PERFECT MAN

Human nature has always been to look for perfection.

There are two ways of knowing a person; one way is to see how Holy Qur’an and the Prophet’s Traditions have defined a perfect man. The second way is to regard perfect individuals who are built upon the models of Holy Qur’an and Islam, a real and objective personality who exists in various stages of perfection at its highest level or even at slightly lower level stages.

The Noble Prophet (s.a.w.s.) himself is an example of a perfect man in Islam. Imam Ali (a.s.) is another example. After knowing his whole personality, we will take him as our role model and accept him as our leader and Imam, follow and emulate him, we then be called a Shi’a follower of this “Perfect Man”.

A Shi’a means one who follows Imam Ali(a.s.), not only with oral words, but with the acts of following him, in letter and spirit.

In Arabic, the words “Perfect” and “Complete” are close to each other but not exactly similar in meaning. The word “Complete” means something which is prepared according to a plan like a house, and if any part of which is unfinished, it is incomplete and defective. But something may be complete but yet there may exist a higher degree of completion or many degrees higher than that, and that is called Perfection.

Complete is a horizontal progress to maximum development and Perfect is a vertical climb to the highest degree possible.

A person has a physical personality and a spiritual one with two distinct reckonings.

The first proposal of the Holy Qur’an is the purification of self from ailments, complexes, ignorance, and deviations. We have heard that in the past there were people who, because of excess of sins, were cursed by the Prophets of their times and they were converted into animals like monkeys etc. One may become animal mentally or spiritually. How that can happen? Man’s personality depends on his ethical and spiritual qualities, without which he would be a beast. It is reported that once a companion of Imam Zainul Abedin (a.s.) was present at Hajj. Seeing the multitude of Hajjis, the Imam said: “There is much uproar but few are true pilgrims” The man said ”I do not know how the Imam gave me that insight, but when he asked me to look down again, I saw a desert full of animals among them only a few human beings were moving around.” There are individuals whose life revolves around eating, sleeping and satisfaction of carnal desires. They have lost their human qualities.

Religious leaders have repeatedly said that only one group of people among the dead who will be raised as human beings; others would appear as animals. Does God do so without reason? No, there are reasons. When a human being has done nothing in this world but to sting and hurt others, he takes real form in the next world that is scorpion.

All people will be raised from the dead according to their intentions, desires and true characters. That is why we are forbidden from worshipping anyone but God. If we worship money, it becomes a part of our nature, and as the Holy Qur’an says that molten metal will be with us on the Day of Resurrection.

So a human being with a complex is defective, and one who worships matter is imperfect.

Perfection in every kind of creature is different from perfection in another kind. A perfect human being is different from a perfect angel, and each has separate degree of perfection. Those who have told us of the existence of angels, say that they are created with pure intelligence and thought and in whom the earthly aspect, lust, anger etc are absent, whereas animals are wholly earthly, and lack what the Holy Qur’an terms as divine spirit.

But man is a mixture of the two, angelic and earthly, both high and low.

Man is granted many talents and left free to show whether he deserves reward or punishment for his acts, where as other creatures do not possess this liberty. He must choose his own and attain perfection through moderation and equilibrium and by employing all his talents.

Imam Ali (a.s.) is a Perfect man since all the human values have had their maximum growth in him in a harmonious manner.    

Just like tide in the sea due to attraction of the moon, human beings as well as societies undergo such ebb and flow and such attraction is some times to one direction to such an extent that all other values are forgotten.

One of the human values confirmed by Islam is devotion, which is communion with God.

In Islam, every act performed for the sake of God is devotion. Supporting the family, serving community etc is devotion. But devotion, in its special sense, is private communion with God in prayer; supplications etc are all part of the religion and cannot be omitted. Sometimes, we see people drawn only to one side of the devotion, which will ruin the society. One should develop every aspect of his personality without being disbalanced.

Love, intellect, justice, freedom, service, and devotion are all values. When all these values are developed harmoniously, then he may be considered Perfect, Imam Ali was such a man.

Sayyid Razi, who was the compiler of Nahjul Balagha, says: “The amazing thing about this book is that you see (Imam) Ali in so many different worlds as you read it, that is in the worlds of devotion, philosophy, mysticism, military affairs, court of justice, religious  jurisprudence and so on, and he is never absent from any human world.”

Saifyeddin Hilli, a poet of the Sixth Century Hijiri, says about (Imam) Ali that he is a collection of all contraries; he is both a ruler and a sage, docile and brave, poor and generous, gentle and resolute, and a devotee and a man of action. He is a hero in all human spheres, some thing we cannot be, but we can at least maintain a certain degree of equilibrium among all values to be called a True Muslim in all walks of life.

Reference:

Perfect Man       By: Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari