RNA – During his advanced jurisprudence class at Qom’s Grand Mosque (Masjid al-A’dham), Grand Ayatollah Ja’far Sobhani emphasized the importance of speaking beautifully and eloquently.
His Eminence referred to a narration from the fifth Imam, Muhammad al-Baqir which says: “Speak beautifully until you hear a nice reply.” Ayatollah Sobhani explained that this narration teaches us that if we want to educate someone we should speak politely and beautifully to them. “If we belittle the person, we will not receive a good reply,” he stated, according to Rasa News Agency.
When the second Imam, Hasan al-Mujtaba (A) was training his children, as well as those of his brother, Imam Husayn (A), he said: “You are the children of today and the leaders of the future, training you now is an investment in the future.”
Ayatollah Sobhani explained that Imam Hasan (A) spoke a lot about the importance of speaking beautifully. He added that although the Ahlul-Bayt (A) lived 14 centuries ago, the lessons they taught us are still compatible with human nature today.
His Eminence emphasized that when speaking from the pulpit, the sermon should be delivered in a beautiful method to attract the people to the message. The speaker should be proficient in speaking and not speak with an angry tone. “Whenever our teacher, Ayatollah Boroujerdi would upset a student due to his harsh tone during lessons, he would apologize and if necessary, he would even go to that person’s house to apologize,” Ayatollah Sobhani remembered.
“We should remember that the person whom we are speaking to may only be a simple seminarian at the beginning of his studies today, but he may be a mujtahid or minister in the future. Thus, we should observe politeness when speaking to them,” he explained.
In another part of his lecture, Ayatollah Sobhani warned that if someone wants to me a mujtahid, they must regularly attend and participate in their classes. They should prepare for their lessons beforehand and also engage in mubahithah – group discussions with their classmates. Mubahithah is an important part of a seminary education.
Ayatollah Sobhani also warned that seminary classes should not be taught wherein the seminarians just listen to a lecture without being trained in a proper method as a properly-taught lesson trains the seminarian. Also, classes should start on time and students should not arrive late to class. He stated that the classroom’s doors should be closed so that students cannot come and go without excuses.
111/112