It is written in Bihaar al-Anwaar, that Ubaydullah bin Ziyad kept despatching troops one after the other to Umar bin Sa’ad (in Karbala) until he had thirty thousand horsemen and foot-soldiers with him. Then Ubaydullah wrote to Umar: “I have not left any excuse for you with respect to the (quantity of) army. Then remember to inform me, every morning and evening, about your affairs.” Ubaydullah had started inciting Umar (for battle) from ...
This book, which we have called Shi'ite Islam,[1] seeks to clarify the true identity of Shi'ism which is one of the two major branches of Islam-the other being Sunnism. It deals in particular with the way Shi'ism originated and later developed, with the type of religious thought present in Shi'ism, and with Islamic sciences and culture as seen from the Shi'ite point of view.
The Meaning of Religion (din)[2] Islam, and Shi'ism
Religion. ...
Now we propose to study the sermon of lady Zaynab which she delivered in the court of Yazid and which is recorded in a book written in the third century A.H. [1]Yazid recited the blasphemous poetic verses of Abdullah bin Zab'ari Sahmi which he had composed while he was an unbeliever and also added some poetic verses of his own and said openly that he wanted to take revenge upon the descendants of Muhammad because Muhammad and his ...
Our discourse with regard to the study of the event of Karbala is now nearing its end, and its last part which cannot be dispensed with, is the sermon which the fourth Imam delivered in the precincts of Madina and in which he informed the people of Madina of what he saw during the course of this sacred rising.Imam Sajjad praised Allah and thanked Him for the extreme sufferings which he had to bear and then summarized the event of Karbala in a ...
This meeting which proved to be the turning point in Zuhair’s life has been covered by Shaykh Abbas Qummi in ‘Nafasul Mahmoom’ page 180 as also by Tabari in his ‘Tarikh’ vol. 3 page 224.Abu Mikhnaf narrates from Sades b. Faraarah that an `Usmaani’ recounted to him thus:‘In one of our journeys with Zuhair b. Qain al-Bajali, we happened to coincide with Hussain b. Ali (A.S). Now, nothing was more repugnant for us than to assemble ...
“Now then! Consider my family, and ponder as to who I am and then admonish yourselves. Then do you consider that killing me and plundering my sanctity and respect is lawful for you? Am I not the grandson of your Prophet and the son of his Vicegerent and cousin, who was the foremost in believing and the bearer of witness upon everything that the Prophet had brought from Allah? Was not Hamza, the chief of Martyrs, the uncle of my father? Was ...
Thus a person who becomes a polytheist has actually fallen from the great status of humanity. Tauheed is a strong fort that is given by Allah. One who associates anyone or anything with Allah falls out of this fort. The Satan kidnaps him and deceives him He commits the mistake to be deceived by the Satanic deceit. In this way becomes distant from divine mercy. The Satan makes him involved in illegal desires and wrong wants.
In brief, one who ...
Nasiba The Hero of Uhud BattleThe deep scar on the shoulder of Nasiba, daughter of Kaab, spoke of a major wound in the past. Whenever the women, especially of the younger generation who had not seen the time of the Prophet or were too small at that time, noticed the cavity in her shoulder, they enquired with extreme curiosity about the frightening incident, which had resulted in the injury to her shoulder.They loved to hear her adventures in the ...
The BeginningAbu Talib, Shaikh al-Bat-ha, missed his nephew our Master Muhammad [s]. So, he went to look for him. He was not alone. His son Ja'far aged twenty was with him. Shaikh al-Bat-ha and his son went to the hills near Makkah. They found him there. Our Master Muhammad [s] was praying humbly. Ali, the young man of Islam, was praying on his right. They were not afraid of anyone but Allah. They were praying for Allah, the Creator of the skies ...
Some letters of the imam disclose an important side of the religious life which was confused at that age. The following are some of his letters to his adherents:1. To Isaaq an-NaysaburiImam Abu Muhammad (a.s.) sent a letter to Isaaq bin Isma’il an-Naysaburi saying in it,“May Allah protect us by His protection, and take care of you in all your affairs by His favor. I understood your letter, may Allah have mercy on you. We, praise be to Allah ...
Muhammad ibn Ishaq, the biographer of the Prophet of Islam, writes in his Seera (Life of the Messenger of God):Umar said: “And lo, they (the Ansar) were trying to cut us off from our origin and wrest authority from us. When he (an Ansari) had finished (his speech), I wanted to speak, for I had prepared a speech in my mind which pleased me much. I wanted to produce it before Abu Bakr and I was trying to soften a certain asperity of his; but ...
When Abu Bakr was acknowledged khalifa in Saqifa, he, Umar bin al-Khattab and Abu Obaida bin al-Jarrah returned to the Mosque of the Prophet. In the Mosque there were many people, among them, members of the clan of Umayya; Saad bin Abi Waqqas; Abdur Rahman bin Auf; and some other Muhajireen.Seeing them huddled in little clusters, Umar shouted: “Abu Bakr has been elected khalifa of the Muslims. Now all of you here give him your pledge of ...
The Holy Prophet's Mosque in MadinahThe Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) came out from Makkah on 27th ofSafar (SEP.10, 622 A.D.) in the first year of Hijrahand reached Quba after ten days. He stayedthere for four days and on 12th of Rabi-al-Awwal(Sep. 24) his Highness went to Madinah .The Prophet (S.A.W.) announced that wherever his she-camelkneels down he will choose that place for buildingthe mosque and his house. The place where his she-camelknelt down ...
I still remember the deep impression which the first Persian poem I ever read in connection with the tragic events of Karbala' left on me. It was Qaani's elegy which begins with the words:
What is raining? Blood.Who? The eyes.How? Day and night.Why? From grief.Grief for whom? Grief for the king of Karbala'
This poem, in its marvellous style of question and answer, conveys much of the dramatic events and of the feelings a pious Muslim ...
Hadith no. 1: The 'Eid of the Khilafat and Wilayat It has been narrated from Ziyad ibn Muhammad that he said, “I went to see Abi 'Abdillah [Ja'far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq] (peace be upon him) and said to him, “Do the Muslims have an 'Eid other than the day of Jumu'ah and al-Fitr and al-Adhha?” The Imam (peace be upon him) replied to me, “Yes, the day on which the Messenger of Allah (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) appointed ...
The History of Islam is replete with instances where, in a man-to-man combat, Imam Ali (a.s) always gave the right of the ‘first strike’ to his opponent and he attacked only in retaliation. There is no concept of a ‘preemptive strike’ in Islam. The concept of ‘preemptive strike’ was nurtured by the heathens who always struck from behind or without provocation. We saw in the earlier chapter that Muslim ibn Aqeel refrained from killing ...
