Ehsan

Salam, Today is the day that marks the heavenly ascension of Imam Khomeini from the lowest degree of the worlds, Alam al-Nasoot. Many have had personal experiences, memories and feelings with this man who changed history forever. Some, only by looking at his photos, feel hayaat in their hearts. Some even dream about him merely by watching his videos! Some have had their entire life course changed just by seeing him, reading something from him or somehow taking a stand hand having to fight for the truth. For inspiration and softening the heart, please do share if you have any personal memory, experience or connection. Bismillah!

What do you think "both sandals" symbolizes?

This land is holy, don't fear This fire is holy, don't fear Dunya and Akhira are mere garment, don't fear Take off both sandals, don't fear When the spark becomes a flame Burn your clothes, don't fear Muraqabah is a wine in the tavern Bring forth your empty cup, don't fear When Saqi comes forth, forget all Drown the noise in intoxication, don't fear Are you not tired of all terminology? Burn your knowledge, don't fear In this market books are not bought Come dressed in bare air, don't fear Open your chest for God's hand, Ilm is a light, don't fear Of djinn and ins don't be distracted Eshq is beyond love games, don't fear Two prayers where made for increased prayer Two youths came, said don't fear Two Imams unveil all mysterious Die with one and live with one, don't fear

Salam, Abu Hanifa raised this question and critique and Bahlool answered by picking up a piece of stone and throwing at him, hurting him. "Sorry, I don't believe you were hurt since you are from clay and so is this stone," he ironically said. A human punching another human will hurt that human. Hell is a special kind of place though. It's pain is both external and internal, and Islamic sources allude that the internal pains are more troublesome than the external ones. We see this phenomenon in this life as well: some persons who has deep depressions relieve their internal pain by physically hurting themselves. A person in this life who already has extreme anguish and internal problems and deprieved of the spiritual blessings of faith (EVEN IF HE IS A MUSLIM OR BELIEVER!!), his spiritual state is already in a form of fire and torment, even if his physical state is in the best form surrounded by worldly blessings. Compare this with Imam Hossein(A) and his followers who, surrounded by the worst wordly torments, where internally walking in the Gardens already, while walking amids fire and blood on earth!! As a final note: Iblis also had a spirit. Every thing that has motion has a spirit. I've opened a separate thread on this to not deviate from the topic here: Concerning the Spirits (Ruh)

Salam, Regarding the Ruh, or the spirit, the Qur'an mentions that it is from the Amr of God, but we know little of it. There are several types of ruh. Sheikh Sadooq counted them to 5 for example. The lowest of these are Roh al-Mudraj (spirit of motion) and after that Roh al-Shawha (the spirit of desires). Even a stone has Roh al-Mudraj as it has motion, even if its motion is less than we can observe. The Qur'an mentions that on Judgement Day the earth, the heavens - all these material things we don't think has consciousness, actually will witness against mankind. In hadiths we have that the pebbles that the Prophet(S) threw in one of the wars, was making tasbih, glorifying God. Then we have Roh al-Quwwa (spirit of strength). All humans and jinn have all these three spirits. Then there are two more spirits, high in rank, the fourth we can reach while the fifth is exclusive for the Prophets(A) and Imams(A). For mo'menin the aspiration is to reach and give complete governance to the the fourth spirit, Roh al-Iman. So we are surrounded by spirits. Some of them give us a lot of positive energy. For example walking among trees in the forrest, being in nature. Again this has to do with the connection of spirits and deriving from your surorunding. Perhaps that is one of the reasons the Qur'an tells us to go out, go into the nature, take from the creation, all these are like charging places or mosques, a balsam to your spirit. Have you ever been in a gathering, there are a couple of you, and there is a special feeling. Then one of you leaves, or another one joins, that atmosphere changes. Why do you think that is so?

Salam, @Guest OnPoint: Interesting! How did you plan on doing that practically? Write one book at a time, or swap between them depending on your mood or according to a planned schedule? What length did you have in mind? Have you finished writing a book before? The real work with a book starts after writing the first draft. Apart from proof reading you need to go through your writings several times, am I on point? Am I making my point clear enough? Have I missed something? And others need to read it to give you that feedback.

Salam, The nights of Qadr have passed. The nights were you determine your own capacity, your qadr. Whatever cup you brought to the Ocean, that is what you got. A tiny cup? A big bowl? An entire tank? The night of Ahd and vows and goals for your coming year has passed. Whatever goal you set, now is the most important question: Have you made a plan how to reach those goals? Islam has a detailed plan for everything you do. How to eat/sleep/fast/pray/worship/work/live, when to do it with the utmost details. Now that the Qadr nights have passed, is the time to spend the last nights of the month of Ramadan for a detailed plan on how to reach those goals. For example: If studying history the next month is needed for your yearly goal: make a plan on what books to read, what to listen to, how to process that knowledge, how to share it. If you only fill yourself with what others write on social medias you will be empty without anything to share yourself. If anyone has any plans they'd like to share as inspiration please do post them here!

The book is 440p long but covers many gems and stimulates many reflections and deeper insights. I particularly enjoyed how historic contexts of the Masumin(A) are explained in a timeless and contemporary fashion. It's not like I'm reading history, but rather a living model of how I can be. Example of such a passage, under the chapter dedicated to the biography of Fatima Zahra(A):

Salam In Sweden we have a completely independent organization called Den Väntades Vänner (DVV - Friends of the Awaited), consisting of members from all nationalities with one common ground (apart from the faith): Swedish as language. DVV focused on cultural work, among them translation and authoring Swedish books about Islam. Last year a very important book, "An introduction to Shia Islam" was published in Swedish. It's a comprehensive book covering everything from the fundamentals of faith to the history of the 14 Masumin(A). I've read a couple of books introducing Shia Islam, most of them are rather small, around 100-200p. But we who live in the West usually encounter other types of reasoning and questions and mentality that are not completely addressed by scholars who live in Islamic countries. "An Introduction to Shia Islam" aims to change that. To be a true introduction for everything important that there is to know about Shia Islam, for Muslims in the West as well as Non-Muslims. As you all know Shia Islamic litterature and good introductions are very scarce in our universities and schools. The book was recently translated and published into English as well. It's currently available on Amazon both as paperback and Kindle eBook. And whats more is that there is an ongoing campaign that ends on Saturday that enables you to get the Ebook completely free! The aim is to maximize the spread rather than make any profit (the price is set to meet production and administration costs). Get it on Amazon! The free promotion campaign ends on Saturday!! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086B4SV6F It would be great for whoever that gets the book to also leave a small review on Amazon to increase its visibility for other seekers out there, especially those seeking Islamic knowledge. If you have any other questions or comments you are welcome to leave a reply.

Salam, I have not followed the debate so excuse me if I'm repeating what has been stated. Just wanted to throw in a couple of words since I was tagged by sister @Laayla(HA). Many high ranking Shia scholars classify Maolavi (Rumi) as adherent to the Wilayah of Ahl al-Bait(A). Allamah Qadhi(رضي الله عنه), the Master (ostad) of almost all present Shia urefa scholars, including Allamah Tabatabai(رضي الله عنه) and Ayatollah Behjat(رضي الله عنه), was of the belief that it is impossible to reach higher spiritual ranks without the rank of Imam Ali(A) being manifested, unveiled and established for you. Now, Rumi does describe certain spiritual states and ranks that are very high, which indicates that at some point he must have passed the rank of acceptance of Wilayah to each higher. Further, those who have read Maolavi's works will realize that his opinions on Tawhid, Imamat, Nobowwah and Qiyamah match those of Shia faith. His poetic work "Mathnawi" and his spiritual discourses "Fihi Ma Fihi", both which are translated into English, has many examples of this. These works do, however, also contain references to certain Sahaba that were opposed to the Wilayah of Amir al-Momenin(A). There are a couple of possibilities for this: Rumi was a Sunni scholar and judge prior to being introduced to the spiritual path by his master (Shams Tabrizi). And Rumi himself didn't compile most of his works, much was written down by his follower and scriber Hosham. Hence, it's not obvious that the order of the poems in Mathnawi for example actually are chronological and according to the timeline of utterance. So, the mentions of Sahaba could have been done prior to the rank of Wilayah being manifested to Rumi, even if such poems appear later in the book. Further, he could have used those examples to point out a higher spiritual truth when preaching in an orthodox Sunni audience, which he usually was surrounded with and ultimately killed by.

Salam, Humble Bundle has chosen to put Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" in their latest collection of audio books that they sell for a cheap price. A comment has been made on their Facebook-page and it would be great if you could support and answer the comment, especially considering that it is done at the same time as it is the birthday of our beloved Prophet!! https://www.facebook.com/humblebundle/posts/657211527655488 Please spread this so we all who love our Prophet(S) can make a stance!

Thank you for your kind comment sister. I wish you the best, in this world and the next.

A thousand untold stories Rest in my silence The soul raised to the heavens A body cast down on dust Listen to the whispers in the dark My sleepless dreams And a treasure of tears Thrown into the hidden Please come back Listen to the whispers in the dark Shadows of the heart Unfold frozen lips The cheek on soil Awaiting unseen feet Listen to the whispers in the dark I have become restless A ghost in the tavern Moaning to the moon From the depth of this dungeon Listen to the whispers in the dark Salute the burnt heart Dancing to chanting breaths Be the embodiment of madness Raise beyond the light Listen to the whispers in the dark