Third LectureThe Philosophy behind Disasters and Evils
Since ancient times, some ignorant people have criticized God for His alleged injustice. They have put forward some issues which, in their conceptualization, are in conflict with God’s genuine justice. They have even gone so far as to use these issues to support both the negation of God’s justice and His existence altogether.
Among the things, they see as evils are those mishaps ...
Eighth LectureA World of Wonder in a Small Flying Animal
Now we wish to leave the territory of our bodies and search for other signs of miracles in the wonderful creatures in our world.
If we gaze into the dark sky at night, we might be able to see a flying creature courageously searching the sky for its prey.
This creature is the bat which exhibits very strange behaviors, especially its flight during the dark and gloomy night.
The bat’s ...
For Obtaining Free Islamic Literature in 25 Languages Kindly Write To Below: In the scheme of creation, every being that comes into existence develops and grows in struggle and adversity right from the first day of its life until the time when it attains to the apex of its perfection. This is a law of nature that rules over all existents. Every person is inclined to select the shortest route to success in life and to get the fastest results from ...
Clay from Karbala is one of the soils on earth which Allah, the Exalted, has blessed for certain reasons, and one of the reasons is that this piece of the earth is where the pure and noble body of the Doyen of Martyrs, Imam al-Husayn (as), rests.
While explaining the hidden meaning of prostrating on soil from Karbala, ‘Allamah Amini says, "This issue is based on two basic principles:
a. That the Imamate Shi‘ahs try to always have a clean ...
Worshipping Allah
The value of worshipping is not completely known to us, who are in the narrowness of this world and are unaware of many facts before coming of the Last Day. Worshipping Allah leads to progress, perfection, goodness, prosperity, purified life, and obtaining the Paradise.
The Messenger of Allah (s.a) has stated about worship:
أفْضَلُ النَّاسِ مَنْ عَشِقَ العِبَادَةَ فَعَانَقَهَا ...
Any behaviour which is generally regarded by people as good, kind, gracious or obligatory, when directed towards your relatives is Sileh Rahmi.
Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.) says:"The kindness towards relative and goodness towards the believing brother makes easy your reckoning on the Day of Judgement and protects you from sins. So you should be kind to your relatives and be good to your believing brothers even if it is as little as a sincere ...
According to the corpus of traditions false testimony is a Greater sin. It is also mentioned in the narration of Abdul Azeem quoted from Imam Muhammad al-Taqi (a.s.). Similarly the tradition of Fazl Ibne Shazaan includes it in the list of Greater sins as mentioned by Imam Reza (a.s.). That it is a Greater sin is also proved by the hadith of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.) as quoted by Amash. We have already mentioned in the chapter on "lying" ...
The twenty-ninth sin, that is classified as a Greater Sin is 'Helping the oppressors'. Fazl Ibne Shazaan has narrated from Imam Reza (a.s.) that he said concerning the Greater Sins: "And helping the oppressors and bending (leaning) towards them."
In the narration of Amash from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) the following is mentioned, "Not helping the oppressed people is a Greater Sin." In other words helping the oppressors is also a Greater Sin.
Imam Musa ...
Tawheed with regards to the attributes of Allah means the realisation that the positive attributes of Allah and His Essence have only one and the same sense, and not any multiple and diverse sense. Divine attributes like Divine Eternity, Divine Knowledge and Divine Power, are the same as his Essence without any duality between His Essence and His attributes.
This concept must be clearly distinguished from the fact that Allah, the Almighty ...
Abdullah Ibne Sinan says that he inquired from Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.), "Is it haraam for a believer to expose some things of another believer that deserve to be kept secret?"
"Yes," the Imam (a.s.) replied. The narrator further asked, "Do you mean by this the 'private parts'?"
Imam (a.s.) explained, "It is not what you think, (Though it is also haraam to view the private parts), what I meant were theconfidential matters." (Al ...
Let it be known to you that tadhakkur (remembrance) is the result of tafakkur (contemplation). Hence the station of tafakkur has been considered to precede that of tadhakkur. Khwajah `Abd Allah al-'Ansari says:
Tadhakkur stands above tafakkur, for verily tafakkur is the search (of the Beloved) and tadhakkur is the attainment (of the Beloved).
As long as man is on the path of search, he is separate from the searched object. With ...
Irfan is one of the disciplines that originated within the realm of Islamic culture and developed there to attain a high level of sophistication. But before we can begin to discuss 'irfan, we must realize that it can be approached from two viewpoints: the social and the academic. Unlike the scholars of other Islamic disciplines - such as the Quranic commentators (mufassirun), the scholars of hadith (muhaddithun), the jurisprudents (fuqaha'), ...
The word "Shia" means "followers; members of party". As such, the term "Shia" alone has no negative or positive meaning unless we specify the leader of the party. If one is a Shia (follower) of the most righteous servants, then there is nothing wrong with being Shia, specially if the leader of such party has been assigned by Allah. On the other hand, if one becomes the Shia a tyrant or a wrong-doer, he shall meet with the fate of his leader. ...
Section: Concerning the Meaning of the Phrase `Know God by God':
It should he known that eminent scholars have given different explanations in expounding the phrase in the noble tradition, each in accordance with the character of his scholarship and philosophical approach. Here we will briefly mention some of their views for the sake of benefiting from the barzakah of the speech of the great ones.
First is that which has been stated by ...
It is concluded from the authentic traditions that one who tries to show-off in religious matters is a mushrik and a hypocrite. He is inevitably condemned to Divine punishment. It is one and the same whether his show-off concerns the obligatory acts or the recommended acts.
Similarly he may simply exhibit outward piety or his aim may be to acquire honour and respect among the people. Even if he has a dual aim (of showing off and fulfilling his ...
... Muhammad ibn Ya'qub (al-Kulayni) from 'Ali ibn Ibrahim, from Muhammad ibn 'Isa, from Yunus, from Aban, from Hakim; who says: "I asked Abu `Abd Allah (al-Imam al-Sadiq) (A) as to the lowest degree of ilhad (apostasy). He answered, `Verily kibr (pride) is its lowest degree.' " [1]
What is Kibr?
Kibr is the name of a psychic state in which a person feels a sense of superiority and behaves high-handedly with others. Its signs are ...
The sixteenth Greater sin is singing songs. Traditions have graded it amongst the mortal sins. This fact is clear from the narration of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.) as quoted by Amash. Muhammad Ibne Muslim relates that Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) said, "Singing is that sin which has been promised a penalty of fire (Hell) by Allah."
It is evident from numerous reports, that whichever sin incurs Hell as its punishment, is a Greater Sin. ...
Repentance could be defined as a feeling of being ashamed, sorry, and regretful for past sins. Some one who is indeed ashamed by heart for his past sins may truly be called as a repentant. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) said:"Feeling ashamed and being sorry (for past deeds) is ...
The atrocities of Bani Abbas towards the progeny of Ali and the sons of Imam Jafer Sadiq had created unrest and confusion as well as the problem of succession to Imam Hasan Askari (260, 874 AD). At Samerra there rendered elements and factors, which as a result brought on the theory of the Imam’s occultation.However it was not a theory but a reality, a fact, a truth. It was written in books before Imam Hasan Askari had become Imam that the ...
The Imamis are agreed - in following the Imams from the pure family - that the mash of the ears is not a part of the wudu, for there is no proof for it in the book, the sunna or in any consensus. Rather, it is clear from the book that the wudu consists of the two washings - the face and the hands - and the two wipings - the head and the feet.
The Hanbalis have deemed it obligatory to wipe the ears with the auditory meatus. Ibn Rushd reported ...
