Sometimes they say that today man is not looking for duties.

Sometimes they say that today man is not looking for duties. He is rather seeking his rights. It is no longer inculcated in his mind that he has any duty, responsibility and obligation to perform. He has to demand his rights and claim them from others as well as God.

In short, those who talk from the religious perspective about the exigency of obeying and following the Prophet ( s ), the infallible Imams ( ‘a ) and their deputies are doing so in consonance with the social system fourteen hundred years ago. The social system, however, has been transformed, and it is no longer relevant to talk about obedience, submission and duty. Instead one needs to talk about human rights.

The people have to be informed that they have the right to live in whatever way they like. They have the right to wear whatever style of dress they like, and to appear in public in whatever manner they like. Reply to the above skepticism We shall approach the reply to the above skepticism from the ontological [ takwini ] and legislative [ tashri‘i ] angle as we are facing these two stances. In other words, it is the stance of “beings” and realities and the stance of “dos and don’ts” and duties.

From another perspective, it is the world of realities while the other one is the world of values. (Of course, the above expressions are equal in substance but because of different levels of understanding various expressions have been presented.) Now, ontologically, it must be examined what our relationship to God is, because if a person does not believe in God in principle, to assume any relationship with God will be senseless in his view.

But if a person has faith in God, he, at least, accepts that it is He who created him. He acknowledges the Creatorship [ khaliqiyyah ] of God, which is the lowest level of faith in God, and regards himself as among His creatures and phenomena. (Of course, in Islam mere belief in the Creatorship of God is not enough for a monotheist [ muwahhid ].

In fact, belief in the ontological and legislative Lordship [ rububiyyat-e takwini wa tashri‘i ] of God is also necessary for belief in monotheism [ tawhid ]). Based on monotheistic belief in creatorship [ tawhid fi’l-khaliqiyyah ], the statement of one who claims that he is not a servant and slave of God is inconsistent with the belief in the Creatorship of God. The first step in monotheism is to accept that we are God’s creatures and that we owe our existence to Him.