The words you are about to read are from a lecture I gave

at the Husayniyah Irshad. To begin with, I had wanted to

comment upon the research of Professor Louis Massignon

concerning the personality and complicated life of Fatima. I had

wished to refer to the deep and revolutionary influence her

memory evokes in Muslim societies and the role she has played

in the breadth of Islamic transformations. These remarks were

intended particularly for my university students participating

in 'History and Knowledge of Religions', 'The Sociology of

Religions', and'Islamology'.

   As I entered the gathering, I saw that, in addition to the

university students, many others had come. This spoke of the

need for a more urgent response to the problem. I agreed to

answer the pertinent question of womanhood so extremely

important today for our society.

   Women who have remained in the 'traditional mould' do not

face the problem of identity while women who have accepted

the 'new imported mould' have adopted a foreign identity. But

in the midst of these two types of 'molded women', there are

those who can neither accept their hereditary, traditional form5

nor surrender to this imposed new form. What should they do?

   They want to decide for themselves. They want to develop

themselves. They need a model, an ideal example, a heroine.

For them, the problem of 'Who am I? and who do I become?' are

urgent. Fatima, through her own 'being', answers these quesz

tions.

   I would have been satisfied with giving an analytical

description of the personality of Fatima. I found that book shop5

had no books about her and thus, our intellectuals know noth

ing about her life. I was obliged to compensate for this lack to a

certain extent. Thus this present essay is the same lecture-but

expanded to include a biography based upon documented, tra-

ditional sources-about this beloved person, who has remained

unknown or misinterpreted. In this biography, I particularly

drew from historical documents. Whenever I reached a problem

of faith and explicitly Jafari views, I chose Hanafi, Hanbali,

Maliki and Shafii sources. From the scholar's point of view, they

are irrefutable.

   I cannot say that this lecture is without need of criticism.

Rather, the reverse is true. It is in great need-waiting for those

with pure hearts, those who like to guide, those who are willing

to serve, rather than those who use hostility, abuse and slander.
 
 

INTRODUCTION

   On this sacred night, it was not planned that such an

unsacred person as myself speak. I have gained much

from my contact with the work of Professor Louis

Massignon. He was a great man and well-known Islamic schol-

ar who had written about Fatima.

   I was greatly influenced by her blessed life as well as her

effect upon the history of Islam. Even after her death, she kept

alive the spirit of those who seek justice and oppose oppression

and discrimination in Islamic society. She was a manifestation

and a symbol of the Way and essential direction of 'Islamic

thought'.

   As a student, I played a small role in the preparation of the

great work of Massignon especially at the beginning of the

research stage. The documents and information which existed

had been recorded over a period of fourteen hundred years.

They were written in all languages and local Islamic dialects.

The historic implications of various documents and even of local

odes and folk songs were studied. I have been asked to summa-

rize this work here.

   I said to myself, "I will offer this work here today because it

has yet to be published, and the great man who began it, has

left this world with this work uncompleted." People unfortu-

nately do not know about this work. Even Europeans, who are

familiar with Islam, do not know about this study. This has also

affected our own scholars, who are familiar with Islam through

the writings of Europeans, and, therefore, remain uninformed

about this work.

   I accepted this invitation and I said to myself, "1 will

describe the manuscripts to my students, in particular, those

who participate in my classes at the Husayniyah Irshad. I will

give them the scientific and historic results of the deep research

of this great man."

   But now I see and sense that this gathering differs. It is not

a group gathered for a sermon or a discourse. The women and

men who are now here are all intellectuals and educated repre-

sentatives of the needy of today's generation in this society.

They have not come to hear me speak of Fatima in order to gain

spiritual reward from this gathering tonight. They have not

come to hear a dry, scientific, historic lecture. They have a

newer, more urgent, more alive need to answer the most sensi-

tive question for those who are affected by our contemporary

fate: Who am I?
 
 

CHAPTER ONE 
WHO AM I?

   In our society, women change rapidly. The tyranny of our

times and the influence of institutions take women away

from 'what she is'. All her traditional characteristics and

values are taken away from her until she is made into a crea-

ture 'they want', 'they build'. We see that 'they have built'! This

is why the most important and relevant question for the awak-

ened woman at this time is, 'Who am I?' She knows full well

that she cannot remain what she is. Actually, she does not want

to accept modern masks to replace the traditional ones. She

wants to decide for herself. Her contemporaries choose for

themselves. They consciously adorn their personalities with

awareness and independence. They dress themselves. They

manifest an essence. They reflect a sketch. But they do not

know how. They do not know the design of the real human

aspect of their personality which is neither a reflection of their

ethnic heritage nor an artificially imposed imitative mask. With

which of these do they identify??

   The second question which arises from this, stems from the

following: we are Muslims, women of a society, who wish to

make decisions through reason and choice and to relate them to

a history, religion and society which received its spirit and basis

from Islam. A woman in this society wants to be herself. She

wants to build herself, 'herself'. She wants to be reborn. In this

re-birth, she wants to be her own midwife. She neither wants to

be a product of her ethnic heritage nor to adopt a supefficial

facade. She cannot remain heedless of Islam, and she cannot

remain indifferent to it.

   Thus, it is natural that this question should arise for the

Muslim woman. Our people continue to speak about Fatima.

   Every year, hundreds of thousands of Muslims cry for her.

There are hundreds of thousands of gatherings, prayer meet-

ings, festivals and mourning ceremonies in her memory. There

are ceremonies of praise, joy, honor and majesty for her in

which her generosity is remembered through unusual customs.

They hold rituals of lamentation where they re-create her sor-

rows and speak ill of and damn those who offended her. In spite

of all of this, her real personality is not known.

   Yet, in spite of the little Muslims know about her, they

accept Fatima, her majesty and power, with their whole hearts.

They offer her their hearts with all the spiritual strength, faith

and will that a people can have or a human community build.
 
 

WISDOM AND LOVE

   Each religion, school of thought, movement or revolution is

made up of two elements: wisdom and love. One is light and the

other is motion. One gives common sense and understanding,

the other, strength, enthusiasm and movement. In the words of

Alexis Carrel, 'Wisdom is like the lights of a car which show the

way. Love is like the motor which makes it move.' Each is noth-

ing without the other. A motor, without lights, is blind lovc

dangerous, tragic and potentially fatal.

   In a society, in a movement of thought or in a revolutionary

school of thought, men of letters (who are clear thinkers, who

are aware and responsible) show, through their works, that

there is a way to come to know a school of thought or a religion.

They show that there is a way to give awareness to people. The

responsibility of the people, on the other hand, is to give their

spirits and their strength to a movement. They are responsible

for giving the starting push.

   A movement is like a living body. It thinks with the brain of

scholars and loves through the hearts of its people. If faith, sin-

cerity, love and sacrifice seldom found in a society, people are

responsible. But where correct understanding of a school of

thought is at a low level (where vision, awareness, logical con-

sciousness and deep familiarity with the goals of a school of

thought are lacking, where the meaning, purpose and truths of

a school of thought are missing) the scholars are responsible.

Religion, in particular, needs both. In religion, knowledge and

feelings are not treated as separate entities. They are trans-

formed into understanding and faith by means of common sense

and knowledge.

   This is Islam. More than any other religion, it is a religion

of the recitation of the book, a religion of struggle in God's Way

(jihad), a religion of thought and love. In the Koran, one cannot

find the boundaries between love and faith. The Koran consid-

ers martyrdom to be eternal life. It blinds one to the pen and

writing. If Muslims are unaware of this, who is responsible?
 
 

CHAPTER TWO

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?

   Religious scholars! It is they who do not perform their

responsibilities in respect to the people. They should give

awareness, consciousness and direction to the people.

They do not.

   All our geniuses and great talents occupy themselves with

philosophy, theology, Sufism, jurisprudence, conjugation and

syntax. Through all the years of research, thought and their

own scholarly anguish, they write nothing other than 'practical

treatises' on such subjects as purity for the prescribed prayer,

types of ritual impurities, rules of menstruation, and doubts

which arise in prescribed prayer.

   They leave aside writing treatises on how to speak with peo-

ple, treatises on how to communicate the religious truths and

the philosophy of the pillars of the religion, treatises on how to

communicate consciousness and awareness to people, treatises

on the understanding of the traditions of the Prophet and the

personalities of the Companions, treatises on the revolutionary

purpose behind Karbala, treatises on the family of the Prophet,

and treatises on the faith of the people. All of these treatises are

written, but all of them are written without responsibility, with-

out the role of a commander. They pass their responsibilities on

to the ordinary speakers in the mosques, not to the religious

leaders whose directions for the practice of the faith are fol-

lowed (mujtahids).

   This is why the task of introducing the Prophet's family, the

task of understanding religion and the task of studying the

truths of Islam fall prone to the 'failures of the old schools of

religion'. It is for this reason that a group of young people, in

order to study Islamic sciences and to carry jurisprudence for-

ward, enter the schools. If talented, through great efforts, they

become jurisprudents or mujtahids or faqihs [theologians]. This

group is imprisoned as teachers and removed from the commu-

nity. Those who do not succeed in studying properly, because

they do not have the ability, talent or spiritual strength but

rather have warm, often artistic, voices, are obliged to propa-

gate and advertise the truths of the religion. The third group,

who have neither this nor that, neither the science nor at least

a voice, take the third way. They become dumb and speechless.

They take themselves to the 'sacred door' and move ahead of

both mujtahids and speakers in the mosques.

   In the midst of this, be just! What will the fate of the people

be? What is the fate of their religion? It is not necessary to think

very hard. No. Just look.

   We know a dream appeared to Joan of Arc, a sensitive and

imaginative girl, commanding her to fight in order to have her

king returned. For centuries, her dream has given a vision of

freedom, of sacrifice and of revolutionary courage to enlight-

ened, aware and progressive French people. Compare Joan to

Zaynab, the sister of Imam Husayn, who carried a heavier man-

date. Zaynab's mandate was to continue the movement of

Karbala. She opposed murders, terror and hysterics. She con-

tinued the movement at a time when all the heroes of the revo-

lution were dead, when the heroism and wisdom of the com-

manders of Islam at the time of the Prophet were gone. But she

has been turned into only a 'sister who mourns'.

   I hear reproachful cries towards the scholars who are

responsible for these beliefs, ideas and thoughts of the people. I

do not know whether these cries come from the throats of peo-

ple or from the depths of their consciences.

   With what are you busy? From where do you speak?

Throughout all of these years, where is one book for people

telling them what is in the Koran? In place of praise, eulogy,

prayer, poetry, song, lamentation and the love of Rumi, why

have you sealed your lips among people? An English speaking

person cannot easily understand what the Prophet has said, but

can he read all of the works of La Martine, the French lover.

What do you say? All the songs of the ancient Greek woman,

Bilitis, of dubious morals, can be read, but the words of the

Prophet, one saying of the Prophet, cannot be read.

   You speak so much about the generosity and miracles of the

Prophet's family but where are the books about them? You

recount their miracles on their birthdays and days of their

deaths. You have festivals and mourning ceremonies. Where are

the treatises for Muslims, enamored of the Prophet, which say

who he was and who Fatima was, which say how their children

lived and how they thought, which say what they did and what

they said?

   Our people, who spend their lives in love with the

Companions and who cry over the difficulties they faced, who

serve them for months and years, who glorify their name, spend

money and give sincerity and patience to them, deserve to know

the real lives of each one of them. The* lives, thoughts, words,

silences, freedoms, imprisonments, and martrydoms should

give awareness, chastity and humaness to people.

   If an ordinary person mourns for Husayn and on the

anniversary of his death [ashura] strikes his head with his dag-

ger and bears the pain cven with pleasurc and still knows

Husayn only in an oblique way and misunderstands Karbala,

who is responsible? If a woman cries with her whole being, if

the recollection of the name of Fatima and Zaynab burns her to

her bones and if she would, with complete love, give her life for

them, and yet, if she does not thoroughly know Fatima and

Zaynab, who is responsible?

   Neither this man nor this woman knows one line of their

heroine's words. None of them have read one line about their

lives. They can only recall Fatima standing beside her father

when someone threw dust on him. They only knew Zaynab from

the moment when she left the tents to go to gather the bodies of

the martyrs. They only knew her from the morning of the day

of Ashura up until noon; from then on they lost her. Their

awareness of Zaynab ends the day when her great mandate, the

legacy of Husayn, just began. Their knowledge about Zaynab

ends here. Then, who is responsible?

   And, thus, educated and open minded boys and girls judge

the situation and say, 'What is the use of this religion? What

can such a religion do? What knots do all this excitement,

lamentation and cries for Husayn, Fatima and Zaynab untie for

our backwards, imprisoned people who need awareness and

commitment to negate oppression and to seek freedom.

   'What pain does this religion of remorse, these ancient

wounds, historic lamentations and curses create for our

deprived, illiterate women who want their freedom and clear

vision. Does one reach the heart of the problem by doing away

with love and hatred? People are busy with feelings which

passed centuries ago in foreign lands. They relate to lives

passed among strangers. They do not know persecution. They

have not sensed the chains of oppression around their necks,

nor the pain when falling upon their human shadow. They have

never burst in anger nor boiled under the remembrance of the

chains which a caliphate one day hung around the neck of a sick

person.

    They have not thrown up their hands and struck their dag-

gers upon their heads until they leave their senses. They have

not seen them when their consciousness returns, when their

heart grows quiet, when their sins become pure, when all

responsibility falls from their shoulders, when they cheat the

scales of divine justice and when they tamper with their deeds

for the after life.

    As a result, when they have performed enough dirty deeds

to compare with stars in the sky, with foam of the sea and with

the sands of the desert, when with a small amount of surgery

performed by striking their daggers upon their heads, they

imagine that they have completely changed their situation and

become as innocent as the moment they were born from their

mother's womb. They fed that then even God owes them some-

thing.

    If people believe that the advantage of following Prophet

Muhammad (SAW) will result in a chemical reaction which

accords with the Koran, "God will change their evil deeds into

good deeds" [25:71]; if people believe that the soul of this trea-

son which they commit in this world will change its essence in

the other world and will take the form of good deeds, then who

is responsible?

    If this belief in Prophet Muhammad (SAW), which has for cen-

turies had the strength of a movement desiring justice, seeking

freedom and fighting oppression and despotic institutions; if

this movement can free awakened and aware people and give

them liberty, justice, chastity and independence; if it can

change them both socially and individually; and if the move-

ment can bring about an intellectual, revolutionary leadership

fighting class distinctions and giving life and consciousness to a

society and if they have not shown this to the people, then who

is responsible?

   If the value, influence and effect of remembering the family

of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is transferred from this world to

another world and if its effect is only measured after death,

then who is responsible? If the promises and covenants of our

ancestors to this family have had no effect upon their thoughts,

their time, their society; and if their sons and daughters (seeing

this ineffectiveness) remain cut-off from these promises and

links with this religion and this family, then, who is responsible?
 
 

CHAPTER THREE

INTELLECTUALS VS. THE PEOPLE
 

WHAT DID THEY MISS? THE FAMILY OF MUHAMMAD:

   Is it that this family is without effect or is it that our young

generation and our intellectuals are in error? Or have our

mothers and fathers failed in their responsibilities? Prophet

Muhammad (SAW) is the clearest of truth. He represents the most

progressive school of thought which has ever taken human

form. It is not a myth. It is a human reality (or should be). It is

what could be but isn't.

   And his daughter, Fatima is a perfect example of an ideal

woman whom no one has yet become. His grandchildren-

Husayn and Zaynab-the sister and the brother, who brought

deep revolution to mankind and who fought for honor and free-

dom and who opposed despotism and oppression.

   The house of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is like the Kabah in

which the children and the inheritors of Abraham (AS) reside. It

is a sign and a symbol. It is Real. It is made of stone whereas

they are human beings. The Kabah is the place of circumambu-

lation for Muslims; whereas, the house of Prophet Muhammad

(SAW) is the destination of every heart which understands beau-

ty, majesty, freedom, justice, love, sincerity, and strength. It is

the destination of those who encourage jihad and sacrifice to

preserve the lives and freedom of the people.

   From another point of view, the palaces of the caesars (from

which, historians say, waft culture, civilization, religion,

thought, discipline and art) are turned around. Our intelligent,

loyal, lovers of virtue who have known this household-luckless

and quiet-have always been sacrificed. Our people have tied

eternal links to them. All their faith, longing, thought and feel-

ings have been devoted to them. Their hearts beat for them.

Their eyes cry with their sorrow. They sacrifice themselves and

their possessions in their way. They withhold nothing.

    Look at these poverty-stricken, starving people who show

their feelings and the faith which they have in each individual

member of this beloved family. What things have they not done

and what things will they not do for them?

    The spending of money often shows with much clarity the

power of faith and sincerity. Let us examine all the time, endow-

ments and money which people have spent for this family. We

see that the poverty among people is so advanced that the prob-

lems of bread and water, children's milk and medicine for the

hospitals are the most important things in life. Still, any time

and under any circumstances which relate to this family, we see

that over one million ceremonies are held in their honor.

    Over 150,000 clergy and speakers exist for reciting the con-

gregational ritual prayers. There are more than 700,000

descendants of the Prophet's family who speak at the lamenta-

tion ceremonies where eulogists restore the memory of this fam-

ily. How much is spent for construction of the buildings for the

ceremonies related to Husayn [husayniyahs], on places where

the passion plays are performed [taziyahs], on neighborhood

clubs where young men form groups which participate in reli-

gious ceremonies [hayats], on dastahs [the generic name of the

groups]. How much is spent for lamentation ceremonies and

food, for that which is held in the name of taxes [khums], for the

religious leaders' share, for that spent in good works and feed-

ing poor people. It is above and beyond counting. This is partic-

ularly important when we consider that this country is one of

the most economically backward countries. Income, according

to head count, is minimal.

    If we pay attention, in particular, to the great differences in

classes which exists in Islamic societies, we see that half of the

capital of the country is in the hands of a few thousand people.

We see that two-thirds of whatever there is, is at the disposal of

only 10% of the population. We see that, as opposed to the past,

capital has been taken from the former landlords and the for-

mer merchants of the bazaar and has been put into the hands

of new capitalists, new industrialists, modern bourgeois compa-

nies and middle men who sell foreign goods or produce new

products themselves.

   We see that the money has moved from village storage

areas, from the shops of the old merchants under the old roofs

of the bazaar, from the hands of local handicrafts workers, from

the hands of money changers and indigenous professional

guilds, from traditional industries and classical professions to

the banks, to stock exchange, to foreign companies, to agencies,

to distributors, to contractors and to factories. A new class is

created. It is characterized by foreignness and modernization. It

adores the West. It is not religious. If it had a memory of or

inclination towards religion, it has long since been stamped out.

Luxury, transience, pretentiousness and foreignness prevail

among this class. And their Islam, in the words of Sayyid Qutb,

is an American Islam.

   People who follow religion without responsibility and with-

out effort, most often give their opinions without acting or

investing anything. Intellectuals spend no money. Our young

girls and boys have for years given dancing parties in

Switzerland, France, England, America and Austria. They have

been most generous in their expenditure on such parties.

   Men and women of this materialist class go abroad with

their money bags overflowing. In the stores and casinos, they

put money into the pockets of the capitalists, the milkers of

money. They are no more than cash-cows, seen by deceiving

Westerners as donkeys with money, donkeys coming out of a

backward country. They squander their wealth on expensive

dancers. They go slumming and then return to their country-

until once again they gather up enough money to go back to be

milked. They do all this very naturally and without any under-

standing of their mistake or error cven holding their heads

high. With lies, people are turned in circles. They call this

progress, modern living and a sign of civilization.

   At the same time, a small merchant or villager gets ready

for his pilgrimage (haJJ) to Makkah or Karbala after a lifetime

Of work and anguish. He goes on the principle that this is the

only thing in his life which will be both a time of rest as well as

pleasure-a journey, a tour, traveling abroad and coming to

know other countries. He will see the world and renew his faith,

his beliefs and his union with his history. He makes the pil-

grimage to his beloved people. He comes to know the remains of

his civilization. He sees art which relates to him. Because of his

love, the longing of his spirit, and finally, the duty of his reli-

gious faith, once in a lifetime, he intends to make the pilgrim-

age. He takes a minimum amount of money. He pays for his

plane ticket and the rest he uses for his expenses there and to

buy gifts which he takes back home. What he spends there is

the money to rent a tent or to take a bus or to buy a few days of

food. The total of all this does not reach the cost of one night of

Mr. and Mrs. so and so's champagne in the Lido or one of their

caviar breakfasts in the George V Hotel.

    These pseudo-intellectuals who supposedly understand the

subtle points of things, who are recently reborn (financially)

look down upon a little merchant or a villager who lacks sophis-

tication. All the feelings of such 'gentlemen', their knowledge,

their class prejudice produce such hatred for the worker and the

peasant that even Che Guevara could not stem it.

    We see this new moneyed class side by side with our gener-

al poverty. Town dwellers and village dwellers have become

poorer, more afflicted and more hungry while the class of minor

landowners and merchants has become weak and dispersed by

the growth of new capitalist classes. The majority have

remained in the same class. A minority of people change class-

es, moving either up or down.

    We see only two groups, modern types and traditional types

Those loyal to their beliefs and religious rites in a sense are part

of these two groups. The strength of religion and the great

expenses incurred in respect to rites and the inaugurating of

places for gatherings or buildings for religious purposes-all

are a sign that the binding of our peoples' spirit with the

Prophet's family is unbelievably deep and strong. It shows to

what extent faith and sincerity are strong and pure.

    It is after considering these things that the question, 'Who

iS responsible?' suddenly drops upon our head like a sledge

hammer. A person who has until now followed the problem log-

ically and clearly uncovering all sides of the issue, studying it

phase by phase, concludes that all is correct. Take a good look

at Islam!
 
 

ISLAM

    Islam is the last historical, religious school of thought pos-

sessing the most perfect Prophet, the Koran, the Companions

and their histories as models of life, chastity and civilization.

Islam brings law, progress, strength and culture to society.

Islam has had a history full of struggle in God's Way. Its believ-

ers show perseverance. They are inspired by freedom and jus-

tice. They are an avenging fire for despots and for the preju-

diced. They have submitted to the way. Linked to the wrath of

Truth, its followers are enemies of anything which conceals the

Truth. They are enemies of a politics which reduces one to slav-

ery. They are enemies of economic exploitation and spiritual

despotism.

   We can see the issue from another point of view. Our people,

warm with faith, melting with love, with more than religious

belief, with truth in thought, give their love to the Prophet's

family. Their names raise their spirits. The mere mention of

them makes blood boil in their veins. In their longing for sacri-

fice, their zeal flows. They are ready to be martyred out of their

love for them. They cry in pain from their sorrow. They are full

of sorrow because they were not present on that bloody day of

Ashura. Then bloodied tears run. Sometimes, nearly insane,

they draw their daggers and strike their heads. They lament all

year long. Their sorrow is real. All year they think about those

who went before them. Then-full of praise for their positions

and titles-united as lovers, dressed in black from head to toe,

drowned in tears and pain, they long with their whole being to

pay with their lives. Their love brings on thirst, restlessness,

anguish and it finally consumes them.

   From yet another point of view, our enlightened thinkers

are sensitive people, awakened, aware of the fate of the world

and the fate of their society. They are familiar with the spirit

and movement of time. Their timely demands need a boiling

faith. They seek out revolutionary thought. They think about

freedom, equality and justice for people. They attempt to bring

about awareness, and responsibility among their people. They

see their people and the religion of Husayn and Zaynab. They

see justice, strength, struggle in God's Way, torture, martyr-

dom, Karbala...and they wonder...

   Why are there no results when each member of that blessed

family can inspire life, awareness, and enthusiasm in those who

are faithful to these ideas, overflowing with life and liberty?

Why do these perfect forms, whose origins lie in the majesty of

humanity, not bear fruit?

   Then, who is responsible? In one word, the religious schol-

ars. It is they who should have made Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

understandable. It is they who should have taught his

thoughts.

    In Islam, the scholars are not wise people. They guarantee

nothing. They do not have a handful or a bucketful or a truck-

ful of knowledge. Science does not consist of hundreds of pieces

of information and knowledge. In their hearts is a ray of light,

the light of God. It is not a question of divine science, illumina-

tion or gnosticism. It is also not chemistry, physics, history,

geography, jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence, philoso-

phy or logic, which are all types of scientific knowledge.

    A science becomes illuminated with light when its knowl-

edge brings about responsibility, guiding knowledge, and orga-

nization of ideas. This is called jurisprudence in the Koran, but

today it is known as 'the science of rules of the divine Law and

things related to it'. This science should not remain in or with

darkness. Rather, it lightens space and breaks the night apart.

It shows the way.

    The learned Jafari religious scholar is the vice-gerent of the

Mahdi. He takes the religious taxes on his behalf. The most evi-

dent of his responsibilities is to have people come to know who

the Mahdi is. If a good translation of the Prophet's prayers is

not available, religious scholars are to blame. If people only

know a little of the virtues, good deeds and miracles of our

Prophet and his Companions, then religious scholars are to

blame.