Archive for category: Islamic Rulling

The life of human is mixed with different calamities and difficulties, that if the human has patience, he/she will be successful.

The meaning of patience is to be firm against the difficulty and to not give up before them or blame Allah because of that.

The meaning of patience in material issues is clear, but there is another kind of patience which is applied to the spiritual aspects, for example if the situations for committing a sin are ready and prepared for someone, but he/she despite of selfish eagerness toward that sin, does not commit it, it can be defined as a kind of the spiritual patience.

According to the Narrations, there are three kinds of patience:

1) Patience before the obedience of Allah, which means being firm against the problems in the ways of obeying Allah’s commands.

2) Patience before the disobedience of Allah, which means to be firm against the selfish desires which command us to commit sins.

3) Patience at the time of disasters and calamities.

In the holy Quran more than seventy times, the concept of patience has been used.

For example Allah said in chapter Zomar verse 10:

إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى الصَّابِرُونَ أَجْرَهُم بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ

“Surely, those who are patient will be recompensed in full without count.”

A lot of calamities that happen to us are as a kind of test that Allah examines us through them. Look at the verse 155 from chapter bagharah:

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوفْ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ الأَمَوَالِ وَالأنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ

“We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, and decrease of goods, life and fruits. Give glad tidings to the patient.”

In the continuation of the mentioned verse, as description of the patients and their rewards, Allah said:

الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُواْ إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ

أُولَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ

“Who, in adversity say: ‘we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.

On those will be prayers and mercy from their lord, those are guided.”

The great symbols of being patient are the prophets of Allah and the infallible Imams.

You know that they tolerated many difficulties in the way of promoting the religion of Allah and inviting others to it.

The story of Prophet Jacob is so famous in this regard. He had many properties, in a very great divine test, Allah took them even his children, and Prophet Jacob became ill to the extent that he was agonizing, but after tolerating all of these difficulties and being patient, his properties and children and his health returned and he was given more than before and the praise of Allah included him.

If the prophets of Allah were not patient and as soon as they confronted with difficulties were leaving their mission, there was no religion of Allah on the earth and all of its blessings did not reach to humanity.

We can take help form patience, Allah said in chapter Bagahrah verse 153:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اسْتَعِينُواْ بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاَةِ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ

“Believers, seek assistance in patience and prayer, Allah is with those who are patient.”

It is very important for a believer to have the companionship of the All-Mighty Allah in his/her life, and one of the ways of obtaining this companionship as it is mentioned in the above verse, is through patience.

And the interesting point here is that in this verse both prayer and patience have been recommended, some exegesis said as the description of this relation: sometimes the patience of human gets hard for him/her, so the human can refuge to prayer.

Patience can be a key for entering paradise. Imam Baqir peace be upon him said in a very informative saying:

“Paradise is wrapped with calamities and patience (If we want to reach to it, we must pay its price i.e. patience), so the one who is patient in this world, he/she will enter Paradise, and Hell is wrapped with pleasures and different kinds of selfish eagerness, so the one who gives the (Haram and prohibited) pleasure of his/her ego to it, he/she will enter the Hell.”

The commander of the faithful Imam Ali peace be upon him mentioned one of the benefits of patience in this saying, he said:

“Take away the sorrow form yourself by the means of power of patience and good certainty.”

We must know that even if we tolerate calamities in this world and be patient, it is nothing compared to the convenience in the hereafter. Imam Ali peace be upon him in one of his sermons in which he talked about the characteristics of the pious individuals (which are compiled in the book of Nahj Al-balaghah) said:

“They were patient a few days, (because of that) they reached to long convenience.”

The wise Luqman sometimes was advising his son, one of his advices is mentioned in the verse 17 in chapter Luqman in the holy Quran, Allah said in that verse narrating the advice of Luqman:

يَا بُنَيَّ أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ وَأْمُرْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَانْهَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَاصْبِرْ عَلَى مَا أَصَابَكَ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ

“O’ my son, establish the prayer, order with honor but forbid dishonor, and bear patiently with whatever may fall upon you. Indeed that is true constancy.”

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Sources:

Eteghadat.com

Tahoor.com

 

 

“Feeding” the people especially the poor people is so much recommended in Islam.

You can see this feeding in general in some occasions like what happens in the day of Ashura( the tenth day of the lunar month of Mohharam in which we hold ceremonies for the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein peace be upon him and his faithful companions) or what happens at the month of Ramadan in which people feed others in the time of Iftar( at the sunset of the day of fasting) etc.

But we can feed others in other days of the year and obtain the rewards and blessings of this recommended act.

It is interesting that in Islamic Feqh and jurisprudence, in some cases Muslims must feed the needy, like if someone could not fast in the month of Ramadan and he/she did not compensate that in the other days of the year till the next month of Ramadan, he/she must give specific amount of food to numbers of poor people (of course it has some rules in detail that we do not talk about them here).

It is very shocking that in the holy Quran, Allah said in chapter Maaun verses 1-2-3:

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّينِ

فَذَلِكَ الَّذِي يَدُعُّ الْيَتِيمَ

وَلَا يَحُضُّ عَلَى طَعَامِ الْمِسْكِينِ

“Have you seen he who belied the recompense?

It is he who turns away the orphan,

and does not urge others to feed the needy”.

We see that Allah blamed the one that does not encourage others to feed the poor.

And from 33 till 36 verses in chapter Haqqa, we understand that the one who did not believe in the great Lord and did not encourage others to feed the poor, he/she has no friend in the fire of Hell and he/she has no food except foul pus.

Now imagine what is the punishment of the one that not only does not encourage others to feed the poor, but also prevents them and forbid them to do so?

On the other hand, we see that in chapter Insan,  Allah has praised Imam Ali and Lady Fatimah and their two sons, Imam Hasan and Imam Husein peace be upon them all, because of feeding the poor and the orphan, and the captive.

There is an interesting story for which the chapter Insan revealed and it is accepted by all branches of Muslims, and let me mention very briefly that story, Imam Hasan and Imam Hussein got sick, so their parents i.e. Imam Ali and Lady Fatimah made Nazr (oath) that if our children get cured, we will fast for three days, the children got healthy, so the parents fasted three days and in every sunset of fasting .i.e. at the time of Iftar, a needy came to their house. In the first night a poor came at their door and asked for help and in the second night an orphan came and did so and this happened in the third night by an captive, this very generous family for all three nights gave their food for the sake of Allah to the poor and orphan and captive and remained hungry, and then the verses of chapter Insan descended, and if you refer to this chapter you will see that how much Allah has praised them in many verses one after the other.

We see this good customs in the life of the Prophets of Allah, for example there is a Narration that says: Prophet Abraham was chosen as the Khalil and dear friend of Allah because of some attributes, and among them, he was feeding the people.

Feeding the people especially the needy people creates a kind of sympathy and kindness among the people and paves the way for gathering the hearts with each other.

And this is a way for reducing and removing hunger and poverty from the members of the society.

It is narrated from Imam Sadiq peace be upon him that he said:

The one who makes a believer to taste the sweetness of a bit, Allah will make away from him/her the bitterness of the Day of Judgment.

It is mentioned in a Narration that a believer on the Day of Judgment is told: Look at the people and distinguish the one who has done a good to you and make the one who has drunk you and has fed you and has done good to you, enter paradise.

Imam Sadiq peace be upon him said:

There are three things that make the human released from the punishment of the hereafter:

-Feeding.

-Saying hello.

-And prayer in night or night prayer.

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Sources:

Maarefquran.org

Mehrnews.com

 

 

In Islam having “Ikhlas” is so important. Ikhlas means to perform our worship only for the sake of Allah and for no other reason and goal. Ikhlas is an obligatory act in worships, for example if we perform prayer, or Wudu or Ghusl without Ikhlas, these worships are not valid and we must do them again from the beginning. Even if we perform them for Allah and beside that, we have other goal for that worship, it is invalid.

If we have Ikhlas in an action that in its innate nature, it is not considered as a worship, but because of having Ikhlas in it, we will be rewarded, for example if we eat and rest for the sake of Allah, for example if we eat and rest in order to be powerful enough to worship Allah and help His creatures, this eating or sleeping will be considered as a kind of worship.

The opposite point of Ikhlas is called Riya or Hypocrisy, for example if we perform prayer in a way that people listen to it and say: what a beautiful recitation he has, it is known as hypocrisy.

It must be known that the one that is hypocrite and always wants to obtain the satisfaction of the others, such person always is uneasy, because no one can obtain the satisfaction of all people, the people that praise him/her, if they get aware of a little thing from the life of that person that they do not like, they start reproaching that person, so we realize that it is not worthwhile to look for a temporary pleasure and leave all of those rewards and bounties and blessings and nearness to Allah and His satisfaction, which have permanent effects.

Imam Ali peace be upon him said:

“There are so much distance between two acts, the act that its pleasure goes and its consequence remains, and the act that its effort goes and its reward remains.”

If we really and deeply believe in the verse 88 from chapter Qasas, the style of our life will change, Allah said in this verse:

كُلُّ شَيْءٍ هَالِكٌ إِلَّا وَجْهَهُ

“All things perish, except His face.”

Every matter of this world is under the will of Allah(of course it must be noted that this sentence does not mean that we believe in predestination, but it means that for example if Allah wants someone to be dignified, no one can prevent it from happening)

Allah said in chapter Fatir verse 10:

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا

“He who wants might, the might belongs to Allah altogether.”

So if someone thinks that his/her dignity is due to the will of people, he/she is making a great mistake.

If we know that Allah is powerful on all things and He is the most merciful and aware of everything which occurs in minds and hearts, we will have more Ikhlas in our actions.

So is it logical to leave transaction with such a being and instead of that, be busy with those that they are in a very deep need to the Lord of the world?

The infallibles and their real students not only were abstaining from having the material intentions, but also they had no intention of reaching to the paradise or being away from the fire of Hell.

Imam Ali peace be upon him said:

“O’ Allah, I neither worshiped you because of eagerness to the paradise, nor fear from fire (of Hell) but I found you worthy of being worshiped, so I worshiped you.”

And one of the most important ways for obtaining Ikhlas is to purify our hearts from the evil characteristics, like envy, hatred, avidity, and let the heart to be the house of Allah, because there are Narrations in this regard, like the Narration that says:

The heart is the shrine of Allah, so do not let anyone other than Allah to be the inhabitant in the shrine of Allah.

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Source:

Akhlagh.porsemani.ir

One of the conditions for a marriage to be valid is to define something as “Dowry”.

The motives of paying dowry have been changed several times throughout the history, sometimes it was considered as the price of the bride, and in a period of time it was as a gift from the groom to the father of the bride, and sometime it was as a gift to the bride herself.

In the holy Quran chapter Rumm verse 21, Allah said:

وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

“And of His signs is that He created for you wives from among yourselves that you might reside with them, and has put kindness and mercy between you. Surely, there are signs in this for those who think”.

In this verse the spouses are defined as a means for tranquility.

It is interesting that in a workmanlike management, women are created as the symbol of beauty and somehow richness and men are created like they are seeking the beauty and they are in need of that and this difference between men and women makes the one who is seeker, look after the one who is sought and makes him do his best to reach her, the man is looking for the tranquility and the woman is looking carefully to find which of the seekers of her, is most suitable for her tranquility and has the purest feelings.

When the holy Quran talks about dowry, it says in chapter Nisa verse 4:

وَآتُواْ النَّسَاء صَدُقَاتِهِنَّ نِحْلَةً

“Give women their dowries freely”

The word “نحله” in the verse is described in the exegesis of the holy Quran as gift.

You know in the contracts like transaction, there are two sides, and every side gives something and receives something, but from the exegesis of this verse we understand that dowry is not made obligatory as one side of contract of marriage, despite of the belief of some people that they think that dowry is something that men give, because of the pleasure that they gain through marriage, but we take this point from the verse that it is as a gift.

So we can say that dowry is a gift that men accept to pay it to the women as thanks for accepting their proposal. And it is a way for men to show their honesty, and it is interesting that the word in Arabic which is used for dowry is “صداق” or صدقه” ” which literally is related to the honesty, and in fact it is a symbol for honesty and for this very reason we see that the amount of that is not obligatory in Islam and it is something that is defined out of consent between man and woman.

So as summery of this essay we say that dowry is paid for two reasons:

1) A way to show the honesty of men.

2) A way to thank women because of the accepting the marriage.

 

The need of human to religion can be described from different angles.

We all know that mankind is a social being and it is almost impossible for him to live alone, because of different needs that he has and he cannot make everything that he needs prepared, especially nowadays due to the different needs, so he has to live within a society. In the society there are different people with different emotions and various needs and wishes, and if everyone wants to look after his/her wishes, in a lot of cases, it will lead to collision.

So it is obvious that such a society needs a law to prevent the rights of its citizens from being transgressed. And this is the reason that is mentioned for the need of human to law, but the question here is that who can make a law for the society and individuals? Can the individuals of the society make it? We agree that the wise and knowledgeable individuals of the society who are expert in different fields, can make it, but we know that the intellect of the people is not able to understand everything from this world well, and this is one of the main reasons that the man-made laws differ from the previous ones and something new is added to them or deleted from them, so we need a source which is more thorough than the intellect and no one is more knowledgeable for such issues than the one who has created us and for this very reason, He is more aware to all aspects of our personalities. For example the introducer of a product is more aware to that product than anyone else. It must be added to it that because we have accepted by logical reasons and we believe that the human does not have just material aspects and there are other complicated aspects that can never be understood even through the consult with the wise people, and our creator is aware of all of our aspects.

So the laws of our creator is not only for welfare and perfection of this material world, but He also has showed us the path to the eternal and everlasting welfare, because we believe that there are realms after death and this short life compared to those worlds, is nothing. And the religion is a way to the perfection of the life in this material world and the hereafter.

It must be added that we are not against man-made law like the laws which are made for driving, we respect them and observe them, but we say such laws are incomplete and not enough and they just talk about some aspects of the life of human, but the complicated personalities of man is not just these material aspects.

We believe that religion is a kind of guidance, the guidance toward perfection, and this guidance has some parameters that one of the most important of them is “knowledge” that contains some items like:

-Knowing God and His attributes.

-Knowing the world and the reason beyond its creation.

-Knowing the mankind and the reason beyond his creation.

-Knowing the path toward that goal of the creation.

-knowing the equipment for this journey and the way to obtain them.

-knowing the dangers of the path of perfection and the ways to overcome them.

And religion is a complex which contains these items. And the reason that religion is forever is because the religion is a way for fulfilling our needs and as long as our needs are there, religion is needed.

 

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Source:

Tahoor.com