Abode of Wisdom

The Qualities of the Shia'h

Imam Ridha peace be with Him said: Our true shia'hs are those who submit to our orders, carry out our directives and dissent from our enemies. He who does not enjoy such a characteristic is not one of Us.


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clearly illustrated how to perform it for us and how many rak’ats each prayer should be. b) Zakat. In the Qur’an, zakat has only been mentioned as an Islamic ruling. It was the Prophet who expressed which things have zakat and what the criteria for zakat becoming wajib for each one is. c) Hajj. The Qur’an says that Hajj is wajib and no more, but the Prophet has explained how it is supposed to be performed.

Therefore, it is wrong to expect to be able to find every detail in the Qur’an. So it is a big mistake not to follow the imams just because of the fact that none of their names have come in the Qur’an. That’s why no one says that noon prayers (which are 4 rak’ats) have to be prayed 2 rak’ats just because the Qur’an hasn’t mentioned how many rak’ats each prayer is.

2- In issues like this, in which there are big chances that others will disagree, it is much better for the Qur’an to express the truth implicitly rather than explicitly, otherwise there is a high possibility that they will end up denying the Qur’an as a whole. It’s very obvious that such a problem isn’t to the benefit of the Muslim ummah. Of course, the Qur’an says: “Surely we have revealed the Reminder (the Qur’an), and We will most surely be its guardian” [11], but one should remember that one of the ways of protecting the Qur’an and not letting others falsify or change it, is for it to speak in a way that others (such as the hypocrites who show that they are Muslims on the outside even though they aren’t within) don’t get sensitive and provoked. In this way, the high respect and value of the Qur’an will be kept, and certain individuals won’t think of changing or falsifying it in a way that will comply with their personal desires and wicked goals or just because they disagree with something. [12]

Shahid Ayatollah Motahhari answers this question in the following way. He says: “The answer to the question that why hasn’t Imam Ali’s khilafah and imamat been mentioned in the Qur’an, is that 1- The Qur’an usually expresses general laws. 2- The Prophet or Allah didn’t want such an issue in which people are sensitive about and prefer their own desires (to what Islam wants), to be presented explicitly, and although it wasn’t, people still went against it and falsely interpreted the Prophet’s sayings to their own benefit. In other words even if the Qur’an had clearly stated that Ali is successor to the Prophet they still would have found a way around it. The Prophet said: (Ali is his Mawla). How much more clear can one get? (Yet they interpreted what he said falsely and according to their will.)Yet there is a big difference between ignoring what the Prophet has said after him passing away regardless of all of its clarity and ignoring what the Qur’an has been completely clear about one day after his demise. That is why I have narrated in my book “Khilafah and Wilayah” that once during Imam Ali’s reign, a Jew wanted to attack and criticize the Muslim ummah for undesirable events that took place in the beginning of Islam. He told Imam Ali (and of course what he said really was a negative point) that you (the Muslim ummah) started quarreling over your prophet even before completely burying him after his death. Imam Ali answered: We argued about what he had instructed, not over the Prophet himself, but you (meaning the Jews) disregarded the most important principle of your religion which is tawhid (oneness of God), and asked your prophet to build an idol for you to worship. So there is a big difference between you and us; we didn’t argue about our prophet, we argued about what the interpretation of his saying was (and what he wanted us to do after his death). These two vary tremendously. (Motahhari goes on to say that) there is a big difference between saying that the people back then had misunderstood what the Prophet had said and saying that the Muslims back then rejected what the Qur’an had clearly stated or had falsified it.[13]

So one can say that the main reason behind not mentioning the names of the imams, or at least Imam Ali’s name, is the protection of the

✔️Ayatollah Fadlullah:

⭕️"Keeping to emotions, but separated from reason, may lead to repeating the tragedy that Imam al- Hussein (a.s.) experienced!

🔹His tragedy did not stem from a lack of emotions amongst the Muslims towards him, for their hearts were beating with love for him, but it was a blind, superficial love that did not stem from a depth of knowledge, will and suffering; therefore when they found themselves facing the sacrifice of their interests, possessions or desires, love went away and interest and possessions had the upper hand. Al-Farazdaq, the poet, described the situation that the people of Kufa, who went out to fight al-Hussein (a.s.), experienced, by saying to al-Hussein (a.s.): ‘Their hearts are with you (but) their swords are against you’(12). We should love al-Hussein (a.s.) with awareness, reason and suffering, not in a superficial and frenzied way that is short-lived, and ends when it faces reality and challenges.

🔸This requires awareness of all content from which Ashoora proceeded, which are the content of Islam. In light of these points that make the aspect of thought in commemoration a vital and necessary matter, and in light of what we have said regarding the necessity of strongly preserving the aspect of emotions of Ashoora, we emphasize again that the emotions issue has human dimensions, and Islamic spirit, rich in effects and benefits, and gives thought vitality, releases it from its stagnation, leads it to activity and turns it from a static state into a state of belief and consciousness, and strengthens the person’s relationship with all its aspects and issues, something that makes the thought – in the particulars of the principle, the individual and one’s stance – become similar to feelings, related to consciousness so that this gives it some strength and firmness inside the soul and outside in life.

🔹We emphasize that adopting both emotions and thought is what achieves for the message its deep content in a man’s awareness and deeds, so that the thought develops into a belief and the belief develops into love or otherwise through the interaction between the mind and the heart.

🔸This is what we can draw from the concept of love towards God’s chosen individuals and hatred towards God’s enemies in Islamic belief as being a proof of seriousness and faithfulness, as it is to be noted that the goal here – which is expressed in the slogans of Ashoora – has to conform with the means of commemoration and that the content acts within the circle of religious adherence. Once again we say:

we have to educate our hearts as we do our minds, to educate our hearts with the culture of emotion, because if the heart fails to find the correct direction in emotions, this can destroy one’s life.

🔹If we proceed from a superficiality in our love and offer it to whomever is not worthy of it, this person might suffer a deeply concealed corruption that would destroy our lives in the future; similarly if we hate someone not on objective basis, he might be a good person in his depth and so our hatred of him would deprive us of the good he can offer. We have to rationalize our emotions so that they operate on the basis of awareness and proceed from the depth, not from the surface, and not allow our emotions to run out of control or to become childish in nature and deed".

📚Reference
-["Ashoora: an Islamic Perspective" by Ayatollah Fadlullah]

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💠"Eid Al Fitr is not the end of the month of Ramadhan. Eid is the the rebirth of the human being from the dust of his (habitual) lifestyle, similar to the birth of the human from his mothers womb.

💠 Ramadhan is an oven in which the essential existence is baked to perfection and a new human is brought about. Eid Fitr is not an event or incident of joy for the passing of Ramadhan, rather it marks the rebirth of a new day and a new life for humans.

💠 It is expected that Ramadhan, with all it's dawns and breaking of fasts  (iftaar) and the significant nights of Qadr and supplications, is destined to make a human out of us.

💠 If we truly feel that we have renewed ourselves spiritually, then be sure that this Eid is not just a means of (only) recognition and understanding, but rather it is based upon the condition that we solely be with God sincerely while in service to (learning and loving) the progeny of Prophet Muhammad (peace be with him and his progeny).

💠 Oh God we are grateful that we were your guests for a month. And you gave us leeway to such privelage from the dawns of love in which we had chances to speak to you and share our heart with you, and now you have blessed us with the first of Shawwal, an Eid of love (to us miserly beings) to which you have blessed us with".
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PROPHET'S HISTORIC GHADIR SERMON

Part Xll

O people! You are more numerous than (it is practical) to shake hands with me all at the same time, and Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, commanded me to require you to confirm what authority I have vested upon 'Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen and to whoever succeeds him of the Imams from me and from him, since I have just informed you that my offspring are from his loins.

You, therefore, should say in one voice: "We hear, and we obey; we accept and we are bound by what you have conveyed to us from our Lord and yours with regard to our Imam' Ali (V' Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to the Imams, your sons from his loins. We swear the oath of allegiance to you in this regard with our hearts, with our souls, with our tongues, with our hands. According to it shall we live, and according to it shall we die, and according to it shall we be resurrected. We shall not alter anything or substitute anything with another, nor shall we doubt nor deny nor suspect, nor shall we violate our covenant nor abrogate the pledge. You admonished us on behalf of Allah with regard to' Ali (V' Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to the Imams whom you mentioned to be from your offspring from among his descendants after him: al-Hasan and al-Husain and to whoever is appointed (as such) by Allah after them. The covenant and the pledge are taken from us, from our hearts, from our souls, from our tongues, from our conscience, from our hands. Whoever does so by his handshake, it shall be so, or otherwise testified to it by his tongue, and we do not seek any substitute for it, nor shall Allah see our souls deviating there from. We shall convey the same on your behalf to anyone near and far of our offspring and families, and we implore Allah to testify to it, and surely Allah suffices as the Witness and you, too, shall testify for us."

O people! What are you going to say?! Allah knows every sound and the innermost of every soul; "Whoever chooses the right guidance, it is for his own soul that he is rightly guided, and whoever strays, it is only to its detriment that he goes astray" (Qur'an, 17:15).

O people! Swear the oath of allegiance to Allah, and swear it to me, and swear it to' Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to al-Hasan and al-Husain and to the Imams from their offspring in the life of this world and in the hereafter, a word that shall always remain so. Allah shall annihilate anyone guilty of treachery and be merciful upon everyone who remains true to his word: "Whoever reneges (from his oath), he reneges only to the harm of his own soul, and whoever fulfills what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward" (Qur'an, 48:10)

O people! Repeat what I have just told you to, and greet' Ali with the title of authority of "Ameerul-Mo'mineen" and say: "We hear, and we obey, O Lord! Your forgiveness (do we seek), and to You is the eventual course" (Qur'an, 2:285), and you should say: "All praise is due to Allah Who guided us to this, and we would not have found the way had it not been for Allah Who guided us" (Qur'an, 7:43).

O people! The merits of' Ali ibn Abu Talib with Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, the merits which are revealed in the Qur'an, are more numerous than I can recount in one speech; so, whoever informs you of them and defines them for you, you should believe him.

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The Qur’an in Islam

Part lV

By Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Husain Tabatabai (Blessings of God with him)

From this we may conclude that only God is empowered to make laws, since the only laws useful to man are those which are made according to his inherent nature.

It also follows that man's needs, arising from his outward circumstance and his inner reality, are fulfilled only by obeying God's instructions (or laws). These needs may arise through events beyond man's control or as a result of the natural demands of his body. Both are encompassed in the plan of life that God has designated for man. For, as the Qur'an says...

"The command is for none but God"
Joseph: 40 and 67 (transition Yusuf Ali)

which is to say that there is no governance (of man or society, of the inner or the outer) except that of God. Without a specific creational plan, based on the innate disposition of man, life would be fruitless and without meaning. We may understand this only through belief in God and a knowledge of his Unity, as explained in the Qur'an.

From here we may proceed to an understanding of the Day of Judgment, when man is rewarded or punished according to his deeds. Thereafter, we may arrive at knowledge of the prophets and of prophetic teachings, since man cannot be judged without being first instructed in the matter of obedience and disobedience. These three fundamental teachings are considered to be the roots of the Islamic way of life.

To these we may add the fundamentals of good character and morals which a true believer must possess, and which are a necessary extension of the three basic beliefs mentioned above. The laws governing daily activity not only guarantee man's happiness and moral character but, more importantly, increase his understanding of these beliefs and of the fundamentals of Islam.

It is not clear that a thief, a traitor, a squanderer or a libertine do not possess the quality of innocence; nor can a miser, who hoards money, be called a generous person. Similarly, some- one who never prays or remembers God cannot be called a believer in God and the Last Day, nor be described as His servant.

From this we may conclude that good character flourishes when joined to a pattern of correct actions; morals are to be found in the man whose beliefs are in harmony with these fundamentals. A proud man cannot be expected to believe in God nor be humble in respect to the Divine; nor can the man, who has never understood the meaning of humanity, justice, mercy or compassion, believe in the Day of Rising and the Judgment.

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The Three Distinguishing
Characteristics of the Qur'an

Shahīd Mortadha Motahhari
Translated by Mahliqa Qarāī.

Our study of the Qur'an acquaints us with three distinguishing characteristics of this Godly book.

💢 The first 💢
Distinguishing characteristic is the absolute authenticity of its source. That is, without the slightest need of any comparison between the oldest manuscripts, it is evident that what we recite as the verses of the Qur'an, are exactly the same words presented before the world by Muhammad ibn 'Abd-Allah (peace be with him and his progeny).

💢 The second 💢
Characteristic feature of the Qur'an is the quality of its contents: its teachings are genuinely original and have not been adopted or plagiarized. It is the duty of an analytical study to prove this fact.

💢 The third 💢
Characteristic of the Qur'an is its Divine identity: its teachings have been delivered to the Prophet from a world that transcends his thought and mind. The Prophet (peace be with him and his progeny) was only a recipient of this revelation and message.

This is the result that we obtain from the study of the sources and roots of the Qur'an.

But the study of the sources of the Qur'an, and confirmation of its originality, depend upon the analytical study. So I resolve to open this discussion with the analytical study of the Qur'an.

We shall first see what is the subject matter of the Qur'an, what kind of problems are discussed in it, what type of problems have been given priority, and in what manner those subjects are presented in it.

If we are successful in our critical analysis, and acquire a sufficient understanding of the Qur'anic teachings, it will bring us to an acknowledgment of its principal aspect, which is the Divine aspect of the Qur'an, the quality of its being a Divine miracle.

Al-Tawheed (journal), vol. 1, no. 1-3 Moharram- Rajab 1404 AH.

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✳️ Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an

🔹Toshihiko Izutsu

In the Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'án Toshihiko Izutsu analyzes the guiding spirit of the Islamic moral code, the basic ethical relationship of man to God. Izutsu asserts that, according to the Qur'anic conception, God is of an ethical nature and acts upon man in an ethical way. The resulting implications for man are enormous, requiring devotion not merely to God but to living one's life ethically. Izutsu shows that for the Qur'an our ethical response to God's actions is religion itself; it is at the same time both ethics and religion. Izutsu explores these themes by employing ethnolinguistics, a theory of the interrelations between linguistic cultural patterns, to analyse the semantic structure of major concepts in the Qur'an.

✅ @studiesofshia
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✔️Ayatollah Fadlullah:

⭕️"Keeping to emotions, but separated from reason, may lead to repeating the tragedy that Imam al- Hussein (a.s.) experienced!

🔹His tragedy did not stem from a lack of emotions amongst the Muslims towards him, for their hearts were beating with love for him, but it was a blind, superficial love that did not stem from a depth of knowledge, will and suffering; therefore when they found themselves facing the sacrifice of their interests, possessions or desires, love went away and interest and possessions had the upper hand. Al-Farazdaq, the poet, described the situation that the people of Kufa, who went out to fight al-Hussein (a.s.), experienced, by saying to al-Hussein (a.s.): ‘Their hearts are with you (but) their swords are against you’(12). We should love al-Hussein (a.s.) with awareness, reason and suffering, not in a superficial and frenzied way that is short-lived, and ends when it faces reality and challenges.

🔸This requires awareness of all content from which Ashoora proceeded, which are the content of Islam. In light of these points that make the aspect of thought in commemoration a vital and necessary matter, and in light of what we have said regarding the necessity of strongly preserving the aspect of emotions of Ashoora, we emphasize again that the emotions issue has human dimensions, and Islamic spirit, rich in effects and benefits, and gives thought vitality, releases it from its stagnation, leads it to activity and turns it from a static state into a state of belief and consciousness, and strengthens the person’s relationship with all its aspects and issues, something that makes the thought – in the particulars of the principle, the individual and one’s stance – become similar to feelings, related to consciousness so that this gives it some strength and firmness inside the soul and outside in life.

🔹We emphasize that adopting both emotions and thought is what achieves for the message its deep content in a man’s awareness and deeds, so that the thought develops into a belief and the belief develops into love or otherwise through the interaction between the mind and the heart.

🔸This is what we can draw from the concept of love towards God’s chosen individuals and hatred towards God’s enemies in Islamic belief as being a proof of seriousness and faithfulness, as it is to be noted that the goal here – which is expressed in the slogans of Ashoora – has to conform with the means of commemoration and that the content acts within the circle of religious adherence. Once again we say:

we have to educate our hearts as we do our minds, to educate our hearts with the culture of emotion, because if the heart fails to find the correct direction in emotions, this can destroy one’s life.

🔹If we proceed from a superficiality in our love and offer it to whomever is not worthy of it, this person might suffer a deeply concealed corruption that would destroy our lives in the future; similarly if we hate someone not on objective basis, he might be a good person in his depth and so our hatred of him would deprive us of the good he can offer. We have to rationalize our emotions so that they operate on the basis of awareness and proceed from the depth, not from the surface, and not allow our emotions to run out of control or to become childish in nature and deed".

📚Reference
-["Ashoora: an Islamic Perspective" by Ayatollah Fadlullah]

@AbodeofWisdom

PROPHET'S HISTORIC GHADIR SERMON

Part Xll

O people! You are more numerous than (it is practical) to shake hands with me all at the same time, and Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, commanded me to require you to confirm what authority I have vested upon 'Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen and to whoever succeeds him of the Imams from me and from him, since I have just informed you that my offspring are from his loins.

You, therefore, should say in one voice: "We hear, and we obey; we accept and we are bound by what you have conveyed to us from our Lord and yours with regard to our Imam' Ali (V' Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to the Imams, your sons from his loins. We swear the oath of allegiance to you in this regard with our hearts, with our souls, with our tongues, with our hands. According to it shall we live, and according to it shall we die, and according to it shall we be resurrected. We shall not alter anything or substitute anything with another, nor shall we doubt nor deny nor suspect, nor shall we violate our covenant nor abrogate the pledge. You admonished us on behalf of Allah with regard to' Ali (V' Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to the Imams whom you mentioned to be from your offspring from among his descendants after him: al-Hasan and al-Husain and to whoever is appointed (as such) by Allah after them. The covenant and the pledge are taken from us, from our hearts, from our souls, from our tongues, from our conscience, from our hands. Whoever does so by his handshake, it shall be so, or otherwise testified to it by his tongue, and we do not seek any substitute for it, nor shall Allah see our souls deviating there from. We shall convey the same on your behalf to anyone near and far of our offspring and families, and we implore Allah to testify to it, and surely Allah suffices as the Witness and you, too, shall testify for us."

O people! What are you going to say?! Allah knows every sound and the innermost of every soul; "Whoever chooses the right guidance, it is for his own soul that he is rightly guided, and whoever strays, it is only to its detriment that he goes astray" (Qur'an, 17:15).

O people! Swear the oath of allegiance to Allah, and swear it to me, and swear it to' Ali Ameerul-Mo'mineen, and to al-Hasan and al-Husain and to the Imams from their offspring in the life of this world and in the hereafter, a word that shall always remain so. Allah shall annihilate anyone guilty of treachery and be merciful upon everyone who remains true to his word: "Whoever reneges (from his oath), he reneges only to the harm of his own soul, and whoever fulfills what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a mighty reward" (Qur'an, 48:10)

O people! Repeat what I have just told you to, and greet' Ali with the title of authority of "Ameerul-Mo'mineen" and say: "We hear, and we obey, O Lord! Your forgiveness (do we seek), and to You is the eventual course" (Qur'an, 2:285), and you should say: "All praise is due to Allah Who guided us to this, and we would not have found the way had it not been for Allah Who guided us" (Qur'an, 7:43).

O people! The merits of' Ali ibn Abu Talib with Allah, the Exalted and the Sublime, the merits which are revealed in the Qur'an, are more numerous than I can recount in one speech; so, whoever informs you of them and defines them for you, you should believe him.

@AbodeofWisdom

✔️Ayatollah Fadlullah:

⭕️"Keeping to emotions, but separated from reason, may lead to repeating the tragedy that Imam al- Hussein (a.s.) experienced!

🔹His tragedy did not stem from a lack of emotions amongst the Muslims towards him, for their hearts were beating with love for him, but it was a blind, superficial love that did not stem from a depth of knowledge, will and suffering; therefore when they found themselves facing the sacrifice of their interests, possessions or desires, love went away and interest and possessions had the upper hand. Al-Farazdaq, the poet, described the situation that the people of Kufa, who went out to fight al-Hussein (a.s.), experienced, by saying to al-Hussein (a.s.): ‘Their hearts are with you (but) their swords are against you’(12). We should love al-Hussein (a.s.) with awareness, reason and suffering, not in a superficial and frenzied way that is short-lived, and ends when it faces reality and challenges.

🔸This requires awareness of all content from which Ashoora proceeded, which are the content of Islam. In light of these points that make the aspect of thought in commemoration a vital and necessary matter, and in light of what we have said regarding the necessity of strongly preserving the aspect of emotions of Ashoora, we emphasize again that the emotions issue has human dimensions, and Islamic spirit, rich in effects and benefits, and gives thought vitality, releases it from its stagnation, leads it to activity and turns it from a static state into a state of belief and consciousness, and strengthens the person’s relationship with all its aspects and issues, something that makes the thought – in the particulars of the principle, the individual and one’s stance – become similar to feelings, related to consciousness so that this gives it some strength and firmness inside the soul and outside in life.

🔹We emphasize that adopting both emotions and thought is what achieves for the message its deep content in a man’s awareness and deeds, so that the thought develops into a belief and the belief develops into love or otherwise through the interaction between the mind and the heart.

🔸This is what we can draw from the concept of love towards God’s chosen individuals and hatred towards God’s enemies in Islamic belief as being a proof of seriousness and faithfulness, as it is to be noted that the goal here – which is expressed in the slogans of Ashoora – has to conform with the means of commemoration and that the content acts within the circle of religious adherence. Once again we say:

we have to educate our hearts as we do our minds, to educate our hearts with the culture of emotion, because if the heart fails to find the correct direction in emotions, this can destroy one’s life.

🔹If we proceed from a superficiality in our love and offer it to whomever is not worthy of it, this person might suffer a deeply concealed corruption that would destroy our lives in the future; similarly if we hate someone not on objective basis, he might be a good person in his depth and so our hatred of him would deprive us of the good he can offer. We have to rationalize our emotions so that they operate on the basis of awareness and proceed from the depth, not from the surface, and not allow our emotions to run out of control or to become childish in nature and deed".

📚Reference
-["Ashoora: an Islamic Perspective" by Ayatollah Fadlullah]

@AbodeofWisdom

The thousands of volumes that Muslim scholars have devoted to qur'anic interpretation and to the linguistic, rhetorical and narrative analysis of the text are sufficient to create entire libraries of qur'anic studies. Drawing upon a rich scholarly heritage, Brill's "Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an" (EQ) combines alphabetically-arranged articles about the contents of the Qur'an. It is an encyclopaedic dictionary of qur'anic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis extended with essays on the most important themes and subjects within qur'anic studies. With nearly 1000 entries in 5 volumes, the "EQ" is the first comprehensive, multi-volume reference work on the Qur'an to appear in a Western language.