keeping the results of the month of Ramadan-1

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If we pass the month of Ramadan while performing its recommended acts like reciting the holy Quran, doing Doa, being careful about our deeds, we can continue them throughout the other months of the year. The scholars in the field of morality recommend for finding a good habit to continue practicing a specific deed for forty days, for example the one who tries to practice generosity, after forty days it becomes a habit for him/her to be a generous person. So it is so good to continue the good deeds that we have done in the month of Ramadan for the next ten days in order to have a complete forty days of performing a good deed, for example it this holy month we usually perform our morning prayer in its early time, so it is appropriate to continue that after this month at least for ten days. Ten days are not so long and we can plan to do a deed in these days easily. After these forty days of performing a good deed it becomes as a habit for us and performing that deed becomes easier for us. And if after these forty days we decide to continue having that good habit for the next forty days, it becomes as our temper to the extent that it is so hard for us to leave that good habit, especially at the age of youth because in this period of life, obtaining the good habit is so easier than the old age. If we could be successful in obtaining a good habit, having other good habits becomes easier for us. It might be a little hard for some of us to continue performing a good deed, but because the result of that is so sweet and worthwhile, it deserves to stand that little hardship.

There is another important and hopeful point here. We as Shia believe that the twelfth Imam is alive and his basic and main mission is to guide mankind and this is the very reason of sending the Prophets and Imams throughout the history. When we ask the Imams to be a mediocre between us and Allah for our needs like an illness, it might happen that due to some reasons our illnesses does not get cured, but the guidance of the Imam is not left under any circumstances because as we said his main mission is the guidance of people and especially those who sincerely want to be on the straight path.

Keeping the results of the month of ramadan-2

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The month of Ramadan is a month which is full of blessings and bounties. Through this holy month we can obtain many good results. Every good thing has a kind of slump which threatens it. We must be aware not to remove the good effects of a deed. So the question is how can we keep the result of this holy month?

When we look at the holy Quran we see that Allah explicitly mentioned the reason of issuing the decree of fasting. He said in chapter Bagharah verse 183:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ

“Believers, fasting is decreed for you as it was decreed for those before you; perchance you will be cautious.”

According to this verse we can reach through fasting to the great position of Taqwa and God-fearing. Tawqa means to prefer the will of our Lord and Creator over our will. It means to avoid from committing sins. In this holy month because of the order of Allah, we avoided from some prohibited and Haram things and even some things which in their innate nature are not prohibited, like eating but in the other months, we are ordered just to avoid from prohibited things.

There are some ways in order to obtain the position of Taqwa, like:

-Strengthening our religious beliefs.

We can do that by pondering on different signs of Allah and different reliable religious teachings.

-Knowing the Islamic rulings.

If we do not know the obligations and prohibitions of Allah and different kinds of sins, so observing the concept of Taqwa cannot be done completely.

-Practicing

Obtaining every skill needs practice. We must not get disappointed if we see that sometimes we could not observe Taqwa. We must not expect to obtain the position of Taqwa overnight; we must try little by little to obtain this honorable skill.

-Participation in the religious sessions and having connection with the believers and scholars or reading the books which are written about the lives of the great pious individuals can be so useful.

-Knowing Satan.

You know that Satan and his army have different kinds of temptations and traps, sometimes a deed is not Haram in its innate nature, but it can lead us to the commitment of a sin and disobedience of Allah. So in fact that deed can be a trap from devils.

-Knowing the features of the people of Taqwa.

There are many verses of the Quran and various Narrations of the Infallibles that describe the features of the pious people. The most famous source in this regard is the sermon of Hammad in the book of Nahj Al-Balagha in which Imam Ali peace be upon him described different features of the pious people to one of his companions by the name of Hammam. It is so useful for us to read it and try to implement these features in our lives of course little by little, because if we want to force ourselves to practice all of those features as soon as possible it might lead us to lose eagerness to the religious matters.

In the holy month of Ramadan we went under the flag of Allah, so in the other months we must try not to go anywhere else. In this month we were presented Taqwa as a gift of Allah, of course Taqwa has different levels. The one who is under the flag of Allah is definitely helped by Allah in this world and in the hereafter, because Allah Himself mentioned in the Quran in chapter room verse 47:

وَكَانَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نَصْرُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“And it was an incumbent duty upon us to give victory to the believers.”

And at the time of difficulties, Allah rescues the believers as He said in chapter Yunos verse 103:

ثُمَّ نُنَجِّي رُسُلَنَا وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ كَذَلِكَ حَقًّا عَلَيْنَا نُنجِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“Then we shall save our messengers and the believers. It is our obligated duty, we shall save those who believe.”

Hope and fear in the Eid of Fitr

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The month of Ramadan passed and the Eid of Fitr arrived. This feast is a day in which the spiritual prizes are given to the believers. It is true that this is a day in which we are happy and joyful, but there are some worries about this great day. The first worry is that we do not know did Allah accept our worships in this month and are we among His real believers or not?

The wise Loghman said to his son:

Fear Allah in a way that if you have performed all of the good deeds of the Humans and Jins, He still might punish you and be hopeful in Him in a way that if you have committed all of the sins of Humans and Jins, He might have mercy on you.

Although we are told by the Islamic teachings to be optimistic about the mercy of Allah, but there are Narrations that recommend us to have both of fear and hope, fear because of our wrong deeds and hope because of the very vast mercy of Allah.

So we see that this Eid and feast is a place for both hope and fear.

The second worry about this feast is that according to the Narrations, the Satan and devils (at least some of them) were chained in the month of Ramadan, due to the vey vast blessings of this holy month, so for one month we were somehow convenient, but from this feast on, the attacks of devils are there and we might be deceived and overcome by them and their temptations.

 Another worry about this day is the occultation of the twelfth infallible Imam. If the Imam was apparent we would be able to perform our prayer behind him, but now we are deprived from the blessing of his presence, and we are like the orphan that has no father.

There is a hopeful point here, according to the Narrations that we mentioned before, in the holy month of Ramadan Allah releases every night thousands of thousands (one million) wrong doers from the fire of Hell and in the night of Fitr Allah releases as much as He has released throughout the whole month of Ramadan. In the history of the life of Imam Sajjad peace be upon him it is mentioned that sometimes he was writing the faults of his servants, but he was not telling to them and he was not punishing them. When the night of Eid of Fitr was arriving, the Imam was calling them and saying: You have these faults, I did not say anything to you or did not punish you and I won’t do that. Now I released all of you and made you free; I have only one request from you, I ask you to say: O Allah, have mercy on Sajjad and release him just like he did so to his servants.

The rituals of Doa-2

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In the previous post we talked about the things that are effective in the fulfillment of Doa and asking from Allah, so let’s mention some other things:

-Doing Doa in gatherings and with others.

In a gathering there are different people with different positions before Allah, so it happens so much that some of the present individuals ask Allah with the better state, so it causes the Doa of others to be accepted and fulfilled.

-Doing Istighfar before starting Doa which means asking for forgiveness from Allah.

-Resisting in Doa.

-Doing Doa with Ibtihal.

Ibtihal means just noticing to Allah and not having hope in anyone else and not considering other person or thing as the one who is independent from Allah.

-Appealing in Doa.

-Observing Taqwa and piety.

We recite in the Komayl supplication:

O Allah, forgive my sins which imprison my Doa(from being fulfilled).

-Mentioning the names of the most beloved creators of Allah to Him i.e. the infallibles as the intercessors between us and Allah and saying: O Allah, by the name of Prophet Muhammad and his progeny give me so and so.

-Doing Doa by the words of the Infallibles.

There are two kinds of Doa. The first is a Doa which is narrated from the Infallibles and the second kind of Doa is the one that we ask Allah by our own words. The Doa or the supplication of the infallibles is more effective in being fulfilled.

-Doing Doa in the times or places with are recommended like:

-In the city of Mecca.

-In the mosques.

-In the shrine of Imam Hussein especially under the dome of his shrine.

-After recommended prayers.

-At the time of recitation of the holy Quran.

– In the day of Friday.

-In the day of Arafah (the ninth day of the month of Zi Hajjah, a month of the lunar calendar).

-In the night of fifteenth of the month of Shaban, (the month before the month of Ramadan).

-In the night of Friday (meaning the night before starting the day of Friday).

-In the time of raining.

-In the month of Ramadan.

The holy Prophet of Islam said in his sermon which he delivered before starting the month of Ramadan about this holy month:

“Your Doa is accepted and fulfilled in this month.”

The rituals of Doa-1

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One of the most recommended acts in the month of Ramadan is doing Doa or asking from Allah. Allah said in chapter Baqarah verse 186:

وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُواْ لِي وَلْيُؤْمِنُواْ بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ

“When my worshipers ask you about me, i am near. I answer the supplication of the suppliant when he calls to me; therefore, let them respond to me and let them believe in me, in order that they will be righteous.”

Or in chapter Ghafir verse 60 we read:

وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ

“Your lord has said: ‘call on me and I will answer you.”

So according to these two verses we must be hopeful about the fulfillment of our Doa. There is a discussion regarding the reasons that sometimes our Doa is not fulfilled and we will talk about this topic in an independent post.

There are some times or places or some rituals for a Doa to be accepted more probable, so let’s talk about them. We mention very briefly some of them which are derived from the Islamic teachings:

-Saying بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم” “before starting the Doa.

-Praising Allah before starting Doa.

-Sending Salawat before and after Doa

Salawat means to ask Allah to send peace and blessings on the Prophet of Islam and his immaculate family. The Arabic words of Salawat are as following:

اللهم صل علی محمد و آل محمد

The reason is that Salawat is an accepted Doa and when you ask Allah in a Doa which is surrounded from two sides by an accepted Doa, Allah is more generous to accept two Doa and does not accept the middle Doa.

-Expanding in Doa, which means to do Doa for others and not just for ourselves.

To be continued.

The barriers of the fulfillment of Doa-2

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In the previous post we mentioned some barriers that prevent the Doa from being fulfilled. So let’s continue that.

Another barrier of the fulfillment of Doa is that we do not have enough certainty and faith. It means that we must not get disappointed from the mercy of Allah even though we are astray from His covenant.

The holy Prophet of Allah said:

“Ask from Allah and be certain about its fulfillment.”

Imam Sadiq peace be upon him said:

“When you are asking Allah, be hopeful in a way that (the fulfillment of) your Doa is behind the door (meaning: be hopeful that your Doa will be fulfilled as soon as you finish your Doa).

Another point about the barrier of the fulfillment of Doa is that sometimes our wish does not have the capacity to be fulfilled. We see that when Prophet Noah asked Allah to rescue his son from the punishment of Allah, Allah said: Your son in not of your family.

It means that your son does not have the capacity to be included in your Doa.

Sometimes we ask Allah for something that in fact it is not appropriate for us. Imagine that when a child is ill and he/she wants to eat something which is harmful for him/her. It might happen that this child cries so much and asks the parents to give him/her that, but the very kind parents do not do that and in fact their prevention is done out of their mercy and wisdom, so let’s compare the mercy and wisdom of Allah to the mercy and wisdom of this child’s parents, it is incomparable, so we should not expect Allah to fulfill everything that we ask Him.

So let’s mention some other barriers.

-Leaving joining good and forbidding evil.

The holy Prophet of Islam said:

“Join good and forbid evil, otherwise Allah makes the bad people among you to dominate you and on that time your Doa is not going to be fulfilled.”

-Having hard heart.

Imam Sadigh peace be upon him said:

“Allah does not fulfill the Doa of the obdurate person.”

-Leaving Doa at the time of convenience.

Imam Sadiq peace be upon him said:

The one who wants his/her Doa to be fulfilled in the time of difficulty, he/she must do Doa in the state of convenience.

To be continued.

The barriers of the fulfillment of Doa-1

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In the previous posts we talked about some matters which are effective in the fulfillment of Doa.

Here is an important question. We mentioned some verses in which Allah said: I will fulfill your Doa, but sometimes we see that our Doa is not fulfilled, so is there any barrier or obstacle from the fulfillment of our Doa?

Some of the scholars in the field of morality bring an example in this regard, they say that when we plant a seed in the soil and all of its necessary needs are provided like the light of sun, or the fertile soil or the well seed but if there is any barrier like the extreme cold, the seed cannot have its perfect growth. So the same analogy is applied to our discussion, we must remove the barriers for the fulfillment of our Doa. So let’s see some of the barriers in brief.

One of the most important barriers is that we are not faithful to the covenant of Allah.

Some of us expect Allah to fulfill our Doa as soon as we call Him, but we do not think that do we listen to the commands of Allah and obey Him? Here is an interesting and meaningful story. There was an illiterate porter in the city of Tabriz in Iran who was carrying the loads of others, in a day he was passing in a mall, he stopped somewhere to rest, on that time suddenly a child who was playing on the roof fell down from there, the porter just said: “Hold it”. The people who were there saw that the child stopped in the air and the porter got near and took the child and gave it to its mother. The people got so much shocked from the high position of that porter. They asked him: Who are you? Are you a Prophet or an Imam or a magician? The porter answered: I am none of these persons. I am the same simple porter that works for you for some years. I obeyed Allah throughout my lifetime and listened to everything he ordered, and now I asked Allah once and Allah listened to my asking.

Someone might say that this is just a story and it might not be a true event, but when we deeply think about the lesson behind that we see that it is an undeniable fact and it is not something strange at all.

A group of people asked Imam Sadiq peace be upon him: Why is not our Doa fulfilled? The Imam answered: “Because you do not act according to your covenant before Allah, while He said: “Fulfill my covenant, and I will fulfill your covenant” (chapter Bagharah verse 40)

I swear by Allah if you fulfill the covenant of Allah, Allah also fulfills your covenant.”

To be continued.

The martyr of the month of Ramadan-4

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In the previous posts we mentioned the life of Imam Ali peace be upon him in brief and we mentioned some verses of the holy Quran and some Narrations of the Prophet of Islam about him. The holy Prophet of Islam said to Imam Ali:

No one knows you except Allah and me.

So how can we know completely this very honorable Imam?

For knowing a little about this great personality, we can refer to different sources like the history of Islam, his deeds through his lifetime, the sayings of others about him and even those sayings which are told by his enemies as confession.

In this post we try to mention one of his attributes.

The Justice of Imam Ali

Let me just mention two shocking stories in this regard which can be so meaningful.

Aqil was the brother of Imam Ali. Once he referred to the Imam in the time that the Imam was a caliph. Aqil was in need, he asked the Imam to help him to pay his debt. The Imam asked him: How much is your debt? Aqil replied: One hundred thousand Dirhams (the currency of some Islamic countries). The Imam said: I don’t have it right now. Wait until the day in which I take my own share of treasury and on that time I will help you from my own share as much as I can. Aqil said: The treasury is in your hand and you can take some money from that. The Imam said: Every one of us has an equal share from treasury. Then the Imam said to his brother: If my words do not convince you, go to the mall and break the boxes in which the moneys of the businessmen are and take some money. Aqil said: Do you want me to break the boxes of those who have trusted God and have saved some money? The Imam said: Do you want me to open the door of treasury which belongs to the Muslims who have trusted God? If you want, take your sword and let’s go the city of Hira, there are some rich businessmen. We can attack the house of one of them and get some money. Aqil said: Do you want me to steal? And the Imam replied: Stealing form one person is better than stealing from a treasury which belongs to all people. So Aqil understood that the Imam is not the person to help him by the money of treasury. So he went.

Another interesting story is that one night the Imam entered in the place of treasury in order to do its affairs like calculation or division. There was a lamp in front of him. On that time two persons of his companions entered there. The Imam turned off the light and ordered to bring to him a lamp from his house. They asked the Imam: What was the difference between these two lamps? And the Imam replied: The oil of the first lamp was supplied of the treasury (which belongs to all people) and it is not appropriate and right to sit in front of such a lamp with you to talk about something other than the affairs of treasury.

These two stories were just the examples of the justice of Imam Ali. There are many books and articles written in this regard that we cannot mention them all here, so I recommend our dear brothers and sisters to refer to them.

The martyr of the month of Ramadan-3

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ramadanIn the previous posts we mentioned very briefly some parts of the life of Imam Ali peace be upon him, a man who was born in the house of Allah i.e. in Kaba in the city of Mecca and got martyr in the month of Allah i.e. the month of Ramadan and in the house of Allah i.e. the mosque of the city of Kufa in Iraq. In this post we want to mention a drop from the ocean of the values of this great personality according to what the Prophet of Islam said. There are many Narrations from the Prophet in which Imam Ali is mentioned as a very unique personality and these Narrations are found in both Shia and Sunni sources. So let’s see some of them.

The holy Prophet said:

The one, who wants to look at Prophet Adam and his knowledge and to Prophet Noah and his piety and to Prophet Abraham and his patience and to Prophet Moses and his chant and to Prophet Jesus and his worship, must look at Ali. (Meaning Imam Ali has all of their good attributes)

The holy Prophet of Islam defined Imam Ali as the gate of knowledge. He said:

I am the city of knowledge and Ali is the gate of that, so the one, who wants knowledge, must come from its door.

Also the Prophet said the following sayings:

-O Ali, you are the leader of the Muslims.

-I and Ali are the fathers of this nation.

-O Ali, you are my brother in this world and in the hereafter.

-Every Prophet has a successor and heir and Ali is my successor and heir.

-Allah created Ali from my light.

-Ali is the leader of the good doers.

-O Ali, you and your companions will be in Paradise.

-O Ali, if you were not, the believers would not be known after me.

-O Ali, Allah decorated you with His ornament.

-Ali is with righteousness and righteousness is with Ali.

-O Ali, your position to me is like the position of Aaron (the brother of Prophet Moses) to Moses except that there is not any prophet after me.

– Of whomsoever I am the master, then Ali is his master.

-Ali is with the Quran and the Quran is with Ali.

-O Ali, you are my stand bearer in this world and in the hereafter.

– O Ali, you are the straight path.

– Ali and his followers are the prosperous.

-The hit (of the sword) of Ali on the day of the war of Khandaq is better than the worships of humans and Jins.

And many other Narrations that dear brothers and sisters can find in the books of different branches of Islam.

To be continued

The martyr of the month of Ramadan-2

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ramadanIn the holy Quran there are many verses that Imam Ali and the infallible progeny of the Prophet of Islam are mentioned. A lot of these verses are accepted by all branches of Islam. Despite of this point that the name of Imam Ali is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran (due to some reasons), but a lot of the verses that talk about them, are in a way that cannot be compatible to anyone other than them.

So let’s see some of these verses.

-The verse of Tabligh or propagation

According to the verse 67 in chapter Maedah:

يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ وَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلْ فَمَا بَلَّغْتَ رِسَالَتَهُ وَاللّهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْكَافِرِينَ

“O messenger, deliver what is sent down to you from your lord; if you do not, you will not have conveyed his message. Allah protects you from the people. Allah does not guide the nation, the unbelievers.”

According to all exegesis nooks of Shia and a lot of the Sunni ones, this verse was descended about Imam Ali and the story in brief is that the Prophet of Islam in his last pilgrimage of Kaba(the house of Allah in Mecca)was ordered by Allah to announce the mastership of Imam Ali. So the Prophet after delivering a sermon in front of thousands of people, declared his very famous sentence:

من کنت مولاه فهذا علی مولاه

“Of whomsoever I am the master, then Ali is his master.”

-The verse of Wilayah or leadership

In verse 55 in chapter Maedah we read:

إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلاَةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَاكِعُونَ

“Your guide is only Allah, his messenger, and the believers; those who establish the prayer, pay their obligatory charity, and bow down (in worship).”

The story is that a poor man entered the mosque and asked the people to help him, no one answered him except Imam Ali that was in his prayer in the state of Roku (bowing) and he gave that poor his ring.

-The verse of Sadiqin or the truthful.

Allah has an order to the believers in chapter Toabah verse 119:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ

“Believers, fear Allah and stand with the truthful.”

This verse in explained by Ibn Abbas (the great companion of the Prophet of Islam and the commentator of the holy Quran) that the truthful in this verse means Ali.

The argument that is used (apart from the above saying) is that in this verse Allah ordered the believers to be and stand with the truthful, and this order has no condition, it means that this verse did not order to be with the truthful only if they are so and so. And this kind of order is not correct except if we are ordered to be with the infallible and sinless people, because the one who sometimes commits sin we should not be with him at the time of committing the sin, and the one that always is away from the disobedience of Allah and we can always stand with him, is no one other than the infallible, and according to the different branches of Islam these sinless and infallible people are the honorable household of the Prophet of Islam i.e. the Prophet, Imam Ali, Lady Fatimah, and their infallible sons, and this(their infallibility) is something which the history bears witness. So the truthful in this verse is not just the one that does not tell lies, but rather is the one that never tell or do any vain intentionally or unintentionally.

-The verse of Mawaddah or deep love.

In chapter Shoora verse 23 we read:

قُل لَّا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا إِلَّا الْمَوَدَّةَ فِي الْقُرْبَى

“Say: ‘for this I ask of you no wage except the love of the (prophet’s) relatives.”

Ibn Abbas narrated that the companions of the Prophet of Islam asked him: Who are these people that we are ordered to have Mawaddah of them? And the prophet replied:

They are Ali, Fatimah and their sons.

To be continued.