MartyS

Yes! I can see this in these Old Testament verses that stress one's heart condition before God, unto salvation, even before the cross of Jesus Christ...
And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. - Genesis 15:6
"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.  - Habakkuk 2:4
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  - Psalm 51:16-17
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?  - Micah 6:8
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. - Ezekiel 36:26-27
And then this New Testament verse ties together how true saints have always been born again "by grace through faith" regardless of how the Lord wills to reveal Himself to man at a given time, regardless of doctrine or the era in which they lived...
For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. - 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
Thank you, my brother!

Aoa,
I had a dream two days a go that has been bothering me a lot. I have some big projects coming up and I am worried that they have some sort of message for me. I have done sadqa just in case but if someone could tell me an accurate interpretation I would be so very thankful.
I dreamt that me my mother and my aunt we're in a really tall apartment building (nobody owns such a house in my family) and the building was swaying due to heavy winds and my mum and my aunt are preparing some niaz and they keep saying "it was a very hard day for Muslims today equavalent to ashura we need to do niaz" and I keep looking outside the window and there are huge thick black clouds gathering in the sky and I keep asking my mother to let's go home before it starts to rain and I am very scared and inside my heart I keep repeating one thing "I couldn't even pray, I didn't pray" and the thought makes me even more scared. But my mother keeps preparing for niaz.
Please help me with the Interpretation of this dream I read in some imam jaffar e Sadiq dream Interpretation saying that black clouds mean severe hardships.
P.s I am usually punctual in offering prayers.

Sister,
I was where you are, also. I was so lost and without hope. I thought I could stop sinning. I tried really hard. I prayed God would help me. But I couldn't stop even the little sins on my own...much less the big ones. My spirit was a slave to sin. Who could save me? No one...but Jesus. That was why He left heaven and came to Earth--took on the nature of a human being--so He could be like me...except He was perfect and sinless. Therefore, His life could be paid for mine, to cancel my debt that I owed to God. The Bible says the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
But Jesus said, Whoever believes in me shall have life, and shall never die (John 11:25-26).
I took Him at His word. I confessed my rebellion that caused me to commit all my sins. And God, in Christ Jesus, did the most awesome thing I believe He has ever done for all mankind. He took away my sins--all of them, past/ present/ future--and gave me Jesus' righteousness and purity and holiness and right-standing with Himself. So that, When God sees me, He doesn't see my sins anymore. He sees Jesus' own righteousness imputed to me. I know that in His Book of Life, my debt is marked PAID IN FULL. Once I gave my life to Jesus and took on His righteousness, the Father sent the Spirit of Christ to live in me. So now, I don't want to sin. And I have divine power inside of me, to live according to the Spirit, not for the desires of my old man, the flesh (Ephesians 1:13-14). I do make mistakes, but I don't make a practice of sinning (1John 3:4-9). And when I ask God to forgive me, He does. As Jesus said when He washed Peter's feet, once you have bathed, you only need to have your feet washed (John 13:10). Nothing can ever separate me from God's love and forgiveness now (Romans 8:38-39)!
This event was so monumental that when Jesus' body  was in the tomb, His Spirit went and preached this good news, or "gospel," to the dead!
PREACHED TO THE DEAD
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. - 1 Peter 3:18-20
For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. - 1 Peter 4:6
Isn't it incredible and amazing?! Peace and blessings! MartyS

Moving away from attachment to the world of this world that reigns in society Regarding the fact that the venerated Jesus (blessed be it), did not get married, some reasons are evoked, in the sources of hadith, of which:
The revered Imam Sadiq (blessed be He) said, "The revered Jesus was questioned, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, why he did not marry, and he answered What is the marriage for me? "You'll have children," they answer him. "Whoever uses me to have the child, if he remains alive, will cause difficulties and if he dies, will cause boredom and affliction". 4[4] Messiah (blessed be He) said to his companions, "My food is the plants on the earth, my drink is the water of rivers and fountains, I drink water with my own hands, my light is the light of the moon, my carpet is the earth and my cushion is the stones. My clothes are made of animal hair. I do not have the child to die, and plunge me into affliction, I do not have a house to be demolished, I do not have a good so that it is wasted. So, I am the most freed (feeling no need) of Adam's children. 5[5] These hadiths do not bear witness to the principle of marriage, for in verse 34 of the holy Surah "Thunder," God specifies that marriage was the tradition of the prophets. It is necessary to describe these words of the venerated Jesus, according to his interlocutors and the conditions in which they were. By such words, the venerated Jesus addressed those who had immersed themselves in the pleasures of the world below. By such words, revered Jesus means that the human being has the capacity not to make the marriage and he absolutely does not mean to question the principle of marriage and the fact of having children. The interesting point also is that the Qur'an, while emphasizing marriage, regards the woman, the child, and property as the source of sedition in some respects. In this regard, the noble Koran says: "O you who have believed, you have an enemy [temptation] of your wives and children.
[4] Majlissi, Moammad Baqer, Bihar al-Anwar, t.14, p.238, hadith 15, Instiut Al-Wafa, Beirut, 1404 of the Lunar AH.
[5] Idem, t.67, p.314, the continuation of the hadith 19.
  Life of a short duration, marked, in constant, by missionary journeys
The venerated Jesus was baptized Messiah, because he was the Traveler (Sayyah). Sayyah (the Traveler) means, here, the one who moves, consistently and regularly on the earth to proceed with the acts of devotion and worship of God. 7 [7] For this reason it is said that the venerated Jesus was walking on the earth, and at nightfall he was praying until dawn. 8 [8] According to a hadith narrated by Tabarssi, the venerated Imam Ali (blessed be it), the idea that the venerated Jesus was Sayyah (the traveler), was corroborated. 9 Another reason which may explain the celibacy of the venerated Jesus is that he could not afford to marry because of his short life and his missionary travels, which were constantly in various places of the world.
The opinion of Christians on this subject
 
 
In this regard, the master Mottahari (may God welcome him to his paradise) says: "Christians have introduced into religion the false idea that the celibacy of the venerated Jesus (blessed be it) was due to the fact that the woman was the element of sin and represented the little devil, that marriage and sexual questions are an obstacle to human advancement and elevation. They believed that man does not commit sin alone, and that it is the woman, the little devil, who pushes him there by his temptations. Christians have this belief that the story of Adam, Eve, and Satan was started in this way that Satan, unable to influence Adam, deceived Eve, and thereby succeeded in deceiving Adam, too.So, throughout history, there has been this conviction that Satan deceives the woman and the woman deceives the man. But, the noble Koran says, quite the opposite. Satan speaks to both Adam and Eve and swears to deceive them. So, the mistake made by Adam and Eve was of the same level. There is no need to mention the preeminence of one over the other. It is for this reason that the Quran speaks both pure men and women, and in some cases, it accords a higher status to the woman. 10 [10] There are those among Christians who advance other causes and reasons for the celibacy of the venerated Jesus (blessed be He).
10] RF: Motahhari, Moteza, Majmou'eye Asar (The set of works), t.17, p.402, Edition Sadra, Qom, 2004.
http://www.islamquest.net/fa/archive/question/fa13716
translated from french text link
http://www.islamquest.net/fr/archive/question/fa13716

Peace and blessings!
Many good points in the thread above. But, as a Christian who believes in the diety as well as the manhood of Jesus, I believe He is unique and cannot fairly be compared to any other Prophet. He explained His perspective about marriage from a heavenly view in Luke 20:27-36...
There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. And the second and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife." And Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection."
However, Jesus used the traditional OT marriage supper to describe His future relationship with believers in Revelation... "Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." And he said to me, "These are the true words of God." Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God." For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. - Revelation 19:7-10

hi we believe & stated in Quran that he doesn't has doubt about God either doesn't know himself as God but because of his aarogance & Pride , refused to prostrate to prophet Adam (as), but he still believes to one God but because of his disobedience  ,exiled from his position & swear to God that he will deceive all sons of men except few ones that one of his ways is that you say ,Devils can be from Jinns or Humans both  & corrupted political  and religious leaders that they are worser than Jinns .
He said: What hindered thee that thou didst not fall prostrate when I bade thee? (Iblis) said: I am better than him. Thou createdst me of fire while him Thou didst create of mud. (12) He said: Then go down hence! It is not for thee to show pride here, so go forth! Lo! thou art of those degraded. (13) He said: Reprieve me till the day when they are raised (from the dead). (14) He said: Lo! thou art of those reprieved. (15) He said: Now, because Thou hast sent me astray, verily I shall lurk in ambush for them on Thy Right Path. (16) Then I shall come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right hands and from their left hands, and Thou wilt not find most of them beholden (unto Thee). (17)He said: Go forth from hence, degraded, banished. As for such of them as follow thee, surely I will fill hell with all of you. (18)
http://tanzil.net/#trans/en.pickthall/7:16
Thus have We appointed unto every prophet an adversary - devils of humankind and jinn who inspire in one another plausible discourse through guile. If thy Lord willed, they would not do so; so leave them alone with their devising; (112) That the hearts of those who believe not in the Hereafter may incline thereto, and that they may take pleasure therein, and that they may earn what they are earning. (113
http://tanzil.net/#trans/en.pickthall/6:112

In light of the scrutiny of his lifetime character and deeds that Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh has underwent in recent weeks in the US, I've been wondering how well I, or any of us, will bear up when our lives are examined for goodness before God or Allah. Will we be terrified, defensive, arrogant? How can we be confident, secure, calm, at peace with God or Allah?

In light of the scrutiny of his lifetime character and deeds that Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh has underwent in recent weeks in the US, I've been wondering how well I, or any of us, will bear up when our lives are examined for goodness before God or Allah. Will we be terrified, defensive, arrogant? How can we be confident, secure, calm, at peace with God or Allah?

we have no common enemies with wahabi , salafis 
if anything we should unite with EVERY possible enemy of wahabis inc nusairi, bahai, ultra orthodox jews etc to combat them 
remember ONLY one group wishes a TOTAL erradication of shias everywhere that is the wahabi/salafis 
all arguments to unite with them to combat non-muslims are naive at best and dangerously misleadly at worst, infact wahabis might use shias to fight against the nonmuslims only to turn against them latter , see what happened to shia "mujahideen" in afghanistan war after defeat of communists in the 90s

@Haji2003 and @notme 
"limiting" "havoc".
l was going to start a thread like this myself. So l already had some thoughts.
Despite the anti-Trump feelings in most of western Asia and the US, lt is in our interest to vote.
How to vote:
Locally and State: we each vote according to our individual judgment. Best candidate for each office or council as we individually see them.
But for National Office, the Congress, we must Vote Republican.
Remember, lt ls Trump who ordered the Pentagon to go after lSlL and got that Pipeline War all but stopped. The crime that Demoncrat Hillary and Demoncrat 0bama dreamed up. Emptying prisons and all.
True, Trump's lran Policy is dumb, even lgnorant. And many on SC think his "policy" is screw-in-the-head, but Trump is forestalled by the EU, the PRC, Russia and lran itself.
Remember the Demoncrats. There still remains Hillary-0bama's Libya.  Their establishing Firaun with KSA fronting.  Starting Yemen.  Using the European Communist MPs to go after hijabis. General "Liberal lnterventionist" philosophy. Militarization of the State Department (Hillary got special units assigned to it.). Punitively punishing the Gaza Ghetto for not voting as 0bama and Hillary wanted, but for Hamas. The Pharaoh Operation by Drone Targeting 14+year-olds in Afghanistan.(Now it is "look 16+")
From another aspect, willful neglect. The most shameless Demoncrat Hillary-Obama example was the willful neglect and dismissal of the West African Ebola Crisis.  As noted on that SC thread, Obama did nothing but patronize pleas for help until serious lnternational Pressure compelled Obama to respond. Murderously, shameless, as thousands had already died by then.
Then there is the Demoncrats behavior in the Congress. Over the last couple of decades, it has transformed from  the Opposition, to Obstructionist, to Obnoxious, to Obstreperous and now Odious with this Kavanaugh Kontrivance -as l have opined in the Christy B.F. thread.
The political commentators are saying that the Demoncrats only have more ObumaCare as an election issue -everything else is smear and smut. During Wild-Mr.Bill Clinton's scandal, parents were complaining that their small children were asking-to-know what oral sex and other things the children heard on the news were. How many of you parents now are having their children asking about "sexual assault" and -what l have deleted here- obscenities they hear on TV ? ? ?  Demoncrats succeed and this becomes their 'winning strategy', there will be a lot more of it. Election 2020 is only two years away.
lf  l was qualified to issue a fatwa it will recite most of the above and then declare it jihada to vote only Republican for the House of Representatives and for the United States Senate. This is in the lsIamic lnterest and it is in the U.S. national interest -our home. Most Republicans are not in an adventurous mood.
l am, like most of you, a Democrat. But l am not a Demoncrat.
Early voting starts this week. A voting block can determine the outcomes in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and a few other places, even in Texas.
So copy this and distribute this . . . a see if someone qualified can issue the aforementioned fatwa. Then publish it.
We must  Vote for Republican Congressional Candidates.

I am not referring to the Religion of Scientology. However, the concept of Church is applicable here.
As every school, college and university could be considered the Church of Scientism.
Two clearly distinguish what I mean. Here are the important points I posted in another thread, from the two links I posted above. Link-Important points
I am not a scientist, nor do I have a handle on everything. But one thing is clear that we have a epidemic on our hands and we need to point this out to the general public, as you see it is been done by the two articles above.
People are feeling that there is a need to point out the facts. As there is a psychological war going on and misrepresentation of the True/ Real abilities and scope of Science is deliberately been hidden from the general public. Any So Called Scientist can make a statement on any subject, even he/she is not qualified in that domain and it will be taken as Gospel Truth. With out realizing the fact that the subject matter under discussion is out of his/her domain of Expertise, and he/she is as dumb as the common individual out there. One could have triple Phds' in Physics, but he/she is equal in knowledge to a common person regarding a social issue or agriculture. 
For example this outrageous statement 
Link
If you read comments from other people in the field, they do not doubt his contribution to Science, but the above statement is out f this persons domain of knowledge as his is talked about having read very little theology. But people will formulate their world view based on his statement, because he is a scientist. This will be a car mechanic giving a statement on your need for brain surgery, an you go get it done. No on in his/her right mind will ever follow through on a his/her car mechanic's advice for brain surgery. Yet some are ready to have their souls removed and ready to become material robots. Why? because of false marketing, and false marketing and indoctrination since primary school which lasts till university and in work place and beyond (social talk and gathering) ...That Science is the Truth and Scientists are the Truth givers in All aspects of life. 
There are many branches of Science, Social Science, Political Science, Natural Sciences . In general the word “Science” (study /knowledge of us and what is around us)  has its value and limits and we need to learn and master it for the benefit of our social, political, physical and material needs.
What is at stake here is the soul of the humanity, as it is driven toward the notion of “Science(physics, chemistry, biology)” has got the- answers to All questions encompassing Human life.
Which is a complete fallacy and I would term it as a great Oppression on Humanity.  
Needs to have warning posted with any article or Theory in the classroom textbooks, like 
 

UK police wrestle Muslim couple to ground after row over water
http://en.abna24.com/news/europe/uk-police-wrestle-muslim-couple-to-ground-after-row-over-water_910960.html
September 29, 2018 - 5:53 PM News Code : 910960 Source : PressTVLink:    In what appears to be a grossly racist act, a Muslim couple has been dragged to the floor and arrested by police officers at a shopping mall in the northwestern British city of Greater Manchester following a row over how much water they are allowed to purchase. 

Did you know one of his clerks was Judge Brett Kavanaugh ?

Peace and blessings, my Muslim brothers and sisters,
When I was a child, I spoke like a child and thought like a child of the world system. I lived according to the wisdom of the world, for the gratification of my own physical, limited self. But when I became a believer in the Lord, our God, the power of His Spirit came into my life...
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. - Ephesians 1:13-14

The wisdom in their statement is that the one doing or causing the fitnah (by seeing X as an oppressor or by seeing X doing wrong) should speak for his or herself first.  In other words the fitnah monger is being requested to stop seeing or looking for the dirt outside himself when he hasn’t first taken care of the dirt that lies within himself.   Sometimes one sees dirt outside if his lenses are dirty.  Such a person may not even realize that the dirt he sees is actually due to his own lenses rather than the world outside himself.  
Now, does this mean one should never rise against an oppresssor?  No! What this means is that we should first try to tackle the greatest oppressor (our own nafs) before we start accusing others of being oppressors.  

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "You must be born again." Nicodemus asked if he needed to enter his mother's womb again...
Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again. 'The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." - John 3:5-8

I am not in disagreement with this almost universally accepted tripartite scheme which is accepted between Judaism, Christianity, Islam and even Hinduism!  Buddhism would have even accepted it except that the religion is designed to make things very simple, direct and practical (so it doesn’t reject it necessarily, it simply avoids that entire discussion).  There comes a point when it no longer suffices to merely talk about the spirit...  it now ought to be Iived.  The experience itself of living through the spirit is beyond concepts and ideas (beyond even the concept of God, angels, and spirit).   This is kind of what I am trying to do as well.  

I found it a lot easier to understand it as body, spirit, and soul.  I understand ruh to mean spirit and nafs to mean soul?
The body is a bunch of bones and blood held together in a skin bag. The spirit is the life given to the body, and the soul is the intellect accumulated from the time the spirit entered the body, (at birth), until the time it leaves the body at the point of death.

When the body dies, the spirit of life goes back to God, and the soul which the angels must protect gets to "taste death" because it is without body until Judgement day. 
By being human we are limited in two ways. We are physical; and we don't understand spiritual.

I AGREE with you there that these secret societies are just a source of evil that are used to control the masses and to get into secrative arts such as Occultism for their own game and perhaps they may be used by Dajjal but they’re not the be all end all, just part of the beast system. 

Greetings,
i love reading everyone's posts! My favorite ADL (activity of daily living) is reading the Bible. I especially am fascinated by the book of Revelation. My favorite lifetime hobby--until I became sick with cancer--since I was 11 years old, was horseback riding, especially in forests, on deer trails, seeing the sunlight cast patterns of light and shadows through the leaves, smelling my horse, hearing the squeaking leather, swaying in God's beautiful creation. Now I enjoy playing dominoes, but I don't much care if I win. I love people, especially Muslims. I love the way they love God and are passionate about their beliefs. I understand that. I love the way they love each other, especially their families. I admire that.
Blessings,

This is such an interesting thread! Is knowledge revelation of the Spirit of truth? As a Christian, I am reminded of the words of Jesus...
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. - John 14:16-17
Thank you for your thoughts!

This is such an interesting thread! Is knowledge revelation of the Spirit of truth? As a Christian, I am reminded of the words of Jesus...
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. - John 14:16-17
Thank you for your thoughts!

Creation happened. To spend time wondering why is a distraction from our own present and future purpose.
It's also dangerous because so many theories give you the hope of knowledge gained, (Everybody wants that extra tid bit of knowledge above others), but knowledge has to be truth. It doesn't take much to read a theory, and even if you don't agree, it can still plant a false seed in your mind, that of which you carry in your bag of collected knowledge, which forms the opinions you live by.  
It's always good to reflect on potential seeds, then objectively go back to your scriptures and see if the seeds have merit. 
 

The book of revelation is confusing at best. It says in the end times devout people will notice. It often says, "Let the reader understand" Everybody is able to read and calculate the last day, but nobody ever will. I saw a guy speak of, "Now is the time to buy a good car that will run for years, you may not be able to get another."  implying it would be your last car. That was early 70's. Those cars are classics now, but very few left on the road. I guess it would have been a good idea, but not for the reason he was tooting.
The 10 horns and 7 heads has been interpreted as 7 major powers with 10 armies. I'd have to read it again, and again, and probably again. I'm not so sure it's futuristic, or in some metaphorical way, (hopefully) past. The problem is, we go into the book looking for confirmation of what we believe to be signs. That's why the bar code was such a panic. Mark of the beast! Everybody run! 
These are not Dajjal. I believe Dajjal to be the anti-christ, by another name. Iluminati, free masons, etc. are not Dajjal because they have existed as sects for centuries. They are the leverage, where the strength of evil will come from, but they are waiting for their leader. 
Luke wrote in Acts, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:" I'm not dreaming dreams yet so either it's not time, or I'm not old enough yet.
 

Lol, it's not a complex topic. The purpose of our creation is to worship Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى, that's what the Qur'an says.