مجمع الكتب📗📘

Directives from the grand Ayatollah Shaykh Ishaq Fayyadh may God prolong his life, Relayed by his son, during his visit, to the Unites States of America in April 2012

6-- There has been much clamor and fallacies regarding the view of Islam and those practicing it toward women, the way a woman is treated, what rights she has and looking into what she can do with the differing situations in life, and taking on work and (other) duties.
The first evidence to support the truth of the view held by our faith regarding the reality of a woman is that it did not forbid her from any position or rank in society, or any right in which she would be able to be just as qualified as a man. There is no default principle which sets a man ahead of a woman in the cases where the religious legal text does not clearly state that a man is to be chosen, or that the situation is specific to a man. Granted, these instances (in which the situation is specific to a man) are few and the aim in them being specific to a man is known. All of them go back to aspects dealing with religious issues in which the religious law took into account the nature of a woman which would have her incline toward safeguarding her chastity and purity, and being considerate toward her.

In all other issues dealing with the fields of knowledge, learning, gaining virtues, elevated intellectual thought, positions of production and work, a woman is on the same footing as a man. Society, including men and women, do not hesitate to refer to a woman if she excels at an aspect of some industry or science. But a woman should know the limits of her faith, her sanctity and her modest dress before entering into public positions. For, indeed, the corruption resulting from the mixing between a man and women without the religious guidelines is no secret to a rational individual. It is an obligation to observe (these limits) according to the judgment of the Exalted God, who knows the best interest of the servants.

In conclusion, we would like to note to the dear believers that our Imams and leaders (may God’s blessings be upon them), even though they were kept from their positions and ranks, they were still the pioneers in offering service and help to society. They did not hold back, may God’s blessings be upon them, from giving help (to others), or even offering advice to the oppressive government which treated them with the most severe levels of exclusion and sidelining. Hence, believers living abroad should actively participate in reforming society, offering services, and participating in choosing that which is best – that which will take everyone by the hand to the coast of safety, even if they live under the reign of a non-Islamic authority.

We ask God, the Blessed and Exalted, to grant you success and aid. May the peace, blessings and mercy of God be upon you and upon all the faithful men and women.

@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 Bible, The Qur'an and Science

The Holy Scriptures Examined In The Light Of Modern Knowledge

by

Dr. Maurice Bucaille
Translated from French by
Alastair D. Pannell and The Author

"Foreword"
In his objective study of the texts, Maurice Bucaille clears away many preconceived ideas about the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Qur'an. He tries, in this collection of Writings, to separate what belongs to Revelation from what is the product of error or human interpretation. His study sheds new light on the Holy Scriptures. At the end of a gripping account, he places the Believer before a point of cardinal importance: the continuity of a Revelation emanating from the same God, with modes of expression that differ in the course of time. It leads us to meditate upon those factors which, in our day, should spiritually unite rather than divide-Jews, Christians and Muslims.

As a surgeon, Maurice Bucaille has often been in a situation where he was able to examine not only people's bodies, but their souls. This is how he was struck by the existence of Muslim piety and by aspects of Islam which remain unknown to the vast majority of non-Muslims. In his search for explanations which are otherwise difficult to obtain, he learnt Arabic and studied the Qur'an. In it, he was surprised to find statements on natural phenomena whose meaning can only be understood through modern scientific knowledge.

He then turned to the question of the authenticity of the writings that constitute the Holy Scriptures of the monotheistic religions. Finally, in the case of the Bible, he proceeded to a confrontation between these writings and scientific data.

The results of his research into the Judeo-Christian Revelation and the Qur'an are set out in this book.

💠💠💠﷽💠💠💠

Ghedir an Islamic Perspective P-2

Al-Hakim narrated in his Mostedrek (according to Zaid bin Arqam, following two different narrations which, he said, attained the level of sahih (correct), according to both Bukhari and Muslim) that the Prophet (peace be with him) said:

'I have left with you two precious things. One is greater than the other: the book of God and my progeny. See how you behave towards them after me, as they will never separate until they come to me at the hawd (pool, in Paradise).' Then he said: 'God the almighty is my mawla, and I am the mawla of every believer.' Then he took the hand of Ali and said: 'For whomever I am his "waliy" (guardian, leader, master), Ali is his mawla. O God, support whomever supports him and be the enemy of whomever becomes his enemy.*

This hadith was narrated to the same effect in many books, such as at-Teberani, who narrated it through a correct narration, an-Nesa'i and others.

As far as we (the Shi'ah) are concerned, this hadith is motewatir (i.e. has attained the degree of tewator). Even some of the Sunni scholars have acknowledged its tewator status, as Sayyid Abdul Hosain Sherefuddin said in his Moraje'at; he said: “The author of al-Fetawa alHamidiyyeh - in spite of his inflexibility - admitted that the hadith is motewatir in his summarised work entitled As-Selewat al-Fakhireh fil-Ahadith al-Motawatireh'; then he said: “And as-Siyooti and other such narrators have confirmed this, such as Mohammed bin Jerir, the author of the famous (Qur'an) commentary and history, Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Sa'id bin Ogdeh and Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Othman ath-Thehebi, who studied its narrations, each of whom devoted a special work to it, with Ibn Jerir mentioning seventy-five narrations and Ibn Oqdeh mentioning one hundred and five narrations; and ath-Thehebi - in spite of his strictness - acknowledged the correctness of many of its narrations....**

This is why we have said that many of our Sunni brothers argue about the meanings of the hadith of Ghedir, but not about its narration chain (sened), which is because this hadith is one of the hadiths that were narrated by both the Sunnah and Shi'ah.

Why the Ghedir?

The question here is: why did Mohammed (peace be with him) deliver/pronounce the Ghedir? And why Ali, not anyone else?

God says: 'O Messenger! Deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from the people' 5:67, which we believe was revealed with regard to Imam Ali (peace be with him), something which the tone of the verses, and context of this verse, confirms.

This is in addition to the reason for the revelation: it can be deduced that the Prophet (peace be with him) had already conveyed a lot of the message, or all its details. What some scholars have said in their commentaries is that the verse should be understood as follows: that 'God the almighty gave him security from the scheming of the Jews and Christians and commanded him to come out with the revelation in disregard to them'***; otherwise, most of it does not conform with the tone of the verses, so one can conclude from this there was an important matter that relates to the safety of the message, so that abstaining from proclaiming it (the matter) equals abstention from proclaiming the whole of the message. This is in addition to the fact that fearing the Jews, Christians and Quraysh contradicts his firm stance in conveying the message, from the start of the revelations and through the emigration stage, in the final days of which this verse was revealed.

On the basis of this, it becomes clear that the verse was revealed with regard to the wilayeh of Imam Ali (as), since the nearness of Ali (as) to the Prophet (sawa), being his cousin and son-in-law, would open the door to a lot of criticism that would link the position of the Prophet) with emotions - something that required Divine defence, which was represented by God's protection from all that.

✴Why do shiaas prostrate on the soil?✴

Part lll

🔷🔶5. Narrators have narrated that the prophet prohibited those who were prostrating while the corner of their head-veils was between their forehead and ground.(14)

The Prophet saw a man that was prostrating over the corner of his turban. He pointed to him to take away his turban and pointed to his forehead.(15)

Till now we understand that the Prophet prostrated to the soil and it is obvious. And if anyone did something apart from it, the Prophet used to tell him/her to correct it.

🔷🔶6. Shia’s infallible leaders (Imams) that are non-separable from the Qor'ān (as per Saqalain Narration) and also since they are Ahlulbayt (household) of prophet; have pointed to this truth in their speech.

Imam Sajjad (peace be with him) says that: "prostrating to the soil is the order of Allah and prostrating to the mat (woven of palm’s Bast) is our Prophets tradition".(16)

And in other place says: prostration is not permitted but on the ground and what comes from the earth except of clothes and edible items.

🔶🔶Conclusion:🔶🔶
Through all reasoning, it is obvious not only in narrations of prophet’s household but also the tradition (sonnat) of prophet and mannerisms of companions and followers are evidence of the necessity to prostrating on the ground and whatever extracted from it (except of edibles and clothing).

In addition, certainly prostration from the above mentioned things is permitted, but there is a doubt as to if we can prostrate over other things? So, per precaution (which is the way of salvation) prostrating should be done on those that are permitted.

At the end, remember that this discussion is a jurisprudence subject and there are some differences between Islamic sects, but it should not make worries as similar differences are too many among four Sunni groups like touching the nose tip to the prostration area is suggested as per "Maleki’s" but "Hambali's" believe it voids the prostration.
 
References:
1. Sahih Bukhari Ketab-al Salat, Pg 91
2. Qura’n Surah-Al-raad 15
3. Behar-ul Anvwr Vol85 Pg 147 refers to Elal-al Sharaye
4. Sonan Beihaqi Vol.1Pg212- Sahih Bukhari Ketab-al Salat, Vol.1 Pg 91- Iqtiza al Sirat al mostaqim (Ibn Teymieh ) Pg 332
5. Kanz-ul Ommal,Vol7,Halab Sec. Pg465
6. Ahkam-ul Qor’an (Hathath Hanafi) Vol3 Pg209 Printed in Beirut
7. Sonan Beihaqi Vol.2Pg421
8. Sonan Beihaqi Vol.2Pg421
9. Sonan Beihaqi Vol.1Pg439
10. Tabaghat-ul-Kubra Vol6 Pg79
11. For more detail refer to book “Siratona” by Allameh Amini
12. Sonan Beihaqi Vol.2Pg105
13. Azraqi, Akhbar-e Makkah Vol3 Pg151
14. Sonan Beihaqi Vol.2Pg105
15. Sonan Beihaqi Vol.2Pg105
16. Vasael-al Shia’ Vol3 Pg593

🔷🔶@AbodeofWisdom🔶🔷

✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃
💠💠💠💠﷽💠💠💠💠💠

🌺 A Shi’ite Anthology 🌺
Part Two

On the Unity of God

The basic themes of the selections remain largely constant. The Prophet and the Imams all emphasize God's transcendence, or His "incomparability" (tanzih) with the creatures. We may speak of God -although only on the authority of His own words, i.e., the Quran-but the expressions we employ are not to be understood as they are when we use the same words to describe the creatures.

At the same time, the very fact that words can properly be employed to refer to God show that in some respect He is indeed "comparable" or "similar" (tasbih) to His creation, if only in the sense that His creation is somehow "similar" to Him because created by Him. Otherwise, the words employed to speak about Him would all be meaningless, or each one would be equivalent to every other. But this second dimension of God's Reality - one more emphasized in Sufism - is relatively ignored in favor of His incomparability.

Another theme of the selections is man's inability to grasp God through such things as the powers of his reason and his senses. The constant emphasis upon this point underlines God's incomparability and illustrates the particular errors to which the polytheistic and anthropomorphic thinking and imagination of the "Age of Ignorance" (al-jahiliyyah) before Islam was prone.

In order to clarify the meaning of the selections, I have tried to supply a sufficient number of annotations. To comment upon the sayings in detail has been the task of much of Shi'ite speculation throughout the centuries.

Every word and every sentence have provided numerous scholars with ample opportunity to display their erudition. But for a Western audience, one can only hope to point out the most important references to the Quran and the prophetic hadith literature-references which are largely obvious for the Arabic speaking Muslim.

Then I have tried to illustrate the manner in which later commentators have elaborated upon the hadiths by quoting a number of explanatory passages, in Part I mostly from Majlisi, the compiler of the Bihar al-anwar.

Some of these commentaries are necessary to understand the bearing of the text, but others may seem to obscure an apparently obvious sentence. In the latter case, this is largely because the commentators usually try to explain the text by referring to theological and philosophical concepts familiar to their readers, but not so to the average Westerner. However that may be, such notes illustrate the manner in which later speculation has expanded and developed an aphoristic mode of expression into a complex metaphysical system.


💠💠@AbodeofWisdom 💠💠💠
✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃

🏞️🌅🌎Life and Death🌍🌅🏞️

📍Why We Live...

💠The Qur'an states: "He who created death and life that He may test you [to see] which of you is best in conduct" (67:2).

💠Ayatollah Mutahhari explains this: "It should be noted that the Divine 'test' is really to actualize potentials and abilities. The actualization of a potential is to develop and perfect it. This test is not designed to discover the secret of beings (by the 'tester' [God]), rather it is to actualize their hidden potentials. So in this case, 'disclosure' is an act of creation and the Divine test 'reveals' the human traits from the hidden phase of potential and capability to the external and concrete phase of actualization and perfection. The Divine test is not there to asses weight, rather it is there to increase the mass. With this elaboration it becomes clear that the above mentioned verse (67:2) reflects this truth that the world is a place for training and perfecting human potentials.

📍Why do we die?

💠Rumi narrates the following story...

💠Moses asked God, "why did you create form and bless it with your spirit and then only to ruin it"?

💠God responded, "I know you (ask) to discover in My actions the wisdom and hidden meaning of (phenomenal) duration...

💠O Moses, sow some seed in the earth, that thou thyself may render justice (to this question)".

💠When Moses had sown and the seed-corn was complete (in growth) and it's ears had gained beauty and symmetry, He (Moses) took the sickle and was cutting that (crop); then a voice from the Unseen reached his ear, saying: 'why do you sow and tend some seed-corn and now are cutting it when it has attained perfection'?

💠Moses replied, "O Lord, I destroy and lay it low because the straw is here and also grain. The grain is not suitable to be stored in the straw-barn; the straw likewise is bad for putting in the corn-barn".

💠...it is necessary to make manifest (the difference between) this good and evil, just as it is necessary to make manifest (distinguish) the wheat from the straw".

📚"Divine Justice" p. 190-196

@AbodeofWisdom

✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃
💠💠💠💠﷽💠💠💠💠💠

🌺 A Shi’ite Anthology 🌺
Part Two

On the Unity of God

The basic themes of the selections remain largely constant. The Prophet and the Imams all emphasize God's transcendence, or His "incomparability" (tanzih) with the creatures. We may speak of God -although only on the authority of His own words, i.e., the Quran-but the expressions we employ are not to be understood as they are when we use the same words to describe the creatures.

At the same time, the very fact that words can properly be employed to refer to God show that in some respect He is indeed "comparable" or "similar" (tasbih) to His creation, if only in the sense that His creation is somehow "similar" to Him because created by Him. Otherwise, the words employed to speak about Him would all be meaningless, or each one would be equivalent to every other. But this second dimension of God's Reality - one more emphasized in Sufism - is relatively ignored in favor of His incomparability.

Another theme of the selections is man's inability to grasp God through such things as the powers of his reason and his senses. The constant emphasis upon this point underlines God's incomparability and illustrates the particular errors to which the polytheistic and anthropomorphic thinking and imagination of the "Age of Ignorance" (al-jahiliyyah) before Islam was prone.

In order to clarify the meaning of the selections, I have tried to supply a sufficient number of annotations. To comment upon the sayings in detail has been the task of much of Shi'ite speculation throughout the centuries.

Every word and every sentence have provided numerous scholars with ample opportunity to display their erudition. But for a Western audience, one can only hope to point out the most important references to the Quran and the prophetic hadith literature-references which are largely obvious for the Arabic speaking Muslim.

Then I have tried to illustrate the manner in which later commentators have elaborated upon the hadiths by quoting a number of explanatory passages, in Part I mostly from Majlisi, the compiler of the Bihar al-anwar.

Some of these commentaries are necessary to understand the bearing of the text, but others may seem to obscure an apparently obvious sentence. In the latter case, this is largely because the commentators usually try to explain the text by referring to theological and philosophical concepts familiar to their readers, but not so to the average Westerner. However that may be, such notes illustrate the manner in which later speculation has expanded and developed an aphoristic mode of expression into a complex metaphysical system.


💠💠@AbodeofWisdom 💠💠💠
✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃✨🍃

🍃🌸🍃🌸🍃🌸🍃🌸🍃🌸🍃🌸🍃🌸

Spiritual WayfaringTopic 5:

💠 The necessity of hope and belief in God’s acceptance of repentance

🍃 God Almighty has established repentance so that man can constantly work towards reforming himself and if he stumbles (at any point) he does not become afflicted by a state of despair from self-reform, such that he would think: “It is all over! We have no way of reaching the good life (hayāt-e tayyebah) any more...”

🍃 God Almighty has set out different ways for his servants to pay attention to and connect with Him. Since the real life of man, after having committed sins, begins with repentance and observance of the limits and boundaries of God, in order to achieve this real life, a correct spiritual attention towards God is required.

🍃 And from among the most important standpoints is that a servant considers God accepting of himself i.e. accepting of repentance, and believes in His word, where He says:

*«وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَعْفُو عَنِ السَّيِّئَاتِ»*

💠“And He is the one who accepts the repentance of His servant and pardons the evils.” [Shoora:25]

🍃 If man does not manage to achieve this perspective and does not have this reliance on God, he will never be pulled towards God. It is because of this that the issue of needing God to turn to His servant has been stated in this supplication and in other supplications, where it says:

💠“Make my heart alive by Your turning to me.”

God Almighty also states in the Holy Quran: _“Then he turned towards them so that they repent.”_ [Tawbah:118]

🍃 Of course, repenting and returning to God does not have special rituals and customs nor does it require cumbersome effort.

🍃 God’s mercy and love is so embracing of His wrongful servants that reconciliation with Him does not require so much effort and pleading and begging.

🍃 Rather, the simple act of acknowledging one’s mistakes, shortcomings, and neglect, accompanied by a sense of shame and embarrassment of them is in itself God’s turning to His servant.

🍃 It is by instilling this awareness that God prevents the continuity of His neglect. It is for this reason that man must value this state and try to meet the conditions of repentance.

📚 Āyatollāh Tahrīrī, Commentary on Monājāt-ut Ta’ebīn , pg 73 - 74

📱@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

🏞️🌅🌎Life and Death🌍🌅🏞️

📍Why We Live...

💠The Qur'an states: "He who created death and life that He may test you [to see] which of you is best in conduct" (67:2).

💠Ayatollah Mutahhari explains this: "It should be noted that the Divine 'test' is really to actualize potentials and abilities. The actualization of a potential is to develop and perfect it. This test is not designed to discover the secret of beings (by the 'tester' [God]), rather it is to actualize their hidden potentials. So in this case, 'disclosure' is an act of creation and the Divine test 'reveals' the human traits from the hidden phase of potential and capability to the external and concrete phase of actualization and perfection. The Divine test is not there to asses weight, rather it is there to increase the mass. With this elaboration it becomes clear that the above mentioned verse (67:2) reflects this truth that the world is a place for training and perfecting human potentials.

📍Why do we die?

💠Rumi narrates the following story...

💠Moses asked God, "why did you create form and bless it with your spirit and then only to ruin it"?

💠God responded, "I know you (ask) to discover in My actions the wisdom and hidden meaning of (phenomenal) duration...

💠O Moses, sow some seed in the earth, that thou thyself may render justice (to this question)".

💠When Moses had sown and the seed-corn was complete (in growth) and it's ears had gained beauty and symmetry, He (Moses) took the sickle and was cutting that (crop); then a voice from the Unseen reached his ear, saying: 'why do you sow and tend some seed-corn and now are cutting it when it has attained perfection'?

💠Moses replied, "O Lord, I destroy and lay it low because the straw is here and also grain. The grain is not suitable to be stored in the straw-barn; the straw likewise is bad for putting in the corn-barn".

💠...it is necessary to make manifest (the difference between) this good and evil, just as it is necessary to make manifest (distinguish) the wheat from the straw".

📚"Divine Justice" p. 190-196

@AbodeofWisdom

🏞️🌅🌎Life and Death🌍🌅🏞️

📍Why We Live...

💠The Qur'an states: "He who created death and life that He may test you [to see] which of you is best in conduct" (67:2).

💠Ayatollah Mutahhari explains this: "It should be noted that the Divine 'test' is really to actualize potentials and abilities. The actualization of a potential is to develop and perfect it. This test is not designed to discover the secret of beings (by the 'tester' [God]), rather it is to actualize their hidden potentials. So in this case, 'disclosure' is an act of creation and the Divine test 'reveals' the human traits from the hidden phase of potential and capability to the external and concrete phase of actualization and perfection. The Divine test is not there to asses weight, rather it is there to increase the mass. With this elaboration it becomes clear that the above mentioned verse (67:2) reflects this truth that the world is a place for training and perfecting human potentials.

📍Why do we die?

💠Rumi narrates the following story...

💠Moses asked God, "why did you create form and bless it with your spirit and then only to ruin it"?

💠God responded, "I know you (ask) to discover in My actions the wisdom and hidden meaning of (phenomenal) duration...

💠O Moses, sow some seed in the earth, that thou thyself may render justice (to this question)".

💠When Moses had sown and the seed-corn was complete (in growth) and it's ears had gained beauty and symmetry, He (Moses) took the sickle and was cutting that (crop); then a voice from the Unseen reached his ear, saying: 'why do you sow and tend some seed-corn and now are cutting it when it has attained perfection'?

💠Moses replied, "O Lord, I destroy and lay it low because the straw is here and also grain. The grain is not suitable to be stored in the straw-barn; the straw likewise is bad for putting in the corn-barn".

💠...it is necessary to make manifest (the difference between) this good and evil, just as it is necessary to make manifest (distinguish) the wheat from the straw".

📚"Divine Justice" p. 190-196

@AbodeofWisdom

Don’t Expect from others, and Don’t lash out

Prerequisites of being a Muslim..

By Ayatollah Mahmoud Amjad


“This phrase (see title) is enough to make us true Muslims.

However, first and foremost, I myself am the worst and I sense that to be the case. I do not want to offer you water (i.e. tell you how to be Muslims) so that you all say how good I am. But, I (reiterate that) I am not that good. Definitely, if this were the case (that I preach to you all to show I am better) then this is to snatch your rights! When I self account, I certainly see that I am the worst. For surely, I have heard and seen great things from others, such that if I acted on those words, I would reach the throne of God.

(Moving on,) if we practice these two phrases, it suffices: don’t lash (مرنجان) and don’t expect (مرنج).

1️⃣The word مرنجان means: do not lash out. But is this possible? I have arrogance, is it possible not to lash out? I have jealousy, is it possible? We all think that silence is an easy task. Is it?!! Silence is the hardest thing, because it has a source (does not happen spontaneously). (And because I am plagued with) arrogance, jealousy, vanity, I will (inevitably) lash out (making it harder to attain silent). Yet, we (need to make a will) not to lash, (and by doing so) we will be able to reform ourselves, so that these impurities can be flushed out.

‘Do not be after annoyance by doing whatever you desire, for verily in this path we find no vice other than this’

Yes, that is, when one (follows his worldly desires, it will lead him to) not pray, not fast, to lie, backbite, slander, perform bad deeds, which all become a means of annoyance and lashing out to God, the infallibles, and humanity.


2️⃣[Secondly] the word مرنج means to not have expectations. I have expectations that whenever I enter the gathering, the attendees stand up to respect me. If they don’t stand up, I get upset. For one week, I am upset that the person did not stand up, or why so and so did not respond to my salam.

May God’s mercy be with Ayatollah Koohestani, I saw him twice. Once in Mashhad, and the second time at a hospital. He was the first person (I met) who was some light years old, yet had a heart that worked like a youth. During the times of his clerical studies, he noticed that he became depressed. He wondered why he became such. (He realized) it was because of (interaction with people when they) failed to respond to his greetings, or never even greeted him when he walked by, or sometimes they’d verbally abuse him, and etc.

So he understood that his depression was due to the love of this world. It says in narrations:

حبّ الدنيا رأس كل خطيئة

‘Love of the world is the root to every vice (or misery)’

Love of the world is the root to arrogance, vanity, and all other sins. So he visited the shrine of Imam Ali (peace be with him) and said to him: ‘take the love of this world out of me’. Later, he said that such exhilaration filled his heart which he couldn’t describe, and till the end of his life he had such a state.

So, مرنج means to not have expectations. This is indeed a difficult task. True, I won’t have expectations of others, but what about close friends? It doesn’t work. We aren’t walls to not expect. For the least part, we shouldn’t give an order of effects (i.e. do not expect from others to best of abilities). So if someone backbites us or says bad about us, (because we didn’t expect benefit from people) we should also avoid praying that God destroys them or curse them. In fact we shouldn’t do this to anybody.

Yes, we do ask God to remove his mercy from the enemies of Islam, Ahlulbayt, and the oppressors. It is intended that we do not curse the figures and individuals of the other sects, lest Shias be killed.

Going back, if we pray that God destroys someone, others would also ask the same of us. In the words of the author of ‘Sharial Islam’, we ask: oh God remove the evil from my face (i.e. existence)”.

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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

Don’t Expect from others, and Don’t lash out

Prerequisites of being a Muslim..

By Ayatollah Mahmoud Amjad


“This phrase (see title) is enough to make us true Muslims.

However, first and foremost, I myself am the worst and I sense that to be the case. I do not want to offer you water (i.e. tell you how to be Muslims) so that you all say how good I am. But, I (reiterate that) I am not that good. Definitely, if this were the case (that I preach to you all to show I am better) then this is to snatch your rights! When I self account, I certainly see that I am the worst. For surely, I have heard and seen great things from others, such that if I acted on those words, I would reach the throne of God.

(Moving on,) if we practice these two phrases, it suffices: don’t lash (مرنجان) and don’t expect (مرنج).

1️⃣The word مرنجان means: do not lash out. But is this possible? I have arrogance, is it possible not to lash out? I have jealousy, is it possible? We all think that silence is an easy task. Is it?!! Silence is the hardest thing, because it has a source (does not happen spontaneously). (And because I am plagued with) arrogance, jealousy, vanity, I will (inevitably) lash out (making it harder to attain silent). Yet, we (need to make a will) not to lash, (and by doing so) we will be able to reform ourselves, so that these impurities can be flushed out.

‘Do not be after annoyance by doing whatever you desire, for verily in this path we find no vice other than this’

Yes, that is, when one (follows his worldly desires, it will lead him to) not pray, not fast, to lie, backbite, slander, perform bad deeds, which all become a means of annoyance and lashing out to God, the infallibles, and humanity.


2️⃣[Secondly] the word مرنج means to not have expectations. I have expectations that whenever I enter the gathering, the attendees stand up to respect me. If they don’t stand up, I get upset. For one week, I am upset that the person did not stand up, or why so and so did not respond to my salam.

May God’s mercy be with Ayatollah Koohestani, I saw him twice. Once in Mashhad, and the second time at a hospital. He was the first person (I met) who was some light years old, yet had a heart that worked like a youth. During the times of his clerical studies, he noticed that he became depressed. He wondered why he became such. (He realized) it was because of (interaction with people when they) failed to respond to his greetings, or never even greeted him when he walked by, or sometimes they’d verbally abuse him, and etc.

So he understood that his depression was due to the love of this world. It says in narrations:

حبّ الدنيا رأس كل خطيئة

‘Love of the world is the root to every vice (or misery)’

Love of the world is the root to arrogance, vanity, and all other sins. So he visited the shrine of Imam Ali (peace be with him) and said to him: ‘take the love of this world out of me’. Later, he said that such exhilaration filled his heart which he couldn’t describe, and till the end of his life he had such a state.

So, مرنج means to not have expectations. This is indeed a difficult task. True, I won’t have expectations of others, but what about close friends? It doesn’t work. We aren’t walls to not expect. For the least part, we shouldn’t give an order of effects (i.e. do not expect from others to best of abilities). So if someone backbites us or says bad about us, (because we didn’t expect benefit from people) we should also avoid praying that God destroys them or curse them. In fact we shouldn’t do this to anybody.

Yes, we do ask God to remove his mercy from the enemies of Islam, Ahlulbayt, and the oppressors. It is intended that we do not curse the figures and individuals of the other sects, lest Shias be killed.

Going back, if we pray that God destroys someone, others would also ask the same of us. In the words of the author of ‘Sharial Islam’, we ask: oh God remove the evil from my face (i.e. existence)”.

@AbodeofWisdom

تحذير الخواص من أكاذيب القصص

تأليف: الإمام جلال الدين السيوطي

تحقيق: الدكتور محمد بن لطفي الصباغ