What Role Do Truth and Falsehood Play in Making People Turn to the Savior?
Achieving bliss and living a peaceful, exalted life have always been one of our desires, but a quick look around is all it takes to see where someone who claims to be on the path to bliss truly stands.
The daily onslaught of oppression, violence, mistrust, slaughter, and injustice that plague parts of the world starkly reveals the vast distance separating our present reality from the human and Noble Rule of the Righteous, leading people to the brink of despair and hopelessness.
Naturally, in such conditions, hope is our only solace, hope for a bright future and someone, i.e., the Promised Savior, who will bring us this bright future after all these hardships and adversities! However, where does this hope come from? How does the world feel the need to turn to the Savior? Since when and how far has it moved towards it? These are the questions we will explore in this article.
We seek bliss at every stage of life, but when we achieve it, we realize it is different from what we were looking for. In fact, our infinity-seeking soul does not rest until it reaches the Infinite Being. However, the point here is that no one except the Absolute Infinite Being or his representative has the ability to show us the way to reach infinity.
At every place and time, there are always the two fronts of truth and falsehood, one originating from light and the other from darkness. They constantly strive to draw us towards themselves. Just as light draws us towards itself, darkness also tries to deviate us from the right path and pull us towards itself. As long as truth and falsehood are where they should be, we have no problem distinguishing between them because whoever seeks the truth goes towards it, and for whomever follows falsehood, falsehood manifests itself. However, the problem arises precisely when, due to the mixture of truth and falsehood, we find it difficult to distinguish the right path from the wrong one.
In fact, falsehood knows that a balanced human being would never desire falsehood. For this reason, it arranges the conditions in a way that we find it difficult to find the truth because not finding the truth is equivalent to confusion and remaining in falsehood. Therefore, the reason for the multitude of conflicting news and narratives that mix truth and falsehood is nothing but keeping us in falsehood. And since suppressing the truth, which is pure light and love, is not possible, all the efforts of falsehood are directed towards closing the doors of light on us so that we will have no way to infinity. By creating successive deadlocks, it instills despair and hopelessness in us to stop our movement towards the truth. Now the question is, how, despite all the efforts of falsehood to keep us away from the truth, people turn to the Savior more and more day by day?
What Is the Truth Based on?
Unlike darkness and falsehood, light carries hope with it. It is this hope that is considered the driving force of our movement towards love and infinity, stirring us up to reach our goal and a bright future. Hope is a common word for all living humans; in fact, hope for the future, hope for achievement, and hope for bliss are all the fruits of the tree that belief in the Savior gives life to. In all divine and non-divine religions, we can find the light of hope that saves us from stagnation and immobilization, giving us the power, ability, and motivation to move forward.
This light of hope is the Savior and helper, who is equal to the end of oppression and the beginning of justice, and is a safe bridge for us to reach eternal bliss. However, undoubtedly, falsehood is an enemy to this light, using all its efforts to destroy this light of guidance and prevent us from reaching it.
Although the desire to turn to the Savior is a light that darkness and falsehood cannot suppress, falsehood resorts to any means to prevent us from reaching the truth. That is, by creating a mirage, it distorts the light of the truth so that what ultimately reaches us is falsehood which appears to be the truth, or it takes our attention from the light and main truth, and makes us fascinated and enamored by false appearances. Therefore, to avoid any mistakes, we can do nothing but acquiring ma’rifa or deep understanding of truth and falsehood.
Truth is compatible with our fitrah and falsehood with Satan, so we must first know our own truth and the essence of the devil so that we can distinguish between truth and falsehood.
Falsehood Is Weak and Empty
Arrogance has oppressed people for decades and centuries in the form of various systems such as Zionism, capitalism, imperialism, humanism, etc., keeping them away from attaining true bliss and the special status that can only be achieved under divine rule and the guidance of an infallible expert. People who once believed in and committed themselves to the false promises and imagined futures of certain systems have now become disillusioned. They are disappointed by the torture and oppression of the world’s leaders. Tired of cruelty and injustice, they are seeking a way to escape the existing situation.
Corrupt leaders around the world are seeing their power decline. Their sinister plans have become more obvious to people, and they have lost the trust of the global community. As a result, they are partially revealing their secret policies. To carry out their wicked and evil schemes, they are killing and stealing without fear or shame. The killing of tens of thousands of children and innocent people in wars, promoting unethical behaviors that go against human dignity, and blatantly violating the rights of the oppressed – these are just some of the actions of these ruthless leaders.
However, amidst this, there are individuals seeking justice and truth. With their awakened conscience, they recognize the unnatural and inhumane nature of these actions and behaviors. They express their hatred for these actions, distancing themselves from those schemes. They see no solution to ending these injustices but to speak out against this tyranny and turn to the Savior. Indeed, as these injustice intensifies, the world’s resentment towards the ruling arrogance grows, and more and more people turn to the Savior, expressing their hatred for the inhumane acts of the global hegemonic system.
Hopes That Hasten the Advent of the Savior
The more we know our fitrah, true self, and enemy, the more we are inclined to turn to the Savior. That is, the closer we get to our truth, the more we feel the need for the presence of the Savior and the harm caused by his absence. Then we will intensify our efforts for his advent and putting an end to global injustice and oppression. According to the divine plan, the advent of the Savior is certain, but despite its certainty, it is entirely dependent on the loyalty, empathy, and readiness of people. In other words, by embodying the virtues necessary for the advent of the Savior, we will be able to hasten the coming of this bright future. In this regard, the Islamic Revolution of Iran and urgent prayer for the arrival of the Savior are among the factors playing a significant role in bringing about the blessed event of the Savior’s advent.
The Iranian Revolution
As we stated earlier, one of the necessary factors for the advent of the Savior is loyalty. Unfortunately, the loyalty of the Shia to infallible experts was not strong enough throughout history, and they failed this divine test, resulting in the loss of thirteen infallibles who were left in exile and loneliness. However, the Islamic Revolution of Iran has shown that the era of indifference and disloyalty towards the Infallibles is over, and people turn to the Savior and shape a different future for history.
The Islamic Revolution not only awakened the human fitrah in Iran and even other countries worldwide, but it also laid the groundwork for fighting against arrogance and established the government of the righteous, taking the initial steps towards the formation of the Noble Rule of the Righteous.
The resilience of the Iranian people during the eight-year imposed war and the remarkable dedication shown by people of various nationalities on the Resistance Front show people turn to the Savior on a larger scale and are ready to pay any cost on the path of loyalty to the infallible Imam.
Urgent Prayer
If we want to find an example which shows that people turn to the Savior, surely urgent prayer will be the best one in this regard. Urgent prayer not only indicates people’s weariness of and dissatisfaction with the current situation but it is also an act that unconsciously brings us closer to the formulas of the advent of the Savior. In order to hasten the coming of the Savior, in addition to loyalty, we also need empathy. Urgent prayer is the pinnacle of the beneficence and mercy of the people who seek refuge in God for the liberation of humanity from the clutches of global oppression and arrogance, and desperately ask him for the advent of the Savior. History has shown that when this desire reaches its peak and is sincere, it will never be left unanswered, just as, according to a hadith from Imam Sadiq (PBUH), the fervent supplications of the Israelites to God, pleading for the arrival of the Savior, served to hasten the advent of Prophet Moses by decades.[1]
Collective Effort for Justice
The collective defense of the Palestinian cause by people around the world, along with efforts to end the oppressive Zionist occupation, are examples of the widespread empathy and loyalty among all the people of the world. Recent global events have shown people that we are all connected to one another. No one lives completely separately from others. Instead, everyone influences and is involved in the lives of others. The revolutionary movement of students and people in defense of Palestinian people, despite being aware of the hardships and problems they will face, embodies the spirit of collective justice which seeks peace, tranquility, and kindness equally for all and condemns discrimination, oppression, and tyranny. This desire for justice is indeed sparks of longing for the Savior. Whether these justice-driven people are aware or unaware, their cry for justice echoes longing for the Savior and the attempt to break free from the rule of tyrants.
According to what we stated, longing for the Savior reflects the eternal and innate desire of the human being who strives to build a safe and peaceful world which is full of love and hope. That is because a person will find peace only when he knows his human dimension under the guidance of the perfect human being and takes steps towards human growth and perfection.
[1] Muhammad Husayn Tabataba’i. Tafsir al-Mizan. vol. 10, p. 331.
