Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 169
! ! 169 state? They considered the attainment of knowledge beyond their reach. Iblis adopts different approaches in different times. In this age , he has adopted the approach that it is impossible to invent anything. When the first train was introduced in India , the Indians could not accept that fire and water contained such power , and so believed it to be a god. When the train would stop , they would place flowers on the engine, saying that this is a deity. Their own hopelessness caused them to believe that man could never invent anything such as this. Thus , man’s greatness and advancement lie in his likeness to Adam as , i. e. , in the pursuit of knowledge. However, if he gives in to hopelessness, he becomes like Iblis. Thus , you should realize then how necessary it is that man should seek knowledge. In other words , it can be said that Islam means knowledge and lack of faith signifies ignorance. It is for this reason that the Holy Prophet sa would oftentimes use the word ignorance when indicating disbelief. Thus , he says: َﺟ ﺎ Mِ ِﻠ ' ﱠ ًﺔ ِﻣ ْﻴ َﺘ ًﺔ َﻣ ﺎ َت َﻓ َﻘ ْﺪ َز َﻣ ﺎ ِﻧ ِﻪ ِا َﻣ ﺎ َم ]َ ْﻌ ﺮ 1 ْف ﻟ ` ْﻢ َﻣ ْﻦ [He who dies without [recognizing] the Imam dies the death of ignorance. ] [ Which means], w hoever does not recognize the Imam of his time will die the death of ignoran ce. Therefore, i t is the responsibility of ev ery Muslim to acquire knowledge and then disperse it. The word ‘ Muslim ’ a ddresses men as well as women. However, because i t is Allah’s rule that prophets be sent to nation s , which ha ve fallen into deterioration to illustrate how He lifts the fallen, He accordingly sent the Promised Messiah as to India. This is because in terms of civilization, politics, and science , it was weak. A community would rise from within India, which would go on to teach the entire world. However, nations cannot be transformed in a day. Since the Promised Messiah ’s as initial followers were from among the ignorant, it i s expected that for the time being, some members of our community may appear ignorant. As a result, it is a weaknes s in our community that the men, as well as women, are not adequately educated and i t is v ital for us to overcome this shortcoming. However, there is an appoin ted time for all matters. First, it was necessary for men to remove this weakness and now it is necessary for women to do so. Albeit not enough attention has been paid to men to bring about a