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For his sake, there are angels following one another, before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's commandment, surely Allah doesn't change the condition of the people until they change their own condition; and when Allah intends evil to a people, there is no averting it, and besides him they have no protector. —[Ar-R'ad verse 11] This verse in the holy Qur'an states that Allah is the protector of human beings and he has commanded angels to protect us. No one else is protecting human beings. Even if someone says that I will protect you, I will defend you then he can only do so by the consent of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم). So, no one has any authority to protect a person and the command belongs only to Allah. But it doesn't mean that everything what you do, Allah will protect you. It doesn't mean that a human being cannot do anything about his destiny and in his defence. Here this topic becomes complex. If Allah is protecting us through angels and he is our lord, the greatest, the mighty; that doesn't mean Allah is handling all our affairs and we are free to sleep in a corner, and all will be in place automatically by the command of Allah. Allah has given us two hands, two legs, a brain, a face and (the most important) a self (soul) that he has perfected for us. "Wa Nafsinw Wamaa Sawwahaa" "And the soul and him who made it perfect" [Surah Ash Shams 91:7] Now, we have to make use of all this. Isn't it enough to live a good life or to identify the Truth? Isn't it enough to forbid evil and practice good? True that Allah is our protector and Allah is our guide and no one is guided except the one guided by Allah. True that, all are poor and paupers except the one who is provided by Allah. As it is said by Maula Ali (عليه السلام) in his Munajaat: "Mawlaya Ya Mawlaya, Antal ghaniyu wa Anal Faqeer wa hal yarhamul faqeera illal ghani" "My Lord, O my Lord, you are the rich and I am a pauper and who is merciful to a pauper except the rich." So, does that mean we should stop planning, stop working and just ask Allah and move ahead. Does that mean we should accept what our vibes say and make decisions instead of making decisions through logic and reason and far-sightedness? No. Why would Allah grant us with the gift of different elements of the body if we have to close them off and just go with the flow. Imam Ali (عليه السلام) says in Nahj ul Balagha: "All the illnesses and defects are in the soul itself and the cure to all our problems is also present in our 'self' only." Also, "The one who identifies his self (soul) has identified his lord." — Imam Ali (عليه السلام) So, all this talk that 'All is written and we can't do anything and that which has to happen will happen etc' are not completely true. To say rightly, these are fake spiritual talks. As, Imam Ali (عليه السلام) clearly says that All is clearly within us. What are we searching for? What else do we need? Now, arises the question of fate. If all what I said is true then what about fate? I am not a denier of fate. I agree that it exists. Existence of fate cannot be denied but it is not the ultimate reality. Our fate is in our own hands. We can change it through our actions, supplications, good and bad deeds. When Allah sees what we are doing and how we are living and behaving, Allah changes it accordingly. My statement is an opinion but it can be easily verified through Qur'an, Hadith and also the views of Arifeen. Don't sit idle and don't think you are divine and you will hear a voice from unseen. Act according to your state and stay patient for the rewards. If you fail try again instead of saying that, "It is my fate. what can I do?" How do you know it is your fate! Imam Ali (عليه السلام) says, "A wise man is the one who thinks before he speaks whereas a fool is the one who speaks before he thinks." So, this is simply foolish to say that you failed or lost because Allah has destined that for you. You get what you sow. A person's actions, his quest for something is itself a tool to change his fate and destiny. And that is what the verse I stated above says. Definitely, Allah is our protector but: '...Allah doesn't change the condition of the people until they change their own condition....' [Part of the verse stated in the start]. This clearly means that Allah is protecting us but Allah has made us incharge of our own affairs and it's only we who can change our own condition. Accepting the destiny is wise if we know our destiny. But who knows his destiny except Allah, The Great, The All Knowing. Instead of getting into this querrel of fate, human being should try to focus upon action. As Ayatullah Taqi Behjat (May Allah be pleased with him) says: "May God give us the tawfeeq to perform our duties, that we don't be deprived of [performing] actions, not from within ourselves, neither from outside of us." Performing actions doesn't mean denying fate or denying the authority of Allah. Rather, it means accepting the blessings and opportunities provided by Allah, exploring them and exhausting them in the best way possible. We should understand that when we pray, Allah wants that we would ask him about something huge which a person is really deprived off and feels it as his necessity. Rather than asking that which Allah has already provided. Besides asking from Allah we should pray that "May Allah give us the tawfeeq to see what Allah has already blessed us with." We should explore within ourselves. "You presume that you are a small entity, but within you presides an entire Universe." The verse I started with is an excuse to explain this relationship between fate and action. Aim is not to discuss the correct interpretation of the verse itself but just a part of it. My aim is also not to do a detailed discussion on fate and action but rather to only address the confusion between the two things. Normally, we notice in our society that this discussion is quite prevalent. Like many big conflicts in the world, the conflict of fate and action also ends up into two extreme parties. One (which I might call a pretend-saint) that says Fate is everything and nothing is in our hands. Whereas other which denies every role of fate and destiny completely and declares actions to be the only basis of different events occurring in life. While both have their reasons, both are wrong. This conflict is important to be addressed because it has a psychological effect. Obviously, a person who thinks that all is written and he is powerless will do nothing. He will sit and keep on denying on the blessings Allah has bestowed him with. He will act like a hopeless lazy person who is deemed to deviate from his path. This notion even if small in quantity is an evil notion and will cause problems in ones life. On the other side, the people who deny Fate and destiny. Such people are in true denial of god. This idea that only actions are the player behind what happens in life is also problematic because it cannot answer the many mysteries of life. Who can you blame for a natural disaster? The Japenese people, the Iranians; who are considered to be the most intelligent among the mankind live in those regions of the world where a lot of natural disasters occur. If we say that Japenese suffer because they are infidels then it would be the most lamest answer to the question. What about Iranians? So, actions matter but fate has it's own part. It is their to prove that Allah is the absolute and above everything. It doesn't mean that actions will not bear any fruit. Every action taken will have a reward or punishment but who knows when? So, let us harmonize this. Let us end the blind beliefs occurring in our society due to the notion that 'Fate is everything and all depends on fate'. As is stated in Surah Al Asr: "By the passage of time! Surely humanity is in grave loss, except those who have faith, do good, and urge each other to the truth, and urge each other to perseverance." [103] So, it is certainly important to act without thinking about the fate. Removing all these blind beliefs about fate will lead us to passivity. Though, it seems small but in our traditionalist society, this idiocity is a huge problem. It has even entered the mentality of the educated and literate people because naturally it has nothing to do with education. It is because of overthinking and wrong mindsets and understandings about fate and destiny. It is because of ignorance and being illiterate is not a bad thing but being ignorant is equal to infidelity. To clarify, I am not calling anyone infidel but rather calling ignorance as infidelity. Let us also tell the arrogant human beings that whatever they might do, the destiny finally belongs to Allah. As is said in the above stated verse, in the last: '...and when Allah intends evil to a people, there is no averting it, and besides him they have no protector.' Fate is something that already exists like some fundamental basis of events, while action is something that we build upon our fate. If they are weak, they won't change our fate. If they are strong with a true devotion, they will change our destiny according to their nature. If it is an evil action, our destiny will become worse then what it was. If our action is good, our destiny will become better than what it was. "So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it." [Surah Zalzala 99:7] "And whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it." [Surah Zalzala 99:8]

Hi everyone, I have made an android app for ramadhan, feel free to use it and share it with others: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.laylatalkader Thanks and ramdhan kareem to everyone.

Dua /amal for deprission. Please rember me in prayers

Salam. May Allah Swt bless us all on these nights of Qadr. If anyone here has duas for clarity in times of confusion please share them. W JazakAllah kheir

Is there any amal or dua by which we can get answer to our question or confusions apart from istikhara?

Asalam Alaikum, I am in need of an Amaal/dua/ziarat to answer my prayers. Me and this person have been in love for the past several months and I truly believe he's the one. The way things worked out between us have been miraculous but for the past couple of months we've had some major problems causing us to break up. He recently told me that there is a 0% percent chance of us happening again and I shouldn't even bother anymore. He's done talking to me and He won't reply to any of my messages/calls/etc. I don't want to give up just yet, and I truly believe Allah (swt) changes the conditions of his people and melts hard hearts. I've been reading Ziarat e Ashura, Dua e Alqamah, Dua e Mashlool and Dua e Tawassul regularly for the past 10 days. I have also been reading Ziarat e Arbaeen regularly after maghreb and Isha prayers. Recently i came across "Amaal e Dawood" so I fasted for 3 days and today I am performing Amaal e Dawood. Also I first got an istikhara done on whether i should do Amaal e Dawood for myself and this person and it came out good. Then I got another istikhara done on whether i should pray for mine and this persons future together and it came out "Very good" and I asked the Maulana/Sheikh what the Surah and Ayat was and he said it was "Surah Nisa" and the Ayat was "bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim". Do you know any other duas/amaals that I could possibly do to melt his heart and come back inshAllah? Both the istikhara's gave me a lot of hope

SALAAM LINKS TO AMAAL E ASHURAH IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES ARE GIVEN BELOW AMAL E ASHURAH IN ENGLISH - VIDEO AMAL E ASHURAH IN ENGLISH - TEXT AMAL E ASHURAH IN URDU - TEXT AMAL E ASHURAH IN HINDI - TEXT AMAL E ASHURAH IN GUJRATI - VIDEO AMAL E ASHURAH IN FRENCH - TEXT AMAL E ASHURAH IN FRENCH - VIDEO

(637) For the realization of three things I (earnestly) swear: charity causes no reduction in one’s wealth, patience against injustice causes God, the Great and Powerful, to enhance one’s dignity and begging makes God to open to the beggar the doors of poverty. And keep in mind what I tell you. There are four groups of people in the world. First, those gifted with knowledge and wealth, who fear their Lord in dispensing them, who give a hand to their kinds and who know that God has a share in their possessions. This group has the highest status. The second group is those gifted with knowledge but not wealth, who are truthful of intention in saying, `if we possessed wealth, we would practice what the wealthy do’. This group will gain the results of their own intentions and are equal in reward with the first one. The third group are those gifted with wealth but not knowledge, who make use of their wealth ignorantly, fear not their Lord in dispensing their wealth, give no hand to their kinsmen and observe no share for God in their possessions. This group has the lowest status. The fourth group is those on whom God has bestowed neither wealth nor knowledge, who keep on saying, `If we possessed wealth, we would practice much the same as the wealthy’. This group too will pick the fruits of their own intentions and are equal in vice with their leaders. (641) Forgetfulness ruins knowledge, and the knowledge transmitted to incompetent people will be ruined(too). (2) A believer does not resort to jealousy or flattery, save in seeking knowledge. (78) A hypocrite is devoid of two traits: reputation and deep knowledge of religion. (90) A little bit of action accompanied by knowledge is useful, and a lot of deeds followed by ignorance is of no use. (125) A scholar who avails himself of his own knowledge is superior to a thousand simple worshipers (of God). (126) A scholar who does not act upon his knowledge is like unto a niche providing people with light but burning itself. (128) A seeker of knowledge among the ignorant is like unto a living creature among the dead. (158) Neither is stammering a defect of tongue; stammering comes from deficient knowledge of Truth (God). (162) Acquire knowledge and through it, peace (of mind) and soberness gain, and to your teacher humble remain. (167) Advise each other in the acquisition of knowledge and do not spare your knowledge from one another, for treachery in this respect is worse than treachery to wealth. (177) All holders of knowledge hunger for new knowledge. (179) All kinds of knowledge will entail evil results in the Day of Judgment, save that which is put to practice. (205) An hour of seeking knowledge is better than praying one whole night, and a day of seeking knowledge is better than fasting three months. (218) Angels spread out their wings for the seekers of knowledge, for they are pleased with what they seek. (233) Ask God (to give you) useful knowledge, and take refuge with Him from useless knowledge. (611) Fetter knowledge through writing. (566) Everything has its own path, and the path to Paradise is (acquiring) knowledge. (347) Blessed is the one whose faults stop him attending to people's, who dispenses from his lawfully-earned wealth, who makes friend with men of deep knowledge and wisdom, and who keeps aloof from men of sins and vices. (264) Be an early bird in seeking knowledge, for early-rising brings you blessing and prosperity. …. Not quite the 'Ilm noo bus karay ho yaar, aik alf terey darkaar' type of religion', :-) Ref: Nahjul Fasaha