Every so often, we are shocked by the death of a young member of our community. We experience a short-lived rush to perform extra prayers, but the effect goes away quickly. Instead, we must learn to effectively reflect on our lives. Every day, we witness the deaths of people around us, but we pay minimal thought to the day when others will witness our death.Attempts to speak about death are usually suspended by those who feel uneasy hearing ...
One gains perfection by getting close to God. The closer one gets to God, the most perfect his soul becomes, until he reaches a state that he can pay attention to nothing, but to God.Quoting Prophet Muhammad, Imam Sadiq said, the Prophet of God believed that the obligations God has ordained were the best deeds ever and doing them could get one closest to God.If people do the things God has recommended, God will love them. He will become their ...
In the Islamic society the woman has an honored position and, beside her legal and civil rights, enjoys special respect, love, affection and the gentle feelings which she deserves most.Is she not the compassionate mother, the beloved wife and the affectionate daughter? The best expression of this reality is provided by the following verses from the Glorious Qur'an."And We have enjoined man concerning his parents - His mother bears him in ...
A provincial capital since June 1996, Qum is a city 140 kilometers to the south of Tehran on the verge of the kavir, the vast desert of central Iran. Centuries before the arrival of Islam in the region, it was a major village among the many hamlets of the area. Several traditions and theories exist concerning the town's origin and name According to one of the more credible of them, its name derives from "kumeh," meaning a group of neighboring ...
The Birth of Sayyida Fatima (peace be upon her) and Women's DayIn the words of Imam KhomeiniAll dimensions that one can imagine exist for a woman and a human being were personified in Fatima Zahra, upon whom be peace. She was not an ordinary woman; she was a spiritual woman, a heavenly woman, a human being in the true sense of the word…She personified all the very best human and female traits that one can imagine.Tomorrow is Women's Day. ...
- In a meeting with the members of the Qom Arbaeen Committee, Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani, a senior Shia cleric, stressed the importance of providing service to the pilgrims of Imam Hussain (as) during Arbaeen; the senior cleric also pointed out the principles of a proper service to pilgrims adding, “the topmost principle in hosting Arbaeen pilgrims is to be well-organized and provide the safety of the travellers.”He then added, ...
Manama regime has stepped up crackdown on political dissent in the wake of US President Donald Trump's meeting with Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah during a summit in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh last month. Less than 48 hours after the US president left Saudi Arabia, Bahraini regime troops attacked supporters of Sheikh Qassim, in the northwestern village of Diraz, killing at least five people and arresting 286 others. ...
Perhaps I need not explain here that in the language of literature and mysticism the term heart does not mean the organ situated in the left side of the human body, which pumps blood into the blood vessels. What is implied is the sublime and distinguishing faculty of the human soul, as can be readily understood from the following examples from the Qur"an and verses of Sa"di:
Surely in that there is a reminder to him who has a heart ... ...
And be good to the neighbour who is your relative and to the neighbour who is not a relative . . . (Qur'an, 4:36) Islam has great respect for the mutual rights and duties of neighbours. The Holy Prophet said: Jibra'1 always used to advise me to be generous with neighbours, till I thought that Allah was going to include the neighbours among the heirs of a Muslim. The rights of neighbourhood are not meant for Muslim neighbours only. of course, a ...
Sariyyah is the section (contingent) of a big(giant) army, and it has been said that four hundred is an optimum number for the best sariyyah. According to the wordings of the tradition this can be inferred that man is a marvel possessing two lives and two worlds within one existence. That is, apparent life or the outward world, which is this worldly existence, and is associated with his body, and the other is `inner life', the inward world, ...
SAHAR (Morning Meal)The time for the completion of your morning meal is about ten minutes before "Subh-e-Sadiq" is 80 minutes before sunrise. The following Du'a may be recited at the time of Sahar.Bismillah-Ir Rahman-Ir RaheemYaa mafza'ee 'inda kurbatee wa yaa ghausee "inda shiddatee ilaika faze'to wa bika-staghasto wa bika luzto laa aloozo bi-siwaaka wa laa atlob-ul-faraja illa minka fa-aghisni wa farrij,'anni yaa mai-yaqbal-ul-yaseera wa ...
2573. Any lost property other than an animal, which does not bear any sign by means of which it may be possible to locate its owner, irrespective of whether its value is less than a dirham (12.6 chickpeas of coined silver) or not, can be kept for himself by one who finds it, but the recommended precaution is that he gives it away as Sadaqah on behalf of the owner, whoever he may be. 2574. If a person finds a property whose value is less than a ...
Protesters, carrying candles, took to the streets of the northern villages Abu Saiba and Shakhoura on Sunday night to commemorate Sheikh Qassim's supporters of who lost their lives during a raid last month. Five people were killed and dozens other injured when regime forces attacked Sheikh Qassim’s supporters in the northwestern village of Diraz. The clergyman’s fate remains unknown, with some reports saying he is under house ...
"I bear witness that you were (descended) through pure loins and chaste wombs." We are on the eve of one of the most auspicious days in the history of the world. It is the day on which God Almighty sent into the world, through an unbroken chain of virtuously monotheistic fathers and mothers, His Last and Greatest Messenger. It was on the 17th of Rabi al-Awwal that the Best of God's creation was born in a monotheistic family, and ...
"O thou soul which are at peace, return unto thy Lord, with gladness that is thine in Him and His in thee. Enter thou among My slaves. Enter thou My Paradise." (Quran - LXXXIX; 27-30 (trans. by M. Lings.)
The function of religion is to bestow order upon human life and to establish an "outward" harmony upon whose basis man can return inwardly to his Origin by means of the journey toward the "interior" direction. This universal function is ...
Backbiting is decided as forbidden so long as it is intended to disgrace others. It is natural for us to look for mistakes and faults in others in order to make ourselves feel better and powerful. Many people may not realize that backbiting is a sin. It is related that the Prophet said: Backbiting means that you say about your brother something which pains him.Before speaking ill of others ask yourselves these two questions:"Would I want someone ...
God says, “Nothing exists, unless it is with Us and We bring it down to you as much as needed.” This shows that everyone and everything in this world is linked to God. This also shows that our world is not the only existing world and that we are leaving in the lowest world of all.God has said that man could have all the worlds in hands. This proves that no creature from another world could control man, unless it establishes a ...
The Prophet (Pbuh) said: Whoever marries and visits his relatives for the sake of God, God shall attend to him by placing a crown like that of the angels on his head. [Vasa'il, v.20, p.51, Al-i-Bayt Press]
The Sincerity of One's Intentions
These wise and important words have been reported on the authority of the Prophet (Pbuh): Whoever marries to please Allah and establish a family, God will adorn his head with the crown of angels. Marriage ...
