Ep 8 — Glad Tidings (1)

Session 6: Glad Tidings (1). delivered Tuesday, 2 Mehr 1353 / 7 Ramadan al-Mubarak 1394 Surat al-Nisa' (4:174-175). O mankind, a proof has indeed come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a clear light. As for those who believe in God and hold fast to Him, He will admit them into mercy and bounty from Himself, and He will guide them to Himself along a straight path. The discussion about faith is, in reality, a preliminary one. We needed to know the worth of faith and its quality for a definite purpose: so that we may understand religion and its foundational principles, so that a desire for the doctrinal belief of religion may be kindled within us, and so that we may set out, in earnest, to grasp religion and know it. That is why we discussed faith, and to that end. The two or three matters stated about faith were fundamental and important. First: faith must be conscious, not blind. Second: faith must be coupled with commitment and action — it must produce commitment and give birth to action, not remain a dry, empty belief in the heart and the mind. Third: a committed believer is a believer only when his faith is not occasional, not opportunistic, not self-interested — but rather constant, present everywhere, embracing everyone, comprehensive in every dimension. These are the matters we needed to grasp about faith. Before we enter the substance of the topics we have in view — the doctrinal teachings of Islam — one more short discussion is necessary. At first I imagined we would finish it in a single day; but once I delved into it, I saw that it would inevitably take four or five days. And here is that discussion: to know the value of faith and the result of faith, we must become acquainted with the glad tidings and the promises that God has given the believers. Let us see what God Almighty pledges in return to the believer — in exchange for his faith, in exchange for his righteous deeds and the fulfillment of his commitments, what He pledges to him in return. A person accustomed to give-and-take, who has passed his life by way of exchange, likes to see what his exchange with God amounts to. He brings faith, and on the basis of that faith he becomes committed; in return, he likes to know what commitment God takes upon Himself on his behalf, what glad tiding and what promise He gives him. For the believer — for one who wishes to stand firm-footed and unshakeable in the field of faith — this is a sweet, desirable subject, and a source of hope. We gathered all the verses in the Qur'an that bear on faith and the believer. There are roughly seven hundred verses in the Qur'an concerning the believer, faith, and certain other characteristics. We set about looking at these verses to see what, upon faith, God has made to follow. (I am describing the method of the work, so that the friends, the brothers and sisters who are familiar with the Qur'an, may learn how to find subjects in it.) We searched through these six or seven hundred verses to see what promises, what glad tidings, what desirable and longed-for outcomes God has appointed for the believers. We found that they are very many. In my view, there are perhaps thirty or forty items that God Almighty, in the Qur'an, has made to follow upon faith. The believer enjoys these thirty or forty great privileges — and every one of them is important, necessary, and essential if a person is to become happy. One of these thirty or forty subjects is the otherworldly Paradise; that is one of them. One of these glad tidings is …gardens beneath which rivers flow… — and others of this sort, thirty or forty of them. (To examine all of these glad tidings given to the believers would take at least four or five days. We take up two of them here; one or two more will follow, and the rest is left to you, to seek out in the Qur'an yourself.) Some of the things the Qur'an has promised the believer have been noted down — ten or eleven of them. I will read them out one by one, briefly, and explain each, so that we can then reach the Qur'anic verses. To be happy in the full and comprehensive sense — what does a person need? Everything a person needs in order to be happy has, in its entirety, been promised to the believer and made to follow upon faith. What we have listed here is ten or twelve items. Ask yourself: if even one of them is missing, can a person feel happy? No — he cannot. Other things play a part in happiness too, of course. And all of these, along with a great many besides, stand in the Qur'an as glad tidings upon faith, given to the believer. What do we conclude? That faith — belief coupled with action, in the way the Qur'anic culture defines it — is equivalent to every condition of happiness, measured against whatever needs a person might imagine for himself. This is not a matter of bias for the sake of a creed or of religiosity. What we have written here as the conditions of happiness are the conditions of happiness for a materialist too. Now we will read them one by one and see whether a materialist, given these things, would feel happy or not. Once it is clear that these are the conditions of happiness, we will return to the Qur'an, we will lend our ear to its heart-soothing speech, and we will see that it has promised all of these to the believer, has given him glad tidings of all of these, has brought all of these as a gift for him — …and God has spoken the truth… — for God does not give a false promise. This last point, of course, is bound up with our particular religious way of thinking, namely that we believe in God. What does a person need? One: he needs to know the goal, the destination of his happiness. He needs to know where he wants to arrive and toward what goal he is to strive — to see the point of completion and the end of the road from the very beginning, and to know the road that leads there. Beyond knowing the goal, he needs to know which road he must travel to reach it, and to reach it sooner and with certainty. Is not recognizing the goal, the end, the destination, and the road that leads to it the very first and principal element of a person's happiness? Here there is no difference between the godly and the materialist; the materialist, too, accepts this, agrees to it, feels it. In parentheses we wrote "guidance" — the first condition. Of course, this "first" and the "second" that we have numbered are not meant as a logical sequence, as though the "second" could just as well be placed first and the "first" second. Let it be so; we have simply brought them in succession, and other things too might be inserted between them. Two: that the veils be removed — the veils of ignorance, of conceit, of fancy, and of everything that wraps the jewel of his insight and reason in a dark covering and strips from him the power of seeing and understanding. Many things keep a person from understanding. His conceit keeps him from understanding; his ignorance blinds him; fancies and superstitions keep a person or a nation from grasping the truth; tyrannical systems keep people from knowing. These veils and obstacles, from within and from without, keep a person from putting the God-given jewel of intellect to work and from understanding. They keep him in darkness, they seat him in a prison of darkness, they hold him far from light, from the radiance of correct perception. One of the pillars of a person's happiness, one of the elements of his felicity, is that he be delivered from this darkness, from everything that creates darkness for him; that he find his way to the light and the radiance of truth, and that a beam of the light of truth shine upon his heart. In parentheses we wrote "light." So, first, guidance is necessary, in the sense explained; second, light is necessary, again in the sense explained — and these are two distinct things. Three: that on his long road toward happiness — this road he is traveling toward that destination, that end of the road — he be delivered from the inner anxieties and temptations, which are more exhausting than any obstacle outside him. Sometimes they block your road and say, "Sir, we will not let you pass from here." But experience has shown, and history has told us plainly, that when someone's road is blocked, the traveler only grows more eager to travel it: his enthusiasm rises, the fire of his ardor blazes more fiercely. Tell a person, "We will not let you go," and he presses all the harder to go, to break through. That is the external deterrent — it stands outside his existence. Sometimes, though, it is from within that they rot him. They plant doubt in him; they do not block the road — the road is open — but they strip from him the power to go, the will to go, the resolve to move, the very possibility of striving; and this is worse. "Why are you going? What good does it do? Perhaps you will never arrive; perhaps a thief will catch you on the road; perhaps a wolf will come; on what warrant are you going? You need not go." Very coolly, sympathetically, in the manner of a wise old man, of a master — and the road stands open all the while. This obstacle, this temptation, this anxiety, is by far more exhausting than the stick they lay across the road when they say, "We will not let you go." This anxiety has gripped most travelers, most wayfarers on the roads of happiness throughout history. How they pleaded with Moses, saying, "We fear that you have said something false, that a false promise has been given to you." The Qur'an tells us the pressure and poverty grew so great that even the elite would waver, asking: …When will the help of God come?… — So when? So where is it? What happened? These doubts and inner anxieties make even the elite slip. If a person wishes to be happy and to reach the end of the road of happiness, one of his conditions is that he be delivered from this anxiety, this spiritual insecurity, this absence of assurance — that he overcome the agitation and inner temptation. This too is one of the things that brings a person to happiness: that on his long road he be delivered from the temptations and anxieties, which exhaust more than any external obstacle. Inside the parentheses we wrote "assurance and security." You may put "safety" in place of "security"; it makes no difference. We chose "security" because it was the very Qur'anic expression. One sentence bears mentioning here: in the Du'a' Kumayl we recite, "Ya Rabbi, ya Rabbi, ya Rabbi" — O my Lord! O my Lord! O my Lord! "Qawwi 'ala khidmatika jawarihi" — strengthen my limbs and members in Your service; "wa ashdud 'ala al-'azimati jawanihi" — make my heart firm upon resolve. May I be able to resolve, may I be able to overcome the weaknesses, doubts, and temptations — for this is what halts a person on the road, seats him long upon it, and bars him from crossing it. Four: that he reckon his striving to be fruitful, that he hope it will lead somewhere. Those who have no hope that their striving and movement will lead to some result will surely never reach the destination of happiness and salvation. He should be assured that his striving bears fruit, should know that every act he performs leaves a positive effect behind, that every step he takes brings him one step closer to the goal. In a wilderness, if you know the lodging lies in this direction, you know where you are going; even though it has grown late, even though you have been left alone and fallen behind the caravan, you press on steadfastly, firmly, with striving and fervor — you walk, you go forward. But if you have lost the road, you do not know whether to go this way or that; in whatever direction you set off, you take a step and feel yourself grow sluggish. Why? Because you do not know whether this striving will be fruitful. You reckon it possible that this very step takes you farther from the lodging; and so you turn back from this way, you try that way, then that way again. So one condition for a person to reach happiness — for that wayfaring, striving, exerting person — is that he reckon his striving and exertion to be fruitful. Five: that his slips and errors be reparable and subject to pardon. This too is very important. In the course of his life and his movement a person makes mistakes, commits errors. If every error he committed remained an unhealable wound, an irreparable act, he would live in constant dread of committing yet another — an error that would throw him still farther from the goal and cast him aside from the road. He would always despair of the past and always be pessimistic about the future. But suppose he knows that his errors are reparable, provided he himself sets about repairing them; that his mistakes can be overlooked, provided he himself is remorseful of them. Then his desire, his hope, his vigor, and his fervor multiply several-fold. Inside the parentheses we wrote "forgiveness and mercy." Six: that in every state he enjoy a trustworthy support to hold onto. He should know that everywhere, in all circumstances, there is a helper he can turn to. He is exactly like someone who has put the complete map of the road in his pocket, set out, and is traveling these roadways: he does not make mistakes, of course, but neither does he feel any anxiety. He knows that if he should ever lose the road by mistake and go astray, the map is right at his side; he takes it out, looks at it, and uses it. Everywhere there is a handhold and a refuge he can grasp and rely on. Seven: that in confronting enemies and hostilities he enjoy the help and aid of God. This too is a condition of happiness. Of course, the materialist does not believe in God — but with the materialist we do not bring up the name of God. We say, "Sir, in this material striving of yours, in this social striving of yours, in this jihad you are carrying out — if you knew that there were a power, suppose, beyond the power of matter and nature, and that this power is with you and accompanies you, how would that be? Were you to suppose for yourself such a help, how would that be?" You see the spark fly from his eyes; he says, "That would be very good." How stirring it is for a person to have a power beyond matter and material things as his backer — so that when he faces enemies and their hostilities, their plots, their intrigues, their executioners' cruelties, he believes and knows that this power beyond matter is his helper and protector. The materialist simply does not know the name of God and has no belief in God, though he has no certainty either that God does not exist. But the godly person, who is certain that such a dominant and overpowering might exists beyond all these phenomena, and who relies upon it — see how much more swiftly and admirably he moves along the road of happiness. Eight: that he have superiority and preponderance over the opposing fronts and ranks; that he know that, in the end, superiority belongs to him. This, too, has a remarkable effect: it lets a person travel this road with greater ease. Nine: that he be victorious over the enemies of his road and his goal, who obstruct and neutralize his striving. Should a person make all these efforts and then, in the end, be defeated? That does not bring him to happiness. So one of the most important elements of a person's happiness is that in the end he be victorious. Is it otherwise? Do not the world's schools of thought all strive for victory? So one factor of human happiness — individual, social, and collective — is that in confronting his enemies he be, in the end, victorious over them. Ten: that in the end he be released from all the hardships and bonds that hold him, and attain his object, reaching that destination. This is what the Qur'an calls "triumph and prosperity." Eleven: that in every state — both on the road to the goal and at the destination itself — he benefit from the stores made ready for the human being in this world. That the blessings of heaven and earth rain down upon him: the wheat of the earth, the drop of rain from heaven, the stores of the seas, the stores of the forests and the mines of the mountains, all the vital and non-vital materials a person needs — and, above all, the mine of intelligence and reason and ingenuity within him — that all of these be opened up to him, and that he avail himself of them. This, too, has a part in a person's happiness — along with other things of this sort that a person might reckon to play a part in his own becoming happy. And finally, after all these — which come to pass during the span of a person's life and striving and wakefulness — comes the end: he dies, this lamp is extinguished, and to all appearance he becomes the equal of an inanimate thing. Yet even then, far from ending, may the very thread of his benefit not come to an end. May his rest only then begin; may his receiving of reward and recompense only then begin; may it be reckoned the first point and the first step of his ease and enjoyment. A materialist holds that after he dies all his strivings have only a worldly result, and that beyond the world he has no hope of anywhere. To that very one we say: "Sir, after you have died and gone — granting the impossible, which here is not impossible — suppose that the very moment of your death becomes, freshly, the first moment of your ease. How would that be?" You see that this is the greatest pillar of happiness — that after the span of life has passed and all strivings have ended, a person find himself met by a worthy reward, and repose in the Paradise of bounty and good pleasure. These are the conditions of happiness. For a person to be happy, for a person or a society to flourish, these are necessary. Now listen to what the Qur'an says, for it promises all of this to the one who has faith — a faith that is committed and coupled with action. And how does it promise it? The Qur'an gives the believing people glad tidings of every element and building block of happiness — these, and dozens more besides. It says these are for you. It promises guidance; it promises light; it promises safety and repose of the spirit. It promises that no striving will be wasted. And all of this, if we look at history and the past with a clear eye, we will see confirmed in historical and human reality. For the way of God is always one and the same. Now turn your attention to today's verses in the light of this introduction. The first verse is from Surat Yunus. Today's verses are scattered; they come not from one place but from several. Indeed those who believe and do righteous deeds — their Lord guides them by their faith… Those who have brought faith and done righteous deed — and we explained "righteous deed" with a particular expression: righteous deed means the commitment that matches that faith. A person's faith lays a commitment upon his shoulders, and taking up that commitment, fulfilling it, is the righteous deed. Those who bring faith, who attain that belief, and then also act on its commitments — "yahdihim rabbuhum bi-imanihim" — their Lord will guide them on account of their faith. Faith itself makes them find the road. Which road? Both the goal and the road to it, the means. Some people ask, "How can we reach that destination we long for?" Probe the question and you see that the faith of the first step is not in his heart; or if the faith is there, action does not accompany it. Let him act, and illumination and guidance will fall to his lot; he will find the second step too. "Set foot upon the road, and ask nothing at all; the road itself will tell you how one must go." When a person brings faith in the goal and the road, and moves in pursuit of that faith, the road shows itself. "Yahdihim rabbuhum bi-imanihim" — by faith their Lord will guide them, will open the road before them. At the first step, none of the leaders and wayfarers and followers knew what the tenth step would be. Let me give an example I sometimes use. Picture a wilderness tens of kilometers across, on a dark and pitch-black night — no moon, no star. You are walking the road alone, and all you have in your hand is a single small flashlight, a small candle. They tell you, "With this candle you must cross to the very end of that wilderness." You take a look and say, "This candle of mine lights no more than a meter around me — am I to cross all ten kilometers with it? It lights only one meter, and I am to go ten?" This is the logic of someone who does not yet know the road. And what is its answer? What, would you say, is the answer to this blind logic? Is not the answer simply this: "Is one meter around you lit, or not? Take one step forward — one more meter will be lit. If it is not lit, do not go. Go the one meter that is lit; take the one step you can take, the step where you know you are placing your foot. If the next step is not lit before you, do not go; if it is, then go again. You will see that, little by little, the wilderness lights up to its very end, and you cross the road and reach your lodging." Is it otherwise? "Yahdihim rabbuhum bi-imanihim" — God, by their faith, will guide them; faith itself is what makes a person find the roads. Several other verses of the Qur'an point to this same matter. In one place, in a verse we have not written out here, He says that when a sura or a verse is sent down, the unbelievers, the hypocrites, and the diseased of heart ask: …Which of you has this increased in faith?… — Whose faith is increased by this verse? And the Qur'an replies: Say that those who are believers, those who have truly given their adherence, are increased in faith by this verse and this sign. That very faith in their hearts is what makes them take guidance from this source of guidance. The next verse: O mankind, a proof has come to you from your Lord, and We have sent down to you a clear light. Behold, O people, a proof has come to you from your Lord — a decisive, clear argument, a firm and establishing demonstration; "wa anzalna ilaykum nuran mubinan" — and We have sent down to you a manifest light. What is meant by this proof and this light is the Qur'an and its truths. The evidence for our claim lies in the verse that follows: As for those who believe in God and hold fast to Him, He will admit them into mercy and bounty from Himself, and guide them to Himself along a straight path. So those who bring faith in God and become attached to Him — for faith in the heart alone is not enough; one must grasp God, the skirt of God, that is, the skirt of God's religion and the godly road, and cling to it. "Fa-amma alladhina amanu bi-llahi wa-'tasamu bihi" — they clung, they became attached; and if it is so, "fa-sa-yudkhiluhum fi rahmatin minhu wa fadlin" — God will admit them into His mercy and bounty. And after that: "wa yahdihim ilayhi siratan mustaqiman" — He guides them toward Himself, leads them by a straight and near road. This guidance belongs to the believers alone. If you have no faith — or if you have faith but do not hold fast, do not act upon your commitments before God — you will not find the road to God; the light of that guidance will not shine in your heart. It belongs to the believers alone. Surat al-Nisa', verse 175. Another verse: And those who strive for Us — We will surely guide them to Our roads; and indeed God is with the doers of good. This is a well-known verse, much upon people's tongues. "Wa-lladhina jahadu fina…" — those who strive on Our road — and what is God's road? For the sake of the divine aims, any goal that God has in this world, they strive. What are God's goals? Justice, security, the servitude of the servants before Him, the servants of God reaching maturity and perfection, the flourishing of the face of the earth, the flourishing of human hearts, the prospering of this world and the next for human beings, all beings falling onto the track and rail of perfection — these are God's wishes. The end of conjecture, of polytheism, of unbelief, of insecurity, of bestiality and brutality, of rebellion and tyranny — these are God's wishes. "Wa-lladhina jahadu fina" — those who strive on the road of Our goals and wishes, the divine wishes; "la-nahdiyannahum subulana" — without doubt, without question, We will show them Our roads; We do not leave them bewildered, We do not leave them astray. A poem fits here: "Set foot upon the road, and ask nothing at all; / the road itself will tell you how one must go." "Wa-lladhina jahadu fina la-nahdiyannahum subulana." It is thus in every field — in understanding religion, in grasping and researching religious matters, in social matters, in world matters, in every field. Whoever entered upon the divine goals and set foot on that road finds that with every step he advances, the next step is lit for him. Those who strive on Our road for the sake of the divine goals — to their own roads, which are the roads of a person's happiness and perfection, We lead them. "Wa inna Allaha la-ma'a al-muhsinin" — and without doubt God is with the doers of good. Surat al-'Ankabut, verse 69. These were the verses in the Qur'an that bear on guidance, that first subject. And there are many others — so many that had I wished to gather them all and read them here, I would have had to speak about guidance alone for at least three or four days. We said that light is one of the things a person needs to become happy, with the explanation we gave earlier about light. To the believers, light has been promised: God is the wali of those who believe; He brings them out of the darknesses into the light… God is the comrade-in-the-same-front of the believers. I render wali as comrade-in-the-same-front — joined, on the same level — and I prefer it over "guardian" and "friend" and "helper" and the other customary renderings. Because wilayah means connectedness — two things bound and joined to each other: this is what they call wilayah. God is the wali of the believers, that is, He is joined with them. And what does that mean? It means God and the believers stand in one rank. The enemies of God stand in another rank, facing the believers and facing God. But wherever it occurs — "Wa-llahu waliyyu al-mu'minin" — "And God is the wali of the believers," or …awliya'u… — the expressions in the Qur'an carry this sense; keep this in mind. "Yukhrijuhum mina al-zulumati ila al-nur" — He delivers them from the darknesses and brings them to the light. "Allahu waliyyu alladhina amanu" — God is the comrade-in-the-same-front of the believers. The explanation we gave is also not amiss for understanding what "the darknesses" means. He delivers them from the darknesses — the darknesses of ignorance, superstition, conceit, and domineering, anti-human systems, all the things that imprison humankind and the jewel of human insight in a dungeon. From these darknesses He delivers them and brings them to light. What light? The light of knowledge, learning, and human values. God does this for the believer. He never brings the non-believer, the faithless, the doubting and uncertain, the ungrateful unbeliever to light. So the polytheist is always agitated; his life is always coupled with anxiety; for him there is no luminosity, no true knowledge, no correct recognition, wherever he reaches. "Wa-lladhina kafaru…" — but what of the unbelievers? "Unbelievers" means those who were ungrateful for religious belief and the school of religion, who rejected this gift and present of God with ingratitude — the ungrateful of blessing. Pay attention to these Persian expressions I am presenting; they show where the root of the word lies and how it came to be used in this meaning. The unbeliever (kafir) is not the one who did not accept religion; kafir means the coverer of blessing, the ingrate of blessing. Why is such a one called kafir? Well, this person did not accept this religion — so why "unbeliever"? Because this religion was a gift of God, a present for the happiness of him and of all human beings, and he rejected it. This ingrate, this thankless one, this ungrateful-of-blessing — this is why they call him kafir. "Wa-lladhina kafaru" — those who practiced unbelief and denial; "awliya'uhumu al-taghut" — their guardians and comrades-in-the-same-front are the false idols and the transgressors. Those who practiced unbelief and denial — their masters are the false idols and the rebellious and the transgressors. "Yukhrijunahum mina al-nuri ila al-zulumat" — they cast them out from the light of knowledge and draw them into the prison of darknesses and obscurities. "Ula'ika ashabu al-nari hum fiha khalidun" — they are all the companions of the Fire, and in it they abide forever. Surat al-Baqara, verse 257. (One more verse remains for me to read. Our dear reciter, the honorable Mr. Rida'i, will recite it today with his charming, affecting voice — and you will see how much more pleasing it becomes to the mind.) O you who have believed, remember God with much remembrance; and morning and evening, extol Him with purity and sanctity. It is He who sends blessing upon you, and His angels also. O you who have believed, remember God with much remembrance; and morning and evening, praise Him with purity. What has happened? It is He who sends blessing upon you, and His angels too. Why? "Li-yukhrijakum mina al-zulumati ila al-nur" — that He may deliver you from the darknesses and lead you to light and illumination. This is the Qur'an, and this is its glad tiding. There is another set of these glad tidings, and God willing I will present it tomorrow. If I wished to state all of these Qur'anic glad tidings — to enumerate one by one everything the Qur'an promises us — it would take well more than ten or twelve days to get through the good news that faith holds for the believer. So we will cover only some of it tomorrow. If we're compelled to, we'll continue the day after as well; if not, we'll conclude it tomorrow.