9 Ramadan 1431

On Thursday afternoon we went to Khaveh to visit a friend. We walked a bit around the village. I was feeling somewhat faint and leaned on my son, Ali. When we got back to my friend’s house, he told me to sit down while he poured cool water over my feet and into a plastic tub. I remembered the narration about Jesus (‘a) washing the feet of his disciples to teach them humility.

Jesus the son of Mary ('a) said, “O assembly of Apostles! I have a request of you. Fulfill it for me.” They said, “Your request is fulfilled, O Spirit of Allah!” Then he stood up and washed their feet. They said, “It would have been more proper for us to have done this, O Spirit of Allah!” Then he said, “Verily, it is more fitting for one with knowledge to serve the people. Indeed, I humbled myself only so that you may humble yourselves among the people after me, even as I have humbled myself among you.” Then Jesus ('a) said, “Wisdom is developed by humility, not by pride, and likewise plants only grow in soft soil, not in stone.”

(Kàfí, 1, 37, 6)

Humility is a difficult virtue. It was not considered a virtue at all by the Greeks. Farabi used the Aristotelian idea of virtue as a mean between extremes, and introduced humility as standing between arrogance and baseness, while Ibn Sina considered humility a part of wisdom that restrains the wise from arrogance. Ghazali considers it a principle virtue of those who possess taqwā.

On Friday morning we returned to Qom, and on Friday night I attended a sermon by Ayatullah Misbah Yazdi. He spoke about gratitude. Gratitude is a natural reaction that arises within one when one receives aid, especially when the aid is badly needed. [Aristotle recognizes gratitude, but only as what is due to one who has given someone something. He does not consider it as a virtue.] Religion teaches us gratitude to God, although it is a natural reaction to the divine blessings we enjoy. Some of the mutakallimin even argued for the existence of God on the basis of this natural appreciation of the good things of life. [I have also argued that belief in God is rational because it is reasonable to thank something for the bounties we enjoy, and nothing could be an appropriate object for such thanks except Allah.] Gratitude has many levels. One of the lowest levels is merely verbal. One approaches one's benefactor humbly and says "thank you". In saying "thank you" one acknowledges a debt. How can the debt be paid? One expresses readiness to serve the benefactor. [In English, we say, "much obliged", and "what can I ever do to repay you?"] If someone gives you a book, you might verbally express gratitude, but if you then throw the book in the rubbish or let children destroy it, you are ungrateful. The book should be used for study as the benefactor intended. [God has given us a book. In this blessed month the Glorious Qur'an was revealed. How can we show our gratitude?]