Abu Hadi

I would say that this issue was different before and after 2006 and the stunning victory of Hezb over the Zionist entity. Some of you might be too young to remember what happened immediately after 2006 and into 2007 clearly. Before 2006 there was anti-Shia propaganda going on, but it was disorganized and funded by mostly Al Saud family and their allies in Gulf States. They didn't have a coherent strategy nor were they pointing to an imminent threat (to them), i.e. the 'Shia Crescent'. This term wasn't used before that time. Immediately after 2006, you had Sunnis all over the world show respect and admiration for Hezb as this was the first time that a Zionist invasion had been completely and decisively repelled by a Muslim / Arab Army. It is hard to really explain how different things were at this time. There were Sunnis who were investigating Shiism and there were many who switched mathahib at this time. This was unacceptable to the Zionists and their allies in the Arab world and it was at this time that the terms 'Shia Crescent' was born and used to manufacture the idea of aggressive Shiism that was seeking to take over and destroy Sunnism and Sunni countries. It was also at this time that CIA / MI6 began to ramp up their funding and support for groups like ISIS and MTS, MKO. Another thing that happened at this time effects all of us till today. In 2006, the Internet was a fairly new thing and noone really realized the power of social media, as it was brand new. It was actually in 2006 that I first came on SC and I remember how it was back then. It was totally different. We could actually have reasonable conversations back then and there were bad actors but they were few. The idea of the Internet and social media as a place where people from different areas and background could come together and discuss issues and ideas on a level playing field and without interference was still alive and well. Of course, like most good things in this world it didn't take long before the forces of Taghut figured out a way to shut that down. It was in end of 2006 / beginning of 2007 that we started to see what would become the taghuti disinformation campaign against Shiism get organized on the Internet. This was using just human beings at first to post negative and misleading information. A few years after that is when they started to use spam bots, non AI and then after that AI spam bots and this has basically shut down SC as a place to have conversations, like the ones we had prior to 2006. These AI spam bots are what shut down the idea of the Internet as a place to exchange ideas and discuss with sincere people on a level playing field and that idea is now dead. This is why I encourage Sunni brothers and sisters who want to actually learn about Shiism to not go on the Internet to do it. They should talk to actual Shia people and visit Shia centers and events, i.e. do things in the offline world rather than online. Salam.

What I am saying is that we should follow the path of our Imams((عليه السلام)) in the way that we interact with our Sunni brothers and sisters. We should never assume malice against us is the origin of their opinion unless they directly come out and say it, as is the case with the Takfiri groups. They are an exception to this as they have openly stated that they want to destroy us. Any Muslim/a who is not takfiri or nawasib, we should assume that they have good intentions and are ignorant / have been brainwashed and we should attempt to guide them in the right direction. There are too many hadiths, like the hadith regarding Imam Zayn Al Abedeen((عليه السلام)) and his interaction with the Syrian man, that say that we should not return insults and agression with more insults and agression but we should be kind and attempt to inform. Most of the Sunnis that I have interacted with are not malicious. They are misinformed and in many cases brainwashed by some of their scholars who preach against Shia. If they are willing to have a discussion with you that means that they are not 100% convinced by the anti Shia propaganda, otherwise they would not bother to discuss. If you really believe 100% that someone is a kafir and they are going to hell, why would you talk to them ? You wouldn't. Noone would. They would either ignore them or fight them. When they see you as (InshahAllah) someone who does the wajib and avoids the haram and practices tauhid, they will initially be confused but this confusion is a crack in the facade that the propaganda has built and a chance for discussion and possibly guidance to the right path. You should not miss the opportunity. That's all I was saying.

I think this is an overly pessimistic view of the situation. Sunnis are not like the Borg from Star Trek. They don't think and act as one group. I have many Sunni friends and work with many Sunnis. We talk about religion, politics, sports, etc. The joke here is that if you ask 3 Sunnis their opinion on the events in Gaza, you will get 4 different opinions. In other words, while the Shia are basically united, in theory, about what is going on in Gaza and the solution, there is no consensus amoung our Sunni brothers that I have seen. Also, from what I have seen, most are not very fond of the Arab Dictatorships in Egypt, Hijaz, Jordan, etc. They speak out against them, but only to a limited extent, even in the US because as many of you know, these governments have spies embedded in different communities in the US and also there is a great amount of cooperation between these governments and the CIA / FBI so they report back to the dictators what their 'countrymen' are saying abroad. Many of them have family who still live in these countries and they sometimes go back and forth so they don't want to be harasses, imprisoned or have their family members suffer at the hands of these dictators. The public 'dawa' figures are paid agents. Again, from what I have seen they do not represent the opinions of the Sunni majority, at least not where I live. They do have some supporters but I think this is a minority, i.e. the ones with long beards and short pants, as they were talked about in hadith from Imams((عليه السلام)) and they are easy to spot, lol. There is a difference between being realistic and being pessimistic. Being realistic means faithfully discussing and narrating what you see in your real life, whether it is good or bad, whether it agrees with your theories about life or not. Being pessimistic means over generalizing these experiences you have to a much larger population, i.e. the Sunnis.

If only perfect people became parents, human civilization would have ended a long time ago. I think the person who benefits the most from having children are the parents. Having children forces you to be responsible, have patience, keep your ego in check, and be magnanimous. All these qualities are the things that help you progress spiritually and also materially in this life. That is part of the saying 'every child comes with his / her rizk'. It is not some magical thing that descends from the heavens. It is the fact that the parents become better human beings because of the fact that they are parents and because of this fact they posses the qualities that also leads to greater material success. I am not saying this is true for all parents, but I think the majority of them. Also, amoung parents who are muslim/a i think it is a higher percentage than the general population. Also, you will go thru trials and tribulations, with or without children. This is the nature of this life. The trials and tribulations shouldn't be an excuse not to have children.

You said you partially agree with my above post. What do you disagree with ? Maybe we can discuss About the above, specifically those from economically prosperous countries, like the Scandanavian countries, that join Takfiri groups (ISIS, Qaeda, etc). I have alot to say on this but I will be brief here. Being a revert to Islam myself (like probably most of these named above were), I can tell you that when you first revert, you are like a baby just out of the womb in terms of knowledge of Islam. The first contact someone makes is critical in determining their future path in the religion. If the first contact someone has, particularly a revert has, is with a Takfiri group, many times they will take on their ideology and believe they are following Islam, because they don't know any different. I can tell you that when I first reverted (I lived in a major metropolitan area in the US) and probably now still, the Takfiri groups are actively 'hunting' for new reverts and they are the most 'out there' in terms of doing dawa. They are looking for young, white women reverts to make them into their 2nd, 3rd, x, wife, and they are looking for newly reverted men (white or otherwise, doesn't matter to them) to make them into their footsoldiers. They are doing this in the US, UK, Europe, and all over the world. They are very well funded, that's for sure. Some say from MBS, Gulf States. Some say CIA / Mossad. I'm not exactly sure because I haven't seen their books and bank account, lol, but I can tell you that they are very well funded and supplied. There are no mainstream Islamic organizations besides the takfiris that are actively 'hunting' for reverts. The Sunni Organizations are more accommodating and they do some dawa and if they come across a new revert by chance they are more likely to treat them well and help them in their deen at least. I have said this before that that the Shia organizations would get an F- in terms of doing Dawa and welcoming new reverts. It is a miracle from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) that there are any Shia reverts, and there are actually very few when compared to those who revert into Takfiri groups and those who revert into Sunni Islam. There are several reasons for this which I have went over in the past, but like I said, trying to make a short post. You will probably say 'Well why would the CIA / Mossad fund Takfiri groups?', especially after the recent events in New Orleans and elsewhere ? I can tell you that they see incidents such as New Orleans, Christmas Markets in Germany, attacks in France from a few years ago, as 'collateral damage' and they are not too concerned about it. They use the groups for several reasons. First is to be their 'footsoldiers in the ME' against the Shia and Iran. If you look at where the Takfiris attack, it is almost always Shia areas. ISIS taking over Mosul then marching south in Iraq toward Shia areas. MTS taking over Syria in order to stop weapons getting to Hezb / Hamas, Blowing up masjids and attacking Shia areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Attackings Masjids in NE Hijaz, which is a Shia area, etc. Second is to give a bad image of Islam to the West to discourage Westerners and especially Western youth from reverting to Islam. They are small in number, because their ideaology makes no sense to someone who is even slightly educated in the religion, but they do violent, shocking attacks, film them, and then they are spread across the world via the Western press. This has the effect of making people who know nothing about Islam to think that this is Islam, because this is what they see in front of them in well produced, easily digestible, 30 second sound bites. This is the main reason why most people in the West equate Islam with terorrism and violence, because they were conditioned by the media via these 30 second clips, to think this way.

I think the brother has been watching those online documentaries about Iraq and Mutah. These are made in the West and aim at giving a bad image of followers of Imam Ali((عليه السلام)), i.e. Shia, and the practice of Mutah. Most of the stuff in these 'documentaries' (I'm not going to post the links here because I don't want to promote them) is made up nonsense and staged for the camera. At the same time, does Mutah happen in Iraq, of course it does, like every other country in the world maybe using different names. Are there corrupt people in elite positions that use their influence to take advantage of vulnerable young girls ? Probably yes because this happens everywhere in the world. The difference is that when they happen in Miami or Bankok or Singapore they are either ignored or seen as just single corrupt acts. When they happen in Iraq, they are labeled by the Western Media as 'part of the practice of Shiism'. Very sad how propagandists are working overtime on this.

What we should all understand is that Zionism and Zionism and Judaism and Jews are two separate things. Most Zionists (in terms of numbers) are not Jews, they are Christian Evangelicals AND there is a large population of Jews who are not Zionists. At the same time, this is exactly what the Western Media want us to do, conflate Judaism and Zionism so that anyone who criticizes Zionism can be labeled as 'Anti-Sematic'. This is a trick the Zionists use to destroy their enemies. Israel is a Zionist State, not a Jewish State, in reality. The most important allies of Israel, such as Trump and Biden and leaders of the Evangelical Church in the US, are not Jewish. They get far more financial support from them than they do from all Jews combined. Zionism is a secular political philosophy while Judaism is a religion and Jews are the followers of Judaism. Israel being a Zionist state, they don't actually care about Jewish people, they only pretend to care. That is why when Jewish people are attacked by ISIS and other Takfiri groups, they only make token gestures, but when the State of Israel is attacked, they go all out in terms of violence, as they are doing now in Gaza. The Zionist state uses Jews as their foot soldiers and weaponizes them against their enemies. Many prominent Jews in the US such as Chomsky and Finkelstein have been speaking out about this for decades. Also, the documentary 'Israelism' which is now available on youtube goes into detail about the exact recruiting process the Zionists use. As others have already said, ISIS and it's variant (HTS, Qaeda, etc) will not attack Israel because they are on the Zionist payroll. They will attack Jews because they are not on the Jewish payroll. That simple. They are a mercenary militia that uses religion when it's convenient for them. They will attack whoever is not paying them.

It is hard to know 100% at this point but certain facts are emerging. First, how it occurred was very strange. I think most of the relevant facts regarding this are not available to the general public at this time. They might be in the future. There is alot of speculation that it wasn't a traditional 'coup' but it was a backroom deal made between Assad, the US, and Russia. Assad agreed to leave Syria with his large bag of cash and live as a free man in Moscow in exchange for allowing ISIS to takeover the country. Also, Russia agreed to let Zionists destroy their military bases in Syria and lose Syria as a strategic ally in exchange for getting terroritory in Ukraine, which they will annex after Trump comes into office, Zelinsky will be 'kicked to the curb' and there will be some sort of a peace agreement and an end to the war in Ukraine. Putin thinks of it as a chess game where he gives up his rook in order to capture his opponents knight. It seems like a good move to him. There is some evidence for this but I don't know how true it is. We'll have to wait and see. It logically makes sense that this is what happened but just because it's logical doesn't mean it's true, again well have to see. As Professor Mirandi and others have said, Assad was always the weakest link in the axis of Resistance and the alliance between him and the axis was a strategic alliance and not an actual one since noone really trusted him or thought he was a 'good guy' and I never did and I have been posting about this for 2 years now. It wouldn't surprise me if he sold out his country to the Zionists for a few bucks and a villa in Moscow but again I am not saying this is true at this point, we don't have enough evidence yet. We will have to wait and see.

Like others have said, you niyyat for Ziyarat should be to do Ziyarat. When you are in the haram, ask Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) thru the Wasilat of Imam((عليه السلام)) for your legitimate needs. Marriage is a legitimate need, whether Mutah or permenant. There is a protocol for asking. Make one of the recommended Duas for Ziyarat, then ask for your Hajat (need). If the thing you are asking for is good for you, in the bigger picture which Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) knows about but we don't necessarily know all it's aspects, then you will get it. A lady isn't going to magically appear in front of you, but after the dua make your efforts to get married by actively seeking ladies that you believe are a good fit for you. They don't have to be Iraqi, lol, and it might not happen on that Ziyarat trip but that doesn't mean that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) will not answer your dua. About Dearborn, lol. Most of the Muslim women in Dearborn are not Iraqi. There are Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Indian, Pakistani, etc. About Mutah being common in Dearborn, I have anecdotal evidence that it is but it is a subject that is almost impossible to get good data on because it is like that movie 'Fight Club'. First rule of Fight Club, don't ever talk about Fight Club. First rule of Mutah in Dearborn, those who do it, at least the sisters who do it, will never, ever talk about it. The guys will talk about it, and alot of them are lying and some are telling the truth. So like I said, it's hard to know. If you want to do Mutah in Dearborn, and in the US in general, you are 100x more likely to find a Christian lady who will do it with you vs a Muslima. Thats ironic since Mutah is not an authorized type of marriage (authorized by the Church) in Christianity and it is Halal and in some cases wajib in Islam. Go figure.

This is very true regarding people looking to the US and imitating because they are a superpower. It is interesting that when the Quran talks about the people who were destroyed in the past, Ad, Thamud, people of Lot, etc, it always mentions that they were materially prosperous and also their technological achievements (they made houses out of the stone cliffs, etc). I think this is to show people that societies that are prosperous economically and at the top level in technology are not necessarily on Haqq and they should not be blindly imitated just because of those factors. If someone who is Muslim who reads the Quran understands this, and then disregards the words of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى), then I'm not sure what I can do to help them. If you look at how the US became a superpower, historically, it was kind a fluke or accident of history. The colonists from North West Europe arrived on the North American continent, after crossing the Atlantic and they were unaware of the fact that North America is protected by two large oceans on either side, so it cannot be easily invaded. Also, they arrived at a time when the other European Empires, such as the British, French, and Spanish were in decline so they did not get the full fighting strength of any of these once very large and formidable Imperial Armies. Another reason is that North America, and particularly the middle part of North America where the US is, is very rich in natural resources such as farmland and has many natural rivers and lakes and the climate is mild in most of the country. Another reason is that their main opposition to the conquest of North America were the Native Americans who were divided into tribes. They were brave warriors and had large numbers but they were divided into tribes and the tribes actually did not trust each other and the US Govt exploited this by using the divide and conquer strategy which worked very well in this case. By the time the Native Americans realized that the US Government planned to expel them from their land and put them on reservations, it was too late and most of the damage had already been done. The US Govt created 'facts on the ground' and it was hard to overcome. This strategy worked because there was no 'real time' communication between the tribes so the US army could attack one and leave the other and the others would not be aware that one was being attacked. If they had something like Facebook or Twitter at that time, lol, I'm sure they would have put 2 and 2 together and the strategy for colonization would not have worked. BTW, this is the exact same strategy that the Zionists used and are using in order to take over the ME. It isn't working as well for them due to the modern speed of communications. By the time WWII happened, the US Govt was in charge of all of North America and was at it's peak in terms of strength. It was at that time that the 'Military - Industrial Complex' and the Financial System based in Riba took over the country completely. The strength and power of the US has been declining since then. Like every other empire, it peaked, is in decline, and will collapse soon. If not this decade, then for sure this century. The US Empire, like the Roman Empire before it, has been maintained, mostly, thru bribes (to dictators and their cohorts) and threats. The weight and complexity of this network of bribes and threats will become too overwhelming and will collapse, just like what happened with the Romans, who actually controlled more of the known world at the time than the US ever controlled. As it says in the Quran, they were more powerful in resources, but when they became unjust Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) destroyed them and their empire became nothing but faded memories. The US is on the same path.

I think this, like almost everything in life, is a cost / benefit analysis they do in their head based on the experiences they have had in life up to that point. Because everyone's experiences are different, everyone's cost / benefit analysis is different. There are brothers and sisters who were raised in religious, Muslim, households who were genuinely religious, not just religious as a 'show' for outsiders to bolster their reputation in the community. I have known many of these brothers and sisters. They have a real and deep attachment to Islam, Quran, and Ahl Al Bayt((عليه السلام)). They get so much spiritual benefit, peace, tranquility of heart and mind from these real attachments that there is no worldly pleasure or benefit that they see as worth the cost of leaving Islam, or even a portion of Islam, or even one salat or one day of fasting in order to get it. They view the cost as too high / the benefit not worth the cost. That is because they were given the greatest gift that anyone can ever get from their family. That is true attachment to the religion. There are also other people who were not raised as Muslims but come to the religion later that experience this attachment, and the ways that they got to this attachment are different and varied but anyway they experienced it, became attached to it, and do not feel that there is anything in this world that is worth giving up this attachment for. That is one category There is another category, and this is probably the majority, sadly, who were not raised in an environment where there was genuine attachment to Islam, Quran, or Ahl Al Bayt((عليه السلام)) and it was more of a cultural duty or obligation that they feel they 'had' to do, and as soon as they didn't 'have' to do it, i.e. they were out of the house and on their own, they dropped it 'like a hot potato' and became 'assimilated' into whatever society they were in. This was the fault of the parents, when the children were minors, and the fault of the children once they became adults. They raised their kids on Islam as 'a list of do's and dont's' without ever taking the time to explain to them what is the core of the religion and what is it based on. They made sure their children were fed, housed, and did well in school, in terms of getting good grades, and religion was seen as last thing on the 'to do' list. They pounded in their kids heads that you should have material success as your goal in life and religion is just something you should do so people won't talk about you behind your back. They took this dunya as the end and not as a means to an end and they passed this on to their children. Once the children became adults, of course they could see the many flaws in this way of thinking and Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) sent them many signs pointing toward the right way but they ignored them. So that part of it is their fault and they will be accountable for this. They don't have a real and genuine attachment to Islam because they never cared to develop this, like a farmer whose crop fails because of neglect and carelessness and then the farmer blames the crops for not growing. This causes further separation until they see the cost of leaving the religion as small (because they have no real comprehension of what the religion is) and the benefit of leaving it as alot, because they believe they will be happy 'assimilating'.

We all know that many of those who are born into Islam, and even a higher percentage of reverts to Islam end up leaving the religion at some point. Most don't convert to other religions, but become 'functional atheists', i.e. the stop practicing the religion without specifically denouncing it or making the claim that there is no God. I think there are three main reasons for this. One is due to circumstances and the others are due to the actions of Muslims, and not the religion itself. 1. Something happens in their life which affects them greatly and they cannot reconcile this event with the mercy and / or justice of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى). For example, a mumina who has never had contact with a man getting raped, The death of a close loved one, a loved one who is mumin / mumina going thru a great deal of suffering after doing all the right things (salat, making dua, etc). This is spoken about in the Holy Quran in several places and is sometimes called the 'violent shaking' i.e. an event which is very tragic and unexpected. 2. Hypocrisy within ones immediate family or widespread hypocrisy in the community. For example, parents who tell their kids not to drink alcohol but they drink, a mother who wears hijab, salat, saum (fasting), etc, all the wajibat but is heavily involved in haram like fraud, gheeba (gossip), etc. 3. The disgraceful actions of people who are perceived in the community as 'Mumin' or 'Mumina'. This might be hypocrisy but it also might be someone who is judgemental and assumes motives for others actions which might not be true or makes sweeping, ignorant statements like 'Oh she isn't wearing hijab so she is going to hell'. Judging people and ascribing motives to them is not the same as 'Amr bil Maroof wa Nahiya Al Munkhar' (Enjoining good and forbidding evil). Amr bil... is the act of labeling a bad act as a bad act and a good act as a good act no matter who does it, labeling the act but not the person who is doing it. If you see a sisters not wearing hijab, and you think that talking to her might have some effect, you should tell her that wearing hijab is wajib according to Jaafari Fiqh, but at the same exact time not judge her (i.e. think she is a bad person or going to hell) or ascribe motives to her action (like she is not wearing hijab just to get attention from men) which might be false. We need to look at how our Prophet and Imams (peace be upon them) did Amr bil... They always tried to preserve the dignity of the other person they were correcting and did not judge them or ascribe motives to their action. As I always say, we are in a race and the finish line is death. We don't know who is going to win or lose the race before the finish line. A person who is a mumin / mumina might change and start walking instead or running and someone who is far behind might catch up and win. We simply don't know. No thing is outside of the Rahma (Mercy of Allah) in the entire universe and this includes all human beings. Mercy is constantly offered to people and some turn it down but later on accept it and there are many hadiths from our Imams regarding this phenomenon. What are the other's thoughts on this topic, and how can we act in a way that prevents our brothers and sisters from becoming 'non practicing' ?

Salam, If your father is out of your life, you don't live with him, and he doesn't financially support you then he is not your wali. The only other possibility for a wali for you is your paternal grandfather but you said he passed away. You don't have a wali for your husband to seek permission from so obviously this is not a requirement for your marriage to be valid. Your marriage is valid based on the information you gave and provided that the aqd (contract) was done correctly according to Hukm Sharia (Islamic Jurisprudence). Also, according to Sayyid Sistani, seeking the wali's permission is 'ihtiyat wujub..'. That doesn't mean the same thing as wajib. If Sistani said it is wajib, that means, yes, your marriage is invalid without the wali's permission (which doesn't apply in your case since you don't have a wali). The term 'ihtiyyat' when placed before wajib means that out of precaution (ihtiyyat), you should seek the wali's permission. At the same time, even if you married without the wali's permission, the marriage would still be valid, but you wouldn't be practicing 'ihtiyyat' (precaution) in the issue, which in Islam would mean the marriage would not be the ideal marriage but it would still be valid and you would not be committing zina with your husband if you slept with him. Hope that helps.

Salam. Noone designed their own life. In these times, there are a few things you need to do. First is to keep doing your wajib, at least that, and keep trying to make Dua to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) thru the Wasilat of Ahl Al Bayt((عليه السلام)). to make a 'kharaja', i.e. an exit for you from these difficult situations. Everytime, after your dua, repeat the following ayat, ۚ وَمَن يَتَّقِ ٱللَّهَ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ مَخْرَجًۭا ٢ وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ ۚ وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُۥٓ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بَـٰلِغُ أَمْرِهِۦ ۚ قَدْ جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لِكُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ قَدْرًۭا And whoever places their trust in Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى), Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) will make an exit for them from the difficulties. and provide for them from sources they could never imagine. And whoever puts their trust in Allah, then He ˹alone˺ is sufficient for them. Certainly Allah achieves His Will. Allah has already set a destiny for everything. Surat 65:2-3 Second, try to find something, anything that is halal and 'avail yourself' of it whenever you can. This will bring some joy in your life and help to lift some of the sorrow. It could be playing a game you like, walking in the forest or on the beach, watching a movie, etc. Anything that takes your mind away from your current troubles that is halal and doesn't make the problems worse by taking you away from your wajib duties and responsibilities. InShahAllah things will get better. With Sincere Dua.

Salam Brother, This is a struggle that most people, including myself, have gone thru. Some people will share with you their experiences in life that pushed them to the same place you are at currently, some don't feel comfortable sharing them. Always remember this verse in the Holy Quran and keep it in your mind. أَمْ حَسِبْتُمْ أَن تَدْخُلُوا۟ ٱلْجَنَّةَ وَلَمَّا يَأْتِكُم مَّثَلُ ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْا۟ مِن قَبْلِكُم ۖ مَّسَّتْهُمُ ٱلْبَأْسَآءُ وَٱلضَّرَّآءُ وَزُلْزِلُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَقُولَ ٱلرَّسُولُ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَهُۥ مَتَىٰ نَصْرُ ٱللَّهِ ۗ أَلَآ إِنَّ نَصْرَ ٱللَّهِ قَرِيبٌۭ Do you think you will be admitted into Paradise without being tested like those before you? They were afflicted with suffering and adversity and were so ˹violently˺ shaken that ˹even˺ the Messenger and the believers with him cried out, “When will Allah’s help come?” Indeed, Allah’s help is ˹always˺ near. Holy Quran 2:214 There are times in your life where you are 'tested'. Most of us are tested every day. When you walk down the street and see a lady in a short skirt (for men) that is a test. When you walk past a store that sells alcohol, that is a test. When your friends are doing gheeba and they invite you to join in, that is a test. These are the common test that everyone goes thru. In addition, the Quran says 'you will be afflicted with suffering'. You will become sick, get injured, go thru a difficult time with a friend or a coworker. This can also be counted as adversity, but again, these are some things which people go thru, muslim and non muslim, and which people expect to happen at some point in life Then there is the 'violent' shaking. This is something that happens that is severe and unexpected. These are the difficult things, and these are what distinguish a mumin from a muslim. These are the tests which make people lose their Iman. These are the final exams. You know when you take a class you have tests and quizzes thru the semester. They are a little difficult but not too much. Also, if you don't pass, usually there is a way to make up the points or credits. Final Exams are not that way. If you fail the final, you will probably fail the class. The final exams are a test of all of the knowledge that you have gained thruout the class and to see if you can apply that knowledge. This is what the 'violent' shaking is. It is the final exam. It says in the Quran that everyone will go thru this. It won't be the same violent shaking, and this is based on who you are as an individual, but it will happen. You think of this as only a difficult and horrible thing you are going thru but actually this is a credential you are receiving from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى). It is something which you can use with Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) to mitigate the effects of your sins and will be a large weight which will weigh in your favor in the "Mizan', i.e. the scales that are set up on the Day of Judgement. The key is to be patient and stay on Haqq and hold onto your Iman. If you do this, you will pass this final exam (InShahAllah) and you will receive the benefit of it in this world and the next. The main benefit you receive in the world is the confidence that when you have another trial that you can get thru it because you got thru this one. This type of confidence is not something that can be bought or manufactured and noone can give it to you. You only get it by the times when you are 'violently' shaken.

The biggest loss for Zionists in this war is not in terms of equipment and bases. That damage is minimal and could be easily recovered, as some have said, with a supplier like the US Govt (not the people) willing to give unlimited support. Even I would say the losses amoung the IDF and the desertions are a problem, but not a huge problem. The losses, although they are much higher that what officials in the Zionist Entity are saying, are not in the hundreds of thousands. That is what they would need to be to say the IDF is defeated. I don't think they are even more than 10,000. The main reason is because IDF almost never come out in the open to fight, man to man. They are either in a tank or on a base surrounded by fortifications. Even in the Quran, it says 'They will not fight you except behind a barrier (fortifications)' The airforce (as others have said) has suffered almost no losses and they are continuously supplied with bombs from the US. The effort of the Yemeni and others have slowed that down but not stopped it. The main losses are two, and I think these will be the ones that finally end the Zionist State. 1. Loss of 'image' of Israel in the world. The traditional view of Israel, i.e. the consensus view in the world, up to Oct 7, amoung non interested parties, was of a 'democracy' in the Middle East struggling against an enemy (i.e. the Arabs). I don't think there was particular love for the state, even before Oct. 7 outside of the Zionist community, but there wasn't much enmity. It was pretty neutral. That has completely changed. The main thing that changed it was the positing on social media from within Gaza and the fact that these first person accounts could be seen by millions instantly as they happened. This has never been possible before the present time and gave those 'disinterested' parties a first person view of the horrors of genocide right before their eyes. There is only one thing at this point which is preventing the Zionist State from being kicked out of the UN and that is the US Veto. That is a situation that noone could have anticipated a few years ago. 2. The loss of support for Zionism among young American jews and Christian evangelicals. This has traditionally been the main based of support for Zionism. This is the core of the core. Without this support, which continues to get weaker, Zionism is doomed. This is what keeps the Zionists up at night, not anything that is happening in Gaza. They are bending over backwards and launching campaign after campaign on social media and it is not having much or any effect. As they say, the horse has left the barn and it's not coming back. The documentary 'Israelism' goes over this in detail. I think it's free on youtube. This basically shows how the traditional 'pipeline' or 'machine' in the US to brainwash young people to support Zionism has broken down and it continues to break down. The main reason behind this is the same reason worldwide support for Zionism has declined or evaporated. The firsthand accounts from social media on Gaza. Younger people, and especially them, are all over social media and although alot of this content is 'shadow banned' by Zuckerberg and Musk, enough of it gets through the censorship to make a strong case to these young people that Zionism is not a good thing. For the axis of resistance to win, they just need to survive. They don't need to hand a military defeat to the Zionist state. They just need to exist long enough to see the above movements come to full fruition then the Zionist state will evaporate like the morning dew when it's hit by the sun. Truth always wins in the end.

1. Volcanos are an exception. The Quran does not say that God created all mountains as pegs or stakes. It says 'We (God) created the Mountains as Stakes'. This leaves room for exceptions to the rule. It is a general rule that is being discussed. 2. The Quran never said 'Mountains cause earthquakes'. It says the opposite, that mountains prevent earthquakes from spreading. This is exactly what tectonic plates do. Since there is some distance between plates, and they fold under each other, like the fabric of a tent folds under the stake (this is why the analogy was used), the waves of the earthquake cannot propagate across plates. Your counterargument is like the little kids when someone says 'clouds are like snow' you would say 'No way. Clouds are much bigger than a snowflake'. You missed the whole point. Clouds are not snow, i.e. they are not like snow in all aspects, just like mountains are not like pegs or stakes in all aspects, otherwise they would be pegs and not mountains. Lol. The Quran is pointing to a few ways in which they are similar, and none of this was known at the time of Prophet Muhammad(p.b.u.h). Only God could have known how Moutains and stakes were similar. Thus a proof that The Quran is from God, and not the work of a human being. That is the point, which you seemed to have completely missed. About life being from water. Same thing. There is no life without water. It is the thing on which all life is dependent. That's why when scientists look for life on other planets, they first look for water. Prophet Muhammad(p.b.u.h) lived in a desert. Water is scarce in the desert. In fact, there are some animals in the desert who don't even drink water directly. Yet the area is full of life. For someone who lives in such an environment to come to the conclusion that that 'water=life' is not something that would naturally happen. It is not something intuitive, based on the environment and the time in history. It is obvious to you now, because this is 2024 and so much scientific research has been done on the subject. That wasn't the case 1400 years ago. No human being at that time made the argument that you are now making. Another proof that the Quran is from God, since no human being knew this at the time.

Yes. We're going to talk with the insurance to see what was there justification for denying to pay for the procedure. Once we have the justification, then we need to talk to the doctor to see if he could 'finesse' his finding in order to comply with the criteria the insurance has for approving it. It's a long and complicated process but definitely we will not let it go. We live about 20 minutes drive from Canada. In Canada, yes, there is sometimes a long wait to get procedures like CT Scans done. Sometimes months. But at least when the appointment is scheduled then there is no worries after that point. In the US, when the appt is scheduled, then the worrying actually starts then you worry the whole time till you get the bill, which could be months later. It is alot of stress on people and families but for nothing because there is an easy solution for it. Cut about 8% of the military budget and then we would have the money for a single payer system, similar to Canada (which isn't perfect but light years ahead of the US system in terms of taking care of health needs of the people) without raising taxes. Noone in government is proposing this though. I wonder why. I have my theories.

Here is one example. My father in law had an appt on Monday (12/23) to get a CT Scan. He has a heart condition. His dr ordered the scan. I'm not sure how necessary it was because A) I'm not a doctor and B) I have not seen my father in laws health records, I just have some general knowledge about his condition. Anyway, his insurance company called and said they were not approving the CT Scan. What this means is that you can go get the scan, but we're (the Insurance) is not paying for it. The Dr. didn't call and tell us anything and the CT Scan would have cost thousands of dollars, which he would have got a bill for. Also, my father in law speaks limited English, and the message from the insurance is in English. I just happened to hear the message when he was checking his messages (this was the only one in English, btw). He was about to delete it. If I told him to cancel the appt and we would talk to the insurance. If he would have went to his appt, his doctor would have happily done the scan and he would have received a bill for thousands of dollars, which the insurance would not pay. He is on a very limited income and there is no way he could pay that bill. Of course neither the Dr. nor the Insurance cared a lick about that. That bill would have been hanging over his head for years, if not the rest of his life. He would be really upset because he actually pays all his bills. This is why when that CEO got assassinated, people were either not sad or actually (the other thing), lol. That's because millions of Americans go thru this type of garbage on a weekly or monthly basis, all because the US Govt and Insurance companies are only concerned about making money and aren't there to actually help anyone, even the poor and elderly. The US Govt is more concerned about helping Erdogan and the Zionists than helping the American people with things like healthcare, which are actually life and death issues. We are, I guess, the richest country in the world. There are millions of stories like this out there, this is only one of them. There are even multiple podcasts out there who's only subject they talk about is about US Healthcare system nightmares. Americans, please post your stories. I'm sure there are alot of them.

I agree with this, but I would put it in different words. First, look for another job. You don't deserve to be treated like that. People treat you how you expect to be treated. If you expect to be treated well, that's how most people will treat you. There are some exceptions, but this is true 99% of the time. I say look for another job first because when you confront them, they might fire you, which happens sometimes with really low class people / bosses. So tell them that you don't like being treated like this and list examples, 1,2,3. They will either apologize and try to treat you better (most people don't treat people bad on purpose but they are careless and negligent and don't have empathy). If not, they will get angry and might fire you. If they do, you have another job lined up so you won't feel desperate, like you 'have' to take this bad treatment. Take it from someone who has been in this situation more than once. Salam.

The axis has failed if the people in those axis countries (Yemen, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, and Iran) stop supporting the axis. Syria was a peripheral member (not full member) of the axis even before current events. It isn't about how many battles they win or lose, it is about how much popular support do they have. It doesn't seem that they popular support has decreased much. If anyone wants to argue that the popular support in those countries has decreased significantly in the last month or so, please post the evidence. Otherwise, we accept the status quo, which is that the populations of those countries overwhelmingly support the axis. The popular support is what feeds and sustains the movement. Some of us are old enough to have some memories of Iran before the 1979 revolution. I admit I don't have many because I was a small child in 1979 but I know there are some on here who have more memories of this time. Iran has been for more than 500 years a majority Shia country but for that time the country was ruled by secular monarchs like Shah Pahlavi(la). It was only when there became a consensus amoung the people that an Islamic Government was a better solution for the people vs a secular monarchy that they government actually changed and the revolution happened. Imam Khomeni(رضي الله عنه) and others were only guides who guided the people toward the goal of making an Islamic government but without the support of the people it is impossible that it ever could have happened. It is the same with the axis. Sayyid Nasrallah(رضي الله عنه) and others are only guides to the people but they are not the axis. The axis is the popular movement that is dependent on the popular support. Like I said, I think this is intact. Yes, Syria was a big loss, Assasination of Sayyid Nasrallah(رضي الله عنه) was a big loss, pager attack was a big loss. At the same time, there have also been many wins and I think more wins than loses. Some are that Northern Settlements were cleared out and the buffer zone is actually inside Israel for the first time and eastern buffer zone for Gaza is inside Israel for the first time. This is huge, and a huge hit to their economy and popular support inside the Zionist entity. Also, resistance in Gaza are still making daily attacks against Zionists after 460 days being surrounded and besieged and all borders being closed. This is huge also. Another victory is that Zionists could not establish a foothold inside South Lebanon, even at the border and they are being attacked, even in places where they were not attacked before, such as Tel Aviv. Again, this is a huge blow to their economy and a huge psychological hit that they are taking. As long as there are more wins than losses I think the popular support will be there which means the axis will still be able to operate and fight.

They react the same way that most people in any country would react. They think she is mentally unstable and try to stay away from her. BTW, I was in New York City a few years ago, in Times Square. There was a women walking around naked and she was there for a few minutes before she started screaming something. The people's reactions were very similar to the video that was posted about the women in underwear in Iran. Then the police pulled up in an armored van, tackled her to the ground, threw her in the back of the van and drove off. Probably took her to jail. How much media coverage did this get in the US ? Zero. I checked the news sources afterwards. Now if this would have happened in Iran, what do you think the coverage would have been ? The simple fact is that there is a clear agenda in the US / Western Media to paint Iran as a country that hates women and wants to take away their rights. The things that happen in Tehran happen in almost every large city in the world, the only difference is that when they happen in Tehran they are covered and 'spun' and when they happen in other cities they are not covered or 'spun' unless it is a very major news event like involving hundreds or thousands of people. Also, about the Amini lady case from a few years ago, the one who died in police custody under circumstances that are still not clear ? In California prisons, the guards were running a 'rape club' in the women's prison. It is just what it sounds like. Did this get any coverage outside of local media (even then not much). No. Survivors of Infamous California “Rape Club” Prison Win Record $116M Settlement | Truthout So as far as treatment of women in prison, Iran is doing a pretty good job, comparitively although I'm sure there are still issues. It is just so hypocritical to me that US / EU point fingers at Iran's human rights record when they are, now at this very moment, actively supporting a genocide and even inside the US there are things like the above going on all the time which are not covered. They have lost all credibility to even say anything regarding Iran and human rights.

I think you should put this post in context. There are millions of Muslims in China. Between 17 to 25 million according to Wikipedia. That is more than live in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine combined. Among that group, you are going to have a small percentage of Extremist terrorists. Estimates are that the entirety of the HTS forces are about 25,000. Let's say 1/2 of those are Chinese (which I doubt, I think it's a much smaller percentage than that). That's .0006 percent of Chinese Muslims, less than 1/1000 of 1%. Chinese govt is not worried about that, and probably noone is except apparently 'The Telegraph'. It looks concerning when you line them all up in one place, and photograph them with weapons. If you look at the context, it's a 'nothing burger'.

The reason many (but not all) religious people tend to distrust reason; well they don't distrust reason in general but they distrust it when it is applied to some of their religious concepts that contradict reason. All religions, other than Islam, have these areas which they call 'problematic' or 'issues of faith'. Many examples have been talked about here previously, no need to 'flog a dead horse'. They don't distrust reason in their daily lives, for the vast majority of issues. Religious or non religious people, when they cross the street, look both ways. They make rational decision when it comes to employement, financial transactions, conducting daily activities, etc. That's why if you meet someone and don't know them well, it's hard to tell if they're religious or not religious because they basically act the same way 99% of the time. You can only tell when it comes to certain issues. That's because both groups of people use reason and logic for the vast majority of their decisions. About Sodomy, and I assume you are talking about homosexual sex, this is an issue that is partially rational and partially based on faith. When I say faith, I mean that we believe, as Muslims, and actually most people believe this, that we exist in multiple dimensions, not just the apparent, 4 dimensional world (three dimensions plus time). When we do an action, this action has effects in all those dimensions and not just the apparent ones (4). One recent example of another dimension which wasn't known about until very recently is the phenomenon of quantum entanglement. This phenomenon shows that that particles are connected in ways other than the ways we know about in the four dimensions. So this belief in multiple dimensions, while it might not seem rational to you, there is rational evidence for it. Also, with homosexual sex, there are rational proofs that it is not a good thing for society. One proof is diseases like HIV which spread much faster and much more extensively among men doing this activity vs the general population. Another rational proof is that homosexual couples cannot have children. You might think that this is not a harm, in a world of 8 billion people, and it might not seem like a harm at this point, but over time (hundreds of years) if this practice reached a certain threshold, it would lead to difficult consequences for humanity, such as a situation where there are many more older people than younger and there is now a huge burden on the younger people to take care of the elderly which at some point would not be possible for them to do and live any kind of a decent quality of life. In the worst case, it could lead to the extinction of humanity There are other proofs, but I think this is enough for now. In summary, the act of sodomy may not be bad for the individual in the short term, but it is bad for society in the long term. In Islam, we don't require a large amount of rational proofs for each and every prohibition (haram). If that were the criteria, then each person would basically have their own religion, since some people would accept some proofs and not others and each person would have their own threshold for what is 'enough' proof. Also, each human beings rational proofs would be affected by their desires, i.e. what they 'wanted' to be true or what they 'wanted' or desired to be false. This is called confirmation bias and is well known and studied. In this case we would have no 'society' or social contract because each person would be operating based on their own social contract which has nothing to do with their neighbors or anyone else that they interact with. In Islam, we believe in 'La Ilaha illahLa, Muhammad Rasoulallah' and for Shia, we add 'Aliun WaliAllah'. There is nothing worthy of worship except Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى), Prophet Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and Ali is the Wali of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى). Because we believe in those things, therefore we accept the rest of the Sharia on that basis, without requiring extensive rational proofs for each particular issue. If we can authenticate that this particular prohibition or allowed thing comes from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) via Prophet Muhammad or Ali (Ahl Al Bayt) then we accept it. This is faith, but rational faith, i.e. this faith does not contradict well established facts we observe in the natural world and has a basis (i.e. it's origin is from Allah, the All Knowing). There are rational proofs for the things we believe, but that is not the reason we believe them. If rational proof (alone) are the basis for 'beliefs' about whether something is bad or good, then those beliefs will be constantly changing and will be based only on what you are aware of at the time, and awareness as well as what we know about the observable world is always changing. It is like riding a roller coaster and you don't know what is around the next corner. Then the track ends and you are still moving so you crash.

Very good analysis Brother ! What you said makes sense. I think it is very possible that Hezb knew that Syria would fall and so they agreed to a ceasefire to prepare for a possible 'full on' Israeli invasion of Lebanon, like in 1982. It seems that Zionists are 'full of themselves' at this point after their victory in Syria. A full on invasion is very possible at this point with the Help of the Axis of Evil (i.e. Israel, Turkey, US, UK, France). Some people are criticizing them for pulling back on helping Gaza, but you can't help someone else when you are under this kind of imminent threat and danger.