ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Self-knowledge Good Attributes of Human Beings There are many attributes of human beings and many verses about them. We present the most important ones.

The human being is the vicegerent on this earth: “And when your Lord said to the angels: I am going to place on the earth a vicegerent” (2:30) “And He it is who has made you successors in the land and raised some of you above others by (various) grades, that He might try you by what He has given you.” (&165) Humans have the greatest capacity for knowledge: “And He taught Adam all the names, then presented them to the angels; then He said: Tell me the names of those if you are right.” (2:31) “Names” in the preceding verse means “realities”.

When angels thought that they were superior to Adam, Allah, the Most Glorious, wanted to prove that the angels were wrong. The Almighty taught Adam all the facts, and then asked the angels if they were true in their claim, then they would have to divulge those facts to Him. But they were not able to do so. Thus, we can understand from this verse that man is capable of attaining all knowledge. Human beings are created in such a way that they can know their Creator through innate knowledge.

Man has no need to use external ways for knowing Allah. If we go deep into our spirits we can understand that we are created, that we have a Lord. To illustrate an example, a person went to Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a.s.) and asked him to prove the existence of Allah, the Most Glorious. The Imam (a.s.) asked him whether he ever travelled on a ship. The man answered positively.

Then the Imam (a.s.) asked him whether in his travel a situation arose where there existed a danger for the ship to sink and that people began to panic and were afraid that the ship would be wrecked and they would die as result. The man again gave an affirmative answer. The Imam (a.s.) then asked: “Did you think of any power that could have saved you then”? When the man said, “Yes,” Imam concluded, “That is Allah, the Omnipotent”.

When we are in danger and we feel no one can help us, inborn knowledge is awakened and activated. In many people and in ordinary situations, this knowledge of Allah the Most Glorious is dormant. However it can be awakened and strengthened, especially when we lose our shelter and strength and feel helpless. It is noteworthy that not only our knowledge of Allah is inadequate) but also the religion of Islam as a whole is in accordance with our spirit.