Culture is a Bi-polar Reality (Innately Internal and Innately External)
The bi-polar quality of culture means it possesses both innately internal and innately external aspects, just like the bi-polar quality of beauty does. Since conceiving beauty depends on human psychological and mental characteristics (other living beings are incapable of it), comprehending culture also has an innately internal aspect resulted by “The Principle of ...
THE BATTLE OF TABUKThe lofty and strong fort, which had been built by the side of a spring on the road leading from Hijr to Damascus in the border area of the territory of Syria, was called Tabuk. In those times Syria was one of the colonies of the Eastern Roman Empire. Its capital was Constantinople. Its frontier people were the followers of Christianity and the chiefs of the districts were satellites of the Ruler of Syria who himself took ...
From his (Adam's) progeny Allah chose prophets and took their pledge for his revelation and for carrying His message as their trust. In course of time many people perverted Allah's trust with them and ignored His position and took compeers along with Him. Satan turned them away from knowing Him and kept them aloof from His worship. Then Allah sent His Messengers and series of His prophets towards them to get them to fulfil the pledges of His ...
Translated by Fatima Zabeth BeeneshThere are ten ayaat present in the Holy Quran about Prophet Is’haq a.s. He was the son of Sara and Ibrahim a.s and the forefather of Bani israil. Jibril a.s gave him the glad tiding that 1000 prophets by the status of Mursil ( the prophets sent on mission) will arise from his lineage and one of them was Musa a.s. Is’haq a.s himself was the prophet Mursil and he was living in the lands of Palestine ...
A greater part of the sermons of Imam Husain (‘a) used to be about the stability of truth and determination and firm will for Jihad in the way of Allah. These were the highlights of his sermons:
The Imam (‘a) delivered those sermons at a time when the sky was dark with clouds of political turmoil. In these sermons the Imam targeted the politics of Bani Umayyads and called the people to rise up against them. We shall quote important sermons ...
By: Ayatullah al-Uzma Naser Makarem Shirazi WE BELIEVE that the SHIITE SECT was founded in the lifetime of our prophet, and its name was taken out of HIS words and we have many clear reasons to prove that. As many commentators of QURAN believe the following verse refers to Imam Ali and his sectarians. (SHIITE) "Those who have faith and do righteous deeds, are the best of creatures." THE HOLY QURََAN _ S98: 7 Suyuti, the famous commentator has ...
The expedition entitled Ahzab or Khandak was undertaken in the month of Ramazân, in the fifth year of the Hijret, and was occasioned in the following manner: - When the Benee Nazeer were expected from Medeenah, some of them went to Khyber, and their chief, Hy-bin-Akhtab, repaired to Mekkah, and induced Abusüfeeân to make an expedition against Mohammed, for which purpose a force of ten thousand men was raised. When the prophet heard what a ...
The last person to fight in the cause of Imam Husain (a.s) was his second son Ali al-Akbar (a.s) who was then eighteen years old. He was the darling of the family. He very much resembled the Prophet (s), not only in appearance and bearing but also in the manner of speech. His aunt Zainab (a.s) and his mother Layla were severely grief stricken on his departure for battle. Imam Husain (a.s) asked them to pray for his safe return. When Ali al-Akbar ...
As it is well-known, one of the Arabs' worst habits at the time of Ignorance was the practice of burying daughters alive. They would bury their daughters alive because they were thought to be unable to defend the tribal interests. Such men also feared that their daughters could be enslaved by their enemies, be married to them and give birth to children. This, they assumed, would be a sign of shame for them.[1] Some others buried their daughters ...
Imam Husain (a.s) called his cousin Muslim bin Aqeel and asked him to proceed to Kufa to ascertain the veracity of the thousands of letters written by the people of Kufa. Muslim took with him two guides for the journey. The guides lost the way in the desert. They died of severe thirst. Muslim was fortunate to find a well. He reached Kufa with some difficulty. He stayed in the house of the great warrior al-Mukhtar, son of Abu Ubayda ath-Thaqafi. ...
Causes of the rise of Imam Husayn
Truly speaking if we wish to find out the causes of the rising of the Imam we shall have to make a search for its preliminaries during a period of at least thirty years preceding that time, because about thirty years after the migration of the Holy Prophet, there had taken place such developments as had made necessary a movement like this in the Islamic society.
Uthman bin Affan Umavi ruled over the ...
THE EFFECT OF THE SPEECH OF THE HOLY PROPHET
The Prophet's logical, eloquent speeches greatly impressed many of the people who heard his words. In most gatherings and public places, people talked about the new faith more than anything else. To those who had suffered from the extortion of the cruel oppressors and were tired of the injustices and inhuman conditions prevailing in Makkah, the celestial words of the Holy Prophet opened a door to the ...
(3) Fear of the Neighboring Power
The Holy Qur'¡n refers to their fear of the neighboring states and powers and finds this worry baseless:
And they say: If we follow the guidance with you, we shall be carried off from our country. What! Have We not settled them in a safe, sacred territory to which fruits of every kind shall be drawn? Sustenance from Us; but most of them do not know. (28:57)
Once, °¡rith ibn Nawfal ibn `Abd-Man¡f said to ...
When Imam al-Hasan (as) was obliged to compromise and make peace with Mu‘awiyah ibn Abu Sufiyan, he felt great concern for the safety of Imam ‘Ali's (as) followers.
It was for this reason that, in his peace agreement with Mu‘awiyah, Imam al-Hasan (as) stressed that Imam ‘Ali's followers (as) must be guaranteed truce and safety. Mu‘awiyah agreed to this demand, but he had other plans in mind. In a clear act of treachery, he announced ...
Conspiracy of murdering the Holy Prophet
After the settlement in Yathrib of Meccan Muslims, the chiefs of Quraysh realized that Yathrib had turned into a strong shelter for the Holy Prophet and his followers, and that people of Yathrib were ready to fight for their faith. For this reason, they feared the Holy Prophet's emigration. This matter caused the Quraysh to face several problems:
(1) Muslims were no longer under their domination and ...
Encyclopaedia of religion and Ethics HAJJ. Unique among the world's great pilgrimages, the hajj is in many ways also the most important. Even compared to the ancient and highly developed international pilgrimage systems of Christianity and Hinduism, the hajj is remarkable in its doctrinal centrality, its geographic focus, and its historical continuity. The size and global coverage of the hajj areunparalleled. It regularly attracts one million ...
Nomads
Since the major sections of the northern territory of the Arabian Peninsula (°ij¡z) consists of deserts, most Arabs were desert-dwellers and nomads prior to the advent of Islam. The nomads, being deprived of assets of life due to the severe conditions under which they lived, continued to live mainly on animal husbandry on a very limited scale. They used to live under tents woven out of goat's hair and camel's wool; they would inhabit ...
How Islam Immortalized Imam Hussein (a.s.) :The Blessed Infant
On the third of the blessed month of Sha'ban, the fourth year after Hijrah and a year after the birth of Imam Hassan (a.s.), the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) was given news of the birth of Imam Hussein (a.s.). He hurried to the house of Imam Ali and Fatimah al-Zahra' (a.s.)."O Asma'," he ordered Asma', the daughter of Umays, "bring me my son."She took the newborn to him. The infant ...
Journey of Ahlul Bayt to Kufa and Damascus
The history of the sacred movement and rising of Imam Husayn is one of the most glorious chapters of the history of Islam. Although this period of less than a year was very short and transient from the point of view of length of time, it was very forcible and everlasting from the point of view of quality and the results which it produced. This short historical period may be reckoned to have ...
Secret Invitation to the New Religion
For three years, the Holy Prophet invited people to the new religion secretly, because the circumstances at Mecca were not yet ready for an open invitation. During these three years, he secretly met people whom he thought mentally ready to accept the new religion.[1] He invited them to accept the uniqueness of Allah and his prophethood. Meanwhile, Quraysh became aware of his claims; whenever they saw him on ...
