By: Grand Ayatullah Abdullah Jawadi Amoli
There were few Islamic or Qur'anic issues in which His Eminence, Our Teacher, did not have a comprehensive knowledge. If, on occasion, an issue arose which he had not studied every facet of, he would say (with candor): "I do not know." This is what the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali (Peace be Upon him) spoke of when he said: Half of knowledge is to say: "I do not know." This means that human beings do not have the capacity to absorb an unlimited amount of knowledge and perfection. This limited [capacity for attaining] perfection mandates that man – whatever he knows – he must express with humility, and [that] if he does not know, moreover, he must say: "I do not know." One who is truly learned, has the audacity [to confess this]; this audacity – in terms of practice – is [a facet of] perfection, and such a perfection constitutes half of knowledge.
His Eminence, Our Teacher, was humble toward all people, but his humility and benevolence toward his students had an [entirely] different air and appearance to it, such that he considered his students to be his children. His method in approaching [them] was such that, when in his presence, aside from the knowledge which one gained from him one would also gain emotional benefit. One would profit from [enlightening] teachings accompanied by the nourishment of compassion.
It is narrated from the great Prophet (Peace and Blessings be Upon him and his Household): Ali and I are the fathers of the Islamic nation. The religious scholars who completely obey the authority of that great man, use this same emotional expression with respect to their students. The teacher plays a fatherly role [for his students].
The humility of His Eminence, Our Teacher – like the other moral characteristics of this great man – was an approach which had an effect on those who surrounded him; [in fact,] it could be considered a type of class in morality. His opinion about the study of morals drew heavily from this method, such that in response to the repeated requests from him to teach a class on morals, he would say: Morals is not something to be taught in a class; rather, it is a method of action. A [moral] person's path and his actions must be the teacher; if we simply say that one must be humble, trusting, and the like, these words fail in solving the core of moral problems. But when an individual himself is humble and trusting, others – in seeing his humility and trust – will [fall under his influence and] become humble and trusting.
This is because the language of action is more substantive than spoken language, and [thus] the impact of action is greater than the impact of [mere] words. And because the real expression is stronger than the verbal expression, its influence is greater. However, the difficulty of the real expression [of morals] has caused it to become rare, and for the verbal expression to become more prevalent. The prevalence [of an action] depends on [its level of ease]; just as has been said about truth and other issues: 'A right/truth is the vastest thing in description but narrowest in equability of action.1' [The Peak of Eloquence, Sermon 215]
[1] i.e. when people describe the truth/rights and clarify it, they will have a vast area due to the ease of its mentioning on their tongues. However, when equability of action comes into place between them and they are accounted for it, it becomes narrow due to the difficulty of acting upon truth and equity. (Allamah Majlisī, Sharḥ Nahj al-Balāghah, Biḥār al-Anwār, v. 2)
Source: Ayatollah Javadi Amoli, Shamsolvahy-e Tabrizi, p. 241 -
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