Past eventOther · The Lantern of the Path · Session 6

The Philosophy of Prophethood

Wednesday, 1 January 2025

Join via Zoom

Opens 15 minutes before the session begins.

Prophethood, Part 1 God's argument for sending prophets, according to this session, rests on a comparison with honeybees. The Qur'an describes God "inspiring" the bee to build its hive in the mountains, the trees, and wherever else it settles — an instinctive form of revelation that needs no committee, no debate, no referendum. The hexagonal cells a bee builds today are identical to ones built in prehistory, because instinct alone is sufficient guidance for a bee. Human beings are different: intellect replaces instinct almost entirely by adulthood, and this session sets out two arguments for why intellect, on its own, is not enough to guide a person to happiness — one from its finite scope against infinite human need, one from the historical record, including the fate of Plato's Republic, a blueprint for the ideal society that even its admirers concede was never workable. Prophethood exists, the session argues, not to override reason but to defend and direct it — to unearth intellects, in Imam Ali's words from the first sermon of Nahj al-Balagha, that have been buried by tyranny. It closes with a narration naming two proofs God holds against humanity: the apparent proof, the messengers and Imams, and the internal proof, the intellect itself. If human beings already have reason, why do they still need a prophet? What the evening covers The honeybee's revelation. How the Qur'an describes hive-building as a form of divine inspiration, unchanged since prehistory. Two arguments against reason alone. Why a finite intellect cannot meet infinite human need, and why even Plato's Republic collapsed on contact with reality. Imam Ali's "buried treasures". The claim, from the first sermon of Nahj al-Balagha, that prophets come to unearth intellects buried under tyranny. The Hadith of the Two Proofs. Messengers and intellect, named together as God's case against humanity.

In this session

Full session

السَّلامُ عَلَى الشَّجَرَةِ النَّبَوِيَّةِ وَ الدَّوْحَةِ الْهَاشِمِيَّةِ الْمُضِيئَةِ الْمُثْمِرَةِ بِالنُّبُوَّةِ الْمُونِقَةِ [الْمُونِعَةِ] بِالْإِمَامَةِ وَ عَلَى ضَجِيعَيْكَ آدَمَ وَ نُوحٍ عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلامُ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ وَ عَلَى أَهْلِ بَيْتِكَ الطَّيِّبِينَ الطَّاهِرِينَ السَّلامُ عَلَيْكَ وَ عَلَى الْمَلائِكَةِ الْمُحْدِقِينَ بِكَ وَ الْحَافِّينَ بِقَبْرِكَ يَا مَوْلايَ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ هَذَا يَوْمُ الْأَحَدِ وَ هُوَ يَوْمُكَ وَ بِاسْمِكَ وَ أَنَا ضَيْفُكَ فِيهِ وَ جَارُكَ فَأَضِفْنِي يَا مَوْلايَ وَ أَجِرْنِي فَإِنَّكَ كَرِيمٌ تُحِبُّ الضِّيَافَةَ وَ مَأْمُورٌ بِالْإِجَارَةِ فَافْعَلْ مَا رَغِبْتُ إِلَيْكَ فِيهِ وَ رَجَوْتُهُ مِنْكَ بِمَنْزِلَتِكَ وَ آلِ بَيْتِكَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَ مَنْزِلَتِهِ عِنْدَكُمْ وَ بِحَقِّ ابْنِ عَمِّكَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَ آلِهِ وَ سَلَّمَ وَ عَلَيْهِمْ [عَلَيْكُمْ ] أَجْمَعِينَ.

Peace be upon the tree of prophethood, the mighty Hashemite tree, the radiant tree bearing fruit through the blessing of prophethood and verdant and flourishing through the sanctity of the Imamate, and upon the two who rest beside you—Adam and Noah (peace be upon them). Peace be upon you and upon your pure and immaculate Ahl al-Bayt. Peace be upon you and upon the angels who encircle you and gather around your grave. O my Master, O Commander of the Faithful, today is Sunday, and it is your day and bears your name, and on this day I am your guest and one who seeks refuge in you. O my Master, receive me with hospitality and grant me refuge, for indeed you are generous and you love hospitality, and you have been commanded by Allah to grant refuge. So fulfill the request for which I have turned to you on this day and in which I place my hope in you—by the right of your exalted station, and the lofty position of your Ahl al-Bayt before Allah, and the station of Allah with you, and by the right of your cousin, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah send blessings and peace upon him and upon his entire family, all of them.

Mafatih al-Jinan, Supplications (Duas), Ziyarat of Amir al-Mu'minin (AS) on Sunday, Line 1