PureExistence1

Salaam, When I went to Iran to visit, I couldn't believe that people were drinking and selling Coke there! I thought people knew better about the different things that Coca-Cola promotes and who and what powers in this world they put their money behind and contribute to. I was thinking to myself wow, these people are actually buying a drink from a company that supports its number one foe.: (

Assalamualaikum, The little bit of islamic knowledge that I have about dreams is: 1) There are in general three types of dreams. One type of dream is a true dream, these occur during the later sleeping hours close to when you would be waking up in the morning and these dreams come true. Dreams that happen at other times tend to fall into one of the other two categories which are either muddled dreams, meaning they are unclear and you cannot really grasp any information from them, or dreams that are influenced by "negative forces", commonly referred to as Shaytaan influenced. 2) Dreams are a part of the prophetic faculty that humans have. I encourage you to craft an email and inquire further about what this means from the sheikh I will leave contact information for at the bottom of this post. He is a very excellent scholar who posts many videos on YouTube. He currently is located in Qom Iran, but travels around to different Shia Masjids all over the world giving lectures. He also does spiritual retreats. His focus is mostly on the esoteric aspects of islam, something that no other English speaker does to the same capacity that he does, which is sorely missing in Islam as personally I believe it is the core of the religion. His name is Dr. Farrokh Sekaleshfar. I encourage you to explore his videos. You can YouTube his name and you will find his own You Tube channel. You can also search for a YouTube channel called IBN. I'm not sure why, but videos from IBN do not come up in my search results when I search for him on YouTube so I have to go directly to IBN's YouTube channel and look for him within their channel. It may be because they spell his name slightly differently which skews You Tubes search algorithm. As far as what he says about dreams, he says dreams are semi-imaterial in nature. They are produced from our souls. The more spiritually pure a person is, the more pure and clean and understandable their dreams are. He says it is not uncommon for people to have dreams where we see people like Imam khomeini, Ayatollah Bahjat, etc. And in these dreams they may be doing something like waking us up for fajr salaat or some other type of religious activity. In those cases, he says they are actually Angels appearing to us but we are not able to experience the angel in their true form so they present themselves in the form of these people we are familiar with. He says that dreams are our spirits way of downloading metaphysical information and realities into our soul but when we are veiled due to sinning and other bad behaviors, the dreams become not understandable or muddled. Your dream sounds very clear. What may have happened in the dream is that some abstract metaphysical information that you do not mentally recall was downloaded into your soul. Exactly what use a download of semi immaterial abstract information is for a person when they don't remember it is beyond my scope of knowledge. I encourage you to send him, Dr sekaleshfar, an email and see what he may have to say about your dream. He's not a dream interpreter so dont expect him to tell you what it means, but he may be able to give you more details about the nature of dreams in general and he may be able to refer you to specific lectures of his where he discusses this topic. He may be able to give you a better general idea of the Urafas take on dreams as he very commonly quotes and refers to people such as Ayatollah jawadi Amolie, Ayatullah Hassanzadeh Amoli(رضي الله عنه) Imam khomeini(رضي الله عنه) Ayatollah Bahjat(رضي الله عنه), In other words the great arifs of the 20th century. He also quotes other people but that is not important information at this point. Anyway, he is very free about giving people access to him and his email so I feel very comfortable sharing it here with you. In sha Allah he can provide you with some further information on the nature of dreams, but again don't expect him to interpret it because that's not what he's about. But he can better help you understand dreams in general from the Islamic perspective. (As far as I know, and I follow him and his videos very closely, there is not a specific video that I am able to share a link from regarding dreams and the Islamic understanding of them because he very commonly touches on sporadic issues throughout lectures on a variety of subjects and so it is very difficult to know what particular lecture information regarding dreams comes from. It would be great if he would dedicate one video or a short series of videos to this particular phenomenon because I think it's very important considering how dreams relate directly to the soul and a person's spiritual state, however no such video exists from him at this point, only bits and pieces of the explanation of dreams strewn randomly throughout probably 500 different lectures he's given. So I apologize for not being able to give you something a little bit more concrete and easier to work with.) If you do in fact contact him, I would be extremely excited and grateful if you would share what he says in case he mentions anything that I am not already aware of. You can DM me on this site or you can obviously share it openly on this post if you want. Totally up to you, but hoping to learn something new if possible. I think you have had a very amazingly beautiful dream, mashaAllah! Dr Sekaleshfars info: fbsekaleshfar@gmail.com He also has a facebook page. As salaamun aleikum rahmatullah:)

Yes you're right about that. My problems seem to begin around 4th grade math.. i do fine with my finances and with keeping time, I just have a hard time with understanding fractions and algebra..i winged it through the rest of the public school math classes. In 2010, I decided to attend Junior college for a career in environmental science, and I was 34 at the time and thought that maybe I was just lazy or now that I'm older I would be able to do the math, and I really went into it with a positive attitude and a "go get em" kind of spirit, but then I basically fell flat on my face by the third week into math. Y that time, I had already invested about a year and a half into school before I began taking math classes. I wish I had taken them right away so then I could have made a decision without having already made the investment in time, but in sha Allah kheyr. If i ever decide to go back to school, i may need to take you up on your offer:) Thank you for that!

I wish when i was growing up i had had a teacher with your attitude regarding math. Ive always had a problem with it and basically left jr college cuz i was unable to pass the lowest math class they offered despite studying 6 hours at night and 3 before class. I was a straight A student and about to get an F in math, so i left before my GPA and funding could be affected:( I may have dyscalcula but it costs alot to be diagnosed since im no longer a minor. Not sure it matters now. In sha Allah you get the job. Allah(سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) will put you right where you belong:)

Salaam, I have known for years, probably since I was 10, that I absolutely do not want children. Now at 46 years old, all of the character defects that I have and the intolerances and just the personality that I have, shows that the decision I made was the right one. I have a tremendously hard time just dealing with my elderly and sick parents. I cannot imagine what it would be like to have kids on top of that or to have had kids in general. I don't think I'm missing out on anything, I think it's like someone else has mentioned above that parenthood isnt for everyone.. different strokes for different folks. Not all of us are meant to be parents and I don't think the guilt of being a Muslim and the expectation of having a large family should be thrust upon someone. I however made this decision many years before I became Muslim and I wasn't pressured into making it, neither was i "coerced by society or its norms and pressures" to pursue a career, cuz i never did that, I just realized that who i am and the personality I have is incompatible with having children. And that's okay... I couldnt care less whether someone else approves of it or not. I'd rather have made the choice to not have children, then have had children and for them to be all screwed up because of me and my personality defects. And I'm also not going to hang on the, "well you wont know unless you try" line because to me, that's just a setup for failure. A person needs to know themselves well enough to know what's appropriate for them and what isn't, not hang on some fairy tale that "you will feel different when you have a child" and then find out that i was infact right, that it wasnt for me and now some poor innocent soul has to spend the rest of their lives in counceling trying to fix the mental and psychological damage done to them by their parents when they were too young and helpless to protect themselves. (Any adults here relate to this now that theyre grown?) Salaam

Salaam, wow, thats very interesting and surprising in a way. Something is clearly wrong with me as when someone is angry at me, i dont want to be anywhere near them, let alone want them to touch me. Its probably (as usual) just some kind of ptsd from my childhood. When someone is angry at me, either justly or unjustly, i want to be as far away from them as possible so letting them touch me is a big nope for me as it brings indescribable discomfort. Oh well...there are outliers in every situation. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing! I love paintings and renderings of landscapes and the symbolism you derived from your work. Is it watercolor?

Salaam brother dave, Thanks so much for your well wishes:) May God grant you and your family all the same. Thanks for being part of Shia Chat and for thinking to remember us at this important time! Blessings and peace to you-

Thanks for clearing that up, brother. Its very helpful!

Salaam, I thought within the last 3 or so years, Ayatullah Sistani and others ruled that gelatin undergoes the process of....i cant remember what its called, but it basically means that the product, gelatin in this case, has undergone so many changes that it is no longer considered a haram substance anymore. They call the process wine goes through to become vinegar the same thing, i believe. Whats this process called, since i have forgotten its name? Thanks!

As salaamun aleikum, How does this manifest in reality? Cant recall the last time Shaytaan made me a promise so Id like to know how to understand this realistically. Surah Al-Isra, Verse 64: وَاسْتَفْزِزْ مَنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ مِنْهُم بِصَوْتِكَ وَأَجْلِبْ عَلَيْهِم بِخَيْلِكَ وَرَجِلِكَ وَشَارِكْهُمْ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ وَعِدْهُمْ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا And beguile whomsoever of them you can with your voice, and collect against them your forces riding and on foot, and share with them in wealth and children, and make promises to them; and the Shaitan makes not promises to them but to deceive. Thanks for any input.

Salaam, Maybe because we will be of a semi immaterial substance, we wont feel the heat and cold as we do now? Im not even sure if the sun and moon will have any real existence there. You can't feel something if it doesn't exist.. ...the moon doesn't make us feel cold. Its the absence of heat ( when the sun sets) that makes us feel cold. Sometimes the moon is in the sky during the day while the sun is out. As far as temps go, the moon has no effect on hit or cold. It merely reflects enough of the suns light so that we see it as well as to be able to see at night on a few nights of the month. As far as the past existing, I feel like it is present in Existence/Consciousness. I think sometimes people may be experiencing that when they think they have had a past life or a regression. I think what happens is they somehow are able to see or tap into someone else's past experience/recorded memory in time in what seems to be a very real sense, so they confuse that experience by thinking that they themselves have lived that life/been that person in the past when really, they have just tapped into a part of "recorded history" in Allahs(سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى)Pure Existence, which contains knowledge of every "thing/action/event that ever was as well as ever will be. (Strange, I haven't heard of any accounts of somebody talking about who they will be in a future life, although maybe I have and I just don't remember.. I have heard of women claiming to have seen their future children that are to be born to them during near-death experiences, but I haven't heard of anybody claiming to have seen who they will be in a so called future life) Time and everything related to it is for Allahs(سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) creation to experience, and depending on what type of creation something is, for example, a human, a djinn, an angel, a soul in barzakh or in any other of Allahs(سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) created realms, their experience of time may be/will be different compared to the others. Its practically impossible to understand what a place without time would be lke as all we know is this dimension we live in where literally EVERYTHING depends on time due to dimensions such as length, width, height, and distance which requires time to travel. Interesting question and post:)

Salaam, If hijab is important to you, then she should already be wearing it of her own accord when you marry and in sha Allah she should have a good heartfelt understanding for why shes wearing it, not cuz her dad or her brothers or so and so expect her to wear it...because if she doesnt have this knowledge or if you try to convince her yourself to wear it, she may actually do so for awhile, but the likelihood that she will eventually take it off is pretty good.. For many sisters, hijab is not easy. Not because they want to be sexy and run around wild with their hair showing, but because it can be very difficult to manage. Its hot, makes your scalp itch in warm weather, flies in your face while walking down stairs which can momentarily blind her, can fly up onto her ice cream cone or other food when eating getting it all filthy and sticky, theres almost always tiny hairs that escape at the edge of the scarf cap that tickle and itch the side of the face, depending on how its worn, when she uses the public restroom or any other sink or wash space, if its long enough it gets wet and rubs against the counter which is nasty, it can be an impediment for seeing the peripheral while driving, and im sure it is difficult to deal with when trying to tote around an infant/unruly toddler etc, and on and on and on. ( Pinning it down all over the head to keep it from moving isnt an option for every female because it can become quite frustrating when your scalp is itching and driving you mad cuz its a hot day but youre unable to effectively scratch the itch because there are sharp pins all over your head) A sister has to have pretty good resolve to put up with all the irritants that wearing hijab can cause. That resolve should stem from religious beliefs and understanding cuz without that, its very difficult for quite a few sisters to stick it out, so again, if hijab is important to you, you best find someone who already is accustomed to and believes in wearing it for the right reasons. And i could be wrong, but I believe men having a beard is a major part of the male hijab, which many men themselves complain of their beards itching and other issues, but that is a subject for another thread.

Salaam, Good question. It seems like people cry bidah for all sorts of things these days.. During the month of Shabaan, I came across a post on Instagram where someone was ranting and raving that the night of the 15th of Shabaan isn't supported by any strong narrations or hadith, that all the Hadith talking about the night of the 15th of Shabaan being special are daef/weak and therefore extra salaat and worship on that night is bidah. I was in a irritable mood and So I responded back. To get straight to the point, I ended my rant by saying who cares if someone does extra worship on the night of the 15th.. its worship.

Thanks for the additional point brother @ShiaMan14. Yes, we will be traveling from the city, through the country, through a small town, then through ranch land and rural areas, then arrive at the destination location/city.