The subject of our discussion is spiritual freedom. The points that I
wish to submit to this gathering tonight are as follows: Firstly the nature of freedom;
secondly, how many kinds of freedom there are though I confine myself to two types here,
namely, spiritual freedom and social freedom and thirdly, the relationship between these
two types of freedom and the extent to which spiritual freedom is possible without social
freedom and vice versa. The discussion will mainly be centred round the last point,
namely, the connection between the two types of freedom.
I begin my discourse with a point which is relevant to this occasion,
the birthday anniversary of Hazrat Ail, the Master (mawla) of the virtuous, peace be upon
him. One of the words we often use in connection with his personality is the word master
and master of the virtuous and master of the masters. When we quote his sayings we add one
of the above epithets instead of his name.
This epithet was first used by the Holy Prophet about him in his famous
remark, "Ali is a master for him who accepts me as his master (when) he lifted him up
to present him to his followers), an uttering unanimously affirmed by both the Shiites and
the Sunnis. 'The word has also appeared in the Holy Qur'an, "If you both turn to God
then indeed your hearts are already inclined (to this); and if you haul up each other
against him, then surly God is his Master and Gabriel and the believers that do good, and
the angels after that are the aides.'' (66:4)
What does the word master mean? I do not wish to go into great lengths
about it tonight but to be brief. The original meaning of it is 'proximity' of two things
which are close to one another. Therefore it is sometimes used with two opposite meanings.
For example, God is said to be the Master of His servants. It is also used to mean a
master or even a slave. Another meaning of it is both liberator and liberated.
In which sense, then, did the Prophet use the word 'mawla' in his
utterance meaning, "As I am a master and friend to a person, then Ali is his master
and friend". I have no intention of saying which meaning was, in my opinion,
expressed here. But in connection with my discourse I may mention that the poet Jalal
ul-din Rumi has tastefully used the word in his Mathnavi and taken it to mean liberator.
The word occurs in chapter six of his work in a well-known story of the woman and the
treacherous judge. In this story the judge wants to hide in a chest. He is hidden there
and the chest is given to a porter to carry, The judge begs the porter with the promise of
a fine reward to go and find the judge's assistant to come and buy the chest. The
assistant comes and buys the chest. Here the poet makes a digression to say, "All of
us are confined in the chest of the lustful body without being aware of it and we need
liberating prophets and apostles to deliver and save us." Then he goes on to say,
"it was for this reason that the assiduous Prophet Applied the word Master to himself
and Ali Saying whoever has me as his master and friend Must have Ali, my cousin as his
master too. Who is a master? He is one who liberates you. "And removes the fetters
from your legs"
This is really true whether the Prophet remark "Whoever has me as
his master has Ali as his master," would have the same meaning or not, that is,
whether he used the word master to mean that he and Ali were liberators or not. The fact
remains that every rightful Prophet is sent to liberate people and every rightful Imam
possesses the same
Now let us see what is the meaning of freedom and liberty. Freedom is a
requisite of life and evolution and one of the greatest needs of living creatures, whether
they are plants, animals or human beings. The difference in the freedom lies in their
differences of structure. The human being needs a freedom beyond that of plants and
animals. Every living thing must grow and find perfection It cannot remain stationary.
Solids do not grow so they have no need of freedom But living creatures need three things
for their growth and evolution: nurturing security and freedom
Nurturing consists of a number of factors required by living creatures
for their- growth for example a plant needs soil and water as well as light and heat in
order to grow. An animal needs food and other things. A human being's needs are the same
as those of plants and animals plus a series of other needs which would come under the
heading of nurturing all of which are like food for it. How can one live without food? The
faculty of nourish without is a necessary asset to a living being.
The next requisite of a living being is security. What does security
mean? It means being able an keep the means and equipment necessary for living. It should
not be with held from them by an enemy or a foreign power. Next to this nurturing it needs
security in order to keep its life and wealth and health and belongings safe against
aggression.
The third need is freedom. What does freedom mean? It means the absence
of obstacles in the way of growth. For example, in growing a plant, in addition to other
requisites you must provide a suitable environment for it and remove all obstacles. If you
plant a tree under a roof, you are depriving it of free space above to attain its full
growth, thus every living being needs freedom for its growth and evolution. What is this
freedom? It is the absence of barriers. Free persons are those who fight against all
obstacles set in their way of growth and perfection. They do not submit to obstacles.
Now we must see what types of freedom there are. The human being is a
peculiar being and his or her life is a social one, in addition to being a complex
creature in his or her individual life, Human beings are quite different from plants and
animals; they have certain other needs which may be divided into two kinds. One of them is
social freedom. What does social freedom mean? It means having freedom in connection with
other individuals in society, so that they do not hinder their growth, do not imprison
them to check their activities, do not exploit or enslave them, do not exploit all their
physical and mental powers in their own interests, This is called social freedom which may
in its turn be of several types,
One of the greatest problems of human beings throughout history has
been this same abuse of power by powerful elements in subjugating others and enslaving
them so as to enjoy the whole fruits of their lives and labour,
Do you know what exploitation means? It means picking someone else's
fruits. For each. person his or her essence is a fruitful tree and his or her labour and
thoughts are the product of that tree. This crop must be his or hers. But when others
seize these fruits by one means or another, we say a person is exploited by another or
others. Throughout history one person has been exploited by another person or a people by
another people or enslaved by them. Or at least they have been deprived of the opportunity
to give the exploited greater chance to secure maximum benefits. For example, suppose a
piece of land belongs to two men but one of them who is stronger takes possession of the
whole land and expels the other or employs him as a labourer; that will be a form of
slavery.
In the Holy Qur'an, one of the explicit purposes of the prophets has
been to offer mankind social liberty and deliver them from their mutual enslavement. The
Qur'an is a wonderful Book. Some ideas flourish in a particular period while they lose
their brilliance at other times. But the case is different with the Qur'an for its ideas
and words possess a pennant lustre and this is something of an epic and miracle. One
example of which is this idea of social liberty. I do not believe that you can find a
sentence elsewhere or at any time about this matter more lively and surging than what you
meet in the Qur'an. It has been unrivalled In all the last three centuries when the motto
of philosophers has constantly been liberty. This is the sentence, "Oh Prophet tell
all those who claim to follow a divine book of the past (to the Jews, Christians and
Zoroastrians or perhaps even the Sabeans whose name occurs in the Qur'an and to all people
who follow a previous divine hook) to come and assemble around one tenet and under one
banner. "21(3:64)
What is this banner? The banner consists of two sentences: The first
one is that 'nothing must be worshipped but the unique God, neither Christ nor any other
nor the devil should be worshipped. Only God'. The second one is that 'none of us must
consider another as his slave or master. This means the abolition of the order of
servitude, the system of exploitation of the exploiter and exploited, getting rid of
inequality and doing away with the right of enslavement. This is not the only ver-se 3hout
this matter in the Holy Qur'an. There are many of them but I will mention a few of them.
The Pharaoh had said to Moses, "You are the man who grew up in our
house and at our table and when you grew up you committed the crime of killing a
man"(All this was meant to make 2loscs feel lowly and under obligation.) nut Moses
answered "Should I remain silent at your enslavement of my people solely because I
have grown up in your house? I have come to save these slaves."
The late Ayatullah Na'ini says in his hook Tanzoh ulummah
"Everyone knows that the tribe of Moses never worshipped the Pharaoh :is the
Egyptians did but as the Pharaoh used them :Is his slaves, the Qur'an employs the word
enslavement littered by Mores." We definitely know that one of, the aims (,f the
Prophets is to establish social freedom anti fight against every form of enslavement and
social deprivation.
The world of today, too, considers social freedom as being sacred and
if you read the universal declaration of human rights, you will see that the major cause
of all wars, bloodshed and misfortunes in the world is that individuals do not respect the
freedom of others. Is the logic of a Prophets so far in accord with modern logic? Is
liberty sacred? Yes, it is sacred and very much so.
The Prophet always feared the Umayids and was worried about their
future in connection with the Islamic ummah. So he (according to a successive narration)
said, "If the offspring of Ibn Aas reach thirty in number they will consider God's
property as their own and God's servant as their own servants and will introduce their own
innovations in God's religion."
It is true then that social liberty is sacred. Another kind of liberty
is spiritual freedom The difference between the Prophets' school and other human schools
is that the prophets have come to offer spiritual freedom to mankind as well as social
freedom, the former having a greater value than anything else. Both social liberty and
spiritual freedom are sacred and the former liberty is not possible without the latter.
The trouble with modern human society is that it tries to safeguard social liberty without
seeking spiritual freedom. In fact it has not the ability to do so, since spiritual
freedom is obtainable only through Prophethood and Prophets, and through faith and divine
books.
Now let us see what spiritual freedom is. The human being is a complex
being with various powers and instincts, with strength, appetites, anger, greed, ambition
and love of excess. On the other hand, ,it has been granted reason, mental and ,moral
conscience. Internally and spiritually the human being may feel the self free or enslaved.
It may be a slave of its greed, lust, anger and love of excess or it may be free of all
these vices. As the poet says, "I tell the truth and feel thereby happy "I am a
slave to love and free in both worlds."
A person may be so human that that person is socially free and rejects
abjectness and servitude and preserves social liberty so ethically; that person also keeps
his or her conscience, spirit and intelligence free. This kind of freedom is called
'self-purification' or 'virtue' in religion.
Can human beings have social freedom without spiritual freedom? That
is, can they be slaves to their own lust, anger and greed and at the same time respect the
freedom of others? Today they say yes and they practically expect each person to be a
slave to his or her greed, anger and lust and at the same time to respect social liberty,
This is one of the many examples of contradictory ideas from which human society suffers.
Human beings in ancient times had no respect for freedom and trampled
upon it. Why? Was it because they were ignorant and so they deprived others of their
freedom?? Can we say that when they gained wisdom, they found it necessary to respect the
freedom of others? Is this similar to the question of illness?
Faced with sickness, they could rarely find their accidentally-found
drugs effective but now with their increase of knowledge they can afford to discard old
treatments and resort to new and efficacious ones, We wish to know whether the action of
ancient people in depriving others of their freedom was solely due to ignorance? No. It
had nothing to do with ignorance or knowledge. Human beings were fully aware of their
actions which served their interests, Was their lack of respect for the rights of others
and liberty due to the forms the law took? If so, could a change of law bring about a
change of behaviour? For example, did the abolition of slavery in America really put an
end to slavery? Or did it only change the form of slavery without changing the context?
Was this disregard of the freedom of others due to their way of thinking and their
philosophy?
It was none of these; it was nothing but self-interest, As an
individual, the human being sought only to secure maximum profit for himself and get
benefit from every possible means. Other human beings were one such means for him and he
used them in the same way that he used wood, stone, iron and domestic animals, When he
planted a tree or cut it down, the last thing that he cared about was the tree itself. He
thought only of the way that the tree benefited him, When he fattened a sheep and then
slaughtered it, what was his purpose but self-interest? When he enslaved other human
beings and deprived them of their rights, it was to benefit himself. Thus all his actions
including trampling on other people's liberty were based on self-interests. Is he the same
today? Yes. He is and he has not changed at all. On the contrary, it should be said that
his mouth is even opened wider to swallow more.
Neither science nor law has been able to check greed. The only thing
they have done is to change the Term of it. The content is the same with a new cover.
Ancient man was an outspoken being and had not yet reached the state of hypocrisy When the
Pharaoh enslaved people, he frankly declared to Moses, "What is your answer. Moses?
These are my servants and slaves. "(23:48)
The Pharaoh did not hide his deeds of exploitation and enslavement. But
today human beings deprive others of 311 their rights and freedom in the name of a free
world and under the pretext of defending peace and liberty. Why is it so'! Because human
beings lack spiritual freedom and are not virtuous and free in their souls. Hazrat Ali has
an utterance about virtue which, like his other saying, is highly worthy, even though to
some people it seems old fashioned. He says, "Divine virtue is the key to every
truth, provisions for the resurrection day, factor or release from any sort of slavery and
deliverance from any cause of perdition."
The phrase shows that virtue delivers the human being from every kind
of servitude and frees him or her spiritually to enable him or her to give freedom to
others. Who, then, is a true liberal in the world? It is men like Ali Ibn Abi Talib, peace
be upon him, who stand in the same rank as he or are trained in his school. For they are
,in the first place, liberated from the bonds of self. All, peace be upon him, says,
"Shall I content myself with being entitled 'Amir ul-muminim' (the master of the
faithful) and how can I oppress anybody for my own sake?"
Only a person who resembles Ali can truly be free and generous at all
times or is at least his follower and call his mind and spirit to account. When Ali was at
the altar of prayer, stroking his heard, he said, "Oh worldly things. Oh gold and
silver. Go away and deceive others but Ali, for he has divorced you forever."
Only a person in whose heart and conscience there is a heavenly call
can truly have a respect for people's rights and liberty without feeling the slightest
hypocrisy. When such a man who possesses such chastity and spirituality and fears God is
in a position of governor, he never feels that he is a man of power and other men are
subjugated by him Although custom makes people keep their distance from him, he persuades
them not to do so and to come close to him. When Ali started his campaign for the battle
of Siffin, he reached the town of Anbar which is now a part of Iraq but was then an old
Iranian town.
A number of the great citizens such as the mayor and aldermen had come
forth to welcome the Caliph in a fitting manner, for they imagined Ali to be a royal
successor to the Sassanid Kings. The moment he arrived on horseback, they started running
towards him. Ali called them and asked what they meant by such behaviour. They answered
that it was their way of showing respect to their kings and great men. The Imam told them
not to act thus for it meant abasing themselves before their Caliph. He said, "I am
one of you and you are treating me badly by such behaviour for you may (God forbid) fill
me with pride and cause me to consider myself superior to you."
This is what is meant by a generous person who possesses spiritual
freedom and has welcomed the call of the Qur'an, "To worship nothing other than
God". No man or stone or heaven or earth or any human attribute is worthy of worship
but God. I will read you a sermon of Ali, peace be upon him, so that you may have an idea
of his generosity and spirituality.
The sermon is rather long and is related to the mutual rights of the
governor and the governed towards one another. Ali as a ruler advises his people to feel
free with him and not to consider their governors as being superior to themselves. He
says, "Do not use for the expressions they use for tyrants by which they might abase
themselves and elevate them." wants them to speak with him as they do with ordinary
people lie says. "if by chance they find him angry and hot-tempered, they should not
lose courage, but should freely state their objections. He continues that they should not
confirm and express resentment with every word and action of his . He says that they
should not change their true words if their true words to seem to him too heavy to bear.0n
the contrary, he would be well pleased to hear truth and proper criticism. He goes on to
say that even though he is their ruler and Caliph and they are his subjects, they should
not praise and flatter him . Then lays down a general principle by saying that a man who
cannot bear hearing truth will find it even more difficult to act truly.
Christensen writes that Anushiravan, the Sassanian King, had assembled
a number of people to discuss a matter. He stated his own opinion and everyone agreed with
it. A secretary present, supposing this gathering to be a truly group discussion was duped
into asking permission to express his own view, He did so and criticised the Kings opinion
The King angrily called him insolent and at. once ordered him to be punished. They knocked
him so much on the head with his own pen box that he died.
In conclusion, Ali makes a request, He begs them never to withhold
their true words and objections and counsels from him. This is an example of a perfect man
who is spiritually free while he enjoys the rank of a ruler and in this way he grants
social liberty to others. I pray God to make us a follower of Ail. peace be upon him.
