From the first day that man set foot on this Earth, he has always wanted to know the cause and the source of Creation, and this springs from his pure nature, which seeks the original cause and source so as to worship it.

When someone who lives far from the rush of society and the habits of his cultural environment looks about himself for the first time, he notices the earth and the sky, day and night, the sun and the moon, their rising and setting, the wind and the rain, the succession of the seasons, the bearing forth of fruit from plants and trees, the various species of animals, their movement, growth, feeding, reproduction, and their being equipped for what they require in life.

He turns to himself, and sees his hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth and the other parts of his body, each of which has its own task All of them pursue the one aim, namely to live.

He then goes on to think about the relationship between each of these things, and he realizes that there is a kind of connection and harmony between all of them, in such a way that all of them make one harmonious unit over which one order rules.

2- there is an aim in the whole of creation and every part of it, and in the midst of it in man, and it is not created for amusement.

3- The Creator of this universe is powerful and great, worthy of adoration, and so He must be given complete respect and be worshipped.

4- This Great Creator is aware and comprehends the whole of the universe and what havens in it, and within it the actions of man.

Thus man is not in need of an intermediary to worship Him, it must be a direct activity between man and God; and to worship such things as angels, stars, idols, saints and holy men as intermediaries is not good or lawful.

What was mentioned above concerned the propencity of the natue of a right-minded person whose thinking is not tainted with the false habits of his environment and from copying bad family influences; this is what we meant when we said that man's propensity was towards the worship of One God. There are different causes for an unaware person to leave his own nature and to wander in the way of unbelief, some of which shall be mentioned here.

1- Some idol worshippers have said that because God is beyond our understanding and comprehension and does not exist in any particular place that we can turn towards and worship in that direction, we worship persons who have been respected and honoured by Him, so that they may be pleased with us, become intermediaries between us and Him and bring us nearer to Hint

They have ignored the fact that although God has no direction, He encompasses everything and is Omni-present. Therefore, wherever we turn, there is God, and we can speak with Him without the need for any intermediary,

ولله المشرق و المغرب فاينما تولوافثم وجه الله ان الله راسع عليم
(سوره بقره آيه 15)

'And Allah s are the east and the west, so wherever you turn, there is the face of Allah? (II; 15)

2- Again, sometimes after the death of one of the elders of a tribe who had been respected and honoured by the members of that tribe, they made him into a statue as a memorial, and honoured this, turning towards it at the time of worshipping God. However, soon they stopped remembering God, and their honouring of the statue turned into worship of it, and then the making and worshipping of statues became widespread. Thus we read in history that the descendants of Cain made a statue in memory of their great father figure called Wadd, but gradually, in paying respect to the statue, they prostrated themselves in front of it and worshipped it.

3- Man sometimes respected other beings for the benefit they had for him, and he counted them among the manifestations of God. This respect gradually turned into worship. Worship of fire 2mnnu the ancient Persians and of the sun about the ideas and beliefs of their ancestors, they fell into polytheism and were lost.

True religion has always strived to turn people away from the misleading ways of polytheism towards the path of tawhid, the belief in One God. The Qur'an mentions and praises the endless fight of the great messengers to eradicate polytheism and to guide people to One God.

For example, about Ibrahim it says that he said to the people of his land:

"What are these statues that you worship?"

Example. One day he entered the house of the idols and struck them down with an axe. When people understood that he had done this, they became very angry, and demanded:

"Was it you who did this to our gods?"

Ibrahim gave them an answer through which they might understand the vanity of their beliefs and thinking, and told them to ask their idols themselves,the people thought much about this, and after considering his answer they answered shamefully:

"You know idols do not speak."

"Why then," said Ibrahim, 'do you worship these weak beings who have not the strength to defend themselves. Why is your thinking so distorted?"

These great guides, the Messengers, always reminded men that they could establish a relationship between themselves and God at any time and in any place without the need of an intermediary, and they reminded men that in worshipping God they must not look towards anything or anybody, for any reason, and that their worship must be only for God. If in their worship there is the least attention to anything other than God, then that worship would be for the two -God and the other - and this is unacceptable to God.

One who knows that God is one and believes that He is Aware of everything and has Power to do everything, and believes that all creatures are?

Never give allegiance to other things. The greatest power or the most abundant wealth will never enslave him and make him bow down for anything. Such a person will submit only to God and will prostrate only in front of His Glory.

The ancient Iranians believed that their autocratic and arrogant kings were manifestations of God, and they submitted to their monarchs without asking for any reason. They had no social or individual freedom. When the emissary of the Arabs met the Iranian genera] at the time of the war between the Muslim Arabs and the Iranians (16 AM.), he sat on the ground without ceremony and ignored the luxurious surroundings of Iranian life. When the general inquired after the intentions of the Muslims, the emissary replied:

"Allah has raised us up to lead people away from the narrow confines of the world towards the expanses of freedom, from the tyranny of other religious to the justice of Islam."

In the shadow of tawhid there is no alternative for the servants of God but to follow the Divine Law, which is founded on Wisdom and Justice. It is clear that following the Divine Law will cause real justice to increase, and any kind of tyranny and aggression to come to nothing.

On the other hand, idolaters, and those who do not believe iii One God can never create real justice among themselves, because every tribe or group has its own god, who is different from the others, and reliance on this god encourages it to be aggressive towards other groups or tribes. In this way real justice is of no avail, and ignorance, disunity and tyranny in word and in deed take its in conclusion, belief in One God - in the true meaning of the phrase - makes man free, pure and unified and gives him peace of mind. He will not be subjected to oppression, tyranny and discord.

Thus we can understand the real sense of the phrase:

'Say, there is no god but Allah, and you will prosper.'

Dual lists were those who believed that creation is divided, into two - good and evil According to this they believed in two sources of creation for the universe and said that the good things were made by Yazdan and the evil things by Ahriman. Their purpose in this belief was to make God free from imperfection, insufficiency and evil. However, they were unaware that in this belief they were guilty of moreover, they were mistaken in dividing creation into two compartments -. Good and evil - because, if the entire order of things is examined, it becomes clear that there is no evil in the world at all, because everything in its place is goodness. They also believed that the existence of what they called evil was distinct from the existence of what they called good, and thereby they came to the conclusion that the problem could be solved by positing two sources for the existence of the universe - a good source for the good things and a bad source for the bad things. In fact, if we are more careful, we shall understand that these two aspects cannot be separated from each other. For example, rain is good because it is useful for agriculture, but some people may think that rain is bad because it ruins houses made of mud and straw in which people live in some parts of the world.

Difficulty they raised, because the evil of rain is not divorced from its benefit. In fact there are not two existents - one good (from God), and the other bad (from another source). In fact, the solution can be found in the Qur'an and hadith and can be confirmed through the use of our intellect, and this solution comes through considering those things whose goodness cannot be perceived at a glance, such as thirst, hunger, the problems of life, mental difficulties, extreme cold and heat, poisonous animals, etc. Then we will see that in the complete order of things, all is necessary and good.

For further consideration we shall examine the following:

The human body is composed of flesh and bones, which are subject to attack. Fire alone can reduce the body to ash in a short time, and the same body has no resistance to cuts and beatings -one stroke, if powerful enough, can damage it severely.

So that man might be safe from great dangers, God has designed several agents:

1- Thirst and hunger may, from a shortsighted point of view, appear not to be a very good thing, but, in fact, they play an important role in the economy of the human body. These feelings ensure the life of thousands of millions of cells. If man were bereft of these sensations, the activity of the cells of his body would become depressed in a short time, and he would be in danger of death and, indeed, would eventually die.

2- the sensation of pain and the sensitivity of the nerves is one of the gifts of creation. In fact, the nerves of man form a very complex network of discomfort, they sound a bell of warning excites man so that he will avoid or fig danger. If it were not for the sensation 0 sick persons would not go for treatment. Nerves did not feel discomfort, or ignored skin and the flesh could be destroyed 1 and turned into ashes; or, if there were an encounter with something sharp or hard, the bones could be damaged.

Therefore, if we find hardship in sensations, we should understand that they 5 a red warning lamp, and it is for this reason that man should give attention to the continua his existence and his safety, so that he m~ the path of health and continue his life.

Scientists say that the world of nature phenomena are connected with discomforts and difficulties, because hardship and difficulties give experience to the spirit and strengthen the substance of man. It is these discomforts that educate the spirit of man, for it is in the fire of difficulties that man is tried and strengthened and his soul matured. Man's perfection must be achieved through the breaking of his complacency, so that he may find a way through from his inner experience to the outside world.

Great men are those who have met with many ups and downs in their lives and experienced many trials and tribulations. As long as sandalwood is not burnt it cannot release its fragrance.

Material, spiritual and intellectual domains.

The reason that most great men are seen to come from poor circumstances is that the poor have to fight against the difficulties of life and this causes them to strengthen their intelligence.

The history of science and civilization shows that progress in these fields is accompanied by difficulties and hardships. Such discomforts lead us to search for a solution, and then move us to find a more favorable situation. Therefore, those who are ignorant of the true reason why we experience hardships and discomforts and thereby consider them to be evil are mistaken.

The error of the ancient Iranians who considered extremes of heat and cold and poisonous animals to be evil lay in their taking their own physical environment as the criterion of good and bad for all the things of this world. The fact remains that benefit and harm cannot be the criterion for the good and the evil in things; rather, we must see what role everything plays in the total system of creation.

This same heat and cold, which, according to their shortsightedness and their erroneous assumptions, are bad, are, on the contrary, in the view of the scholar of natural sciences who looks at the world as a unit, really a benefit, and their existence is a necessity for the growth of plants, animals and men.

Those who use their own benefit and disadvantage as the criteria for good and evil in the world can be compared with the ant that might consider that man is of no use except to squash ants under his foot, or that aero planes and cars, having no use for him, were therefore totally useless and harmful.

If ants think this about man and his inventions, are they correct? Where does their error lie? Is it not because they have considered only their own situation and what is connected with them as the measure of good and evil?

Again, we may make a comparison with those who are new to tropical coasts and consider the excessive humidity, which causes them to sweat and suffer the resultant discomforts to be only a negative phenomenon preventing people from continuing their normal lives. Is this judgment correct?

We know, in fact, that water vapor rises up with a wind that comes from the seacoast and brings water to dry and hot areas remote from the sea thus brining new life to thirsty trees and the future. Only then can one be in a position to judge.

Those who were on the coast considered only their own situation and ignored the arrangement of existence as a whole. Regarding what we have said, we reach the conclusion that one must not assume from a cursory glance that things are useless, but that one must try to understand the effects of creation as a part of one complete system, not only in the present but also connected with the past and the future. Only then can one be in a position to judge.

Form previous lessons we have read and learned that:

1) Creation and its marvelous harmony is a veritable witness to the existence of an Omnipotent and Omniscient God.

2) We cannot encompass with our finite minds and wisdom the Omnipotence and Omniscience of God, because what we understand from the unique power and knowledge of God in the great and magnificent totality of His creations, each one of which is evidence for His unlimited Power and infinite Wisdom.

3) Unlike the continual need of all creation, God is the Absolutely Needless, and He stands in need of nothing.

1.Because God has boundless love, He is continually bestowing His favors on his servants.

الله الذي جعل لكم الارض قرارآ و السماء بناء و صورتكم فاحسن صوركم و رزقكم من الطيبات ذالكم الله ربكم فتبارك الله رب العالمين
(سوره غافر آيه 64)

Allah is He Who made the earth a resting-place for you and the heaven a cnopy, and He formed you, then made goodly your forms, and He provided you with goodly things; that is Allah, your Lord; blessed then is now we may ask if it is possible for God, Who bestows all these favors on his servants, to be unjust? We know that injustice stems from ignorance, weakness, arrogance or similar causes, none of which can exist in His Pure Existence. If we seek to find the cause for injustice, we may find the following reasons:

1- Fear of failure. When the director of a factory sees that his profits are threatened by the establishment of another factory, and he fears possible bankruptcy, he will do anything against his rival, unless he is a man of active conscience and strong faith.

2- Privation of rights. Sometimes, when after much struggling, someone cannot get what are his rights from an unjust person; he is led to extremes, and begins to act with all kinds of injurious acts to bring down that person.

The becomes a pretext for violence and crime in some people. When they find themselves powerful after their position of subjugation, they do what they want, and derive pleasure from killing and burning weak and helpless people. The groans of these people are like music to their ears, but a cause of sadness for ignorance.

Laws, which are drawn up by human minds sometimes, cause much oppression and injustice, because man's knowledge is finite and limited and mixed with ignorance and misconceptions. Some of the great injustice against black people can be attributed to this cause. Some people, convinced of their own superiority, and thinking that virtue and superiority and virtuousness is knowledge and humanitarianism, and in this matter black and white are the same.

These and similar results of weakness and ignorance are impossible for God, because He has unlimited Knowledge and Power and is in need of nothing whose loss could cause Him to be afraid. So He is incapable of any injustice.

This is a very clear and obvious matter. Those who doubt this have not considered what we have explained, or else they do not understand what justice is.

Justice is that everybody's rights should be respected that no distinction should be made students and allow some of them to proceed to the next class while depriving others of this right while their marks are the same, because creating such a distinction among students who have the same right of entry into the higher class constitutes an injustice.

But in a situation where the question of rights Joes not arise, and only for the goodness of the act Es something given to someone, discrimination between individuals cannot be counted as injustice. For instance, if someone wishes to invite some deprived persons to, a meal, and chooses only some if these unfortunates, or makes a distinction between them in inviting them, his action does not; constitute injustice, because here there are no 'lights which are being violated. What is given to?

Necessary when all have the same right, but where no rights exist, there can be no discussion of equality and justice, and discrimination between two individuals cannot be called injustice.

Thus, those who find difficulty in understanding the creation of things, and ask why God has not created all people equal and without distinction, and why He does not behave towards everyone with equal measure, and imagine that God's Justice has been proved to non-existent and completely imaginary have not understood the real meaning of Justice. For the beings of the world have no right to claim of God that His distinguishing constitutes injustice. If God does not create anyone at all, or if He distinguishes between beings, nobody's rights reason for these distinctions among created things is. Are they unnecessary in the order of things? These questions will be answered in the following lessons.

Certainly you will have heard of the spacecraft "Apollo," a perfect example of the marvelous progress man has made in science and technology. It took man above the clouds, beyond the atmosphere, and allowed him to set his feet on the surface of the moon, thus opening the door to a world hitherto unknown to him.

Looking at the design of this space-craft, we see a huge mass of nuts and bolts, large and small, and various delicate and complex instruments; the command module, the main craft, the lunar landing module, landing and take-off equipment, fuel tanks, telecommunication and navigational apparatus, power sources, safety devices and sufficient stores of food, water and other necessities. Each of these parts has its own role. Obviously, if it were not for these various parts, Apollo would never have come into existence, and it would not have been able to overcome the difficulties facing man on his way to the moon.

This example shows us that in a whole whose parts are connected with each other and in harmony, variety cannot be avoided.

Now let us look at the world of existence, to discover that diversity here is neither pointless nor without reason. Without doubt, the beauty and complexity of this world is due to the variety of its parts, and we cannot call this diversity meaningless or unjust.

In the last lesson we showed that injustice exists where all have the same right to use something equally, but distinction is made between some and others. However, the parts of the world had no existence before they were created, and so they had no pre-existent rights, which would enable us to say that the existence of distinctions between them constitutes an injustice. In fact, the world of creation owes its existence to variety, and if there had not been any variety there would not have been any universe, there would have been just one big uniformity. It was this variety that brought into existence atoms, solar systems, galaxies, trees, plants and animals.

Turning now towards verity in human life, we see that diversity in man is not an exception to this general principle 0 variety. If we look at diversity in human ability, intelligence and memory and ask why they are not the same in all humans, we must ask before this why plants and minerals do not have these superior faculties. Then we can see that neither of these questions can be properly discussed, because such questions can only arise when rights are being trampled on. In this case, neither of these two conditions existed prior to creation that a distinction between them should be seen as an injustice.

Another point to notice is that God demands from everyone according to his ability and responsibility, and no one is asked to do more than his bodily and mental powers enable him. This is justice itself.

For example, if a headmaster gives the examination of the most advanced class to one of the lower classes this is an injustice. However, if he gives the easy questions to the lower class and the difficult questions to the advanced class, then no one can complain that there had been an injustice. Instead, he would be regarded as just by any meaning of the word.

Therefore, if all existent things are regarded from the same point of view, and their responsibilities were all the same, to make a distinction as regards their creation would be an injustice. But we know that responsibilities are proportional to the individual's capabilities, and thus there is no injustice. For example, if a small screw in a machine has to do the same work as the largest cog, there would be injustice; but if each part must work according to its design and possibilities, then there is no injustice.

Moreover, we believe that God is Wise and that He does nothing for no reason or for no good purpose, and we believe that the world has a special design so that no speck can come into existence without reckoning or design, as we explained in detail previously when we showed how nothing is without its place and its use. If, in some cases, something appears useless or without a function, it is in fact because of the limited nature of our minds. Not knowing something does not mean it does not exist.

We can conclude from this that all the variations in things have some good purpose, and that they are all perfectly useful and necessary in the system of the universe, although we may not be able to understand this by our restricted thinking.

It may be objected that all individuals may have the same characteristics, talents and abilities, but that because of the needs of society they are forced to divide their lab our among themselves. The answer to this is that if this were the case, those who seek an easy life would choose the easier occupations, and the difficult and laborious one to do them; for no one would be ready to do them, since they all think the same way.

The spirit of man must pass through various states in order to obtain moral perfection. Gradually, calmly and without haste, through facing difficulties and comforts, tasting the bitter and the sweet, his spirit becomes more perfect.

It is these ups and downs that teach man to acquire patience; sometimes he is the king of the castle, and sometimes he is thrown into the dungeons. Happy is the one who uses whatever situation he finds himself in to perfect his soul. If he is well-off, he can follow the way of perfection by helping the poor and the orphans, thus acquiring a great, humanitarian spirit, although he could be using his riches for easy living and luxury without putting them to any spiritual use similarly, if he is poor, instead of encroaching upon other people's property and right, he can be contented with his lot, be patient and cultivate self-respect, thus rolling away the stone of life's difficulties with the hand of activity and patience. Thus all the vicissitudes of life are ways to perfection, and we must follow this way, whether the passage is narrow or wide.

Our meaning is not that we should will upon ourselves difficulties and sufferings. It is clear that this would be a big fault because we would not be using the natural abilities that God had bestowed upon us. What we mean is that, if we try our best, hutting do not reach our objective, or fall from prosperity to hardship, we should not consider ourselves to be unfortunate. Rather, we should regard the vicissitudes, ease and difficulty, as new fields for the building of our souls and the use of our minds in resistance and struggle against these difficulties. In this way we can derive the greatest benefits for our spiritual strength. One who acts?

Thus does not find in life anything against the principles of justice and purpose, and everywhere he turns he finds victory and prosperity. In this respect, the Qur'an says:

و رفع بعضكم فوق بعض درجات ليبلوكم في ما اتاكم
(سوره انعام آيه 165)

And He has raised some of you in rank above others, that Hemay tries you in what he has given you. (VL 165)

The meaning of "that he may try you" here is that we should use to our benefit the present moment, and so, whatever situation happens to man, it is for his spiritual development, and this is the Grace and Justice of God.

This is the philosophy of differences and vicissitudes, which can never be in contradiction to Justice. II we fail to understand some of the world's events we should not corcider them to be unjust and wrong, because the system of creation is built firmly by the powerful hand of the One with whom there can be no injustice, and all that He demands from us is through His Love.

This is a fact that we have clearly observed many times in the things, which have happened to us and to others. Sometimes we consider something to be bad, but after a while we realize that not only was it without harm, but that it was also positively beneficial. The Qur'an says:

و عسي ان تركهوا شيئآ و هو خير لكم ان تحبوا شيئآ و هو شر لكم و الله يعلم و انتم لاتلمون
(سوره بقره آيه 216)

Yet it may happen that you will hate a thing which is better for you; and it may happen that you will love a thing which is worse for you; Allah knows, and you know not. (II, 216)