Question-The point you made was about loving education. Is the love for education an innate love or an acquisitive one? How can we direct its acquisitive aspect towards the right path?

Answer-An article had been written roughly forty years ago in Tabriz in which some people had argued whether the intelligence of the genius is innate or acquisitive. There were also some people who had written about the matter“the intelligence of the geniuses”.
I remember a woman who had written an article regarding this matter which was surprising. She had made a lot of effort. In that time I was only talking about it, and I said I believe that the source of genius isdual: it is not only innate and not only acquisitive. It means what has been put within the human’s existence should be activated.

It happens rarely for a human to not have the love for knowledge and understanding intrinsically, but due to some bad friends or some events which the person has not been able to overcome, we see that he loses interest. For example he has a friend who is interested in traveling and justifies going here and there when talking to him, therefore the motivation for studying is slowly lost in that person.

My opinion is that the Talibeh mostly like knowledge when they come to Hawzah, except for very rare cases. This is love itself, and interest, and motivation. It is the teacher who has to make this motivation seem sweeter in his eyes as well.
I sometimes leave the argument incomplete and tell the students: write this argument down. They imagine we don’t know about it. For example I say: “I did not find it” and then I say: “bring this argument for next class”. If they do so then I will encourage them and if they don’t I’ll complain.

I say: “unfortunately I mentioned it last week but there was no one who would write it for me.” These have been put in human nature, and we need to teach lessons gradually so that they progress step by step. Unfortunately in some cases our Hawzah doesn’t have this motivation.
The one who studies and the one who doesn’t are the same in their eyes. That is why I believe genius to be both innate and acquisitive. It is a motivation which has to be put in progress. I have to thank Hawzahfor announcing the best teacher, the best student, the best article etc. these days. This is very effective and makes the person to work harder and get rewarded.

Question-Should the love for education which exists in a Talibeh be exclusive to the plans of the Hawzah or the person should think of plans for himself?

Answer-Humans are of two kinds: some have to be educated, like most of the people soHawzah has to have appropriate plans for them, and some other people who are beyond any plans. We call them self-raised. They are important and as they are in need of encouragement, they have to possess some kind of self-raising ability.
If the man is self-raised, he would ignore such plans and start to think of plans himself. He himself writes and studies alternatively. He does side research by himself. You may find them taking in seven or eight arguments over just one year, whereas you have to help the average and ordinary people and have them going by plans.

There are some masters who did not have any teachers. They are self-raised people and they possess a great deal of genius. For example the late Mr. Naraqi has been of people who possess innate genius and he has been a self-raised man. A self-raised man would choose the teacher, the pupil, the path, the place, the time and also the lesson himself.

I don’t forget studying Makasib at Qom, I found every teacher that I met incapable of teaching it properly. Once a friend of mine told me that there is Makasib class, and when I attended, the teacher was teaching “the authority of animals”. About forty years ago I attended that class for four or five months, but it was like I had studied a full course of Makasib. The teacher was also interested in me and he noticed that I understand. Therefore a self-raised human would go after the teacher by himself and makes him work all over the year.

Question-You mentioned that most of the people have to be directed. If such people would intend to be self-raised and also be educated, how is that possible?

Answer-Maybe this is not the right place for this question. I said the self-raised are rare. A self-raised man cannot be stopped or be directed. Long ago we used to say that “there are two kinds of children in playing games: some say: “I’ll play with somebody” and some others say: “who will play with me?” A self-raised man is not waiting for others to invite him. Such genius is somewhat innate and cannot be captured.

He goes on his own way and does his work and he studies for himself. But there are also some people who cannot do this no matter how hard they try, and they always have to be guided, and receive specified lessons, teacher and time. You have to plan their summer and winter. Of course the self-raised are quite rare, maybe one out of a thousand people. This self-raised person does not need anything, but bad friends should not be around him and drag him here and there.

Question-Is it possible for someone to mendaciously findthemselves self-raising, and it makes them proud and causes them trouble?

Answer-The people who are self-raised have a talent who progress according to it. Those who are talented are always in danger of corruption. For example when we see someone who is excommunicated, this is the self-raising and strong self-confidence which allows one to go forward to an extent that loses his control and loses even those limitations.

Therefore they also need a teacher and advisor. For example the late Sheikh Hadi Tehrani was one of those geniuses. He was so self-raised and self-confident that would say every word strongly and intensely which would make people misunderstand. So they also need warnings and advices and they also have to be balanced. We may see someone who thinks very highly of himself and goes up to the speaking place and says whatever he pleases, and a friend tells him speaking as such is inappropriate for the place.
Therefore a self-raised man would not always go straight, because he is proud of himself, self-confident and he does not listen to others and would not end up as a good person. They also need a teacher and a compassionate friend and they have to be aware of the fact. If you look at the contemporary history, you would find people who don’t listen to anybody because they see themselves on top of others. It was a very subtle point which you mentioned.

Question-It is said in Surat al-Mulk that “[He] who created death and life… (Arabic: الذی خلق الموت و الحیاه)”.Is death a creature that God could create? How can it be accepted, yet it is widely believed that death is an entity that is not caused by another thing, in this case, what’s the meaning of creation?

Answer- As we know, creation (Arabic: خلق, Persian: آفرینش) has a lot of meaning, the prevalent one among them is “predestination” which it is mentioned on all dictionaries. Hence the meaning of the verse is “He is the God that you humans are predestined to death and life by him in order for your probation”. Verse No.60 of Surat al-Waqi’ah (Arabic: نحن قدرنا بینکم الموت) gave proof that the meaning which we mentioned is right, it says “You humans are predestined to death by us”.

Please refer to my book “Courses about Death, Life, Purgatory and Signs of Doomsday” for further details.

Question-It is said on history books that the holy prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny) was sent at the date “Rajab twenty-seventh” and the first verses of Quran revealed at the very same day. God also says in Surat al-Qadr “Indeed, We sent the Quran down during the Night of Qadr.” while it is an indication of the fact that revelation of the whole Quran was happened during the month of Ramadan and at the Night of Qadr as we were told. It is also apparent that verses of Quran were sent down to the holy prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny) within twenty three years of his apostolate. The question is, according to the evidence and reasons, was Quran sent down two times, one time totally and another time gradually? Or this can be justified by another method?

Answer- In our opinion Quran was sent down one time and only one time. The repeat of the revelation is also meaningless.

It should be noted that the name of Quran could sometimes be referred to as the whole Quran, sometimes a part of it and sometimes even a verse of Quran. Thus the word of “Quran”is like the word of “water” which can refer to one drop of water or the whole water in the world which are both correct.

According to this principle, the meaning of the verse “Indeed, We sent the Quran down during the Night of Qadr.” is that Quran was sent down during the month of Ramadan and at the night of Qadr. It doesn’t matter the amount were sent down is just five first verses of Surat al-‘Alaq, because just five verses is also “Quran”.In spite of the fact that his holiness Rasool (peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny) were sent as a prophet at the date “Rajab twenty-seventh” as it is well known, it doesn’t entail that Quran were sent down for the first time at the very same date. Thus it is well known when the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny) climbed down mount Hira, he was saying “Say, there is no god but Allah”, and the first verses of Quran were likely sent down two months after the first revelation (of Muhammad). Torah also was sent down to Moses after a while.

Please refer to my book “Courses about revelation of Quran” for further details.

Question-Is it permissible to consider people except for prophets and Imams like his holiness Abu al-Fazl and Lady Zeinab (peace be upon all of them) to be infallible? Is infallibility hierarchical?

Answer- The claim which is made by someone who claims to have infallibility like The Fourteen Infallibles and prophets (peace be upon them) is invalid, but it can be said that the figures such as those you mentioned had self-mastery and they did not commit a sin intentionally.

Question- Do we need the favored servant of his holiness Imam Zaman (May our souls be sacrificed for him) called Rokn-eRaabe’ to connect to his holiness or seeking his holiness help, do we need to follow him?

Answer- We don’t have any reason for the existence of Rokn-e Raabe’ and seeking his holiness Imam Zaman (a.f) help doesn’t need any intermediate.

Question- Did his holiness the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny) make a mistake in saying prayers? Is this statement true?

Answer- Some Hadith-s were narrated in this regard and Sheikh Sadough (A.R) did agree with them, but it is well-known that the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny) didn’t make a mistake.

Question- Can genies have a relationship with humans, hurt them, or have sex with them?

Answer- They likely can hurt, but it’s unlikely that they can marry and breed humans.

Question- Is The Verse of Purification (Arabic: تطهیر) a reason for physical cleanliness (Arabic: پاکی) of Imams (peace be upon them), such that their holiness blood would be clean (Arabic: پاک), and are Olama’s opinion like this?

Answer- These kinds of verses are related to their holiness’ dignity, not physical cleanliness, and if their holiness themselves became dirty, they would clean that.

Question- What does the Wrath of God mean?

Answer- The Wrath of God means his revenge and torment which are different regarding to the sinners, in other words, those who commit a particular sin or crime have got a particular revenge and torment.

Question- Will the Zohur of Imam Zaman (A.S) take place after the incidence of the shout (Persian: صیحۀ آسمانی), and wouldn’t he come back before that?

Answer- One of the certain signs of Zohur is the shout.

Question- Were Imams (A.S) de facto wise from their birth? And did they actually find God?

Answer- What turns out from Hadith-s is the very same thing.

Question-Who is Ma’az Ibn Jebal?

Answer- Ma’az Ibn Jebal was one of the influential figures among the prophet’s (S) companions and his holiness sent him to Yemen for judging, his holiness had said to him valuable words, but he balked at helping his holiness Ali and Lady Fatima (A.S) afterwards the holy prophet (S) passed away, and he was despised by those two great people.

Question-The Great Patience that is ordered in Quran, what kind of patience is it?

Answer- The Great patience means that do not show impatience with difficulties, and ….

Gaining knowledge and developing talent
The transcriptof the interview of grand Ayatollah Duzduzani with Pegah journal in the commencement ofthe academic year 2002-2003 A.D

Question-According to the commencement of the academic year 2002-2003 A.D

, how do academic days differ from holidays for a Talibeh (a student of Islamic seminaries)?

Answer-As you know education means to transform what is unknown to something known, and there is to say that if someone is truly a Talibeh, they would not differ holidays from school days. It means that if someone is determined to gain knowledge and excel at top degrees and resolve issues and problems, they would not be concerned with the time when they endeavor, whether it is day or night, Thursday or Friday, holiday or school days, Muharram month or Ramadan month, being young or elderly, being busy or not busy.

I assume if someone loves studying, nothing would stop them. Basically “Talibeh” literally means “a lover of studying”, and I don’t think there could be something as a barrier and obstacle for him. I remember 55 years ago when I was a new Talibeh, I started Mughadamat (basic lessons), and I wasn’t having dinner many nights or I had only a little, so that I could stay up late at nights and I used to write down any problem that I had. On Thursdays and Fridays I was busy doing those works, and at other nights I was only studying.

I remember about 52-53 years ago when I encountered a difficult issue, and I searched a lot until I finally found its answer in the notes of the margin of Jaami’s book. The very idea of mine was that to delay working on the problems until Thursdays and Fridays every week. Fifty years ago when I came here, I had studied Mughadamat very well. As soon as I entered here, I started to teach Suyuti to some students, but I had not mastered Mantigh (a course of logic).Basically I had to teach the commentary of Mulla Abdullah after teaching Suyuti and Jaami. I once said to one of my teachers: “I’m eagerly waiting for holidays to come.”–“why?” He replied.–“I would like to study Mantigh well” I said.

I intended to know things, for example what Shamsiyeh, Sharh-Matale’ and others say, and I finally succeeded. I stayed at Qom during that year’s summer and studied Mantigh and I also taught Mantigh during educational days. That is why I advise those who like knowledge and those who are learning it to taste the joy of learning and doing away with ignorance, and if one feels this joy they would start to work automatically.
How awful it is when one doesn’t understand ignorance to be such a dangerous disease and knowledge to be such a pinnacle. If one knows that ignorance is a disease, they would cure it themselves. There is no doubt that nowadays there are a lot of issues in many aspects which you are aware of, such as thought,politics, cultural information, material information and so on.

In the past people kept studying while they were eating only bread and they were satisfied with it, but today there are so many problems. I believe that man should make himself love gaining knowledge in order to solve the problems. He should know what he intends to do.
Considering there are a lot of obstacles nowadays, the academic days have been reduced so problems have increased. It means that we don’t have academic days! We have 6 or 7 months of holiday, and still during the academic days there are holidays because of for example the birth of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) or birth of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) or the day of Mab’ath (Mission of Prophet Muhammad) or demise of Prophet Muhammad and so on.

The Hawza has also been extended, and one day we hear someone’s demise …
These are all obstacles. Talibeh need to do something to prevent these things from turning into obstacles. In other words such problems don’t impact on him. He should have an alternative argument, movement or education which allows him to overcome such obstacle as a wheel which turns over them. I assume a man should understand himself that what is it that he wants to do.
Since the year I came to Qom, I had two kinds of education, one for the holidays and the other for school days. I used to study books such as Manzumeh, Mantiq, Mutawal, the second half of laws, Sharh-Tajreed etc. on Thursdays and Fridays, and on those days when I was studying Sharh-Tajreed, I also taught Sharh-Baab-Hadi-Ashar.
The first year I entered, we had a group discussion on Thursdays and Fridays where we discussed exegesis of Quran (Tafseer). I have been following that exegesis for 50 years and there are also notes regarding those discussions. One of the notes includes the lessons of “Revelation of Quran” which has been published once and now it has become rare. Another note is about Purgatory, which has also been published and finished.

I have written them on Thursdays. I mean I did not have any spare time. Unfortunately the day when Hawza is closed for holidays, our Talibeh have nothing to do because they have not provided themselves with two phases, so that when one of them is turned off the other one is still ongoing.
I advise contemporary Talibeh-s to be careful about education like they did in the past. I used to teach Lam’eh in the first two years when I entered Hawza. When I entered the seminary of Feyziyeh, I was busy until the sunset.
The Talibeh used to make noise like bees. They used to raise questions and come to us to find the answers. I think today it is not like that anymore. I don’t find the opportunity to go to Feyziyeh quite often, but when sometimes I happen to go there, I see it is different.
For example I went to the seminary of Daarul-Shafaa to attend the conference of late Allameh-Tabatabaei. When I was passing through Feyziyeh, I noticed that there is no sign of such matters. That quality and those moods and such noisiness don’t exist at all. That is why our Talibeh grow up superficially.

If Talibeh truly wants to become Talibeh, he should learn the right way of debating and discussing. He should not have solidity and inactivity. The man, who pours and drinks himself, does not understand his own faults. When he poured tea for someone else and gave it to them, then it would become clear where his problem lies.
When this argument is given to the person, then it can be understood what size and weight it has, or how true it is. That is why we demand gentlemen to have such a spirit.
There are so many works left to be done in this matter and we have to teach the Talibeh about it and encourage them. Although it has considerable effect on the progress of Hawzah, it is not right to only hold exams and want Talibeh to submit a piece of writing. Those who don’t study at all would have problems with exams and cannot take exams or receive funds or receive degrees, and they would be deprived of this source.

Question-What is your eminence analysis of the officials’ roles in Hawzah and those who are responsible for it, in controlling, supervising and helping the talented in Hawzah?

Answer-I don’t know about this matter, but I want to criticize the officials at the end of my speech and it is the lack of enough attention towards ethics and edification. I have said several times that Hawzah always grades students according to their knowledge and I do not like it. I say grade them according to piety too. Do not only regard knowledge but grade according to humanity, excellence, affability, creativity and having high morale too.
We have to entrust works to someone whose ethics score is 18, 19 or 20. I persistently demand that the work shouldn’t be entrusted to those who don’t have morality and piety. But unfortunately those who don’t have morality and have only studied a little would take posts. This is very harmful.

This person would play with the life, properties, dignity and honor of people and country. Justice is the first condition for the Talibeh who takes the lead of prayer. If he becomes a judge, he will be engaged with the life, wealth and dignity of the people. If a man is pious and have little knowledge, he would not issue a fatwa. If he is asked, he would say I don’t know, but if he is not pious he will be harmful.

Question-Regarding the fact that Quran has seven reputable styles of recitation and seven unpopular styles of recitation, please tell us which one is correct? Have the holy prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny) recited the holy Quran with all these styles?

Answer- What is apparent to us is that saying prayers with all these styles of recitation is permissible for us.

Question-Is it permissible to recite Quran with music?

Answer- Reciting Quran with a beautiful voice is permissible, but Quran shouldn’t be recited with a song and tune that is appropriate for funny gatherings and this kind of recitation of Quran is Haram.

Question-Does the verse “And we have certainly honored the children of Adam… (Surat al-‘Isra’, Verse No.70)” include all of humans or it is applicable just for a particular group of people?

Answer- It seems that it refers to human beings, as opposed to animals.

Question-In cases when recitation of Ayatul-Kursi is recommended, are we supposed to recite up to “And He is the Most High, the Most Great (Arabic: و هو العلی العظیم) ” (the end of verse No.255) or up to “…they will abide eternally therein (Arabic: هم فیها خالدون)” (the end of the verse No.257)?

Answer- As it is apparent in some Hadith-s, It seems that Ayatul-Kursi is up to “And He is the Most High, the Most Great (Arabic: و هو العلی العظیم) ” (the end of verse No.255), but it is preferable to recite up to “…they will abide eternally therein (Arabic: هم فیها خالدون)”.

Question-Is love for Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and hatred towards their enemies alone without making man to worship the God useful for people, or not?

Answer-Love for Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) itself is a kind of action that is worthy of God reward.

Question- Is Raj’a one of the core beliefs of the religion, or not?

Answer- Belief in Raj’a is one of the certainties of Shia religion.

Question-Are The Names of God (in Islam) Tofighi (a blessing that god give to particular people)?

Answer- The Names of God are Tofighi.

Question-There is a well-known Hadith that says the sun came back for Amir al-Momenin Imam Ali (peace be upon him) to the sky after the sunset, and it is referred to as Radd ul-Shams. Please express your opinion about the following:

a) Is it a proven Hadith?

b) If the proof of the Hadith were valid, would the prerequisite of this event be The Restoration of The Nonexistent in spite of the fact that its impossibility has been proved?

c) If all of the above sentences were proved, would Imam (peace be upon him) postpone saying his prayer in such an extent that he may miss its deadline?

Answer-

a) Yes, it is proven.

b) This one is not one of The Restoration of The Nonexistent case.

c) According to Hadith-s, the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny) was in his lap, and maybe he was allowed to postpone it in view of promulgating the dignity of being prophet.

 

Question- It has been said in the signed letter of Imam Zaman (a.t.f) to his fourth deputy Ali ibn Muhammad al-Samari “Your life is over, don’t make a will, because the Great Absence has happened. It is not possible to openly visit Imam (peace be upon him), and whenever someone claims to visit him before the time of Zohur, impugn him”, while in some books it has been mentioned names of so many people who has visited Imam (peace be upon him) and stories were narrated there. Please say how this Hadith accord with those historical quotations?

Answer- What is denied in this signed letter is visiting and it apparently means that the visit which you know Imam (peace be upon him) during the time of visiting, but the visit which they see his holiness and get to know him shortly after separation isn’t denied. Yet visits which are quoted are mostly revelations, and the fact that it is a revelation was mentioned in some of these quotations, but the narrator and the viewer themselves didn’t notice the revelation and they have thought this is a visitation. An A’lim told me that Muhammad Koufi was saying:

“I’m going to go to the holy city of Karbala when I was in the holy city of Najaf. I got into a car. A nomadic man was in the back seat and he was putting his hand on my shoulder until we made it to Najaf. I didn’t say anything due to the fact that the man was pilgrim visiting Imam’s (peace be upon him) holy shrine, but I felt a sharp pain in my hand when I got out of the car and it went numb.

I suddenly saw Imam (peace be upon him) in an open field that was over there. His holiness came to me and asked me: “Does your shoulder hurt?”

“Yes.” I said.

His holiness pulled his hand over my shoulder, the pain was killed.

After ending his speech, I said “Do you know that it’s not a visitation, but it is a revelation?”

“Why?” He asked.

“Because there wasn’t a field over there, but there was only a narrow meander.” I said.

His holiness was astonished by what I said; it seems that he has been waking up since he can’t talk.”

It turns out that many of the stories that are narrated by great scholars such as Bahreini, Bahr ul-O’loum and others need to be considered as revelation that is not a dream which is in a normal place and at a normal status. Thus it has been said “بین النوم و الیقظه” means something between dream and vigilance. I believe that this is one of the sayings of late first Majlisy.