Philosophy of Religion

‫‪PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION‬‬
‫ني َر ُس اوًل ِّمأن ُه أم يَأت لُو َعلَأي ِه أم‬ ‫ِ‬

‫ث ِِف أاْل ُِّميِّ َ‬‫ُه َو الَّذي بَ َع َ‬
‫اْلِ أك َمةَ َوإِن َكانُوا‬ ‫اب َو أ‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫ِِ‬
‫آيَاته َويَُزِّكي ِه أم َويُ َعلِّ ُم ُه ُم الأكتَ َ‬
‫ض ََل ٍل ُّمبِ ٍ‬
‫ني‬ ‫ِ‬ ‫ِ‬
‫من قَ أب ُل لَفي َ‬
‫‪Page 1 of 60‬‬
PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION
Philosophy
Of
Religion
Syed Jawad Naqvi
Translated by : Syed Arif Rizvi
Presented by:
Bethat Islamic Research Center (B.I.R.C)
Published by: Matab Publications, Qom-Iran
Copyright© 2008
It is not permitted to reprint this book without permission of MATAB
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Publications. For any clarification, information or concerns contact us

at:
www.islamimarkaz.com
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Book Specifics
Title: Philosophy of Religion
Language: English
Author: Syed Jawad Naqvi
Translation by: Syed A V Rizvi (Revised version)
Presented by: Bethat Islamic Research Center
Publisher: MATAB Publications, Qom – Iran
Editions:
First Edition – 2005 – 2000 copies
Second Edition – 2007 – 1000 copies
Third Edition – 2010 – 2000 copies
Website: www.islamimarkaz.net
Email: contact@islamimarkaz.com
Online Orders: www.matabpublications.com
Year: 2010
Copies: 2000
Price: $ 2
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Preface
Religion which is a necessity for human beings survival has been a
victim of many calamities the result of which is evident today whereby
several man made and distorted divine religions exists amongst us. The
reason behind all this is an incorrect or incomplete understanding of
the purpose of religion. Man has adapted religion to meet several
objectives but most of them are not even near to the purpose for which
religion was sent for mankind.
Man has to take over this struggle to find the correct religion which
can accomplish the purpose of life giving him salvation in hereafter
and a privileged life in both worlds. But in order to do so he has to the
first step of understand the philosophy of Religion. What is Religion
meant for? For whom is Religion for? What role religion plays in life
of human being and what are those goals which religion wants man to
achieve? These are some of the questions which is aimed to be
addressed in this book by the title “Philosophy of Religion”. The
author Syed Jawad Naqvi’s exemplary knowledge in the field of
philosophy of Islamic recognition glued with his elegant and simplistic
style of presenting complicated facts in a lucid manner makes him the
best in the subcontinent. We have done the translation of this topic in
English for the English reading mass to also gain from the knowledge
and deep conceptual information possessed by the author.
This book is just aimed to broaden the vision of man and specifically
those who respect religion and try to be religious but are not
acquainted or unaware of the true religion because they have not yet
approached religion from the philosophical dimension. This book God
willing will assist the readers to start the journey of recognition of
religion.
Syed A .V Rizvi
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Table of Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................6
What should be our relationship with religion? ..............................7
Difference between Purpose and Benefit ......................................12
Purpose and Benefits of Religion ................................................. 16
What than is the purpose of religion? .......................................... 17
The Philosophy ........................................................................... 38
Questions .................................................................................... 42
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Introduction
The topic under discussion is Philosophy of Religion, a matter which is
highly important but is not often talked about or written. That is why
people may ask what is the purpose of discussing the Philosophy of
Religion?
Philosophy of Religion does not mean religious philosophy, because

philosophy itself is a branch of knowledge, and, like other streams of
knowledge it is essential that we know about our religion as well.
My purpose is not to discuss in particular religious philosophy but to

have a very basic discussion about religion. Usually, the present
educated young generation ask why they should follow the path of
religion. What need does religion satisfy? They need an answer to this
and what problems does it solve? If there was no religion, would it
affect mankind in any way?
Today’s youth lives in a world, surrounded by the followers of Islam,

the non followers atheist, many around him are Muslims but in just
name and there are others who staunchly believe in Islam and follow it
as well. Looking around him, he sees that, practically, there is very
little difference between the lives of the believer and the non-believer,
both are human beings, both take food and drinks.
On the contrary, he sees that the non-believers and the enemies of

Islam seem happier and more prosperous than the believers. What than
is the purpose of religion, he wonders. What is the need, he asks.
Usually, the orators and preachers just talk about the fundamentals of
Islam. Truly, there is little knowledge to be gained about the religion
from the Traditional Islamic schools (Madrassah’s), gatherings and
mourning session speeches (Majalis).
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Here the word Madrassah refers to our traditional method of teaching

children, which emphasizes on teaching Quran recitiation and basic
fundamentals without using logic and reasoning.
What should be our relationship with religion?

Why do I need this religion? Of what use will it be to me? Till the time
these questions are answered, the mind and intellect of mankind cannot
be fully satisfied.
There are many different faces of followers of Islam we see today like:
A. There are some whose only act of religion is praying once a

year on the occasion of Eid.
B. There are others whose only contact with religion is for the ten
days during Mohurrum.
C. There are some who take time out to attend the Friday prayers
D. There are others who perform their daily obligatory prayers

without fail.
E. There are others who, in addition to the obligatory prayers, try

and implement Islam in their daily lives.
F. Than there are those who have dedicated themselves to the

cause of Islam and are busy day and night in the cause of
Islam.
Sometimes by teaching people the fundamentals of Islam, we believe

that he has gained enough knowledge about the religion and will
continue on the right path. But it doesn’t happen that way. By just
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studying about religion, he doesn’t really know the religion as well as

he should.
For example, there are many people who study about Islam in
Traditional Islamic Schools (Madrassah’s) but don’t actually practice
it in their daily lives. They know everything about the religion, but
there is no sign of Islam in their daily life. There are many people who
have studied Islam and understand it, but even then we don’t see any
signs of religion in their daily lives. Who should tell us about religion
and its practical application? It is possible that even after knowing
about the religion, a person might go astray; he might think of religion
as an unimportant or dispensable thing in his life.
The question that arises then is what should be our relationship with
religion? It is a long list. Every person has a special relationship with
religion; he sees religion from his own individual point of view. Who
will tell him what his relationship with religion should be?
The answer to all these questions is what should be our relationship

with the religion. Why is religion important for mankind? What
problems does religion solve? Will the life of mankind be any different
without religion? Is there a difference in the lives of an atheist and a
believer?
The discussion that answers all these questions is Philosophy of

Religion which means talking about Religion. This means in this
context (Philosophy of Religion) we will not talk about the practical
tenets of religion like how many Units (Rakat) to perform in prayers
(Salaat), or how to fast or perform hajj.
We will not discuss the fundamentals of Islam. These are matters

related to religion itself and become relevant only when a person
decides that he needs religion. A common belief that exists for ages;
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one that has been propagated by our parents and peers, and
disseminated by Traditional Islamic Schools (Madrassah), Mosques
and Hussainiyah’s (place of mourning gatherings) as well is that
religion is a business of credit. Meaning, you perform here and you
will get the rewards after your death.
There is much benefit in this type of business. But that might not be
always the case. The person giving credit will be worried about getting
paid back. He will be worried about what will happen to his credit if
the person dies. If you want to buy in large quantity on credit, any
businessman will hesitate to give you. But if you offer to pay half the
amount in cash, then he can consider to deal. But if another person is
ready to pay the full amount in cash, he will not entertain you.
If you have two buyers and one of them offers you the maximum
amount for some product but on credit, and the other person offers you
the half amount in cash for the same thing, then certainly you will not
consider the first person’s proposal. It means you will prefer the cash
business because you don.t know whether that person will pay
afterwards or not. The way in which we preach the religion, it seems
religion is a wealth but in the form of credit only. Men are promised
that if they work hard, pray day and night, keep fast and face every
hardship in this world, they will get the reward after their death when
Qayamah (the day of judgement) occurs. Nobody knows when
Qayamah will occur and many doubt whether Qayamah will occur at
all.
Sometimes some persons, for their selfish interests, divert people’s

attention to unimportant issues. As it happens in some countries with
instable government, when these governments become fragile in order
to distract the citizens they organize some big popular sports events
(like Cricket in some Asian countries). As the people are busy
watching the matches on television, the politicians play their own
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games. Religious preachers also play the same game. They keep people
busy and enjoy a luxurious and comfortable life. They tell the people
to carry on their hard work with promises and assurances that they will
be rewarded for it after their death. You will be rewarded in the next
world. When questioned how we will be rewarded, they reply that you
will go to paradise and there you will have beautiful gardens abundant
with fruits trees and streams, and, for your entertainment, there will be
Houries (female angels)
It is possible that some persons might get satisfied with these promises
but some might not. How long will we stay there, they might ask. How
many Houries will we get, one or four? What if we get bored with that
life after a while? And if men have been promised Houries, what about
the women? What will they get? They too have performed their
religious duties and suffered in this world.
See how many questions come to mind regarding Paradise and Hell,
the idea and preconception of reward and paradise only? This is the
philosophy of religion? Those who accept religion for the benefits
promised in the hereafter and paradise, their problem is solved and
they succeed.
Whatever reward they get is good enough for them. And to succeed in
the life hereafter, they study many different books; they search the
Mafateeh-ul-Jinan (Key to Paradise a book of supplications) and recite
from therein supplications that give them Thawaab (rewards). But that
might not be sufficient for them. So they carry a calculator as well,
because on the other hand they also ensure that sins are not avoided by
them; they are too particular about eating interest money (Reba) and
enjoying forbidden food. So they need to calculate their good deeds
and bad deeds; that’s why they need a calculator. They believe that
every sin will be counted as just one and the rewards for every good
deed will be manifold. So they calculate rewards for their good deeds
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and the punishments for their sins, and are happy and satisfied with the
result. After every day’s calculation the result is in his favour, because
for every sin there is just one punishment (Azaab) but for every good
work, the reward (Thawaab) is ten times. It means if a person does ten
good deeds in a day and commits 100 sins, then it equalizes no profit-
no loss. And if he does just one more good deed, he has succeeded.
Only such types of religious people take multiplied rewards (Thawaab)

as philosophy of religion and Paradise as the aim of religion, they are
not worried about sinning as they have their calculations ready. They
are not afraid of telling lies, backbiting (Geebah) and just completely
unconcerned about minor or major sins and they trample the rights of
others.
It’s such type of religious people who change the concept of religion.
If you offer Islam to anybody in this form, what will be the response?
This means if non-religious person looks at a person who is religious
(offers prayers etc), but is openly doing unworthy acts, then what will
be the image of this religion on a non-religious person. Will he be ever
attracted towards religion?
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Difference between Purpose and Benefit

The purpose of religion is other than what we consider it to be and
offer it to others as well. There are two things in religion. One is
Purpose (in Urdu “Maqsad”) and the second is Benefit (in Urdu
“Fayda”) and both are different things. Behind every action there is a
purpose and after every action there is a result which you can call
benefit.
When we attend a religious gathering for a purpose but when the

program ends there will be some benefits also like knowledge, meeting
each other, refreshment and others. This is the benefit of the program,
not the aim. Just like when you go the Majalis (mourning lectures), you
get food at the end. This food (known as Niyaz in the Indian
subcontinent) is not the purpose of Azadari; this is only a small benefit
of joining Azadari. So, there is a lot of difference between purpose and
benefit.
There are certain types of people with whom all of us are unhappy and
we condemn them. But probably, some of us are like them only when
it comes to religion. These people are called Selfish beings (a person
who sees just his own benefit). We have been told to keep distance
from such persons.
When one wants to defame other person, he will call him a Selfish
person which implies he is saying that you a person who only thinks
about yourself and acts for your own personal gains and benefits only.
When we seek help from such a person, he will never be obliged to
help us unless he finds some personal benefits in helping us.
But this is an incorrect or we can say an incomplete definition of being

Selfish. A person is not just selfish because he cannot help us. Take for
example a man, who is very religious and serves Islam and mankind as
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a servant, but is unable to help us. Since he could not do our work,
some people might call him Selfish. That is not correct. Selfish beings
are not those who cannot help us (because they are not capable enough
to help us) instead they are ones who never think about Purpose but are
only concerned about benefits.
Benefit is something acquired automatically at the completion of any

work. Every action we perform has some benefit in some or other
form; and there is a purpose too behind every action. There is a very
simple example of this principle: we eat food daily and there is a
purpose behind it. We take food because it is necessary for our body to
perform its function properly. The benefit of this food is that we get the
taste of food and pleasure.
Now you can decide who is Selfish and who is Purpose oriented. When
we eat food, do we see the purpose or the benefit? Do we eat food for
pleasure or to live? Those who eat rich, spicy food at their home or go
to hotels regularly for spicy food, do they eat for pleasure or for
survival? Just pulses and grains are sufficient for survival. But despite
of this you will see many different varieties of food on one table. So
many varieties of food at one time is not for survival, it is for pleasure
only, and pleasure is not the aim of eating food, it is just a benefit only.
This does not mean that anyone eating food for pleasures is selfish, this
is an analogy given to explain the concept of Selfishness and
Purposeful approach towards religion. Pleasures and varieties in food
are all bounties of Allah (s) abstaining from these itself is denial of
bounties. The point mentioned over here is about our perception or
inclination which is towards benefits (i.e. taste) and not towards
Purpose. This is the reason that we end up eating tasty foods which at
times are harmful for our health but for the sake of benefits we even
compromise on our health.
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Now you can decide easily who are Selfish and who is Purposeful.
Those who eat to get some benefit like pleasures only are Selfish and
those who take food for the purpose are Purposeful beings. Maulana
Room has said that strength of Imam Ali (a.s.) was not from the
kitchen and good food. Imam Ali (a.s) used to eat dry breads of barley
and the strength in his arms was because of that dry bread of barley; he
took his food was because of the necessity of purpose and not for any
benefit or pleasure.
The hotel owner knows very well that people are Selfish. They take
food only for benefit that’s why they serve them different varieties of
spicy food like chicken, burger etc without considering the harmful
effects of junk food. Similarly there is also a purpose to wear clothes
and the aim is to cover the naked body and protection from heat, cold
and dust, but the benefit of clothing is to show social status because as
per common norms the condition of the clothes reflects status.
There is no action without both of these factors; Purpose and Benefit.

A Selfish person is one who always thinks about benefits which is not
a good thing. For example, there is a purpose and a benefit in marriage
also. Take the case of a wealthy man who has a daughter and another
man who has a son. The latter might think that if he gets his son
married to the rich man’s daughter then all the wealth and property will
come to his house. On the other side, there is a man who has a
daughter and he thinks that if he can get his daughter married to a man
having a good job and a prosperous background, his daughter will be
happy and prosperous and her future will be secured. Such thinking is
not the purpose of marriage. This is the benefit of the marriage. A
Selfish thinks if he marries his daughter or son to some political
leader’s family, they can get more benefits. There are two purposes of
marriage, one is satisfaction of desires and the other is reproduction of
family. Now you can decide how many marriages are performed for
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purpose and how many for benefit; how Selfish beings perform their
marriages.
The same situation exists in religion too. Those who accept religion
can be categorized into two type people who accept religion only for
its benefit and others who accept for its purpose also. One who is
Selfish in his every step of life will be Selfish with religion also. There
is lot of benefit in religion and he accepts religion only for its benefits,
though there is a purpose behind religion. Those who pray for benefit
are the biggest selfish. They are just interested in the benefits. See how
the politics of our country is totally based on Selfishness; the
politicians in power don’t bother about right or wrong, or whether they
are beneficent for the country or not. They just see their own benefit.
In the politics of selfishness, they totally ignore country and religion;
the politicians are just interested in the profit only, wherever they can
get it. The politics of selfishness has spoiled many Islamic countries;
one day they will spoil religion also, because they accept the religion
only for their benefit.
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Purpose and Benefits of Religion

Now let us see what is the purpose of religion and what are the benefits
of religion? Let us try to learn the philosophy of religion and let us
understand why do people accept religion? Is there any difference
between religious and non-religious person? See the benefits of
religion. People can get more benefits without religion as well, people
accept religion for respect, honour, fame, dignity, cash and wealth.
When you send somebody to get religious education, after completing

his studies he comes back. Now what does he do? He will take up the
job of either Mosque Prayer leader (PeshNamaz) or Religious Speaker
wherever he can get good remuneration. People are not striving for
religious education as a purpose; they are interested with the benefits
of it. They know that this is more profitable. Now you can see that
religious education is completely in the hands of selfish persons; in
fact both Religion (Deen) and World (Dunya) are in the hands of
Selfish persons.
Those who have spoiled Islamic countries and religion are selfish
persons. What is the difference between religious purpose and religious
benefits? Actually for most of us, the purpose of religion is just limited
to Rewards (Thawaab); follow the path of religion and get Rewards
(Thawaab); offer prayers (Salaat) and get the Rewards (Thawaab);,
keep fast and get Rewards (Thawaab); perform the customs of religion
and earn Rewards (Thawaab); recite supplication and get Rewards
(Thawaab);, serve fellow humans for Rewards (Thawaab);, everything
for the benefit of Rewards (Thawaab) only.
If a young man asks them why he should accept the principles of

religion and why he should offer Prayers (Salaat), they reply; You will
get Rewards (Thawaab). If the young men asks, What we will do with
the Rewards (Thawaab)? They talk about the Houries; this is the
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practical manifestation of Rewards (Thawaab). Then they ask .if a man

will get hooreis, what about women? What will she get as Rewards
(Thawaab)? Because whenever we imagine about Paradise, we only
visualize about it from a man’s perspective. Nobody has talked about
Behisht-e-Zanan (Women’s Paradise). How these ladies will be
hereafter and what will be their future?
Why is there hardship for them? During the recitation Talqeen (final
funeral rites recitation at burial) we move the shoulder of the dead
body and say to him listen and understand that Paradise (heaven) is
truth (Haqq), Hell is truth (Haqq), Rewards (Thawaab) for good deeds
is also truth (Haqq). There is no doubt about the truth of these things;
Rewards (Thawaab) are the promises from Allah that can’t be a lie. He
can pardon your sins but will never forget your good deeds. He is not a
miser, helpless, incompetent or a tyrant; he is only generous. If he
gives Rewards (Thawaab) abundantly and gifts Paradise and Houries
but it does not mean the purpose of religion has been achieved.
You must have seen that some people come late for Majalis (mourning
session gatherings) and some come towards the end and get food
(Niyaz) which is the last program of the function; they claim they have
also participated in the Majalis. But they have participated only in the
benefit of the Azadari and not in the purpose. This is not the purpose of
religion. This is just a benefit, the purpose is something else. The
purpose of religion is not the Rewards (Thawaab) or the Paradise.
Heaven and Hell are not the purpose of religion, neither is the creation
of the human being the purpose of religion.
What is the purpose of religion?

It should be kept in the mind that Allah, amongst all his identifiable
creations, has gifted religion to humans only. We cannot say anything
about creatures that cannot be identified, except Jinns. Certainly
religion exists amongst Jinns. There are so many of his other creations
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like Angels, Archangels, animals, plants and stones, creations under

the ground, above it and in the sky; there are crores of creations but
there is no religion for them.
God has gifted religion only for humans. Why not for others? Is
religion not necessary for other creatures? If it is not necessary, than
why is it a necessity for human beings? There is no custom of Nikah or
marriage for animals. There are no religious customs for animals, they
are only for humans. Mankind has been specifically instructed to
perform all his religious duties and customs. Why? Because religion is
a way of life, rule of practice and a royal mandate. So, to know about
this religion and the philosophy of religion we must know about
human beings first. Religion is meaningless without human beings,
because it exists only for human beings.
What should be our relationship with religion? To know about that, we

must first know about human beings; without knowing about human
beings the topic is incomplete, we cannot describe the philosophy of
religion. Why is religion necessary for human beings? What is the
difference between a religious and a non-religious person? It is very
difficult to describe that within such a short time. Not just one sea, but
seven seas have to be closed in a cup. And a short discussion does not
solve the purpose because it creates more questions and confusion in
the mind. These topics should be described very clearly. Allah has
given us this life to serve Him and His religion, but we have no time
for this type of work; we have more time for other unnecessary work.
This means we don’t spend time on religious studies, we spent a lot of
time on doing unnecessary things, the most important aspect of our
lives is religion, about which we know very little and neither are we
interested to learn more. In this time constraint, I will try to explain
that there is just one difference between Human beings and His other
creations, the difference is that the other creations have been sent to
this world after they have been completed. It means that these other
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creations have been sent from Allah in the form they should be here on
Earth, they have been completed by the angels before being sent to the
world. But it’s different with human beings they have been sent to this
world to complete themselves (move towards perfection). For example,
you send your children to school to learn. There are so many things in
school; chairs, table and blackboards; the school building is there and
there are so many things in the building; everything is ready. The
teacher has not been hired to make the tables, chairs or blackboards,
but you send your child to mould his character and career. So, in the
same place; the school; there are so many things, which are complete,
and there are other things that need to be completed. Likewise, you
take the flour to the bakery to make bread.
Allah (s) through his creation has created the universe himself. Allah
(s) through his infinite power has created every part of the universe
himself. Human being is one part of this universe. One half of creating
human being Allah (s) did himself and other half was left on man
himself. The creation of Universe was done in completion by Allah (s)
but when it came to man it was done in two stages. One stage was the
one accomplished by Allah (s) himself and second is the one left on
man himself to undergo this stage. Thus there are two part of man; one
is Khalq and second is Khulq. Khalq is that portion which has to
accomplished by Allah whereas Khulq is that portion which has to be
worked upon by man himself. He has been shown the path, the
method has been ordained and also the substance for creating the khulq
has also been provided; and then man has been told to create his khulq
in a same way his Khalq has been created by Allah (s).
The Khalq or creation of man has been discussed in the Quran by

Allah (s) in a very precise and elegant fashion. The discussion starts
right from where we initiated the creation. We started the creation from
clay, got the extract from it, then this extract was turned into sperm, the
sperm was placed in the womb, then it changed into clot of blood in
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the womb, after which it turned into flesh and then we made the body
out of it. Then we placed flesh and bones on this body and then after
covering with skin we inserted soul inside it and then said:
‫فتبارک اﷲ احسن الخالقین‬
These are the stages of creation from clay to soul which has been
explicitly mentioned in Surah Teen. After mentioning these stages
Allah (s) is telling man that he should be careful because we have
made his creation very beautiful, exemplary and firm. This means it
has been created with the best possible beauty, grandeur and
magnificence. But your creation is not your humanity instead your
creation is the skeleton or frame for your humanity. Your creation has
the substance of humanity inside it and now you have to carve your
humanity with this substance yourself. You have to turn this frame into
humanity and human yourself. How? This task has been handed over
by Allah (s) to man himself. The name of those teachings, that
substance, the Khulq which man inserts inside this beautiful creation
(Khalq) is Religion. Religion has come only for one sole objective,
purpose and firm mission that is to make us true human. Man should
become the architecture of his own self and construct his existence.
What Allah (s) has made is just an imagination of reality of man, the
actual human has to be made by man himself.
In other words we have been placed hidden behind this skin and behind
this curtain of skin we have to paint a unique picture. And it is a
common principle that unique pictures are not made or painted in
public places or in open public areas; ordinary pictures can be made at
any place because it does not matter even if someone looks at it while
it being made. But where are unique pictures made by the painter? He
makes it in an enclosed place, closed room, secret studio, When this
picture is ready he announces and invites everyone to come on a
particular day for curtain raising ceremony. He calls everyone to see
what kind of masterpiece he has made which would be seen once the
curtain from above the picture is raised. Allah (s) has granted an
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enclosed environment to human being and on this closed environment

a cloth, a curtain has been placed whose name is skin and also said that
I am “Sattar” (one who covers). We remember Allah by this name “Ya
Sattar” (O! the one who covers). We call Allah as “Sattarul Uyoob”
(One who covers mistakes and deficiencies) and the biggest deficiency
which Allah has covered is the picture which we are painting below
this skin. Allah (s) made the frame and handed it over to us with the
painting material that from here onwards you have to make yourself
and then said one day the curtain will be lifted from this painting, and
that day is Qayamah (day of judgment). One of the names of the day of
judgment given by the Quran is ‫ یوم طبل شرائر‬which means the day of
lifting curtains. Qayamah means the day of unveiling curtains and
lifting the cover placed on us. But the curtains will lifted from over
which things? It is from these paintings and soul. Today everyone is
seen as similar humans behind skins but on the day of judgment the
curtain of skin will be lifted and whatever comes out from inside will
not be similar in everyone. For this also Holy Quran has used specific
words, certain verses are present for this and different faces which are
hidden behind the skins are also mentioned.
Everyone of us is created to make ourselves. Religion is the guidance

manifesto for construction of man. Everything in religion and every
portion of religion is meant for construction of human being; but the
part of religion which we have heard is not even one tenth of the
expanse of religion. What has been told is the little and ordinary
portion of religion with which we are associated and practise it
throughout the year. The major portion of religion has been kept
concealed from us; it has not been taught to us; these secrets are not
exposed. At times people ask also that all the major worldly
developments have been done by non religious persons. All the
developments and technological advancements seen in the world
today, all these unique and astonishing, machinery gadgets that are
produced daily are all developed by non religious persons. The
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religious persons have not done these it was done by those who either
had no religion or a secular region with loose faith or in other words
these developments were not done under the teachings of religion.
Though today we have speakers and orators who say that all these
developments were inspired by religious teachings only but apart from
oratory words there is no evidence present for this. There is no doubt
that religion would have such secrets inside it but for sure those who
did these developments had no concerns with religion. If you look at
this great bounty of electricity; the one who invented this was not a
religious person at all and neither was he inspired or influenced by
religious teachings for this development; it was something else which
was the basis for this invention. Similarly today we benefit from
computer; the person who developed and invented this bounty was not
inspired by religion. He might have taken inspiration from somewhere
else like physics, scientific teachings, etc and it is also true that certain
persons are given such intelligence by Allah (s) that they have on their
own done such discoveries and inventions.
A question that rises is when all these developments, inventions and all
the things which we use in our day to day life, the material which we
use to construct our homes and the city in which we are living with all
the means of life in it, everything has been made with guidance from
outside religion; then what is the use of religion? Why has religion
come for man? When everything is coming from outside religion then
religion is the cure for which pain? This is where we are told that
religion is for hereafter. This means the world will create factories and
world is in the hands of scientists and intellectuals. The system of
world will be run by scientists, intellectuals, doctors, farmers and
engineers but they have no role to play in the hereafter. The hereafter is
handed over to religion and it is religion that will make hereafter. The
hereafter over here implies to the world after death; and in that world
the activity of religion starts. This is a question which is present in the
minds of ordinary persons. This is an incorrect opinion and
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imagination about religion that religion has come to us only for the life
after death.
Religion is the manifesto of life and it has come to make life prior to
death. Whatever has to be made prior to death would be made by
religion only and whatever we make before death will go with us in
hereafter. It is not that we make something else in this world and we
get something else in hereafter. Whatever we construct here will go
with us in hereafter; all what is made here will get transferred in
hereafter. Thus religion has come for life before death and after the
death the results of religion will be achieved and not that religion will
become active then.
If religion has come for this world than all these worldly things should
also be made by religion; like Mobile phones, computers, software and
hardware all should be made by religion. So should we keep these
expectations from religion? Religion is not meant to make all these
things because Allah (s) has gifted man with abilities, intelligence and
various capabilities to do all these things. He has given man abilities,
intelligence, capacity, capabilities and that too in abundance. Man has
been given by Allah (s) the power and ability to think, understand,
acquire knowledge, assess things, to do things; all these abilities are
kept inside man by Allah (s). Why are all these abilities kept inside
man? This is because certain things man has to do with the help of
these abilities. All these capabilities and talents kept inside man are not
false, evil or waste; they have been kept inside man for some purpose
and objective. Like if you have the ability of understanding
mathematics present inside you than be ascertained that this ability has
been kept inside you for some purpose. Everyone has the abilities
present inside them with varying strength and intensity. Like some are
very sharp in accounting, some are very good in Algebra, then there
are some who are very good in the field of mechanics or some other
science and then some have seriousness and depth in certain other
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fields. Everyone has been gifted with some specific specialities. It is

present in narration that:
‫ک ّل میسّر لما ُخلق‬

For everyone that thing is easy to do for which he has been created
This implies that everyone has been created by Allah (s) for some
specific work and if he ends up taking that task he will be successful.
We are created for something and we end up into some other field.
And this tragedy has taken place till now; many were supposed to
become engineers but have become doctors and also vice versa. Many
religious scholars should have been farmers and many farmers should
have been scholar. There are many businessman whose field is not
business they should have been in some other field and many others
who are in other field should have been businessman. There are many
who desired to become something else but their parents made them
something else. We end up in different fields and are also successful
there but if we would have taken up those fields of our interests and
more than that based on our capabilities we would have been much
more successful. Hence we should recognize and identify the
capabilities present inside us.
One of the elements of upbringing of children upon parents is that they

should identify and recognize the capabilities present inside their
children. The function of education institutes is not to make students
memorize books and subjects instead the function of institutes, schools
and religious seminaries is to identify the capabilities present inside
students. The function of primary education is to identify the
capabilities and then after this the role of secondary and higher
education is to nurture and raise these capabilities. In our system the
primary, secondary and higher education are all focussed on making
student memorize subjects; from the age of 3 yrs to 24 yrs they are all
busy in making students memorize subjects. This is not the education
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system in fact it is a break in the education system. You don’t have to

make the child study for a certain period but instead you need to
understand the child, scratch the child to see what Allah has kept inside
him? The function of primary education is to identify the capabilities
present inside child. When identified hand him over to another teacher
with a report that I have studied this child and he has so and so abilities
present inside him. Then the specialized teacher should nurture these
abilities making it shine. Hence using these abilities if nurtured and
raised properly man can do a lot of things but there are certain tasks for
which Allah (s) has given the abilities but man cannot use these
abilities on his own. There are certain tasks for which Allah (s) has
made other special arrangements. Man can do farming; if not today
than tomorrow. He can construct industries by his own experience and
with the help of his teachings and teachers. Though man has reached
this stage of developments quite later but finally he has reached. He
has made industries, he has done farming, he has found ways to travel
in air and skies, he has entered inside the atom, On one side he has
entered into the smallest particle whereas on the other hand he has
reached the galaxies. These abilities were kept inside human being by
Allah (s) and hence whatever is happening outside religion is also
happening with the abilities and power given by Allah (s) to man and
hence these things are also within the precincts of religion only. We
should not consider that whatever is taught in Arabic schools is
religion and whatever is taught in universities is infidelity. You should
not do such divisions even by mistake. But instead what is taught in
religious schools (Madrassah’s) is the interpretation of the words of
Allah whereas whatever is taught in universities is the picture of the
affairs of Allah. What is he learning there? He is learning Physics and
Chemistry; what is the function of physics and chemistry? Its function
is to study and expose this world of nature. So who has created this
nature? This has been created by Allah (s). This implies that the same
Allah (s) who revealed Quran also made this universe; so one is busy
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in understanding the universe whereas other is busy in understanding

Quran.
Both should be aware irrespective of one sitting in Religion school

studying or teaching; or the one in university who is teaching or
studying that if whatever he is studying is aimed to gain worldly
benefits than even if he is learning Quran it will not be counted as
religion. On the other hand if he is studying science with the aim of
understanding the realities of Allah’s universal creations and then
presenting it to humanity; then he is acting upon religion. It is not that
we are doing something else and then putting up a sign board of
something else. Today sign boards of Religion are placed on religious
schools (Madrassah’s) but what is taught inside is terrorism. This is
not religion that they sit inside religion schools delivering lessons of
terrorism, sowing seeds of discords amongst humanity, This is not
religion; so what is religion? Religion has not come to sow thorns it
has come to plant flowers and these flowers should have been planted
and farmed from these religious schools (Madrassah). Luminance
(Noor) should come out from religious schools, flowers should come
from religions schools, fragrance should spread in air from these
schools, love and unity should come out from religious schools but on
the contrary what is happening is totally different. Thus whatever is
happening under the sign board of religion is not necessarily religion;
it is the purpose and goals that will decide and say whether it is
religion or outside of religion.
Allah (s) has given us the required abilities and wants us to reach that
point where Allah (s) expected us to reach. At least man nurtured these
abilities and has reached here. The Prophets did not come for setting
up industries; we should not have these expectations from Prophets. If
they wanted to they would have set up classic industries. If Prophets
would have set up a textile industry they would have produced such
clothes which would not shred till Qayamah. They could have done
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this but did not do instead they themselves went to the market and
brought clothes. Today whatever is being done with the help of
industrialization Prophets could have trained people to set up industries
and would have taken big gains out of it; but they refrained from doing
these things. The dates, food and bread which others were eating the
Prophets were also eating the same. Then why did Allah (s) stationed
Prophets and the Holy Infallible Imams (a.s)? Allah (s) made them
responsible for that task which man could not accomplish with the
abilities given to him. What was that task? That was to transform man
into a true human. Man can make computer but those who make
computers might be unsuccessful in making a true human. If you doubt
my words than go and visit Japan. Japan made computers and is the
leader in technology; but this same leader of technology is so lowly in
ideology that he gets up from the computer and bows in front of a hand
made idol. This person sitting on the pinnacle of technology is on zero
point of Ideology.
Why did Prophets came? They did not come to take man on ascension
of technology instead they have come to make man do a journey of
ascension in ideology. This is because the ability required for
technology is present inside every individual and Allah (s) has also
pursued man on this path where he can himself reach these
achievements. One day he will enter inside atom and other day he will
get inside the galaxy. But the path on which man gets mislead far away
and is not able to come towards that path which is very difficult is path
of humanity where man should come but is not able to come on his
own. All these individuals who have become something should
become human beings. Doctors should become human, engineers
should become human, scientists should become human and these
scholars (Ulama) should also become human. There is a proverb in
Persian ‫ مالشدن چہ آسان آدم شدن چہ مشکل‬which means becoming a
Scholar is very easy but becoming human is very difficult. Imam
Khomeini (r.a) used to say about the same proverb that ‫مال شدن چہ‬ ّ
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‫ مشکل آدم شدن چہ محال‬which means become a Scholar is very difficult

and becoming human is impossible. Allama Iqbal (r.a) also says the
same:
‫فرشتوں سے بہتر ہے انسان بننا‬

‫مگر اس میں لگتی ہے محنت زیادہ‬
It is better to become human rather than becoming Angel
But the efforts are much more in this
It does not take much efforts to become an Angel. It is enough to

become an Angel that you should find a cave or make your home itself
as cave; take a praying mat, a pot for ablution water, rosary bead
(Tasbeeh) and keep a person who can daily give you food through the
window then you can keep yourself busy all the time in prayers,
supplication recitations and you will see after five years you will turn
into an Angel. But with these same means sitting inside a closed room
you cannot become human. He can become an angel but to become
human being he has to come inside a society and civilization. In order
to become human he has to deliver his both individualistic as well as
social obligations. To become human is very difficult and has lot of
trouble and calamities on this path of becoming a true human.
The easy task was imposed by Allah (s) on every individual. You can
yourself make aircrafts, computers, etc. because these are quite easy to
make hence you should make yourself. There are some mothers who
pamper their children so much that they do everything for their child
themselves. It is an oppression on the child because as the child grows
and starts developing the abilities, the child should be taught to do
certain things himself; like eat food, drink water, put on shoes etc.
Allah (s) has not pampered human being so much instead said that you
have to do all these things. Man said I need a tractor for farming ,
Allah (s) said you make it yourself; if you can’t do it today you will
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make it tomorrow. We need aircraft for travelling; Allah said try and
make it yourself and it was done by man. We need computers, nuclear
power, etc. Allah said I have given you the abilities and I can’t help
beyond this. You use your brains and you will be able to do all this ;
and this was true that man did all these things. We were asked to make
all these technological achievements ourselves so that our abilities can
rise and shine.
The other thing which man has to do and for which Allah (s) made
special arrangements, for which a manifesto was required; for
technology we don’t need a manifesto a teacher was enough. But for
this big and esteemed thing a manifesto was required and with this
manifesto a teacher is required, and with the teacher a trainer is also
required and along with the trainer a leader and guide was also needed.
It was for this Allah (s) made Quran as the manifesto, made the
Messenger as the teacher and trainer; and made the Imams (a.s) as the
leaders and guide so that they can get this difficult thing done from
humanity. What was this? It was that they should take this skeleton,
this frame towards humanity.
It is not possible to reach the status of humanity without Prophets and

religion. We have kept this expectation from religion that it has only
come from the sake of earning rewards. We have made the philosophy
of Religion as rewards. Recite prayers there will be rewards, perform
fasting for rewards, give Khums for rewards. I am talking about those
who do all these things. There are some who do not offer their
obligations, why? This is because they have been taught that all these
performance of acts are only for gaining rewards; so fine if he misses
out on some then what he looses is just some rewards. Like if someone
is asked to do some labour work for a day and he will get one dollar at
the end of day. He says I am not interested to do this because 1 dollar
is not such a big amount, I can spend my night without this.
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Laziness in religion, being unconcerned with religion, no preparedness

in religion, not giving importance to religion are all because the
philosophy of religion has been incorrectly and dubiously told. The
entire geography and the map of religion has been messed. If I am not
from Tehran and I am asked to draw the map of Tehran what will I
draw? You will be astonished after looking at this map and will say
that this is not Tehran. This is because you have got the map drawn by
a person who is not acquainted with Tehran. We are asked to draw
maps of cities which we know but we have not visited we will not be
able to draw it correctly. Like we know about Haiti after this
earthquake that it is near America. This was told by media but if we
would have been asked to draw the map of Haiti prior to this
earthquake we would have placed Haiti somewhere in Africa because
Haiti has black natives. This is what is ignorance and immaturity when
maps are drawn by looking at the colour or the outward then something
belonging to Africa will land in America and vice versa.
Those who were not acquainted with the soul and reality of religion
when they presented religion in society they spoiled the map of
religion; they made its top as bottom and bottom as top. They
transformed principles to secondary practises whereas practises were
changed to principles; foundations were made into walls and walls
turned into foundations as a result the entire map of religion got
messed up. This is a big topic by itself about how the map of religion
got messed up. The religion with which we are all associated has been
messed up. Why is Pakistan undergoing such crisis situation today?
And that too by the hands of religious beings. This is because the
religion whose map is completely messed up; the more you practise
that religion the mess up will further enhance. The more you
emphasize on the religion whose map is disturbed it will further
deteriorate. The more the attempts are made to rectify the problems the
mess up further increases. Hence first rectify the map of religion and
make it the way it has presented by Allah (s)
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The Human beings have come into this world to complete themselves
and not in a completed form. If you can understand this basic point,
further discussion will be clear to you. Except for the Prophets and
Infallibles (a.s), nobody has come in a perfect and completed form to
this world. We have all come here to complete ourselves and we are
completing ourselves in this world. Allah has sent human beings to this
world in the form of a frame or dye; if we want to turn it into a block,
we can do it using the frame. So the human being is like an empty
frame and unless we fill it with something, it is of little use. If a frame
lies vacant for years, it will be eaten up by ants and will turn to dust.
So, Allah has sent human beings to this world to turn ourselves into
human being. He has just sent a human frame, we have to complete it;
we are our own artist and maker. Our body is the frame gifted to us by
Allah. But we cannot make anything with the frame unless we have the
material, material which makes human beings. That material is
religion. Usool-e-din, furoo-e-din, moral rights, Halal (permissible)
and Haraam (prohibited), etiquette, Prophetic Customs (Sunnah),
religious obligations etc. are the matters which fills this frame and
makes a real human out of man. We have a bad habit. Usually, we
cheat others and get cheated by others as well. These politicians cheat
us, the government cheats us, they take our votes and forget us.
Religion says don’t cheat anybody and don’t get cheated by others,
don’t be a tyrant or be oppressed, to be tyrant is a crime and to be
oppressed is also a crime.
You must have seen some people decorate their homes with artificial
fruits made by plastic or any other thing. When we look at them they
look like the original. Likewise, some wealthy men decorate their
homes with stuffed animals and birds, like lions. But nobody is afraid
of it. If you go to such a person’s house, you will sit there and not be
afraid because you know that it is just the lion’s skin, not the lion itself.
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So, as you are not afraid of the lion’s skin, you should not be afraid of
human skin as well. Because having a human skin does not mean that
everybody is a human being. You should not fool yourself.
So, the structure of a human being is a frame, the matter which fills up
this frame and makes him a human is called religion; when a person
follows the religion he will be a perfect human being. So, religion is
not a credit business, it is all cash; give from one hand and take it from
the other. Do the work today and get remuneration today itself. Our
elders have said that how can a religion that cannot make his world,
make a person’s hereafter? If a person cannot help others before his
death, what can he do after his death?
If I ask you to sit in a train and tell you that this train will not go to
Hyderabad but will go beyond Hyderabad, surely you will ask me how
a train that will not go up to Hyderabad go beyond it. A religion that
cannot take care of a person till death cannot benefit his death nor
complete the purpose of death, then what is the use of this religion
after death?
It is mentioned in traditions that “World is the field for hereafter”. It

means that this world is framing of hereafter. Whatever you sow here,
so shall you reap. It is not true that there is no difference between a
religious person and a non-religious person. The lion in the jungle and
the one in a wealthy man’s drawing room is not the same. There is a lot
of difference between them. In the room, it is just the lion’s skin; in the
jungle it is wild, untamed beast. A non-religious person is like the lion
in the jungle while the selfish religious man is like the stuffed lion; it is
human skin but there is just hay inside.
Whereas, a real religious person has a kind and pious soul inside his
human skin and he performs all his religious duties and obligations; the
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non-religious person is impious, rude and crude; we cannot call him a

human being. The Quran has talked about such men:
َ ِ‫أ أُولَئ‬
َ ‫ك َكاْلَنأ َع ِام بَ أل ُه أم أ‬
‫َض ُّل‬
“They are like cattle, Nay-more misguided”
7:179
Now it is clear that the purpose of religion is to make a person a true

human being. Whatever we do, morning and evening, our actions are
constructing and completing our existence; we are our own maker.
When we are constructing a building, none of the brick is wasted,
whether it is curved or straight. But, if the brick is curved, the wall will
be curved too; if the bricks are straight the wall will be straight. So
anything we say or do does not go waste.
َ ‫فَ َمن يَ أع َم أل ِمثأ َق‬
ُ‫ال َذ َّرٍة َخأي ارا يََره‬
َ ‫َوَمن يَ أع َم أل ِمثأ َق‬
ُ‫ال ذَ َّرةٍ َشًّرا يََره‬
So, he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it. And he who
has done an atom’s eight of evil shall see it.
With the help of these activities we make ourselves and make our
reality; both those who follow religion as well as those who do not
follow religion. If you follow religion, whatever image that will be
completed it will be of a human being; without religion, it will be
inhuman and it will be just human skin. Rewards (Thawaab) is not the
purpose of our religion but the philosophy of Rewards (Thawaab) is to
follow religion. The purpose of rewards (Thawaab) is to follow the
religion and be a true religious person and attain humanity.
Take the example of your mother, it is very common and you must
have seen it in every family. The age between 3 to 5 years, a child
becomes very assertive, he wants to take food himself, put on his
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clothes himself and he can at times becomes so irritating that he even

refuses to take food.
He conflicts only with his mother, not with outsiders and it his mother
who takes much care of him and bares hardships for him. He refuses to
take milk and food but she never punishes him. If it was the father in
the mother’s place, he would have slapped the child. But the mother
will never react the same. She will tell the child that if he is not eating,
she will eat the food. But she will never eat without him because she is
kind and merciful. If the child cries in the night, the father gets
annoyed and yells saying throw the child out if he disturbs us. But the
mother does not get irritated; that is why mother’s status is higher than
the father. In the end, the mother threatens the child that if he does not
drink the milk, she will go away from the house. But the child still
doesn’t drink the milk, not caring much for the threats. Finally, the
mother tells the child that if he drinks the milk she will get toys for him
and he agrees.
Now if you ask the child why he agreed to drink the milk, he will say
for the toys; but the mother will say that she is giving him food to keep
him alive. Likewise, Allah has also promised a reward if you follow
the religion. Pray and you will get reward (Thawaab) and Paradise
with rivers of honey and fruits like grapes etc. The purpose of reward
(Thawaab) is guidance from Allah, attraction towards good deeds
which helps us to become real human beings, and that is why Allah has
promised us of such high rewards (Thawaab). And Allah’s promise
can’t be a lie. When you pray and read the Quran, of course there will
be some reward for it.
Mentally we are immature. We offer Salaat because of Paradise, recite

the Quran for Paradise and even perform Azadari because of Paradise.
We believe only in Usool-e-deen and Furoo-e-deen for Paradise. But
Page 35 of 60
there is a purpose of religion and that is to make us true human beings.

The purpose of creating human beings is to return back to Allah.
‫ك َك أد احا فَ ُم ََلقِ ِيه‬ ِ

َ ِّ‫َّك َكاد ٌح إِ ََل َرب‬
َ ‫نسا ُن إِن‬ ِ
َ ‫يَا أَيُّ َها أاْل‬
O thou man! Verily thou art ever toiling on towards thy Lord- painfully
toiling,- but thou shall meet Him.
Surah Al Inshiqaaq - 6
To meet Allah is the purpose of creation for human beings. Through

religion, a human becomes a real human and meets Allah. All the other
things, like heaven with all its rivers of honey and fruit trees, are for
attraction only.
Now look at people whose beliefs were so strong and faith so

redoubtable that Allah appointed them our Imams. It is not like that
some person had to be appointed as Imam so Allah appointed them the
Imams; they deserved that, Allah had seen something in them. Thanks
to Allah for gifting us such a great religion, such source of preaching,
such Imams and religious education.
Even if we thank Allah for all our life, it will not be sufficient. See,
what Ameerul Momineen (a.s) said:
َ ُ‫ک َخ أوفا ِم أن نَا ِرک َوًَل طَ أمعا فِی َجنَّتِک َول ِکنِّی َو َج أدت‬
‫ک‬ َ ُ‫ا ِِلہ أی َما َعبَ أدت‬
‫اَھ أًِلا لِألعِبَ َادة فَ َعبَ أدتُک‬
Oh my God, I never pray because of fear of your hell, neither do I pray
in the greed of paradise. I pray because you are worthy to be prayed.
Ghurar ul Hikam
If you had not created hell and paradise, or you close the doors of hell
and paradise, or you say that I will not get a place in paradise, even
Page 36 of 60
then Ali will pray, because paradise is not my purpose, my only

purpose is you. You are the purpose of my prayers, I never pray for the
benefits. Paradise is also one of the creations of God, how can a
creation of God be the end purpose of another creation. The purpose of
my prayer is to reach you (union). Paradise is a creation of God and
man is also a creation, but amongst both man has an elevated status.
Man is the most prestigious creation of Allah.
Now, suppose you build a very beautiful bungalow. This bungalow is

for you or are you for this bungalow? Have you made the house for
yourself or have you been made for the house? So Paradise has been
created for us, we have not been created for paradise. The purpose of
creating human beings is not for paradise, but paradise is created for
the purpose of hosting human beings. If a human does really become a
human being but does not go to paradise, it will be sad for paradise and
not for you.
There is a saying in the traditions that everybody is fond of paradise

but paradise is fond of Hazrat Salman Farsi (r.a.). Everyone is waiting
for the day when they enter paradise, and Paradise is waiting for the
day when Hazrat Salman Farsi (r.a.) will be coming. So getting
paradise is not the purpose of creating human beings; but meeting
Allah is the purpose of creating human beings. For that to happen he
needs to be a .complete human being. He becomes a .complete human
being to meet Allah only through religion. To bring people towards the
religion, there are many attractions. These are promises made by Allah
and they are true and all will be fulfilled.
Allah has given us countless chances to earn rewards (Thawaab); every

simple work earns rewards (Thawaab). Pleasing Allah gets rewards
(Thawaab), send greetings (Salaam) to one another there are rewards
(Thawaab). If just saying salutations (Salaam) on someone brings us so
much rewards then does it mean that we should keep sending
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salutations (Salaam) all through the day. Earning rewards is so simple.

There are various other examples like Help someone cross the road
you will get Thawaab, give food to animals get Thawaab, give water to
the thirsty and there are rewards (Thawaab). There are lots of means
for earning rewards that too from small and simple actions. But earning
rewards (Thawaab) to be earned from all these small and simple
actions. But earning rewards (Thawaab) should not be our only
intention.
The human being has not been created for paradise; paradise has been
created for human beings. The human being is great and supreme.
Allah created human beings for himself only. That.s why he never said
AL INSANO LILJANNA. But always said, AL JANNAHO LIL
INSANE and said:
‫إِنَّا لِلّ ِه َوإِنَّا إِلَأي ِه َر ِاجعو َن‬

We have come from Allah and to Allah we have to return
The human being is only for god. There is no destination for human
beings other than Allah.
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The Philosophy
There are some people who spend their money to earn fame; there are
some who utilize their fame to earn money. Such people have their
own version of Paradise. For the misers, Paradise is wealth. For a
selfish man, Paradise means becoming famous, his photographs are
published everywhere and people address him with titles. But there is a
special and particular paradise that Allah has called Paradise.
,‫اضيَةا َّم أر ِضيَّةا‬

ِ ‫كر‬ ِ ِ ِِ ِ
َ ِّ‫ أارجعي إ ََل َرب‬,ُ‫س الأ ُمطأ َمئنَّة‬ ُ ‫يَا أَيَّتُ َها النَّ أف‬
‫ َو أاد ُخلِي َجن َِّت‬,‫فَ أاد ُخلِي ِِف ِعبَ ِادي‬
O soul that art at rest! Return to your Lord, well-pleased (with him),
well pleasing (Him), So enter among My servants, And enter into My
garden
Surah Al Fajr- 27-30
This is not a paradise of gardens, fruits and stems; it is Paradise of

Allah, meaning it is a place to meet Allah. When you go to meet some
big personality, he might be present at home, but he instructs his
servants to make you wait in the drawing room, and offer fruits, drinks,
tea etc. There are some people who will say that though we could not
meet him, because he must have been busy but at least we got our
stomachs filled up. One person claims he drank ten glasses of juice,
another person claims he drank twenty bottles of soft drinks, a third
person says he ate so many biscuits and the fourth says he ate so many
bananas. But there is a person who is sitting very upset. He says that he
did not come here to eat and drink but to meet the person.
Likewise, there are some whom Allah has kept occupied in fruits
because He does not want to meet them. It is a nice way of avoiding
them; they will not be upset and will know his place at the same time.
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But, there are some whom Allah doesn’t give anything because they
have come to just meet Him only; don’t stop them anywhere, neither in
the drawing room nor in the dinning room, let them come straight to
Me.
‫ فَ َرأو ٌح َوَرأْيَا ٌن َو َجنَّةُ نَعِي ٍم‬, ‫ني‬ ِ

َ ِ‫فَأ ََّما إِن َكا َن م َن الأ ُم َقَّرب‬
Surah Waqia – 88-89
Those who are dear to Allah are not in paradise, but they themselves are
paradise.
Don’t we experience this in this world itself? In some places or

gatherings, you feel like you are in heaven. Suppose a father is going
abroad and he is about to leave just as the food is being served. Now
what will the children do? Will they go to see off their father or eat
food instead? If they are real human beings, they will say that father is
leaving now, and he will not be here tomorrow, but food will be there
every day. But if they are food hoggers and live to eat they will say let
him go, let us do this job first.
So don’t ask about the difference between religious and non-religious

persons. There is a huge difference, do not be fooled. Don’t ask about
the difference between the stuffed lion in the drawing room and the
lion in the jungle. The difference is not in the skin; the skin is the
same. But the lion is not just the skin. Likewise, humanity is not about
the skin. If you look at skins of both the religious and the non-religious
person, they are the same; there is no difference in appearance.
The meaning of this is very simple. The difference is as big and

apparent as the earth and sky. One is a human in the true sense while
the other is not. So vast is the difference between the religious person
and the non-religious. It is a cash transaction, not a business of credit.
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Allah never said that everything would be open. Among the many
qualities of Qayamat, it has also been called
‫السَرائُِر‬
َّ ‫يَ أوَم تُأب لَى‬
The day when the curtain will be lifted
Surah Al Taariq- 9
At present, we are making ourselves; we have come here to complete

ourselves, Allah has not sent us as complete. Today the skin is
misguiding us; we are fooled by it. We even believe them to be
humans, those who have stuffed hay inside their skins. The skin that
has guidance inside it is the real human being. But, on the day of
Qayamat, when the strings will be pulled, curtains removed and skins
peeled off, we will see what lies beneath the skin. Then we will
understand. Therefore, Qayamat is the Zahoor (Day of rising, visibility
and manifestation). Otherwise, we would have got our reward or
punishment in this world itself, before death. The effect of religion
would have been visible here in the world itself. When we go from this
side of the boundary to the other, everything will become clear. The
Quran says:
ِ
‫ت‬ ُ ‫َوإِذَا الأ ُو ُح‬
‫وش ُحشَر أ‬
And when all beasts are gathered together
Surah At Takwir - 5
The Day of Judgement will be for humans, not for the animals (beasts).
There is no religion for animals. So who are referred to as beasts in this
Ayah? Just like there will be no questioning or Judgment for animals
(beasts), there will be no Judgment for the men bought from the
jungles either. The beasts will not be those (real animals) who will be
bought from the jungles, but those (human beings) who turned
themselves into wild animals. When their skins will be peeled off, the
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animals from within them will come out. Then, the angels will be told
to herd this flock of wild animals into hell.
Religion is therefore the first necessity of every human being. Air and
water are very essential things for every human being; they cannot live
without air and water. We demand the government to make roads,
supply water and remove the pollution. Why do we demand these
things? because it is the duty of a good government to arrange for these
necessities. If the government arranges for clean water, good food and
a clean environment and provides us with other secondary necessities,
it is also its obligation to perform its foremost duty; give us a chance to
be good human beings and for that purpose enforce the religion. In the
regime of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) it was the first step. In the regime of
Imam Ali (a.s) this was the first step.
If a person understands the philosophy of religion, then he also knows

what he has to do first. What sort of contact he should keep with
religion? It is not right to take a Praying Mat, stay in the mosque and
think of oneself as the most religious person. The best person is the one
who implements religion before stepping on the praying mat. This
right was given to the Holy Infallibles (a.s) to implement religion, but
unfortunately they could not become rulers, Why? So that people don’t
become aware about the fact that religion is a basic need? Just like
today when they are not. Today, the need for religion is in people’s
mind but can’t be seen in their lives. They do think about religion. The
need is to create a religious environment and religion be enforced on
the people by law, so that mankind gets a chance to become human.
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Question
Q1. You have said that religion is not about getting to Paradise
(Jannah) and it is only for reaching Allah. I request you to please
explain that in detail because this matter needs be explained very
clearly. Secondly, you said that our body is a frame and this frame is to
be filled by some material. What is that material? How should we live
in this world so that we can make ourselves perfect human beings and
follow the religion properly? Another thing you said was that there are
so many educated and learned persons who are without religion and
get incomplete education to disturb us. What should be the role of a
religious learned man so that the young generation can learn about the
religion?
Ans. I told you that the religion is not just to get Thawaab (rewards),
religion should be followed for God, this is only our purpose.
‫ك َك أد احا فَ ُم ََلقِ ِيه‬ ِ

َ ِّ‫َّك َكاد ٌح إِ ََل َرب‬
َ ‫نسا ُن إِن‬ ِ
َ ‫يَا أَيُّ َها أاْل‬
O thou man! Verily thou art ever toiling on towards thy Lord- painfully
toiling,- but thou shall meet Him.
Surah Al Inshiqaaq - 6

Surah Baqarah - 156
Your life is not the like the life of other creatures which is just like a
river which starts from one point and ends at another. A river in many
cases starts from a mountain then ends by meeting in the sea. But the
river of humanity is not like a river which starts from a mountain and
ends in a sea. It starts from God and finishes up to God. Some time we
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think that when we have to return to Allah why we were send in the
first place, was this journey a necessity; was this journey compulsory;
was there any other way, the way in which we have come we will not
be returned in the same way. We were incomplete when we came here
but we will not go like that we were some thing different when we
came and we will be different when we will go.
Allama Iqbal has described it in his poetry katra aur darya (drop and
ocean), for example, how the clouds are formed. The sun shines on the
big oceans, due to its heat oceans water evaporates and becomes
vapour that goes to atmosphere and mixes with the air and then goes
further upwards. The upper atmosphere is cooler than the lower; in this
atmosphere vapors become cold and are turned to drops. These drops
gather at a place turning into clouds and becomes heavy, and they
come to lower stage of atmosphere, then the wind takes it to mountains
where clashes with the mountain and rains and comes from the
mountain to plain rivers gutters and at the last it reaches to the ocean
again. It is the same salty drops of water from the ocean which came to
river from mountains to become sweet, the same salty water could
become the reason of our death if we would have to drink a single drop
of it. This is the same water by which we are alive today; who made
this salty water sweet? It changed because of its journey. It passed
from the heat and cold, from mountains and plains, rivers and gutter,
[passed from the soil and then came out of this journey and changed
it’s taste. Many things got mixed in it; minerals mixed in it those which
are useful; the ocean water does not have all these things in it, these
got mixed in it during its journey. In the end the water has to be mixed
with the ocean water but after a long journey. Same example can be
taken for human beings also

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This ayah we recite at news of any death, this is for live person only it
is for them only, not for dead, every particle of the world says we are
only for the God and return to HIM, every particle comes incomplete
and returns after completion. It is for the perfection of the human being
that the other particles of the world carry their journey by force
whereas the human being; by their choice (he takes his own steps,
which is his free will).
For e.g. you travel by a plane or train and another person completes it
by walking, he is better then you, that human is better than the other
creature, the appearance will be as cognizance of human being for e.g.
you can give whatever shape to dough of a flour. You can make from it
bread, double bread, you can make it square, round, due to softness of
it you can give any shape, reality of the human being is not his body
neither is the inside of the body nor the outside actually human being is
the name of (soul) whom we say term as ego or me or I. That is our
soul but we have lost our address. After meeting if somebody asks to
another person where is his own home? You will be surprised on this
question that he does not know about his own home; perhaps he has
lost his memory, he forgot the address of his own house! He is the
resident of this locality, he was born here, what happened to him
perhaps it may be due to scorching heat he got mentally imbalanced
and has forgotten his own address. We arrange for some doctor or take
him to hospital. This is because it is something abnormal for someone
to forget his own address.
If you ask someone after keeping his hand on your body he will say
this is my self, it is like that you keep your hand on the table and say it
is me, it is absolutely wrong you cannot be a table, table may be yours,
but you cannot be a table. First of all people should find their address,
the person who is so proud what he thinks of himself. Nobody thinks
of himself less than king of kings or may be a ordinary minister of his
cabinet, every body is a king of kings within his own world but he does
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not know, he has forgotten his “I” (ego), address, telephone number,
his complete address, every thing he has forgotten; we have lost
ourselves, people have lost people, egotism has been lost from his own
hand. God meets when people find themselves.
‫بہ‬
َّ ‫ف َر‬
َ ‫سہ فَ َق أد َعَر‬
َ ‫ف نَ أف‬
َ ‫َم أن َعَر‬
If you want to know your lord, know yourself
Imam Ali(a.s) ,Gharrar Al Hikam
Whoever finds himself, he finds his Allah he who loses himself loses
Allah. This is a deed contract between self and God; the nearest way to
reach God is through himself. First find out your self, then you will
reach your God, you will find God. Don’t be like a person who comes
from outside keeping his hand on your shoulder and says this is me.
Sometimes we gather somewhere, where if we talk about politics
every body wants to show that there is no politician greater than him.
When we talk about religion, a person who has not studied religion
even for a day and knows nothing about it or its jurisprudence, will
always give an opinion, give fatwa’s (religious verdicts) and freely
express his opinion about Islamic religious heads, preachers and
scholars. He is like a person who has forgotten the way to his own
house but is directing other people.
How can you believe such a person? Whether we are body, I describe
it in very simple words, two words are very common; one of them is
me and the other is mine. We use these words where there are two
things, for example I say this handkerchief is mine, means here are two
things one is handkerchief and second is myself, one is the owner of
the handkerchief, here I am the owner of the handkerchief that’s why it
is mine we cannot say mine to me, this shirt is mine, if I say I am this
shirt, you will say its wrong. I am not the shirt, but the shirt is mine.
Whether I am this Turban or this Turban is mine? Now I ask about my
Page 46 of 60
hand, whether I am this hand or hand is mine? The answer will be no,
My hand is mine, now same thing I ask about whole body. I am not the
body, body is mine. Now find him, who is the owner of these assets?
When I am buried, it is not me, it is my body. I am above the earth and
will never go inside. The truth of a human being is not the body, like
this dress that has been stitched by the tailor, use it and when it gets
old, stitch a new one.
In the same way, Allah has created this body for me and this “Me”
benefits from this dress which is the body. Every time he needs the
body, he should have a new dress to it. It has been said that religion is
that substance which turns mankind into human being. So you just
need to understand what is the reality of human being? The human is
not just the body. The human is the soul and the soul is not body, it has
no figure. One of the conditions of religion is that human being should
believe in the unseen (Ghaib). The God fearing religious person is one
who believes in the unseen. But whatever is behind the walls is not
unseen (Ghaib). We see that some people talk about Unseen but are
they really talking about unseen? Whether they are talking about those
things that are hidden behind the walls! This is not unseen (Ghaib).,
this is hidden! Ghaibat (being unseen) is opposite of Shahadat
(witness), Shahadat (witness) means physically present, Ghaibat
(being unseen) is unphysical. It does not have any physique; your soul
is without physique.
As your motorcycle, has a body, you have a body too, your clothes
have shape with body. Even your body is also a body but you yourself
are not a body. The reality of a human being is not like that, it is sold.
Religion is actually that matter which makes the human shape after
meeting with soul. That becomes spiritual; religion is the name of that
matter. It has three parts; one belongs to knowledge and second to
action, knowledge and action both becomes matter and after meeting
with soul makes human soul. This soul can’t take any shape, just like
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doughy flour, now whatever shape you will give to this soul it will get
the shape it is not only skin there is a soul also under the skin, on the
day of Qayamah (judgment) when the skin will be removed the actual
shape of the soul will appear. There would be various shapes of soul;
some of them may be wild animals, ravenous cattle, and may be a good
human being too. What ever substance gets mixed with the soul, it will
take the qualities from it; there is too much difference between
religious and non-religious person. God says:
َ ‫فَ َمن يَ أع َم أل ِمثأ َق‬

ُ‫ال َذ َّرٍة َخأي ارا يََره‬
َ ‫َوَمن يَ أع َم أل ِمثأ َق‬
ُ‫ال َذ َّرةٍ َشًّرا يََره‬
So, he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it And he who
has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it.
Surah – Al Zalzala – 7-8
Suppose you are drawing a picture and meanwhile your attention has
been diverted by some thing, say television, but your sketching is
continued, what shape will come out? The pen is in your hand hence it
will write whatever you want whether it is right or wrong. If some
body draws a line after holding your hand; the line will be drawn either
straight or curved? If a mason throws his materials (cement, sand etc.)
here and there on the wall, of course he has not wasted the material but
what will be the shape of the wall?
These are the stages of your production, you are making yourself you
were incomplete when you came here. You are a self-maker, you are
making the building of your presence, and God has given you the
knowledge. The second part of the soul is to follow the action after
completion of this building process. The skin will be removed and the
true human being will come out. Now don’t say what ever you have
heard only that much is in our mind, you decide that you don’t know
Page 48 of 60
about the religion and our country as you are not Alexander, a
conqueror of the world, but don’t we all think of ourselves as
Alexander? No body is Alexander here, since our government is
capitalist and in this type of government everybody is feudal. Even he
has or not, even if he does not have money for smoking also his style
or of walking and talking is just like feudal ; even a beggar who calls
another beggar, he talks in style of a feudal, every member of society
passes his life in feudal style, they behave with their wives in the same
style, they talk with their children’s and friends in the same style. If
they get some government job they behave with others just like
servants, those who get jobs in police department they treat others as
slaves, he never says please take a side he always says I am coming,
leave the way. In our country it has become a reality, feudal never give
way but common persons need to give way, we never think that the
image of religion which was built in our mind is not the correct
religion, we will have to demolish this toy house.
To follow the religion we will have to demolish that building. When

you built a beautiful bungalow you have to demolish old and broken
structures. Without demolishing it, you cannot build a new building, if
you want to make a firm construction in place of temporary house
unless you demolish the temporary house you can’t build a permanent
one. But if someone says both houses (old and new) should remain in
the same place it is not possible. Hence if you want to make a beautiful
bungalow you have to demolish the old house, and throw the debris
very far from the sight that you cannot see it again. Religion is also
like that, what ever we have kept in our mind it will have to be
removed; without removing it is like a hut and a beautiful bungalow at
same place, there will be neither a bungalow nor the hut and both will
be ruined.
First we have to decide that we don’t know religion. We have heard

too much and for us whatever we have heard that is the religion. All
Page 49 of 60
our religious proofs are based on listening to Zakirs (Orators). We

don’t have the capability to quote references from Quran and Hadith.
Our only source of acquiring Religion has been our ears. And if the
Prophets would have known this source, they would have also included
this in their teachings and would have asked us to learn Religion from
Quran, Hadith and your ears!
This is not the first step but one who takes this first step, next step will
be easy for him. We perform foundation stone ceremony and invite
some important personality in performing the ceremony in his
presence. Without foundation we can’t erect such a big building.
Foundation stone means first stone of religion, the toy house that has
been build earlier, the house of imaginations and personal thinking
should be demolished. What is intended over here is that we have been
taught a religion from our childhood through our ancestors and parents.
We have not studied the religion. If we want to study, then we need to
first break this mind set that the religion of our forefathers is correct.
We should realize our mistakes then only we can correct them.
We have only one source of learning religion which is to follow the

religion of our forefathers whereas according to scholars (Ulama) there
are several sources, Shariyat (fiqh), Quran , Sunnah (Prophetic
customs), Ijma (intellectual consultation), Aql (intelligence). But in our
Continent (India-Pakistan) there is only one source and that is hearing
(means we learn religion only by listening), because of that we never
give the quotation of Quran, Hadith, ijma (intellectual consultation) or
Aql (intelligence). We always say that we have heard like that, we
have been told like this, we have never have heard like that, etc.
Whatever we have acquired from hearing only that is not a true

religion. By studying and understanding Quran and Itrat (teachings of
Ahlulbayt (a.s)), whatever we get, that is the real religion, by following
Page 50 of 60
this religion what ever shape we make that will be humanity And that
is the first step, the foundation which is very difficult to put in place.
Fist lay your religious foundation and then start building on it, invite
your friends and tell them that you have demolished the old house and
thrown away the debris, tell them to come with sweets because it is the
foundation day of humanity and religion. Unless we take this step, we
cannot reach that point of completion, the State of Perfection (Insaan e
Kaamil). We will keep living in our old hutments; and if we keep
living in our old hutments, it will keep exploiting itself and us, and
then it will fall on us one day.
Page 51 of 60
Q2. What is the impact of not being acquainted with the Philosophy of
religion? Even if we are practicing religion for benefits what
difference it makes?
Ans. One of the dimensions of the deficiencies created in religion

which itself is a vast dimension is that the Philosophy of religion, the
purpose and goal of religion has been adulterated with the attractions
which are present inside religion. This adulteration of purpose with
benefits and attractions has been effective on all of us. Attractions and
benefits have become purpose and purpose has turned into a benefit.
Purpose are those things for which Allah has created religion whereas
benefits and attractions are those things which are means for turning
people towards religion. For example education has a purpose and
there are certain attractions towards education. Now whatever would
be the purpose of education but in our country the purpose of education
is to get employment. This is the purpose which we have set for
religion that is to acquire a good job. This is an insult to education and
is a deviation in education. As mentioned before the geography of
religion and everything has been messed up.
Now let us consider for the time being that this is the purpose of
education but even in this case the child does not show attraction
towards education; it is the parents who are concerned about his
education. In order to get the child’s attention towards education the
parents and teachers make many promises of toys, cycle, holidays etc
so that the child for the sake of gaining these benefits attends school
and takes interest in education. When the same child grows up a little,
then the scale of promises also enhance like now he is promised to be
given a motorbike or a car if he completes his graduation. All these
attractions are for education but what is the purpose of education? The
real purpose of education is to create an esteemed qualified educated
human being whereas in our country the purpose is to get job. The
immature child attends school and studies for the sake of acquiring the
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promised goods like motorbike, car, sweets, picnics etc whereas

acquisition of these things is not the purpose of education. It is the
immaturity of the child that makes him consider these benefits as
purpose and he strives hard in education just for the sake of gaining
these. But those who have the recognition of purpose they don’t need
these attractions and promises of goods.
Allah (s) created religion with a purpose and along with the purpose
also created attractions and benefits so that those who are immature
and do not have proper recognition of the purpose of religion can still
come towards religion for the sake of benefits. But there are such
human beings also who say that “O Allah! Ali does not worship you
for the desire of heaven or in fear of hell, Ali worships you because
you are worthy of worship.”
The purpose of religion is to take man on the ascension and pinnacle of

humanity. Today the entire world is going through various crisis;
economic crisis, political crisis, security crisis. But all these crisis are
man made and temporary; they are not very highly damaging which
can make entire humanity tense. The crisis that should stun and make
everyone tense is the crisis ongoing in East and West, in Muslims and
non Muslims both; the crisis of humanity; human being is not seen
anywhere. Allama Iqbal has interpreted this parable from Maulana
Room that one day a very wise and intelligent person was wandering
around in a town with a lantern in his hand. People asked him what
was he looking for ? He replied that I am searching human being.
People asked him are you not able to find? He said I tried to find a lot
but could not find even one. The one I want I cannot find.
‫دی شیخ با چراغ نمی گشت گر ِد شہر‬

‫از ِدیو و دد ملولم و انسانم آرزوست‬
A Sheikh during daytime was searching something with a lantern
Page 53 of 60
When asked what? He said I am tired of beasts and I am searching for

man
‫گفتیم کی می پیدا نہ شود گشتہ این ما‬

‫گفتا کہ این پیدا نہ شود ہم آنم آرزوست‬
When asked, you are searching so much still you are not able to find
man
He replied, yes the one I am trying to find cannot be found
When can that be found? When it is made then only it can be found.
Religion is meant for constructing and making man. It is religion that
gives man the manifesto of humanity. The constructive dimension of
religion is known as “Akhlaq” (Ethics); the formation of Khulq; as
mentioned before Khalq has been made by Allah, but Khulq has to be
made by man himself. Mulla Sadra the greatest asset of Shiite, for
whom it can be said with confidence that after Infallibles (a.s) and their
close companions there is no one greater than Mulla Sadra who is the
leading Islamic philosopher. He says that O man! Your physical
creation (Khalq) has been done by Allah and you have to now build
your Khulq. The way Allah (s) has created with such beauty your
Khalq so now you also should create your Khulq with this much
beauty. A real human being is the name of a beautiful Khulq inside this
beautiful creation (Khalq).
Hence we should not waste this beautiful creation of ours by not

developing a beautiful Khulq inside it. This was the purpose and
charter of Holy Infallibles (a.s) that is to create a beautiful Khulq inside
a beautiful creation else man will get annihilated. There is a difference
between a man with beautiful skin and human inside the skin;
difference between a beautiful dress and a beautiful man behind it.
Allah has created the outward of the man beautiful and asked man
himself to make his inward beautiful. A person’s skin and exterior is
beautiful but what if the humanity present inside him is not beautiful?
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If the Khulq is not present than this person in presence of Allah is not
beautiful; he is just a beautiful animal. Beauty is an attribute of every
thing. Trees, plants and animals are also beautiful as Allah (s) has said
in the Quran that we have created this greenery, these trees for the
beautification of earth. We plant trees inside our homes and think that
we have become beautiful. It does not matter how many trees you
plant, how many flower pots you put and several gardens you make
inside your homes, all these will make the land beautiful but not man.
The fragrance of flowers will make the air beautiful but not the man
breathing this air. No matter how much perfume you apply on your
body, it will just make the skin smell good but not the man inside it, no
matter how many creams you apply it will make your skin beautiful
but not the man inside it. So what makes man beautiful? It is the Khulq
that makes man beautiful. Colours make the walls beautiful but not
man; by wearing good clothes it is the beauty of clothes that is
manifested but man is not still considered to be beautiful.
An example of this argument which you would have heard is about the
beauty of Yusuf. We think and we have been told also that the beauty
of Yusuf was in his skin, his chin and cheeks, his forehead, his hairs
and his lips. It is not that all these were not beautiful but just take a
look at Quran to see which beauty of Yusuf Quran is referring towards.
You should recite Quran repeatedly till the time Quran reveals the
secret of Yusuf’s beauty. Quran does not reveals its secrets to
unacquainted persons (Na Mahram) hence you should first get
acquainted with Quran to the extent that Quran starts to speak to you
and reveals it secrets to you.
It is a commonly agreed fact that man is more beautiful in his teenage

as compared to when beard and moustache has grown on his face. This
is the reason that people shave their beards and moustaches so that they
look beautiful. But again this is a misunderstanding that by shaving
hairs a person will look beautiful, if this is the case then those who
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loose their scalp hairs why are they worried? So for sure by shaving
the face you are not going to look beautiful.
When the Chief’s wife failed in enticing Yusuf and was caught she was
accused and defamed by other women. In order to justify her evil act
that she was innocent she invited Yusuf and made the women of the
elite families who were taunting her stand with a knife and apple in
their hand. She brought Yusuf from the door. When these women saw
Yusuf instead of cutting the apple with the knife they cut their fingers.
You should ponder over here that whether this was first time Yusuf
was coming in front of people and in front of women? When Yusuf
was brought out from the well in to the caravan and then sold in the
market he was young and more beautiful than now. So why did
someone not cut their hands or bite their lips at that time. When Yusuf
went to the king’s court he was dressed in a beautiful and charming
attire then no one cut their hands. Yusuf grew in front of the chieftain’s
wife, he got into teenage then turned into a youth with beard and
moustache grown on his face. This was the time when the chieftain’s
wife got evil intention towards him and tried to entice him. So in order
to save her face and prove herself that it was something natural for a
woman she invited the women and made Yusuf pass from amongst
them. The question which comes up is if the women fainted and cut
their hands by looking at the face of Yusuf then they should have done
this before when Yusuf was brought from the market. That time Yusuf
was more beautiful than today when he had beard and moustache.
They should have cut their hands at that time when he was a much
more beautiful teenager. We should ponder over what Quran says over
here. It says that these women who cut their hands were not by looking
at the face of Yusuf this astonishment happened when they saw the
character and disposition of Yusuf.
They were looking at the face of Yusuf everyday but today they
realized the character of Yusuf. When the character of Yusuf was
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witnessed by them they could not believe that such a beautiful youth
and all opportunities of committing a pleasurable sin in front of him;
the invitation for the sin was there, there was no one to see him, the
door was closed , a seducing environment was created and in all these
unavoidable circumstances Yusuf with the fear of Allah says that
“Beware! Yusuf can never approach sin”. This is the character which
shakes the hands of everything. This was the real beauty of Yusuf.
This beauty and grandeur was not the one present in the outward
creation; it was the grandeur and beauty of Khulq. This was not the
grandeur which Yusuf got it by birth instead this was the beauty which
he developed inside his self. This grandeur fainted the women. This
story in the Quran is for us, for our youths that they should not just
become memorizers of these chapters of Quran but should get
acquainted with these secrets of Quran. The youths should acquire the
secret of young age, the secret of beauty and should know the real
source of getting the true human beauty and grandeur. Allah (s) has
made the preachers of the beauty of Khulq those who themselves are
beautiful in their outward also, the Holy Imams (a.s). But at times this
real beauty gets stained and it develops odour in it. There are certain
things which shines the beauty of man; these are values, ethics and
good traits but there are also things which stains this beauty.
The number of people of bad character and evil traits are not those who
are not good looking or their faces are not beautiful. Today who is
burning the world; not they whose faces and body are black, whose
faces are not beautiful but it is from those whose body is fair and
white. It is because of them that humanity is burning; it is because of
them that the entire Muslim world has reached the jaws of destruction.
Today Pakistan has become insecure and every city of Pakistan has
become a slaughter house for its own citizens; by whom? It is not
because of those who are paid to do these things. Allah has given us
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sense and we should use that. It is a very good example that when a
stone is hurled on a dog and if dog is mad it will bite the stone but if it
is not mad he runs after one who has hurled the stone. If this much
sense Allah (s) has given to animals than man is expected to possess
and demonstrate much better sense than this. If today someone is
killing us in Pakistan we should not start biting the stones we should
see who is behind these killings; who has hurled these stones? Today
we are happy when we listen to news that certain operations have
killed some terrorists and have confined them in an area. But the
question still remains as to who has created these terrorists?
It happens in villages where there is a feudal system. A feudal lord

always has some rented rowdies so when someone comes in opposition
to the feud he sends these rowdies at night to beat the opponent. When
this heavy beating is going on this feud himself reaches the spot as a
sympathizer and then yells and kicks off the rowdies. This way the
opponent now becomes humble to him gratifying for his favours. This
is where we need sense and under such situation rather than gratifying
the feudal lord we should slap on his face that you are one who has
sent these rowdies to beat us and now you are beating them to show us
that you are doing a favour on us. Similarly those who are carrying out
the operations against terrorists should not be gratified we should tell
them that you are the shameless creatures who have created these
terrorists and now when these terrorists are choking your throat you are
carrying out operations to eliminate them. We should tell them that the
blood of the innocent people of our nation, the blood of oppressed is
staining your laps and shoulders.
Now all these crimes that are committed on earth are happening
through these white skins and even when others are doing their hands
are definitely behind them. They are not good looking people. The
white skin is not beauty, so where is the beauty? If you want to witness
beauty then come and see the beauty present inside Bilal. Bilal’s colour
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was black but when Bilal would say Adhan it would give peace and
comfort to the Messenger (s.a.w.s). There were many good reciters
present at that time with very good tone, voice , Arabic
pronounciation, those who could pronounce “Sheen” as “Sheen” but
till the time Bilal would not recite Adhan, the Messenger would not go
for prayers. This is the beauty inside this black skinned person and this
gets developed from Ethics but there are certain things which stain this
beauty as well.
Hence if the philosophy of religion is not understood and we only

accept religion for the sake of benefits then we might get far away
from development of Khulq which means humanity. As a result both
religious and non religious humans will be seen in society but without
ethics and values. We would have ourselves seen that there are so
many outwardly pious persons who do not even miss supperogatory
prayers and try to do every act of rewards (Thawaab) but at the same
time they have very bad ethics with their own family, they cheat in
business and are concerned with the pains of other Muslims. Thus
development Khulq inside man is necessary for the survival of society
which cannot be done without understand and getting acquainted with
the Philosophy of Religion.
Page 59 of 60
Our Other Publications

 The System of Wilayat in the vision of Quran
 Philosophy of Qayam-e-Hussain
 Values of Ashura
 Tragedy of Qods
 The Candle of the Path of Allah
 Mashrabe Naab – Goods for Humanity
 Defeated Velvet Revolution in Iran
 Azadari – A movement by Lady Zainab (s.a)
Upcoming Publications
 Role Model and Character
 An exposition of Ziarat-e-Ashura
 The Role of Saudi Arabia in Muslim world
 Pakistan Political Journal – O Ignorant think about your

nation!
 Hussain – The Inheritor of Prophets
Page 60 of 60

Philosophy of Religion

Uploaded by

Philosophy of Religion

Uploaded by

‫‪PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION‬‬

‫ني َر ُس اوًل ِّمأن ُه أم يَأت لُو َعلَأي ِه أم‬ ‫ِ‬

Translated by : Syed Arif Rizvi

Published by: Matab Publications, Qom-Iran

Publications. For any clarification, information or concerns contact us

Author: Syed Jawad Naqvi

Translation by: Syed A V Rizvi (Revised version)

Presented by: Bethat Islamic Research Center

Publisher: MATAB Publications, Qom – Iran

Online Orders: www.matabpublications.com

What should be our relationship with religion? ..............................7

Difference between Purpose and Benefit ......................................12

Purpose and Benefits of Religion ................................................. 16

What than is the purpose of religion? .......................................... 17

The Philosophy ........................................................................... 38

Philosophy of Religion does not mean religious philosophy, because

My purpose is not to discuss in particular religious philosophy but to

Today’s youth lives in a world, surrounded by the followers of Islam,

On the contrary, he sees that the non-believers and the enemies of

Here the word Madrassah refers to our traditional method of teaching

What should be our relationship with religion?

A. There are some whose only act of religion is praying once a

D. There are others who perform their daily obligatory prayers

E. There are others who, in addition to the obligatory prayers, try

F. Than there are those who have dedicated themselves to the

Sometimes by teaching people the fundamentals of Islam, we believe

studying about religion, he doesn’t really know the religion as well as

The answer to all these questions is what should be our relationship

The discussion that answers all these questions is Philosophy of

We will not discuss the fundamentals of Islam. These are matters

Sometimes some persons, for their selfish interests, divert people’s

Only such types of religious people take multiplied rewards (Thawaab)

Difference between Purpose and Benefit

When we attend a religious gathering for a purpose but when the

But this is an incorrect or we can say an incomplete definition of being

Benefit is something acquired automatically at the completion of any

There is no action without both of these factors; Purpose and Benefit.

Purpose and Benefits of Religion

When you send somebody to get religious education, after completing

If a young man asks them why he should accept the principles of

practical manifestation of Rewards (Thawaab). Then they ask .if a man

What is the purpose of religion?

like Angels, Archangels, animals, plants and stones, creations under

What should be our relationship with religion? To know about that, we

The Khalq or creation of man has been discussed in the Quran by

enclosed environment to human being and on this closed environment

Everyone of us is created to make ourselves. Religion is the guidance

fields. Everyone has been gifted with some specific specialities. It is

‫ک ّل میسّر لما ُخلق‬

One of the elements of upbringing of children upon parents is that they

system in fact it is a break in the education system. You don’t have to

in understanding the universe whereas other is busy in understanding

Both should be aware irrespective of one sitting in Religion school

‫ مشکل آدم شدن چہ محال‬which means become a Scholar is very difficult

‫فرشتوں سے بہتر ہے انسان بننا‬

It does not take much efforts to become an Angel. It is enough to

It is not possible to reach the status of humanity without Prophets and

Laziness in religion, being unconcerned with religion, no preparedness

It is mentioned in traditions that “World is the field for hereafter”. It

non-religious person is impious, rude and crude; we cannot call him a

Now it is clear that the purpose of religion is to make a person a true

clothes himself and he can at times becomes so irritating that he even

Mentally we are immature. We offer Salaat because of Paradise, recite

there is a purpose of religion and that is to make us true human beings.

‫ك َك أد احا فَ ُم ََلقِ ِيه‬ ِ

To meet Allah is the purpose of creation for human beings. Through

Now look at people whose beliefs were so strong and faith so

then Ali will pray, because paradise is not my purpose, my only

Now, suppose you build a very beautiful bungalow. This bungalow is

There is a saying in the traditions that everybody is fond of paradise

Allah has given us countless chances to earn rewards (Thawaab); every

salutations (Salaam) all through the day. Earning rewards is so simple.

‫إِنَّا لِلّ ِه َوإِنَّا إِلَأي ِه َر ِاجعو َن‬

,‫اضيَةا َّم أر ِضيَّةا‬

This is not a paradise of gardens, fruits and stems; it is Paradise of

‫ فَ َرأو ٌح َوَرأْيَا ٌن َو َجنَّةُ نَعِي ٍم‬, ‫ني‬ ِ