Editors Note

These five lectures revolve around God, as the ultimate Goal of Life. The first lecture is introductory in content and the last one serves the purpose of summary and conclusion. The Introduction by thc first publisher has been retained to emphasize the usefulness of these lectures. It poses a crucial question: "Are all the pains and sufferings, which have made life so bitter for mankind today, not due to the lack of human recognition of the goal of life?"

Lecture one deals with the above question in the context of the prophetic missions. It points out, Creation has a goal which is one of achieving perfection - on the part of the created, as envisaged by the Creator. Prophetic missions are acknowledged as enhancing this process. In the light of the divine revelations, individuals are called upon to realize their potential-and achieve the goal of their respective life, which, in its perfectibility before eventual return to the Creator, is identical with that of all creations.

Lecture two points out that a school of philosophical thought needs spiritual ideals, too, so that both individuals and their societies have objectives to strive for. It emphasizes their inborn spiritual or conscientious responsibility to the Creator. ("If there were no God, everything would be permissible."). Its accomplishment is visualized on the basis of mutuality of human concern as part of the oneness of mankind.

Lecture three explains that faith is crucial to any school of thought or social ideology, in that it promotes love, affection and similar other virtues among people. In this context, it elaborates on the implications of monotheism in Islam, specially in lending a universal perspective that extends beyond dialectical materialism and humanism.

Lecture four examines Islamic Faith as a motive force for attaining human perfection. Having faith because it carries with it some beneficial effects is not considered a blessing in itself, since it requires to be constantly perfected. In fact, deriving benefits is not, or ought not to be, the aim. In the words of Ibn Sina it is like " working for a wage so that, without that wage, there would be no willingness to work". The relevant Islamic logic concerning prayers is well summed up by Hadrat Ali (a) when he said: "O' God. I do not worship you for fear of your Fire, nor for cupidity in desiring heaven; I worship you because you are worthy of it".

Lecture five evaluates various schools of thought concerning human perfection, including the views of Socrates, Plato, Gnostics and intellect- oriented divine philosophers. It concludes that God is not comparable to a father or anyone or anything else of the paternal kind. He is what He is and other things, too, are attributable to Him. As Sa'di's Boostan puts it: "The way of intellect is a maze; but, for the wise, there is nothing but God ." Knowledge, wisdom, sense of justice, truth, beauty, liberty and loving others are all inculcated and enhanced for His sake even as His blessings. These deserve grateful acknowledgment not merely in formal worship, but through constant awareness and rectitude of action and behavior.

Translator's Preface

The martyred scholar, Murtadha Mutahhari was born in 1918 in the village of Fariman of Mashad in Khorassan. He studied for 16 years at the Divinity College of Qum in the branches of literature, philosophy, jurisprudence and some other Islamic subjects, Then, for several years, he acted as professor of theology and philosophy in the same college and at Tehran University. Then he turned his attention to research which resulted in the publication of many books on religious, philosophical and social topics. He was an erudite and versatile scholar, as is proved by his numerous lectures, pamphlets and books, a total of 35 published works, the most well-known of which are "Islamic World Vision", "Man in the Qur'an", "Islamic Revolution", "Man and Faith", "Divine Justice", "Society and History", "Revelation and Prophethood". He was assassinated in the year 1980 in Tehran.

This book contains the five following lectures :

• The Goal of Creation
• The Basis of Individual and Social Ethics
• Faith, schools of Thought and World Vision
• Islamic Faith and Human Perfection
• Summing up Islamic Monotheism

These lectures are closely connected in this way that they offer various ideas offered by various schools and particularly Islam concerning the goal of life and human perfection.

In this book the letters (s) and (a) stand respectively after the name of Muhammad and other prophets and Imams, as abbreviation for the following two phrases: "Greetings upon him and his household" for the Prophet, and "Peace be on him" for each Imam.

I wish to express my thanks to Mr. M. Khurshid Ali, editor of the Be'that Foundation for his co- operation in reading the manuscript and making helpful suggestions.

Introduction by First Publisher

This book is a collection of five lectures delivered in 1972 on "Goal of Life", as part of a series called "World in Islamic Perspective."

In those years the matter of compiling a book entitled "Islamic World Perspective" and presenting it to the younger generation had attracted the attention of religiously enlightened people. This topic and its main outline was discussed in a small group consisting of not more than ten members.

It was Mutahhari's custom to propound an interesting topic many times in big and small sessions and subject it to criticism and analysis before it was presented to the public. Then, he would begin writing it in his charming style. His "Introduction to the Islamic World Perspective" was eventually written in the summer of 1978 in an abridged form under seven sections and gradually published in a series. (This collection is taken from a tape which is unfortunately not available.)

What encourages us to publish these lectures are the refined and original ideas of Mutahhari, which have their source in Islam. Secondly, we had in mind the recommendation of the Present Imam to enable the young generation to benefit more from the works of this martyred scholar which provide guidance to the Islamic society of modern Iran. We have, therefore, considered it our duty to offer the original text without any alteration, except a few phrases, to those readers interested in the works of Murtadha Mutahhari, We hope that they will find it acceptable.

In these lectures, our scholar discusses the "Goal of Life" from the viewpoints of the Qur'an and various human schools of thought, and opens up the intellectual horizon in every direction to allow the human mind to assimilate freely. For if the goal of life is to be defined as the Qur'an requires it and to be heeded, it will be to gain a warmth and enlightened way of life, which will produce men and communities different from those of today, and this is what mankind is longing for.

Are all the pains and sufferings, which have made life so bitter for mankind today, not due to the lack of human recognition of the goal of life?

Life is not bitter and unpleasant in itself. It is deviation from the right path that imposes all these pains and sufferings on mankind.

Today the young generation of our society is more than ever in need of an important discourse on life, such as presented here to avail its sublime spiritual revolution, to illuminate the dark paths of modernistic materialism through a precise knowledge of the goal of life.