In Islam, pork was forbidden for human consumption more than 1400 years ago. The wisdom behind this Divine prohibition was only discovered in the 20th century by doctors and scientists.The abstention from eating pork is one of the steps taken by Islam to practice hygiene and to attain purity of soul. There is a saying in English that "a man becomes what he eats". According to physicians and medical experts, pork is a harmful diet. The ...
The word ‘Taqwa’ is derived from the root ‘waqaya’ which means ‘to safeguard’ or ‘to abstain’. In the Islamic terminology it is defined as the action of restraining oneself from disobeying the commands of Allah (S.w.T.). When Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) was asked to elaborate on the meaning of the word, ‘Taqwa’ he replied, “Submit to the command {of Allah (S.w.T.)} and do ...
Heaven and Hell
Question: Do heaven and hell exist at present or will they be created later?
Brief Answer
According to the Qur`an and ahadith, heaven and hell exist at present. However, they will become fully apparent and represented only in the Hereafter at which time each person, according to his actions, beliefs, and ethical behaviour, will be led to his eternal abode.
Nevertheless, prior to the Hereafter, ...
Instinctive Love and Platonic Love
Is it possible for us, with respect to love, to speak of what is termed "platonic love" or virtuous, sentimental love?
When you speak of love as an emotion, you cannot categorize it as "platonic", on the one hand, and "instinctive", on the other. But we may say that there is a state of sexual impulse which some people may term "love"-i.e., a state where there is a physical attraction between one body and ...
The basis point which is used in these arguments is that the necessary result of men and women’s sharing in human dignity and honour is that their rights should be the same and the identical. Now the thing on which philosophically speaking we should put our finger is to determine exactly what is the necessary result of man and woman’s sharing in human dignity. Is the necessary conclusion that each of them should have rights equivalent to the ...
Knowing God In this section the main emphasis is on the Eminent Greek Philosophers i.e. 'Plato' and 'Aristotle'. However, it is appropriate first to briefly look into the theology during “The Period Of Fantasies” and “The Cosmologists Before Socrates” and then during the time of Socrates. Chapter One: Period of Fantasy The period before Philosophy is usually propounded as the period of fantasy in Greece and the most ...
An Expression of FaithHazrat Abu Talib (‘a) took the Holy Prophet (s) under his protection after his (s) grandfather died. He also happened to be the Chief of the Elders of the Quraysh of Mecca.The Quraysh were constantly warning Abu Talib (‘a) to control his nephew from spreading monotheism and deriding their gods, but he would silence them in his own courteous, but firm, manner. Islam went on spreading from household to household, ...
The role a person plays in obtaining his sustenance
Question: What is the relationship between man’s efforts and the sustenance that has been measured out for him?
Brief Answer
There are two kinds of sustenance. There is a sustenance that we go after and a sustenance that comes after us. In the traditions, the sustenance that comes after us is called “the sustenance that seeks,” and the sustenance that we seek has ...
A Bahraini court has sentenced a former Shiite lawmaker to a year in prison for remarks against the ruling Al Khalifa regime, a report said. Khalid Abdul Aal has been sentenced to one year behind bars on charges of insulting the Interior Ministry via his tweets posted in April 2014. The opposition figure has rejected the ruling, saying he did not intend to insult anyone and that he only criticized some measures adopted by the ministry. The ...
There have been a number of brave and self-sacrificing officers and strong and powerful champions in the army of Islam but the bravery of Hamzah bin Abdul Muttalib is recorded in the pages of history and in fact constitutes the golden leaves of the history of the battles of Islam.Muhammed Mustafa, the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and his Ahlel-Bayt), though safe under the protection of his uncle, Abu Talib, was not immune from ...
RESPECT TO PARENTSRespect to parents is a topic taught to many classes in the Madressa. By now you must have studied it many times, but in this note, an attempt is going to be to make you understand just how vital and important their role is in bringing up you the individual, and the society as a whole Allah has mentioned kindness to parents at 7 places in the Qur'an.Allah tells us in Qur'an (Surah 17, Ayat 23)"Your lord has commanded that you ...
Mutah: is a fixed-time marriage which is a marriage with a preset duration, after which the marriage is automatically dissolved. It is the second form of marriage, described in the Qur'an (4:24). Details regarding Mutah here Nikkah: is the contract between a bride and bridegroom and part of an Islamic marriage, a strong covenant (mithaqun Ghalithun) as expressed in Qur'an 4:21). The first part of the marriage ceremony, Nikah, is the ...
The first person to write on this subject was Muhammad bin Sa'ib al-Kalabi who was a companion of Imam Muhammad Baqir(A.S.). Ibn-un-Nadim counted him among the books written in this connection, a book Ahkam-ul-Quran written by Al-Kalabi. According to his statement he reported from Ibn Abbas. An-Nadim evidently means Muhammad bin Sa'ib and not his son Hisham because it was the former who was a contemporary of Ibn Abbas and reported from ...
Kiramah (Magnanimity): Stations and Meanings
Question: What is magnanimity (kiramah)? How can we become magnanimous? In Allah’s (awj) view, what stations do the magnanimous hold?
Brief Answer
Magnanimity means to be far away from lowliness. The soul of he who is pure from every low attribute is called magnanimous. Magnanimity is opposed to lowliness. To reach the highest peak of magnanimity, one must be equipped with ...
Islam Is a Trust Upon Your Shoulders
I would like to say to all my beloved children that Islam is a trust placed on your shoulders, and that we must not freeze at this stage. Try to respect your historical leaders, but do not stop with them, since any leadership, no matter how great, only represents its own stage and experience. In life, there are more advanced stages and new experiences to undergo. The experiences of the past are for the past, ...
Everyone looks ahead towards his/her future life either by planning or by day dreaming about what can happen. Human beings live with hope and struggle with hope. A mother feeds her baby with hope. A farmer plants seeds with hope. A young man marries with hope of a happy and prosperous future and independence from his family. A patient who places himself in the hands of a surgeon and takes bitter medicine lives with hope. In short, success and ...
The Holy Quran says,﴾And marry those among you who are single and those who are fit among your male slaves and your female slaves; if they are needy, Allah will make them free from want out of His grace; and Allah is Ample-giving, Knowing.﴿1The above ayat begins with the words Wa Ankehoo (And marry…) The imperative form of the word 'nikah' implies that either it is obligatory or highly recommended.2 According to scholars, though ...
Numerous reports (Rawayaat) testify that Sileh Rahmi (kindness to one's relatives) also has worldly benefits. Like, increase in the life-span, postponement of death, increase in the number of descendants etc., Hazrat Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.) related three traditions from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) in the court of Mansur Dawaniqi (l.a.).
1) "A man who has only three years of life remaining, performs an act of kindness to his relatives and ...
The rights of wives and husbands are completely described in the Glorious Quran. When studying them one can recognize these mutual rights as being one of the miracles of the pure culture of Islam. No other school of thought has so thoroughly attended to the rights of wives and their husbands until now, and none can do so from now until the end of time. These rights include obligatory and recommended rights. Disrespecting the obligatory rights ...
Contemporary technology in the form of electronically managed interactive telecommunications is compatible with the goals and values of the humanities. For Marx, machine-work tended toward being mechanically routine, repetitive, deskilled, and trivialized. In the case of discourse, the same criticism has been made of computerized communication. Immediacy is not authorial presence, but the experience of textuality that is maximized by ...
