spiritual message of shi’ism by: allamah sayyid muhammad husayn tabataba’i and inner...

8/8/2019 Spiritual Message of Shiism By: Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn TabatabaI And Inner Voice By: Sayyid Saeed A

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Spiritual Message of Shiism

By:Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn TabatabaI

And

Inner Voice

By:

Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Razavi

Compiled and Published

By

International Islamic Thought Forum, Lucknow..

L-III-35, Sector D, Aliganj, Lucknow, Ph.No.4060946

December, 2007


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Call unto the way of your Lord with wisdom and good exhortation, and reason with

them in the best way. Lo! Your Lord best knows those who go astray from His path, and

He knows best those who are rightly guided.

(Quran, 16:125)

CONTENTS

Page no.

1 About All amah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai 32 Spiritual Message of Shiism 43 ALI: The True Imam and The Pathway to God. 64 Know Thy Soul 95 Unity of God 126 Love and Fear of Allah 137 God Mindedness 148 Trust In God 149 Thankfulness to Allah 1510 Be With God 1611 Live and Die for Allah 1712 Allaho Akbar. 1813 Aim of Life 1814 Purpose of Creation. 1915 Secret of Success. 20

This book is dedicated to all the Marhoomin- Momin and Mominat, whopassed away awaiting eagerly their Imam-e-Zaman (A.S.).


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SPIRITUAL MESSAGEOF SHIISM

The message of Shiism to the world can be summarized in one

sentence. To know God. Or in other words, it is to instruct man tofollow the path of Divine realization and the knowledge of God in order

to gain felicity and salvation. And this message is contained in the very phrase with which the Holy Prophet commenced his prophetic mission

when he said: Oh men! Know God in His Oneness (and acknowledgeHim) so that you will gain salvation. (Salvation(from the root falaha)in this sense does not mean only salvation in the current, purely exoteric

sense it has acquired, but also means deliverance and spiritual realizationin the highest sense of the word.)

As a summary explanation of this message we will add that man isattached by nature to many goals in this worldly life and to material

pleasures. He loves tasty food and drink, fashionable dress, attractivepalaces and surroundings, a beautiful and pleasing wife, sincere friends

and great wealth. And in another direction he is attracted to politicalpower, position, and reputation, the extension of his rule and dominion

and the destruction of any thing that is opposed to his wishes. But in hisinner and primordial God- given nature man understands that all these are

means created for man, but man is not created for all these things. Thesethings should be subservient to man and follow him and not vice verse.

To consider the stomach and the region below it as a final end of life isthe logic of cattle and sheep. To tear up, cut and destroy other is the logic

of the tiger, the wolf and other animals. The logic inherent in him anexistence is the attainment of wisdom and nothing else.

This logic based upon wisdom with the power which it possesses todiscern between reality and the unreal, guides us toward the truth and not

toward things our emotions demand or toward passions, selfishness andegoism. This logic considers man as a part of the totality of creation

without any separate independence or the possibility of a rebellious self-centeredness. In contrast to the current belief that man is the master of

creation and tames rebellious nature and conquers it to force it to obeyhis wishes and desires, we find that in reality man himself is an

instrument in the hand of Universal Nature and is ruled and commandedby it.


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The logic based upon wisdom invites man to concentrate more

closely upon the apprehension he has of the existence of this world untilit becomes clear to him that the world of existence and all that is in it

does not issue from itself but rather from an Infinite Source. He will thenknow that all this beauty and ugliness, all these creatures of the earth and

the heavens, which appear outwardly as independent realities, gain realityonly through another Reality and are manifested only in Its Light, not by

themselves and through themselves. In the same way that the realitiesas well as the power and grandeur of yesterday have no greater value than

tales and legends of today, so are the realities of today no more thanvaguely remembered dreams in relation what will appear as reality

tomorrow. In the last analysis, everything in itself is no more than a taleand a dream. Only God is Reality in the absolute sense, the One Who

does not perish. Under the protection of His Being, everything gains

existence and becomes manifested through the Light of His Essence.If man becomes endowed with such vision and power of

apprehension, then the tent of his separative existence will fall down

before his eyes like a bubble on the surface of water. He will see with hiseyes that the world and all that is in it depend upon an Infinite Being who

possesses life, power, knowledge and every perfection to an infinitedegree. Man and every other being in the world are like so many

windows which display according to their capacity the world of eternitywhich transcends them and lies beyond them.

It is at this moment that man takes from himself and all creatures thequality of independence and primacy and returns these qualities to their

Owner. He detaches himself from all things to attach himself solely to theOne God. Before His Majesty and Grandeur he does nothing but bow in

humility. Only then does he become guided and directed by God so thatwhatever he knows he knows in God. Through Divine guidance he

becomes adorned with moral and spiritual virtue and pure actions whichare the same as Islam itself, the submission to God, the religion that is in

the primordial nature of things.This is the highest degree of human perfection and the station of the

perfect man (the Universal Man; insan-i-kamil), namely the Imam whohas reached this rank through Divine grace. Furthermore, those who have

reached this station through the practice of spiritual methods, with the

different ranks and stations that they possess, are the true followers of the


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Imam. It becomes thus clear that the knowledge of God and of the Imam

is inseparable in the same way that the knowledge of God is inextricablyconnected to the knowledge of oneself. For he who knows his own

symbolic existence has already come to know the true existence whichbelongs solely to God who is independent and without need of anything

whatsoever.

ALI : The True Imam And The Pathway to God

What is the reason for the friendship and love forAli in peoples

heart? Nobody has yet discovered the secret of this love, that is, no-onehas been able to formulate it, and say that if it were like this then that

would follow, or if it were like that then this would happen. However itdoes of course have a secret. There is something in the love which

dazzles the one who loves and draws him towards it. This attraction andlove are the highest degrees of love; Ali is the one whom peoples hearts

adore, whom humanity loves. Why ? In what does Alis extraordinarinesslie, that it incites love and draws hearts towards itself, that it plays the

tune of eternal life and lives for every ? Why do all hearts find out aboutthemselves through him, and do not feel him to be dead but find him

living?Certainly the basis for love for him is not his body, because his body

is not now among us and we have not perceived it with our senses. Lovefor Ali is also not hero-worship, which exists in every nation. It is a

mistake, too, to say the love for Ali is by way of love for moral andhuman excellence, and that love for Ali is a humanistic love. It is true

that Ali was the manifestation of the perfect man, and it is true that manloves great figures of humanity; but if Ali had had all those human

excellences that he had that wisdom and knowledge, that self-sacrificeand altruism, that humility and modesty, that courtesy, that kindness and

mercy, that protection of the weak, that justness, that liberality and loveof freedom, that respect for humanity, that generosity, that bravery, that

magnanimity and mercy towards his enemies, and, in the words of Rumi :

In bravery you are the Lion of the Lord,In generosity who indeed knows who you are?


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That munificence, benevolence and beneficence ifAli had hadall these, which he did have, but had not had the divine touch in him, it

is quite certain that there would not have been the feeling of sympathyand awakening of love that there is today.

Ali is love in the sense that he had the divine link; our hearts areunconsciously completely involved with, and connected to the Truth and

Reality right in their depths, and since they find Ali to be a great sign ofthe Truth and Reality and a manifestation of the attributes of the Truth

they are in love with him. In reality the basis for the love for Ali is theconnection of our souls with the Truth which has been laid in our

primordial natures, and since our primordial natures are eternal, love for

Ali is also eternal. There are many outstanding features in Alis being,

but that which has assigned him a resplendent and shining place for ever

is his faith and morality, and it is that which has given him his divinecharisma.

Sawdah al-Hamdaniyah, a self-sacrificing and devoted follower

and lover ofAli, who was one of those who took part on that night witha few others in the burial of Ali. After they had buried Ali and covered

his corpse with soil, he put one of his hands over his heart, threw earthover his head and said:

May death be agreeable to you, whose birth was pure, whosepatience was firm, whose holy struggle was great! You attained your aim

and your commerce was fruitful.You fell down before your Creator, and He gladly accepted you

and His angels appeared around you. You were placed near the Prophet,and God gave you a place near him. You reached the degree of your

brother, Mustafa (s.a.w.), and you drank from his overflowing cup.I beseech God that I may follow you and that I may act according

to your ways; that I may love those who love you, and be the enemy ofthose who are your enemy, that I may be gathered in the pavilion of your

friends.You saw what others did not see, and reached what others did not

reach; you pursued the holy struggle beside your brother, the Prophet,and you rose up for the religion of God as was worthy of it, till age-old

habits were done away with, confusion curbed and Islam and the faith put

in order. May the best of blessings be upon you!


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Through you the backs of the believers were made firm, the ways

made clear and habits broken. No-one could amass your virtues andexcellences in himself. You answered the call of the Prophet; you jumped

ahead of others in accepting him (the Prophet); you hurried to help him,and protected him with your life. You struck with your sword, Dhul-

fiqar, in places of fear and savagery, and you broke the back ofoppression. You caste down the structures of polytheism and vileness,

and you pulled down those who were astray into dust and blood. So mayyou be well pleased, O Amir-al-Muminin!

You were the closest of men to the Prophet; you were the firstperson to follow Islam. You were overflowing with certainty, strong of

heart and more self-sacrificing than any; your share in good was greater.May God not deprive us of retribution for your suffering, and may He not

despise us after you have gone!

By God, I swear that your life was the key to good, the lock againstevil; and your death is the key to every evil and lock against every good.If the people had accepted you, blessings would have showered on them

from the heaven and the earth; but they preferred this world to the next.Truly they preferred this world, and as a consequence they could

not endure the justice and unwaveringness ofAli. In the end the hand ofstiffness and stagnation came out of the sleeve of the people and

martyred Ali.and thus Ali is the true Imam and the pathway to God.

Note: The above portion has been extracted from the Book PolarizationAround the Character of Ali (a.s.) Ibn-Abitalib, by Shaheed Murtuza

Motahari of Iran, who was the most trusted man of Allamah Khomeini.


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INNER VOICEBy Late Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Razavi, Tanzania.

Know Thy Soul

.soon will we show them our signs in the (furthest) regions and in

their own souls. (Quran; 41: 53)There is one tested method of knowing Allah; and that is through

His creation the Worlds and the Man. Let us begin with ourself.We do not know the nature of soul. Still we have to admit that there

is something which is the source oflife. In the same way, though wecannot know the Creator, we have to admit that there is a God who has

created the universe.

We know that the soul is the ruler of our body. If any limb of oursrefuses to obey the commands of the soul, it is not a reflection on thestrength of the soul. It is considered the defect of the limb itself.

Likewise, the God is the master and ruler of the universe; and if anybodyrefuses to obey the commandments of Allah, the authority of Allah can

never be doubted. It will be a sign that the disobedient person is sickspiritually.

We know that soul is connected with our body; but we do not knowwhere it is. The life is every where in our body; but if a limb of a man is

amputated, we cannot say that so much portion of the soul also has beencut off. Thus, we see, the life is everywhere and still we cannot say that it

is here or is there. In the same manner, we know that Allah iseverywhere; but we cannot say He is here or He is there. We cannot

point towards Him; we cannot co-relate Him with any place.Whenever we want to do any work, our limbs simply obey the

unspoken command of the soul, without any need to tell them in so manywords. In the same way whenever God wants anything to happen it just

happens, without any need on the part of God to say Be this or Bethat. Therefore, we understand that the words used in scriptures that

God says and the thing happens is just a way of expressing the idea thatas soon as Allah wished something, it happens immediately.

We do not see the soul; still we believe in it. Man believes in such

creations which are beyond his senses. Strangely enough, there are somepeople who do not believe in the Creator, just because He is beyond their


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senses!

God has shown His signs in ourself, perhaps these points were inmind of Amir-al-Muminin Ali (A.S) when he said; Whoever knows his

soul, knows his Lord.We shall show them our signs in the furthest regions and in

themselves so that it may become manifest to them that it is the truth. Isit not sufficient that your Lord is witness over all things? (Quran, 41:

53) To understand the existence of God, our wise Creator, an aspect

can be presented in brief. We notice a constant concord between a vastnumber of individual phenomena and mans needs as a living being and

the continuation of life for him. We find that any change or substitutionof any of these phenomena could mean the extinction of human life on

this earth, or at least its paralysis. Here are some examples; the earth

receives from the sun a quantity of heat sufficient for the development oflife and the fulfillment of the needs of living beings for heat, no more andno less. It has been observed that the distance separating the earth from

the sun is in complete harmony with the amount of heat required for theexistence of life on this earth. Had this distance been double its present

measure, there would have not been enough heat to support life on earth.Conversely, if it were half its present measure, the heat would have been

too intense for life to endure. The air contains twenty-one percentoxygen; had this ratio been greater, the environment would have been

constantly threatened with outbreaks of fire. Had this ratio, on the otherhand, been smaller, life would have been difficult, if not impossible. Nor

would fire have been available in sufficient quantity to fulfill its properfunctions.

Even beauty, fragrance and splendour as natural phenomena arefound to exist in environments suited for their role of promoting life.

Thus flowers which are usually pollinated by insects are especiallyattractive, possessing bright, beautiful colours and enticing fragrances in

order to attract the insect and therefore facilitate the process ofpollination. Flowers, which are pollinated by air, on the other hand do not

posses these characteristics. The phenomenon of sexual pairs or mates inits general similarity between the physical structure of male and female

in man, animals and plants, and in sexual interaction for the perpetuity of

life, is yet another manifestation of the harmony of nature with the


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function of promoting life and the signs to prove the existence of

Allah.(Allama Baqar-al-Sadr- The Revealer, The Messenger, TheMessage)

All Existing Things Are a Sign of Allah:- this much can be easilyunderstood by all that all existing things are a sign and a name of Allah.

We can say that the whole world is Allahs name. but the case of thisname is different from that of the names given to the ordinary things. For

example, if we want to indicate a lamp or a motor car or to someone, wemention its name, the same thing we do in the case of a man. But

evidently that is not possible in the came of the Being (i.e. God)possessing infinite sublime qualities.

The Whole World is a Name of Allah:- the whole world is a name ofAllah because the name of a thing is its sign or symbol and as all things

existing are the signs of Allah, it may be said that the whole world is His

name. At the most it can be said that very few people fully understandhow the existing things are the signs of Allah. Most people know onlythis much that nothing can come into existence automatically.

Nothing, the existence of which is only possible, can come intoexistence automatically.

It is intellectually clear and everybody knows it intuitively thatanything the existence and non-existence of which is equally possible,

cannot come into existence automatically and that there must be anexternal force to bring it into existence. The first cause of bringing into

existence all possibly existing things must be an eternal and self-existing being. If it is supposed that the imaginary upper space, and it must be

imaginary because it is a non-entity, has always existed, then it possiblycan neither automatically turn into anything nor anything can come into

existence in it automatically. The assertion of some people that in the beginning the whole world/universe was an infinite vacuum(anything

being infinite is questionable in itself) in which subsequently appeared asort of steam from which everything has originated, does not stand to

reason, for without an external cause no new thing can appear nor canone thing change into another thing. For example, water does not freeze

nor does it boil without an external cause. If its temperature remainsconstant and does not go below 0 degree nor above 100 degrees it will

always remain water. In short, the existence of an external cause is

essential for every change. Similarly nothing, the existence of which is


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only possible, can come into existence without an external cause. These

facts are self-evident truths. (By Allamah Roohulla Khomeini LightWithin Me Tafseer Sura Al-Hamd).

Unity ofGodSay: He is Allah, the One and only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;

He begtteth not, nor He is begotten, and there is none like unto Him,

(Quran: 112)Allamah Abdllah Yusuf Ali comments in his translation of the Holy

Book: Here we are specially taught to avoid the pitfalls into which manand nations have fallen at various times in trying to understand God.

The first thing we have to note is that His nature is so sublime, so

far beyond our limited conceptions, that the best way in which we canrealize Him is to feel that He is a personality. He and not a mereabstract conception of philosophy.

Secondly, He is the One and Only God, the only one to Whomworship is due, all other things or beings that we can think of are His

creatures and in no way comparable to Him.Thirdly, He is Eternal without beginning or end; Absolute, not

limited by time or place or circumstances, the reality before which fallsother things or places are mere shadows or reflections.

Fourthly, we must not think of Him as having son or a father, forthat would be to import qualities into our conception of Him.

Fifthly, He is not like any other person or thing that we know orcan imagine; His qualities and nature are unique.

In fact this short surah is a declaration of war against all ideas of paganism and anthropomorphism. Men from the beginning have had a

tendency to imagine God in their own image. Some thought of Him ashaving body, like animals or human-beings. Others thought that He was

incarnated in the forces of nature like rain, lightning, mountain and river.Still others thought that He was a father and had child or children. But

this surah warns us against this tendency to conceive God after our ownpattern.


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Love and Fear ofAllah

All praise is only for God, the Lord of Universe, the Beneficent,the Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment. (Quran 1: 2-4)

These are the very first verses of the Quran. They present in clearterms the concept of God in Islam: God is Merciful and Just. According

to Islam, the Divine justice is not separate from His Mercy.The Divine Justice cannot be compared with the justice meted out

by the judges in the courts. These judges are only the executors of thelaw, given to them by others, with little or no authority to condone theculprits. They are bound by the law. They are helpless against the strict

implications of law when it demands punishment. They cannot dispensemercy even if the culprit is repenting, even if the circumstances demand

mercy. Petitions for mercy are addressed to the head of state, who is thesupreme promulgator of law.

But God is not a mere judge. He is the law-giver and the supremeAuthority. Hence an offender can be sure of His merciful pardon if his

repentance be genuine.Islam puts the Mercy of God before His Justice. The very first verse

of the Quran is In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, and theMerciful. Islam believes that His Mercy is before His wrath.

Thus the Muslims have a finely balanced faith, which is inclinedneither to this side nor to that. It does not teach us that God is a high-

handed avenger who does not forgive a single sin or mistake; but it doesnot present God in the shape of a feeble person who will not punish even

the tyrannies and brutalities of head-hunters. The essence of Islamic faithis in the abovementioned verses, where the Mercy of God has been

mentioned side by side with His Justice.Here we find a real divine religion which encourages man to go

nearer to Allah, attracted by His Mercy and Grace; and warns him againsttrespassing the limits of moral and religious laws, by reminding him that

God is Just, the Master of the Day of Judgment.Thus, the two most important instincts of man, i.e. love and fear,

are simultaneously utilized to make a man a perfect being, a whole being,not wanting in any respect.


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God Mindedness

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful - Quran.This phrase occurs at the beginning of every surah of the Quran

except one. It is used by Muslims before starting every work-beforereading, before eating, before starting their work, before sleeping. Islam

teaches man to start every good effort with the holy name of God Who is beneficent and merciful, invoking His mercy to bless his efforts with

success.The goal of Islam is to make a man God-minded; it wants him to

realize that he, by himself, is nothing, that all his efforts are fruitless

unless rewarded by God with success. And that realization is combinedwith the satisfaction that God is beneficent and merciful, who will not

disappoint him in his hope and belief.It is very amusing to note that the common image of Islam, on the

eyes of non-Muslims, is that of a religion whose god is wrathful one, likethe god of the Old Testament, inflicting punishment on the spur of the

moment. Do a mistake and you get a jolly good bang on your head!They fail to realize that the very first sentence of the Quran

describes God as beneficent and merciful. And that formula is used byevery Muslim hundreds of times every day. And the Muslims believe that

by invoking the mercy of God they get limitless blessings of God in thisworld as in the world hereafter.

Let us turn towards God every time we begin a work. The wordBismillah (in the name of God) may mean also For the sake of God

and To the service of God. Thus this formula, if comprehended fully,will serve also to save us from wrong action and misdeed. Certainly, it

will be illogical to commit a mischieffor the sake of God and to Hisservice. Let us remember God; and we will become free of sins and

errors.

Trust in God

And out they trust in God; and enough is God as a disposer of

affairs.-Quran 4:18).

The word used in Quran is Tawakkal which is derived fromTawakkul. This is not an excuse for idleness. Tawakkul means that


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you should bind the camel with its rope, and then say that you have trust

in God that He will protect your camel. You should not have theconfidence in the rope only, because many a camel has been stolen

together with its rope; and, likewise, you should not neglect the rope, because binding with the rope is a part of Tawakkul. So this is the

spirit of Tawakkul. We are to try our best; and then we should havetrust in the God that He will make our work succeed. It is a sheer

nonsense to sit idle and say that Allah will do all our work for us. He saysin Quran: And that man can have nothing but what he strives for.

(53:39)A high standard of Tawakkul was set when Amir-al-Muminin

Ali (A.S.) asked some idle persons who said: We are those who haveconfidence in Allah. Ali asked;

How is your confidence in Allah? They said: We eat when we get

food; and we have patience when we do not get it. Ali (A.S.) retorted:Yes! That was the very nature of a dog. Stunned, they asked him toexplain the true meaning of Tawakkul in contrast to their own belief. Ali

(A.S.) said: When we get, we give to others; when do not get, we thankAllah.

It means that you are to try your best to improve your condition; butyou should not trust your own power and wisdom. Have confidence in

Allah that he will make your efforts fruitful. Then, if you succeed, try tohelp your fellow brethren with the fruits of your labour; and if you fail;

then also be thankful to Allah.But why should be thank Allah even when you do not succeed?

Because success or failure is not your responsibility. You were expectedto do your best and you did it. Be thankful to Allah that you were able to

perform what was expected from you. It is your efforts which matter.Success or failure is not your province.

Thankfulness to Allah

Thankfulness of God is one of the highest virtues which a man

could aspire for. It is easy to be thankful when one has got an easy life, a

prospering business, a respectful job and a happy family. It is a differentstory when things are not going as desired. Most of us, in such situations,


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remain obsessed with sorrow, forgetting countless bounties of God which

we are bestowed with, even at the time of that tragedy. Perhaps it is thistendency which is mentioned in the Quran in these words: And few

amongst my servants are grateful.It is even more difficult to be grateful in such heart-breaking

situations which a man of God has to face in his struggle to lead his people on right path (Like the conditions which our Holy Prophet,

Muhammad (S.A.) and our Holy Imams, had to contend with). Once aman asked the Holy Prophet why did he pray whole nights and fasted

almost continuously, when he had so much work to do every day, theProphet simply asked: Should I not be a thankful servant of Allah? He

faced all the difficulties with cheerfulness and thankfulness. Not onlythis. His closest companions also thought of these hardships as a sign of

the grace of God. Had not God chosen them to bear such heavy burden in

His cause? Was it not a sign of His pleasure with them? It was thisthought which made them face cheerfully all kind of persecutionsinflicted by the enemies of God. It was this feeling which made Imam Ali

(A.S.) not only patient but thankful when he was asked by the HolyProphet to sleep in his (Prophets) bed, so that he Prophet could leave

Mecca while his would-be killers(who ringed his house) thought that hewas sleeping in his bed. Alis only question was: Will your life be saved

if I sleep in this bed? When assured that it was the promise of God, heprostrated to God, thanking Him that He made his (Alis) life a ransom

for the life of the Holy Prophet.

Be With God

And God is with you wheresoever you may be Quran: 57:4)God is everywhere. No space or time is without Him; yet He is

independent of time and space. He is Omnipresent and His love protectsus from harm in this world as in the life hereafter. But this relationship

with God should not be one sided. No doubt, God is with us. The vitalquestion is: Are we with God? If a grown up son misbehaves and still

demands the same parental affection which is enjoyed by his courteous

and obedient brother, he is just deceiving himself. Likewise some peoplefail to realize that there is no such thing as one sided companionship.


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And if we want to be sure that God is with us, we must be sure that we

are with God. It means that we have to prove our love towards God, if wewant to be worthy of the love of God. In other words we must also know

our responsibilities towards God and His creatures, and try to fulfillthem. As a first step to reach this goal, we must realize that we are too

much entangled in our worldly affairs to spare a moment to rememberGod. We are not preparing ourselves to meet God at all. We may easily

reach to God and be safe forever if we are with Him. Or, on the otherhand, we may be destroyed by death. The choice is ours.

Live and Die for Allah.

Say: Truly my prayers, and my actions, and my life, and my deathare all for God, the Cherisher of the Universe. - Quran -- 6:162.

This is the ideal of Islam. A true Muslim surrenders to the love of

Allah, all his actions are motivated by one thought only: God would bepleased by this work, so it must be done. Not only the external rituals

and rites, but also his emotions and thoughts are submerged by love ofGod. He lives for Allah and dies for Allah. The great martyrdom of Imam

Husain(A.S.) and his companions is the perfect example of the way aMuslim should keep the love of Allah and His(Gods) religion above all

things. Imam Husain had not refused to submit to Yazid for any worldlyreason. He said: I am not leaving Medina for any worldly motive; I am

leaving it so that I may establish the way of my grandfather (the HolyProphet) and my father (Imam Ali (A.S.), and so that I may exhort people

to become righteous; and may dissuade them from evil. If thereligion of Muhammad cannot be saved except by the sacrifice of my

head, then, O swords come and take it. And to save the religion of IslamImam Husain (A.S.) sacrificed not one, but 72 heads. These sacrifices

were made without any remorse, without any sorrow. On the 10th

ofMuharram his face was radiating more and more content and pleasure.

He was happy that his offerings were accepted by Allah. Thus ImamHusain showed how a man can live for Allah; how can he die for Allah.

This death is not death; it is eternal life, as God has said; And do not

think those who are martyred in the path of Allah are dead. Nay! Theyare alive in the presence of God.


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Allaho Akbar.

(Allah is great)

Five times in 24 hours the call comes from the minarets of themosques: Allaho Akbar. It is adhan (Azan), meant to announce the time

of prayers. Right at the call of adhan, Muslims are expected to gather inthe mosque. It is a matter of pride that we are called by God to his

audience. It shows His live towards His creatures that He has provided uswith an opportunity to communicate with Him. He has opened His housefor us let us not be late or absent from His presence and we are reminded

that Allah is beginning; Allah is the end.Adhan is not just a symbol. It is a sermon in clear words. It not only

calls a man for prayers; it also explains why he should pray, and to whomshould he pray. It reminds the hearers about God; and about mans

obligation towards Him. And after these explanations, it exhorts the believers to offer their humble prayers, with full knowledge and

understanding, in the presence of God. God is great! Our problems, ourworries, our difficulties all will be solved in the best way, if we ask our

loving Allah to solve them for us. Not only that, our joy, ourachievements, our successes nothing actually matters. Allah only is

great. Let us communicate with him. Only His benevolent love and carecan bring us to prosperity in this world and in life hereafter.

Aim ofLife

And did you think that we created you aimlessly? (Quran)

No man likes to be accused of working aimlessly. Acting without purpose is against the accepted norms of sanity. Therefore, we are

confident that God never does any work without aim and purpose. Andwhat is the purpose of our creation, our life?

A group thinks that materials well-being is the sole purpose of thehuman life. They say; Every man should work according to his ability:

and he should get according to his need. It is the ultimate goal of their

life. They see no other purpose beyond it. Alas! These people do not


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know the difference between means of life and aim of life.

A dairy-man keeps cows and feeds them, looks-after them andprotects them from harm. Ask him and he will explain that these are the

means of keeping the cows alive. But is it the purpose of keeping thecows in the farm? No! The purpose is something else milk. So we see

the difference between the means of life and purpose of life if fullyrecognized in this case. Is it not strange to forget it when it comes to

human life? When a philosophy teaches us that bred and butter are theaim of life it ceases to be a philosophy. It becomes a fallacy.

In fact, we are alive for a higher purpose and nobler aim. TheCreator himself has made it clear: And I did not create jinn and human

beings, but so that they may know and obey Me. (Quran 51:56).Forget this basic purpose of your creation and you have degraded

yourself to a level far below than that of cow.

Purpose ofCreation.

And I did not create jinn and human beings but so that they mayworship Me

(Quran 51-56)

God crated us and sent us in this world just to obtain spiritualperfection and piety, as explained in the above-mentioned ayatof the

Holy Quran. Most of the commentators take the wordworship to mean

worship with faith in Him.

A child is sent to school to study and acquire knowledge. Likewise,we are sent here to acquire spiritual qualities which could not be obtained

otherwise. Unless you are faced with such a situation which puts somestrain upon your integrity, your integrity has no real strength. Unless you

are facing a situation in which the majority of people lose their temper,your forbearance has no meaning. Therefore, to bring out the full

qualities which are spiritual, it was necessary for the man to come intothis world and prove his worth by behaving nobly in adverse atmosphere

and surroundings.

After spending some time here and showing the strength orweakness of his spirit he goes back i.e. dies just as a child returns to


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his home from the school. In this background, hardships, turmoil,

difficulties and disasters seem essential to complete the picture. These arethe methods which help in bringing out our spiritual perfection. Fire

melts gold and makes it pure; tragedy and distress soften the heart andbrightens the spirit.

SECRETOF SUCCESS

O! You who believe! Fear Allah and say that which is correct, so

that He may make your deeds pure and forgive your sins. Whoever obeysAllah and His Prophet has surely succeeded ... (Quran: 33; 71)

Every human being must remember and bear in mind that the human

character rests upon three pivots 1- Theethical pivot, whereat the

individuals behaviourism inside the society, and method of living can beincarnated through the ethical capabilities he has.

2- The rational pivot- through which man deals with nature andthoughts, out of the rational faculties he possesses. 3- The spiritual

pivot, which organizes the association between man and his Lord, thatidentifies, in turn, the nature of connection according to the spiritual

powers man owns.There are following main secrets of success:

1. Persevering Endeavour : - Wittiness alone or instinctivecapabilities endowed by Allah inside the human essence, can

never achieve the objectives and goals aspired for by man, as thesecret behind every success lies in continuous labour and

unstopped efforts, beside the traits of man can possess, likeforbearance and patience for this purpose.

True, the persevering endeavour, and enduring different hardshipsand suffering for the sake of attaining to the objectives and aims,

is the most logical formula prevalent over the human life.Otherwise, resorting to the luxurious and monotonous life will

mean indolence and fiasco.2. Discipline with proper planning and system and investing time

properly. Time, and, in general, age is the real capital in the

lives of individuals and people, as

system is the essential factor behind mans proceeding on his way towards the aspiral


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goalwhile disorder and chaos being the essential cause for

continuous failure in the life of nations and individuals.Everymans success depends only on the extent of his observance

of time and availing of opportunities. Says Hazrat Ali, I adviseyou (both) and all my children and members of my family and

everyone whom my writing reaches, to fear Allah, to keep youraffairs in order .. He further says, To make haste before the

proper or to delay after the proper opportunity, is either case isfolly. View the day and hour as a great fortune not to be

misused or wasted and divide time exploiting the hours of the dayand night in reading, investigation, compilation, recording the

conclusions and worship and beseeching Allah the Glorified with confirming (our) association with Him. Arrange and

organize time so accurately that could benefit and invest each and

every moment.(taken from the Biography of Al-Shahid-al-Thani-Zayn al Din-al-Jubi al Amli, most famous Alim-e-Din ofLebanon)

spiritual message of shi’ism by: allamah sayyid muhammad husayn tabataba’i and inner...

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