There is a well-known ḥādīth of the Prophet (s.w.a.) which has been preserved in the book al-Kāfī and in these last few days, through some of our friends who have the books of the Ahlus Sunnah at their disposal and have done research through these books, it is clear that this ḥādīth also exists in their books. The Noble Prophet (s.w.a.) has said:
إِنٌّـا مَعٌاشِرَ الأَنْبِيٌاءِ أُمِرْنٌا أَنْ نُكَلِّمَ النٌّاسَ عَلى قَدَرِ عُقُولِهِمْ
“We, the assembly of Prophets have been commanded to speak to the people according to their level of intelligence.”[12]
Whenever the Prophets wished to speak to people, they spoke to them according to their individual level of intelligence and also took into account the level of their aptitude and spoke to them in the way that best suited the people’s intelligence. We must keep in mind that the intelligence of the Prophets E is much higher than all other people and the people around them have a lower level of understanding. Thus, the Prophets would not speak high nor use grand concepts to the ‘common people’ as this would only make the people more confused. Similarly, the Prophets would not answer the questions of a wise person in the same method which they would answer an old, inerudite person.
Mawlawī alludes to the concept mentioned in the above ḥādīth in his poem which states:
پست می گويم به اندازه عقول
عيب نبودي اين، بود كار رسول
“They say it is bad to speak to the intelligence of the people. This is a not a shortcoming, rather, it is the job of the Messenger.”
The one difference that lies between the method of the Prophets and that of the philosophers is that the philosophers employ one frame of logic and one style of speech at all times. The philosophers only have one type of merchandise ‘for sale’ in their proverbial shop. Those who come to them to ‘buy things’ are only one class of people - and this is the shortcoming of the philosopher as they do not see their aim and purpose in life except to cover themselves with a series of (philosophical) terminologies. Thus, philosophers are forced to only go to one particular segment of the society who are aware of the way that they speak and who understand their words.
It has been mentioned that above the door of the well-known school of Plato – which was actually a garden outside the city of Athens whose name was the “Academy” and which even today, due to the scientific gatherings that took place there, is still known by the name, Academy, that there was a poem written which states, “Whoever has not studied geometry must not enter into this school.”
In the school and methodology that the Prophets used, all types of students would be able to benefit from that which was being said. It is here that all sorts of people could be found – from the highest of the (academically) high whom even the likes of Plato would need to study under, to the lowest of the low such that not even an elderly, simple person would have any use for such a person! It was not written in any of the schools of the Prophets that if anyone wanted to come and make use of their teachings, that they must have studied to such and such a level. Rather, the more that they have studied, the more talented and ready they would have been – thus enabling them to make more use of the teachings of the Prophets. If they were less mentally prepared, then they would only be able to make use of the teachings to their own capability, as it is stated:
إِنٌّـا مَعٌاشِرَ الأَنْبِيٌاءِ أُمِرْنٌا أَنْ نُكَلِّمَ النٌّاسَ عَلى قَدَرِ عُقُولِهِمْ
“We, the assembly of Prophets have been commanded to speak to the people according to their level of intelligence.” [13]
[12] al-Kāfī, Volume 1, Page 23
[13] Ibid.
The Best Students
From this point, we realize that there is another issue which we are able to understand which is that the best students of the philosophers are the same people who lived at their time and saw them - which is at variance with the best students of the Prophets and the intimate friends of Allāh (the Awliyā).
The best students of Plato, Aristotle or Abū ʿAlī Sīnā were those who were directly in their study circle. The person who best understand the thoughts of Abū ʿAlī were people such as Bahmanyār or Abū ʿAbīd Jawzjānī.
However, who were the best students of the Noble Prophet (s.w.a.), Amīrul Moʾminīn ʿAlī ibne Abī Ṭālib (a.s.) or Imām Jaʿfar ibne Muḥammad as-Ṣādiq (a.s.)? Are their best students only those people who lived at their time and who lived with them? No, this is not the case!
There is a point which the Noble Prophet (s.w.a.) himself had alluded to in one of his speeches. It is possible that those people who lived at the Prophet’s (s.w.a.) time did not correctly understand the true meaning of these words (with the exception of people such as Salmān (r.d.a.), Abū Dharr (r.d.a.) and Miqdād (r.d.a.), others may not have completely understood his words). The Prophet (s.w.a.) had said:
نَصَرَ اللٌّهُ عَبْدً سَمِعَ مَقٌالــَتِي فَوَعٌاهٌا وَ بَلَّغَهٌا مَنْ لَمْ يَبْلُغْهُ
“May Allāh assist that servant who hears my words, understands them and then conveys them to those who have not been informed of them.”[14]
In other narrations, this ḥādīth has been mentioned as:
نَصَّرَ اللٌّهُ عَبْدً سَمِعَ مَقٌالَتِي...
“May Allāh show kindness to that servant who hears my words...”
The Prophet (s.w.a.) then said:
رُبَّ حٌامِلٍ فِقْهٍ غَيْرَ فَقِيهٍ وَ رُبَّ حٌامِلٍ فِقْهٍ إِلـى مَنْ هُوَ أَفْقَهُ مِنْهُ
“How possible it is that sometimes a person possesses a deep understanding of the religion whereas he himself is not a Faqihī (one firmly grounded in the Islāmic sciences) and how possible it is that sometimes one would transfer his knowledge to another person but that other person is actually more knowledgeable than the one transferring the knowledge.”[15]
The lexical meaning of the word Fiqh (فقه) in the religion of Islām actually refers to the reality and the true wisdom of the dīn (religion) which must be achieved through deep study and thought and thus, the meaning in this ḥādīth is the truth and the words which people hear directly from the Imām (a.s.).
This ḥādīth tells us that there are many people who hear these words and hear the truth of the religion directly from the Imām (a.s.) and memorize it, but they are not people of understanding and analysis. There are also many people who take the words and truths of the religion and pass them on to other people, but the people whom they pass this knowledge on to are much more worthy and are much better at understanding and comprehending this knowledge.
For example, a person heard the words of the Prophet (s.w.a.) when he said:
لاٌ ضَرَرَ وَ لاٌ ضِرٌارَ
“Do not do anything that causes harm to yourself or to others.”
However the person who heard these words did not have the ability to understand how deep or profound this sentence was. Nonetheless, he memorized it and then passed it on to the next generation, and the next generation understood it better than he did – and this generation too passed it on to the next generation. It is possible that this will continue on until the twentieth generation and they will understand it better than the first, second and third generation, as this twentieth generation will be better equipped to understand it.
The Qurʾān is the same. We cannot say that the people who were in the past understood the Qurʾān better (than others) - rather, it is the opposite of this. The miracle of the Qurʾān lies in the fact that the Qurʾān is always one step ahead of the commentaries which are written about it – meaning that in each and every time period in which the Qurʾān has been explained, when the knowledge and understanding of the people increases, they will go forth to re-interpret and re-understand the Qurʾān and they will see that the Qurʾān has far surpassed their commentary and is much more advanced than what they had written.
We do not need to go far in this discussion – simply look at the Science of Jurisprudence (ʿIlmul Usūl). Without doubt, the companions of the Noble Prophet (s.w.a.), the companions of Amīrul Moʾminīn ʿAlī ibne Abī Ṭālib (a.s.), the companions of Imām Jaʿfar ibne Muḥammad as-Ṣādiq (a.s.) and even companions such as Zurārah (r.d.a.) and Hishām ibn al-Ḥakam (r.d.a.) were people who had learnt the laws of Fiqh either directly from the Prophet (s.w.a.) or from one of the A’immah (a.s.), however they did not understand, analyze and examine the rules of jurisprudence as Muḥaqqiq al-Ḥillī (q.d.s.), ʿAllāmah al-Ḥilli (q.d.s.), Shaykh Murtaḍā (q.d.s.) and Shaykh Anṣārī (q.d.s.) did.
Therefore, as we mentioned - in the ways of the philosophers, which person is better at understanding the meanings of his teacher? It is that person who goes the furthest back (to his teacher). However in the school of the Prophets and the intimate friends of Allāh (s.w.t.), who would be better apt to understanding the meanings and words of these noble personalities? It is those people who come in the future and possess more knowledge and understanding and this is one of the miracles of prophethood.
In a ḥādīth which is found in the section on Tawḥīd, it is mentioned that since Allāh (s.w.t.) knew that in the end of time, people would come forth who would go deep in thought and delve deep in deliberation on a subject, He revealed Sūratul Ikhlāṣ and the first few verses of Sūratul Ḥadīd which include the greatest and most precise issues in relation to Tawḥīd.
By this we mean that the people at the time of the Prophet (s.w.a.) were not worthy of such verses. However in the future, such people would surely come who would be worthy of receiving these verses of the Qurʾān. These verses are what will provide spiritual nourishment to the people of the future time. Of course since these verses express the final utmost limits of elucidating on the concept of Tawḥīd, if a person was to rebel and go against these verses, he would definitely be destroyed. This is the miracle of prophethood and the miracle of the Qurʾān which is:
لاٌ تَنْقضى عَجٌائِبُهُ وَ لاٌ تَفْنـى غَرٌائِبُهُ
“It’s (the Qurʾān) points of amazement never cease to end and its amazement will never pass away.”[16]
All that we have stated up until this point was for this purpose that: when we wish to discuss the issue and speak about the guidance of the youth, we should not have someone stand up and say, “Sir! As if there is a difference between the guidance of the youth and the guidance of the older generation?! As if the Ṣalāt that the youth perform and the Ṣalāt that we the older people perform is different, such that their guidance should also be something different? Just as how in the past we did things, so too we should continue in that same way today. In the past, the way we interacted with our elders and our mothers and fathers and just as we sat together in the Majlis (gathering) and related incidents about the trials and tribulations that faced the Ahlul Baīt E and the ways in which we recognized Allāh (s.w.t.) and received guidance - the youth of today too must close their eyes (to the realities) and must go to those same places that we went to and learn and be guided just as we were taught and guided!”
[14] Al-Amālī of Shaykh al-Mufīd, Sitting 23, Page 186
[15] Furū` al-Kāfī, Volume 5, Page 293
[16] Nahjul Balāgha, Sermon 150
