Mankind naturally avoids poverty and\ndeficiency. If a person finds poverty or deficit in any aspect of his life, he\nwould do his best to overcome that poverty and remove that deficit. For\nexample, every person can feel material poverty and tries to avoid it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, spiritual poverties such as\nhaving deficiencies in education or politeness is less sensible for people. One\nwho lacks the manners of social interaction, human moralities, or correct\nsocial education usually does not feel such deficiency within himself,\nespecially if bad manners have penetrated his soul and become his \u201chabit\u201d.\nEducational and intellectual poverty are of the same nature. An ignorant or\nfool person does not feel ignorance or foolishness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, if one is asked \u201cWhat is\nthe most essential and beneficial knowledge for mankind?\u201d the answer would be\nacknowledgement of education poverty and ignorance. In fact, knowledge and\nintellect are spiritual foods. Therefore, one should think about his spiritual\nfood as much as he thinks about his sustenance. It is essential to care about\nthe food for our soul as much as we care about food for our body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among foods, some are energetic, yet some\nare weakening; some cause power and energy while some cause weakness; some are\nhealthy while others are unhealthy; this is the case with spiritual foods as\nwell. The education one receives, the books he studies, the articles he reads,\nand the lectures he listens to are not similar in their effects. Some of them\nstrengthen the intellect and will, while others bring about disappointment and\ndespair. Some educations make on optimistic about the life and the creation,\nyet some teachings introduce life and creation as vain and purposeless, and\nmake one pessimistic about everything and everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, as every person is\nresponsible towards himself and his salvation, he has to be cautious about what\nhe feeds his soul. Also, those in charge of the society have the responsibility\nto control the spiritual food of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imam Hassan Mujtaba (PBUH) has a\nstatement about this issue where he says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wonder how people are cautious about\ntheir food; yet they do not care about what they feed their souls of thoughts,\nideas, and knowledge. They avoid harmful food for their stomachs, yet they do\nnot care if their souls are fed with harmful thoughts (1)\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(The above is a\nselection taken from \u201cWords of Wisdom and Advice\u201d, by Martyr Murtada Mutahhari\n(with some changes))<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Roshd Website congratulates all\nMuslims, especially you dear friend, upon 15th of Ramadan, the birthday\nanniversary of the generous one of the Ahl al-Bait (PBUT),<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imam Hassan al-Mujtaba (PBUH).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Footnotes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Bihar\nal-Anwar, vol. 1, p. 218<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mankind naturally avoids poverty and deficiency. If a person finds poverty or deficit in any aspect of his life, he would do his best to overcome that poverty and remove that deficit. For example, every person can feel material poverty and tries to avoid it. However, spiritual poverties such as having deficiencies in education or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28248],"tags":[19763,19765,18159,19766,17911,19632,18418,19764,19762],"class_list":["post-4146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-occasional-letters","tag-2012-08-02","tag-acknowledgement","tag-body","tag-energy","tag-find","tag-imam-hassan-mujtaba","tag-occasion-letters","tag-poverty","tag-spiritual-poverty"],"yoast_head":"\n