Awaiting for reapppearance of Imam Mahdi a.t.f.s

In the major occultation, an important duty is to await the reappearance of Imam az-Zaman (a.t.f.s.). Imam Sadeq (a.s.) relates from the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a.),

"أفضل أعمال أمتي انتظار الفرج"

"The best act of my nation is to await the reappearance."1

Awaiting is an inner condition that we experience vis-à-vis our beloved. Our restlessness for the meeting with the beloved is directly proportionate with the presence of love in our hearts for him. If you are waiting for a guest, you will prepare yourself for his arrival by cleaning up the house and providing the necessities of his comfort. You will inform the people about his arrival and will exhort them to join you in welcoming him. More than the house, you will prepare your heart for his comfort, leisure and ease.

If such preparedness and restlessness is found in us, then we are truly awaiting for the guest. But if I am simply sleeping lazily, without feeling the need for any preparation and readiness, then such an awaiting is nothing more than lip service.

Those who are waiting for Imam az-Zaman (a.t.f.s.) are restless for his reappearance. They are preparing for his arrival by improving themselves and inviting others to change for the better. They are themselves learning religious laws and injunctions while making others also aware of their religious obligations. They are restless due to the delay in the reappearance. The occultation of their beloved Imam az-Zaman (a.t.f.s.) has snatched sleep from their eyes.

Imam Zainul Aabedeen (a.s.) has described the characteristics and importance of the one who awaits the reappearance thus,

"O Abu Khalid (Kabuli)! In the period of his occultation, those who believe in his Imamate, await his reappearance are the best people of all times. Allah the Almighty has endowed them with intellect , understanding and cognition to such an extent that occultation (of Imam) for them is as good as his presence.

They are equal (in status) to those who are fighting alongside the Prophet of Allah (s.a.w.a.) with their swords. Certainly, these are the real believers and our true Shias and they call towards the path of Allah, openly and secretly."2


References

  • 1.Kamaal al-deen, vol. 2, p. 644
  • 2.Kamaal al-deen, Ch. 31, H. 2




Janab e Fatima s.a Charity

Fatimah (s.a.) was charitable and too kind to the poor and the deprived. She, her husband,and her two sons were meant by these Qur’anic verses,

“And they give food out of love for Him to the poor, the orphan, and the captive. We only feed you for Allah’s sake; we desire from you neither reward nor thanks.” 76:8-9

Fatimah (s.a.) milled wheat and barley for her poor neighbors who were unable to do that. She carried water to her weak neighbors who could not get water.

On the night of her wedding, Fatimah (s.a.) had a new dress on. When she knew that a young woman from the Ansar (2).could not find a dress to put on, she took off her wedding dress and gave it to that young woman. Fatimah (s.a.) turned away from every material pleasure and preferred the satisfaction of Allah to everything. Jabir bin Abdullah al-Ansari said,‘Once, the messenger of Allah (S) led us in offering the Asr (afternoon) Prayer, and when he offered the nafila (a supererogatory prayer), he sat in the qibla and people sat around him. A very old man came complaining of hunger and saying, ‘O prophet of Allah, I am hungry. Feed me! And I am naked (have no clothes). Clothe me!’. The Prophet (S) asked the old man to go to the house of his (the Prophet) daughter Fatimah (s.a.). The old nomad man went to Fatimah’s house and from behind the door he greeted her and said, ‘O daughter of Muhammad, I am naked and hungry. Would you please comfort me, may Allah have mercy on you?’

Fatimah (s.a.) herself was in neediness, and she found nothing to give to the man except a sheepskin that her sons al-Hasan and al-Husayn slept on. The old man did not like it and he gave it back to her. Then, Fatimah (s.a.) took a necklace, which was a present from her cousin Fatimah bint Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib, off her neck and gave it to the man.

The old man took the necklace and went back to the Prophet (S) saying to him, ‘Fatimah gave me this necklace and said to me, ‘Sell it! May Allah recompense you with good for it.’

The Prophet (S) cried and said, ‘And how does Allah not recompense you with good for it while the daughter of Muhammad, the principal of the daughters of Adam, has given it to you?’

Ammar bin Yasir asked the Prophet (S), ‘O messenger of Allah, do you permit me to buy this necklace?’

The Prophet (S) said, ‘Buy it, Ammar! If the human beings and the jinn participate in it, Allah will not punish them with Fire.’

Ammar said, ‘O Sheikh (old man), how much is the necklace?’

The old man said, ‘I sell it for a meal of bread and meat, a Yemeni garment that I cover my private parts and offer prayer for my Lord with, and a dinar that takes me to my family.’

Ammar said to him, ‘I give you twenty dinars, two hundred dirhams, a Yemeni garment, my camel to take you to your family, and a meal of wheat bread and meat.’

The old man said, ‘O man, how generous you are!’ He left delightedly saying, ‘O Allah, there is no god but You. O Allah, give Fatimah what no eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard of.’

Ammar perfumed the necklace with musk, enveloped it in Yemeni garment, and gave it one of his slaves saying to him, ‘Take this necklace to the messenger of Allah (S) and you will be his.’

When the slave took the necklace to the Prophet (S), the Prophet (S) asked him to take it to Fatimah (s.a.) who took it and set the slave free. The slave smiled. Fatimah (s.a.) asked him what made him smile and he said,

‘What made me smile was the great blessing of this necklace. It satiated a hungry one, clothed a naked one, made a poor one rich, freed a slave, and then returned to its owner.’3


(Excerpt From book Fatima the Gracious) 



  • 1.Tafsir of ar-Razi, vol.6 p.783, Tafsir of ibn Jarir, Musnad of Ahmed bin Hanbal, vol.4 p.107, Sunan of al-Bayhaqi, vol.2 p.14, al-Khasa’iss of an-Nassa’iy, p.33, al-Khasa’iss al-Kubra, vol.2 p.264, ar-Riyadh an-Nadhirah, vol.2 p.188, Mushkil al-Aathar, vol.1 p.324
  • 2.Ansar means helpers; the people of Medina who believed and supported the Prophet (S) when he emigrated to Medina from Mecca.
  • 3.Know that I am Fatimah, vol.9 p.266




Lesson One: Thinking,reflection

Tradition:

Imam Ali (a.s) Said - Be Aware! Knowledge without thinking has no Profit. Be Aware! Recitation of Quran without reflection is of little use! Be aware! worship lacking reflection has no effect!

(Al-Kafi, Volume One, Page 36)

Brief Description:

      Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting. Filling the brain with information, rules and principles has little effect on it if it is not based on reflection. Reciting Holy verses of Quran has liittle effect when it is not accompanied by reflection and thinking about them. Similarly any action or worship devoid of the light of thinking and wisdom are like spiritless body  and unable to impart their high educational value. Just think how we spent our Ramadhan by reading Quran but hardly only few of us reflect on what we read. Some of us complete Quran after Quran after Quran but hardly we include any of its teaching in our life, May Allah s.u.b.t to reflect on everything we read and take lessons for everything we see and hear only that which is halal. O Allah send blessings upon Mohammad s.a.w.s and his pure progeny.

One Hundred and Fifty Lessons By Ayatullah Naser Makarem Shirazi

    Our greatest treasure of knowledge after the Holy Quran, are the practices of the Prophet(Peace be upon him and his Progeny) and the valuable traditions of the Prophet(Peace be upon him and his progeny).
   Unfortunately, These traditions which are full of science and knowledge are yet to be well known. There are many traditions that in one short phrase speak volumes in terms of useful lessons which can solve many problems that we face today as a society.
  This small book by Ayatullah Naser Makarem Shirazi serves as a example of Islam's attributes for those who want to know Islam better through a short study. What is even more important in appreciating their worth is the praticing of these programs in our lives.
  In the next posts of mine I will be taking each lessons from this book and If Allah wishes we will practice these precious sayings of Ahlulbayt a.s in our lives. 


Selected Ahadith on intellegence from Usool e Kafi

1)H4.Ch 1 The book of intelligence and ignorance

Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Isa from Faddal from al-Hassan ibn al-Jahm who has said the following.
"I heard (Imam) al-Ridha (a.s) saying, "The friend of a person is his/her intelligence and the enemy of a person is his/her ignorance."

2)H6 Ch 1 The book of intelligence and ignorance

Ahmad ibn Idris has narrated from Muhammad ibn Hassa'n from abu Muhammad al-Razi from Sayf 'Umayra from Ishaq ibn 'Ammar from abu 'Abdullah (a.s) who has said the following.
"One who has intelligence he has a religion and one who has religion he enters Paradise."

3)H9 Ch 1 The book of intelligence and ignorance

Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father al-Nawfali from al-Sakuni from abu 'Abdallah(a.s) who has said the following.
"The holy prophet said, "If you would hear good things about a man, you would examine how good his intelligence is, because he will be rewarded according to his intelligence."