ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Lessons from the Nahjul Balaghah 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 Nahjul Balaghah. 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 Nahjul Balaghah (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.