, will find the knowledge as the leader (Imam) of the action.

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Word 30: The one who pays attention to the knowledge and the action, will find the knowledge as the leader (Imam) of the action.

The knowledge specifies the soul, and the action specifies the body. It is not possible to have a soul without a body and also have a body without a soul, but the body is sustained by the soul. Humans have two wings to fly, knowledge and action. Similarly, we have two types of wisdom, theoretical and practical. a narration says, “The Knowledge is the Imam (leader) of the action”. “On the Day when We call every people with their leader[1] (Al-Isra:71). Now extend the meaning of this verse to knowledge and action, therefore we will find that our actions depend on our knowledge. What is the difference between guardians of God to other people? Is it the quantity of their action? or are they superior because of the quality of their actions. The higher the knowledge, the higher the value of the action. To understand it better assume that the motion of the action is horizontal, but the motion of the knowledge is vertical. An eagle flies at a specific elevation but an airplane can fly higher. Both fly but the airplane has a wider view because it is flying higher than an eagle. We will have a wider view when we are in the shuttle compared to when we are in the first-floor apartment. So, Knowledge raises humans. Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali (A) said, “The ignorant ascetic is conquered by Satan”. It is possible an ignorant worshiper is deceived by Satan while he prays a lot. Because he does not have knowledge (Imam) that guides him. Some of the prayers are Satanic while the worshiper does not know it.

It was a mystic that gave instruction to one of his followers to heal the sickness. When the sick was healed, the mystic prayed the prayer of gratitude ( Salat of Shukr). In a divine inspiration, someone told him, “Your prayer was satanic because you thought you are the person who healed the sick, basically you thanked yourself not God”. God is the healer, if someone else gave the instruction and the sick was healed, are you again performing thanks prayer? You did not thank God for healing the person but for yourself. When we examine the actions, we will find a lot of them are because of our arrogance and pride. There was a man who said, I am not arrogant at all, I am ready to bow down and kiss the poor man’s shoes. I said, “this is your Nafs deception, if you tell the truth, come on in the class and kiss my hand”. Bowing down and kissing a poor man’s shoes is easy because people know that it is out of your modesty, but you know that if you kiss my hand, people will not say it was out of your modesty. Sometimes people think that they become angry or worship for God’s sake, but in reality, it is not true. A narration says, “A Jewish scholar heard that Satan made a tree-like idol as God for some people. He became angry and took his ax and went to break the idol. In the middle of the road, Satan stopped him, they fought, and he knocked the devil to the ground. Satan said let’s do a deal! If you break that idol, I will make another one for them, you would not be able to stop them from worshipping an idol. I will give you two coins per day, one for yourself that you do not have to work anymore and spend your time on worshiping God, and you can also donate the second coin to another needy believer. The scholar accepted the deal and went home. The next day, he did not see any coin, so he said, “Satan deceived me”. He took his ax again and went to break the idol. In the middle of the road, he saw Satan, they fought again, and Satan knocked the scholar to the ground. The scholar asked, why did I knock you down before but not this time? Satan said, “Because at first, you were going to break the idol for God’s sake but this time, some of your angriness is because of the coins that I have not given you”.

A pious man in Children’s of Prophet Jacob(A) (Bani Israel) was praying and worshiping very hard. Angel Gabriel (A) was surprised and asked God about his position in Heaven. God showed the angel the level of that worshiper in heaven. Angel replied, “this is so small”, God said, “Go and talk with him to see how much knowledge he has about me!”. Angel came and started talking with the worshiper. After a short conversation, the worshiper said, “look at this beautiful grass field. It was good if God had a donkey to enjoy eating here”. Angel said, “God does not have a donkey”, The worshiper said, “Yes, that is unfortunate and a defect of God”. He was thinking that God is like a human who needed a donkey to move around. Believe it or not, so many people in this world have similar thoughts about God. Someone asked Prophet Muhammad (S), “What is the best action?” Prophet replied, “Knowledge!”. The companion asked, “we asked about actions, and you replied “knowledge”?”. Prophet replied, “Because with the knowledge, few good deeds are accepted but without knowledge, even many good deeds will not be accepted”. It is narrated that, “the sleep of a knower is better than the worship of the ignorant and the doubt of the knower is better than the certainty of ignorant”. Therefore, if we want to be a believer, we need to have knowledge. You might see some people pray for 70 years without knowledge; these prayers should cause your soul to be stronger. The worship figure of guardians of God is similar to us but the quality of the prayer with knowledge is different. Men are like knowledge and women are like action.

The creature and the knower of all says, “Men are in charge of women because Allah hath made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women)[2] (An-Nisa:34). As I said, this is not the discussion of men’s and women’s souls, but the discussion is about the shape that they have in this world. In Islam, divorce is possible from the men’s side. People might ask, what law is this? but if we deeply study it, we will find that this is the wisest law in marriage. The verse of the Holy Quran says, “And you, Adam, inhabit the Garden, you and your wife[3] (Al-A’raf:19). God does not say, You two go to the Garden but He says, “you, Adam inhabit the Garden and your wife”. Your wife needs to follow you. Some philosophers say, “Men are a manifestation of intellect level and women are a manifestation of heart level”. We discussed that our intellect level is fully immaterial, but our heart level is an intermediary between the intellect and material level. Because our heart level controls material level then it has attention to detail. Women are a manifestation of heart level, and they can have children because of their capability of managing the material level. This is not true for men because the intellect level does not have attention to its subordinate. Men unlike women do not pay attention to details. When the child changes a little, the mother notices but the father does not.  For example, a mother says today my child blinks more than normal, but the father does not pay attention unless it is a big problem. Recent statistical research showed that men who are paying attention to detail, have a higher rate of a heart attack. Because they are not capable to pay attention to detail, they become pressured. On the opposite side, if women pay attention to the general similar situation will occur. Men pay attention to 30 years mortgage (looks at far) but women pay attention to the amount of the loan itself (look at near). I am trying to bring some examples to show the different viewpoints of men and women. Women love to change the decoration of the house, changing shoes and dress every day, unlike men who do not pay attention to these. Similarly, women like to change their husbands. The men are more loyal because of their needs. Allameh Hassanzadeh said, “You should look after your family like an eagle”. God knows better than me and any philosophers what is best for men or women. The heart (women) needs to follow the intellect (men). Some mystics say women are a manifestation of the Name of “Al-Batin” (Inner) and men are a manifestation of the Name of “Az-Zahir” (Outer). In this world, superiority is with the God’s Name of “Az-Zahir” (Outer) but in the hereafter, superiority is with the God’s Name of “Al-Batin” (Inner). A woman who is obedient to her husband, in reality, she is the ruler of her man’s heart.

The Holy Quran about Lady Maryam says, “And mention in the Scripture Mary, when she withdrew from her people to an eastern location. (16) She screened herself away from them, and We sent to her Our spirit, and He appeared to her as an immaculate human. (17) She said, “I take refuge from you in the Most Merciful, should you be righteous.” (18) He said, “I am only the messenger of your Lord, to give you the gift of a pure son.” (19) She said, “How can I have a son, when no man has touched me, and I was never unchaste?” (20) He said, “Thus said your Lord, `It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign for humanity, and a mercy from Us. It is a matter already decided.’“ (21) So she carried him and secluded herself with him in a remote place (22)[4] (Maryam:16-22). “And she who guarded her virginity. We breathed into her of Our spirit, and made her and her son a sign to the world[5] (Al-Anbiya:91). Ibn Arabi in one chapter of his book “Fusus” discussed the birth of Prophet Jesus (A), “ The body of Jesus was made of Lady Mary (A) but his spirit was from the angel Gabriel (A)”. Prophet Jesus was half-human, half-spirit in one way and it is true for us with one intermediary. We are all the children of the angel Gabriel (A), but Jesus (A) was born without an intermediary (material body). That was why the spirit’s power of Jesus dominated his body and raised the dead. “When God says, O Jesus son of Mary, recall My favor upon you and upon your mother, how I supported you with the Holy Spirit. You spoke to the people from the crib, and in maturity. How I taught you the Scripture and wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospel. And recall that you molded from clay the shape of a bird, by My leave, and then you breathed into it, and it became a bird, by My leave. And you healed the blind and the leprous, by My leave; and you revived the dead, by My leave. And recall that I restrained the Children of Israel from you when you brought them the clear miracles. But those who disbelieved among them said, `This is nothing but obvious sorcery[6] (Al Ma’ida:110). Now we should understand a narration from Prophet Muhammad (S) which said, “Virtue of a man to a woman is like the Sky to the Earth”. Shia do not claim equality between men and women which is very obvious but Shia believe in equal rights between men and women. “O people! We created you from a male and a female, and made you races and tribes, that you may know one another. The best among you in the sight of God is the most righteous. God is All-Knowing, Well-Experienced[7] (Al-Hujurat:13). The Quran clearly says, “The best among you in the sight of God is the most righteous”.

Muhammad Mahdi Me’marian

All praise is to God to the extent that He deserves it.                                     


[1] -يَوْمَ نَدْعُو كُلَّ أُنَاسٍ بِإِمَامِهِمْ

[2] – الرِّجَالُ قَوَّامُونَ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ بِمَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ وَبِمَا أَنفَقُوا مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ

[3] – وَيَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ

[4] -وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ مَرْيَمَ إِذِ انتَبَذَتْ مِنْ أَهْلِهَا مَكَانًا شَرْقِيًّا ‎﴿١٦﴾‏ فَاتَّخَذَتْ مِن دُونِهِمْ حِجَابًا فَأَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهَا رُوحَنَا فَتَمَثَّلَ لَهَا بَشَرًا سَوِيًّا ‎﴿١٧﴾‏ قَالَتْ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِالرَّحْمَٰنِ مِنكَ إِن كُنتَ تَقِيًّا ‎﴿١٨﴾‏ قَالَ إِنَّمَا أَنَا رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَامًا زَكِيًّا ‎﴿١٩﴾‏ قَالَتْ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِي بَشَرٌ وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّا ‎﴿٢٠﴾‏ قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ قَالَ رَبُّكِ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنٌ ۖ وَلِنَجْعَلَهُ آيَةً لِّلنَّاسِ وَرَحْمَةً مِّنَّا ۚ وَكَانَ أَمْرًا مَّقْضِيًّا ‎﴿٢١﴾‏ ۞ فَحَمَلَتْهُ فَانتَبَذَتْ بِهِ مَكَانًا قَصِيًّا

[5] -وَالَّتِي أَحْصَنَتْ فَرْجَهَا فَنَفَخْنَا فِيهَا مِن رُّوحِنَا وَجَعَلْنَاهَا وَابْنَهَا آيَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ

[6] -إِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ اذْكُرْ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَىٰ وَالِدَتِكَ إِذْ أَيَّدتُّكَ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ تُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا ۖ وَإِذْ عَلَّمْتُكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنجِيلَ ۖ وَإِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ بِإِذْنِي فَتَنفُخُ فِيهَا فَتَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَتُبْرِئُ الْأَكْمَهَ وَالْأَبْرَصَ بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَإِذْ تُخْرِجُ الْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَإِذْ كَفَفْتُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَنكَ إِذْ جِئْتَهُم بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ إِنْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ

[7] -يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

Tag: Allah, God, Quran, Prophet Muhammad (S), Prophet Jesus (A), Amir Al-Mu’minin Ali (A), Imam Hussain (A), Imam Mahdi (AJ), Allameh Hassanzadeh, Karbala, Heaven, Hell, Day of Judgement, Nafs, Self-Knowledge, Sin, Istiqfar, Mary Magdalene, Soul, Guardians of God, Nahj-al-Balagha.

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