[13] Prophethood - The Outcomes of Prophethood

A series of discussions on the teachings of Imam Sadiq (sixth Imam of the Muslims), from the book Misbah ash-Sharia (The Lantern of the Path)

In His Name, the Most High

This is part thirteen of an ongoing series of discussions on the book by Imam as-Sadiq titled ‘Misbah ash-Sharia’ (the Lantern of the Path). This is also the eighth part of our discussions on prophethood.

It is strongly recommended that the previous parts are read, before proceeding with this one; to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding within the subject matter.

The nature of the subject matter, and the style of discourse requires that each part build upon those that came before it, so once more, I strongly recommend that the reader, read the previous parts, and then continue with this one.

The previous parts, can be found here:

The Lantern of the Path - Index

Video of the Majlis (Sermon/Lecture)

This write up is a companion to the video majlis (sermon/lecture) found below:

Contents

• Majlis: Misbah ash-Sharia - Servitude - Part 13

• Nasheed: Nasheed for Imam Mahdi by Sayyed Hani al-Wada3i

• Munajaat: Munajaat Sha'baniyyah - Shaykh Husayn al-Akraf

• Ziyarah: Ziyarat Aal-i-Yaseen

Recap

In the previous sessions - we continued our journey of discovery regarding the subject of Prophethood. We had previously discussed the philosophy of prophethood, the mission of the prophets, the prophetic resurrection of society. the goal of the prophets, the starting point of the prophetic mission, and opposition to the prophetic mission.

In the previous session, we covered the first part of our subject on the outcome of prophethood, and in this section we will be continuing to examine the outcome of prophethood, with His grace.

It is important to understand that the outcomes of prophethood are very important; and they should be understood by anyone who wishes to sincerely follow the path of the prophets.

We pray that the One who sent all the prophets shows His kindness to us, and grants us the ability (tawfeeq), the patience, and resolve to understand His way, and that He ensure that we are always upon the Straight Path, moving always towards His perfection, and upon the road taught by the prophets, that we may - with His permission and grace - be able to gaze lovingly into His (metaphorical) beautiful Face.

We pray that He always guide us, and ensure that we never falter, and He is the best of all protectors.

In His most beautiful of Names, we begin, and in His support and help, do we eternally rely, and He is the best of those who are relied upon.

Nubuwwah (Prophethood) - Part 8

Introduction

إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْأَشْهَادُ
يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ الظَّالِمِينَ مَعْذِرَتُهُمْ ۖ وَلَهُمُ اللَّعْنَةُ وَلَهُمْ سُوءُ الدَّارِ
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْهُدَىٰ وَأَوْرَثْنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْكِتَابَ
هُدًى وَذِكْرَىٰ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ

Indeed We shall help our apostles and those who have faith in the life of the world and on the day when the witnesses rise up - the day when the excuses of the wrongdoers will not benefit from, and the curse will lie upon them, and for them will be the ills of the [ultimate] abode.

Certainly, We gave Moses the guidance, and we made the Children of Israel heirs to the Book, as a guidance and an admonition for those who possess intellect.

- Quran, Surah al-Ghafir (the Chapter of the Forgiver) #40, Verse 51 to 54

In our previous session, we mentioned God’s promise to His prophet and messenger to mankind. A promise filled with hope and optimism.

God promised, that the prophets who bore the responsibility of conveying the divine message to mankind, and all of those who summoned people towards religion and truth, would both triumph over their enemies in this world and attain a great reward in the Hereafter.

We gave a brief overview of what can be said about the success of the prophets in this world from two perspectives:

Firstly, we looked at the succession of prophets as a whole from the first to the last, and we saw that these teachers of humanity were indeed successful in their overall mission.

It is true that some of them suffered setbacks during their missions, or even after them, and they sometimes faced opposition from people, but, when we look at the institution of prophethood, we see that the prophets as a group, as a whole, achieved their goals.

Analogies of the Prophetic Mission

The comparison we drew for this was a series of teachers who, from the first to the last, want to teach a class of students, one after another, until there had been six, ten and fifteen teachers from the beginning of this class’s time at school until its end, from the lowest levels of education to the highest.

They wanted to take these students by the hand, and lead them from the depths of ignorance, to the apex of knowledge.

However, the teachers in the first year, only took them a little of the way, and did not see them reach their goal, as they died before this came to pass.

However, how do we judge whether he succeeded or nothing as a teacher?

Just because he did not stay with the children to the end of their studies, does this mean that he failed them? Of course not! He did his task. He discharged his duty. Then he handed them over to the next teacher to perform his share of the responsibilities.

Another analogy that we can use to explain this is that of a heavy load that needs to be brought from the one end of a large room to the other. It is too heavy for one person to carry on their back the whole way by themselves without any help.

But even together, a group of people cannot carry the load all the way, in one go. This leaves only one way of transporting this heavy load:

The first person should come and move it one meter towards the other side of the hall, then the second comes and moves it another meter, then the third moves it another meter, then a fourth, and so on, until there are twenty, twenty-seven, thirty, more than thirty, until eventually the distance is covered and the load reaches its destination.

Each person only moved it one meter.

Now, imagine that the load is so heavy that, after you’ve moved it a meter, you die!

All these people sacrificed their lives, but in the end the distance was covered. Each of them bore the burden for just a little of the journey, but, in this way, the entire distance was covered.

The prophets carry a burden such as this. Each of them is only able to move it a meter forward.

Noah came and he was able to carry the burden of guiding mankind towards the pinnacle of learning and virtue for just one meter. But what hardships he endured for this one meter! He preached to people for nine-hundred and fifty years, and only managed to take them a single step forward.

He spent his whole life on this task but, ultimately, did he do his duty or not? Did he carry this burden a meter forward or not? You can see that clearly he did.

After Noah, another prophet came and took up this burden. He carried it another meter forward.

Then a third prophet came and carried it another meter forward.

Then the final messenger, Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, his pure family and righteous companions, was raised up as a prophet, and he took up this final burden and made it so that mankind would continue its march towards progress, towards perfection.

The Final Prophet and the Imam of the Age

So the prophets - from the first to the last - were successful in their missions.

At the end of this task, the last of the divine emissaries, who we refer to as the Master of the Age, may God hasten his reappearance and may our souls be his ransom, and who is a promise given to all the millions if not billions of theists across the world.

He is the last of God’s representatives on earth - he is the one whose appearance millions, nay, billions, of believers in God are expectantly awaiting, who will bring this mission to its ultimate conclusion.

Whose work does the Imam of the Age bring to a completion?

The work of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and the Final Messenger, the work of the Imams from the household of the Prophet.

If this burden did not reach its destination, then all of Noah’s efforts would have been in vain.

However, it will reach its destination and when it does, this is only the last leg of a long journey - it means that Noah’s efforts were not in vain, that Abraham’s efforts were not in vain, that Zechariah’s efforts were not in vain.

None of the prophets’ efforts, none of their hardships. none of their sufferings were in vain … because that burden that they carried forward through history has reached its destination.

Challenges Faced by the Prophets

It is true that some of them were persecuted and killed. It is true that John the Baptist had his head cut off as a gift to a vicious woman.

But, none of them were defeated. None of them were thwarted. Why? because of their suffering and hardship was in the service of a higher cause; discharging this responsibility with which they had been trusted and carrying that burden forward. Even by only a single step.

This is what we discussed in the previous session.

Another topic that we touched on in the previous session, was that the ultimate outcome of prophethood means that none of the prophets should be seen as having failed in their missions.

Because, in the grand scheme of things, all of them succeeded in guiding humanity towards the light, towards the truth.

However, we also see that some of the prophets, in addition to carrying this burden forward, also enjoyed a share of success in this world, in the sense that they were able to create communities and societies that were founded on the ideals of divine unity, the ideals of tawheed and their moral teachings.

The clearest example of this is our own Prophet, Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, his pure family and righteous companions, who was able to create a new city, a new society and a new system based on the ideals of Islam, the Quran and divine revelations.

But there are many other examples of prophets who accomplished this, as we pointed out in the previous session.

A few centuries after Jesus, the son of Mary, after Christ, peace and blessings be upon him and his blessed mother, the Roman Emperor himself became a Christian.

After Moses’s death, the Israelites, founded a virtuous community.

Abraham in his own lifetime was able to create a godly community, as the Quran explains.

Solomon, built a mighty empire which he ruled by God’s laws. Some even say that he established his authority over the whole world and created a global tawheed-oriented society.

So, we can see that some of the prophets enjoyed a special measure of success and this was manifested in the creation of a divine and tawheed-oriented, a tawheed-centric society and system of government.

But some of the prophets also did not have the opportunity to accomplish this. Like who? Like Zechariah, who we mentioned earlier, like John the Baptist. They suffered setbacks and were ultimately killed.

How are we to understand this?

Why were some prophets successful in changing the social order, while others were not? Why weren’t all of them able to create a tawheed-oriented society founded on divine principles?

Why were only some of them able to accomplish this?

To answer this, we can use a simple formula:

We saw that wherever true faith, true belief was combined with perseverance, when it was combined with patience, divine leaders and righteous people were successful, but wherever this faith and perseverance was not present sufficiently, then the divine leaders, righteous people, and callers to truth were defeated.

This is a universal truth.

Wherever the faithful who supported a prophet persevered in their confrontation with their enemies and adversaries, they succeeded.

The victory of the prophets is inevitable because they speak the truth, they act in accordance with the truth, and the truth always prevails.

Truth is at the very core and essence of the cosmos. Therefore, all the elements for victory are present in their movements.

If you find a prophet in history who was defeated, this is not because they spoke the truth. No. True speech will always prevail. The truth will always prevail.

Truth will always defeat falsehood and reduce it to naught.

So, why were these prophets defeated then? Because their followers lacked sufficient faith and perseverance.

In the previous session, we read the verses of the Quran:

وَلَقَدْ سَبَقَتْ كَلِمَتُنَا لِعِبَادِنَا الْمُرْسَلِينَ
إِنَّهُمْ لَهُمُ الْمَنصُورُونَ
وَإِنَّ جُندَنَا لَهُمُ الْغَالِبُونَ

Certainly Our decree has gone beforehand in favour of Our servants, the apostles, that they will indeed receive [God’s] help, and indeed Our hosts will be the victors.

- Quran, Surah as-Saffat (the Chapter of the Rangers) #37, Verse 171-173

These are God’s eternal words.

So, if you ever see an instance where the word of truth appears to have been defeated, know that it was not God’s host - those fighting did not meet the conditions of being God’s host. Those who were defeated were defeated because they lacked the qualities of faith and perseverance, so they were not of God’s host.

Faith and Perseverance as Keys to Success

When an Islamic society is God’s host, it will succeed. But when it holds back from doings its duty, then it is no longer God’s host.

So, to sum up what we have just said, the reason why some prophets appear to be defeated while others were successful in creating a new society is this:

Wherever the followers of a prophet had true faith, and complete conviction in their cause, and relied on the truth to carry them through, they were always successful.

Historical Examples from the Quran

It was not in their nature to be defeated.

A phrase that comes to mind was uttered by a great figure of the 19th Century, which he uttered during the era of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran - I cannot recall the exact person who said this, but one of the leaders of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran (1905 to 1911) said the following:

“You must fight. And when things seem dire, you must keep fighting. And when you think you are facing certain defeat, you must fight all the more, because then you will win.”

God’s Help at Moments of Desperation

There is a verse of the Quran that appears to align with an confirm this:

حَتَّىٰ إِذَا اسْتَيْأَسَ الرُّسُلُ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ قَدْ كُذِبُوا جَاءَهُمْ نَصْرُنَا فَنُجِّيَ مَن نَّشَاءُ ۖ وَلَا يُرَدُّ بَأْسُنَا عَنِ الْقَوْمِ الْمُجْرِمِينَ

When the apostles lost hope and they thought that they had been told lies, Our help came to them, and We delivered whomever We wished, and Our punishment will not be averted from the guilty lot.

- Quran, Surah Yusuf (the Chapter of Joseph) #12, Verse 110

“When the apostles lost hope and they thought that they had been told lies”. When it came to the point that the prophets suffered such strikes and blows from their enemies that even they had lost hope, that the prophets and those with them felt their hearts begin to waver.

This was not with regard to faith - they would never lose faith, their belief in God would not shake - but with regard to their belief that they would be victorious. Their certainty that they would succeed was shaken and they imagined that they had misunderstood.

They were certain that God had told them they would be victorious, but things had become so dire that they wondered if they had misunderstood and God had not given them such a promise!

Just at the moment when the pressure became unbearable and the struggle seemed unsurmountable, when it seemed as though all hope was lost for the cause of faith and truth and that their enemies would surely overcome them and they saw no way of avoiding this fate - it was exactly at this moment, because they held their ground, because they didn’t stop trying, that God helped them.

This is what the Quran says.

Sometimes, we might imagine that because some of the movements that raised the banner of truth were defeated, this means that the truthful are forever destined to suffer defeat at the hands of falsehood.

Imam Zayd ibn Ali was martyred in the Mosque of Kufa with an arrow to the forehead, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, know as an-Nafs az-Zakiyyah (the Pure Soul) was killed in battle by the forces of al-Mansour al-Abbasi.

Hasan al-Muthanna who was instrumental in the rebellion against the Umayyad governor Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, but was martyred by the Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik al-Marwan.

And Ibrahim ibn Abdullah (known as Qatil Bakhmara) who was martyred in the outskirts of Kufa (at a place called Bakhmara).

From the deaths of all these men, it seems as though the general experience of history is this:

All movements under the banner of truth and justice inevitably fall prey to falsehood and tyranny.

Yes, some people who do not comprehend the logic of the Quran imagine this to be the case. This notion is a pleasant balm to the tyrants and oppressors of history. they want people to believe this and it is clear that they play a role in promoting this idea.

However, it is completely false.

If Imam Zayd ibn Ali was martyred and his movement broken, it does not mean that truth is destined to be brought down by falsehood. On the contrary, it shows that even though the truth is the truth, upholding it requires struggle and effort.

We think that because the Quran is God’s word, God will bring it to fruition in this world? No! Of course, it is the truth and it is destined to triumph, but this still requires struggle.

People much be willing to take action, to persevere, to sacrifice in order to enthrone it in its proper place!

This is the lesson we must draw from the uprising of Imam Zayd ibn Ali, not that the truth is forever doomed to be swallowed by the darkness of falsehood.

Why do we draw this erroneous conclusion? Imam Zayd ibn Ali proclaimed the truth - no doubt! Imam as-Sadiq, the sixth Imam of the Muslims, even agreed that Imam Zayd’s uprising against the regime of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik was righteous.

History attests to this fact.

Imam Zayd went forth and fought for the sake of truth and justice but, at a critical moment, the people who were supposed to support him, lost courage, made excuses - perhaps they had fallen under the influence of Umayyad propaganda - and abandoned him when he needed them the most.

This shows us that even if something is the truth - no less than the truth that Imam Zayd ibn Ali proclaimed - if it is abandoned by its supporters, if no one fights for it, then it will be defeated.

If on the other hand, people are willing to struggle for its sake, the cause of truth will advance.

This is true for any cause in the world:

How many times have we seen ideas or schools of thought brought to the fore by the efforts of their followers?

Do you think falsehood and untruths, that go against the very cosmic order itself, rise to prominence through the efforts of their followers, but true causes cannot? This seems absurd but this is what some people believe to be the case!

Sermon 56 of Nahjul Balagha

وَلَقَدْ كُنَّا مَعَ رَسُولِ اللهِ(صلى الله عليه وآله)، نَقْتُلُ آبَاءَنا وَأَبْنَاءَنَا وَإخْوَانَنا وَأَعْمَامَنَا، مَا يَزِيدُنَا ذلِكَ إلاَّ إِيمَاناً وَتَسْلِيماً، وَمُضِيّاً عَلَى اللَّقَمِ، وَصَبْراً عَلى مَضَضِ الاْلَمِ، وَجِدّاً عَلى جِهَادِ الْعَدُوِّ، وَلَقَدْ كَانَ الرَّجُلُ مِنَّا وَالاْخَرُ مِنْ عَدُوِّنا يَتَصَاوَلاَنِ تَصَاوُلَ الْفَحْلَيْنِ، يَتَخَالَسَانِ أَنْفُسَهُمَا، أيُّهُمَا يَسْقِي صَاحِبَهُ كَأْسَ المَنُونِ، فَمَرَّةً لَنَا مِنْ عَدُوِّنَا، ومَرَّةً لِعَدُوِّنا مِنَّا،
فَلَمَّا رَأَى اللهُ صِدْقَنَا أَنْزَلَ بِعَدُوِّنَا الْكَبْتَ، وَأَنْزَلَ عَلَيْنَا النَّصرَ، حَتَّى اسْتَقَرَّ الاْسْلاَمُ مُلْقِياً جِرَانَهُ وَمُتَبَوِّئاً أَوْطَانَهُ، وَلَعَمْرِي لَوْ كُنَّا نَأْتِي مَا أَتَيْتُمْ، مَا قَامَ لِلدِّينِ عَمُودٌ، وَلاَ اخْضَرَّ لِلاِيمَانِ عُودٌ، وَأَيْمُ اللهِ لَتَحْتَلِبُنَّهَا دَماً، وَلَتُتْبِعُنَّهَا نَدَماً!

In the company of the Prophet of God we used to fight our parents, sons, brothers and uncles, and this continued us in our faith, in submission, in our following the right path, in endurance over the pangs of pain and in our fight against the enemy.

A man from our side and one from the enemy would pounce upon each other like energetic men contesting as to who would kill the other; sometime our man got over his adversary and some-time the enemy's man got over ours.

When Allah had observed our truth, He sent ignominy to our foe and sent His succour to us till Islam got established (like the camel) with neck on the ground and resting in its place. By my life, if we had also behaved like you, no pillar of (our) religion could have been raised, nor could the tree of faith have borne leaves. By Allah, certainly you will now milk our blood (instead of milk) and eventually you will face shame.

- Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 56

In sermon 56 of Nahjul Balagha, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, the first Imam of the Muslims, may the peace and blessings be upon him, says something which makes this very clear.

In this sermon, Imam Ali describes the experience of the early warriors of Islam, is one that we have mentioned earlier in this series in other contexts.

In it, he says:

In the battle against faithlessness, if we saw our uncle, our father, our son or our brother under the banner of idolatry, and we were with the Prophet, we would not say:

“He is my brother, I won’t fight him”

“That is my son, I won’t fight him”

We will fight them without hesitation for the sake of God. And even if we had to kill them in battle, we would not feel troubled by this. We would not say:

“O woe, is us! Because of this new religion, this new idea, I killed my son!”

No, out faith would not decrease because of this. It would actually increase, as the Commander of the Faithful said:

“And that only increased us in faith and submission, and in our determination to press on through difficulty and hardship”

Then the Commander of the Faithful describes the battlefield itself:

“And our earnestness in struggling against the foe. A man from our side and one from the enemy would launch themselves at one another like a pair of stallions vying for supremacy to see which one would quench the other from death’s cup.”

But we don’t want to spend time explaining and discussing the imagery of warfare and bravery here, what we want to focus on is what the Commander of the Faithful says next:

“And when God saw our fidelity, he thwarted our foes and granted us His aid”

In other words, they struggled so hard that God saw that they truly believed, that they were truly Muslims. They demonstrated the depths of their faith through their deeds. And when they did this, that was when they triumphed over their enemies with God’s help and victory.

There are just two or three more phrases I want to call your attention to from this sermon:

Here, the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, is speaking during the time of his own caliphate, at a time when many people just wanted an easy life, so that when he told them to ready themselves to fight against Muawiyyah, they made excuses.

When he told them to arm themselves to fight Talhah and Zubayr, they brought all manner of supposedly pious reasons not to raise their swords against their brothers in faith.

To put it simply, they had become men who sought ease, who sought comfort, who preferred survival to struggle.

They had strayed far from the divine teachings.

These are the kinds of people that the Commander of the Faithful found himself confronted by during his reign as caliph.

Weak, lax and content with humiliation in exchange from an easy life.

These were the Commander of the Faithful’s forces. This is why he says:

Because if this is how the first Muslims had been, there would have been no Islam of which to speak!

Lessons from Early Islamic History

What do we understand from this sermon? Lets not forget that the words of the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, are no less than the words of the Prophet himself.

The road taken by Imam Ali is the same road that would have been taken by his brother, the Prophet Muhammad.

So, why is it that in his day, the Prophet was victorious, while in his own time, the Commander of the Faithful suffered setbacks? Why? This is what the Commander of the Faithful is explaining in this sermon.

He is saying:

In the time of the Prophet, we held fast and endured the hardships of battle. In those days we were ready to goto the battlefield from our beds. In those days, we were ready to give up our worldly wealth and material comforts for the sake of God.

Today, we are not prepared to do this. In those days, we went forth. Today, we hang back. This is a very clear and simple analysis by the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, of the social situation of his day.

The prophets of God, in addition to the fact that, as an institution and in the grand scheme of things, their mission was a success and that the outcome was in their favour, there were also prophets in this world who were successful in achieving their practical goals and establishing tawheed-oriented societies.

The condition for their success was that their followers and comrades had true faith and that they were prepared to persevere and be steadfast on the battlefield.

When faith and perseverance are combined amongst their followers, the prophets won victories.

This is the conclusion we draw.

Quranic Reflections on Prophetic Success

Let us now return to the verses of Quran. There are several excerpts from the Quran that we would like to focus on in this session.

The first is from Surah al-Ghafir:

إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْأَشْهَادُ
يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ الظَّالِمِينَ مَعْذِرَتُهُمْ ۖ وَلَهُمُ اللَّعْنَةُ وَلَهُمْ سُوءُ الدَّارِ

Indeed We shall help Our apostles and those who have faith in the life of the world and on the day when the witnesses rise up, the day when the excuses of the wrongdoers will not benefit them, and the curse will lie on them, and for them will be the worst abode.

- Quran, Surah al-Ghafir (the Chapter of the Forgiver) #40, Verse 51

When we look at the Arabic for “Indeed We shall help” (inna la-nansaru - إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ), we notice that there is both a ‘lam’ of emphasis on the verb لَنَنصُرُ, which indicates that this is something that is sure to happen.

It also has the particle of emphasis - inna إِنَّا - which again emphasises the certainty of this happening - there is no doubt about the fact that God will help!

Notice, also that God does not only say He will help His prophets but also those who have faith, as those who have faith walk the path of the prophets and so this promise encompasses them also.

Those pure-hearted individuals who follow the example of the prophets share in the promises given to them.

Where will God help them? “In the life of the world”. God will help them in this world, and will not delay His assistance until later. “And on the day when the witnesses rise up”, some commentaries - tafaseer / exegesis’s - of the Quran interpret this to be. reference to the Day of Judgement.

There is a narration about the aforementioned verse, in which the Imam - either Imam as-Sadiq or Imam al-Baqir - tells Jumayl ibn Darraj that the meaning of the verse is that God will help His prophets during the Return (ra'jah).

In other words, when the Imam of the Age, may our souls be his ransom and may God hasten his reappearance, comes and establishes a divine government, a tawheed-oriented government, over the entire world, and the banner of the Quran and Islam is raised in every corner of the earth, and all the people are following the religion of God, and the path of divine unity.

When there is is a single divine government over the whole world, and God brings back to life the prophets, the legatees, the righteous and the martyrs from amongst the faithful - in accordance with the verses of the Quran which allude to this and the narrations which explicitly mention it, that is when God will grant them His help.

However, I do not think that in this tradition, the Imam, meant to imply that “in the life of the world” (fil hayat ad-dunya - فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا) was a reference to the Return.

However, Imam Khamenei’s posits that actually the phrase “on the day when the witnesses rise up” (yawma yaqum al-ashhad - يَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْأَشْهَادُ) is a reference to the return, rather than to a reference to the Day of Resurrection.

After all, why should God need to give help (nasr - نصُرُ) on the Day of Resurrection?

Imam Khamenei posits that there is a possibility that this tradition means that God would help the prophets during the era of Return. Moreover, the apparent meaning of the phrase “in the life of this world” (fil hayat ad-dunya - فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا), given the context in which it occurs - indicates that God is making an explicit promise to the prophets and the faithful to help them in this world, in the here and now.

“The day when the excuses of the wrongdoers will not benefit them”, and the “the day when the witnesses rise up”. When is this day?

When will the witnesses rise up? On the day when the excuses of the wrongdoers will be on no use to them!

This is another relevant verse of the Quran:

هَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَن تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ رَبُّكَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ ۗ يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ لَا يَنفَعُ نَفْسًا إِيمَانُهَا لَمْ تَكُنْ آمَنَتْ مِن قَبْلُ أَوْ كَسَبَتْ فِي إِيمَانِهَا خَيْرًا ۗ قُلِ انتَظِرُوا إِنَّا مُنتَظِرُونَ

Do they not consider that the angels may come to them, or your Lord may come, or some of your Lord’s signs may come? The day when some of your Lord’s signs do come, faith shall not benefit any soul that had not believed beforehand and had not earned some goodness in its faith. Say, ‘Wait! We too are waiting!’

- Quran, Surah Al-An’aam (the Chapter of the Cattle) #6, Verse 158

This can also be understood as a reference to the day on which the Imam of the Age, may our souls be his ransom and may God hasten his return, rises up.

Returning to the verse at hand (from Surah al-Ghafir), God says “and the curse will lie on them,” - the wrongdoers - “and for them will be the worst abode”.

Then, in order to demonstrate how He helps His prophets, God gives the example of Moses. Surah al-Ghafir, had focused on Moses prior to the verses under discussion and his confrontation with Pharaoh.

Therefore, when God promises to help His prophets, he invokes Moses as an example of this:

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْهُدَىٰ وَأَوْرَثْنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْكِتَابَ
هُدًى وَذِكْرَىٰ لِأُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ
فَاصْبِرْ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لِذَنبِكَ وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ بِالْعَشِيِّ وَالْإِبْكَارِ

Certainly We gave Moses the guidance and We made the Children of Israel heirs to the Book, as a guidance and an admonition for those who possess intellect.
So persevere! God’s promise is indeed true. And plead for forgiveness for your sin, and celebrate the praise of your Lord morning and evening.

- Quran, Surah al-Ghafir (the Chapter of the Forgiver) #40, Verses 53 to 54

The Israelites were entrusted with the sacred scripture that contained all of God’s teachings and ordinances, and this shows that they were successful in their battle with Pharaoh.

After all, if the tyrants and the faithless had triumphed over the Israelites the would not have permitted them to live in accordance with their sacred scripture.

In fact, they would not have permitted them to keep a sacred scripture at all!

God gave them this scripture:

“So persevere! God’s promise is indeed true. And plead for forgiveness for your sin”. But what sin (dhanb - ذَنبِ) has the Prophet committed?

We should not imagine that what counts as a sin for the Prophet is anything like those sins we commit ourselves. The Prophet is infallible (ma’sum - مَعْصُوم), meaning he does not commit any sins.

There is no doubt about this, as it is a principle established by clear verses in the Quran and by the judgement of reason. But if the prophet does not commit sins, then what is this ‘sin’ to which God refers?

The sin that God refers to in this verse belongs to the category of what we might call ‘a mistake’ for ourselves - however, even this is the kind of mistake that if you or I committed it, we would not even consider it a mistake!

So, when God tells the Prophet to “plead for forgiveness for your sin”, he means to seek forgiveness and try to redress you minor past mistakes. “And celebrate the praises of your Lord morning and evening.”

This verse shows us very clearly that the outcome of all the prophetic missions God’s assistance and success.

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ إِلَّا رِجَالًا نُّوحِي إِلَيْهِمْ ۖ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
وَمَا جَعَلْنَاهُمْ جَسَدًا لَّا يَأْكُلُونَ الطَّعَامَ وَمَا كَانُوا خَالِدِينَ
ثُمَّ صَدَقْنَاهُمُ الْوَعْدَ فَأَنجَيْنَاهُمْ وَمَن نَّشَاءُ وَأَهْلَكْنَا الْمُسْرِفِينَ
لَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ كِتَابًا فِيهِ ذِكْرُكُمْ ۖ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
وَكَمْ قَصَمْنَا مِن قَرْيَةٍ كَانَتْ ظَالِمَةً وَأَنشَأْنَا بَعْدَهَا قَوْمًا آخَرِينَ
فَلَمَّا أَحَسُّوا بَأْسَنَا إِذَا هُم مِّنْهَا يَرْكُضُونَ
لَا تَرْكُضُوا وَارْجِعُوا إِلَىٰ مَا أُتْرِفْتُمْ فِيهِ وَمَسَاكِنِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُسْأَلُونَ
قَالُوا يَا وَيْلَنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا ظَالِمِينَ
فَمَا زَالَت تِّلْكَ دَعْوَاهُمْ حَتَّىٰ جَعَلْنَاهُمْ حَصِيدًا خَامِدِينَ
وَمَا خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاءَ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا لَاعِبِينَ
لَوْ أَرَدْنَا أَن نَّتَّخِذَ لَهْوًا لَّاتَّخَذْنَاهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا إِن كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ
بَلْ نَقْذِفُ بِالْحَقِّ عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَيَدْمَغُهُ فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌ ۚ وَلَكُمُ الْوَيْلُ مِمَّا تَصِفُونَ

We did not send [any apostles] before you except as men to whom We revealed. Ask the People of the Reminder if you do not know.
We did not make them bodies that did not eat food, nor were they immortal.
Then We fulfilled Our promise to them, and We delivered them and whomever We wished, and We destroyed the transgressors.
Certainly We have sent down to you a Book in which there is an admonition for you. Do you not exercise your reason?
How many a town We have smashed that had been wrongdoing, and We brought forth another people after it.
So when they sighted Our punishment, behold, they ran away from it.
‘Do not run away! Return to the opulence you were given to enjoy and to your dwellings so that you may be questioned!’
They said, ‘Woe to us! We have indeed been wrongdoers!’
That remained their cry until We turned them into a mown field, stilled [like burnt ashes].
We did not create the sky and the earth and whatever is between them for play.
Had We desired to take up some diversion We would have taken it up with Ourselves, were We to do [so].
Indeed, We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes its head, and behold, falsehood vanishes! And woe to you for what you allege [about God].

- Quran, Surah al-Anbiyaa (the Chapter of the Prophets) #21, Verses 7 to 18

Let us now briefly look at the verses from Surah al-Anbiya (the Chapter of the Prophets). This is the 21st Chapter of the Quran.

The verses of this chapter are very inspiring, and we sincerely advise everyone who is familiar with the Quran, to study and reflect upon this chapter of the Quran with the utmost of care and diligence.

At the beginning of the chapter, God, very straightforwardly says that His messengers will be successful and that their enemies will be defeated in this world, to say nothing of the punishment that awaits them in the next world. This is what God lays out at the beginning of the chapter.

Next, after expanding on these issues a little, He turns to the discussion of history. He recounts the story of Moses, the victory of Moses and the defeat of the forces that were against Moses; then the story of Abraham, the success of Abraham, and the defeat of the forces that were against Abraham; then the stories of Noah, Solomon, and others are dealt with in a similar manner.

All of the events recounted in this chapter of the Quran, serve to demonstrate that the prophets always succeed, they always triumph, they always prevail, while the opponents of the prophetic revolutions and of the prophetic messages are always defeated.

This chapter of the Quran, the Chapter of the Prophets, the 21st Chapter of the Quran, says that this, is an established pattern of history.

God says:

When we reach the eleventh verse, where God says:

This is the anthem of the victory of the prophets, it is a rousing anthem that shows how the prophets are supported by an unseen divine power in this world.

But this is not through unseen powers in the way that ordinary persons might wish for, such as a hidden hand smiting the enemies, no, not at all.

This is through unseen forms of assistance that are hidden within the system of cause and effect that governs the cosmos, forms of assistance that are in harmony with the natural order, human nature, and human society.

How much help God gave to His prophets through this unseen power!

An unjust society, an unjust government, an unjust civilisation, is one in which structures of oppression are employed, where class differences are created, where exploitation takes place, where one person uses another.

This is the ‘wrongdoing village’ of which the Quran speaks.

This wrongdoing village refers to an unjust social order, which is used by tyrants for their own ends. God exclaims:

“How many of these We have smashed!”

“How many a town We have smashed that had been wrongdoing, and We brought forth another people after it”

Then God brought another people, another group, another class to rule.

“So when they sighted Our punishment”, the misery of the wrongdoers when they saw God’s wrath, “behold, they ran away from it”.

When they sensed God’s wrath and anger, they fled. God’s punishment either means when they saw a miraculous punishment descending from the heavens, or when they saw the prophets and the faithful with them gain authority over them and raise the sword of God’s justice above their heads. “Behold, they ran away from it”.

No sooner had a just society and civilisation been established than they fled elsewhere.

Go back to your palaces in which you live in luxury, go back to your societies and your cities in which you lorded your status over others - where will you go?

They said:

In other words, this is what they cried out until death overtook them.

Now we must pay closer attention; there are two or three more verses we need to read and these verses are in reality the conceptual foundation of this pattern of history the Quran has just expounded.

Why is history the way God has described it here?

Why must the oppressors fall and the oppressed rise?

Why must the prophetic call always triumph over its opponents?

The reason is as follows:

You see, God does not do things idly. He does not do things for false reasons. He does not act without purpose.

What does this mean?

It means when God created the heavens, the earth and all they contain, He did so with a purpose in mind. He created them with the intention of them reaching a particular goal.

Truth (haqq - حَقّ) means the path which leads to the heavens, the earth and all they contain to this particular goal.

Truth is the way that takes all things towards the purpose for which God gave them existence. Any means that brings the human being closer to this goal is truth.

This is not discussed in any other verse of the Quran but, when we ponder and reflect upon this verse, this meaning is very clear.

And, indeed, it is the nature of the Quran, that usually, when something is clear and obvious to the human intellect, the Quran does not dwell on it at length.

Following this, God says:

This is the way of truth, the right path, the way of human nature, the road of cosmic nature.

This way will inevitably triumph over falsehood. In fact, truth’s victory over falsehood will be so complete that falsehood will vanish completely.

Then the wrongdoers, the oppressors, the followers of falsehood and untruth will be woeful for the lies they have told.

Now, what follows this display of the rhetorical beauty of the Quran, and it is important that we strive to become more familiar with the Quran, to appreciate this rhetorical beauty. Usually, when we read the Quran, these subtle points escape our notice.

We are not familiar with the Quran.

But, if a person does become familiar with the Quran, he becomes accustomed to the way in which the Quran speaks - for example, on the issue we are discussing in today’s session:

That truth comes, falsehood vanishes, truth triumphs and falsehood is defeated.

Then with regard to the creation of the heavens and the earth, he knows that God is the master of the heavens and the earth and he rules over all quarters of the cosmos.

Therefore, he grasps that God must promulgate a law, that God must proclaim a law. He must govern. He must direct.

Hence, anyone who claims authority and power against the prophets is following falsehood and is doomed to perish.

And now let us pray together:

O Lord, By Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, make us true followers of Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad!

Oh Lord, By Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, do not separate us from Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, whether in the life of this world, or that of the next, and grant us their kindness, their love, their support, their assistance and their grace!

Oh Lord! Make us followers of the Quran, and those who act upon the Quran.

Conclusion

This concludes the second of our two part discussion on the outcome of prophethood.

We have learned that the outcome of prophethood is that the prophetic mission will always be successful, even if it might appear to have been defeated.

We have learned that there are keys to the success of the prophetic mission, and that is that the followers of the prophets, or those moving the prophetic mission forward following the prophets, must have strong belief and act with great patience and perseverance, even when things seem impossible, and as is said, in the darkest of the night.

The promise of God is that He will ensure the victory of the prophetic mission; but the proviso is that the believers strengthen their belief, strengthen their faith and act with great patience and perseverance.

In our times, we can see that throughout the world; there are those who seek to blot out the truth, and prevent people from finding it and following it. Such criminal entities attempt to sanction and oppress those who speak about the truth, yet we see that these criminal entities, while perceived to be hugely powerful and strong; pale into insignificance against the children of Palestine, the heroes of Gaza, the resistant people of Lebanon, the loyal people of Yemen, the brave and resilient people of the Islamic Republic of Iran and every free thinking person on the face of this earth.

The tyrants and oppressors; those who have inherited the mantel of Pharaoh, be they child killing realtors, or arrogant beduins who consider themselves kings, or those who consider they are from the chosen of God and all those in between, and all those who refuse to stand up to such tyrants, such know deep down that they are destined to failure.

While the honourable children of Palestine, even those who have nothing more than their voices, and perhaps a camera to document the crimes; they know they are from the victors, regardless of whether they are martyred or not.

Because the promise of God is true:

وَلَقَدْ كَتَبْنَا فِي الزَّبُورِ مِن بَعْدِ الذِّكْرِ أَنَّ الْأَرْضَ يَرِثُهَا عِبَادِيَ الصَّالِحُو

Certainly We wrote in the Psalms, after the Torah: ‘Indeed My righteous servants shall inherit the earth.’

- Quran, Surah al-Anbiyaa (the Chapter of the Prophets) #21, Verse 105

And if we remember what Moses told his people when Pharaoh’s schemes reached their zenith, when the night was at its darkest so to speak:

قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ اسْتَعِينُوا بِاللَّهِ وَاصْبِرُوا ۖ إِنَّ الْأَرْضَ لِلَّهِ يُورِثُهَا مَن يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ۖ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

Moses said to his people, ‘Turn to God for help and be patient. The earth indeed belongs to God, and He gives its inheritance to whomever He wishes of His servants, and the outcome will be in favour of the Godwary.’

- Quran, Surah al-A’raaf (the Chapter of the Heights) #7, Verse 128

And these are verses that we have discussed during our journey on the subject of prophethood.

The next session, will be the final session on prophethood, and in that we will be discussing what the responsibility of someone is, who believes in prophethood.

This is by far the most important session of the entire series (though all the sessions have great importance, and should be studied by those who seek to move closer towards perfection, and to build themselves and become human beings rather than savage animals that look like humans).

We pray that He grant us the wisdom, fortitude, belief and strength to be able to follow the path of the noble prophets, and to work tirelessly to establish - if only within ourselves, our families and loved ones - a true tawheed-oriented society and mindset, so that with His grace, we can be amongst the successful.

May He grant us the strength to follow in the footsteps of the honourable ones, from Adam, to Prophet Muhammad, from the Commander of the Faithful, to the Master of the Age, and all who came in between, and may He never separate us from Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad, in this world or the next.

And from Him alone is all ability and He has authority over all things.

To those seeking Him, that who you seek, indeed seeks you!

To the Hidden Treasure that wanted to be known, who created the Best of His creation, and blessed humanity with His light!

To those who have entered into His presence, who have become annihilated into Him, who have fallen in love with the most profound of Love!

To the One who if He turns from us, our existence ceases instantly, we beg you, our Lord, our Master, never turn from us, but rather, let us gaze into your beautiful Face, and honour us with working for your cause!