One day, His Excellency Mansoor Hashemi Khorasani entered a village with a group of his disciples to perform prayer and rest. Then people gathered around him to see him and listen to his words. When he saw them gathered around him and looking at him, he went among them and then caressed them, advised them, warned them against wrong beliefs and evil deeds, invited them to know the truth and help it, and imparted much wisdom to them. However, it did not take long before they dispersed and returned to their homes to engage in their daily affairs. So he was left alone with his companions. He then went toward a tree beneath a mountain to perform prayer in its shade; because he loved prayer so much, and whenever he found an opportunity, he would perform prayer and say: “My comfort lies in prayer.” After he finished his prayer, his disciples said to him:
O master! We heard your words to these people. By Allah, your words were like the words of the Prophets, bestowing purity and freshness like rain; because you spoke with the might of the Holy Spirit and said what Allah placed in your mouth, but it did not make them better, nor did it make even one of them accompany you ﴿إِنَّ هَذَا لَشَيْءٌ عُجَابٌ﴾[1]; “This is indeed surprising!”
So His Eminence said:
Are you surprised by that? ﴿سَأَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْهُ ذِكْرًا﴾[2]; “I will tell you about it” if you open your ears to listen and use your intelligence to comprehend; because my mouth speaks the truth, and my hand points toward what is right. An intellectual acquires wisdom and preserves it for himself; because it becomes water for the days of his thirst and food for the nights of his hunger, but an ignorant one hates wisdom and frees himself from it; because the desires of his body are inflamed, and the forces of his soul are burned. He says to himself: “Why should I acquire wisdom, and why should I exhaust myself?! While it prevents me from pleasure and diverts me from idleness so that I abandon what I like and do what I hate, like austere people who have severed themselves from pleasure, and monks who have turned away from the world, while the world is beloved to me, and its life is beautiful in my eyes, and I have no strength to turn away from it; because I am still young and have many aspirations, and death is far from me!” So this is how he falls behind from wisdom and is deprived of knowledge until his soul dies while his body remains alive. Is wisdom not pleasing to him, and does knowledge not take his soul to comfort?! While human pains arise from ignorance, and calamity springs from heedlessness; it has kindled the fire of war and extended the shadow of poverty when it has handed wealth over to fools and entrusted authority to the ignorant so that they corrupt the earth with their wealth and exert dominance over people with their authority to put pressure on the poor and harm the weak.
The powerful ignorant people are the children of devils, and the wealthy fools are the scourges of the earth, and people find no solace from them; those who incline toward every evil, and those who turn away from every good. They strive to spread ignorance in the world and are concerned with annihilating the wise so that wisdom may not remain on the earth and no wise person may be found under the heaven, while annihilation is worthy for them and they shall not be found on land and sea. Indeed, wealth befits the wise, and authority suits their stature so that they beautify the world and bring happiness to people by them. Is not the beauty of the world desirable and the happiness of people sought after?!
Ignorance has made the face of the earth ugly, and heedlessness has made its inhabitants miserable. Stupidity has given birth to oppression, and foolishness has nurtured poverty. Curse is sent down upon the ignorant, and misfortune surrounds those who lack insight when they do not know the truth from falsehood, nor distinguish good from evil. So they are hostile toward their friend and friendly toward their enemy. Have the children of man been transformed that they live like beasts, detached from the intellect and cleverness and devoid of knowledge and wisdom?! Like dogs and cats, and like wolves and ewes, some are enemies to some others, and some devour some others to satisfy the desires of their bodies and suppress the yearnings of their souls so that they would be fat bodies with thin souls.
Laziness has encompassed people, and weariness has cast a shadow over them; because ignorance has made them sick, and indetermination has made them cold. There is no vigor within them, and there is no ideal left for them; like a piece of stone in the desert, or like a piece of brick in a structure, devoid of emotion and will, and devoid of strength and movement, amid other stones and under the pressure of other bricks, subservient and homogeneous, some have been heaped on some others and formed masses of corruption to make time suitable for misery and the place prepared for destruction.
Then he looked right and left and then said:
Now time is suitable for misery, and the place is prepared for destruction; because ignorance is widespread, and wisdom is rare. Foolishness is sold like gold, while wisdom is equal to dust. The word of vainness goes viral, but the word of wisdom is forgotten. The market of falsehood is hot, but there is no buyer for wisdom. Joking is more beloved than admonishing, and jesters are more respected than the wise. Debauchery has filled the horizons, but there is no trace of sagacity anywhere. Idleness throughout the day is scarce, but one hour of admonishing is deemed excessive. People do not desire wisdom, nor devote any time to it. Heads are heavy, and breasts are narrow. Hands are tied, and feet are lame. In such an ominous time, do you expect anything other than turning away from me?! Or do you await anything other than animosity toward me?! No, by Allah! Never do they befriend me or accompany me unless I follow their desires or water the earth with blood and sweat!
Explanation of the saying:
His Eminence’s intended meaning of what he stated at the end of his saying is that if he follows the desires of people, as some of their leaders and elders do, or waters the earth with blood and sweat, as some others among them do, they befriend and accompany him. However, he neither follows their desires nor forces them with his sword, and therefore, they neither befriend him nor accompany him and only befriend and accompany their leaders and elders who have silver tongues or sharp swords. This is a prevalent practice that people have been accustomed to since they existed, and it should not be a matter of astonishment.
