Can We Overlook the Role of Prophets in Reaching Our Destination?
God, the All-Wise and the Absolute Perfect, has not left us on our own in the ups and downs of the world without knowing where we have come from and where we are going. The wisdom and kindness of this compassionate Beloved requires that He pay attention to the necessity of the role of prophets in our true bliss and not leave us without an infallible and expert guide for a moment. In fact, that is why the creation of the first human coincided with the mission of the first prophet, namely Prophet Adam (PBUH). To understand the importance of the role of prophets in our lives, let us take a look at an example.
Imagine traveling to one of the most amazing yet dangerous and hardest mountains to go up on earth. Naturally, our goal in this journey is to climb to the peak, but we have no knowledge about this mountain and its features. In fact, we do not know where this peak is located on the mountain and what path we must take to reach it. We want to equip ourselves with the tools and supplies needed for this journey, but we have no information about the conditions of the path. Our knowledge is limited to a general view of the mountain, and we do not know the details. We do not know where it is rocky, where it is covered in snow, how the temperature or weather changes, what dangers threaten us on the way, and what achievements await us at the end.
With these uncertainties, we might not even be willing to imagine this journey, as the outcome we envision is nothing but death, fall, and destruction.
Now let us change the conditions a bit. Imagine a knowledgeable and experienced person joining our group; he knows all the details from start to finish. Not only does this guide have complete knowledge about the path to the mountain and all its conditions, but he also brings a roadmap that contains all the rules and requirements for success on this journey and safely reaching the peak. Naturally, with these conditions, our view about the journey changes, and now we envision a happy ending for ourselves.
If we pay attention carefully, we realize our birth into this world and our condition in its unfamiliar environment are the same as this journey. In fact, the purpose of imagining this journey is to understand the necessity and importance of the role of prophets in human life.
Why Does the Human Being Need Prophets?
Certainly, God knows better than anyone what our needs are in the world and throughout the life journey and what dangers threaten us. He has determined the ultimate goal and achievements of our life journey and the circular movement from origin to origin; most importantly, He is aware of the structure of our existence. That is why He equipped us with an inner prophet called the intellect to recognize the right path.
Since the intellect only operates within the bounds of matter and has limitations, it lacks the ability to access and recognize immaterial realities. Therefore, it is natural that it has nothing to say about the needs of our main and human (spiritual) dimension. In fact, this is where we feel the necessity of the role of prophets and an outer prophet in human life. These are the individuals whom God has chosen from among His worthy servants and equipped them with the knowledge and tools necessary for us to safely go through this path. These prophets completely know the path of our journey as well as the conditions and the structure of our existence. They know when, where, and how we must act to have a healthy birth into the hereafter and use its eternal resources and wonders. Most importantly, they provide us with this knowledge and tools selflessly, without any expectation, and with extreme kindness and devotion. In fact, since we have no direct access to our Creator, the only source of our connection and link with Him is prophets and, in their absence, infallible Imams.
The Necessity of the Guidance and Guardianship of Human Beings
Since the human journey from the hereafter to the world and his return from the world to the hereafter is a complex and intricate journey, its guide must have special and unique qualities, the qualities that make him a trustworthy person for accepting the guidance and guardianship of humans on the path to their destination. Perhaps the most prominent feature to accept this responsibility is being immune from mistakes or being infallible.
Let us go back to the mountain example. Let us assume that our guide has the possibility of making mistakes on the path of reaching the peak. He is not familiar enough with the path and might take us to a place that is not safe; or by mistake and unintentionally, he might make a decision that would endanger our life. In these conditions, we would certainly trust him less. In fact, the more likely these mistakes are, the more we doubt to let him lead the journey and guide our group.
Even in this hypothetical example, the guide’s role is of great importance, so we cannot even imagine letting such a person guide our entire life, general affairs, and making decisions about the details of the path of our spiritual journey while we only have one opportunity to take this path and it is our sole asset.
Certainly, on this path, we need individuals who have not only been made immune from making mistakes by the will of God, but have also been introduced to us by our Creator. They do their best with enthusiasm and compassion to help us fulfill the purpose of our creation. In fact, only by thinking about the dimensions of our journey and its characteristics, we can understand the role of prophets and the necessity of infallible guides on this path.
In this article, we discussed the importance of guides and the role of prophets in going through our human journey. We stated that taking a dangerous path without a knowledgeable guide will lead to our failure and lack of success. However, having a guide alone is not enough; we actually need guides who are sincere and free from mistakes to take us safely to our destination. The unique characteristics of the path of spiritual journey make the role of prophets and their significance more evident than ever.
Do you also acknowledge the significance and role of prophets in this journey? We look forward to reading your comments on this.