A materialist passes his life in the dark valley of materialism. He is plunged in the sea of evil desires and always is tossed from this side to that side by the waves of material relations of wealth, wife and children. He cries for help, but in vain and in the end gets nothing but disappointment.
Sometimes in this sea a breath of enlivening breeze (divine impulse) pats him and kindles in him a hope that he may reach the shore safely. But ...
Saif Tammar narrates that Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) said, “If I was with Prophet Musa and Al-Khidr (as), they would have accepted that I was better informed than they were. I would have brought to their knowledge certain things they were unaware of. They had knowledge of only the things past, and we know everything of past, present and future! This knowledge has come down to us from our Prophet as an inheritance.” Then the Imam said, ...
Economic and Social Boycott Imposed on Ban£-H¡shim
The chiefs of Quraysh failed to contact with Ab£-±¡lib and to force Muslims in Abyssinia to come back to Mecca. Some socially significant personalities were absorbed by Islam. In view of these two facts, they had no alternative but to impose an economic and social boycott on Ban£-H¡shim in the hope that they would cease their protection of the Holy Prophet and submit him to Quraysh. To ...
Mas‘udi and other historians have recounted, "Yazid was always a pleasure-seeking man... One day after killing al-Husayn Ibn ‘Ali (as), he was seated in a gathering where liquor was being served with ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Ziyad on his right hand side. Yazid said to his bartender in verse,
إسقني شربةً تروّي مَشاشي ثمّ مِل فَاسقِ مثلَها ابن زيادِ
صاحبَ السرّ والامانةِ عندي ...
The story of mutual curse indicates one of the other merits of Imam `Ali, his children and his dignified wife, for the Messenger of Allah sought their help so that his prayer be answered by their saying Amen.
Following the conquest of Mecca when Islam and its rule spread in Hijaz, delegations from every direction came to the Holy Prophet (s.a) either to embrace Islam or to seek life security. One of these delegations was the Christians of ...
The seventh year of migration came to an end and the Muslims were able, according to the terms of the Peace Pact of Hudaybiyah, to perform collectively the pilgrimage of the Ka'bah and to observe lovely and moving rites for the benefit of monotheism in the very centre of idolaters, so as to attract towards Islam the hearts of some chiefs of Quraysh like Khalid bin Walid, 'Amr bin As,[546] and Uthman bin Talhah. Soon afterwards these three ...
After the death of Yazid, there was much confusion. Marwan, who was banished by the Prophet (s) and then allowed to come back by the first caliph, now assumed power. His reign was in dispute and even the Sunnis do not recognise him as a caliph. Within a year, he passed away. He had nominated his son Abdul Melik as his successor in the rule. Thus, the long cherished dream of Abu Sufyan was reralised and for nearly a century, the Umayyads tossed ...
Islam is a conscious act of submission of the creature to the will of the creator. I use the words 'conscious act' deliberately to distinguish between inherent islam, which is the law of God for all created things in nature, and voluntary islam, which is the human faith-commitment to affirm the Oneness (tawhid) of God and obey His will. Faith and obedience, however, presuppose knowledge and knowledge requires communication. This ...
The 18th of Dhu 'l-Hijja is celebrated in the Shí'a world as the 'idd of Ghadir Khumm in which Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w.) said about Imam 'Ali: "Whomsoever's master (mawla) I am, this 'Ali is also his master." This event is of such significance to the Shí'as that no serious scholar of Islam can ignore it. The purpose of this paper is to study how the Orientalists handled the event of Ghadir Khumm. By "orientalists", I mean the Western ...
"By God, the Almighty did not grant me a better wife than her. She believed in me when the people used to mock at me and she acknowledged me when the people denied me. She shared her wealth and property with me and she bore me children which I was not destined to have through other women." (Sahih Bukhari) These are not the emotional words of any ordinary husband lamenting the loss of a wife. These are, in fact the words of the Last Divine ...
The Holy Prophet (PBUH) of Islam, on his way back from his last pilgrimage to Mecca, received some commandments from God through Gabriel: “O Prophet! Declare what you were commanded to”; “Your Prophetic mission is not incomplete unless you declare the commandment of God” and “God protects you from the malevolent”. On the basis of the above commandments, the Prophet, after introducing his ...
Imam Husayn Encounters Hur
Imam Husayn encountered Hur and his companions on the 1st of Muharram, 61 A.H. and provided them water to satiate their thirst. It was now the time for noon prayers and Hajjāj bin Masruq Juafi, one of the honorable martyrs of Karbala, pronounced azān (call to prayers) under the orders of the Imam.
The Imam then came out of his tent and conversed with them after the call to prayers. Then after praising the ...
The Prophet Says Farewell to Kaaba
It was in 10 A.H. and the time for Hajj. The Hijazi deserts witnessed large crowds of Muslims who unitedly chanted the same slogans and proceeded towards the same holy end.
That year the sight of the Hajj pilgrimage was much more exciting and moving than ever before. Muslims most hurriedly and eagerly traversed the way and went to Makkah - this holy city.
The celestial melody of Labbayk, Yes, I have ...
When Safiya returned home and informed her brothers (the Prophet's uncles) of the authenticity of the news, happiness mixed with amazement and astonishment overtook them.
Khadija who refused to marry the princes and lords of the Arabs, because she deemed them unworthy to marry, chose to be the wife of a poor man who owned nothing of the ephemeral things of this world, of even a foot of land!!
This was the wonder of wonders!!
The Prophet's ...
St. Anselm's[1] famous ontological argument has been disputed by many Western Philosophers to our day. However, this discussion seemed to have been limited to Western Philosophy until I have recently come across the opinions of two great Ottoman Muslim scholars. Since they were raised with a strong traditional Islamic education which taught rich philosophical and theological heritage of Islam, their accounts for the ontological argument are ...
Disavowal of Unbelievers Announcement
Upon the conquest of Mecca, the foundation was laid for the propagation of monotheism and the uprooting of idols and other superstitions. Most of the city-dwellers and villagers refrained from idol-worshipping and turned to Islam. However, few ignorant individuals were not ready yet to dispense with their cultures and it was hard on them to accept the creed of the Holy Prophet. On the other hand, although ...
The eighth year of migration, with all its joys and sorrows, came to an end and the greatest base of polytheism fell into the hands of the Muslims. The Prophet of Islam returned to Madina after achieving complete victory and the military power of Islam spread all over Arabia. The rebellious Arab tribes, who had never thought before, that Islam would achieve such a victory, now began to think gradually that they should get nearer to the Muslims ...
The Muslim army entered Mecca rejoicing at this great victory that came to them with no resistance or blood-shedding. The banner of Muslims was carried by Sa’d bin Ubadah who began crying out, “Today is the day of triumph. Today inviolable things shall be violated.”
When Umar bin al-Khattab heard him saying that, he went to the Prophet (a.s.) and told him about what Sa’d said. The Prophet (a.s.) ordered the banner to be taken from ...
These factors are of two kinds, one of which are of a general nature. That is, there are in general certain factors that lead to the corruption of histories and these are not limited to the event of 'Ashura' alone. For instance, the enemy's motives are themselves a factor that distort an event. In order to achieve their purposes, the enemies bring about alterations in historical texts or misinterpret them. There are many examples of it ...
These Qur'anic verses inform us of the requirements which, if a person fulfills them, he will be of the righteous people, and whoever is righteous, is a Muslim and a believer. These requirements are the following:1. To believe in the unseen (as we believe in the Creator and the Hereafter without seeing them).2. To offer the five daily prayers.3. To spend, in the way of God, a portion of the wealth God had provided us (by paying Zakat).4. To ...
