A selection from the translated Nahjul-Balaghah with commentary by Martyr Ayatollah Murtaza Mutahhari and edited by Yasin T. Al-Jibouri.
As made explicit in the last chapter, that which is disapproved by the Holy Quran and by Nahjul-Balagha is neither the world-in-itself, nor the natural and innate human urges and attachments. In the view of Islam neither has the world been created without a purpose, nor has man strayed into it aimlessly. There have been some schools of thought which view the world with pessimism. In their view, the existing order of the universe is far from being perfect.
There have existed other schools which considered man’s entry into the world of existence to be the result of some cosmic error, as if man had strayed into it! According to them, man is a total stranger in this world with which he has no ties of consanguinity and is a prisoner of existence. Like Joseph (AS), he has been thrown into the black hole of being by his evil brethren where he is confined and his every endeavor should be aimed at finding an exit from such an abyss.
Obviously, when the relation of man to the world and nature is regarded as the one between a prison and its prisoner, an abyss in which one is entrapped; one’s ultimate aim cannot be anything but seeking deliverance from it.
Part of a series: Nahjul-Balaghah with Commentary by Martyr Ayatollah Murtaza Mutahhari
Source: Shafaqna English