The spirit of the message of Islam can be summed up and shown in this phrase:

"La ilaha illa Allah."- There is no god but Allah.

It means that, apart from the One and Only Allah, nothing must be worshipped.

This is the great, fruitful, abundant secret of the tree of Islam. For if we compare Islam to a tree, and its ideology to the seed or the root, we must realise that the health and fruitfulness of the tree is connected to the health of the roots. And then we see how strong, how steadfast and steely the basis of the ideology of Islam is, as revealed in this one phrase.

If all man's wishes were rooted in material things alone, and man felt no desire in his soul to transcend the material world, happiness would come from securing material things. But we know and see that man screams out with the voice of his spirit against the depths of technology and materiality. With every increase in material things, the craving of society for the spirit and for spiritual wants increases, and this phenomenon is clearly evident in the recalcitrance and disorder in society. The proof is the complete disruption and crisis which has cast its shadow over civilized societies since the beginnings of the twentieth century, to the point where the spiritual upheaval of society, especially among the young, is out of control.

The Russian psychologist and sociologist, Stroking, said: "Because, in the culture of a materialist civilization, man is only an organism with life, and is in no way attributed with the values and absolutes of goodness, beauty and wisdom, no way has been envisaged to reach spiritual perfection and spiritual wants."

Unless the sublime spirit of man which, like the keen-winged falcon, desires the exaltation of' flying above the mountain ridges and peaks, soars to places far from human hands, and unless it is refreshed at the source of spiritual virtues, it will not be free of these disruptions and outbursts. All the crimes and desires for gratification are signs of the breaking of natural roaring waves which will not be quiet until they reach the safety of the shore. And the shore of safety is only faith in One Limitless Power, Infinite Knowledge, Pure Perfection and keeping away from imaginary gods. By remembering such a power, and having true faith in it, the heart finds contentment. The Qur'an recites this great truth in the shortest of sentences:

الا بذكر الله تطمئن القلوب
(سوره رعد آيه 28)

In remembrance of Allah are the hearts at rest. (X11128)

Indeed the peace of hearts is only in remembrance of Allah. Only leaning towards and attention to God can regulate human nature and guide it to happiness.

Islam weighs the value of man by this very standard and criterion and says:

ان اكرمكم عند الله اتقاكم...
(سوره حجرات آيه 13)

Surely the noblest among you in the sight of Allah is the most god fearing of you. (XLIXJ3)

The aim of Islam is to show, to indicate the better and higher horizons, and to save man from the ash-cloth of his material skin and his lusts, so that man may know the real pastures of green and luxuriant pleasures, and desist from journeying in the furnace of material ways and walk in the true way of contentment.

يا ايهاالذين آمنوا استجيبوا لله و للرسول اذادعاكم لما يحييكم
(سوره انفال آيه 24)

o ye who believe! Respond to Allah and His messenger when He calls you unto that which will give you life. (VH124)

By acquiring knowledge of Islam, the dead soul and dormant faculties of man will be made alive, will rise up and grow, and this life will reach the source through the windows of the laws and the perspective of the aims of Islam.

Now let us look at same of these perspectives:

Islamic fraternity; watchfulness by the people; the status of knowledge; work and effort; the structure of the family.

Islamic brotherhood is based on the highest human virtue, for it is far from hollow rootless formalities. It is a reality for the strengthening of self-sacrifice in the Muslim individual and the keeping alive of the spirit of purity, sincerity and faith. One of its direct practical results is the creation of responsibility and sympathy between individuals in all aspects of life. On the basis of this brotherhood, a Muslim cannot refrain from sharing his brother's difficulties.

The project of initiating Islamic brotherhood in the first days of Islam was so skillfully and interestingly put into action that the poor and the rich were brothers in heart and soul the Prophet (S.A.) explained Islamic brotherhood in this easy and expansive way:

"The believers are brothers one to the other, and are in the likeness of one man in that if one part is in pain, the other parts will not be at peace."

Imam Sadiq (AS.) said:

"The spirit of Islamic brotherhood does not allow you to be full and your thirst quenched while your Muslim brother is hungry and thirsty, nor that you should be clothed and your Muslim brother naked. You must wish for him what you wish for yourself. Support him as he supports you. When he is traveling, guard his property and honour. When he returns, hurry to see him, give him respect as if you were his and he were yours. If he is fortunate, give thanks to Allah for his gladness. If he is in difficulty, help him."

God has created white blood cells in our bodies to be vigilant like guards against microbes, the enemies of the body's health; to defend against invasion, so that no disorder occurs in the human constitution.

This can be a clear model for Muslims to be awake concerning events in their own society like watchmen and guards, so that whenever spirituality and goodness and rightness fall captive into the clutches of evil and falsity they can root it out, and, if necessary, give their life for this serious thing.

Otherwise, of the society, nothing will be left but a lifeless corpse. For if men remain silent in the face of every injustice and impertinence, and stay quiet like a lagoon, they will create an atmosphere for breeding worms and leeches. Their brightness will soon become filthy, stinking and polluted.

So, like the irregular waves of the roaring seas, society must always be struggling, moving, attacking encroachments and shaking up so that impurities can have no effect on its existence.

To create a living society. Islam has let it be known that the questions of attentiveness and watchfulness by the people is one of the most necessary duties of the Muslims, and always warns them that the duties of society are of equal weight and on an equal footing with individual duty, and that Muslims must also satisfy their religion by this great means.

In this area the Qur'an gives two commandments as practical advice: bidding to good (amr bi' l -mac'ruf), and forbidding evil (nahy 'ani'l-munkar).

Imam Baqir (AS.) said:

"Bidding to good and forbidding evil are great responsibilities on which the other necessary foundations repose."

Two great laws, they will forfeit their greatness.

It must not be forgotten that bidding to good and forbidding evil are a great duty for every individual Muslim, and that by putting these into action they can create a healthy, living society.

In the remote past, that is, before Islam,Education was not public, and all people did not have the permission or the right to acquire knowledge. Education was the monopoly of a special group, i.e. the ruling class, the aristocracy, the nobility and royal families. This situation was more evident in countries whose system of government was based on the class system.

The Arab peoples especially, and the inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula, were further behind other countries as regards civilization and culture, so that at the time of the advent of Islam, in the Hejaz itself, those who were literate (i.e. those who could merely read and write) could be counted on the fingers.

In such a time, among such a people, Islam raised the position of esteem of education to the level of a religious duty from the very first.

It is the Qur'an, which in many places honours the searchers after knowledge with its divine and sweet call and gives them an elevated rank (seeLVIII;11).

The Prophet (S.A.) said:

"The acquisition of knowledge is an obligation on every Muslim; Allah loves the learned."

Imam Sadiq (AS.) said:

'Seeking knowledge is a duty." Imam Baqir (AS.) said:

"(Just as zakat on wealth is so that you give a part of it in the way of Allah) zakat on knowledge is also that you instruct others with your knowledge."

The history of Islam is a sure witness to the fact that Islam cultivates knowledge. This constant recommendation to the acquisition of knowledge by Islam was the reason that Muslims, especially in the Middle Ages when Europe was in ignorant darkness, were always in advance and were the standard-bearers of knowledge and civilization.

Of course, it must be remembered that Muslims taught knowledge together with deep faith in God and attention to spiritual values, and did not merely give their attention to profit in this world. Regretfully, in later centuries, when they turned away from the clear and beneficial commands of Islam knowledge also fell from their sight, and thus they dropped behind in the caravan of the advancement of human knowledge.

These are two of the inherent principles of nature and creation. God has put within them the secret of progress and movement. The appearance of spring, the season of movement in nature, the flowing of rivers and streams, the bubbling up of springs, nest building and the coming and going of birds, the blowing of the breeze, the caressing of the gentle warmth of the morning, the waves of blessings of the rustling wind, the twists and turns of the branches and flowers and leaves in the murmuring beckoning of the breeze, the pushing fort and growth of plants, the migration of birds from one climate to another, all these are attractive allegories and enticing allusions from creation for man, to lift him out of dispiritedness and to raise him and make him move, to rejoice, work, strive and endeavour, to grow and flow and to be in movement.

On the basis of this natural law, Islam has called to work and to striving. Imam 'All, the great and beloved leader, said: None who has land and water at his disposal,But does not utilize these two great resources and becomes poor, may Allah curse him."

Imam Sadiq (AS.) said

'Allah loves no work as he loves agriculture - this usefully productive work."And, Imam 'Ali (AS.) also said:

"Attend to various kinds of trade. Allah loves a trustworthy and truthful tradesman."

From Imam Sadiq (A.S.) again.

"Honour and magnanimity come from effort and work"And Imam Kazim(AS.) said:

"Allah is disgusted with the quiet, lazy man"1 Imam Baqir (A.S.), our fifth great, beloved leader went once to his field outside the town of Medina when the weather was burning hot, and sweat dripped down his sleeves, so that he could work there. A man who believed that work was a disgrace in the eyes of Islam came up to him and said to him in great surprise: "You, who are one of the Quraysh and of the first rank, why must you give so much esteem to this world and come to this place in this sweaty weather? If you died in this situation, what would you do'?

The Imam replied' If my death comes, I have died in submission and obedience to Allah For I have come here to gain my family's expenses, so that I do not have to stretch Out my hand in need before you or others. Man should fear that time when his death comes and he is occupied in sin and disobedience."

The man replied:" I wanted to counsel you, but it is I who have been advised!"

It must be kept in mind that although Islam lends importance to trading and agriculture and other works and counts them as worship, it does not on the other hand sanction excess in and overdoing work Islam says:

Devote some hours of the night and day to work, and share out other hours for the other material and spiritual aspects of life." (Nahj-aI Balaghah, saying no.390)

Rest, attend to the situation in your family, attend to Islamic duties, pray, read the Qur'an, and visit your friends.

Marriage is another natural principle. Even plants have a kind of marriage to bear fruits and be fertile. Contrary to the ideas of some, marriage is not entirely an individual and personal matter, for it has an entirely social result.

The strength and stability of descendents, the survival of society and nations, and also the creation of certain ideals are all connected with it, because the following of some of the aims of man and his society will be entrusted to those descendents who come after.

Thus marriage harmonizes human instincts and protects from sin, and perhaps it was these necessities that caused God to make the institution of marriage have such a strong physical attractiveness for individuals so that if they did not realise its advantages they would peruse it by the requirements of instinct.

But this instinctive desire must be controlled by the guidance and commands of religion, for if not, like a car with a headstrong driver, the result will be a crash into the depths of the valley of misery and ruin.

For this reason Islam lays much stress on marriage and the ease of satisfying its conditions.

The Qur'an says that marriage is a divine gift and necessary for peace and comfort (see XXX, ~21).

The Prophet said:"Marriage and having a family are my way and tradition'.

He also said:

'Whenever someone whose conduct and faith meet with your approval, and he comes to you desirous of marriage, be ready, for if not, disaster and corruption will seize the land".(Wasai1 ash-Shi 'ah, vol. 14p.7 and al-Kafi vol. 5,pL34? 7).

Imam Sadiq (AS.) said:

"The Prophet fixed the dowry for his daughters and womenfolk at no more than five hundred dirhams." (Al-Kafi, vol.5, P.376).

Although it was a very small sum in the eyes of the notable families of those days. And this is itself a sign that Islam suggests the project of marriage for the control of natural instincts, and makes it very easy.

Moreover, Islam in this area has severely fought against gilted illusion in marriage and class differences, and has said that inappropriate and mistaken formalities are futile. Miqdad was a Muslim man with head full of fervour and a heart overflowing with faith, but he was poor and without a tribe. Daba'ah was the granddaughter of 'Abdul-Muttalib, daughter of an uncle of the Prophet of Islam and from the Quraysh. The Prophet, with their desire and delight and with discretion, married these two, and this well known girl lit up the poor cottage of Miqdad with the warmth of her love for the rest of her life.

Imam Sadiq (A.S.) explained the philosophy of this marriage: "The Prophet did this to bring marriage out of the framework of class formalities, and so that others should follow the Prophet, and know that the most honoured individuals before Allah are the most chaste." (Al-Kafi, voi5, p.344)

We can see another example in the life of the fourth Imam (A.S.). Abdul-Malik ibn Marwan learnt that the Imam had set his female slave free and had married her. In his view it was not fitting for someone of the position of the Imam to many a freed slave girl, so he sent a letter containing an admonition to this ~treat man. The Imam wrote in his answer.

"Your letter has arrived... You suppose that marrying a girl of the Quraysh would be a reason for an increase in my prestige. This is a mistake, because there is no better than the Prophet of Islam from whose family I am. I married my girl slave because she is a chaste in the eyes of the religion, and that is no small thing. Allah, by the blessing of Islam, has cleared away imaginary prejudices and privileges; the standard of worth is faith and piety. This admonition, which you have written to me, would have been appropriate in the time of ignorance and it is connected to the time before Islam.Was-salam." (al-Kafi, voLS,p.344)

From the first, Islam has said that it is the last message, and Muslims have accepted this fact with wisdom and with love, and have realized that Islam is the last manifestation of revelation, prophet hood and the culmination o I the former pure religions.

Also, all Muslims, on the basis of ayahs in the Qur'an and hadith, believe that the Prophet of Is lam (S.A.) is the last Messenger of Allah who was the recipient of human leadership.

The great Qur'an has explained the universality of the pure religion of Islam in many ayahs and has shown that Muhammad (S.A.) is the last emissary sent by God:

ما كان محمد ابا احد من احد من رجالكم و لكن رسول الله و خاتم النبيين و كان الله بكل شيئ عليمآ
(سوره احزاب آيه 40)

"Muhammad is not the father of any of one of your men, but the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets; and Allah has knowledge of everything." (XXXIH, ~4O)

It has been said in a hadith from the Prophet (S.A) to 'Ali (A.S):

"In all respects your relation to me is like that of Harun to Musa (i.e. if Harun was Musa's brother, I also take you as a brother according to the rules of brotherhood; if he was Musa's successor, you also will be my successor). Except that Musa was not the last prophet, and I am the last"

He also Said:

"I am the last brick in the building of prophet hood. With my coming the prophets have come to an end."

Imam 'All (A.S.) said in Nahj al-Balaghah, the great book of learning and knowledge:

"With the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (S.A.), revelation came to an end." (Sermon 133)

The eighth leader, the true Imam, Hazrat Rida 1. It is an authentic hadith accepted by both the Shi'a and the Sunnis, see aI-Ghadir, vol. 3. p. 196-202.

(A.S.) said:'The pure religion of Muhammad (S.A.) will not be abrogated till the Day of Resurrection, and also no prophet will follow him.' (Bihar al-Anwar, vol. II, p. 34)

What we have just recounted is only a sample of tens of hadiths, which clearly and succinctly explain the conclusive status of the Prophet (S.A.) and the perpetuity of his pure religion; they leave no room for doubt.

One of the greatest causes of Islam's ever-lastingness is its 'all-inclusiveness'.

Islam is a comprehensive project based on the human disposition, and it embraces all aspects of life: individual, social, material, spiritual, doctrinal,emotional, economic, legal and so forth, and it explains the basis of each in the most acceptable way, most realistically, for all peoples and all levels of people, in every time and place.

Thus European Islam cists, each with his deep view and research, have all acknowledged the omni-sidedness of Islamic laws and its universality. Now let us investigate some aspects of this universality.

The God of Islam is the Preserver of all worldly things. He is not the god of a tribe, for some special group only. At prayer we say: 'al-hamdu li'llahi rabbi'l-alamin ''Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.'

Every moment, in every place, whenever He wants, He brings into existence; there is no limitation on His Essence. He has authority over all existent things.

تبارك الذي بيده الملك و هو علي كل شيئ قدير
(سوره ملك آيه 1)

"Blessed be He in whose hand is the Kingdom. He is Powerful over everything.' (LXVII1)

He is aware of the manifest and the concealed, the past and the future, and everything, even what is in our hearts?

يعلم ما في السموات و الارض و يعلم ما تسرون و ما تعلنون و الله عليم بذات الصدور
(سوره تغابن آيه 4)

'He knoweth whatever is in the heavens and the earth, and-He knoweth whatever you conceal and whatever you declare, and Allah knoweth whatever is In the breasts.' (LXI; 4)

Being with Hun is possible in every place: there is no need to travel or to pass by a doorman. He is nearer to us than anything.

و نحن اقرب اليه من حبل الوريد
(سوره ق آيه 16)

"We are nearer to him (man) than his jugular vein' (L; 16)

He is a reality without parallel, beyond all human attributes and likenesses; He is not like the gods of other altered religions who have become man-like or like something created. Therefore He has no place. For He created place.

He is not contained in time, for He is the creator of time. He is not associated, nor has He any beginning or ending. Therefore, He has no like or similitude.

ليس كمثله شئ و هو السميع البصير
(سوره شوري آيه 11)

"Like him there is naught; He is the All-hearing the All seeing." (XLII; 1 1)

His Essence is beyond sleep, tiredness, remorse and so forth. "Slumber seizes him not, neither sleep." (II; 255) "Say: He is Allah, One." (CXII;I)

He is one without equal: He has no son or mother or father, neither partner nor associate. This is the reality in Surah Tawhid, which Muslims recite many times each day in prayer so as to be far from the possibility of associating something with Him (shirk).

The God of Islam is a God with all the attributes assigned to by the pure, sweet tongue of the Qur'an, with an understanding wider, more magnificent, greater than can be conceived by created intelligences. Free from want, without partner, prevailing, close, supreme, compassionate, most compassionate, available to all so that anyone at any time may communicate with Him, bring his needs before Him, ask whatever he wishes of Him, that He may make available what is of benefit and what is expedient, as He Himself said:

و ان الله بكم لرؤف رحيم
(سوره حديد آيه 9)

'And verily, Allah is to you All-gentle, All-compassionate.' (LVII; 9)

Superiority of race or segregation is not only eliminated and void in the eyes of Islam, but the equality of man is an absolute reality from the point of view of Islam, and it says that all men are equal, all are from one father and one mother and are members of one family, and from the aspect of nobility, origin and connections they are equal partners. No one is better than anyone else, except in purity and devoutness.

يا ايهاالناس انا خلقناكم من ذكر و انثي و جعلناكم شعوبآ و قبائل لتعارفوا ان اكرمكم عندالله اتقاكم ان الله عليم خبير
(سوره حجرات آيه 13)

"0 mankind, we have created you male and female and appointed you races and tribes that you may know one another. Surely the noblest among you in the sight of Allah is the most god fearing of you; Allah is All-knowing All-aware.' (XLIX; 13)

Islam is a firm supporter of logic, rational argument and freedom of thought. Imposition of ideas or beliefs, or the stifling of voices does not exist in Islam.

لا اكراه في الدين قد تبيين الرشد من الغي ...
(سوره بقره آيه 256)

No compulsion is there in religion. Rectitude has become clear from error. (Th256)

beliefs is a duty for every individual, and it is an obligation for everyone not to accept anything without proof, and if some commands and precepts are obligatory and must be accepted without why and wherefore, it is because they are from the source of revelation which cannot be in error, and because they have been stated through the Prophet and the pure Imams.

Islam censures those who blindly follow the beliefs of their fathers and ancestors, and commends self-investigation and deep examination. It rejects feeble-mindedness and vain speculation, and urges only to the perusal of knowledge and certainty.

And pursue not that thou hart no knowledge of; the hearing the sight~ the heart - all of these shall be questioned of (XVH, ~36)

Islam grants its opponents the right to set forth their queries in reasonable discussion and to enumerate their proofs and listen to the answers.

Say: 'Produce your proof if you speak truly.' (H111)

This was the reason that many Jews, Christians and those from other groups who took a stand against Islam, came to the Prophet or the pure Imams, and sat down and discussed their religious ideas.

Islam lends great value to thinking, it asks the learned and wise to think and think again about creation, time, night and day, the sky, the earth, animal life, man and the universe and what is in it.

ان في خلق السموات و الارض و اختلاف الليل و النهار و الفلك التي تجري في البحر بما ينفع الناس و ما انزل الله من السماء من ماء فاحيا به الارض بعد موتها و بعث فيها من كل دابة و تصريف الرياح و السحاب المسخربين السماء و الارض لآيات لقوم يعقلون
(سوره بقره آيه 164)

Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day, and the ship that runs in the sea with profit to men, and the water Allah sends down from the sky therewith reviving the earth after it is dead, and His scattering abroad in it all manner of crawling thing, and the turning about of the winds and the clouds compelled between heaven and earth, surely there are signs for a people having understanding. (Ii, ~164)

Also it asks them to research into the lives of those who came before, their thoughts and the causes of their decline and fall, so that they may keep far from the precipices of their destruction.

Divers institutions have passed away before you; journey in the land and behold how was the end of those that cried lies. This is an exposition of mankind, and a guidance and an admonition for the God fearing. (III; 136-7)

In short, Islam desires that man should think deeply and freely and travel across the far horizons of thought and knowledge and take everything that is best for the improvement of his being.

For this reason Islam values scientific advances and discoveries which are for the help of humanity, and this is why scientists and scholars rose up in the centuries following the advent of Islam, to decorate the high road of human civilization with the jewel' of their scientific endeavors, so much so those there great names will shine forever at the summit of scientific history. They include Jabir ibn Hayyan, Razi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Khwajah Nasir ad-Din Tusi, who were celebrated in all the sciences of their times: the intellectual sciences, natural science, astronomy, Chemistry, etc. The books of Ibn Sina were even being taught in European universities up to the end of the last century. Jurji Zaydan, the famous Christian Lebanese writer, says on page 598 of his History of Islamic Civilization: "As soon as Islamic civilization found its feet, and the new sciences spread among the Muslims, Muslim scholars appeared whose thinking was more important than the founders of some of the branches of the sciences. In fact these sciences took on a fresh colour with the new researches of Islamic scientists, and progressed due to Islamic civilization."

From the view of Islam, there is no opposition between the material and the spiritual life, the world and religion. Similarly, those who do not work in this world or make no effort are not approved of, although those who do not think of anything apart from individual benefit and consumption and profit are also detested from the point of view of Islam.

Imam Sadiq (A.S.), the sixth Imam, said: "He who abandons this world for the next - i.e. he who withdraws from the activities of life in the name of asceticism - and he who gives up the next world for this world, both are not from among us." (Wasa'il ash-Shi'a, vol. 12, p. 49).

So it can be said that in this matter Muslims should adjust their actions with equal movement in this world, advancing with its happiness, and in the spiritual world. Therefore in Islam there is no monasticism, being a burden on society, social withdrawal, egoism or seclusion. The Prophet (S.A.) said: "There is no monasticism for us; the monasticism for my followers is jihad in the way of Allah." (Bihar al-Anwar, vol 70, p. 114).

The transformation, evolution and development of the means of living and progress in the various elements of civilization have no kind of incompatibility with the eternity of the commands of Islam, because the incompatibility of a law with this kind of progress is because the law depends on fundamental means and special factors. For example, if one makes a law: Only the hand must be used when writing, only a donkey must be used for travel, etc., this kind of law cannot come into action when science and civilisation advance.

But if it is not in contradiction with fundamental means, and at the time of making the law these were only used as examples, they will not clash with the occurrence of new means and the advance of civilisation.

Islamic laws are of this latter category, that is to say they do not look especially at the means of one period in history. For example, they say: One must be unconquerable with regard to foreign powers so as to defend one's vital and human rights. This law, although it was declared in the time of the sword, never depends on the instruments of that time, i.e. Islam never says: The Islamic jihad must only be with swords. Thus it is practicable today. Similarly with business transactions, trade, work, etc.

So, however much civilisation and its means and elements expand, it will never leave the domain of inclusion in the laws of Islam, and this is one of the secrets of the eternity of Islam.

There is no doubt that man has progressed far in the way of knowledge, but scientists themselves confess that what they know in the world of creation is not comparable with what they do not know. And basically, since their vision is limited, they cannot find out all the secrets of the world.

Moreover, each leap forward that man makes is not immune from error. Therefore, in the area of human aspirations, not everything that comes forward, in every field, can be one hundred percent imbued with certainty, because it is possible that environmental factors and other unforeseen things have an effect on man's thinking and outlook and take him far from reality.

But the fundamental project of Islam, since it grows from the root of revelation, has nothing to do with the possibility of mistake, and can give trustworthy guidance at all times of course, with the condition that these pure laws are not inserted within the framework of other deviated systems, whereupon they become completely incapable of deriving advantage.

Some imagine that the meaning of the conclusive nature of the Prophet's mission is that after him connection with the hidden, divine world has been interrupted and stopped. This is not valid because the meaning of its conclusiveness is only that after the Prophet of Islam (S.A.), no other prophet or religion will come, not that in a general way connections with the unseen world are also severed.

For with the understanding of Shi'a Muslims, whereby we believe in the Imamate and Wilayat of the twelve pure Imams, this connection is everlasting and is continued by means of these pure ones. And this is one of the distinctive points of the Shi'a school. Mulla Sadra has written in Mafatih al-Ghayb - Keys of the Unseen -"Revelation, that is to say the descent of the angel to the delegated and prophetic eyes, has been forever cut off, but the door of inspiration and illumination has not and will never be closed, and it is not possible for it to be interrupted."

Today, and although as time rolls on it becomes greater, and in the end more destructive and more annihilating, we must remember that generosity and magnanimity are found in difficulty. So our independence and individuality demand that we struggle with the aberrations of the times.

Basically, control and reform of the environment can be considered as one of the most pressing duties. The prophets have also taught us by their lives the lesson of the struggle against the aberrations of the times. They never followed the perverse desires of the pulsation of their own societies or the various passions of the environment; eventually they made the environment their own environment.

The Prophet of Islam (S.A.) struggled constantly against the aberrant and amoral customs of the ignorance of his time, 1111 he built another society and environment.

Class differences, the inferiority of women, idol-worship, tribal wars, and tens of other kinds of amorality were among the conventions and customs and beliefs of the people of those days, but the courage of the prophet saw that all of them were destroyed.

Some of the chiefs of the Quraysh, such as 'Utbah, were very unhappy about the Prophet's method, so they arranged a meeting and after they conferred together with him to make him deviate from his way by promise and threat, the Prophet replied to them: "This is what I was delegated to do. I swear by Allah that even if the sun were put in one of my hands and the moon in the other I would not deviate from my way, nor give up my faith, till victory or death ensue."

So let us follow the way of the iron-willed leader and envoy of Allah.