So, in general terms, we have fathomed the program of paganism. It consists of removing the human Haikel and dissolving man in cosmic streams. And we said that schizophrenia and pagan practices are very similar phenomena.
But here, a question may arise. How do the Prophets differ from the same shamans? And what is the guarantee that the Prophets themselves did not suffer from the same illness as to have some strange visions? You know that many anti-Islamic resources contain slander that allegedly the Prophet Muhammad (S) had schizophrenia. After all, he heard voices, saw visions, and then told people about it… I apologize to the Seal of the Prophets Muhammad (S), but we must answer them if such accusations exist.
As the Quran says, such things were attributed to the Messenger of Allah (S) by the Meccan polytheists since they did not have arguments to fight his message. Therefore, they said he was a madman, a sorcerer, a soothsayer, etc. “And they say, ʻHe is certainly a madmanʼˮ (68: 51).
Recently I had a conversation with a Christian. The man asked why we think the Apostle Paul was a liar. I replied that he spoke in the name of Jesus without knowing him and not being his disciple. This Christian said that Christ appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. I replied that today, thousands of crazy people claim to have seen Jesus Christ and communicated with him. Then he said, “Well, what about you? Muhammad (S) claimed that he saw Jabrail (Gabriel), and Jabrail gave him something… Then what is the difference between the visions of Paul and the visions of Muhammad (S)? Why do you believe one and not the other?”
Let’s answer these objections, and some important aspects will become clear to us in responding.
The difference is that the Prophet addresses the intellect (aql); he acts through the intellect, appeals to the spirit, the higher intellectual forces, and moral abilities. He comes with arguments and not visions. And Gabriel himself is a manifestation of the higher Intellect (now we will explain in detail in what sense).
Whereas schizophrenic occult visions that underlie pagan mythologies lead in an opposite direction: they are anti-intellectual, turned away from the human form, which is nothing more than the “form of intellect.”
We have said that one of the main symptoms of schizophrenia is emotional dullness and moral degradation. The first thing that schizophrenia strikes at is higher moral feelings. A person ceases to experience love or compassion, and “good” and “bad” are losing all meaning for him.
For all the peculiar grandeur of the myths drawn by schizophrenics, there is not an ounce of “humanity” in them. In the pagan continuum, morality or ethics is a very, very conditional thing. Just like in schizophrenia. Nietzsche, who was both a schizophrenic and an agent of the pagan worldview – let’s say, of the “pagan attitude” – expressed this very well with his famous formula: “Beyond Good and Evil.” Since there is no Absolute Lawgiver in paganism, but only impersonal cosmic streams, there are no firm criteria of “good” and “evil” here.
So, the difference between Prophets and contemplators with their schizophrenic visions and hallucinations consists, firstly, in the fact that Prophet takes revelation from the higher Intellect (Aql) and appeals to the radiance of this Intellect in people. The Prophet comes with arguments and explanations, not with visions.
Secondly, the Prophet always addresses humanity as the perfect imprint of the Will of the Creator and calls for moral perfection and the best qualities in a man.
Here it is important to understand one thing: humanity is what the Prophets wanted from us. It is what the Prophets bring up, what the Prophets refer to because man was created on perfection. I use here the word “humanity” not in the sense of “humanism” or “kindness” (although these qualities are also included here). Humanity, which I mean here, is what is called in Arabic “insaniya,” that is, “the property of being human,” “being-human” in general, or, in other words, “human form,” which is the seal of the Divine Will, of the Allah’s Mashiyah. About it, Imam Ali (A) says: “The human form is the greatest argument of Allah over His creation. It is a book that He inscribed with His hand, a structure (haikel) that He erected with His wisdom (and hence the expression “Haikel of Tawhid,” which we use in relation to the essence of man), a collection of forms of all worlds, a quintessence of what is in the Preserved Tablet, a witness of all covered, an argument over anyone who denies, the direct path to any good and bridge stretched between Heaven and Hell.”
The essence of this human form, its center and focus, is nothing more than intellect. We have said in the previous parts that the Spirit, Ruh, which the Almighty breathed into Adam, is a ray from the higher Intellect, which is the White Light, the Writing Cane in surah “The Qalam” and the upper right pillar of the Throne.
Imam Ali (A) says in the hadith of Kumail about this Spirit or Intellect: “The light that shines from the morning of eternity, and its traces sparkle on the Haikels of Tawhid.”
As you can see, here Imam Ali (A) speaks about the Haikel of Tawhid, which is the human form. And the “morning of eternity,” from where this Spirit or Intellect shines, is the Mashiyya of Allah, the Will of the Creator, from which the beginning of all things proceeds and which is manifested through the Light of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad (S), just as fire is manifested through a red-hot iron, which takes all qualities of fire in itself.
Therefore, according to the well-known hadith: “He who knows himself (his nafs, his soul) knows his Lord.” If you cleansed the mirror of your soul from all dust and dirt, then it will become a pure sparkling surface reflecting the description of the Creator, which He created and made it light, as it is said in the surah “Nur”: “The example of His light is like a niche….” And as someone who knows a description knows a described one – so “he who knows himself knows his Lord.” If you know the reflection of the lamp in the mirror, then you know the lamp itself, although you may not really see it – despite the fact that its image in the mirror is not itself, and if you touch it, you will not be burned. Or, just as you see the reflection of a star in the water and understand that it is a star, although, in its essence, this reflection has nothing to do with the essence of the star.
And the Almighty says about this: “We will show them Our signs in the world and in themselves (in their souls) so that they know that this is the truth” (41: 53).
So, the rays of the Intellect fall on us. The Intellect is the complete perfection of all creation and the first manifestation of the Mashiyya of Allah in the world of Khalq. This Intellect or Spirit never changes; it is attributed to Allah, it cannot be corrupted whatsoever. But it is reflected from the mirrors of our souls in different ways – just as the light of the Sun can be reflected in different ways from an ordinary mirror in our world. If the mirror is crooked or blurry, if it is covered with dirt or moisture, then the light will not be reflected from it at all. The light will illuminate it, but it will not be reflected in it or reflected in a muddy, dirty form. Or it will completely become darkness, i.e., the opposite of itself. The Sun’s rays are the same, but the mirror’s darkness made them darkness instead of light.
Therefore, our task is to bring the mirror of our nafs, our soul, to the uprightness, to the shine, to such polishing, so that it perfectly reflects this Spirit and trace of the Will of Allah.
And this is what all the Prophets call to. For this, they were coming with revelation and giving us laws that allow us to bring our form to perfection. And these laws apply not only to the spiritual but also to the animal and plant levels of humans. We have said that man also includes vegetative and animal nature but completes them with what plants and animals lack: the thinking (speaking) soul and spirit. So, Sharia laws regulate all these levels. For example, the laws of nutrition apply to the plant level. Laws that regulate sexual matters, such as the prohibition to look at “namahram” (someone of the opposite sex that you are not allowed to be in tight connection with) or the prohibition of adultery – this concerns the animal level. It makes a person a perfect animal in a sense.
And finally, the highest spiritual level is shaped by correct beliefs. Otherwise, all deeds would be meaningless. Imagine that for years a person bends over and bows to the ground but at the same time does not understand that he is performing “salat” (Islamic prayer) and does not know why he is doing it. Will his prayer be different from the monkey’s movements when imitating prayer? No.
And if a person performs this at all levels, then he becomes a perfect mirror reflecting the form of humanity, i.e., a perfect embodiment of the human form, which is the form of the best qualities: beauty, dignity, strength, blessing, bravery, honor, humility, patience, knowledge, and goodness. And if he deviates from this in any way, he will take on an animal, vegetable, or satanic form. And the satanic form is the opposite of the human because it is the form of the worst qualities: darkness, ugliness, dishonor, evil, rebelliousness, doubt, lie, cowardice, avarice, cruelty, disbelief, and ignorance.
That is, in this world, we build a mirror of our deeds, which will determine our form in the next world. We have already spoken about this in relation to the world of Zarr. The same applies to our world. If by our actions in this world we have built a crooked, split mirror, then in the next world, we will be reflected in it as an ugly, terrible form. All of us will be resurrected in the mirrors of our deeds, just like we have come into this world in the mirror of our answer to the question, “Is Muhammad not your Prophet? And is Ali not your Imam?”
Therefore, none of those who entered Hell will retain their human form, and the Quran and hadiths clearly speak about this. The human form originally belongs to Paradise.
And this is all philosophy and wisdom, as stated in a hadith from Imam Ali (A). A Jew was at the Imam (A) meeting, where he said to Him, “O son of Abu Talib! If you knew philosophy, you would have something useful!” He said: “What do you mean by philosophy? Isn’t it that, the one who has aligned his nature, purified the composition of his qualities (that is, has aligned his mirror, as we said)? And one who has purified the composition of his qualities – didn’t he strengthen the influence of his soul on them? And one who has strengthened the influence of his soul – hasn’t he ascended to that which develops him? And who has ascended to that which develops him, does not act according to the moral qualities of the soul? And whoever acts according to the moral qualities of the soul, hasn’t he stood on what he is a man in, and not on what he is an animal? He entered the gates of his form, and there is no one for him to lead him astray.” The Jew said: “You have expressed all the philosophy in these words!”
And Imam Ali (A) says in another hadith: “Man is created with a speaking soul, and if he purifies it through knowledge and good deeds, it will become similar to its initial form,” that is, where the intellect and spirit come from. “And if he aligns its composition and moves away from its opposite qualities, then through it, he will become an accomplice of the seven strongholds.” Seven strongholds – that is, seven heavens, as it is said in the sura “Naba,” “And We created upon them seven strongholds” (78: 12). So Imam (A) says here that the entire creation is reflected in the human form purified through knowledge and deeds.
Now we need to move on to the following question… We said above that Jabrail is an expression of the Intellect. Let’s explain this in more detail. The fact is that the Quran is nothing more than the face of the highest Universal Intellect (Aql), which is the Writing Cane, the “lamp” in surah “The Light,” the upper right pillar of the Throne, and the first Spirit or Intellect of Muhammad (S) and the Household of Muhammad (S), a ray from which Allah breathed into Adam. As the Quran says in surah “The Clot” (and these are the first verses that were sent down to Prophet in a cave on Mount Hira), “Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous, Who taught by the Writing Cane,” that is, He gave the knowledge of the Quran through this Writing Cane, which is the highest Intellect. And we can say that the Quran is the Intellect, and the Intellect is the Quran. The Quran is nothing more than the manifestation of this supreme Intellect (Aql) for creatures through the words.
And another argument that the Quran is a manifestation of the Universal Intellect (Aql) is in the words of Allah: “And thus We have sent to you a Spirit of Our Command” (42: 52). The Spirit here is the first Intellect or the Holy Spirit. Allah inspired it to the Prophet (S) in the form of the Quran through Jabrail. He was taking the meanings of the Quran from the Intellect of Muhammad (S) and transmitting them to the appearance of Muhammad (S).
Therefore, there is a correspondence between the reality of man and the reality of the Quran. After all, the reality of man is also the spirit or intellect, which is a ray dropped into him from the universal Spirit or Intellect. And we can say that the intellect is the inner man, and the soul and body are the outer man. That is why Imam Sadiq (A) says, “Intellect (aql) is that by which Allah is worshipped, and Paradise is earned.”
The Quran is a scroll from this Universal Spirit or Intellect in the garment of words. That is why at the beginning of surah “The Merciful,” it is said: “The Merciful. Taught the Quran, created man, taught him speech.” So here, the appearance of the Quran is connected with the creation of man, and “taught” means “made the Quran a knowledge.” And then He created man, breathing into him from the same Spirit, which is the essence of the Quran, and established it as an argument over him.
Therefore, a Prophet appeals only to Intellect and nothing else. A Prophet does not say, “Let’s have a collective mystery now and go into a trance, and I will show you some things in this state.” He does not say, “Follow what you do not understand,” and does not say, “Leave your human image and turn into something else, become superhuman, become gods, dissolve in cosmos….” But he says, “This is the truth to which I am calling, and here are the reasons and arguments.” The program of the Prophets is to awaken the mind or intellect of humankind – the intellect that is the seal of the Creator and the trace of His Will in the human Haikel.
We are talking about the Last Prophet (S) and all the 124 thousand Prophets because the revelation of each of them is a cast from the Quran, and the Quran is a cast from the higher Intellect, and the higher Intellect is a cast from the Will of Allah, His Mashiya, which is one with Muhammad’s Light, from where everything was, is and will be.
In surah “The Fig,” Allah says, “We have created man in the best form” (95: 4) – meaning, have created him as the Haikel of tawhid, which is an expression of the perfect qualities – “then We returned him to the lowest of the low,” – that is, to the worst form, the form of the enemies of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad (S). Therefore, all the rest of the people are located between these two borders – the highest Haikel of Tawhid, which is the Haikel of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad (S), and the lower inverted haikel of their enemies.
Man was created fi ahsani taqwim, “in the best form,” because he is a description of the Lord, through which the Lord described Himself for him. And then he was thrown into asfala ssafilin, the “lowest of the low” because of his evil deeds, for asfala ssafilin (“lowest of the low”) is his form, to which he has deviated from the original fitra, placing a black mirror of his deeds in front of his own beautiful form.
So, Allah created man in the form of Haikel of Tawhid, and this is his original form. Then a person goes through trials in various worlds, reflecting in the form of a mirror of his deeds. There are two sides in man: one is from the Lord, and this is his matter, or the light from which he was created, or intellect – and the other is from himself, and this is the form that he takes on, passing trials from world to world.
And now, the more submissive to the Almighty one is, the more he approaches the side from his Lord, that is, his light and intellect. And vice versa, the more he follows his passions, the more nafs ammara (his evil soul, his individual form) takes over him. Thus he deviates from the fitra on which he was created and takes on a black hellish form – and so on until he completely perverts his creation, so that he begins to see the truth as a lie and the lie as a truth. As we have said, it is like if a person looks at himself in a dirty, twisted mirror and sees himself there in a terrible, disgusting, distorted form. The same happens to a person who distorts his fitra and his Haikel by his deeds, which are the form of a mirror, where he will see himself in the next world.
And this is the “distortion of the creation of Allah” and “cutting off the ears of the cattle,” which the Quran talks about, citing the words of Iblis: “I will command them so they will cut off the ears of cattle, and I will order them so they will distort the creation of Allah” (4: 119).
And therefore, all people without any exception know the truth, for they were created on the truth, on the original fitra of tawhid, as we have said. This inner primordial fitra (pure natural constitution) makes them understand the truth, the value of human qualities, and the infamy of satanic qualities. However, by their acquired form, through which they deviated from the matter and light of their creation (from the original fitra), they reject these qualities and do the opposite of them.
Therefore, you will not find a single person who would say openly, “Yes, I steal, yes, I kill….” Instead, they all clothe and wrap their crimes with some beautiful shell, that is, actually human qualities. Therefore, each of the tyrants in history justified his crimes with some kind of good. None of them said, “I kill because I want to kill.” But each of them said, “I kill because the good of the motherland or the happiness of mankind requires it….”
Such is the position of all unbelievers, atheists, deniers of the truth, tyrants and villains: they all know the truth by their inner fitra (natural constitution), upon which they were created, and at the exact moment deny it with their form, which they have taken as a result of their deeds in the world of Zarr and our world.
Allah says about Adam: “I will create man from clay (or earth)” (38: 71). That is, man was created from the earth because he had to come to this earth. However, the earth itself cannot take any form. Therefore, Allah says elsewhere: “We created man from the essence of clay” (23: 12) – from the dough of clay, that is, clay mixed with water.
And the hadiths interpret these verses as follows: Allah sent angels to earth, they took this clay, and then He mixed the earth with water. And it is clear that this is not about the water we are used to. “Water” in the Quran and hadiths is a symbol of being, the matter of the worlds, or the light from which all things are created. Allah says about this: “And His Throne was on the water” (11: 7), “And We created every living thing out of water” (21: 30), “And We created man out of water” (25: 54), and so on. This is the water of the Wilaya, the water of the light of the worlds.
So, water is the side of light or intellect in a person, and earth or clay is the side of his individual form, which corresponds with nafs ammara, “the soul that enjoins evil.” Imam Ali (A) says about this: “And He threw His example into his self and manifested His deeds in it.” The “self” here is the individual form of the person. And an “example” that Almighty threw into it is this side of the light or the intellect, and who knew it – knew his Lord. So a hadith says, “O Jabir! The first thing Allah created is water, and this is the Light of your Prophet.”
And the ratio of the light principle of water and the dark principle of clay can be very different in each person. So, the task of the Prophets and Revelation is to increase the degree of manifestation of water, that is, intellect and light; to kindle this lamp so that it illuminates the clay from within and penetrates it with light.
And since in the Messenger of Allah, Fatima Zahra, and the Infallible Imams (peace be upon them!) the side of the light completely prevails over the side of the darkness, so that the latter disappears, Allah says that He created them out of water: “It is He Who created man from water” (25: 54). This point is cited by various atheists and opponents of Islam, who argue that there is a contradiction in the verses of the Quran: in one place, it is said that man was created from clay, and in another – that he was created from water.
In fact, the meaning of man (bashar) in this verse of the sura “Furqan” is only the Ahl ul-Bait, the Fourteen Infallibles, and the meaning of “water” is the first light. And more specifically, this is Imam Ali (A), because further Allah says: fa jaʻlahu nasaban wa sihra – “and made him a relative and son-in-law.” Sihr is the son-in-law, that is, husband of the daughter. Not “marriage” or something else, as it is usually mistranslated… This verse refers to Imam Ali (A), who was the relative (cousin) and the son-in-law of the Prophet (S). He and his Ahl ul-Bait were created from water, that is, from pure light. And about this water is said in verse about Imam Mahdi from the surah “Mulk”: “Say: Have you considered if your water should go down, who is it then that will bring you flowing water?” (67: 30).
Our earthly water is nothing more than a mazhar, a manifestation or a sign of that higher water. This is the profound reason why the water and only water in the Sharia is a universal purifier that cleans all filth (najis) and purifies itself. The Creator established earthly water as a symbol for that higher water, just as He established our Sun as a symbol for the Sun of the worlds, which is Muhammad’s Reality (Haqiqatu Muhammadiyya).
So, the program of the Prophets is to awaken the intellect or human form, which is the form of the highest and best qualities. This form is opposed by the lower and worse qualities, the satanic form. And on a concrete historical plane, the event inscribed by the letters of the human form was Karbala of Imam Husayn (A). Allah wished that there would be a one-of-a-kind event in the entire history from Adam to the Day of Judgment, through which humankind would be instructed on the straight path, through which the plan of Allah, the program of Allah would be fulfilled. An event that combines all beauty, perfection, best and most beautiful qualities – and on the opposite side was all wickedness, all evil, all meanness, baseness, filth, and sin. It had to be. An event that awakens streams of flowing tears and feelings coming from the depths of the soul, from the very bottom of the heart, affecting the whole person. Therefore, Ashura is a means of human salvation and guiding him toward a straight path, the axis around which the entire history revolves. And it is no coincidence that the hadith says: the Messenger of Allah (S), when he was in Miraj, saw the words on the Throne pillar: “Husayn is the light of guidance and the ship of salvation.”
Ashura is a practical expression of the program of all Prophets, from Adam to Muhammad (S), inscribed by blood on the tablet of humanity. Husayn (A) is not just the grandson of Muhammad (S) – he is Muhammad (S) himself: “Husayn is from me, and I am from Husayn.” This is the school of the Prophets, which is the school of humanity, because man himself, in his essence, is the Haikel of Tawhid, that is, a structure erected from the light of the most beautiful qualities and virtues.
And if these detractors and oppressors call it all “schizophrenia,” then what is intellect? What is normality? If they call this “schizophrenia,” then they are schizophrenics.
I recall an episode when the accursed Ibn Muljam struck Imam Ali (A) a fatal blow on the head during the morning prayer in the Kufi mosque, and they brought Imam (A) home; he pointed to Ibn Muljam and said, “I am exhorting you about him,” – that is, I command you to treat him well. And he ordered to give him a drink and feed him. They said, “But he killed you!” Imam (A) said, “Can’t you see that he is scared so that his eyes turned red and began to water?”…
And if someone says, “I do not understand how the Prophets address the intellect, I still think that your Prophets just saw hallucinations, they are no different from shamans or schizophrenics…”, then we will answer: If you don’t see the difference after these explanations, then you are either a stubborn, who insists on lying because of some of his earthly goals and interests and then there is no point in continuing the conversation with you; or you simply haven’t understood this topic – and then you have to reflect on it over and over again until you achieve a complete understanding.
The first volume of Amin Ramin’s “Man in Islam” can be purchased on Amazon at this link.
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