1st Night Of Muharram: Perfection

Bismillahir Rahmanir rahim - In the name of Allah the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful!

What does it mean to be perfect?
everything you do, everything you say, all your qualities, all your emotions, everything have to be perfect as well.
But what is perfection? Perfection has been defined as the complete lack of any kind of flaw. Now different people have different views as to what flaws are, there are some who think of lack of wealth as a flaw, others think that lack of strength is a flaw, there are those who even believe that kindheartedness and being gentle is a flaw!

What does Islam say about it?
The best way to look at it is in the example of our role models, and who better to choose than Imam Ali (AS)?? He was one of the perfect ones, made so by Allah, as we are told in the Aayat I have begun with, "Wa yutahhirakum tatheera!"
Thus in his lifestyle we can find perfection.
Was Imam Ali (AS) wealthy? Was he strong? Was he firm or gentle?

Can you call a person who stitches his slippers himself when they get torn numerous times wealthy? Can you call a person who is the "door to the city of knowledge" poor?

Can you call a person who has trouble breaking the dry bread which he is about to eat strong? Can you call a person who throws the gate of Khaybar a distance of forty cubits, the same gate which seventy men later tried in vain to carry, could you call such a man weak?

Can you not call a father and husband who was so kind to his family gentle? Can you not call a man who would defend his religion to the point where it is said of him, "La fatah illa Ali, La Sayfa illa Zulfikaar!!", can you not call this man firm?

Thus the answer to perfection is to understand and practice with that understanding, so that when it is required of you to be strong, you are strong, when it is required of you to be wealthy, you are wealthy, when it is required of you to be humble, you are humble, when it is required of you to be firm and put a point accross, you do so without moving in your firmness, but if possible without offending anyone. And in all this we can only attain perfection by always remembering that all the strength, wealth, firmness, humbleness, everything is all from Allah, and that without Him we are nothing!

What we need to understand is that this concept of perfection applies to namaaz and dua as well, so that we know that in order to attain perfection we need not pray 24 hours a day, nor do we need to completely leave sleep to pray, nor fast everyday of our lives! rather we should make all we do Ibadaat by making the intention of our daily acts for Allah, and to attain His closeness!

The source of all perfection is non-other than Allah (SWT)!! We can see it all around us; in everything that has been created by His Mercy! All His plans are perfect, and when we have an event such as this great event of Karbala, where the person involved is one of the perfect ones, one who would do no act unless commanded by Allah, we find that the entire event is perfect, from the way it was planned to the way it was executed and the outcome. It is thus not for us to feel that, "if only Imam would have reached Kufa... or if only the true Shias in Kufa had not been arrested and put to prison... or if only Imam would have placed his camp closer to the furaat..." or anything of that sort, because that was part of the plan, and if there could have been a plan any better than that then Allah would have made it happen for He is All Perfect!

Rather what we should feel is, "Ya laytani kuntu ma'akum, fa Afuza ma'akum!!"

Thus Zuhairs View:

In order to fulfill our main objective in life, we need to come as close as we can to perfection, in this short period of time given to us, it is best to follow the perfect examples before us so as to remain on the right track!

This is written purely on my opinions, and if there are flaws, then please do correct them! And May Allah guide us all toward His straight path!!

Beauty of Prayer

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim - In the Name of Allah the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful!

Prayer is present within the teachings of every religion, be it in any form; as long as the intention is there that the person praying is presenting his desires and begging them from the only being who has the power to grant them.

In Islam there is a method to praying and a regularity, this is important as it shows us the perfect way to approach the Almighty, and without it we may undermine the power of such a connection and who the connection is actually connecting us to! Each word, each gesture in the prayer of ours; known in Arabic as "Salaat", has great meaning and importance, not only at the spiritual level but as research has begun to find, it even has benefits at the physical and mental level.

To remember the One and Only God who created us and without Whose Mercy we would cease to exist, is an act which is necessary due to the fact that Allah deserves much more than we can do, thus we should at least find it within ourselves to perform the acts which He has made obligatory unto us. Imam Muhammed Al-Baqir (AS) has said: “Allah’s remembrance of ‘people who pray’ is greater and superior to their remembrance of Him. Do you not observe that He has said (in the Noble Qur’an, sura-e-baqarah verse 152): {Remember Me and I shall remember you.}”

It has been decreed unto us to pray five times a day, and these five prayers which are a must for us, should be prayed with devotion and love so that they can be accepted by our Lord, for although there are other forms of Ibadaat(worship) and they are other good actions which can be performed for the sake of Allah, we find Imam Ja'far As-Sadiq(AS) has said: “The first thing for which a person shall be subjected to reckoning is prayers. If they are accepted, all his other deeds shall (also) be accepted. But if rejected, all his other deeds shall (also) be rejected.”

The importance of prayers is so great... today, 1369 years ago, two children aged 8 and 10; Muhammed and Ibraheem; sons of Hazrat Muslim bin Aqeel(AS), they should be our role models regarding Salaat... Last night I was eating dinner, and I saw some children who were with someone who seemed to be their father; I saw them picking what they wanted from the shelves, and becoming happy with every small item they could have... they were not much older than Muhammed and Ibraheem... yet look at the difference, look at the upbringing, there we have two young boys, who are grieving the loss of their father, and when they are caught, and are about to be killed, they ask to pray their morning prayers first... have you ever imagined being in such a position where you are asked for your last words? what would you say?
"please don't kill me!"
But no, these two young children said that they wanted to pray first! And after they prayed they were killed, but what a death, a death to be envied by those who understand the importance of the symbolism, that two children can have acted such, how pleased Allah would have been which such an act...

Thus Zuhair's View:
Prayer is not an act forced unto us, it is an act to be performed out of love for Allah! The question is do we realy love Allah? And from this question we get many more:
How much do we love Allah? What is love? Can it be measured? Don't you agree that the more you love, the more you want to dedicate time and energy towards that love, to appreciate the person you love??

InshaAllah we will all be guided to the straight path, as we ask everyday, five times in Salaat, "Ihdinas Siraatal Mustaqeem!!"

Wiladat of our 10th Imam: Ali Al-Hadi, An-Naqi (AS)

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim - In the name of Allah the most Beneficent the most Merciful!

A day of joy is conferred unto us and the Ahlul Bayt with the birth of our 10th Holy Imam! In order to show our respect and please him, lets present him a present that would make him satisfied, he came to this earth to guide us, lets us learn from him and be guided:

"The thanking person is more happy for thanking than for the blessing causing the thanking , because the blessing is the article of this world ( while ) thanking is the blessing of this world and the hereafter." Imam Ali An-Naqi (AS)

The concept of thanking someone is one which has been around since a time long before, because of the feeling within us that a certain action is done for our pleasure, and that we are so pleased with it, that we would like to show some form of appreciation for it through gratitude toward the person who has done it for us.

But look at this concept, it shows us just how thankful we are supposed to be as Muslims, we are supposed to feel the happiness of thanking in itself rather than the happiness of having received the thing which we are thanking for!!

So the next time we want to thank someone, we should ask ourselves are we thanking properly? are we more happy to be thankful rather than to receive what we are thankful for?

And if we ponder upon this and relate it to thanking Allah(SWT), we realize the depth of being thankful for being able to be thankful... Subhanallah!!!

"Do not expect honesty and purity of intention from someone who has suffered from you malice, do not expect loyalty from someone you have been disloyal toward, do not expect good will from someone who you regard with ill-will, his heart towards you is the same as your heart towards him." Imam Ali An-Naqi (AS)

Another beautiful tradition from our Imam, this shows us the problems faced in our daily lives, we do bad to others without even noticing it at times, and then we expect the others to do good back to us... How we are mistaken in our conception.

But then again we do find situations where the person we do bad to does good to us in return, does this negate this hadith? does it cause its invalidity? Have we analyzed it sufficiently? Notice the use of the word "expect", we should not expect from those we have been bad toward to be good toward us, and in the end he says that their heart toward us is the same as our heart toward them...

we may not like someone and not show it, how do we know if that person also doesn't like us and is not showing it??

It is definitely something to ponder upon...

Let me end by relating an incident, our 10th Imam helped even his enemies when they were in need.

Al-Mutawakkil, the cruel Abbasid Caliph had fallen very ill. The doctors could not make him better. His mother was very sad and asked Imam Ali Al-Hadi (AS) to help him. Imam told her what medicine to use to make her son, Al-Mutawakkil better and when she used what Imam had told her to use, Al-Mutawakkil became well again.

All the doctors were very surprised.

Although Al-Mutawakkil was a cruel, bad man, Imam still helped him, because his mother had come to him for help.

Thus Zuhairs View:

In light of Imam's sayings and actions, we should learn how to become a better Muslim, firstly thank Allah like one who is reffered to as a thanking person, second show kindness and good nature to people around you, and try to avoid dishonesty, malice and disloyalty as these are traits mentioned and thus must be specifically wrong, and lastly we should look upon those in need with compassion and help where we can.

Please feel free to voice any opinions and may Allah guide us all to the straight path, on which are the best of his creation, the Anbia and Aimmah.

Shahadat of our 5th Imam: Muhammed Ibne Ali Al-Baqir(AS)

Bismillahi Rahmanir Rahim - In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful!

A sad day is upon us, our fifth Holy Imam passed away on this day, through the poisoning of his saddle which caused his entire body to be effected. May Allah curse those who dare commit such a heinous act against such a pure person.

"I admonish you regarding five things; if you are wronged, do not commit wrong doing to others, if you are betrayed, do not betray anyone, if you are called a liar, do not be furious, if you are praised, do not be jubilant, if you are criticised do not fret and think of what is said in criticism, if you find in yourself what is criticised about you, then you are falling down in the eyes of God; when you are furious about the truth, it is much greater calamity then your falling down in the eyes of the people. And if you are opposite of what is said (in criticism) about you, then it is a merit you acquired without having to tire yourself in obtaining it." Our 5th Imam.

If we ponder and reflect upon these words we can InshaAllah improve ourselves.

"If you are wronged, do not commit wrong doing to others"

In the world today many find themselves in this position everyday, people continuously lie, break promises, steal, abandon, deprive, and kill each other. What is the Islamic approach to this? Is it the same as the Christian approach, "turn the other cheek!", is that what is being taught to us through this hadith?

On the contrary, this hadith has not mentioned anything of the sort, look at the wording, "if you are WRONGED..." this part is understood, to be wronged is to be dealt with unjustly, so if someone steals your car, they have wronged you, because it is not just to steal. But the problem comes with understanding the second part, "do not commit WRONG DOING to OTHERS." The question now comes that is it considered wrong to defend ones self, or to take revenge for an unjust act, or to deal punishment for a crime commited? Take the example of the car being stolen, would it be considered unjust to report to the police about your car? would it be considered unjust to take back the car from the thieves if you are given the opportunity? would it be considered unjust to have the thieves punished by the law?

Also realise the word 'others', it is not written, "do not commit wrong doing back to the one who has done wrong to you," Implying people not involved should not be harmed due to anger or irrationality, but at the sametime also implying that wrong should not be done to anyone, even the one who did wrong to you. So back to the case of the stolen car, this implies that just because your car is stolen, you should not steal someone elses car, or if you have a temper, you should not begin shouting at people who had nothing to do with the car being stolen, because this is WRONG.

"If you are betrayed, do not betray anyone"

The concept is again similar here, if we relate this to the previous part, the wordings indicate that betrayal is wrong, whether one has betrayed you before or not.

To betray someone is to misuse their trust, and for it to be mentioned separately from all other wrong doings, gives it an amount of weight which shows how wrong it actually is to misuse trust bestowed upon you by someone.

"If you are called a liar, do not be furious"

Here the emphasis is on lying and anger both, again further ahead, it is written about being criticised and what to do in that situation, but being called a liar could be deemed criticism of a sort by some. On the other hand if one really ponders upon this, it is found that being called a liar when one is not really a liar is in itself a lie.

"If you are praised, do not be jubilant"

We usually find that elation within the self when we are praised, and if we get used to it too much we find a longing for it, so that we lead people on so that they can praise us, and when we find that some people do not respond by praising us, some of us even tend to praise ourselves!!

praise is a very delicate action in Islam, to praise someone who does not deserve it is dhulm, and to praise some one too much is not good, but even just to praise enough when it is deserved could cause a sense of pride within a person, and excessive pride has to be avoided. Allah is the only one who deserves to be praised so much that we could never manage to fulfill how much he deserves with our entire lives.

"if you are criticised do not fret and think of what is said in criticism, if you find in yourself what is criticised about you, then you are falling down in the eyes of God; when you are furious about the truth, it is much greater calamity then your falling down in the eyes of the people. And if you are opposite of what is said (in criticism) about you, then it is a merit you acquired without having to tire yourself in obtaining it."

This is another aspect which we face a lot in our day to day lives, being criticised is usually taken at par as being insulted, where as they are very different from each other, being criticised is something to be thankful for, especially when the person doing the criticism knows how to do it well, without being rude.

So what are we required to do as Muslims when we are criticised? number one, he says look for the fault you are being criticised about. Number two do not become furious, especially if its true. And number three, If its false then be thankful that u have this merit within you without having to work for it, how beautiful advice.

Thus Zuhair's view:
In our lives each of these situations do occur and we have to face them, Islam is a religion which leads toward perfection in every aspect of life, and our Imams are the ones who are there to guide us towards that perfection, thus by following this advice, we would tend toward perfection and achieving our main goal in life by coming closer to the only ONE who deserves our continous Ibadat (worship).

Please keep in mind that the explanation of the hadith written above is just my view, and is open to all criticism. Looking forward to your comments. May Allah guide us all to the right path.