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.
The promise of the prophet Hood to the people of Aad: the blessings of asking for forgiveness
The prophets sometimes called the people to worship and correct monotheistic beliefs by threatening and sometimes did their duty by intimidating. Because most of the folk worship either out of fear of hell or desire for the heaven. The prophet Hood also invited his people to seek forgiveness from God, so that the rain of divine mercy and blessings could fall on them following this intercession:
وَيَا قَوْمِ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوا إِلَيْهِ يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِدْرَارًا وَيَزِدْكُمْ قُوَّةً إِلَى قُوَّتِكُمْ وَلَا تَتَوَلَّوْا مُجْرِمِينَ
Certainly We sent Noah to his people [to declare]: ‘Indeed I am a manifest warner to you. (Hood: 52)
The promise of divine mercy and the breadth of sustenance, and the fulfillment of the worldly needs of human beings due to the worship of God, are among the promises that other prophets have made, too. The prophet Noah also promised his people with them:
فَقُلْتُ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفَّاراً؛ يُرْسِلِ السَّمَاءَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِدْرَاراً؛ وَيُمْدِدْكُمْ بِأَمْوَالٍ وَبَنِينَ وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ جَنَّاتٍ وَيَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ أَنْهَاراً
telling [them]: ‘‘Plead to your Lord for forgiveness. Indeed, He is all-forgiving. He will send for you abundant rains from the sky, and aid you with wealth and sons, and provide you with gardens and provide you with streams. (Noah: 10-12)
And this is one of the promises of the holy Prophet to his people. The holy Qur’an, after describing itself and in the position of expressing the promises given to the people in this divine book, says:
وَأَنِ اسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوا إِلَيْهِ يُمَتِّعْكُمْ مَتَاعًا حَسَنًا إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى وَيُؤْتِ كُلَّ ذِي فَضْلٍ فَضْلَهُ وَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَإِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ كَبِيرٍ
Plead with your Lord for forgiveness, then turn to Him penitently. He will provide you with a good provision for a specified term and grant His grace to every meritorious person. But if you turn your backs [on Him], indeed I fear for you the punishment of a terrible day. (Hood: 3)
What is the connection between the intercession and repentance of the people, with the outpouring of divine blessings, is something that human thought and knowledge cannot discover; however the human knowledge and science, in the same way, is not able to deny this fact. Avicenna in Theology of Healing (Vol. 10, Chapter 1, p. 439) does not consider such a denial to be appropriate for philosophy and considers the deniers of this connection as ignorant who are just “like-philosophers”. Kant also does not see the denial of this connection in the power of empirical science, and says that science can only prove the existence of a connection between phenomena and scientific experiments, but it cannot deny such a connection through the present experiences. If it is not empirically proven, it can be only said that “it has not been proven”, it is not logical to express “it is rejected”.
The holy Qur’an considers the abundance of heavenly and earthly blessings as dependent on the faith and piety of the society and says:
وَ لَوْ أَنَّ أَهْلَ الْقُرى آمَنُوا وَ اتَّقَوْا لَفَتَحْنا عَلَيْهِمْ بَرَكاتٍ مِنَ السَّماءِ وَ الْأَرْضِ
If the people of the towns had been faithful and Godwary, We would have opened to them blessings from the heaven and the earth. But they denied; so We seized them because of what they used to earn. (A’raf: 96)
We consider the same point in the holy Qur’an regarding Jews and Christians:
وَ لَوْ أَنَّهُمْ أَقامُوا التَّوْراةَ وَ الْإِنْجيلَ وَ ما أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ لَأَكَلُوا مِنْ فَوْقِهِمْ وَ مِنْ تَحْتِ أَرْجُلِهِمْ
Had they observed the Torah and the Evangel, and what was sent down to them from their Lord, they would surely have drawn nourishment from above them and from beneath their feet. There is an upright group among them, but evil is what many of them do. (Ma’ede: 66)
The response of the people of Aad to the prophet Hood
The people of Aad resisted the words of the prophet Hood and did not accept his words. The aristocracy and the wealthy and powerful people of the Aad tribe, without any intellectual conflict or scientific debate over Hood’s words, called him insane:
قَالَ الْمَلَأُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ قَوْمِهِ إِنَّا لَنَرَاكَ فِي سَفَاهَةٍ وَإِنَّا لَنَظُنُّكَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ
The elite of his people who were faithless said, ‘Indeed we see you to be in folly, and indeed we consider you to be a liar.’ (A’raf: 66)
And the people of the tribe, who pretended to be thoughtful, considered Hood to be insane because of not worshipping their false gods, they claimed that he had become mad by the curse of idols:
قَالُوا يَا هُودُ مَا جِئْتَنَا بِبَيِّنَةٍ وَمَا نَحْنُ بِتَارِكِي آلِهَتِنَا عَنْ قَوْلِكَ وَمَا نَحْنُ لَكَ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ؛ إِنْ نَقُولُ إِلَّا اعْتَرَاكَ بَعْضُ آلِهَتِنَا بِسُوءٍ
They said, ‘O Hud, you have not brought us any manifest proof. We are not going to abandon our gods for what you say, and we are not going to believe you. All we say is that some of our gods have visited you with some evil. (Hood: 53 – 54)
According to the holy Qur’an, the ignorant people of the nations of the divine prophets considered them insane, which is something that always happens in human societies. But the fact of the matter is that, there are two stages of insanity: subconscious madness, supernatural madness.
Supernatural madness means abandoning the profit-seeking calculator intellect, as Rumi says:
From this ignorant wisdom, one should become mad
Drink poison as much as you can and pour the water of life. Avoid it as much as you can.
Whoever praises you, curse him; lend interest and capital to the bankrupt
Be safe and be a place of fear, go through honor and disgrace and reveal
I tested my far-sighted intellect. After this, I will make myself crazy
And as Imam Ali, Peace upon him, says in describing the pious: يَنْظُرُ إِلَيْهِمُ النَّاظِرُ فَيَحْسَبُهُمْ مَرْضَى، وَ مَا بِالْقَوْمِ مِنْ مَرَضٍ؛ وَ يَقُولُ لَقَدْ خُولِطُوا، وَ لَقَدْ خَالَطَهُمْ أَمْرٌ عَظِيمٌ The audience think they are sick, but they are not sick (rather, they have lost weight for fear of torment) and (since he hears words that he does not understand) he says, they have become insane; however they are not insane but they have a great duty (the idea of resurrection) which is mixed with them. (Nahj al-Balaghe: verse 193)