Representative of grand Ayatollah Sistani in Iraq visited Anglican Church in France stressing the religious leader’s support for the Christian community. Hujjat-ul-Islam Seyyed Javad Shahrestani, representative of grand Ayatollah Sistani, top Iraqi Shia jurisprudent in Iran, met with Christian leaders in French Anglican Church stressing dialogue as the best way to know others, maintain global moderation and also avoiding extremism. ...
Reflecting the diversity of the South African Muslim community, a Ramadan expo will be held this weekend to introduce the Islamic culture in the African country. “The expo’s aim is to inform, educate and uplift the entire Western Cape community, not only Muslims,” organizer Salaama Davids said on Sunday. Davids was talking about Ramadan expo that will be held in the capital, Cape Town, to display food, spices, clothes and art ...
Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi explained that Western governments are supporting and strengthening ISIL, the most brutal group in history, as a means to achieve their evil goals. During the 19th part of his nightly Ramadan lecture series on the subject of Du’a Makarim al-Akhlaq (Imam as-Sajjad’s “Supplication on Noble Moral Traits”) being broadcast on Iranian television, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi said that in ...
My journey toward Islam started out about 30 blocks from the Pacific ocean in Long Beach, California. My parents divorced when I was 4 years old and , shortly after, my father moved to another city and left me, my twin brother and my younger sister alone to be raised by my mother.My mother worked hard and tried to pay the bills, but she was a single mother with no education or job experience and was forced to take very low paying jobs. ...
Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth; a likeness of His light is as a niche in which is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass, (and) the glass is as it were a brightly shining star, lit from a blessed olive-tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof almost gives light though fire touch it not – light upon light – Allah guides to His light whom He pleases, and Allah sets forth parables for men, and Allah is Cognizant of ...
Testifying and Judging of Women
In all verses regarding testimony or witnessing the mention of the “one man, two women” policy is only regarding transactions. All other verses are general and state two witnesses with no references of gender made. The prolonged verse on testimony is directed at transactions of business affairs. Why is the ratio scaled, and would this be the case for all witnessing or testifying?
And get ...
There are a lot of ideas and theories which are wide spread among the people and which rank the woman in a level less than that of the man. Also, the people incline to believe that such ideas are demonstrated by the divine doctrine; as a result, the Muslim person does not dare to face them, thus conceiving that to do so is an opposition to the doctrine. Yet, the truth is absolutely not so. Among these theories are the following.1-Is the Woman a ...
CHAPTER FOUR
Rihab could not answer. Her sister's affection increased her agony. Hasanat said to her, "Please Rihab, be kind to me, I am your sister, I cannot bear to see you crying..." At last Rihab stopped and threw her head on her sister's shoulder. Hasanat spoke kindly to her to calm her down. She saw the letter with the address of Rihab's friend on the table. She thought, that perhaps it had something to do with Rihab's sadness. ...
ISLAM AND THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE TIME
Of all the religions Islam alone is more concerned with all the aspects of human life. Its teachings are not confined to acts of worship and prayer and to a set of moral counsels. As Islam has dealt with men's relations with God, it has also given the broad lines of men's relations with each other. It has, in various forms, dealt with individual rights and obligations, too. That is why the question ...
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has strongly denounced the recent beheading of a group of Shia Muslims by terrorists in the country’s troubled south. According to Press TV, Ghani said in a statement on Monday evening that he was "profoundly saddened" by the murder of seven Shia Muslims belonging to the Hazara community in the Southern Province of Zabul. The statement said "The heartless murder of innocent individuals, ...
Egyptian TV tycoon Naguib Sawiris, whose fortune is worth an estimated $3 billion, has “identified two privately owned Greek islands that constitute a good opportunity for the project,” a statement from his communication office reads.
“We have corresponded with the owners and expressed our interest to go into negotiation[s] with them,” the statement added, clarifying that the islands, if purchased, would ...
The murder of a young Iraqi-American mother on the outskirts of San Diego has shed light on a rise in hate crimes against Muslims in the United States, The Daily Beast reported on Sunday, April 1. “We’ve seen an increase of reports just in the last few months, including some disturbing bullying of young Muslim students, discrimination in employment, and even harassment in prisons, and not just by fellow prisoners but even by prison ...
Imam Reza was asked by a follower: “Do Heaven and Hell exist now?”Imam Reza said, “They do, and Prophet Muhammad has seen them in his Ascent.”“Some believe that the Heaven and the Hell have not been created yet,” asked him.“They are not among us and we are not among them,” said Imam Reza, “Anyone who denies the existence of Heaven and Hell, do not pay attention to the ...
The writer is supposed to address a session at the book fair and the Iranian official Seyed Abbas Salehi dubbed it is an ‘uncultural move’ and has objected to it. “I believe that the program which is planned by the book fair is among the red lines of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as the Islamic Guidance and Culture Ministry and it is indeed an uncultural move,” Salehi said. Referring to Imam Khomeini’s fatwa ...
Children's Rights on ParentsCommentary: in the above hadith (tradition) only the saying of Adhan has been mentioned, but in another tradition reported by Imam Hussain, the Prophet [SAW] prescribed the saying of adhan in the right ear and Iqamah in the left ear of the new-born child, and also mentioned its auspiciousness. He said that on account of it, the child remained safe from infantile epilepsy.
As these traditions show, the primary claim ...
Islam fixed stated times for prayer, and embellished them with a certain precise, accompanying rituals. It stipulates rules for the prayer's correctness, outlines conditions under which it is fruitless and clarifies the objectives of worship that must be reached in order for the prayer to be complete in its full sense. These conditions weave from the spiritual atmosphere and the rites a sacred formula encompassing the entire scope of prayer. ...
We may find some good points about imitation when the issue concerns role models that foster good moral, spiritual, political, or jihad ideals. This is true when eliciting the admiration of someone also encourages admirers to be like that person-to behave similarly in order to attain positive ideals. On another level, the model incites them to defend certain values by accepting the ideals upon which they are based, or by considering the milieu ...
During his advanced jurisprudence class at Qom’s Grand Mosque, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem-Shirazi condemned the “painful” terrorist attacks which occurred this week in Beirut (Lebanon), Baghdad (Iraq), Zabul (Afghanistan) and more recently, in the French capital, Paris.The revered source of emulation warned that the "magnitude of these incidents will spread to other parts of Europe as well," it the Western officials continue ...
Also, it would be appropriate to ponder about the narrations regarding supplications, as well as to think about the ways and manners of supplications as practised by the sinless Imams [a]; must take a profound look at the exalted themes and subtle meanings which are contained in the supplications compiled by those honourable ones. In order to discover that whatever these impeccable ones have incorporated in their supplications regarding Allah ...
Attaining Perfection
Question: How can perfection be attained?
Brief Answer
This topic needs to be discussed in three parts.
1. Definition of Kamal (Perfection) and How It Differs from Tamam (Completion) and Progress
Completion applies when speaking about the parts of a thing, as in the case where a thing is composed of several parts and all the parts are put together, it is said that that thing is complete. ...
