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lI n the nam e of Al lh , The Most Gr ac ious , The Most M erc ifu l

Topic of Discussion:Topic of Discussion:Topic of Discussion:Topic of Discussion: WeWeWeWe MMMMustustustust Always gAlways gAlways gAlways goooo ttttoooo tttthehehehe SSSSourceourceourceource and Root (of the Problem)and Root (of the Problem)and Root (of the Problem)and Root (of the Problem)

Lec tures on Ak hlq g iven by H is Emin enc eAy atul lh a l -`U m a l - jj ash-S hayk h N ir Ma kr im ash-Sh rz (m ay Al l h protec t him)

Translated by S aleem Bhi mj i w w w .al -m ubin .org al -m ubi n@al-m ubin .org

Introduction

mm al-Hd (prayers be upon him) is a great Imm that lived under some of the harshest conditions and

opposition (to his leadership) and it was through the use of the military that the Imm (prayers be upon

him) was separated from his Sh`a and it is because of this fact that there are not many adth narrated

from this great Imm (pr ayers be upon hi m). One of the crim es that the Ban U may yah and the Ban `Abbas

wreaked on the nation was the cutting off of all relations and ties between the people and the Aimmah of

the Ahl al-Bat (prayers be upon all of them) such that if this cutting off of relations had not been done, then

today we woul d have countless bo oks contain ing the wor ds of these gr eat personalities at our disposal.

In the time period between the leadership of Imm Muammad al-Bqir (prayers be upon him) and Imm

Ja`far as-diq (prayers be upon him) we see what kind of valuable treasures were left behind however after

this, meaning during the time of Imm Ms ibn Ja`far (prayers be upon him) the limits were then imposed

(on the A i mmah ( pr ayer s be upon all of them)).

In any case, there are short sayings available from Imm al-Hd (prayers be upon him) even though the

words that have reached us from this personality are quite few in number, however, for this occasion, we

will explain one of the short sayi ngs of thi s Im m (pr ayer s be upo n him):

):( !" #$% &'()*)+ ,$-./-0 +12,3%.

Even better than a good act is the person that performs the good act, and more attractive

than beautiful (words) is the person who speaks beautiful words, and what is more nobler

that knowledge is that person who possess knowledge, and what is even worse than

wickedness is the person that commits evil, and what is more of an obstruction than the

obstruction (itself) is the person that obstructs (other).1

In these fi ve st atem ents, the Im m (pr ayers be upon hi m) has r eferred to very i mpor tant poi nts. What is the

meaning of these sentences of which, three of them refer to something good and the other two are in

references to so met hi ng bad? In r eali ty, the Im m (pr ayers be upon hi m) i s pointi ng to on e fundam ental

principal whi ch is t hat we must al ways go i n sear ch of the ro ots and causes (of anything).

1 B i r a l- A n w r , V o l u m e 7 5 , P ag e 3 7 0

I

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If we wish to spre ad goo dnes s and we want the pr olifer atio n of goo d deeds th en we must go to its so ur ce. If

we want to prevent bad deeds from taking form, then we must go the root and source of that which is bad.

What is m ore im portant than b ad and good is the person that performs t he act (of goodness or evilness).

An important issue that has always been within the society and still exists is that when people decide to fight

against corruption, a majority of the people look at the effects, however they do not go after the causes (that

br oug ht that effect i nto bei ng) and ther efor e they ar e not suc cessful. They rem ov e one bad thi ng howeveranother thin g tak es it pl ace. T hey pr oc eed to rem ov e the seco nd thing, howev er , a third thing takes it pl ace

why i s this??

This happens because they have not gone after the root of the problem and the causes for it coming into

exist enc e and i nst ead, have gon e str aight for the eff ect. Just to pr ese nt a sim pl e ex ampl e: Some peopl e may

have erupti ons (pi mpl es, wart s, etc ) on the ski n of their face; or on the ski n of their b ody, they find wo un ds

and abrasions . Some peo ple who hav e these things on their body rush to purc hase vario us types of

ointments to r emov e these er uptio ns on their face or wounds and abr asions on their body. However t her e

are some people who take the time to investigate to check that this skin - which is nourished (with vitamins

and minerals) from within their body - must definitely be facing some difficulty in the way it works and

because of these difficulties, the effects which can be seen on the skin and the body of the person are madeapparent.

As is co mm only held, the ski n of the body is lik e a pl ai n sh eet or sur fac e that r eflects the acti ons that a perso n

does. Even thoug h putti ng oi ntm ent on the i njury or abr asio n may suf fice tem porarily, howev er it wi ll not

rem ov e th e act ual caus e and thus, once again o n anot her par t of th e body, th es e thi ngs will ret ur n. It is a

good thing to use this ointment or cream to have temporary relief from what is troubling the person,

however in the mean ti me, he mus t go in search of a permanent sol ution and g o after the r oot of the problem.

Right now, there are two major problems that are evident in our society which are getting worse day by day.

The first pr oblem is i n r el atio n to t he use of cig ar ettes and the second pro blem i s th e open and unr estricted

sexual activities taking place.

The age of people who are turning to cigarettes has dropped and even children of a young age are now

beco ming pollut ed with this di sease (of sm oki ng). Accor di ng to on e of the sourc es of news in one of the

cities that is close to us (close to Qum), there are over 150 women who are addicted to smoking - even though

they say that usually , women ar e l ess likely t o become addicted to sm oking. However as c an be seen, it is

now comm on amo ngst wom en, childr en, yo uth and the young adul ts.

In the fac e of the se dang er s, one way to cur e it is that we appre hend all of thos e who are addicted to sm oki ng

and those people who are dealing in this contraband are all executed this is one good way that we can

foll ow whi ch sh ould be done. Howev er, this dir ecti on will not sol ve the pri ncipl e probl em r ather, we must

see what the ro ot of this addictio n to sm oking is.

Is it because people have nothing else to do; is it that they are not religious; is it that they have not been

taught the proper culture or is it the work and actions of a hidden hand of foreigners who are saying that if

these youth are made to be addicted to smoking then an important source for us to influence this country has

been taken care of? ?

We will never forget the event in history when the British wanted to take over China so much so that they

tried to introduce opium into their culture, however the Chinese understood this and stood up in opposition

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to the Briti sh. T he Britis h too , by resorting to their military pr owes s, br ought o pium i nto China and in the

boo ks of hist ory this eve nt was r ecor ded as the Opium W ar. By brin ging opium into Chi na, the y were abl e

to pollute the people of China and once the younger generation was polluted with this addiction, they

(Chin ese people) then had no so ur ce of oppo siti on to t heir enemi es (t he Bri tish). Fro m that tim e, the Britis h

launched the War of Opium and thus, they were able to take benefit from another problem that the Chinese

then had to face.

When the Americans were dominating over Afghnistn, it was thought that in the face of the slogans that

were being raised, that the roots and causes of smoking and drugs would be destroyed completely, however

it is stated that the planting and cultivating of opium actually increased and was even greater than before!

The Americans declare the slogan of human rights and claim that they are fighting against corruption and

dr ug addiction howev er the y ar e actually l ying! T hey ar e i n r eali ty only goi ng after wh at benefi ts

themselves and what is in their own interests even if this means that they must destroy everyone else in the

world.

Ther efor e, we mus t go after the so ur ce of the pr obl em. Thes e yo uth must be taug ht pr operly. One i mportant

factor is r eli gio n. Wit hout doub t, a r eli gio us young man or wom an will never becom e addicte d to these

things ho wever o nce he or s he has left his religion, then they will defi nitely f all i nto addictio n.

Anoth er issue is that of bei ng i dl e and having noth i ng to do. Onc e a perso n beco mes idle and l azy, then we

see that he will realize that there is good money to be made from this job (of buying and selling opium) and

thus, he will go after this kind of work and thus, those people who are idle and lazy will end up being

cor rupt ed and (spiri tually) poll uted.

If we do not sit and think about the plans of our enemy, then how are we going to be able to fight against

them? T her efor e, we m ust go after the re al caus es of the pr obl ems and it i s not suffici ent to sim pl y r el y on

the eff ects and go after these. In or der to trul y understand the caus es, we must org ani ze meeti ngs and

seminars and arrange programs so that the thinkers of the society can sit down and chart out a course of

acti on . For si mpl e issues and concer ns that com e up, how many c onfer ences and se mi nars can we hol d -however for s uch an im portant task as this no ne.

The second problem which is spreading right now is in relation to the open and unrestricted sexual activities

taking pl ace which are corrupting the youth. Is it sim ply eno ugh to place a group o f volunteers and ar my

personnel on this and that street corner and other places far and wide to stop the prohibited meeting of

young women and men and expect the issue to be resolved with this or must we tackle this problem from

another angl e?

We m ust se e what the ro ots of this probl em are: one of the roots of this pro blem is that less and l ess

marriages are taking pl ace. For sev er al r easons, i t has gotten harder and harder to get married:

1. Expectations have gotten too high.2. Form alities have gotten too num ero us.3. The M ahr s (Do wries) hav e gotten too high.4. Cost of marriages is too m uch.

In addition to these, there is also the spread and proliferation of things that are causing the youth to get

sexually excited. T here ar e so me youth that say that with the pr ese nt sit uatio n and the se co ndi tions, i t is

very difficult to co ntrol their s exual desires.

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We would say to them that if you wish to watch those bad movies with open eyes, if you wish to watch those

particular CDs and read those magazines and then come and say that it is difficult to control yourself, then

first off, you m ust put an end to these thi ngs whi ch are sexually arousing you.

When these things that cause a person to become sexually excited are available in an easy way for example,

one CD can contain a whole world full of corruption and vice or the InterNet which has collected waves and

waves of corruption and is full of these things that have made the entire world unsafe from the point of viewof mor al ethics and other iss ues then ho w is i t possi ble for the youth to control themselves?

Sometimes, wedding parties are arranged which are full of things that cause sexual excitement and are full of

filthy thi ngs which go against the teachings of the religion. Hundr eds of youth beco me spiritually polluted

in one such wedding program in which women and men all come together and show themselves off to one

another along with dancing and music while a group of young boys and girls who are single are also present

in this c orr upt gathering and thus , becom e misled and misguided.

The youth themselves wish to take part in s uch a gathering and then at the sam e tim e cry out that why ar e

we not able to control our sexual desir es? T he factor s that lead to o nes sex ual excit ement mus t be r emo ved.

The factors that can l ead to m arriag e mus t be made easi er . T hus, we must go back to the r oot of the pr obl emwhereas in all of these iss ues, we ar e sim ply goi ng to the effects or outcomes .

However, who is there that will even bother to listen to and hear these words and even more than this, who

is ther e that is willing and r eady to speak thes e words to the peo ple?

and all pr ais e bel ongs to All h, Lor d of the Wo rlds, only the mistakes ar e mine. (T r.)