Howza: In the name of God. Oration is an art and an art can help thoughts and beliefs and also can destroy it. What should be done to this art and technique that it will be able to have a deep connection with Islam and this precise connection will be preserve completely and it blooms day by day and become more magnificence and deep?
Professor: In the name of God. Oration’s root is in holy Quran. As other spiritually and worldly sciences infer from the holy verses of Quran, oration also infers from the holy verses of Quran [1]. Oration was in the messengers of God. They were skillful in oration and speech because they were sent in some nation to guide people and they were proficient in oration [2] as logic experts say and were proficient in missionary work of God as we say.
Those great messengers transferred God’s massage to other people with cognition, wisdom and with their pure faith and entity. According to holy verse of Quran about oration:
He created mankind and taught him the way of oration [3].
Oration was in other people and also it is even in people. As it was mentioned in the question, oration is an art and always among all nations, in the passage of history, this art of tongue had a constructive role or had a destructive one. Its constructive role was first for messengers that world’s God put this oration art in their entity with their knowledge and cognition to guiding people so that the wisdom’s world of people will be separated from the darkness of ignorance and give a vision to people so that they can see the realities instead of delusions, the realities which can be seen by conscience.
And also God put the oration art in them so that they can teach God’s habitudes and his behavior to people [4]. Their carat of purity was perfect and complete in this field. World’s God has named them in a pleasant way: Naseh [5], means well wisher, sympathetic and stressful for people [6]. It is inferred from the verses which are belong to prophecy that messengers were so stressful for the beatitude and happiness of people that God addressed some of them as the brother of the worst and the most corrupted people:
And we sent their brother Jethro toward Madyan, he said “O my nation! Worship God that you haven’t any deity except him [7].
And we sent their brother Hood toward Aad nation, he said “O my nation! Worship God that you haven’t any deity except him. Don’t you want to abstain from obscenity?” [8]
This is a very important responsibility for an orator. God has given them some duty and the task that they lead people to bring up their minds and awake them and separate them from ignorance and train them and regard people as their brother. The method of divine messengers transferred to faithful people whom they lived on the time of those messengers or after their time.
The constructive oration belonged to one who had taken monotheism and hereafter’s conception from messengers. These people’s ranks were after the rank of God’s messengers. As the holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said “a learned man among his nation is similar to a messenger among his nation.” [9] The learned orators’ rank is after the messengers of God.
They were sympathetic for people and by the help of their knowledge and cognition; all of their speeches protected God’s religion and were just. God’s orators called people internally to fight against their obscenity, and that was the penitence’s reason of the people who were in the exposure of these divine orations. So if the oration wants to be efficient, it should be arise from the orations of God’s messengers.
The orator should be faithful and should have good deeds and good behavior as he afford just like the messengers. When he talks, His sympathy should be really billowing from his words and orations. As it is inferred from books, in the fifty years of my life I have seen from others and I have experienced it that wherever and whenever a orator has goodwill and good deeds, his speech will be efficient and effective. The things which deeply impress other are orator’s sympathy, intelligence, cognition, and his good deeds.
Generally, oration has kept the faithful people in a higher rank of religious cognition and the behaviors’ value era by era. This oration has awaked the minds. This oration has kept the neglects away from mankind. This oration has created the bravery to facing with enemies. When Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) sent the biggest orator of Islam, the head of his corps, Imam Ali (God bless him) to Yemen in order to proselyte people of Yemen, the country which was two thousands kilometer far away from Medina, on the time of his departure, Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) himself in order to respect him, convoyed Imam Ali (God bless him) on foot to the outer side Medina and at the moment of saying goodbye, he said to Imam Ali (God bless him) “O Ali, don’t fight with anyone before inviting them to the God’s religion, swear to God, if God guide a person by your hand, it will be more better for you than what the sun rises and sets on, while the government of that wide region will be in your hand, O Ali.” [10]
On the other side, Islam’s enemies had some orators who were fair spoken, but their stuffs were absolute infidelity, atheism and debauchery. These kinds of orators exist nowadays, and they will exist in the future. These kinds of orators imprison wisdom of people in the prison of ignorance. They separate people’s minds from wisdom and provoke people to avoid from religion and their religious culture. They prepare the ground to turn people into the satanic culture.
God has named these kinds of orations as temptations and false inspiration and unachievable aspirations and has said that these kinds of orations are “obstacle for (achieving) way of Allah.” In addition to these two groups of orators which have mentioned, there is another group of orators that appears in the face of Islam and they just have the art of locution and impair Islam.
Howza: rostrum is very holy and respectful for Muslims especially Shiites and they respect one who sit on that. Every faithful and religion lover person consider whatever he hear from this rostrum as speeches which are originated from inspiration and engage himself to follow it in verbal or practical order. Now what should be done to keep this holiness and make it everlasting and what should be done to keep alive this respectability in our coming generations’ hearts in every era and any detriment won’t come to its high position in any time?
Professor: two huge attraction and desirability exist in the entity of Shiites’ people that draw them toward rostrum:
1. Some special occasions those are related to God. Like the holy month of Ramadan, because they are attach to God and have particular attraction, some motives create in people that cause people to go toward rostrum.
From long times ago, in this one thousand and five hundred years or at least after the minor absence of Imam Mahdi (praising God for his advent), by the help of verses and quotations, the dignity and magnificence of Ramadan month and the connection that this month has with God and also the effects which this month contains have been inspired to people.
Generations by generations the dignity of holy month of Ramadan has been reached to nowadays Shiites. Even the people who are weak in their faith show their enthusiasm to the rostrums in this month. These excitements existed in the past and even exist nowadays and also the statistics show it. According to the statistics, in these thirty days of holy Ramadan month, even corrupted people avoid to commit any sin and show special respect for this month. Holy month of Ramadan leads sinners to listen to the orations and some of them success to repent.
Among the other eleven month, this month is the month of God, the month of worship and spirituality. Whoever feels a kind of thirstiness for spirituality in his entity, tries to supply his spiritual soul and God demanding spirit by going to mosque and sitting under the rostrums and listening to the speeches of preacher or he tries to revive his spirit by praising God and having orison for God. This amount of attraction is marvelous.
2. The other attraction and desirability that Shiites people have which is really important and in my opinion, in this one thousand and five hundred years, we weren’t able to make most of it is Ashura and the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (God bless him).
I have seen in quotations that God, the holy Prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam, Imam Ali (God bless him), Sainthood Fatima (God bless her) to Imam Mahdi (praising God for his advent), in the order of question or expressing the narratives, have been the factor of this attraction.
Imam Hussein (God bless him) that his attraction of martyrdom isn’t less than holy month of Ramadan, in the passage of time leads Shiites people to give a warm feeling to religious centers even more than the nights of Ghadr and causes them to welcome the rostrums and orations. This is a great miracle of Aeme Atehar (God bless them). Because of the importance which is given by the honorable Aeme Atehar (God bless them) to this day (Ashura) and their emphasis to perform the mourning for Imam Hussein (God bless him), this day remains so majestic and the mourning became so magnificence and splendor.
Of course Aeme Atehar’s (God bless them) recommendations and emphasizes for setting up this kind of ceremony has been designed by some great designers. Undoubtedly these designers will have a very great reward from God. The designers have organized the mourning ceremony of Imam Hussein (God bless him) in three parts:
1. Eulogy. My intention from eulogy is some great people like Syed Hemayri [11], Debel-e-Khazraee [12] and many of poets who eternalized the great adventure of Karbala by their heroic and Gnostic poems. They created a deep connection between Imam Hussein (God bless him) and people by means of their scholarly literature.
This connection itself and flash the light of Imam Hussein (God bless him) to people’s hearts has helped them a lot to their awakening and trained them to have a martyrdom demanding personality and leads them to fight against enemies.
Sainthood Imam Khomeini obtained the rapture and the joy of his Revolution from Imam Hussein (God bless him), he made most from the mourning ceremony of Imam Hussein (God bless him). Islamic Revolution has been established by the help of Aeme Atehar (God bless them). This great movement has been created by this literature. Because the literature has some beauty so people can accept it easily.
Then Persian poets started to versify scholarly about the tragedy of Imam Hussein (God bless him) and delivered these poets to people in a very pleasant way. Mohtashem-e-Kashaany [13] versified twelve pieces of poems about Imam Hussein (God bless him) and the adventure of Karbala and he was the first person who entered in this arena and his poems came on the board of mourning from the time of Safavy, that’s why this great dignity is ascribed to him.
Of course I think the pieces which Haj Soleiman Bidel-e-Kashaany [14] has versified about Imam Hussein (God bless him) are better than Mohtashem-e-Kashaany’s pieces of poems. Anyway this construction of expression became very efficient and useful. This construction came up healthily due to its poets’ knowledge. This great construction of poems came up so healthily that a very great personality like the writer of Javaher said to Sheikh Kazem-e-Azry: [15]
I am ready to give all rewards of writing the Javaher book, the book which I wrote it about fifty years to you and in return you give the reward of a poem’s line which you have versified about Ahle Beit (God bless them) to me. [16]
2. The later designers who thought by looking these much acceptability of Imam Hussein (God bless him) that why they shouldn’t utilize from this great power and attraction in order to express Halal (the things which we are allowed to do them by God) and Haram (the things which we aren’t allowed to do them by God) of God.
In Iran the hosts and designers of Imam Hussein’s (God bless him) mourning ceremony entrusted the responsibility of these mourning ceremonies to learned and scholarly orators. It means when they saw that people gather and make a time for come to these mourning ceremonies, they thought that people’s time shouldn’t spend just for listening and hearing to the poems of poets and their verses, religious tenet, its subordinate issues and jurisprudence matters should be transferred to people in these occasions.
I don’t know about the time when these sessions were held. This method of rostrum has a very long history. This year in Tehran I saw directly that the sessions which were held for Fatemiyeh, Rajabiyeh and Sadeghiyeh or the sessions of Mohrram and Safar or other religious occasions which were held for Ahle Beit (God bless them) had this method.
Sadeghiyeh is the memorial of Ayatollah Kashaany. Fatemiyeh and Rajabiyeh which are held in the mourning days of Sainthood Zeinab (God bless him) is the memorial of Agha Sheikh Ali Akbar-e-Borhan. Agha Sheikh Ali Akbar-e-Borhan was a great erudite of Tehran and also was my teacher. The celebrations that held in the fifteenth of Shabaan and thirteenth of Rajab are also the memorial of him.
In Tehran when hosts saw that people come happily to these sessions, celebrations and mourning ceremonies without any invitation card and expense they fill these sessions, mosques and Hosseiniyeh, they tried to invite some clergymen who were really learned, conversant, pious and impressive so that they preach people. They say about tenets of religion and its jurisprudence. One of those people whom I remember was a preacher named Haj Moghaddas (holy). His family name wasn’t Moghaddas. He was called Moghaddas because he was a very good and fair man and also he was really good tempered and pure person.
Mr. Haj Moghaddas used to bet with the hosts and erectors of ceremony and even adjured them that at first give me a little money which would be enough for me and don’t give me extra money, don’t consider my position and the second request is that this commission should be for before of my rostrum and don’t mix it with my rostrum.
The orators and preachers whom I had seen were some learned and Gnostic people; they were Shiite’s Gnostic not the Gnostic of friary. Sometimes at the time of preaching or mentioning the tragedy of Imam Hussein (God bless him), they used to cry more than their audiences on their rostrum. Agha Syed Hassan-e-Lavasany was an instance of that. When this great man used to recite the verses of hereafter on his rostrum, he used to shed tears as the size of his face at the time when he was on the rostrum.
So it clear that the orator is looking himself in hereafter or in the presence of God. It was impossible that these kinds of personalities say something to people which isn’t from religion. They relied on the last will of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) “I leave to valuable things among you; God’s book and my household.” [17] It means that in their rostrums, God’s book and the household of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was the main pivots.
An absorbing and valuable tradition that our most of our previous preachers and orators owned was that they used to explain one or two God’s commandments for people by a very pleasant way before their rostrum. It means that they talked about both minutia and tenets of religion. That’s why the people who trained by those rostrums was skillful about minutia and tenets of religion and also were righteous and discerning people.
Some of the tradesmen who were trained by those preaching rostrums were so familiar with juridical matters that they were called trade’s lawyer. For example my father was called trade’s lawyer. Most of these tradesmen sat in their shops and other shopkeepers used to come and ask some juridical matters from them. Our grandees really emphasized to train people with Islamic deeds. This feeling of responsibility was in a time when sins weren’t at the amount of nowadays.
At the time when there weren’t satellite, site, magazines and the vulgar films of Hollywood. A sin used to happen secretly. In spite of that of religious experts were sensitive and regarded a responsibility for themselves. In that pure society our religious experts were stressful that lest people commit any sin, that’s why they came up on rostrum and warn people about committing any sin.
I recommend you to study the fifty years of Isfahan’s history. You will see in you investigation that the most of this city’s presbyteries were in the hands of religious experts. And every night a religious expert used to came up on the rostrum and say at least to juridical matters for people in twenty minutes. Ayatollah Najaf Abady used to talk for people in mosques and in houses.
Ayatollah Brujerdy used to came up on the rostrum about the thirty years when he was in Brujerd. One asked him “O sir when you used to come up on the rostrum, did you say Roza (saying the tragedy of Ahle beit [God bless them])” he answered “yes.” Our grandees made most of people’s attraction to the tragedy of Imam Hussein (God bless him).
But nowadays this attraction isn’t utilized very well. I think its reason is this that there aren’t skillful orators according to people’s requirement and because the lack of sage and wise orators who be extremely dependent to Ahle Beit (God bless them) and also be knowledgeable and Gnostic. The reason that we can’t make most of people’s attraction to Imam Hussein (God bless him) is that we haven’t some good and weepy orators.
Our mourning sessions aren’t productive. While the productivity of our nowadays’ sessions should be much more than past. In the past most of our orators were narrators. They was greatly familiar with the culture of Ahle Beit (God bless them). Some personalities like Sheikh Abbas Qomi used to come up on the rostrum.
I heard from one of the trainees of Ayatollah Agha Sheikh Abdolkareem-e-Haeri who was a great religious expert that he said “Agha Sheikh Abdolkareem invited Sheikh Abbas Qomi to preach people for ten night in the small yard of sainthood Masuma’s (God bless him) holy shrine after the pray of Maghreb and Esha that he himself was the imam of these two prays. Every ten night Agha Sheikh Abdolkareem himself came and sat beside the rostrum of Sheikh Abbas Qomi.
One of the knowledgeable people asked from Sheikh Abdolkareem “what’s your opinion about Sheikh Abbas Qomi?” he answered “I am ready to say my three days and nights’ pray behind the students who listened to speeches of Sheikh Abbas Qomi, because his speeches makes anyone fair and just. Our orators and audience was in this position.
Most of them were narrator and knew a lot of quotations and was greatly familiar with Ahle Beit (God bless them). That’s why their speeches were efficient. There was an orator in Qom who had memorized about one thousands quotations! There was an orator in Tehran who knew a great deal of Osul-e-Kafi book. For example Agha Syed Esmaeel-e-Shafyee that one could think that he has memorized the quotations just like holy Quran.
These people were really efficient. In the clamors of Ghajar era and the unparalleled offence to religion and Reza Khan’s unrighteous actions to religion and all sided offence to religious culture, the people’s religion was protected by these orators, they protected these sessions and legated those for the future generations and eventually this protection caused to Islamic Revolution in Iran.
This was the sage orators who repeated the villainies of Reza Khan for people and transferred what they had seen to people. They said to coming generations about the villainies of Reza Khan in 1342 that they had seen and prepared people to arise against his government and abolish it. Imam Khomeini utilized this awakening and people’s preparation which had been obtained in the mourning ceremonies of Imam Hussein (God bless him) and aroused people against Pahlavi regime and people helped Imam Khomeini because they were really tired from Pahlavi government’s oppressions and eventually their uprising led to abolishment of dependant Pahlavi regime.
Howza: it’s apparent that preserving the holy position, shiny, guider, illustrative of rostrum and removing superstition from it, is a very difficult and burdensome work and it need to discretion, attention, astuteness, diligence and knowledge of time and deep awareness for its preservers so that they can remove all darkness, weak and baseless speeches which are a big and destructive nuisance for it by their consciousness.
Which institutions and personalities are responsible to preserve astutely the holy position of rostrum and can protect from this holy media to transfer it to the future generations and keep it away from any detriment by training and instructing some capable and astute forces so that its guiding cresset will be glowing forever.
Professor: the thing that was very little in the past and exists in a great deal in nowadays especially in these past twenty years is the objectivism and venal of some orators. Maybe that wasn’t their first intent; but when they came and put on the holy apparel of spirituality, at first they came up on the rostrum in the month of Ramadan and Moharram or other days and when they saw people’s admiration, politeness and their respect to themselves, because the lack of capacity and weakness of their faith, they regarded the rostrum as a instrument to achieve worldly matters and their material goals and according to the quotation of Imam Bagher (God bless him) they considered God’s religion and Aeme Atehar (God bless them) as a instrument to the world and their stomachs. [18]
They got some rostrums in whole parts of country, and because the most of people weren’t able to be argumentative and logically, they could control the surrounding by narrating their dreams and delusive speeches. God has divided the matters of rostrum into three phases:
“Invite (people) by wisdom and good preaching to your God’s way and argue with them by a pleasant method.” [19]
Speeches should be along with good sermon, preaching and logical argument with the people who are argumentative. Ninety percent of people like good argument and are argumentative. The good argument is more common. Some of uneducated orators have utilized from this environment. Some of them utilized from religion and delusions and delivered their dreams as religious matters to people and since people weren’t argumentative, they accepted their speeches and showed their admirations to these kinds of orators that we can see its result nowadays.
These uneducated orators mixed baseless and nonreligious matters with religious matters and firstly started from remote towns and then gradually came forward. These kinds of orators and rostrums separated learned educated young and collegians group from mosque and rostrum. It means that these groups didn’t came beside the rostrums because when they saw that what they are hearing is inconsistent and contradictory with their minds and religion to the extent they knew about them.
The literate and educated group of society, the people who had seen good rostrums didn’t came beside the rostrums anymore. Eventually these kinds of sessions failed and the work fell in the hands of eulogists. The eulogists who sang eulogy with the strange modes of poems and unsuitable tone started to sing according to tunes of inner and outer music.
Many of young people used to stand outside of the mosques and roved around in the nights of mourning and when orators’ rostrum finished and eulogy started, they swarmed into the mosques in a manner that there wasn’t any empty place for sitting. Nowadays most of ceremonies in Iran aren’t the ceremonies of teaching religion and instructing it; those are a series of ceremonies which responded to the unreasonable emotions of people not the ceremonies which respond to emotions and religious sense of people.
I have participated in the funeral ceremony of three great religious experts. Like the funeral ceremony of Ayatollah Agha Mirza Javad-e-Tbrizy and Ayatollah Fazel-e-Lankarany. Some of religious experts were sitting in time of my orating. In one of these funeral ceremonies, Ayatollah Vaheed-e-Khorasany was sitting from beginning to the end. I said in these discourses:
“At first, it is the responsibility of Howza Elmyiah to take all of these uneducated orators away from rostrums or encourage them to study in the Howza Elmyiah of their own town and after that they will be examined by some specialist, if they would be accepted then Howza Elmyiah can license them just like the permissions which were given to narratives to be published.”
I recalled this point in that great ceremony. When Howza Elmyiah accomplishes its this responsibility, then we should go to the managers or the people who perform prays in mosques and awake them. It is their responsibility to invite educated and knowledgeable orators and avoid inviting uneducated and untaught orators to sit on the rostrums. It means that the managers and supervisors of Heyats and mosques should go and research about the knowledge and awareness of orators whom they invite, after that they can let those orators to sit on the rostrum.
When we utilize from good and educated orators, naturally, most of mosques and religious Heyats will remain without orators. In this condition, it is the responsibility of towns’ Howza that take step to supply this shortage. I think that every town’s Howzas can encourage the educated and knowledgeable clergymen of themselves so that they can enter in this arena and supply this shortage by instructing the true way of orating to them and teaching them the correct way of orating and its techniques.
Howza Elmyiah should have the exact statistic of mosques, Hosseinyiahs and Heyats in Iran and should be aware of their needs and trains enough orators and send them to that place. In addition to training orators, it should compile some booklets from the needs of mosques, Hosseinyiahs and Heyats and send it to all of mosques, Hosseinyiahs and Heyats’ mangers. In these booklets, Howza Elmyiah should mention the features of clergymen, orators and eulogists who can perform their programs among people, the features by which mangers can invite them.
This work I mean straighten the condition of proselytism and orators is possible just by the help of Howza and leadership who have the political and spiritual power of country in their hands and by this way, I think we can restrain from the danger which has happened and is going to be extended and through that we can heal this disease.
When an amateur starts to work on the people’s thoughts and their religion, it’s the sign of danger. Maybe they haven’t any bad intention but at the end of the day their work will be destructive. Imam Sadegh (God bless him) believed that the detriment of these kinds of people who ascribed false things to Ahle Beit (God bless him) because of their mundane and worldly affairs is more than the corps of Yazid and has said:
“The detriment of these kinds of people for our weak Shiite is more than the detriment of Yazid’s corps for Imam Hussein (God bless him) and his companions, because they pillage the spirits along the pillage of possessions!” [20]
The corps of Yazid fragmented the body of Holy Prophet’s (peace be upon him) son and his companions and children and destroyed them but these liar and superstitious orators who have attacked to the thoughts of people and their religion and are destroying people’s mind, temperaments and their religion; they are destroying people’s faith and teaching them a new religion.
Here, I want to mention an instance which was happened for me:
About five or six years ago, I was invited by the Howza Elmyiah of Karaj to have an oration there. I took a taxi and went to the Azady square. Again I waited there to take a taxi in order to go to Karaj. A car braked beside of me. His driver didn’t know me. He asked “O sir, where do you want to go?” I answered “Karaj.” He said “I’m going to Karaj too, get on please.”
When we passed a short way, he turned to me and said “I’m engineer. My wife and children have listened to an orator’s cassette and apostatized.” He played the cassette for me. The orator was a well-known orator. He said some baseless and delusive words in an artily way to people. The engineer said “is it what you render to people? This cassette has apostatized my wife and children.” I confirmed him.
Is it an oration? Aren’t there any one to say him “you can manage your this art by learning and utilizing from the presence of great literate or religious expert and clergymen in ten or five years. You are making people pagan instead of making them faithful.” it was this orator that when Ayatollah Mirza Javad-e-Tbrizy heard his speeches from television, expressed his dissatisfaction in the time of his teaching and hit to his head because the intensity of disturbance and criticized television with a severe way.
Once I myself saw the manager of television in the office of Ayatollah Khamenei and said to him “one time sit and watch the orations of television, you will be ashamed and embarrassed.”
You turn on a channel and see that there is a prater and religion’s destructor orator who is delivering delusive things to people and is rendering a new invented religion to them and when you turn on another channel, you see that Ayatollah Javadi Amoli who is a peerless learned person is orating! Which kind of program is it? Who you have been placed beside these great religious experts? Howza Elmyia by the help of leadership and religious experts should frankly attempt to purify the house of Shiite from these kinds of problems in this age of technology.
Howza: Islam has brought up some very great and proficient orators who were impressive in people’s entity and in societies. They were some orators who created a kind of spiritual revolution in people and metamorphosed people’s hearts by the help of their great techniques and nice method. In the top of this holy pyramid, the names of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and the holy name of Imam Ali (God bless him) are shining that the other famous orators has showed the right and true way of Islam to people by the help of Islam guidance and utilizing from their instructions and could preserved Islam from the pests, detriment and delusive beliefs in different periods of time.
In this ere that Islamic society extremely needs to pious, faithful, and learned orators who are skillful in the instructions and educations of religion, what’s your opinion that by which schemes and methods Howza Elmyia can train and instruct these kinds of orators?
Professor: Three works should be done to train an orator:
1. Howza’s students haven’t enough time to participate in the rostrums of good and wise orators and imitate the way they orate because they are busy with their studying and lessons, so Howza Elmyia should make a plan and deliver them some cassettes of famous orators so that they listen to those cassettes in a regularly way and at the end, they should be examined by the contents of those cassettes. It means that some question should be prepared so that the students who have listened those cassettes can answer the questions in a specified time.
In my opinion if religious students listen to the oration’s cassettes of some grandee and sage orators like martyr Motahary, decedent Falsafy, decedent Rashed and the outstanding orations in the time of studying and learning Islamic knowledge and were orderly examined like the examination of school books, to some extent, our need to efficient and good orators will be supplied.
2. They can introduce good books to the religious students so that they acquire the preparation for oration by studying those books deeply.
A book like Mahjato Albeiza [21] wrriten by Feiz-e-Kashaany is really useful for oration. Agha Hussein Ali-e-Rashed the son of decedent Molla Abbas-e-Torbaty that was one of the famous orator whose orations had been broadcasted in the nights of Fridays from radio for twenty five years, had extracted his stuffs from Mahjato Albeiza from Feiz-e-Kashaany.
I got this matter by looking over to his orations. Once I had the opportunity to check his sixteen volumes of orations. I saw that he had orated greatly for twenty five years. I saw that decedent Rashed, in this twenty five years, had orating about non repetitious things and Mahjato Albeiza was the stuffs of his orations.
He used to choose half page from Mahjato Albeiza’s book and worked deeply on that and converted it to a way so that ordinary people can understand it. Then he used to deliver his orations to people which were really impressive. So it is necessary to introduce the sources of orations for the educated religious students.
3. Practice. It means the religious students who have participated in this plan should practice after listening to the cassettes. The specialists of oration and rostrum should be invited. The people who have all conditions of oration and rostrum and the people who have the power of orating, scientific stuffs and are among the members of Howza should came on the rostrum in front of one or two hundred religious students and after the oration of each one, some students would be allowed to express their criticism in a reasonable and logical way and then a specialist orates for twenty minutes and says his viewpoints about the orations which were delivered.
These kinds of plans are necessary for training an orator. We have to train orators otherwise they will be trained badly. If these plans won’t accomplish even educated and knowledgeable orator can’t deliver a normative and principled oration and also they will fail to choose the subjects which people need.
Howza: in our country and among the Shiite, orations and rostrums are on the base of mourning for Imam Hussein (God bless him), but unfortunately it has seen that the orations and rostrums are deprive from the heroic spirit of Imam Hussein’s (God bless him) uprising and even some of them are counteracting Imam Hussein’s (God bless him) uprising and are removing the heroic spirit of that uprising by wrong interpretations, deductions and delusions.
What's your opinion that by which way and method we can fill the orations and rostrums with the rapture and epic of Imam Hussein (God bless him) and preserve it from the pests and detriment and wrong deductions?
Professor: I have discovered one thing that I got it a little bit late. I would have discovered it so sooner than it and it is: who can tell us the target of Imam Hussein (God bless him) and its heroism order so that we can tell them to people? It means which source or who can clarify that great and epic target? It is two years that I have reached to this conclusion that nobody has talked about this matter like the way Imam Hussein (God bless him) has said.
It means the testament that he wrote at the beginning of his travel and gave it to Muhammad-ebne-Hanafeeye till six month, the speeches which he had between Medina and Mecca, the sermons which he orated in Mecca and the letters which he sent to Mecca and Kufa and the oration that he made there, the orations and discourses of Imam Hussein (God bless him) in the eight days on which he was surrounded by the corps of Horr-ebne-Yazid-e-Riyahi, the sermon of Ashura’s night which is the best oration, the epic speeches of the Ashura’s day, epic poems, epic poems of Ahle Beit (God bless them) and companions, all and all are the reason that shows the epic and divine aspect of Karbala’s uprising in a most superlative and beautiful manner.
Musuat-al-Imam Alhussein (God bless him) book that has been printed and published by Bagher Alolum foundation should issue and we should recommend to religious students and orators to study this book and delivered their oration from this book to people, because this book is scientific, tearjerker, spirit booster and mind awakening.
We can utilize from Imam Hussein’s (God bless him) orations. In my opinion we can orate none repetitiously on the rostrum by the orations of Imam Hussein (God bless him) that for ten years. And the other work that I’m going after it and I’m not sure that I can get its all points and aspects in the next four or five years is Ziyarat-e-Vares.
In these two years I wasn’t able to go beyond the phrase of “YA VARESA ADAME SAFATALLAH.” Because I have checked the word of “ADAM” in all verses of holy Quran and I saw that God has said seven great points for sainthood Adam (God bless him) and Imam Hussein (God bless him) has inherited all of those seven great points.
One of those points is “KHALIFATOALLH” that Karbala shows it nicely. Imam Hussein’s (God bless him) uprising in Karbala is illustrative and demonstrative of five great messengers’ identity. The way of felicity is seen clearly in Karbala. Karbala is the summery and extraction of one hundred and twenty four thousands messengers.
Howza: one of the responsibilities of an orator is preaching. Sermon is a speech which softens hearts, removes the atrocity from hearts, balances anger and lust; prevent our self will to being disobedient and purify and burnish hearts. No one whether educated or uneducated, isn’t needless to the sermon. Maybe most of aware and open minded people and politicians would be needless from the awakening speeches about countries and the world which are delivered by orators but they aren’t needless from sermon anyway, especially a sermon which originates from the instructions of religion and soften hearts.
What do you think that are the orators preserving correctly from this position and have they acquired the capability to preach and sermon originates from their hearts and be effective. If there is any shortage about this matter and the rostrum doesn’t do its responsibility as it is expected, what’s the way by which we can dispel this shortage?
Professor: yes the rostrum has this deep effect. That’s why we see in the past governments of Iran like Safaviyan and Ghajariyan, except political affairs, the governors and rulers were greatly influenced by great religious experts. Especially in the decade of Ahura, that they themselves held mourning ceremonies and were greatly influenced by the sermons of preachers and orators in those days and these sermons prevented most of oppressions and cruelties.
Yes the rostrum can do this work, but by the help of learned and wise orators, with a delicate power, extreme dependence to Ahle Beit (God bless them), by a power that can provoke this spiritual conditions in people that fortunately it was like this in the past and unfortunately it isn’t like this now. In the past there were some people in Tehran and Esfahan that even I have seen one or two people of them that in spite of their position which was the same as religious expert, they used to orate for a lot of people in the nights of Fridays and used to recite the prayer of Komeil. These prayers and other programs were really impressive.
But nowadays our orators even those who are educated and religious students don’t give that exhilaration to people. They have apathetic orations. Generally the apathetic orations haven’t any effect on Shiite. But if we utilize from the speeches of holy Quran and Ahle Beit (God bless them) to preach and advise people, if we do whatever we say and say our all speeches sympathetically definitely our speeches and sermons will be effective.
Howza: one of the difficult matters that locate in front of orators is informing them about the stuffs of religion and their world. Now and in this world, which features an orator should have and how he should act so that he can inform people from their religion and world’s stuffs?
Professor: an orator should be aware of the famous cultures of Satan. He should know the tricks of Satan and know the language of satellite and should nicely explain the “LA ELAH (no God)” phase of monotheism for people so that he can remove all things except Allah from the entities of people. If he can remove all things except Allah from the entities of people, definitely people’s spirit will be prepared for accepting the “EL ALLAH (except Allah) phase. Then by monotheism and elimination of all things except God we can purify this plane in the entities of people, we can mention them about moralities and corruptions via holy Quran and remind them about the detriments of foreign cultures.
I have this experience, especially with young generation. My method has greatly influenced them. Now I want to give a sample: in the time of talking about moralities and corruptions, after informing audiences about the culture of Satan and speaking about the culture of God and having a comparison between these two cultures, audience entity will be freed from all things except God and the light of monotheism will be turn on in his chest.
Before the Islamic revolution and after the Islamic revolution it is happen frequently that unveiled girls have written letters for me and said “we have reverted to the religion by the contents which we heard from your rostrums and the stuffs that you have posed.” And also many young people who hadn’t good past or were contaminated by sins have come to me and have talked about the impressments of the stuffs which I drew out from holy Quran and Ahle Beit (God bless them) and said some amazing mementos to me. I have mentioned these new mementos in two volumes of book that each of them has one thousand pages.
Howza: what’s your opinion that why instead of sermon, speeches about stuffs of religion and the world, describing the philosophy of Imam Hussein’s (God bless him) uprising, order to do good action and restrain from bad action and in short describing the pure aspect of Islam and its reviving instruction, some delusions, untrue mysticisms, the delusive dreams and deceptive and weak utterances which are wisdom destroyer have been heard from the rostrums and some orators are contaminating the environment and are involving many of audiences to these baseless matters?
Professor: after the victory of Islamic revolution, many of orators and lecturers who were effective in their region and district, in spite of severe need (that we can’t deny it), changed the presbytery and rostrum to a management table. They started to work in the government’s affairs and jobs. Also many of good orators, emotionalizing by the rapture of revolution, hadn’t the art of description according the time of revolution.
They were pulled over by young people. It means we had an overdoing about breaking the personalities of our characters. They characters who remained in Tehran and other cities and had really acceptable oration, were very little. In the time, when the impostors saw that there isn’t any skillful orator in the ground, they entered into the ground and acted as fast as they could.
Many of them tried to destroy the religion because of their ignorance or worldliness and the other, whom I’m certain that they are foreign factors, directly or indirectly, being assisted by billions of Tomans from American and European budget which have assigned in order to overturn the religion, started to abolish the religion.
Anyway, these kinds of people got the control of this arena and the rostrums and the young people who didn’t accept the religion in a logically and reasonably way, showed their enthusiasm to these rostrums. The revolution had been begun, presbyteries and rostrums were empty, and so by taking advantage of this empty environment and the lack of knowledgeable and learned orators, they could absorb people’s attention to themselves by using tricks and deceptions.
My twenty five years ago cassettes are available that I constantly warned about the rostrums which are abject, the delusion rostrums, the rostrums in which God’s affairs have been distorted, the rostrums which bases were dreams, in that time no one heard me and I was alone. No one helped me. Its two years that some of religious expert and grandee have entered in the ground.
In that time, I contacted to some of political personalities. I went to the ministry of country and other places and described the condition for them. Even I told to honorable leadership “the rostrums are being monetary. The rostrums have been emptied from holy Quran and quotations.” I told to him “your utterances are really effective. When you go to the pray of Friday and utter the sermon, say four quotations and explain four Halal (the things which we are allowed to do them by God) and Haram (the things which we aren’t allowed to do them by God) actions.
Ten years have passed from my request. Once he saw me in his office and told me “do you remember once you told me in the pray of that I say quotation in the sermon and talk about Halal and Haram? That was good notification.” Now the religious expert started to think about it. But it’s a little bit late; because the distortions and lies have been scattered.
In addition to the rostrums which are filled with delusions and lies and are hurting religion and this people’s spirituality, there are some books which are publishing and delivering with permission or without permission, the books which are full of lies, weak words and strange eminences for personalities. Some of these books that are written about the eminences of some personalities, those personalities are alive.
I know their children. When I saw these books which were about the eminences of their fathers, I contacted them and said “these kinds of books have written about the eminences of your fathers.” They laughed and said “we didn’t see such things from our father in fifty or sixty years we lived with them.” Especially a book that was written about the eminences and spiritual conditions of a person who wasn’t Moammam (hadn’t turban).
They wrote this book and published it by advertisements. While used to I know him, he wasn’t a person described by this book! They have written some introductions for him in this book that those introductions didn’t use even for God’s messengers not in holy Quran nor in quotations. These manmade eminences and weak words entered in rostrums and helped to liar discoursers assisted a lot to those groups who were ignorant, monetary and foreign factors, directly or indirectly so that by the help of describing these artificial eminences and strange dreams, attract people and distance them from religious cognitions.
In some condition of creating eminences, we get even worse than the Sufi group of Sunni. At least they utilized their minds in the moment of creating eminences. They totally have two books about it, one of them is Tazkerato-al-Oliya [22] and the other one is Nafahat-e-Jami [23]. But we have filled our bookstores with these kinds of books and even we have packed our stalls and news-stands with these weak and misleading books.
You see a lot of books in hundreds of bookstores and news-stands which are written about a personality’s eminences with twenty of twenty five times of print. Go and to bookstores and see how many books are written about Imam Mahdi (we praise for his advent) and are delivering to people. Once creating eminences and strange words about some people were so prevalent that a young person asked me “I beg you to not be silent and tell me one thing.” I said “what thing?” he said “I have heard that when you arrive to your home and your home’s key isn’t along with you, you see the door and the door opens.” I said “that’s good that you told me I have such an eminence.”
Some nights ago I came down from the rostrum and went toward my home, the key was left behind, and my family also wasn’t at home. I sat forty minutes behind the door of my home till my family came and opened the door.” It means those delusions and eminence creation; the delusive books which are full of artificial and false eminences are delivered to people and young and became so prevailed that this young person erred by studying and listening those words.
By emptying the rostrums and presbyteries from sage orators and high investments of foreigners and America for distancing young people from religion and filling their minds with delusions and by the prevalence of these rostrums and delusive books, these saddening events happen.
Howza: it’s clearly understood from your speeches that rostrums have became unmeaning, weak and containing false dreams and artificial eminences and are contaminated by colonialism and those had and have pivotal role in delusion and Illusionism’s prevalence and one of the solutions that you emphasized was rostrums that by reforming it and imitating from sage and human-constructing rostrums which would be without delusions and falsehoods, we can overcome to this condition.
It seems that if a comparison done between the rostrums which were held before the Islamic revolution with those that were held after the Islamic revolution, maybe we can conclude better and become familiar with its defects.
Professor: by comparing between past time’s rostrums and the rostrums that are held after the Islamic revolution, I see that a lot of differences have happened in two aspects:
1. In quantity of rostrums. It means that in past, in the most towns of Iran, we had enough sage orators as people needed and sometimes there were more orators than people needed. There were a lot of famous and knowledgeable orators in Holy Mashhad that some of those orators were sent to other cities of Iran in the days of Ramadan and Moharram month.
When I was an adolescent and a schoolboy, I used to see that famous orators came to Tehran from Mashhad and orated for people in mosques. In spite of many knowledgeable orators who were in Tehran; but because the high population of Tehran, the managers and hosts of Tehran’s mosques and sometimes people used to invite famous and well-known orators from Mashhad and other cities.
Haj Mohaghegh-e-Khorasami, Syed Morteza Sabzevari, and above of these gentlemen, Sheikh Gholam Reza Tabasi from Mashhad and Sadraee-e-Ashkuri from Rasht used to come to Tehran and orate. They came to Tehran not because Mashhad and Rasht didn’t need to these gentlemen or they have no rostrum to orate, they used to come to Tehran because their orations were constructive and worthwhile and people loved to listen to these orators’ orations.
They were well-known personalities in the different parts of Gilan and Mazandaran like: Rasht, Lahijan, Amol and Gorgan. The knowledgeable orators of these areas granted good orations to people and informed them from religious affairs. Also there were a lot of orators in Esfahan who were erudite and sage. Hesamo-al-Din-e-Vaez and Haj Sheikh Bagher-e-Zand-e-Kermani were among the good orators of Esfahan.
Nowadays we have few orators either in Capital or in other cities. The shortage of orators leads people to complain. I have orated in one hundred and two cities and most of them were the central parts of cities or big cities. I confronted with dissatisfactions and grievances of people in these cities who were upset about the shortage of orators. Once in one of my orations in Qom, because the severe shortage of orators, I resorted to Debal Khozraee’s poem that came to Imam Reza (God bless him) while he was crying and said this poem:
The book’s schools of God discharged from recitation / and the houses of inspiration and prophecy demolished.
2. About the quality of rostrums. In past our orators were among knowledgeable and erudite people. Tehran had productive Howzas. Nearly to the year of 1330 heliacal, Tehran had prosperous religious schools like Marvy School and one and two other school in the market of Tehran. There was some great teacher who used to teach in the Howzas of Tehran like Agha Mirza Mahdi-e-Ashtiyani who is called the philosopher of east
One or two of his students were orator. One of them was Agha Sheikh Mohammad Reza Rabbani that had productive rostrum and the other one was Agha Mohammad Taghi Falsafi who survived to orate seventy years without any failure. Another great orator was Agha Sheikh Mahdi-e-Ghavam. These were some personalities who had seen the productive Howza of Tehran.
The Howza where some great teachers used to teach like Agha Mirza Mahdi-e-Ashtiyani, Ebno-al-Din, Agha Shiekh Mohammad Ali Lavasani, Agha Syed Mohammad Kazem-e-Asar who was the religious expert of that time and also Agha Sheikh Mohammad Taghi-e-Amoli and Ayatollah Agha Syed Ahmad-e-Khansari.
The great orators of Tehran had utilized from these great knowledgeable people in the field of morality. They started to orating from their youth beside their studies and learning from the presence of great religious experts. They didn’t leave their learning and studies at the time of orating. They had perseverance about learning their lessons.
Also the orators who brought up in the Howza of Mashhad who acquired their knowledge and mortality from the presence of some great religious experts that had excellent position in science, spirituality and piousness like Agha Bozorg-e-Hakeem, Agha Sheikh Morteza Ashtiyani, Agha Syed Yunes-e-Ardebeeli, Agha Mahdi-e-Noghani and Adeeb-e-Neishaburi who was a prominent teacher.
Some these orators whom I mentioned related to a time when I was six or seven year old and my father used to bring me to their orating place. Their rostrum was so productive that some audiences who were knowledgeable and educated used to write the quotations that they mentioned. My father used to write down the quotations and some of points they mentioned.
He had written about five thousand pages. He had collected them in thirty years of his participating in the ceremonies of sermon and oration that unfortunately they destroyed. The destruction’s story of those pages is this that before Islamic Revolution, the hirelings of Pahlavi government arrested two members of my family and my family had taken all declarations and notes to outside of our home so that Savak can’t access them.
I didn’t also know that. My father notes were among them that after his death I tried a lot to find them but I couldn’t. We had prosperous and scientifically productive Howzas in Gilan, Mazandaran, Babol, Gorgan and Rasht. Now what I remember from the Howza of Gilan its mangers are the students of Naeeni and Kompani.
In Rasht we had Agha Ziyavari, Agha Bahro-al-Olum, Agha Lakani who I myself saw the permission of Ayatollah Borujerdi to him for being religious expert. These were teachers who used to teach and train to religious students. These religious students had whether powerful orators or powerful writers like Agha Hojati who was young and died in an accident. He used to publish a magazine which had a lot of buyers in those days.
No one invite the old orators who are educated and knowledgeable because of their age and the new orators whom I accidentally have listened to their orations in some funeral ceremonies or from media have baseless and unproven orations. Presbyteries and rostrums have been emptied from knowledgeable and pious people and that’s why their place has been occupied by some orators who haven’t scientific materials and unfortunately some of them, knowingly or unknowingly, have helped the enemies by their worthless orations and describing false dreams.
I think with this great demand that we have inside and even more outside of our country for God’s cognitions, by their these actions, they have oppressed to religion and enthusiastic people. Anyway distortions, innovations, baseless speeches are due to shortage of learned orators, constructive rostrums and lack of Imam Jamaats (praying leader).
Because when a mosque’s Imam Jamaat would be knowledgeable just like the past religious experts, he will not permit everyone to sit on the rostrum and preach people or he will not invite everyone to take the control of people’s minds and hearts. The knowledgeable Imam Jamaats that we had forty or fifty of them in our district and all of them were religious experts and very cautious about inviting learned and effective orator and of course there were lot of learned and effective orators in most of cities as people needed.
Howza: who are responsible for damage the reputation of rostrums and its position? The damage which was a dangerous and terrible stroke to the truth and its lovers and to this transparent area of cognition and cultural affairs; who are responsible for mocking this holy media by their Inconsideration, negligence and misusing it and instead of guidance, they misguided people?
Professor: I use “carelessness” term instead of “blameful” term. I can’t say who are blameful or which institutions are blameworthy in this arena. I can say that because there are a lot of revolution’s works which have been left and a lot of learned and thoughtful people are wholeheartedly working for Islamic revolution in the different centers of this country, they have inadvertently forgotten rostrum’s issue and its content and about the orators who can orate for people.
If we want to quickly restrain from this danger’s procedure, we have to create an organization in the ministry of agency which would be cautious, informed and have authority in this field. Of course definitely Howza Elmyia can intelligently and precisely settle this chaos by the help of its constructive affairs, The work which Howaza Elmyia have done against the religious destroying actions of Pahlavi government.
The agency and security organization of Pahlavi government tried to restrain constructive and informative rostrum and every efficient orator used to expect to be warned or evocated from Savak and be investigated by them. Imam Sadegh (God bless him) said “enter in guidance from a way by which the enemy want to hit you.”
The factors of Savak used to attend in orations’ ceremonies. Savak hadn’t learned and informed agents in the field of religious affairs. Their agents were careful whether orators attack to the Pahlavi government or not. If orators would say something about this matter, those agents used to report and after that Savak used to decide to warn them or restrain them to orate or detain them.
Nowadays, I think we have to create such an organization in our agency ministry so that they can investigate the rostrums and eulogies and try to realize defects and delusive contents and prevent misleading orations and harmful eulogies to be performed. Also we have to make an association in Howza Elmyia and it should quickly identify the false, deceitful and innovative orations and eulogies all over the country and try to terminate their connection with mosques, Hosseiniyahs, Heyats and other religious centers.
These two organizations should obstruct this contaminated mire from its source. They should be straightforward and don’t care about the positions and posts of these people. Yesterday, I have listened to speech of leadership for the people of Sanandaj in this city. He said a good sentence in that gathering, he said “a Shiite person who insult and desecrate to the values of Ahle Sunnite so he is hireling of enemy whether he know it or not. [24]
We have these kinds of people and they orate easily despite the emphasis of leadership. The pity of Islamic revolution’s leadership and other religious experts from misleading rostrums should be put in a practical order. The agency is responsible. It has serious responsibility. Howza Elmyia has also very crucial responsibility. Now that Howza Elmyia has executive authority and on the other hand all people and organizations respect it, it can vigorously take action against the destructive invasion of delusive rostrums.
Howza: The invasion of delusions against the holy position of religion and its heroic, limpid and pure instructions is very severe and terrifying, especially that it is trapping and moving forward in the coverage of religion, Karbala epic, the holy and divine belief of Imam Mahdi (we praise God for his advent).
What do you think that are the nowadays’ rostrums and orators able to restrain from this base-destructing and unsafe movement or a great evolution should be occurred in rostrums and orators? If this evolution is necessary, what are its features? And who are in charge to manage this evolution?
Professor: you know we can’t change the concepts of God’s commandments which are in holy Quran and Ahle Beit’s (God bless them) quotations. It means we can’t attribute wrong interpretations to holy Quran or its explanations that are in quotations Ahle Beit (God bless them). The customary meaning of rostrum is that traditional jurisprudence which Imam Khomeini emphasis on.
If we consider time and location in traditional jurisprudence, as Imam Khomeini said, we can respond the needs of time. Time and location should be considered in jurisprudence not the jurisprudence has been changed. God’s Halal and Haram aren’t changeable, the Ejtehad (the knowledge and sciences which are necessary to be a religious expert) way isn’t changeable; but the viewpoint is changeable. We can deeply look on jurisprudence and respond to the needs of time by the connection that exists between jurisprudence and principle affairs.
Nowadays’ needs didn’t exist in the time of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and Aeme Atehar (God bless them), and we can’t say that because these needs didn’t exist in the time of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and Aeme Atehar (God bless them), so our jurisprudence can’t respond to them; because holy Quran regards this religion as a comprehensive and complete religion.
Answering to the current needs of society and community depends on a deep look to jurisprudence so that jurisprudence can respond the different affairs like the affairs of banks, cities and so on and also it can provide us with practical commandments so that no matter remain unanswered. Well, so we can do these works on rostrums in a way that the main application of rostrum which is describing holy Quran and quotations for people should be remain unchanged and beside this, the knowledgeable and learned orators can deliver their orations to people according to the needs of time.
They should recognize the opening from where people are facing with problems in their personal, family and social life, or oppress themselves or their family. A knowledgeable orator should understand them, comprehend the time and society, comprehend the needs and take out people’s answers from holy Quran and quotations which would be acceptable for people.
The traditional rostrum should be preserve like traditional jurisprudence, but the time and location should be considered in them. It means that if an orator poses a scientifically subjects, this subject shouldn’t be out of people needs. For example an orator shouldn’t focus on the matter of well’s refining or polluting causes while nowadays people aren’t dealing with them because there aren’t any well in houses so that people want to use its water or take an ablution with it.
Nowadays, Howza Elmyia appoints some courses about identifying time and people for religious students. By identifying time and knowing it, the religious students will learn what is happening nowadays and by identifying people they will understand that these people aren’t the people who were living sixty years ago, their mind have progressed, their knowledge have increased and because of universities, most of boys and girls are educated and have high level of knowledge.
Identifying time and people is two important fields that Europeans and Americans have worked a lot on them for more than three hundred years; that’s why they could control and predominate all over the world. If they weren’t able to identify time and people, they hadn’t the power of predominating people and colonizing world.
But unfortunately our Howza after passing thirty years from Islamic Revolution hasn’t familiarity with these two important fields while their works depend on these fields. An important point that I want to mention here is this that we should pay attention the rostrums should be empty from Howza’s educated orators. It means we have to be careful that the people who aren’t in the apparel of Howza shouldn’t be replaced by Howza’s orators.
Because the people who aren’t in the apparel of Howza try to attract people with a special manner and it is sad fact that little by little some people would like to enter in the field of orations while they refuse to putting on the apparel of Howza and take presbytery’s control. I think it is a problem that some of religious ceremonies are in the hands of some people who aren’t in the apparel of Howza. Of course some of those people are collegiate or probably they have learned some of Howza’s lessons.
Yet it isn’t true that these kinds of people go up on the rostrums; because in addition of the unpleasant effects they have or will have in future, it is a kind of encouragement for other religious students to put aside their Howza apparel and go up on the rostrums by coat and pants and make speech for people. It is dangerous and to prevent this danger which threaten presbytery, we should preserve this traditional form of rostrums but by regarding time and location.
Howza: you were successful in the field of rostrum, oration and writing some valuable and efficient book. Undoubtedly being familiar with your scientific life and the secret of your success and your writings can be useful for religious students and knowledgeable people. Please tell us about the works that you done in the field of holy Quran and tell us some points which you think are necessary about this matter.
Professor: because my life contains some adventures, some of my friends wanted me to write my memoirs and publish them that this work has been done and my life story, from my birth up to now, is going to be written in two thousands pages into two volumes. But I didn’t like this work. I didn’t like that my life story would be published.
I was always running away from reputation. From the time when I was young, one of the things which I tried to avoid was the reputation. I always wanted God to not bring the reputation for me, but it completely reversed. Anyway, I will say a summary of my life hoping it would be a piece of advice for other:
In the days of my education in high school and even when all of the conditions prepared for me to enter in university, I had an attraction in my entity to study in Howza. Eventually this great attraction led me to enter in Howza Elmyia and I started to study religious science. The thing that was important for me in my learning days in Howza was preventing from wasting time. I tried to avoid from any time-consuming and useless meetings.
Until I was in Howza, I studied the lessons in a serious manner and without any time wasting activity. Even nowadays, I haven’t separated from lesson books especially literature books. In spite of huge amount of works that I have, in order to make deep my understanding and conception from verses and quotations, I have connection with studying and lesson books whether literature or Osul or jurisprudence books.
But the rostrum was another part of my life. I started to orate from the age of twenty six. Because the fluent rhetoric that God had given me, I had been known within a short period of time in Iran and a lot of people started to invite me. From the very beginning of my oration, I based my rostrum on the testament of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) that he said:
I leave two valuable things among you, as long as you connect with them, you won’t mislead after me. One of them is greater than the other one, God’s book and my household. [25]
And in order to make most of my speeches and to increase its efficiency, I tried to get help from the recognition of people and time. I had studied a lot for the rostrum; I have a lot of notes. My notes of rostrums are recorded in twenty notebooks that every of them contains two hundred pages. I have about fifty thousand pages of notes except to those notebooks.
Right now, if someone tell me that where had you orated in the year of 1347 and what had you orated about, I can look up these notebooks and answer him that where I had oration and what I had orated about in the year of 1347 in the month of Mohrram or Safar. I have spent a lot my time on Islamic studies. If you listen to my oration cassettes in the year of 30-40, you will see that all the materials of my orations for people had been extracted from Islamic resources, for example I orated from Rejal-e-Kashi.
I have said some deep contents and matters for people from Shiite and Sunni books. In addition to that, from the beginning of my oration, I mean from the year of 1346, I had put the scientific magazines and scientific books like psychology, astronomy and sociology in the scheme of my studying plan. I tried to be familiar with the scientific viewpoints of western scientists even with Soviet and socialism viewpoints.
Now, in my library, I have some books which are translated from western scientists and Soviet’s books. So you can think that if I wanted to pose some matters from monotheism or monotheism’s verses of holy Quran, for example the holy verse of:
The God who specified the earth as a floor and appointed the sky as an erected roof for you, (the God) who send water, and by that, grew different fruits and aliments for you, so don’t regard any partner and colleague for him. [26]
I used to see earth science and astronomy books, the books which were written about edibles and fruits, whether their writer were from inside or abroad. Of course God gave me the power to not precede their contents instead of verses and quotations. But I used to combine the things which were true with verses and quotations and an attractive and fascinating rostrum used to be created.
If some young people came in my oration ceremony and had any doubt or if they were irreligious, when they heard that holy Quran has implied to these important matters about one thousands and five hundred years ago, it was really useful for their belief. It means that if they were in the exposure of the enemies of Islam, their belief used be rescued. Because by the loving kindness of God, the power of my preaching and advising was very high and my speeches used to affect spiritually and mentally.
From the time that I have founded this institute and my assistants and work fellow started to collect the cassettes of my orations from Tehran and other cities, they have collected six thousand cassettes from 1349 up to 1359. These cassettes are classified from last year according the plan that I suggested. If God grace us to edit and publish these cassettes, they will be about two hundred books that will be a great source for Shiite.
Three volumes of them named “wisdom the key of beatitude’s treasury” which is written in 494 pages, “wisdom the knower of otherworld’s secret” which is written in 527 pages, the Hadith of wisdom and human entity in holy Quran” that is written in 479 pages” have been published. I think it is a very good resource. Because I had studied thirty resources for orating in ten nights, I had papered them in a good manner and then classified them so that I would be able to have a good oration.
These books which contain my orations are a prepared journey for one who wants to orate. The title o these books are bout wisdom, monotheism, prophecy, Velayat (guardianship), hereafter and ethical and social affairs. Some them which are about Quranic matters like “God’s saints” are probably about five volumes.
The third part of my life is my compilations and translations. I don’t know about my motive and incentive for compilation and translation. I started to think about compilation and translation from 1350. Maybe its reason was that I thought when I haven’t any rostrum or studying program, in order to prevent my time to be wasted, I started to do them.
I used to extremely fear my life time to be wasted. I feared that I will be scolded in hereafter because the wasting of my life time; because God has said “didn’t we give you enough time in which whoever wanted to be admitted can admit.” [27] This worrying led me to start writing and translating, that until now, by the help of God, in addition to the books which are printing and publishing from the cassettes of my orations, I have written sixty volumes of books according to the needs of time. Some of those books have been printed and published for more than fifty five and thirty three times.
About the ten of my books have been translated to seven languages of the world. The publisher who has translated these books to the different languages of the world and has sent them to abroad, has showed me a lot of letters which are written in different languages that indicates the ovations of other countries’ reader. The publisher said “the time in which we can translate a book and send it to abroad is between five to seven years so that we can sell three thousand volumes of them; but your books have been printed and published for third or fourth time in three years.
Then I started to think about the translating of God’s four great books that are “holy Quran, Nahjo-al-balaghe, Saheefe-e-Sajjadyia and Mafateeh-al-Janan.” The translation of holy Quran is the consequence of my four years continuous endeavor. This translation has been organized by referring to forty scientific books, the interpretations of Shiite and Sunni about holy Quran and without referring to other translations.
The scientific books like “Alerab-al-Quran, Oloom-al-Arabia, Moghni-al-Lobeib, Mofradato-al-Ragheb, Almonjed, Forugho-al-Loghat, Alein, Mesbaho-al-Moneer, Farhang-e-Moeen, Majmao-al-Bahrain" and some interpretation like “Alsafi, Alkashshaf, Majmao-al-Bayan, Almizan, Aysaro-al-Tafaceer, Nooro-al-Saghalein, Rozato-al-Janan and….”
In this translation, I attempted that it would be simple, fluent and without any unclearness and complicacy. The sentence are in a manner that if the () are removed, the inside contents of parentheses and the outside contents have clear connection with their next or previous sentences. This translation has been rewritten for three times and has been reviewed for two times by two editors and before it is printed, it had been delivered to the translations studies center so that they criticize it textually and check it.
After four months of criticizing and checking this translation by the researchers of this center, they notified us about three points which were reformed and then they announced in an official letter: “your translation of holy Quran has been studied and checked by the experts of this center that their viewpoints are written below: in recording aspect, the translation is simple and fluent and understandable for everyone. Especially that some explanation has been added where it needed. The translation shows that precision and accuracy has been utilized in its preparation and it is free from many errors and mistakes which are made by translators.”
In this two or three years that these translations have been published, and around forty thousands of them have been printed and sold. I think its potential is more than this. Because these translations are in a way that everyone can you them, educated people, collegian and uneducated people. The meaning of translation is close to the concept of verses. There is a lot of innovation in the translation. I have notion to write an independent essay about the innovation of this translation that I haven’t enough time to do it right now.
The translation of Nahjo-al-balaghe: in this translation, for the first time, the translation is in subtitle order. Its Persian text is equal with its Arabic text. The translation isn’t in a way that seems to be shorter or longer than its Arabic text. This translation has been printed for more than thirty times.
The translation Saheefe-e-Sajjadyia: I think the text of this translation is the most fluent translation that has been ever done from Saheefe-e-Sajjadyia.
The translation of Mafateeh-al-Janan: Mafateeh-al-Janan is found beside holy Quran in any house, mosques and holy shrines. The position of this valuable writing led me to think for creating a fluent translation from this great remnant and so that it will be available for prayers and pious people. This thought was in my mind until I had a visiting with Agha Sheikh Mohsen, the last survivor who had seen Mohades-e-Qomi the writer of Mafateeh-al-Janan.
I said to him “the composition of Mafateeh-al-Janan is for eighty years ago. Many of words used in it aren’t understandable for people. The way of his Persian writing method was very complicated in that time. Sometimes when a reader starts to read its meaning, he loses the track of its result. It means that this composition is a skein-like composition.” I said to him “do you let me change the Persian composition of Mohades-e-Qomi in a way that its meaning doesn’t change and translate it to the current Persian language? It means I want to arrange its subjective and verb in an acceptable manner.”
He said “if you want to do it, I’ll let you.” In the passage of one year, I have translated the contents of Mafateeh-al-Janan to the current Persian language and also I have translated its prayers according to the translation method whcih I had used in the translation of Nahjo-al-balaghe and Saheefe-e-Sajjadyia.
Howza: at the end of this interview, we request you to preach us and other religious students and also mention us the some points that you acquired after a lot of experiences that you had.
Professor: I really love religious students. I have a special fondness to religious students who are in this apparel and are trying to acquire religious knowledge and want to take this parapet in future and serve to the religion of God. It is among my ambitions that maybe it would be a long ambition which Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) has interdicted it. [28]
But I’m involved in long positive ambition [29]. And that is this: I want God to give me such facilities, or my honor will be expended so that all religious students who are busy with acquiring religious knowledge in Qom, according to their personalities, I can accommodate them and can provide them by houses in which they can study their courses without any tension, debt and problem.
This is my recommendation to dear religious student: study and learn. I want them to try in order to increase their scientific materials and become a learned person. And I want from great teachers to be extremely piteous with religious students and encourage them to learn more. I request from religious experts that they start to build a lot of houses and give them to the religious students who are studying hardly and have good marks and have housing problems, they live in these houses for fifteen years until they become capable and can afford to buy a house for themselves and then they can give those houses to other religious students.
I really annoy from the financial problems of religious students. I wish that a religious student doesn’t be occupied with financial problems. It is really difficult for me to see that the religious students stand in the long queues of Shahriya (the money given to religious students by religious experts) to take a little money and I think it isn’t appropriate for the personality and position of a religious student.
I want the people who are responsible for giving Shahriya to the religious students to do something about it and create an account for them and send their money in those accounts. Whether it would be registered to my name or that person, it’s not important because all of these money belongs to Imam Mahdi (we praise God for his advent). Because this money belongs to Imam Mahdi (we praise God for his advent) so it is a valuable and precious money, and that’s why it should be given to religious students in the most valuable way.
Howza: we are grateful and appreciative of you for giving time and saying the points and necessary principals in a clear way and we hope that we can effectively utilize from your speeches and recommendations.
Professor: thank you.
Notes
1. Divine messengers, by the help of their oration and homiletics techniques, tried to pull their nation from the darkness to the oasis of light and perfect life and awaked their wisdoms in order to moving in the luminous way of perfection. The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) of Islam by taking advantage of this art and technique (who was famous among Arabian people in this field) said “I’m the most fluent people who have ever talked in Arabic.” He inspired the breeze of life in the spiritless and cheerless skeleton of the people who were live on that time.
His sermons were far from any gibberish, nonsensical speech, the false rapture and hallucination, untrue honors, tribalism and wrong loyalty to his clan, blind bigotries, demanding bloody and ruinous wars, cruelties, repeating the atrocities and wickedness and ruthless killings. All of his sermons were instructive and ignorance-destroying sermons and emblazed the torches of awakening into the people’s wisdoms and hearts in the darkest nights and distinguished the luminous way of awakening from the devious ways.
He poured the stream of pure monotheism into the farms of hearts by taking advantage of their magnificent and orphic tones and distanced people from taking partnerships for God, cruelty, deceptive actions, delusions and tending to delusionary. His sermons were the reminders of hereafter. Arabian people were familiar with his sermons; but they weren’t familiar with the things which were waving in the awakening and rapturous sermons of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and they were stunningly looking to this strange and amazing phenomenon and were precisely checking its different aspects.
They heard some speeches which were extremely excellent and highly deep in comparison with what they had heard before from their grandees and well known and famous poets and orators. What they heard from Mohammad (peace be upon him) had different type and material and hadn’t any similarity with the speeches and poems of their reputed grandees, poets and orators in the age of their ignorance.
His sermons was soothing and led the spirits to fly and showed the beauties and discredit obscenities. From the day on which Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) started to revealing the pure massage of inspiration and Gabriel, the conveyer of inspiration, poured the transparent fountain of revelation into his luminous hearts, he sat on the chair of oration and evoked his nation toward utilizing from the countless blessings and donations of God in the oasis of monotheism.
He said a lot of sermons and created a spiritual revolution in mankind and made deep alterations in the pillars of society and led human to a point where he can manage himself internally and externally under the shadow of the world’s God. His monotheistic sermons which were be drawing people’s attentions to hereafter soared day by day and prepared a background for germination of inspiring instructions in the farm of hearts and at the center of that corrupted society and a new foundation has been founded that in all ages, the Muslim people will be guided to the watering place of monotheism through this way and method. Those sermons led people to avoid from considering partner for God and brought them up to be cautious about what is happening around them and what is the planning of their enemies.
2. The oration is a technique among the five techniques
Oration is a speech which is uttered in a crowd of people in order to convince or motivate them. And the technique of oration is a skill that instructs the way and the method of convincing others. The intention of oration is to motivate audiences so that they accept the speech wholeheartedly. The introductions of oration is among the famous and suspects and acceptances and because the orators, according to the quotations of messengers, grandees and noblemen, are looking for affidavit and coordinate their tune with their speech, their words sit in hearts and if they own the skill in this technique, they can motivate the hearts and create an excitement in the hearts of audiences.
That’s why Khaje has said in the efficacy of oration: “there isn’t any technique among the five techniques that can surpass from the technique of oration in its convincing acknowledgment, because people’s minds are unable to understand the logical analogies and disputation. Because disputation need to logic; so there isn’t any skill which needed to people acknowledgment accepts the oration.” (Asas-e-Eghtebas, Page N.531)
Yes as a matter of fact, logic is specific for particular people and oration is specific for ordinary people as the Moallem-e-Aval said: “people’s faith to their suspicious matters isn’t less than others’ faith to their Knowledge.” And as it was said: “the intention of wisdom is logic and the intention of good sermon is oration and the intention of discussion is disputation.
One of the factors which lead oration to effect highly is utilizing from acknowledgment, exemplification and narrating stories and anecdotes because: exemplification is closer to the nature of ordinary people than analogy. Because analogy needs to saying some introductions to prove it scientific reason while the exemplification doesn’t need it. (Resale-e-Fedros from Plato, translated Doctor Mahmud-e-Sanaee, Page N.264)
But another factor which is highly effective in the power of oration’s effectiveness, that maybe the predecessors didn’t enough pays attention to it is that the oration should be done in the presence of people. As sociologist say, there is a particular conscience leading the crowd of people which influences all people. So that social atmosphere multiply increases the influence. And if a speech would be made inattentively in the presence of few people, or would be made in the presence of thousands of people, its result won’t be the same.
The main factor of oration is that what is being said in an oration should flow to a specific goal and target and every phrase should have particular place in the whole system of oration. Therefore every orator should follow a precise design and an ordered and thought out scheme in his utterance and restrain from logorrhea and talking about disturbing expressions.
As Plato said: “every utterance and oration should be a living being; it means that it should have a head and hands and legs and there should be a median and an end and a beginning, and these parts should be harmonized and intercommunicate with each other.” And as a poet said “O speaker, an utterance has a head and a base / don’t bring utterance into utterance”
The oration generally contains two things: the first one is Amud and the other one is Avan. Amud is some utterances that directly prove the goal and Avan is some words and statuses that are out of it. (Mantegh-e-Soory, written by Doctor Mohammad-e-Khansary, Volume N.1&2, Page N.233-253, Agah, Tehran 1359)
3. Chapter Alrahman, Verse Number3-4.
Allame Mohammad Javad-e-Moghniye has written under these two verses:
“The intention of expression is whatever which refers to a goal, whether it would be a word or sentence or figure or indication. Of course an utterance is the most outstanding kind of an expression and its instrument is the tongue that is most submissive part of mankind for mankind; it’s the most stirring and brisk part and doesn’t feel weariness and this feature isn’t found in the other parts of mankind’s body. Expression especially utterance are among the most comprehensive and greatest blessings; because by the help of expression one can transfer his intentions to other and can do others’ intentions and religions can be recognized by it.” (Tafseer-e-Kashef, Allame Mohammad Javad-e-Moghniye, translated by Mosa Danesh, Volume N.7, Page N.341, Bustan-e-Ketab)
Imam Sadegh has said in a detailed utterance to Mofazzal:
“O Mofazzal be careful in the blessing of utterance that God hasn’t given anything better to mankind than this. The utterance by which he can express his internal things, or utters what has come into his minds or has thought to it. Also, by uttering, he can realize something that is concealed in his entity. If a mankind wasn’t able to talk, he was the same as animals and hadn’t the power to inform anything from himself and wasn’t able to understand anything from one who is informing. Also Mofazzal be careful in the matter of writing that records the news of predecessors for survivors and also records survivors’ news for future generations so that they won’t be forgotten. And also by writing, the books of predecessors’ scientists which have written about knowledge and other fields of study will be perpetuated and eternalized.”
4. Imam Ali (God bless him) said: “whoever brings up his courtesy according the politeness of God, it will reach him to beatitude.” (Behar-o-Alanva, Volume N.89, Chapter N.26, Page N.214, Quotation N.13)
And when this holy verse descended: “if we imparted some of their men and women to something, you shouldn’t fix your eyes on them.” Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Jarchi that proclaim: “whoever don’t beautify himself with the politeness of God, he will die while he regrets.” (Mizan-o-Alhekmah, Muhammad-e-Rei Shahri, translated by Hamid Reza Sheikhi, Volume N.1, Page N.106, Dar-o-Alhadith)
5. God has narrated that sainthood Noah (God bless him) said to his nation: “I convey the massages of God to you and I wish the best for you and I know some realities from God that you don’t know.” (Chapter Araf, Verse N.62)
And God has narrated that sainthood Hood (God bless him) said to the nation of Aad: “I convey the massages of God to you and I’m a trustee benevolent for you. (Chapter Araf, Verse N.68)
And God has narrated that sainthood Saleh (God bless him) said to the nation of Thamud: “and said O my nation! Definitely I have conveyed the massage of my God to you and I have wished the best for you. But you don’t love the kind-hearted people. (Chapter Araf, Verse N.79)
Martyr Motahari has written about the meaning and position of “Noceh” in holy Quran: “the word of Noceh has been mentioned a lot in holy Quran about impartation and invitation from the tongues of divine inviters. Noceh means pure benevolence. Because the word of Noceh is the antonym of Ghesh in Arabic lexicon; when a different material is used in a pure material, they typically said that the Ghesh has entered in it.
Noceh is the antonym of Ghesh. It means that an utterance should be pure. It means that the utterance should arise from a high level of benevolence and it should be wholeheartedly. A person whose utterance is Noceh can be inviter toward God; it means that he should have any other intention except benevolence and goodwill for people. His words should arise from his heart.
The utterance which arises from hearts, it will unavoidably sit in heart. And the utterance which just arises from tongue and is unknown for heart, it won’t pass people’s ears (to enter in their hearts.) (Seyri Dar Sireye Nabavi, Martyr Mortaza Motahari, Page N.198-199, Sadra, Mehr of 1366)
6. Definitely a messenger came toward you who were from your genre that your discomfort and hardship was difficult for him. He has great fervor to you and is compassionate and kind to believers. (Chapter Toba, Verse N.128
7. (Chapter Araf, Verse N.85)
8. (Chapter Araf, Verse N.65)
9. Tafsir-e-Roh-o-Almaany, Alusy, Volume N.26/144; Tarikh-e-Ebin-e-Kholdon, Volume N.1/325; Nahjo Albalagheh, Abdeh, Volume N.4/36 footnote. And it has been narrated form Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) in Behar-o-Alanvar, Volume N.72/137 that: “the existence of an Sheikh in his country is similar to the existence of a messenger in his nation.”
10. Majmueh-e-Varam (collection of Varam), Volume N.2/227
11. Syed Hemayri, Abu Hashem (or Abu Amer) Esmaeel-ebin-Ghacem Hemayri (year of 137-105) entitled to Syed. He is the most gallant poet of Shiite and was well-known in the eyes of superior and ordinary people because of his great enthusiasm and submission to the ideology of Ahle Beit (God bless them).
He was born in Noman, a place between Iraq and Sham. He lived in Basreh and Kufa. He is parent was foreigner and feuded with Imam Ali (God bless him). He himself was the believer of Keisani religion (it means he believed that Mohammad-ibn-Hanafiya is an Imam) and after that he accepted the twelve-Imam’ religion (Shiite).
Abu Alfaraj-e-Esfahani has written about the belief of Hemayri’s parent and his mental tendency: “…the parent of Syed Esmaeel Hemayri was foreigner and had resided in Bani Sabbeh, in the city of Basrah. Syed used to say: “the people of this area insulted to Imam Ali (God bless him) for a long time.” When he was asked: “so how did you accept the religion of Shiite?” he answered: “this is God’s mercifulness that has surrounded me.”
It has been narrated from Syed that when his parent realized that their son has accepted the Shiite’s religion, they decided to kill him. Syed want to Oghba-Ibn-Slm-e-Honaee and informed him that his parent want to kill him. Oghba sheltered him. Alaghani, Abu Alfaraj-e-Esfahani, translated by Muhammad Hussein-e-Mashayekh, Volume N.1/775, and Tehran Scientific and cultural, 1368 is the most effective poet of Islamic eras so that no one was able to collect his poems.
The writer of Rozato-al-Janat book has written: “no one of Arabic poets was skillful in the various kinds of Arabic poems and verses and also in the field of news and quotations as Syed was.” (Pervious reference/773, an introduction to memoir of Syed Hemayri, written by translator) It has been mention in Tazkare-Ibn-Motaz: “he had four daughters and everyone them had memorized four hundred ballades from him.”
The thing which upgrades a poet and distinguishes him from other poets is the Ghadiriyas, his religious and Ashuraee poems, his clamorous and strong defenses from his pure religion and also his monotheistic poems and the poems which related to Ahle Beit (God bless them). A religion that by connecting and obeying it, one can stand up and oppose to multiple God, oppression, contamination and impurity and also condescending in front of values and beauties.
He has twenty three Ghadiriyas that Allame Amini has mentioned them in his Alghadir book. His poems about Hashemiyat and martyrs of Taf were always inspiring for Ashuraee and Shiite poets. Glorifications of Imam Ali (God bless him) had special position in his poems and verses. There isn’t any glorification of Imam Ali (God bless him) which has been left in his poems and he has versified those venerations in a pleasant and beautiful manner. Imam Ali’s (God bless him) venerations are extremely beautiful and they are much attractive in the poems of Syed.
But the poems which he had versified about the tragedy of Imam Hussein (God bless him) are highly saddening, upsetting and heart rending and lead every mournful heart to become sorrowful in the disastrous adventure of Imam Hussein (God bless him). Abu Alfaraj-e-Esfahani has talked about the honor of Syed’s visiting from Imam Sadegh (God bless him) and the publishing of his heart-breaking poems about the dear son of Sainthood Fatima (God bless her) to Imam Sadegh (God bless him) in this way:
Ali-Ibn-Esmaeel-e-Tamimi has narrated from his father that once I was in the presence of Imam Sadegh (God bless him) that his servant came in and asked for his permission for entering of Syed. Imam ordered to lead him into the house. The women of Imam’s house sit behind a curtain. Syed entered and sit after greeting. Jafar-Ibn-Muhammad asked him for versifying his poems and he versified these poems (these are the translation of those poems):
Pass from the tomb of Hussein (God bless him) and tell to his fragrance bones: “O bones! Constantly drink from heavy and water-producing cloud. When you cross from his tomb, so stop your camel there for a while, and cry for that pure body who was the son of that pure man (Imam Ali [God bless him]) and the son of that pure woman (Sainthood Fatima [God bless her]). Because a woman who has lost her son is crying;
Esmaeel-e-Tamimi has narrated: “I saw that the holy tears of Imam Sadegh (God bless him) started to flowing on his face and a sound of crying and weeping has raised from his house. This was continuing until Imam ordered to Syed to stop versifying and he stopped. (Pervious reference/781-782)
This obliged poet who was devoted and fond of the ideology of Imam Ali (God bless him) and his innocent descendants deceased in Baghdad in 1790 and was buried in Karkh of Baghdad which is a Shiite district. (Alzariah, Agha Bozorg-e-Tehrani, Volume N.1/268)
12. Debel-e-Khazraee was born in a family that was well-known for their knowledge, politeness and the affection they had for Ahle Beit (God bless them) in 148, the year in which Imam Sadegh (God bless him) martyred. He spent a life which was full of ups and downs in the time of nine ruthless Caliphs of Abasi (Mansur, Mahdi, Hadi, Haroon, Ameen, Mamoon, Motacem, Vasagh and Motevakel).
He had a difficult life because of his righteous life in which he tried a lot to extend the ideology of Ahle Beit (God bless them) and supporting them. Allame Majlesy has written about his genealogy: “Debel’s nickname was Abu Ali. He was the son of Ali and Ali was the son of Zarrin and Zarrin was the son of Osman and Osman was the son of Abdu-al-Rahman and Abdu-al-Rahman was the son of Abdullah and Abdullah was the son of Badeel and Badeel was the son of Vargha and Vargha was from the tribe of Khazae.
Badeel-Ibn-Vargha is his ancestor and he was one of the companions of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and Debel is a famous poet and studious of Arab who had a great deal of rhetoric. He is the writer of some famous and excellent ballades and chansons and is one of the pure Shiite of Ahle Beit (God bless them) and also was eulogist of Imam Reza (God bless him).”
And Allame has said briefly in his book: “Debel-e-Khazraee is well-known among the companions of Ahle Beit (God bless them) and his great faith, perfect dignity and magnificent nobility is obvious for us. Sheikh Najjashi has glorified him a lot and has mentioned his writings in the index of his book and has connected his documents to him. (Sharhe Taeye Debel-e-Khazraee, Allame Majlesy, revision by Ali Mohaddes/13-14)
When a lot of deep transmogrification created to the spirit of Debel and he started to fly toward the sky of spirituality, he descended on the pure fountains of Ahle Beit’s (God bless them) pond and deeply familiarized with this ideology and realized the sources, then he set up his tent on the soothing and spirited bank of this pond and hoisted the nice flag of this ideology on this bank.
By versifying the poems of Taebe, he immortalized his name on the guiding ideology of Ahle Beit (God bless them). He versified this ballade in Medina and brought it to Toos and asked for Imam Reza’s (God bless him) permission to enter and recite his ballade which was versified in the eulogy and compliment of Ahle Beit (God bless them). The inner zeal of poet flames from its every line.
By hearing every line of this poem, Imam Reza (God bless him) extremely cried. In fact, this ballade was a defensive letter about the forgotten position of Ahle Beit (God bless them) and was a letter of saddening and upsetting tragedy of Ahle Beit (God bless them) and also shows the commitment and assurance of Debel to the cognitions of Ahle Beit (God bless them).
This ballade has 124 lines starting with (this is the translation of this ballade):
“They answered to each other and raised their voice, with painful and grievous sighs, some mournful whose words and utterances was inaudible.” Mournful refers to birds and fowls that create a sorrowful environment for lovers and devotees. (Previous reference/23) in this ballade, he mentions the martyrs of Ahle Beit (God bless them) one by one along with hinting at their burial places and invites Sainthood Fatima (God bless her) to howl and moan on them:
O Fatima (God bless her), had you ever thought that one day, your Hussein (God bless him) would have been killed thirstily near a flowing creek. On that time you would hurt your face and shed tears from your eye. O Fatima (God bless her), O the daughter of God’s best creation, stand up and cut your hair for the scorched stars of prophecy and Imamat’s sky who have fallen on the wasteland. Stand up and cut your hair for some graves which are in Kufa and Medina and Fakh. My peace and compliment be upon them. And cut your hair for a grave which is in the land of Juzjan and belongs to Yahya-Ibn-Zeid-Ibn-Ali-Ibn-Hussein (God bless him) and for a grave which is in Bakhmari (a place between Kufa and Vaset that is the martyrdom place of Ibrahim-Ibn-Abdullah-Ibn-Hassan [God bless him]) and is left lonely under the long poplars.
Ibn Babvey has narrated:
Debel said: when I reached to this part of ballade, Imam Reza (God bless him) said: “do you want me to add two lines of poem to this part in order to finish your ballade?” I answered: “yes, O the son of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).” Then Imam Reza (God bless him) versified these lines: “cut your hair for a grave which is in the land of Toos. Woe to this tragedy that will burn the hearts in its fire until the morning of hereafter up to the time in which God send Ghaem (Imam Mahdi [we praise God for his advent]) and he will efface the heavy pressure of grief and sadness from our hearts.”
Debel asked: “O the son of Holy Prophet (peace be upon him)! Whose grave is in Toos?” Imam Reza (God bless him) answered: “that is my grave.” (Previous reference; Kamal-o-Aldin and Tamam-e-Naame, Ibn Babvey, revision and suspension by Ali Akbar-e-Ghafari, Volume N.2/374, Islamic Publication belonging to Jameay-e-Modarrecien-e-Qom)
13. Mohtashem-e-Kashani:
His full name is Shams-o-Alshoara Kamal-o-Aldin Mohtashem-e-Kashani. He was the son of Khaje Mir Ahmad and was born in a propertied family in Kashan and his lineage was from Naragh. His father was a merchant and he started to ding his father job at the beginning of his youth. Then he left that job and turned to poetry.
He accepted Molana Sedghi Astarabadi as his teacher of poetry and was in contact with the poets of his time like Heyrati Tuni, Hali-e-Gilani, Mojahed-o-Aldin-e-Khansari, Amir Shams-o-Aldin-e-Mohammad-e-Kermani, Mirza Soleyman-e-Jaberi-e-Esfahani (who was one of the grandee of Safavi era), Zamiri-e-Esfahani, Vahshi-e-Bafghi and other poets and corresponded with them. In fact, Mohtashem used to praise and versify for Kings and some grandees like Shah Tahmasb-e-Safavi and, Ghiyas-o-Aldin-e-Mir Miran the ruler of Yazd city.” (Tarikh Adabiyat-e-Iran, written by doctor Zabihollah-e-Safa, Volume N.5, Part N.2, 792/794, Ferdos, Tehran, 1364)
What raises name of Mohtashem and elevates his flag of poetry and dissuade him to praising and versifying for Kings and rich people is his verses about the dignity of Imam Hussein (God bless him) and his twelve ballades about the tragedy of martyrs and Imam Hussein (God bless him). Mohtashem’s twelve ballades, from the day they have versified up to now, have been set on the mosques and Husseinya and back the memories to the dejecting tragedy of Imam Hussein (God bless him) and immerse the enthusiastic and lovers of that great martyr in a sea of grief and sadness, in a sea without any beach and bank.
14. Haji Soleyman-e-Kashani, known to Sabahi-e-Bigdeli is among the poets of twelfth century and early century of thirteenth. He was born in Bigdel, a city in the distance of 12 kilometer to Kashan and acquired updated knowledge in his youth and became proficient in Arabic language, ethical sciences, quotations and information, astronomy and mathematics. He subsisted on farming and became wealthy from the incomes of farming and went to visit the house of God.
Sabahi was living in the time of Zandiya rulers and had contact with them and used praise them, and also was in contact with the poets of his time like Hatef, Shahab and Azar. He had pure nature and tried to become as eloquent as previous fluent speakers were. (Lexicon of Dehkhoda, below Haji Soleyman, introduction of Sabahi-e-Bigdeli’s ballade)
Sabahi-e-Bigdeli has left some poems which are beautiful in the field of eulogy and mourning poems. But the ballade he versified for the tragedy of Imam Hussein (God bless him) is extremely amazing and shows his proficiency and expertise in the creation of ballade. Sabahi passed away in 1206 and was buried in the cemetery of Bigdel.
15. Molla Kazem-e-Azari was born in a family of knowledge and literature. His family was among the well-known families in Baghdad. Great knowledgeable people have exalted his poems and what he had versified have been honored immediately, and people expressed their admiration to his poems and elegies which were about Aeme Atehar (God bless them).
His ballades are counted among the eternal ballades of Arab. This ballade is more than one thousand lines and some part of it has been lost. Here are some translated parts of that ballade: “Swear to God that there is a jewel in the heart of Taf land’s rock that adorns the days. In the day of Ashura, a bazaar was set up and the jewels of spiritual world were sold without any charge.” (Adab-o-Altaf, Javad Shabbar, Volume N.6/27)
Sheikh Abbas-e-Qomi has written about the personality of Molla Kazem-e-Azari: “Molla Kazem-e-Azari, the eulogist of Holy Prophet’s (peace be upon him) descendants owns some ballade that are unique in eloquence and rhetoric.” (Hedyat-o-Alahbab, Sheikh Abbas-e-Qomi/11, Amir Kabir) he passed away in 1213 in Baghdad and was buried in Karkh of Baghdad. For acquiring more information about his life you can refer to Maaref-o-Alrejal, Sheikh Mohammad Herz-o-Aldin, Volume N.2, Page N.161-163, publications of Ayatollah Marashi-e-Najafi’s library.
16. Hedyat-o-Alahbab, Sheikh Abbas-e-Qomi/11, Amir Kabir; Maaref-o-Alrejal, Sheikh Mohammad Herz-o-Aldin, Volume N.12, Page N.162
17. Behar-o-Alanvar, 20/5, Chapter N.1, Quotation N.30
18. Imam Mohammad-e-Bagher (God bless him) said to Abu Rabie Shami: “woe to you O Abu Rabie! Don’t look for authority and don’t be a copier (don’t be wolf-nature). Don’t grasp people’s properties by taking advantage of our name otherwise God will impoverish you and don’t say something about us that we haven’t said, because eventually you will stand in the justice court of God and will be responsible for what you have said and done about us.” (Osool-e-Kafi, Volume N.1, Page N.298)
Imam Sadegh (God bless him) said: “some groups love us and have heard our quotations and didn’t fail to do whatever we said but these are a starting to grasp people’s properties by taking advantage of our name, so God will fill their stomachs with fire.” (Tohaf-o-Aloghul/554)
Imam Sajjad (God bless him) said to Ghacem-Ibn-Aof: “avoid grabbing people’s properties by taking advantage of us.”
19. Chapter Nahl, Verse N.125
20. Ehtejaj-e-Tabarsi, Volume N.2/458
21. Almahjat-o-Albayza fi Tahzib-o-Alahya book is written by Molla Mohcen-e-Feiz-e-Kashani that this book has been written after purifying and reforming of Ehya-o-Aloloom book that was written by Abu Hamed Mohammad-Ibn-Mohammad-e-Ghazali-e-Tusi. When Molla Mohcen-e-Feiz saw that the book of Ehya-o-Aloloom from Ghazali has highly spread in the world of Islam and this book is being admired and glorified day by day and also contains important religious knowledge and is useful for the hereafter of Muslim’s people and by commitment to this book one can obtain eternal beatitude and in addition to all of that, it contains good expression and excellent style of recording and writing, he decided to purify it from delusions, superstitions, baseless speeches and misleading words and protect it against the tongues of people who don’t fear to lie and make untruthful statements about God and his Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
He reformed the defects of this book that were the elimination of a very important and vital part of faith, it means the cognition of innocent Imams (God bless them) that Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) had recommended resorting to them and holy Quran and had mentioned them as the necessity and the basis of faith. This correction papered the conditions for the entering of this impressive book among Shiites.
Molla Mohcen-e-Feiz-e-Kashani has written about the purpose of Ehya-o-Aloloom’s correction and its revision, in the introduction of Mahjat-o-Albayza book: “… he has eliminated an important part of faith and hasn’t mentioned it in his book. This important part is the cognition of innocent Imams (God bless them) that Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) had recommended resorting to them and holy Quran. God bless all of them.
And most of its contents, especially what have mentioned in the section of worship is according to false principles and have originated from new inventions and have been made by dishonest and corrupted people. Also most of news which are brought in this book have been narrated from some people who are well-known liar and don’t fear to ascribe falsehood and untruth to God and his Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), and no one can trust to their words, and also the things which are true and logical existing in this book can be found in the quotations of Ahle Beit (God bless them) that have been expressed with nice expressions and firm evidences.
There were some strange legends narrated in this book from Sufis that most of knowledgeable people can’t accept them, because they are out of mind range and haven’t any profit. These things and other matters mentioned in this book lead faithful people and the followers of Imamat’s ideology to detest from this book and as a result most of them haven’t any zest for reading this book.
Therefore I thought that it’s necessary to remove these deficiencies and obscenities from it and firm its contents on strong principles so that no doubts would have been found in this book and I have added some wisdom confidences and quotations that were narrated from Ahle Beit (God bless them) and their followers in each chapter which were appropriate for those chapters….” (Mahjat-o-Albayza, Molla Mohcen-e-Feiz-e-Kashani, Translated by Syed Mohammad Sadegh-e-Aref (named Rahe Roshan), Volume N.1/10, introduction by researching foundation of Astan-e-Ghods-e-Razavi)
22. Tazkerat-o-Aloliya is a book written by Sheikh Farid-o-Aldin Abu Hamed Mohammad-Ibn-Abu Bakr-e-Ibrahim-e-Ata-e-Kadkani-e-Neishaburi. He is among the famous theosophists of sixth century and the early of century seventh. This book has a prominent position in the prose of Persian. Especially that it has recorded in a time when there were a little prose books written so simple and fluent without in difficulty of understanding.
Atarod, in the creating time of this prose, was just thinking to write the manners of righteous grandees and morality of saints and virtuous people and the circumstances of their conditions in the route of piety and piousness and their hard practices and tiresome responsibilities and convey their sermons and preaching and advices to lovers of this route.
Tazkerat-o-Aloliya contains the adventures of ninety six grandees and Sufi’s Sheikhs that it is started by mentioning of Imam Sadegh’s (God bless him) memoir and finished by mentioning of Imam Mohammad-e-Bagher’s (God bless him) memoir. In this book, Farid-o-Aldin Atarod, under the notion of himself, wanted to distance entities from obscenities and wickedness and move mankind toward the bright way of grandees and Sufi’s Sheikhs; but he made mistake and has involved many people in the mire of dangerous delusions.
In fact, the way that Farid-o-Aldin Atarod is trying to show in this book isn’t the way of reality; it’s a devious way that pulls mankind toward the land of ignorance and unlawfulness, a way which is out of Islamic religion’s instructions. Now we have brought here some instance of legends and weak and baseless speeches that he has mentioned about the memoirs of Sufi’s Sheikhs so that it would be clarified that going into the devious ways and receding from the Islamic beliefs and its rationally moral instructions can pull one into a mire of ignorance and lead him to go astray.
He has written about the piety of Abdullah-e-Mobarak:
“After penitence, he started to worship so severely that he reached to a position that once his mother went to garden and saw him sleeping under the shadow of a shrub while a snake which had a branch of asphodel in its mouth was flying the flies from him.” (Tazkerat-o-Aloliya, Farid-o-Aldin Atarod-e-Neishaburi, correction and introduction by Mirza Mohammad khan-e-Ghazvini, Volume N.1/167, central publication)
And he has written about the reason of why Malek-e-Dinar (means the owner of Dinar) was named this:
“Malek-e-Dinar had sit in a ship, when he arrived to the middle of sea, the owners of ship said to him: “give the fare of ship.” He answered: “I haven’t any fare.” They beat him so severely that he fainted. (This happened for three times) eventually they decided to throw him into the sea and did so. In this time all of fishes which were into the sea raised their head.
Each of fishes was keeping two Dinars in their mouth. Malek stretched his hand and took two Dinars from a fish and give it to the owners of ship. When the owners of ship saw this event, all of them dropped themselves on the foot of Malek. He walked on water until he vanished. That’s why he was named Malek-e-Dinar.” (Pervious reference, 48)
And he has written about Rabe-e-Adaviya, the famous piety of second century: “It has been narrated that when he was going to Mecca, he saw the Kaaba in the middle of his way that has come to welcome him. Rabe said: “I don’t want Kaaba, I want the owner of Kaaba.” (Pervious reference, 1/67)
Again he has created another legend about Rabe-e-Adaviya and narrates it from Ibrahim-e-Adham:
“Ibrahim-e-Adham, practice the way of piety for fourteen years until he went to Kaaba (it means he prolonged his piety for fourteen years and said two Rakat of pray in every Mosalla.) After fourteen years, when he arrived there, he didn’t see Kaaba there. He said “oh what an event, is there anything wrong with my eyes?” an enunciator proclaimed: “there isn’t anything wrong with your eyes. Kaaba attenuated in order to welcome you.”
It excited Ibrahim and he said: “what is this?” when Kaaba saw that Ibrahim is coming, it ran and placed on its location. When Ibrahim saw this, he said: “O Kaaba! What is this zeal and passion that you have put into the world?” Kaaba answered: “I didn’t put the zeal and passion into the world. You have put the zeal into the world by waiting for arriving to a house.” (Pervious reference, 1/67)
And a lot of delusive speeches he made for Sufi’s Sheikhs and has founded a crook base among the Muslim people. These kinds of baseless speeches led each sect to enter in this dark way and allowed them to build any kind of strange and irrational munificence in order to raise the position of their grandees. These kinds of baseless adventures have filled the environment of Islamic society with senseless speeches and have contaminated it. These wrong statements have made it difficult or impossible to going out of it and its need to perambulate from a difficult, switchback and expensive way.
23. Nafahat-o-Alons Men Hazart-o-Alghods, Tazkareye Mashayekh-e-Tasavof, written by Noor-o-Aldin Abdu Alrahman-e-Jami. The original name of this book was Tabaghat-o-Alsufiya and had been written by Mohammad-Ibn-Hussein-e-Selmi-e-Neishaburi. Then Khaje Abdullah-e- Ansari translated this book from Arabic language to the language of Heravi and then Jami translated this book to Persian language in the late ninth century. It contains the memoir of six hundred pious men and women and it has added the date of their birth and death as much as possible.” (Encyclopedia of Persian, Gholam Hussein-e-Mosaheb, Volume N.2/3043, joint stock of pocket books)
This book is full of delusions, ill-founded and irrational speeches. There has been written about Zonnoon-e-Mesri:
“When his corpse was brought, some group of birds weaved so widely their wings together that all of people were under the shadow of their wings…. After that even Zonnoon was glorified. In the other day, people found an inscription on his grave which wasn’t manuscript. There was written on his grave: “Zonnoon God’s companion because he has been killed due to his enthusiasm for God.” (Nafahat-o-Alons, Abdu Alrahman-e-Jami, correction and introduction and appendix by Mahdi-e-Toheedy poor/33, bookstore of Mahmoody)
24. Sanandaj, Meidan-e-Azadi, 22/2/1388.
25. This quotation has been mentioned in the most reliable source of Sunni and Shiite which has been said by Holy Prophet (God bless him): “sources of Sunni: Saheeh-e-Muslem-Ibn-Hajjaj, Volume N.2/1873, Quotation N.36-37; Mosnad-e-Ahmad-e-Hanbal, Volume N.59, 26, 17, 14/3; Volume N.4/371-376; Sonan-e-Darami 828; Sonan-e-Termezi, Volume N.5/662-663, Quotation N.3776-3788 and …. Sources of Shiite: Basaer-o-Aldarajat, Saffar-e-Qomi, Page N.412-414; Tafceer-e-Aeiyashi, Volume N.1/5, Quotation N.9; Osool-e-Kafi, Koleiny, Volume N.1/294; Taceer-e-Qomi, Volume N.1/173; Khesal, Sheihk Sadoogh/65, Quotioan N.97; Maaniy-o-Alakhbar, Sheikh Sadoogh, Volume N.1/234-241; Alershad, Sheikh Mofid, Volume N.1/180; Amaly, Sheikh Mofid/135; Amaly, Sheihk Tusee255/547.
Saghalein quotation has been narrated in sources with some additions or reductions of phrases and some differences in its words.
26. Chapter Bagharah, Verse N.22
27. Chapter Fater, Verse N.37
28. The most loser person is on who spend all of his lifetime for an ambition and the days don’t bring him to his ambition and he leaves the world while he hasn’t any provision and any excuse in the presence of God. (Nahj-o-Alfasahe, translated by Abu Alghcem-e-Payandeh, Quotation N.108
29. Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “ambition is a mercy for my nation and if there wasn’t any “ambition, none of mothers would foster her child and no guardian would plant any tree. (Mizan-o-Alhekmah, Volume N.1/184)
source : Necessities of proselytism/By Great scholar Hussain Ansarian
