The efforts of the prophets of God and the purpose behind their appointment throughout the ages has been the nurturing of the human being. The being which is the most elite of all creation and with the proper nurturing of whom, the universe gets nurtured and with the corruption of whom the universe gets corrupted. The efforts of all the divine messengers from the first one to the last one have been to invite and lead this being to the Straight Path- and not mere verbal guidance and sermonizing but rather as serving as exemplars and by setting examples through their own deeds, acts, and words in order to reach this being to the perfection that he is worthy of. Alas! Their vision did not materialize as per their intentions and even in times to come the dream that they had for humanity will not come true. This has been because they face a being which is known by none except Allah and by those who have received their knowledge from the Almighty Allah, man is an intricate being who does not even know himself. And in all likelihood, the Prophetic saying, “The one who has known himself has known his Lord,” (Ghurar al-Hikam, hadith 4637, p. 232) hints at this very reality. A knowledge of the self in man and an awareness of the attributes and the instincts that are innately present in him are either impossible or are nearly impossible to reach, except by the Infallible Ones who have been purified completely by Allah. Since man is full of self-love and wants everything exclusively for himself, he is left without the awareness of many realities because of this intense self-love; or in other words, he cannot truly know himself under the influence of this self-love.
Sahifeh, vol. 14, Page: 6-7
Speech, January 24, 1981