Did God create man as part of the chain of reproduction, to be a cog in a machine, and to be counted only as an automaton? Was man created only for his own enjoyment? Was he created only to amass as much wealth as possible through any means, direct or devious, so as to satisfy his material wants? Is there no greater idea behind his creation?

A large number of people regard only man's material aspect and neglect the other side of the coin, because they have not understood the profundity of the nature of man, or because they have not correctly evaluated it. Men of great understanding have ascribed three dimensions to man:

1. Individual material life.
2. Social life.
3. The world of the spirit and insight.

Those who give importance only to the first dimension, and believe in absolute freedom for man, even though it is harmful for him, overlook the profound character of man and they have forgotten the other two important dimensions. Those who land importance to the first and second dimensions, but neglect the third, only succeed in creating an environment, which lacks spiritual and moral values.

Arnold Toynbee, the great British historian, in a long interview with the American magazine, 'Life', said that man had submitted himself to materialism, and that from that point of view we do not lack anything. However, he said, we have become bankrupt on the spiritual side of things. However, I think there is still time, he continued, to leave this incorrect view of things and return to religion.

So, a serious investigator goes further than the first two dimensions, and looks at and studies man and the aim of creation from all three dimensions. Because the reality of man is thus, and man cannot be known in himself in any other way than this. Moreover, the third dimension gives man the power to evaluate his entrances and exits on the stage of personal and social life. This is the correct way of living. Man must reach his perfection by making his way through various dimensions, and he must find this way, for he is created for this purpose.

The question now arises of whether one's conscience can lead one through these dimensions.

Let us begin to analyze this problem with a view to find an answer.

Some psychologists deny the existence of conscience. They believe that what is called conscience is really only the result of early childhood training. On the other hand, many scholars, like Rousseau, believe that there is a power hidden in the depths of man's nature, which can distinguish good from bad. Children who are not under the influence of an environment which trains them in a certain way, whose conscience has not been perverted, can understand good and bad, basically and instinctively. (See Rousseau's Emile, especially Book LV).

We can agree that a part of good and evil is according to custom; for example, dress, food and such thing, which may be good at one time, and place and bad in others. But the intelligent and reasonable who are governed by thinking cannot accept that all goods and evil are like this, because trust, fulfillment of obligation, help for the poor and the weak, work for humanity, brotherhood, equality and the such like have deep roots in the nature of man. On the other hand deception, injustice, breaking agreements, selfishness and the such like have always and in all places been condemned. One cannot, therefore, say that they came to be regarded as instinctively bad.

One must, therefore, accept the existence of conscience but with the following necessary condition: that conscience, by itself, cannot guide man completely - it needs training, It must, like minerals in the grounds, be extracted and refined. Otherwise, it may be perverted under the influence of a corrupt environment, with the result that these psychologists cannot recognize it and therefore deny its existence. This is an indication that man needs infallible prophets.

From early times up to now, man has been putting forward many ideas for the improvement of society and the individuals who it comprises. But because man is not completely aware of the secrets of spiritual and material well-being, and his ignorance is very great, he has never been able to put forward any ideas which have been able to satisfy the full requirements of human nature.

Dr. Burrows said some years ago that at Princeton he heard Einstein say that science tells us what is there, but religion tells us what should be there, and Victor Hugo said that as much as man progresses, his need for religion becomes greater.

Whatever intelligence tells us, however right it may be, and no guarantee can be made that we will follow its ideas. Many people know through their intelligence and knowledge that gambling, alcohol, stealing and crime are not good, but nevertheless they fall victims to such practices.

Today we see that the United Nations, with over 150 members from countries all over the world, is a weak body whose resolutions generally remain merely in their minutes and only on paper. This is because intelligence and knowledge are no guarantee for action.

But the Divine scheme, because it comes from an unlimited source of knowledge, can have no room for error, and because it issues forth from the immaculate hearts of the prophets (A.S), it has influence on mankind. Moreover, the reward and punishment for not carrying out His instructions causes man to implement: his scheme. Alone, intelligence and thinking is not enough; a confirmation must be found through Divine assistance. These faculties are only, fields for training through the Divine discipline of the messengers so that man may reach felicity without being diverted Imam 'Ali (AS.), in the first sermon in NahjuI-Balaghah explains the reason for the sending of messengers thus:

Then Allah sent His messengers and the series of His prophets to them (mankind) to make them fulfill the pledges of His creation, to recall to them His bounties, to exhort them by perching, to unveil before them the hidden virtues of wisdom and show them the signs of His Omnipotence.

However, supposing that man has a correct ideology, do the dictators and those who wish to enforce their own ideas allow us to distinguish the true from the false? Don't they rather try to cover the true face of ideologies? In this way people, through ignorance of correct beliefs, do not rise up against oppression and are successfully deceived. However, a law that comes from God can be made known to all through the miracles and signs of truth which God gives to His messengers, and people can understand its truthfulness and believe in it, and will then be unable to find any excuse for disobedience.

a) The personal, social and spiritual perfection of man is one of the aims of creation.

b) Conscience alone is not enough for the true perfection of man.

c) Human ideologies cannot completely satisfy all the demands f win's nature, and there is no guarantee for their implementation.

d) Prophets have been sent and their prophet hoods proved through miracles so that man distinguish the truth and no one can excuse his disobedience by saying that he could not find the truth.

Through these four points, we discover that the prophets are necessary for the perfection of man, and that they were sent to inform man of what he requires in the way of perfection, so that they may tread the path of happiness. One cannot imagine that the Wise God could leave man without instructions, laws and obligations, or that He could leave them in the hands of tyrants, so that they might become the victims of human desires and be prevented from reaching perfection.

Ibn Sina wrote in "ash-Shifa":

More necessary for the continued existence Of man and his essential perfection than even the growth of eyelashes and eyebrows and the concavity of the soles of the feet is the sending of prophets by Allah.

Thus, in arriving to the aim of creation and to spiritual and material perfection, God must have sent some people as messengers, as indeed we see that he has, so that they might guide people by the radiant torch of revelation.

A tradition is related by Hisham ibn al-Hakam that:

Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (A.S), in answering an atheist who had enquired about the need for the sending of prophets, said:

"When we have shown that there is a Creator Who fashioned us and Who is above us and all of His creation, and that this Creator is Wise and Elevated in the sense that He did not allow his creatures to see or touch Him, so that He might be together with them, and they might be together with Him, and that He might argue with them and they might argue with Him, then it becomes clear that He has emissaries in His creation so that they can speak from His Presence to His creatures and servants, and they might guide them to their advantage and benefit and to that in which is their continued existence and in the absence of which is their extinction. So it has become evident that there are some who command and prohibit on behalf of the Wise, the Knowing to His creation, and who speak from His Glorified Presence, and these are the prophets, and His chosen from among creation, wise and trained through wisdom, and raised in it.

They are apart from man in all their conditions - in spite of sharing with him in his form and fashioning - they are sustained in wisdom by the Wise, the Knowing. Then the above is evident in every epoch and era in which the messengers and prophets brought evidence and proofs so that the earth of Allah might not be deprived of a witness with whom there is a sign which refers to His Truthfulness and Righteousness." (Usul al-Kafi Kitab aI-Hujjah) of course, Divine plans are not conceived on only one level. Rather they guide us from all directions. Worship, government, justice, economy, power, individual and social duties, and also the general laws which govern individual problems. Ml of these are the aims of religions and they enable man to perfect himself in all the three dimensions of his nature.

Again Divine plans do not restrict themselves to one class of society, but encompass all levels of society and uphold the rights of all people, so those who think that religion was invented by the ruling or wealthy class, and that it was invented in feudal and capitalist societies to serve the purposes of these societies are clearly wrong, because these people have not paid proper attention to the foundations of religion.

In addition to this, history bears witness that the upper and wealthy classes did not participate in the movements led by the prophets, and Divine religions always opposed the oppression and transgressions of feudalists and capitalists.

Leaders, scholars, the simple, the poor and others, all come to religion because only by its clear objectives can they satisfy the demands of their natures and emotions, and they realize that only religion can guide them to real perfection. This is the only reason why man turns to religion.

Fortunately, today, educated people are more that real peace and perfection can only be had in the shade of religion and belief in Clod.

After man has realized that he needs the guidance of prophets in order to reach an all-embracing happiness, and that he can only construct the glorious edifice of perfection through their instructions, he naturally feels affection for those teachers who work for his benefit and sacrifice their sinless souls for his advantage. Thus belief comes to reach such a degree that people do not spare themselves any hardship in order to advance the aims of the prophets, and they prefer the demands of the prophets to the demands of their own souls.

But this deep-rooted and comprehensive influence and importance of the prophets, and the love and belief of people in them cause some ambitious persons to take advantage of them,seeking to become influential and obtain their desires by claiming prophet hood.

So, if someone claims prophet hood and people gather round him, one cannot believe in him without some investigation. For it is possible that he falsely proclaims prop method, as many people have done up to the present day, and thus collects a following. In order to find out if someone is a genuine prophet, this latter must bring some evidence with him so that people can be sure of him and accept his claim. Thus the real prophets can be distinguished from the false. This evidence that distinguishes the true prophets from the false is known as miracles, and God gave miracles to His prophets and messengers so that people could be saved from mistakes and the dangers of those who seek to deceive them, and so that the face of truth may never be hidden from people. So far we have seen that messengers must bring miracles so that people can know. That they bear a message from God, and that what they say is true, and so that they may be completely obedient to them and follow their teachings with faith and conviction.

Mircles (mu'jizah) are what the prophets did according to the Will of God in order to affirm the prophet hood they claimed, and which others are unable to copy.

A group of those who sought excuses for their lack of faith demanded various things as miracles, not through a desire to have the prophet hood confirmed, but in order to oppose the prophets they even asked for things that were logically impossible. However, because the prophets brought enough miracles they did not accede to these demands and told these people that the position of a prophet is to guide, to bring good tidings and to warn. This is why miracles are according to the Will of God and in situations where they are necessary, as is mentioned in the Qur'an with reference to such people:

قل انما الايات عندالله و انما انا نذير مبين
(سوره عنكبوت آيه 50)

Say: The signs are only with Allah, and I am only A plain warmer. (XKJX 50)

.... و ما كان لرسول ان يأتي بآية الا باذن الله...
(سوره غافر آيه 78)

It was not for any Messenger to bring a sign, save By Allah's leave. (XL, 73)

The Merciful and Wise God inspired the prophets, so that through their leadership and guidance human society might recognize the right way as opposed to the precipitous way, and might be able to stride up to the highest peaks of true pride, perfection and laudable virtues, and stay on that way.

With the same intention, the Merciful and Wise God also made His prophets and messengers immune from every kind of sin and error, and, in one word, made ~faultless" (ma'sum), so that they might be able to lead mankind towards real development in all directions, and towards obedience and submission to the commands of God without any error or mistake.

It is obvious that the very same reason which prompted the need for prophet hood and the sending of prophets also requires that the prophets be immaculate and immune from all kinds of sin, impurity, error and fault. Since the aim and purpose of sending prophets is to lead society towards guidance and in traction, this aim is to be secured through the faultlessness of the prophets and messengers, for it is clear that to do things which are repulsive or indecent, to sin, and also to be a source of error and fault is a reason for people to be averse to and diverted from these things, and thus the aim, which was the guidance and instruction of society, would be lost of course, we know that no wise person does things against his aim, and that he takes regard for what is effectual in attaining and reaching his aim.

For example, someone who wants a number of distinguished individuals to take part in a celebration in his honour and knows that no one would attend without a honourable invitation will never send an invitation by someone who is averse to them. Rather he will try to send his invitations in such a way that they will all be accepted, and, if he doesn't do this, his work will not have been prudent and wise, and it will be regarded as having been unseemly and unbecoming.

The Merciful and Wise God also takes account of what basically interferes with the guidance and education of society, and does not want people to depend on and follow the will of capricious and impure men, and so to end up far from, and be deprived of their true development. Therefore He has sent immaculate prophets so that the guidance and instruction of society might be in the best possible way.

And now we shall read in more detail why the prophets must be without fault.

In the previous lessons we have read that the purpose of sending prophets was to educate humanity, and we know that in teaching the teacher's behavior is a more effective instrument than his speaking and verbal instruction.

The habits and deeds of the teacher can bring about a radical transformation in man, because, on the basis of the principle of imitation, one of the indisputable principles of the working of the mind, man gradually adopts the manner and conduct of his teacher, and becomes of the same colour, so that it is as if he is the clear, limpid surface of a pool, which reflects the image of the sky above him.

Speech alone cannot play the part of instruction, rather it serves instruction, and this is the idea of the prophetic mission, that prophets must possess praiseworthy habits and qualities and be untainted with sin and error so that they can effectively attract the people of this world towards the sacred aim.

It is clear that one who has soiled his hands with sin, even though in secret and without anyone being aware so that he himself remains pure in the eyes of his fellow men, will never have that unwavering strength of mind to bring about a radical transformation in the area of the human spirit.

One who taints his lips with wine can never dissuade others from drinking it, and raise the voice of truth and mobilize his iron will in combating this act the intense discomfort and disquietude of the prophets, and especially the noble prophet of Islam (A.S), about the sins and indecencies of people is itself the best witness to the fact that they were disgusted with every evil and were never soiled by it.

The great secret of the progress of the prophets was theft coordination of word and deed, and it is this coordination, which enabled them to transform the fundamentals of human thought and lead societies toward perfection.

The peter the degree of faith and confidence that people have in a speaker, the more their~ agreement with him increases, and vice versa.

For this reason, the prophets, who divulged the and immorality, must, according to this assertion, be endowed with the greatest, most admirable qualities, and be free from every kind of sin and indecency, even error and mistake, so that people's confidence and faith in them may be greater and they may accept their guidance and what they say, and so that people may strive more assiduously in caning out the plans and putting into practice the reformative instructions of the prophets, and understand from the depths of their hearts their leadership. Thus the aim of the prophetic mission, that is to say the leading of the human race to development on all sides, will be accomplished; the aim of the prophetic mission will not be obtained under any other circumstances, and that would be very far from the wisdom of God.

This purity and worthiness of the prophets was so extraordinary that people became devoted to great love towards them and gave up their lives in 'allowing and obeying them, without heed for the consequences.

However, the question as to how one man can e completely free from sin and error is a matter :0 which we shall now turn our attention.

The holy prophets (A.S) were deeply devoted to the Merciful Lord and God, and why should they not have been? They, who with their seeing and hearing and profound insight knew God better than anyone, who understood His Greatness and Splendor and Majesty to be above all things, who deem Him alone worthy of love, devotion and obedience, who had nothing except His Pleasure in view, who gave their hearts to none hut Him, who did everything with devotion to Him, and who knew Whom they were worshiping.

It was for this very reason that the prophets (A.S) welcomed difficulties and formidable situations, and also paid attention to God with smiling, open faces even when they were in the most critical circumstances. And so when.

In their beloved, true way, they met with difficulties, they became overflowing with joy.

History has recorded the endeavors of these heavenly, torch-bearing men of guidance, as also the condemnable behavior of people towards them. Could steadfastness in these difficulties have had another motivation apart from love of God and the performance of His command? Surely not.

How can it be imagined that those who are completely engrossed in their beloved way, and who utter nothing except according to His wish, and in whose heart, soul, spirit and thoughts not one corner is empty of remembrance of Him, can disobey His commands? Or can give themselves up to sin? Rather, they followed the path of obedience to Him and were devoted to Him.

Someone asked the noble Prophet of Islam an extent with suffering and hardship since he was purified and had no sins. His answer was that why should he not be a grateful and thankful slave of God.⁽¹⁾

Amir al-mu'minin, 'Au (AS.) made reference to the great qualities of the Prophet of Islam when he said that God had so deeply affected Muhammad (S.A.) with the messenger ship and leadership that be was a witness for creation, the bearer of good news, and a warning, in his childhood he was better than everyone, in his maturity more preferred, and his nature was, of all the pure ones, the purest. His bounty and his generosity were more freely showed down than that of any other benefactor.⁽²⁾

"He is the leader of the pious, and the eyes of those who are led.⁽³⁾

Thus we see that the perfect knowledge of the prophets and the deep and true love which they had for God resulted in faultlessness and absolute purity, so that, in addition to precluding sin from their will and thinking, they withheld themselves from sin.

Perceptiveness is not the same in everyone. Someone who is ignorant and illiterate will never think like a doctor does about microbes and the contamination of vessels by them. A doctor who has spent years investigating microbes, has watched their multiplication under a microscope, and has witnessed the fate of those who were infected by them can never neglect microbes and their dangers.

Thus we see that the ignorant person proceeds to drink water contaminated with microbes and has no worry, whereas the doctor would never be prepared to drink such water and would never even entertain the idea.

The only motive for refraining from drinking is the knowledge and information, which this doctor has concerning the bad effects of microbes. So, for example, the illiterate, ignorant person would also keep himself from eating something filthy, for, in this case, he is aware of the impurity and harmful effects of it. But a one-year-old child into whose reach that filthy thing fell would probably put it into his mouth.

Another point is that there are some people who attach little importance to incremental harm, although they fear sudden, unexpected dangers and avoid them. For example, someone may be rather procrastinate about resorting to a dentist, till such time as his other teeth become affected, and a great deal more discomfort comes his way, and then he may be affected by very serious ailments. However, the very same person, as soon as the pain of appendicitis appears and there is a possibility of real danger, wit! Entrust himself to the hands of a surgeon with all haste.

If a knowledgeable doctor becomes addicted to alcohol, it can only be because he is not fully informed of the damage of alcohol to the spirit and the soul, and because its accumulative harm becomes obscured through his appetite and his desire to gratify himself.

Ordinary people take a superficial view of evil, and do not take sufficient note of its physical and spiritual, bodily and psychic effects.

However, the prophets, who with the help of a higher power, have supremacy in their vision and knowledge over the rest of mankind, who have a profound and perfect insight into all the effects of evil, and who, by a secret witnessing, see even those effects of evil which will materialize in the next world, will never come under the influence of their own bodily desires and soil their hands with the contamination of sin; even the thought of it will never enter their hearts.

The prophets saw the effects of sin in the intermediary and next worlds, and gave an account of them to people, and many traditions have been recorded from the great Prophet of Islam on this subject, and we shall give a sample of them now.

Amir al-mu'minin, 'Ali (A.S.) said: 'Fatimah (A.S.) and I went to the Pro prophet (A.S); we saw that he was weeping excessively. I said, "For the sake of my father and mother, why are you weeping?" He said 'the night they took me on mi'raj, I saw a group of women from my people in severe torment. One woman I saw hung up by her hair, and the brain in her head was boiling from the intensity of the heat. Her tongue strung another up, and they were pouring caustic water into her throat... Another was eating the flesh of her body and fire was burning under her feet. Another one had her hands and feet bound, and the snakes and scorpions of Hell were crawling over her. Another one, the flesh of her body was being cut up with flaming scissors... Another one had grown the face of a dog and fire was entering her from underneath and coming out of her mouth, and the angels of punishment were striking her with fiery clubs on her head and her body." Fatimah (AS.), the daughter of the Prophet (S.A), said "These women, what had they done that Allah was punishing them in this way?"

The great Prophet of Islam (S.A' said:' the one whom her hair hanged up had not, in this world, concealed her hair from strangers, and the one who was strung up by her tongue had tormented her husband. And the one who was eating flesh of her own body had beautified herself for strangers, and the one whose hands and feet were bound and over whom snakes and scorpions crawled had given no importance to wudu and the purity of her clothes, nor to ghusl after sexual impurity and ghusl after menstruation, and had counted her prayers as nothing... but the one whose flesh was cut by scissors was a woman who had given herself to the will of unfamiliar and strange men... and the one who had grown the face of a dog and whom fire entered from underneath and came out of her mouth had been a singer.' Then the great Prophet of Islam said (S.A): 'Woe to that woman who made her husband angry and how good it is for the case of that woman whose husband is happy because of her.⁽⁴⁾

The noble Prophet of Islam (A.S) also said: "I came across a group who had been strung up on fiery hooks. I asked Jibra'il (A.S) who they were and he said: 'they are people whom Allah had made unneedful of what is haram through halal, but they had run after what is haram! And I also came across a group, the flesh of whose bodies was being sown with a thread of fire. I asked who they were, and Jibra'il (A.S) said: 'they are individuals who had had illegal relationships with unmarried girls.⁽⁵⁾

And he also said that someone who profited through usury, Allah fills his stomach with the fire of Hell to the extent of the usury by which he profitted⁽⁶⁾. And similarly for those who drink alcohol and do other sins; and he explained in detail, so that it might prevent people from sin, what had happened to the Prophet and the prophets and how they themselves had seen the effects of sin in the intermediate and next worlds.

In short, remembrance of judgment and the witnessing of the effects of sin in the next world was the best way to keep the prophets from sin and indecency.

Allah has said in the Qur'an:

و اذكر عبادنا ابراهيم و اسحاق و يعقوب اولي الايدي و الابصار. انا اخلصناهم بخالصة ذكري الدار. و انهم عندنا لمن المصطفين الاخيار
(سوره ص آيه 45-47)

And commemorate our servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, possessors of Power and vision Verity we chose them for a special (purpose) -proclaiming the message of the hereafter. They were in Our Sight,Truly, of the company of the Elect and the Good (XXX VllI; 45-47).