Friday Prayer

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ بِجَمِیعِ مَحَامِدِه کُلِّهَا عَلَی جَمِیعِ نِعَمِهِ کُلِّهَا… اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ مالِکِ الْمُلْکِ مُجْرِی الْفُلْکِ مُسَخِّرِ الرِّیاحِ فالِقِ الاْصْباحِ دَیّانِ الدّینِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمینَ اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی حِلْمِهِ بَعْدَ عِلمِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی عَفْوِهِ بَعْدَ قُدْرَتِهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلی طُولِ اَناتِهِ فی غَضَبِهِ وَهُوَ قادِرٌ عَلی ما یُریدُ

Praise is to God with all his praises, for all his blessings. . . Praise is to God, the owner of the property, the operator of the orbit, the bender of the wind, the glory of the morning, the religion of the beliefs, lord of the worlds; praise is to God for his dream after his knowledge and thank God for forgiveness after his power, and praise be to God for his long patience in his wrath and he is capable to do what he wills 

و نشهد أن لا اله الا الله وحده لا شریک له، و أَنَّ محمداً عبده و رسوله ارسله بالهدی و دین الحق لیظهره علی الدین کله و لو کره المشرکون اوصیکم عبادالله و نفسی بتقوی الله و اتباع امره و نهیه، و اخوفکم من عقابه

And we bear witness that there is no god but God alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is his servant and messenger, he sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, that he might proclaim it over all religion, even if the polytheists hated it.

Common principles in the life of the prophets

Principle 13: Tolerating opposition, enmity and ridicule of the ignorant people

One of the common principles in the life of the divine prophets is that they all have enemies. Their enemies try in various ways to prevent the prophets from succeeding in their mission, and of course, God has always protected his prophets against all kinds of enmity. This enmity begins with the temptation of Satan and extends to the murder of the prophets.

The holy Qur’an addresses the holy prophet:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَسُولٍ وَلَا نَبِيٍّ إِلَّا إِذَا تَمَنَّى أَلْقَى الشَّيْطَانُ فِي أُمْنِيَّتِهِ فَيَنْسَخُ اللَّهُ مَا يُلْقِي الشَّيْطَانُ ثُمَّ يُحْكِمُ اللَّهُ آيَاتِهِ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ؛

We did not send any apostle or prophet before you but that when he recited [the scripture] Satan interjected [something] in his recitation. Thereat Allah nullifies whatever Satan has interjected, and then Allah confirms His signs, and Allah is All-knowing, All-wise. (Haj: 52)

Ridiculing the prophets

One of the types of enmity against the prophets has been their mockery and ridiculing their divine message, and according to the Qur’an, this ridicule and mockery might be seen in the history of all divine prophets:

وَمَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ نَبِيٍّ إِلَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ؛

There did not come to them any prophet but that they used to deride him. (Zokhrof: 7)

Sometimes the attitude of ridiculing is due to the ignorance of the people, when they did not understand the divine message of the prophets, they ridiculed it. The holy Qur’an regrets this ignorance and ignorance of distancing oneself from divine guidance and mercy, and regrets the plight of such people and says:

يَا حَسْرَةً عَلَى الْعِبَادِ مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ؛

How regrettable of the servants! There did not come to them any apostle but that they used to deride him. (Yasin: 30)

Rumi tells a beautiful story which is story of the people facing the actions of the prophets and the response of the prophets to them:

A wise man was riding a horse and a snake was entering through a sleeping man’s mouth;

The rider saw it and hurried; however he couldn’t get a chance to remove the snake;

Because that person was wise, with the help of his wisdom, he hit the sleeping person with an iron stick a few times; 

The wounds and injuries inflicted on the sleeping person by the stick caused him to flee under a tree;

There were many rotten apples at the foot of the tree. The rider told him to eat of those apples if he was in pain;

He forced him to eat apples so much that the apple spilled out of his mouth.

He shouted, “O Amir!” Why are you treating me like this when you have not been oppressed by me?

If you are at enmity with me from the foundation and root, shed my blood once with the sword;

Blood comes out of my mouth as I speak. O God, punish him;

Every moment he made the rider a new curse and beat him in the desert;

Wounds and injuries, and the rider’s cursive words, like a wind made the sleeping person constantly running and falling;

Until nightfall, he sometimes made him move and sometimes left him back, until he felt nauseous and vomiting;

He vomited everything in his stomach, including the snake which jumped out of his mouth;

When that person saw the snake, he fell on the ground at the feet of that virtuous person (the wise rider);

He said to the rider: Are you the angel of mercy (Gabriel) or the god who is the guardian of my blessings?

O ruler and king and O prince! These vain words were due to my ignorance, so do not rebuke me (forgive me)!

If I were a little aware of myself, when could I utter obscene words?

(The wise man) said: If I had told you a secret about you, you would have died in fear;

If I had told you about that snake, you would lose your life for fear;

I was hearing the insults from you and I did my job and I asked God for ease under my lips;

I had no command (from God) in telling you the reason for my action and behavior, and it was not destined and possible for me to leave you;

I kept saying about the pain and sickness of the inside; O God, guide my people that they are not aware;

And sometimes this ridiculing is done by relying on experimental and material sciences, which, of course, is in fact the result of a misunderstanding of the experimental sciences; otherwise the teachings of the divine prophets are not in conflict with reason and science. The Qur’an says:

فَلَمَّا جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَرِحُوا بِمَا عِنْدَهُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ؛

When their apostles brought them manifest proofs, they boasted about the knowledge they possessed, but they were besieged by what they used to deride. (Ghafer: 83)

Mocking religious teachings has not been limited to the people of the time of the prophets, but there are always those who ridicule the teachings of the divine prophets either because of ignorance, or scientific misunderstanding, or moral deviations. The holy Qur’an talks about the third group who deprive understanding the religious teachings and make fun of them, due to their sinful acts and black hearts:

ثُمَّ كَانَ عَاقِبَةَ الَّذِينَ أَسَاءُوا السُّوأَى أَنْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَكَانُوا بِهَا يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ؛

Then the fate of those who committed misdeeds was that they denied the signs of Allah and they used to deride them. (Room: 10)

Murdering the prophets

The peak of opposition to the prophets ends with their killing. When the opponents of the divine prophets saw their hand empty in response to their invitation, which was based on the God-seeking nature of human beings, and felt defeated, attempted to kill the prophets. The holy Qur’an says about different tribes:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْفُرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ …

Those who deny Allah’s signs and kill the prophets unjustly and kill those who call for justice from among the people, inform them of a painful punishment. (Al Emran: 21)

… وَأَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمْ رُسُلًا كُلَّمَا جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ بِمَا لَا تَهْوَى أَنْفُسُهُمْ فَرِيقًا كَذَّبُوا وَفَرِيقًا يَقْتُلُونَ؛

Certainly We took a pledge from the Children of Israel, and We sent apostles to them. Whenever an apostle brought them that which was not to their liking, they would impugn a part of them, and a part they would slay. (Ma’ede: 70)

The definite victory of the prophets

The victory and help of the divine prophets is one of the common traditions and rules of them. The holy Qur’an says about this divine tradition:

إِنَّا لَنَنْصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ الْأَشْهَادُ؛

Indeed We shall help Our apostles and those who have faith in the life of the world and on the day when the witnesses rise up, (Ghafer: 51)

And this victory of God will be accompanied by the definite victory of the prophets over the enemies. The promise that the holy Qur’an states and says:

كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَأَغْلِبَنَّ أَنَا وَرُسُلِي إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ؛

Allah has ordained: ‘I shall surely prevail, I and My apostles.’ Indeed Allah is all-strong, all-mighty. (Mojadele: 21)

Therefore, the fact that the prophets were defeated is contrary to the definite divine tradition which is explicitly stated in the holy Qur’an. There is no prophet who has failed in his goals. But it should be noted that this is not about the private personality of the prophets, but the legal personality of the divine prophets who have not failed; however all the prophets because of their human nature had a material body like other human beings and so experienced death at the definite time, whether death was natural or with poison or sword, etc., but the important thing is that theism and monotheism, which was the school and legal personality of the divine prophets, has remained in history with power, and despite all the conspiracies of their enemies, religiosity and divine beliefs is continuing. It is strong among human beings, and that is the divine promise.

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