This is the word of the Holy Prophet (s.w.a.): "People are like mines. They are like gold and silver mines" [Shafi, page 827]. This noble, brief and pithy sentence means that there are hidden talents in each individual. Certain people connect this argument with determinism and free will and such things. This is missing the obvious point that this noble hadith contains. This hadith wants to say that there are certain gold and silver mines in which, seemingly, only stones and earth exist. Nothing else is visible. But if you search and if you know these mines, you will find a precious element - whose value is not comparable to the low value it seems to have - under the same stones and earth. This hadith mentions gold and silver as examples. There are other kinds of mines. The same is true of human beings.
They have an outward appearance which is manifested in their gestures, words and behavior. But there is also an inner world which is the enormous talents bestowed on people by Allah the Exalted. Of course, these talents are not equal as mines are not equal, but they are all similar in that what is hidden in the inner worlds of people is much more valuable than what is manifested in their outward appearance. If you work on mines and if you make great efforts, you can find the valuable material in these mines.
The same is true of human beings. It requires effort. A number of people should try to cultivate these talents. The necessary condition for finding this precious material is having knowledge of it. A person who does not know what gold or silver is will ignore it even if he comes across it in this mine because he does not know what it is. You should know what gold is and what its value is. Then you should go find it and make efforts to extract it. The same is true of human beings. Those who cultivate the talents of people, teachers of children, particularly teachers of the youth - those who want to benefit from god-given talents of people - should recognize these talents and appreciate their value. Then they should go develop them.
In geology, we carry out certain research in order to find out whether the earth has certain minerals or not, what its mines are, how big they are and how we should extract certain things out of them. The same is true of human beings. One group of people have enormous and outstanding talents and another group of people have fewer talents. Talents are different in essence. In certain places, gold is necessary and in other places silver is necessary. If you use gold for carrying out the kind of work which requires the use of silver, you will not achieve any results. If you use gold for carrying out the kind of work which requires the use of iron, you will not achieve any results. Each is necessary for carrying out a certain kind of work. With their various talents, human beings fulfill the need of human communities to move towards God and perfection. All these talents should be developed.
This places a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of teachers and governments. Discovering talents, recognizing talents, appreciating the value of talents, knowing how to cultivate talents and then following up the issue with great subtlety are the things which help talents flourish. The prophets used to do this. "Allah sent His Messengers and series of His prophets towards them to get them to fulfill the pledges of His creation, to recall to them his bounties... to unveil before them the hidden virtues of wisdom" [Nahjul Balaghah, Letter 1]. The prophets used to stir people's wisdom and make it operate. This is the same as prompting talents. Therefore, "people are like mines, they are like gold and silver mines". No human being should be regarded with contempt. He has a talent which society may need desperately.
There are certain people who live to the age of 70 or 80 and then they pass away. Their talents, however, are not discovered. In fact, these people are treated unfairly. If his talents were discovered, he would be a genius and an outstanding personality. This places a heavier responsibility on the shoulders of teachers in a society such as the clergy, schoolteachers, different sectors of the government and different educational institutions. They should take care not to neglect this issue.
