Unfortunately...

Unfortunately, sometimes attending to academic issues prevents us from paying heed to ethical issues, whose worth is not less than that of academic matters. In the same way that attending to social issues makes man heedless of spiritual and ethical issues. Man gets so immersed in social and official duties that he does not find an opportunity to engage in himself and probe into his ethical needs.

In order for us not to get proud and heedless, sometimes it is necessary to pay heed to ethical and spiritual issues, too. This section of the hadith s depends on this point that if Allah has granted us knowledge, He wants us to pay heed to ethical matters too because if we only attend to academic issues and get negligent of ourselves, we will get afflicted by ethical deviations such as laxity and egotism.

Some values have been mentioned in the Qur’an which unfortunately have been forgotten in our society [today], even though some people pay heed to them, but still it is not to the extent of these values finding their way to the social scene. This is in spite of the fact that the Qur’an believes those qualities and values to be attributes of devoted worshippers and the scholars. One of those attributes and qualities is fear of Allah and the state of supplication and lamentation.

Perhaps the reason for stressing the quality of sorrow and grief and humility is for the reason of setting the personality of a believer in equilibrium, especially an intellectual, because knowledge and awareness have a high station and are the most eminent values for man after piety. It is natural that the one who has attained knowledge becomes honored and respected in society and this itself gives birth to pride and vanity and naturally the academic is faced with the danger of corruption.

The divine law [ shar‘ ] of Islam, in order to obstruct the scholar from egotism and self-importance and setting his personality balance, recommends him to humility, yielding before Allah and weeping and wailing, so that the higher he rises in social position, the smaller and humbler he perceives himself. This is the same thing that Imam al-Sajjad ( ‘a ) requests from Allah on noble moral traits and acts pleasing to Allah: “O Allah!