How to distinguish Imam al-Mahdi from false claimants?

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Imam al-Mahdi

Hujjat al-Islam Javad Ja’fari, the director of the Institute for Theology of Hajj and Pilgrimage has spoken about the methods for building the love of Imam al-Mahdi in oneself and preparing for his advent.

“Mahdawiyah (Messianism) is an issue of belief and perspective and the future reappearance of Imam al-Mahdi is based on prophetic narrations and is a divine promise to the believers and a emblem of the correct path,” he said.

To recognize those who falsely claim to be Imam al-Mahdi from the Imam himself, Hujjat al-Islam Ja’fari has said: “Unfortunately, among the layers of society there are those who do not have enough information in regard to the false claimants of Mahdawiyah, although they may be experts in their own fields.”

His Eminence explained that in the traditions that we have about Mahdawiyah, it is said that Imam al-Mahdi will appear only after several significant and miraculous signs occur. The companions of the Imam, including the Yemeni and Khorasani figures, who have special characteristics, will appear prior to the advent of the Imam to prepare mankind for his advent.

“Those who are aware of these traditions will not be afflicted by the false claimants. Thus, those who accept a false claimant do not have sufficient knowledge of the narrations regarding Mahdawiyah,” Hujjat al-Islam Ja’fari explained.

He pointed to the sedition that has been created by Mahmoud al-Hasani Sarkhi in Iraq and said: “Because of the various wars and conflicts recently inflicted on Iraq by the Takfiri group ISIL and the remnants of the Ba’ath party, some people have reached a spiritual and social impasse and cannot imagine a way out. Those who do not have sufficient information about Mahdawiyah have accepted the claim of people, such as Sarkhi, who has claimed to be a representative of Imam al-Mahdi and has found a following.”

“In Iraq and Pakistan, the general knowledge, as well as the religious knowledge and awareness of the people religious propaganda is very low, so ignorance and the emotional and social needs of the people can cause the people of these nations to be attracted to these false claimants,” Hujjat al-Islam Ja’fari explained.

Those who have belief in Mahdawiyah can recognize their duties by studying the prophetic narrations. Imam al-Mahdi is the symbol of justice and when he appears, he will fill the earth with justice. Someone who is worthy of being the companion of the Imam will have to be ready to accept this justice and justice must be his first concern and he must be prepared to implement justice wherever it is necessary, even if it is to the detriment of his own relatives.

A narration states that anyone who wants to be a companion of Imam al-Mahdi must have good morals and institutionalize morality in their entire being. “Mahdi-like characteristics will become outwardly apparent when society obtains a Mahdi-like lifestyle and when people implement these characteristics in their individual lives. Mahdi-like characteristics contain elements such as justice and morality,” Hujjat al-Islam Ja’fari explained.

Hujjat al-Islam Ja’fari further explained that a Mahdi-like lifestyle can be obtained with the acquisition of just and pious characteristics: “Mahdi-like characteristics must be implemented in the lives of mankind, just as during the sorrowful month of Muharram when we wear black clothes and attend mourning ceremonies. During Muharram these Mahdi-like characteristics become apparent, [but they must be apparent all year long].”

Mass protests all over the world against Gaza aggression

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Mass protests

Mass protests have been organized in different Arab and European countries condemning the continued international silence towards the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip.

In Colombia, hundreds of protesters participated in a vigil outside Israeli embassy in Bogota in protest against Israeli military escalation in Gaza.

The participants, including political parties’ leaders and Palestinian community members, called on Israel to stop its brutal attack on the besieged Strip of Gaza, condemning the international community and UN’s suspicious silence.

In The Hague, hundreds of activists and Palestinian community members organized a solidarity vigil on the tenth anniversary of International Court of Justice’s decision against Israeli Apartheid Wall.

The protesters chanted slogans calling for an immediate end to Israeli barbaric aggression on Gaza.

For his part, Maldivian president Abduallah Abd Qyoom slammed the Israeli escalated aggression on Gaza’s people and the Israeli continued violations in occupied Palestine.

Abd Qyoom expressed his people’s total support for the unarmed Palestinian people who are subjected to “Israel’s systematic and deliberate crimes.”

Along the same line, the Bahraini Council Association organized in coordination with the Palestinian embassy in Bahrain a solidarity vigil in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip.

In Oman, the journalists syndicate strongly condemned Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza, calling on Arab and international journalists’ syndicates to condemn the Israeli inhuman crimes.

In Mauritania, angry marches were organized in a number of cities protesting Israeli aggression, calling on the international community to intervene urgently to stop Israel’s attacks.

In Spain, solidarity demonstrations have continued for the fourth consecutive day in several cities, while Andalusian Journalists Union or SPA issued a statement condemning the continued Israeli homicide in Gaza in violation to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

In London, a large number of protesters participated Friday in a sit-in outside Israeli embassy protesting Israel’s aggression. The participants raised Palestinian flags and held banners denouncing Israeli brutal attacks.

Meanwhile, the Tunisian league for the defense of Human rights condemned the Arab official position towards Israeli aggression and called on the UN Security Council to pressure Israel to stop its aggression.

The league also called for providing protection for the Palestinian people and stressed the resistance’s right to defend itself.

In its turn, South Africa’s government condemned Israeli collective punishment policy against Palestinians including arrests.

Shia-Sunni communities attended Iftar banquet of Dallas mayor

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Dallas mayor

This was the first from any Dallas Mayor. The dinner which was sponsored by renowned city businessman Amir Rupani, Arman Rupani and Mohsin Mandavia and others.

A large number of religious leadership of Shia, Sunni and Ismaili community were in attendance.

The event was attended by former Mayor of Paris Dr Arjumand Hashmi, City Councilman Dallas Lee M Kleinman Sandy Greyson Monica Alonzo ,Imam Shpendim Nadzaku ( Dallas Central Mosque) Imam Zia Shaikh ( Irving Masjid) RaJa Zahid Khanzada , Amina Rab ( CAIR) Dr. Shahid Shafi ,Mike Ghouse, Imam Khalid Shaheed Ghulam Jangda Amina ismail Khalil, Abdur-Rashid ( Plano Masjid), Hind Jara ( TMWF) Azhar Aziz ( ISNA) Dallas, Central Mosque Imam Shpendim Nadzaku Zia Sheikh, CAIR DFW President Amina Rab, Mike Ghouse, Ghulam Jangda, Imam Khalid Shaheed ,Abdul Rasheed, Hind Jarrah, ISNA Vice President Azhar Aziz and others,

Imam Khalid Shaheed , Khalil Abdur-Rashid, Imam Shpendim Nadzaku and Imam Zia Sheikh spoke on the importance of fasting and on Ramadan.

Talking to the group Dallas Mayor Mike Rawling said that around 150,000 Muslim live in Dallas Metroplex from which around 40,000 live in Dallas County.

He said that this is the first time an Iftar at City Hall is held to celebrate the social and religious event together.

He said that this is their wish that this dinner is hosted every year and until he is Mayor he will host this event each year.

He said that Dallas is one of the largest city of the nation which is growing at a very fast pace.

He said that the immigrant population has a large contribution in Dallas city progress and this is why we need to work together for the economic growth of the city.

He thanked to the young Muslim leader Arman for giving him the the advice for hosting the dinner. He said that together we should prepare for the challenges of 21st century and to leave the city and the country in better shape for our coming generation.

Special arrangements for Azaan and prayers were also made during the event. The Muslim and other Americans socialized at this event. Muslim community leaders thanked Mayor Mike Rawlings for his hospitality.

Ramadan presents opportune time for outreach at Dearborn mosques

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(Photo: Fatina Abdrabboh (center), director of ADC Michigan, with her volunteers. Photo courtesy of ADC Michigan )

Muslims attend prayers at mosques more during Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, than any other time of the year.

With so many of their congregation in attendance at once, particularly during the nightly prayers, mosques and nonprofit organizations often use the time to seek donations.

Ramadan also presents an opportune time for other types of outreach.

“The mosques represent the pulse of this community in a number of ways and Ramadan is an ideal time to talk about community,” said Fatina Abdrabboh, director of the Dearborn-based Michigan chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

That’s what ADC Michigan has taken advantage of in Dearborn’s mosques. ADC Michigan, although not a religious organization, represents people who are often religious, she said.

“The specialness of this month for the Arab and Muslim community can’t be overstated,” she said.

As a community-based civil rights organization, ADC Michigan has been spending the month at the mosques to let people know about their services and to revive pride in Arab heritage.

“Ramadan is a religious month, but it’s also a cultural month,” she said.

Abdrabboh, who studied Islamic history, which is intertwined into Arab history, at Harvard University, is coordinating courses for children on the topic at mosques across Dearborn, like in the south end and on Tireman Avenue.

Mosques typically offer baby-sitting for children, usually between 3 and 10 years old, who cannot participate in the hours-long prayers with the congregation. Abdrabboh said ADC Michigan is changing what normally would have been playtime into a chance for kids to gain pride in Arab history.

Her courses also focus on Abyssinia and other civilizations, as well as Arab influence on math and science.

“It’s kind of like Arab Jeopardy,” she said.

In addition to reaching out to children, ADC Michigan also is extending a hand to the general Muslim community in Dearborn.

ADC Michigan volunteers continue to promote its civil rights app, launched in April,that gives, among other tools, victims of hate crimes a direct avenue for reporting incidents from their mobile devices.

“Our volunteers see people with their iPhones sending their last text message before they enter the mosque to pray and say: ‘Hey, have you heard about our app?’” Abdrabboh said.

With that simple question, ADC Michigan has seen about 500 downloads of the app so far in Ramadan alone, she said.

“The reality is that what we’re actually doing is new and unprecedented,” she said. “Almost daily, we’re available to the community. It’s a huge opportunity.”

Whether at the nightly prayers or at iftar, the meal at which the fast is broken, Abdrabboh said ADC Michigan is able to talk about civil rights issues at times when such topics are normally not discussed.

“Our message is we’re here to represent you and we’re here to address your needs,” she said.

The outreach is working. Abdrabboh said someone who hears about the organization for the first time on Sunday will give her a call on Monday. That, she said, is exciting.

19 football fans revert to Islam in Brazil World Cup 2014

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revert to Islam

BRASILIA – Answering the call of Islam, 19 football fans attending Brazil World Cup 2014 have reverted to Islam after meeting daw`ah teams spreading across the land of samba over the past month.

The number of reverts to Islam since the start of the World Cup “has increased to reach 19 people of different nationalities after the reversion of English, Spanish and Brazilian fans,” Sheikh Khaled Taky El din, President of the Supreme Council of Imams and Islamic Affairs in Brazil, told the Anadolu Agency.

“Three more football fans, including a British, a Spanish and a Brazilian have taken the declaration of faith (shahada) within the past couple of days after getting introduced to the teachings of Islam by the campaign launched by the Council.

“The three fans knew about Islam from the da`wah stalls following “Know Islam” campaign before expressing with wish to join Islam,” he added.

As the World Cup tournament goes on, a growing number of Brazilians have answered the call to Islam, choosing to accept the message of the world’s fastest growing faith.

Hosted by Brazil for the second time, the FIFA World Cup football tournament have been running from June 12 and will conclude on July 13, 2014.

The launch of the tournament saw the start of several campaigns to introduce Islam to thousands of fans heading from across the world under the leadership of the Federation of Muslim Associations in Brazil (Fambras).

Finalizing their preparations for the huge event, staff at Fambras was preparing their own welcome to about 600,000 fans expected to visit the country during the month-long competition.

Earlier this month, the group announced that a special guide book has been published in Brazil for Muslim fans in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Titled “Salam (hello) Barazil”, 65,000 copies of the 32-page booklet have been published by the Union of Islamic Associations of Brazil in cooperation with the Omani embassy in the South American country.

A 12-hour daily phone service — in English, Arabic, Spanish, French and Portuguese — will also launch before the tournament starts.

Along with the three fans who reverted to Islam, the World Cup has seen the reversion of sixteen more fans from different nationalties according to Sheikh Taky El din.

According to the 2001 census, there are 27,239 Muslims in Brazil.

However, the Islamic Brazilian Federation puts the number at around one and a half million.

Islam expert Paulo Pinto of Fuminense Federal University estimated Brazil is home to about a million Muslims.

With no confirmed number of Muslims, the best indicator of the growth of Islam in the country is the rapid increase in the number of mosques.

There are now 127 mosques, four times as many as there were back in 2000.

Source : OnIslam

Palestinian Resistance Reveals New Surprise: Unmanned Drones

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Unmanned Drones

Palestinian resistance in Gaza launched on Monday an unmanned aircraft that entered the occupied territories, revealing a new surprise in the struggle with the Israeli enemy.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, announced on Monday that it had launched a drone which carried out special mission over Israeli ministry of defense headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Earlier, the resistance brigades said that several drones are being dispatched to carry out missions in the Israeli depth.

Israeli media confirmed a drone was launched from Gaza, reporting that it was shot down by the Patriot missile battery over the occupied settlement of Ashdod.

The Israeli Navy was searching for remnants of the drone, which was intercepted over an open area near the Ashdod coast, Jerusalem Post reported.
The drone set off a Code Red alert siren in the city, JP added.

Meanwhile rocket attacks on the occupied territories also continued on Monday morning with sirens sounding in Ashkelon and western Negev.

Earlier on Sunday, al-Qassam Brigades announced it had shelled Belmakhim military airbase for the first time with M75 rockets.

Source : Agencies

Arab League urges immediate end to Israeli aggression on Gaza

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Gaza

The call, in a report to be submitted to the ministerial meeting, comes as Israeli airstrikes continue to target the besieged Gaza Strip for the seventh consecutive day Monday, and the Palestinian death toll rose to more than 170, with more than 2,000 wounded.

The Arab League “affirmed the necessity of urgent steps for an immediate end to the Israeli aggression on Gaza and providing protection for the Palestinians,” the report said.

Israeli “air strikes on Gaza have become a matter that cannot be met with silence anymore,” it said.

The pan-Arab organization “demands that the international community intervene through its legal and humanitarian institutions to protect the Palestinian people.”

Despite international calls for an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Tel Aviv regime was hitting Gaza “with growing force” and that there was no end in sight.

The Israeli military has called up thousands of reservists for an all-out invasion of the Gaza Strip. Hamas has warned that it is prepared to hit back at Israeli forces if the Tel Aviv regime launches a ground attack against Gaza.

An Egyptian foreign ministry statement said Monday’s meeting, due to begin at 1900 GMT, “is aimed at finding a solution to stop the shedding of Palestinian civilians’ blood and to formulate a common Arab stance on the issue.”

Paradise and Hell are the Embodiment of our Deeds

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Paradise and Hell

Many people ask themselves, “Is the world after death similar to this world? Or does it have differences?”

Its rewards, its punishments, and, finally, the laws and system which rule it, are they like this world? In response, it must be clearly stated that: We have many witnesses in hand which show that this world and that world are very different from each other, so that that which we know in this world is like a mirage that we see from a distance.

It is best if we explain it with the example of the fetus — like the difference which exists between the world of the fetus and this world, the separation between this world and the next exists, or it is greater.

If a child who lives in the world of the fetus had intelligence and wished to have a correct image about the external world, heaven and earth, the sun and moon and stars, the mountains and jungles and seas, most certainly, it could not.

For a child who lives in the world of the fetus and who has seen nothing but the small world within its mother’s womb, concepts of the moon and sun and seas and waves and thunder storms and breezes and flowers and the beauties of this world would not exist.

All of its vocabulary is summarized in a few words. And if someone outside of its mother’s womb could speak with it, it would never be able to understand its language.

The limitations of this world with the extensiveness of another world is this much or more. Thus, we do not have nor will we ever have the power neither to know about the blessings of another world nor to know what Paradise is.

Thus, we read in a Tradition, “There are blessings in heaven which no eyes have seen, no ears have heard and have entered no one’s brains.”

The Holy Qur’an expresses this same idea in different words:

“Now no person knows what delights of the eye are kept hidden (in reserve) for them — as a reward for their good Deeds.” (32:17)

The powers and systems ruling that world also have great differences with this world. For instance, in the trial of the Day of Judgment, the witnesses for the deeds of a human being will be his or her hands and feet, skin and body and even the earth upon which a sin or a good deed was performed will bear witness.

“That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths their hands will speak to Us and their feet bear witness to all that they did.” (36:65)

“They, will say to their skins: ‘Why do you bear witness against us?’ They will say, ‘God has given us speech — (He) Who gives speech to everything: He created you for the first time and unto Him were you to return,” (41:21)

Of course, one day conceptualizing this was extremely difficult but with examples gained from the progress of science, there is no longer room for amazement.

At any rate, even though we only know the benefits of the next world as a mirage and even though we cannot come to know the extensiveness and importance and particulars of the Hereafter, but we know this much that the blessings of the world as well as its punishments are both physical and spiritual because the Resurrection contains both aspects, and, naturally, its rewards and punishments must have both aspects.

“And give glad tidings to those who believed and did good deeds that for them are gardens underneath which rivers shall flow. Wherever they are provided with a fruit from there as a provision, they shall say, ‘This is what we had been provided with before and shall be brought of it similarities and there, for them, are purified mates; and they are therein forever.” (2:25)

“God has promised to believers, men and women, gardens under which rivers shall flow to dwell therein and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss. But the greatest bliss is the good pleasure of God: that is the supreme felicity. “(9:72)

Those who are to go to Paradise because God is satisfied with them, and their Creator has accepted them, are so happy and full of pleasure which is incomparable to anything else.

As to those who are going to go to Hell, in addition to the fire and harsh physical punishments, the anger of the Creator is awaiting them, and that is greater than any kind of torture.

Embodiment of Deeds

It is worth noting that many verses of the Holy Qur’an can be used to show that at the Resurrection, our deeds will be enlivened and will be present for us in various ways and one of the important areas of rewards and punishments is this very embodiment of deeds.
Oppression and injustice will appear in the form of black tools and will surround us as a Tradition from the Holy Prophet tells us, “Injustice is darkness on the Day of Resurrection.”

“They will soon be enduring a blazing fire.” (4:10)

“One Day shall you see the believing men and the believing women, how their light runs forward before them and by their right hands (their greeting will be), ‘Good News for you this Day! Gardens beneath which flows rivers! To dwell therein forever. This is indeed the highest achievement.” (57:12)

“And let not those who covetously withhold of the gifts which God has given them of His Grace, think that it is good for them. Nay, it will be the worse for them. Soon shall the things which they covetously withheld be tied to their necks like a twisted collar on the Day of Judgment to God belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth.” (3:180)

We know that knowledge and science today tells us that nothing in the world is destroyed; material and energy are continuously changing form without them ever disappearing. Our deeds and acts are no different and according to this rule, they remain eternally, The Holy Qur’an, in a short and strong sentence, says about the Resurrection,

“And the Book (of Deeds) will be placed (before you); and you will see the sinful in great terror because of what is (recorded) therein; they will say, ‘O! Woe be upon us! What a book this is! It, leaves out nothing, small or great, but takes account thereof!’ They will find all that they did, placed before them; and not one will your Lord treat with injustice.

“Behold! We said to the angels, ‘Bow down to Adam, they bowed except Iblis. He was one of the jinns and he broke the command of his Lord. Will you then take him and his progeny as protectors rather than Me? And they are enemies to you!” (l8:49-50 )

“On that Day will men proceed in companies sorted out to be shown the deeds that they (had done).” (99:6)

“So, he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it…And he who has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it.” (99:7)

Notice that it says you will see that very deed.

The fact that our deeds, large and small, good and bad, will remain guarded and permanent in this world and will not be destroyed and at the Day of Judgment, they will be with us, can be a warning to all so that we stand up before ugliness and evil and a corrupt environment and be loyal and desirous of good deeds.

The amazing thing is that today, things have been invented which can help us envision this fact in this world.

At any rate, many of the questions which relate to the Resurrection and the eternality of rewards for good deeds and punishments for evil deeds in the Holy Qur’an refers to good or bad deeds in our spirit and body which leave effects and these effects will always remain with us.

Think and Answer

1. Is the life of the human being at the Resurrection exactly similar to life in this world?
2. Can we really conceive of rewards and punishments of the Resurrection?
3. Do the rewards for good deeds and punishments f or evil deeds only have a physical quality?
4. What does embodiment of deeds mean and how does the Holy Qur’an refer to it?
5. At the Resurrection, what difficulty does ‘embodiment of deeds’ solve?

The Physical-Spiritual Resurrection

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The Physical-Spiritual Resurrection

Among the important questions which relates to the discussion of the Resurrection is, “Is the Resurrection only spiritual?” or does the body of an individual also appear in another world? and the human being take on the very form that he or she had in this world but in a higher and more elevated level? Continuing life in a new life?

Some of the ancient philosophers only believed in the spiritual Resurrection. They believed the body to be a composite, which is only with the human being in this world, and after death, becomes needless of that, and it is released and hurries towards the world of the spirit.

But in the view of the great Ulama of Islam, and many of the philosophers, is that Resurrection in both aspects, that is, spiritual and physical, takes place is correct that this body becomes dust and this dust spreads itself over the earth and will be lost but God is powerful enough to gather up all of these particles and at the Resurrection gather them together and put the clothes of a new life upon them. They interpret this as being a physical Resurrection because the return of the spirit is assured and as they are only referring to the return of the body, they have called it this.

At any rate, all of the verses of the Qur’an about the Resurrection — and these verses are many and varied — stress the physical Resurrection.

Qur’anic Proof of the Physical Resurrection

We have previously seen how a Bedouin came to the prophet with a rotten bone and asked the Prophet who would be able to enliven it. The Holy Prophet answered as God had answered, “That very person who on the first day created them, that same person who brought the heavens and the earth into being, and Who sends out flames from the inner part of a tree. “This can be found at the end of Surah Ya Sin.

The Holy Qur’an, in another verse, says:

“You will leave your tombs at the time of the Resurrection. “(Sura Ya Sin, 36: 51 and Sura al-Qamar, 54: 7)

And we know that the grave is the place of bodies which have become dust, not the place of the spirits.

Essentially all of the surprise of those who deny the Resurrection is in this that: Once we have become dust, how is it possible that all of this dust, which has dispersed throughout the world, be gathered together and once again receive life (Sura as-Sajdah, 32:10) and the Holy Qur’an answers them that God Who created the first time has the power to do this (Sura al-‘Ankabut, 29: 19)

The Bedouin had said, “Who will enliven this rotten gone?

All of these interpretations of the Qur’an and the verses show that the Prophet of Islam speaks everywhere about the physical Resurrection. The Holy Qur’an gives examples of this very physical Resurrection which takes place in world of plants and other kinds which we see. It explains it for them and brings the first creation as a witness.

Thus it is not possible that a person be a Muslim and not have the slightest knowledge of the Qur’an and the physical Resurrection and deny it because to deny the physical Resurrection from the perspective of the Qur’an, is to deny the principle of Resurrection.

Intellectual Proof

Beyond this, the intellect says that the spirit and body are two truths which are not separate from each other.

At the time of independence, the connection with each other finds nourishment with each other and they find completion and clearly require each other for the continuation of the eternal life.

Even though in the time of the intermediate world (the period between this world and the Resurrection), they are separate from each other, this is not always acceptable, just as the spirit without the body is not complete, the body without the spirit is not complete. The spirit gives the commands and is the factor for movement and without the command, and tools, there would be no command to follow or tools.

But because the spirit is at a higher level at the time of the Resurrection, its body must also be transformed and this will be. That is, the body of the human being at the time of the Resurrection will be empty of all imperfections of this world and deficiencies.

At any rate, the body and the spirit are born together and are transformed together. The Resurrection cannot have a physical or a spiritual quality.

In other words, the finding of the spirit and the body and the relation between the two of them with each other is another clear reason why the Resurrection must take place in both forms.

On the other hand, the law of justice says that the Resurrection must take place in both forms because if a human being is a sinner and the sins were committed with this body and spirit and if he or she did good deeds, it was with this body and spirit. Thus for the punishment or reward, both must be present for if only the body is present or only the spirit, justice will not be implemented.

Questions Concerning the Physical Resurrection

Scholars have expressed multiple questions on this issue which should be presented and considered.

1. According to the research undertaken by the natural scientists, the body of the human being in their lifetime takes on many changes or changes many times or goes through many changes. This happens every seven years in the human body. Thus throughout our lifetime, several times we change!

Now this question arises, among these changes, which form will be recreated and enlivened?

In response we say the last form. Just as we read in the above verse of the Holy Qur’an, God will transform those very bones which have rotted and become dust and this means that the last body will be returned.

But the important point is here that the last body contains all of the effects and particularities of the bodies which over time the human being has changed.

In other words, the bodies which gradually were changed will disappear, all of the special effects and particularities which exist are transferred to the next body.

Thus the last body inherits all of the qualities of this body and can, according to justice, accept punishment or rewards.

2. Some say that when we become dust and our dust becomes mixed with dust or fruit or trees, and as a result, we become part of the body of others, on the Day of Resurrection, what will happen.

Even though the answer to this question is very extensive, we will attempt to describe it very briefly here.

In answer to this question, we say that it is clearly the atoms which came from the dust of a person and entered the body of another which will return to the first form.

The only problem which remains is that the second body will be misshaped.

But it must be said that it will not be misshaped; it will be made smaller because all of these particles have been spread throughout the body and when taken from it, it will become smaller and thinner.

Thus neither does the first body no longer exist nor the second. The only thing which exists here is the smallness of the second body and this will not cause any problems because we know that at the time of the Resurrection, bodies of human beings will be completed and all deficiencies will be made up for in the form of new means and one’s personality will not be altered. Bodies which are smaller at the Day of Judgment in the world of perfection will be considered to be perfect.

Think and Answer

1. Is the life of the human being at the time of the Resurrection similar to life in this world?
2. Can we clearly understand the rewards and punishments of the Resurrection in this world?
3. Do the punishments of hell and the rewards of heaven only have a physical quality?
4. What is meant by the embodiment of the deeds? What does the Holy Qur’an say about this?
5. What difficulties does the belief in the embodiment of the deeds in the discussion of Resurrection answer?

The Survival of the Spirit, a Sign of the Resurrection

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The Survival of the Spirit

When the philosophers began to express the philosophy of humanity, they mentioned the spirit as being an important element in relation to other elements.

From then on, all philosophies presented a point of view about it to the point where some of the Islamic scholars have presented a thousand reasons for the truth of the presence of the spirit and issues relating to it. Much has been stated in this area but the most important issue which should be noted is that the answer to this question is:

Is the spirit material or not? And in other words, is it independent or not? Or does it have special chemical and physical properties like the brain and nerves?

Some of the materialist philosophers have said that the spirit and spiritual phenomena are both material and non-material and it is like the special cells of the brain and when the human being dies, the spirit disappears just like a watch which when broken, no longer works.

Alongside these philosophies are the philosophers of the divinely revealed traditions and even some of the materialist philosophers who believe in the originality of the spirit, believe that at the death of the body, the spirit does not die and continues to live.

In order to prove this, that is, the originality, independence and subsistence of the spirit, there are many complicated reasons. Here we will present some of the clearer ones in clear and simple terms.

1. A Great World Cannot be Placed Within a Small One

Assume that you are seated beside the sea and behind it are extremely high mountains. The roaring waves and the shaking of the water against the shore and with great strength, return to the sea.

We look at this scene for a moment. Then we close our eyes and see this scene in our minds with all of its greatness.

This shows that other than a body and cells of the brain, another jewel exists which can reflect any design no matter how great and at any scale. Clearly, this jewel must be something which is beyond the material world because we find nothing like it in the material world.

2. The External Particularity of the Spirit

We have many chemical and physical properties in our bodies, the motion of the heart has a physical quality but the effects on food is a chemical substance and examples like this are many in our body.

If the spirit, thought and reflection were all material and had physical and chemical quantities of the brain cells then why among them and our other physical properties is there a great deal of difference?

Our thoughts, ideas and spirit relate and correct us to the external world and make us aware of that which passes outside but the chemical particularities of the stomach and the physical motion of our eyes and tongue and heart never has such a state.

3. Experienced Proof of the Originality and Independence of the Spirit

Fortunately, today scholars by various scientific and experimental means have proven the originality and independence of the spirit and permanently answered those who deny the truth of the independence of the spirit and all people who believe it to be material.

Hypnotism is among the clear reasons for this which the experiments have proven this.

We see dreams and scenes appear in our dreams which sometimes speak of the future and sometimes they clarify something which had been ambiguous in such a way that it cannot be called chance or accident which is a further proof for the independence of the spirit.

These examples show that the spirit is not material and that it is not the result of special physical or chemical properties of the human brain but rather it is a metaphysical truth which does not end when the body dies but, instead, prepares itself for the Day of Resurrection and the Hereafter.

Think and Answer

1. What is the difference of opinion between the Divine philosophers and the materialists as to the spirit?
2. What is the meaning of the non-conformity of something large with something small? Which is among the major reasons for the spirit?
3. How can truthful dreams be proof of the authenticity and independence of the spirit?