وبسایت شخصی دکتر سعید قاضیپور Dr. Saeed Ghazipour
Anthropology: An Argumentation Between Dr. Tabei and Dr. Ghazipour
Presented by: Ali Reza Fattahi (Ph.D Student of Management)
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Foreword
I, Ali Reza Fattahi, holding the
postgraduate degree in the discipline “educational management”, and being the PhD student in the discipline “management”, am announcing that I have for years enjoyed the generous teachings and guidance in the presence of my respected and dear master, Dr. Saeed Ghazipour, and now, I have the opportunity and honor of putting his argumentations with his own teacher and master, Dr. Seyyed Ziaoddin Tabei into effect. It has to be mentioned that after dealing with the subject matter “ontology”, which was looked at formerly in the first session, the subject matter “anthropology” will be the second subject matter to be dealt with in the second session. The subject matter “anthropology” is now presented to the readers with my asking questions which will be answered and argued by these two great masters. It has also to be mentioned that what is going to be presented on the following pages is all discussed in a haphazard manner and without any prior preparation, which is not necessarily philosophical, mystical, jurisprudential and so forth.
It is hoped that this presentation will be paid attention by those people who are interested in the subject matter anthropology.
Ali Reza Fattahi
September 15th, 2019
the presenter: “With regard to the division which was argued at the beginning of our argumentation at the university, we first argued about the subject matter “ontology”, and after that, we continued to argue a little about the subject matter “anthropology”, “the human principles, and “the human’s innate principles”.
And then, we all agreed to argue about the next chapters, that is to say, methodology, sociology and so forth, debating unhurriedly the relation of the subject matter “Existence” with the subject matter “the Human Being”, and the relation of the subject matter “the Human Being” with the subject matter “Existence” itself, and the relation of “the Existence” with “God, the Almighty”, and the relation of “the Human Being” with “God, the Almighty “as well as arguing about these four variants’ interactions with one another.
Now, in this very discussion, and in the present milieu, the subject matter to be discussed, which was discussed in the former session, was that what the relationship of the human being, that is to say, the truth and nature of the human being with the Existence from the viewpoint of anthropology would be like. Let me put this subject matter into a question first, that is to say, is this true that the one who really knows his or her own self, will eventually know his or her God? In other words, is this true that anyone who really knows his or her own self, will reach to a position that knows his or her God?, that is to say, is this true that if the former question would be true, does it mean that the being and the existence of every human being are inextricably interwoven with the being and existence of God, the Almighty? If so, where should we begin to discuss about this subject matter? As a matter of fact, God, the Almighty, Himself, has stated this subject matter in several verses in the Holy Quran, such as in the Quranic chapter of “Qaaf”, verse sixteen, where He says: “…, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein.”; and in the Quranic chapter of “Hadid”, verse four, He says: “…, and He is with you wherever you are.” as well as in other Quranic verses which put emphasis on the close proximity of God, the Almighty to human beings. Even in an Islamic tradition, God, the Almighty has stated: “If you, the human beings, do start from yourselves [that is to say, if you start thinking about and knowing yourselves], it would be like that you have started from Me [that is to say, you have started thinking about and knowing Me, and you will reach Me on the condition that you start knowing yourselves].
Dr. Tabei: “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. To clarify the Islamic tradition you just mentioned, I should say that the tradition should be read in two ways. To make it clearer, Imam Khomeini (May he rest in peace) gives as an example of a couplet whose prosaic meaning is as follows: “Our old master said, “There is definitely no fault in what God, the Almighty created/ Praise be to him/ Him who always conceals the faults. “(Note: in Farsi language, unlike the English language, there is no definite object pronoun introducing God, the Almighty, as the word God is introduced in its object pronoun form as “Him”. In Farsi language, there is no capital letter introducing the word “God”). As a matter of fact, it took me a while to find an equivocally in the second half line of this couplet, that is to say, the words “him” or “Him”. Any way, Imam Khomeini (may he rest in peace) states that this couplet has got two meanings. The first meaning would be that our old master is so kind – hearted that he conceals all the faults, that is to say, the old master would like to conceal God’s fault, on the condition that we consider the word “he” in the couplet, which refers to “our old master”. And the second meaning would be that it is God, the Almighty who has always concealed our faults, that is to say, the faults of all human beings, if we consider the object pronoun “He” for the word “God”. Now, let us get back to our discussion. What do we mean by saying that if you would like to know God, the Almighty, you have to first know your self? It is by your self that you set your mind if you want to do some thing. You can move your hand because of your willpower; you can walk because of your willpower. There is no doubt that when you will to do something, you do it, and when you do not will to do something, you will not do it. As a matter of fact, there exists something called “willpower” in your own self, which as Sadroddin Muhammed Shirazi, a Persian philosopher of the fifth century A. H., known as Mullah Sadra, states, “the self of the human being is only one in all his existential and evolutionary dimensions”, that is to say, the human self is Not decomposable at all, which is called Mullah Sadra’s theory of pantheism. As a matter of fact, there is a single thing in the self that gives order to us to move our parts of body, for example, on the condition that we would really like to move them. If we really know and understand this, the understanding of God, the Almighty will be easier for us. And, if you enlarge this single thing in a larger scope, say, the universe, you will see that there logically is a single God who has always ruled over the World of Being, one single God who has willpower, one single God who really wills. When this single God wills to do some thing, that thing becomes alive or becomes dead. As the Quranic chapter of “Qaafir”, verse sixty – eight, says:
“هوالذی یحیی و یمیت فاذاقضی امرا فانما یقول له کن فیکون”
, which means: “He [God, the Almighty], it is He who gives life and causes death; and when He decrees a matter, He but says to it, ‘Be’, and it is.”, that is to say, God, the Almighty is He who makes things come into existence, and it is He Himself who brings death and destruction to every living thing, and when He wills to create something, He only says to that thing: “Be”, and immediately that thing comes into existence. There comes a time that you will to move your hand, and your hand is moved in no time at all by you, without any moment wasted. And the very moment of moving your hand is so short, that is to say, from the moment you start willing to move your hand, it will take a very short time for you to move your hand. Similarly, creating things for God, the Almighty does not take any time at all. Now, after one knows his or her God for a shout time, they should start learning and knowing the holy names of God, the Almighty, and they should start thinking about and relating those holy names to their own selves. But, what do I mean by saying these things? The seeker of God, the Almighty should start knowing the divine names of “All – knowing”, “All – learned”, as well as “Almighty”, starting step by step to develop and change gradually over a long period of time. Therefore, we come to the second reading which says, “The one who knew his or her God, did know his or her self, too”. If one does know the holy names and attributes of God, the Almighty, he or she should gradually relate those holy divine names and attributes to his or her own self, seeing them in himself or herself. There fore, if we are able to solve all the humans’ problems, all the trivial problems existing in the lives of all humans will automatically be faded away. In this way, we will be able to proceed further and solve all the problems existing in the whole world, which are among all the people of the world, on the basis of ontology. Euen in its very defective form, ontology has been introduced and presented in the West as a certain philosophy called “existentialism”, but it has been introduced and presented in a very weak and shallow way. The kind of ontology we are putting emphasis on is called the “religious ontology” which is very deep and strongly – based. Here, I remember one of Mowlavi’s poems whose simple, prosaic meaning is as follows: “last night our sheikh was traveling about the town, with a lanterns in his hand; continuously saying: “I am fed up with these beastly – natured people; I desire, from the bottom of my heart, to find true human beings/ A voice said to our sheikh: “Do not waste your time, and do not bother yourself to search for true human beings; you will not find them/ “All – right”, our sheikh replied,” I desire to find what is not found in the town”/. Also, it is said that, Hafiz, a great Persian poet of 792 A. H., had composed a couplet in reply of Mowlavi’s abone – mentioned poem, saying: “you will not find true human beings in this earthly world/ To obtain an ideal world, a new world as well as a new human being have to be created”/, implying that the human being himself is something that is necessary before something else can happen or be done. The human being, to be a true human being would be the prerequisite of all things. When I was teaching at university, I always used to tell my students a story in the classroom, which is as follows: “They told a piece of stone, ‘what would you desire to be? “It said, “ I desire to be something soft; I do not like this hardness. Of mine If I could be turned into soil, I will feel softness.” When the piece of stove was turned into soil, the wind blew and carried it away. So, this time, the soil said, pour some drops of water on me, if you please, so that I will turn into something sticky, so that the wind cannot carry me away. So, it was turned into something sticky; yet, it did not please it. Being dissatisfied, it, once again, wished, “I desire to be some sludge; to be something like some sludge can be an advantage.” So, it was turned into some sludge. After a while, it, again, said, “I have seen that sludge can be turned into beautiful jugs, so that a jug-maker can take me between his hands, roll me about, and blow in me. “So, it was turned into a jug. After a while, it, again, said, “Being a jug is of no use to me. I would desire to be a plant which can grow and reproduce; yes, I want to become a plant.” So, it was turned into a plane tree. After a while, the plane tree said,” Being a plane tree does not satisfy me; I want to become a fly which can fly and move every where; a plane tree cannot move around.” To cut a long story short, it was turned into all kinds of animals, but none of them satisfied it. At last, it said, “I desire to be an animal which can walk on its two feet with an upright position, with his head in the air; to be other animals is below my dignity.” At last, that creature was turned into a human being who could walk on two feet. He, again, was asked: “What do you want to be now? The new human being said: “I am not satisfied with what I am; I want to have the ability to talk; a creature which does not have the ability to talk is good for nothing. I wish to be a self – reliant creature which can only be realized by the power of talking.” So, the new human being was taught how to make space rockets and to travel in the space later that time. After all these, the new human being said: “All right, but if I am turned into a jinni, I will be able to do all of the things I desire without being a real destructionist. so, God, please turn me into a more developed being.” God answered him: “Well, the more developed being will be an angel which can do great things without distracting anything.” Then they sent for the divine angels and they were told: “Come and sit here; we want you to be turned into the human being. So, go to the presence of the human being and bow down before him.
After that, God, the Almighty said to the human being: “What else do you desire?” Then, the human being answered:” I very much wish to become like you, God,” “In order to become like Me, you have to get rid of all the things I have given you; you have to throw them away to become a God. You have to be free from all bindings and belongings”, God, the Almighty said. But which one of us has really accepted to be free from all their bindings and belongings?
Then, the divine angels mounted a protest against the human being’s last wish, saying to God, the Almighty: “Do you really want to turn this wild and bloodthirsty human being into something like yourself, God? We have always worshipped you and sacrificed ourselves to you.” God, the Almighty replied: “Stop talking nonsense. I am well aware of what I am going to do.” As a matter of fact, millions of years later, by showing the divine angels the incident of Kabala and by showing them a superman called Imam Hussain and (May he rest in peace) his own seventy – two companions who were martyred in the desert of Karbala in the way of Allah, God, the Almighty would prove that a human being, like Imam Hussain had been able to reach Him.
Dr. Ghazipur: “In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. I have now the honor of being in your honorable presence, and have had the honor of learning from your teachings here. With your permission, Dr. Tabei, now that you have mentioned God, the best and incomparable Creator, I should say that every creature, which is created in this world, Possesses, inherits, and obtain the internal and mental attributes of its creator, and the genuineness is related to ideality and perfection, that is to say, when someone wills to create something, he or she wants their creation to be genuine, ideal, and perfect. No one wants to create a bad thing when they will to create something. Basically, and genuinely, there is no doubt that God, the Almighty, too, has always willed to create something which is perfect, ideal, and genuine, which, itself, is the existential nature of creation. The best producer or creator is one who presents and exhibits the best product or creature. So, God, the Almighty, too, has always wanted and willed to manifest His existential power in His best creature. So, in creating the human being, which is God’s best creature, the human being inherits, acquires, and possesses all God’s attributes and characteristics, because in creating the human being, God, the Almighty has surely manifested and proved his divine creativity. I highly agree with Dr. Tabei who said that the human being is, after all, a talking animal. But this very power of talking, which exists inside the human being, is not only the power of speaking or singing alone, because, as we all know, all kinds of animals enjoy a sort of producing sound or the ability to sing. The power of talking in the human being is beyond these things; it is related to the power of will and the power of choice which both exist in the human being. But these two powers, that is to say, the power of will and the power of choice, are not enough for the human being, because jinnis, too, enjoy these two powers of will and choice; they, too, possess the ability to choose as well as the ability to will, but they have not been given by God, the Almighty the power and ability to traverse the path of idealism and divine Perfection, hence reaching God, the Almighty. Traversing the path of divine perfection has not been given by God, the Almighty to any living creature, but the human being. On this basis, the divine angles from the very first moment of their creation to the end of it, have a destined and fixed rank and life and position. But, this is the human being who is an animal who has been given the ability to make a choice out of his or her will, and who can traverse the path of divine perfection and idealism through his or her premier and best choices, the only creature who can eventually be turned into a perfect, God – like being. Therefore, the most important difference between the human being and other animals is the human being’s ability to step in the direction of divine perfection, traversing on the path of God, the Almighty, that is to say, to be eventually be united with God, the Almighty, to get rid of all earthly and material things in order to reach the rank and position of unity with God, the Almighty, and to become one with Him. So, by traversing on the path of divine perfection and idealism, the human beings can reach God, the Almighty, and can get the position of “God’s successor” on the planet Earth. If the human being does not develop or manifest this divine position in him or herself, he or she will not reach his or her genuine rank or position on the planet Earth. So, if God, the Almighty, in the Quranic chapter of “Momenoun”, verse fourteen, praises Himself by saying: “…; so, best praises be upon Allah who is the best [and incomparable] creator “, He, as a matter of fact, praises the perfect human being who has, in actuality, been created by Him; He does not mean the kind of human being who puts himself under the position of animals, the human being who has abased him or herself through behaving or performing mean and non – human things and action.
Considering the potentiality of the will and the choice as well as the potentiality of traversing on the path of divine perfection which has only given to Man, and with the consideration of Man’s capacity to manifest these factors, every human being will be free to either traverse on the path of divine perfection and reach God, the Almighty or step on a way which will lead him to the beastly and non – human life.”
Dr. Tabei: “yes, I do agree with what you just said. Am an who does not develop and manifest the inherited and divine capacities which have been given to him or her by God, the Almighty, will lead a life no more than a piece of rock. I just mentioned the example of a piece of rock; that is not accidental; it has Quranic reasonings that I mentioned the example of a piece of rock. The Holy Quran says that some people will become so stone – hearted during their lives that their hearts will be harder than a rock, because, according to the Holy Quran, if you pierce through a piece of rock, water will flow out of it, while when someone becomes stone – hearted, nothing useful will get out of them. The higher stages than the “stone” stage are the four stages that we formerly mentioned in our discussion. One of them is the “soil” stage. We, human beings, in our evolutional stages, had also been turned into soft soil. The next higher stage would be the “vegetative” stage. In the Quranic chapter of “Al – Hajar” [=the Stone”], verse twenty – six, God, the Almighty says: “We created man out of dry mud which was full of malodorous and dark sludge”. and the Quranic chapter of “Al – Rahman “[=the Compassionate], verse fourteen, says: “… and God, the Almighty [=Allah] made man out of dry mud which was like baked clay.” After these evolutional stages, begin the vegetative stage and the “animal” stage, proceeding up to the higher stages we just mentioned. As Dr. Ghazipour and Ayatollah Javadi Amoli state, the human being is the major creature in the World of Being. All other creatures are minor beings. For example, an apple seedling will eventually be developed and turned into an apple tree, not more than that. Or a jinni will eventually be developed and turned into the position of a divine angel, not more than that. Or divine angels will eventually reach their specific divine positions, not more than that. It is said that when the prophet of Islam, Muhammed,(Peace be upon him and his family) was taken to Heaven [=Me’raadj] to see God, the Almighty, the angel Gabriel, who was traveling with him, said to the prophet of Islam: “We have reached to a point from which I am not able and not allowed to go further”, that is to say, Gabriel’s rank and position would not allow and enable him to go further.”
Dr. Ghazipour: “I just want to put emphasis on a point which Dr. Tabei just mentioned, and that is traversing on the path of divine perfection has no limits at all. The one who is put on this path of divine perfection has a long way to reach Allah. As a matter of fact, the path of divine perfection is endless. Even the prophet of Islam, Muhammed (peace be upon him and his family), who is considered as “the Perfect Man” in the religion of Islam, and who, on the order of Allah, was taken to Heaven (=Meraadj), would live on the planet Earth like a simple person, and he. like a simple human being, passed away, that is wholly towards God to say, his superficial life had come to an end, and after his death, his never – ending life was begun, a life which would be endless and continue forever.”
Dr. Tabei: “Since the course and path of divine perfection is wholly towards God, the Almighty, who is infinite, and since God, the Almighty’s manifestations are always new and developing, human beings, too, are always becoming new and developing. Even in Heaven, there exist stages of evolution, and since these evolutional stages are beyond our understanding, God, the Almighty has said nothing about them. Somewhere in the Holy Quran, God, the Almighty has said that “We will say something to you of which you have not the ability to think about”; so, it is most likely that in Heaven, there are stages of evolution for human beings.”
Dr. Ghazipour: “This like the matter of the drop of water and the sea. When the drop of water is connected with the sea, it will traverse the path of evolution and becomes one with the sea, so, when the human being, that is to say, the drop of water is connected with the sea, that is to say, God, the Almighty, he or she will traverse the divine path of evolution.:
Dr. Tabei: “The point you just mentioned is also manifested in “the fourfold praises to God”[تسبیحات رابعه] in our daily prayers when we, first, say: “Allah is impeccable”, then, we say: “Praise be to Allah”, then, it becomes more complete, and we say afterwards: “There is no god, but Allah”, and at last we say: “Allah is the greatest of all.”
Dr. Ghazipour: “In this way, the spirit is ordered by God, the Almighty, and “we belong to Allah, and we will return to Him” [=انالله وانالیه راجعون]. So, when we die and our spirits return to Him, we will be connected to an endless and boundless Being, and our divine evolution will continue ever after, and forever.”
The Presenter: “Before I mention a poetic point from Hafiz, the poet, I should say that the holy Quran says:
“Allah is the beginning; He is the end; He is the form, and He is the content of emery thing in this world of Being”, that is to say, the beginning, the end, the from, the content of the human being is God, the Almighty. Hafiz says: “You [=Allah] are the spirit flowing in the world of Being. Your spirit is inside our bodies.” So, it is wrong to think that the world of Being or the universe are some things detached from God, the Almighty. In other words, God, the Almighty exists in everything in the World of Being. This very point has been mentioned by Mr. Hassanzadeh in one of his books which was written in relation to what he calls “the World of Being is limited”. Ibn-e Sina reasons that this World of Being is limited by recalling nine reasons to prove it. The polymath Hassanzadeh evaluated every one of these nine reasons, and in the end, he concludes that the World of Being has no limits at all. The above – mentioned poetic point of Hafiz means that our body which, itself, is a world of being in its own kind, has been created in order to pray for God, the Almighty; in other words, Man has not been created but to worship God, the Almighty. I a, short time ago, put a religious incantation on my website; indeed, I made a website last night to which they gave the name of “close friends”. Although these Qomi people are so friendly, lovely, and religious, I do not know why they chose an English title for it, but when they text me by their cell phones, it is obvious that these cell phone texts are coming from somewhere very religious. After I put that religious incantation on my website, one of those Qomi people asked me, “Have you made this religious incantation yourself?” I texted him “I did not make that myself. This religious incantation is actually the word of the holy Quran Itself. I just added some delicacy to it.” Later, I realized that the asker had been Mr. Muhammed Taqi Islami who was an instructor in Qomi Theological School as well as the writer of a book on medical ethics, which was going to be published and criticized later. The above – mentioned poem of Hafiz, the poet, should be read in two different ways: One way has the earthly aspect; the other has the heavenly aspect. Those who seek earthly pleasures and delights such as taking alcoholic drinks, usually read it as the first version, but people such as Mr. Tabatabaei and Imam Khomeini (May he rest in peace) realize it as the second version. In this very Hafiz’s poem, he says: “I have a life which has been given to me by someone who I love the most / I hope to see his/ His face one day and give my life back to him/ Him.”
In this regard, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli says: “The one who was going to be reached by Hafiz must have a much higher position and rank than Hafiz himself.”
Dr. Ghazipour: “Imam Khomeini (May he rest in peace) has stated a mystical sentence; it is not surprising that Sufi mystics had their own specific point of view about the World of Being, which has been a matter of controversy among Islamic scholars, and I do not want to go into it here. Imam Khomeini (May he rest in peace) stated a mystical sentence which was broadcasted on TV. He said: “All of us are nothing, everything which exists in the World of Being is Him, God, the Almighty. “This mystical sentence means that God, the Almighty exists inside each of us, so, we , in a way, is a part of God, the Almighty. As a matcher of fact, we are the god of our destiny, a sentence which is controversial, of course. The mystical interpretation of Imam Khomeini’s sentence is this: “We go to another world after we die, a world in which we will stay alive forever.”
The Presenter: “What I just said is deeply connected with the first part of your statements regarding “one who knows him or herself, has known their God, too.”
Dr. Ghazipour: “Yes, the whole World of Being is actually the manifestation of God, the Almighty.”
Dr. Tabei: “What you, two, are saying has been mentioned in the Quranic chapter of “A’raaf”, verse one – hundred and seventy – two , saying. “And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “yes, we have testified”. [This] – lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, “Indeed, we were of this unaware.” But what is the real meaning of “Am I not your Lord?” This earthly world is the world of passage and restriction. In the world of time immemorial [=الست], Allah spoke with his existential language. Existence do have a language, and basically, language do belong to existence. Human beings did perceive this voice of time immemorial in that world completely. At that time, the human beings’ existence were actually their ears and they heard this voice from the invisible world, that is to say, from God, the Almighty. By saying “Am I not your lord?” (=[?الست بربکم], God, the Almighty means that you, people, are not like Me in the literal sense of the word; you, people, are only a radiance, a gleam of Me; you are not My real essence; you, people, are only a part of Me. The people’s answer was:” yes, we have testified” that you are our Lord, which, in fact, is not a static statement. Their answer has a dynamic characteristic. So, every moment, God, the Almighty, even if the answer “yes” is interpreted as having a static characteristic, manifests Himself in every single person of us. As a matter of fact, God, the Almighty, is like a mirror in which we can see ourselves. I just gave the example of the mirror, because if you stand in front of a mirror and ask the mirror: “Who is standing in front of you, mirror?”, the mirror will answer: “you are standing in front of me. You are watching yourself in me. “There are two Islamic versions of interpretation in the example of the mirror. One Islamic version says: “God, why did you create us, the people? “God, the Almighty answered: “Since I was so beautiful, I wanted to create Adam to see Myself in him.” On the contrary, what will happen if Man wants to see himself in the mirror of God, the Almighty? There is no doubt that we see God, the Almighty, and see no one else. But when you see God, the Almighty, you will not see yourself any more. Let me give you a nice example, here. Take a very small mirror in front of your nose. What do you see in it? A disgusting piece of cartilage which is not beautiful at all. Now, take a bigger mirror in front of your face, so that you are able to see all your face, including your eyes, your eyebrows and your lips. Now, you will notice that your nose is not that disgusting and ugly as it was before. Now, take a bigger mirror in front of your head, so that you can see your hair, your ears, and your neck. This time, you will notice that your nose is not ugly at all, on the contrary, you will see that it even befits your face. If you take a larger mirror in front of you and in front of other people who are standing beside you, you may notice yourself in it a little. Now, if you take a large large mirror in front of the planet Earth, you do not notice yourself any unore, and you will most likely say: “How beautiful is the world!”
Therefore, if somebody sees him or herself in the mirror of God, the Almighty, he or she will gradually not see him or herself, but God, the Almighty; in this way, the watcher becomes smaller and smaller, and God, the Almighty becomes bigger and bigger. So, the more you see God, the Almighty, the less you see yourself. In short, the relation between God, the Almighty and Man is fixed. The more God, the Almighty gets bigger and bigger, the more Man gets smaller and smaller. Have you ever noticed what we, Muslims, say in our daily prayers? We say: “We only worship you” which means: “Through you, we understand that we are nothing, and you, God, are every thing. At first, we saw you, God, then we were able to see ourselves, and we tried to compare ourselves with You, but in the end, we noticed that, in comparison with You, we were and are nothing. “And then, as the daily prayers proceed, God, the Almighty says to the prayerful: “Now, if you want to see me more, you have to prostrate yourself in front of me” and the prayerful bows down more and sees God, the Almighty more, and they say: “My great God is purified, and I will thank Him.” Then, the prayerful says to God, the Almighty: “Can I see your greatness more?” And God, the Almighty replies: “yes, go down and prostrate yourself and say, ‘My supreme God is purified and I will thank Him.’ But, why is that there are two bowing downs in our daily prayers? With the first bowing down, the prayerful passes from the dark veil as well as the bright veil, but, still the prayerful may have the earthly pride, and the prayerful may say: “Now, I have reached God, the Almighty and seen His greatness”, but, at this stage, God, the Almighty says to the prayerful: “Ask forgiveness from Me, and prostrate yourself again.” So, when the prayerful gets up from the second bowing down, all their earthly pride is purified, and the prayerful says: “I testify that there is no god, but Allah”. By saying this, the prayerful perceives and sees their own servitude in relation to God, the Almighty. As a matter of fact, the bowing downs are the signs of human humiliation towards God, the Almighty. If the Prayerful reaches this position and rank, the door of the invisible world will be opened to them. Someone, at the time of the prophet of Islam, Muhammed (Peace be upon him and his family), said: “how proud and selfish the prophet of Islam has been, because he has included his now name in Muslims’ daily prayers, but the prophet of Islam, Muhammed (Peace be upon him and his family), told this man that by prostrating yourself and saying the related prayers, including my own name, you can see, perceive, and feel God, the Almighty. Therefore, observing God, the Almighty is one thing and observing the servitude of the prayerful in relation to God, the Almighty is another thing. And these two observations to together will lead to the divine vocation which is the third factor, and these three factors and observations together will lead to the fourth observation which is the monotheism, and the fifth observation would be the position of the divine prophecy, and the sixth observation would be the divine vocation, and the seventh observation would be the divine imamate. So, these factors and observations are closely interwoven; if the first observation does not exist, the other observations which follow will not exist, too. The position that God, the Almighty bestowed on the prophet Abraham had been the position of imamate. And, as soon as the prophet Abraham was given the position of imamate, he always kept saying to God, the Almighty: “Can any children of mine get the position of imamate in the future, too? Can they be given this position, too?” And God, the Almighty answered the prophet Abraham in this way: “If your children prove to be fair persons in their lives, I will bestow on them the position of imamate; if they do not, they will not be given this position. “So, here, we see that the principle of “fairness” and being a fair person in life, underlies the position of imamate.
Dr. Ghazipour: “With permission from Dr. Tabei, let us take another book at our former discussion regarding “Anyone who knows their selves, has known their God”. It should be mentioned that every thing that exists in the universe and in the World of Being, do exist in all human beings in a smaller scale. All the proofs and justifications for God, the Almighty can be experienced and manifested in every human being, that is to say, the understanding of every individual of him or herself will lead to a whole and complete understanding of all the World of Being, including understanding of God, the Almighty who is truly ruling over the universe and the World of Being. And this is the nature of the Creation, which by knowing your own self, you will know your own God. The very order we see in the Creation is also seen in the creation of every single human being; therefore, it is not necessary for anyone at all to perceive and understand the whole order of the World of Being. If a person perceives and understands the order which is flowing inside him or herself, he or she will consequently perceive and understands the order which is ruling over the whole world of Being. Actually, God, the Almighty is the Great Order himself; this is one aspect with regard to the understanding of God, the Almighty. There is another aspect regarding knowing of God, the Almighty, which pertains exclusively to philosophers who have always tried to clarify the understandment of God, the Almighty from the same point of view, which, in its own place, is very important and valuable. Experimental sciences, too, are valuable and important if they are goal – oriented, and only if these kinds of sciences are put on the way which leads to God, the Almighty. These experimental sciences are expected to reveal more than they superficially experience and discover, that is to say, these experimental sciences, specially in western countries, should be put in a channel which help us know God, the Almighty better. In other words, the understanding of human beings of different sciences as well as natural phenomena should lead the human being to know God, the Almighty ultimately.”
Dr. Tabei: “Generally speaking, there are two bodies of knowledge: one body of knowledge is the knowledge of Creation. God, the Almighty says Himself: “I have created this great universe and have put the knowledge of creation in it in order that thoughtful human beings gets busy discovering it.”
On the basis of his or her existential breadth, every human being tries to discover the knowledge of Creation. In other words, all bodies of knowledge have been put in the whole universe as well as the World of Being, either in microcosm or in the macrocosm, in order that human beings can try to discover those hidden bodies of knowledge and learn from them. The other body of knowledge is called the knowledge of Order and Command, in a way that if there is no purification of soul in it, human beings can reach and discover it. There is no difference between human beings in the whole world. If a human being enters the world of Creation and tries to discover it, God, the Almighty opens only one window of the knowledge Creation before him or her. It is in this world, that is to say, in the world of Oder and Command that human beings need to purify their souls. In the Quranic chapter of “Jom’eh”, verse two, God, the Almighty says: “It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom –although they were before in clear error.” So, in this Quranic verse, God, the Almighty orders that: “Tell them of the signs of the world of Creation. When they discover these signs of the world of Creation, they, afterwards, will desire to know other bodies of knowledge beyond that knowledge of Creation. “So, at this stage, to discover beyond those signs, the human being has to purify his or her soul to know more and more.”
Dr. Ghazipour: “When a person is supposed to know him or herself, he or she manifests the superficial aspects of human – to – human visualization in him or herself; so, there has to be an internal introspection in human beings in order that they are able to perceive and understand their own souls. Man has different capacities and aspects which can be manifested only by purification of his or her own soul, like a diver who desires to swim deep down into the sea to discover untouched, unknown and hidden things. As long as the diver does not spend his or her time practicing diving deep down into the sea, he or she will not be able to discover untouched, unknown and hidden things existing deep down in the sea. So, one of the necessary conditions for human beings to know their selves is the self – knowledge. Man has to build up anew and purify his or her soul if they desire to know themselves. Without building up anew or purifying the soul, one will not be able to know him or herself, just as one will not be able to know and ultimately reach God, the Almighty through only one way.”
The Presenter: “Dear doctor, if we want to speak more practically, I should say that every person has his or her own way to build up anew or purify his or her own soul; one may say, for example,” “I have obtained my purification of my soul through piousness”; the other may say: “I have obtained my purification of my soul through mortification”, and the like; we see that every person has his or her own specific way to build up anew or purify his or her own soul. There are different ways to purify one’s soul. My question, here, is this; Is there a known and standard way for purifying the soul?”
Dr. Tabei: “Yes, there is a known and standard way to purify one’s soul, and it is very simple. Generally speaking, every human being has four internal bodies of knowledge inside them. For instance, we, through our senses, concentrate and know that we, as human beings, know nothing about a particular matter. Human beings are the only creatures who “consciously” know that they know nothing about a particular matter; he or she is consciously aware of his or her ignorance. So, this ignorance, among human beings, become, in the end, to a motivation for them selves to roll up their sleeves and start acquiring and discovering a body of knowledge they know nothing about, a motivation for discovering unknown phenomena. This is called “conscious knowledge”. The second body of knowledge existing in human beings is called “acquired knowledge” which is a body of knowledge that they, after withstanding much hardships and making great efforts and practices acquire. For example, an engineer has certainly withstood the great hardships of staying awake late at night to study his lessons, has made a lot of efforts to learn his or her lessons, or has practiced much, and has worked practically in his or her discipline to be called an engineer. So, if the will and intention of a person, who desires to purify or building up his or her soul anew, is to really know and perceive God, the Almighty, he or she has to withstand great hardships as well as make a lot of efforts in this way. If such a person withstands great hardships and make a lot of efforts to purify his or her own soul, so, he or she makes great efforts to acquire a body of knowledge, for example, in order to learn about the hidden bodies of knowledge in the universe such as nano – technology or bio – technology, God, the Almighty may, sometimes, comes to help them and reveal some hidden body of knowledge for them As a matter of fact, many hidden and unknown phenomena have been inspired to great men of knowledge, who have always desired to acquire a body of knowledge, like Einstein who had repeatedly been inspired by God, the Almighty to discover things; and if, I am sure, Einstein himself thought well, he would call these inspirations “divine inspirations”, and saw that these divine inspirations differed completely with the academic knowledge he had formerly studied and practiced in academia. It is said that, one night when Einstein was sleeping, he dreamed that a snake had sit somewhere on the ground in a circular way, and from the snake’s circular position, he was inspired that the compounds he was working on had a circular form. Another example is the example of New ton who discovered the pourer of gravity of the Earth. He, of Course, had been thinking so much about an unknown power which kept things still on the surface of the Earth, until when he had been sitting under an apple tree, and an apple fell on his head, and he concluded and discovered that the Earth has the power of absorbing things to it, and called this power the gravity of the Earth. This is called the divine inspiration. As a matter of fact, God, the Almighty had helped Newton find the power of gravity of the Earth This is what we call occultism. When a person obtains both the acquired and the ocular leno ledge together and makes use of these two kinds of bodies knowledge on the way of God, the Almighty, he or she has discovered a small piece of a body of knowledge which we call a knowledge which is acquired without the help of a university instructor. So, we are not in a position to say that such knowledge is bad; we have to say that only God, the Almighty knows to whom He has inspired this kind of ocular knowledge; only God, the Almighty knows everything.
Divine prophets were aware of some bodies of knowledge which could not be said anywhere or in the presence of others. As a matter of fact, divine prophets were inspired by God, the Almighty and were keepers of secrets, and they were known as the propagandists of their divine vocation.”
Dr. Ghazipour: “We have spent so much time dealing with the issues of self – education and self – training which, of course, are vast discussions in their own turn. So, let us continue these vast discussions of self – education and self – training at a next possible future time. Of course, we have to be aware of the dangers of today’s harmful and fashionable so – called mysticisms. They are not at all needed for us; they are harmful teachings, as a matter of fact. They teach us nothing. What I can suggest to our students is that they study their lessons carefully and honestly. And that they remember and recall God, the Almighty in every aspect and way of their lives. May God, the Almighty bless you all!”
