Mohebban Fatemeh

اذا صَنَعتَ مَعروفاً فأستُرُه، و اذا صُنِعَ الیک معروف فَأنشُرُه

Hide the good you did, Reveal the good done to you.

اگر نیکویی کردی پوشیده بدار و اگر کسی با تو نیکویی کرده آشکار ساز

This hadith tells everyone to put aside their pride and to give only for the sake of Allah. During the nights where no one could see him, Imam Ali would go to the houses of the poor and put food in front of the door. For a while no one knew who had been giving them food until the day Ibn Muljim stroke Imam Ali in the head with a poisonous sword during sajdah. After the strike they had wondered why there was no more food left in front of their house and finally realized that it was none other than Imam Ali.

امام علی (ع) می فرماید

۱-     اذا قَدَرتَ علی عَدُوِّکَ فَاجعَلِ العفوَ عنهُ شکرا لِلقُدرَةِ علیهِ

When You have power over your enemy, Pardon him and thank god for giving power over him

وقتی که به دشمن خود غلبه یافتی عفوش بکن با تشکّر که بر او قدرت یافتی

۲- اَحبِب حبیبَکَ هَونا عسیٰ اَن یکونَ بغیضَک یوما و اَبغِض بغیضَک هونا عسیٰ ان یکونَ حبیبَکَ یوما

Love your friend in a way so that he might be your enemy one day and be enemies with your enemy in such a way that he might be your friend one day.

دوست خود را چنان دوست بدار که گویی شاید روزی دشمن تو شود و با دشمن خود چنان دشمنی کن که گویی شاید روزی دوست تو گردد

This hadith sais that one should not tell their deepest secrets to their friends for it may be used against them. Also one must not act in a harsh way towards their enemy for if they turn to be your friend, you wont be embarrassed.

These 2 Hadith from Imam Ali apply to Hazrat Horr and Shimr from the story of Karbala. Imam Hossein and his family were migrating to Kufeh when Hazrat Horr’s army stopped them and took them to a place called Karbala. At the time, Hazrat Horr was Imam Hossein’s enemy and his army was dying of thirst. Imam Hossein saw this and gave their water to Hazrat Horr’s army, including their horses. Imam Hossein had power over his enemy and was able to kill them but instead he helped them and forgave them. During those days Hazrat Horr thought about Imam Hossein’s kindness which made him realize that the true islam was with them so he switched on to Imam Hossein’s side and asked him for forgivness. He turned from an enemy of of Imam Hossein to his friend all because of his kindness and forgiveness. Shimr on the other hand was in the army of Imam Ali, Imam Hossein’s Father. On the day of Karbala he ended up to be the killer of Imam Hossein. It is very interesting how 2 different people had 2 different faits by switching to the opposite side.

This week we continued talking about the Hadith by The Holy Prophet(PBUH):

المجالسة موثرة (what did it mean?)

The main question that we discussed was ” Is it possible to become partners(همنشین) with the Ahlulbayt(PBUT)? If yes, How?

Surah Ahzab Verse 21: لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّـهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ

The more time you spend reading the lessons and words of the Prophet & Ahlulbayt(PBUT) and acting it, the more it will effect you.

Lets try our best to find the right partners because … المجالسة موثرة

There is no one that can live his whole life alone. Socializing plays a big role in every human beings life. Either in school, sport activities, jobs and …. The next step after socializing is friendship.

We talked about a few examples of weakness and who do we call a weak person,
but who is a weak person in Imam Ali’s(PBUH)sayings
(Nahjul-Balaghe – wisdom 12)

اعجز الناس من عجز عن اکتساب الاخوان و اعجز منه من ضیع من ظفر به منهم

The weakest person is the one that can not find friends, and weaker than that is the one who makes friends but loses them.

We finished our class by watching a few minutes of Imam Reza’s(AS) movie. The part where Imam(AS) has an inter-faith debate.

This week we talked about friendship from the book of guidance, The Holy Quran.
Surah Forghan Verse 27 – 29

وَيَوْمَ يَعَضُّ الظَّالِمُ عَلَى يَدَيْهِ يَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِيلًا – 27
يَا وَيْلَتَى لَيْتَنِي لَمْ أَتَّخِذْ فُلَانًا خَلِيلًا – 28
لَّقَدْ أَضَلَّنِي عَنِ الذِّكْرِ بَعْدَ إِذْ جَاءَنِي ۗ وَكَانَ الشَّيْطَانُ لِلْإِنسَانِ خَذُولًا – 29

We mentioned the story from the Holy Prophet(PBUH) and those two “Disbelievers” which one of them invited the Prophet to have a meal with them and how Sheytan played his role

Sometimes we know that we are not choosing the right person as a friend but – in just a moment – we get blind and forget all the signs that a true friend must have and thats the beginning of Darkness

Lets practice not to be one of those who on the day of judgment say:
” O woe is me! would that I had not taken such a one for a friend!” Surah Forghan Verse 28

take care

After the Holy Month of Ramadhan we started our Hadith class on the subject of Friendship.

> Why is it important to make friends? What are the signs of good friends? and …

The first Hadith that we mentioned by Amir-Al-Momenin Imam Ali(PBUH):
كل مودة مبنية علي غير ذات الله ضلال
> Any Friendship that is based other than Allah will be lost

We covered the meaning of مودة (Mavaddat) and its difference with محبت(Mohabbat)

This week we gave an example to our life’s as a journey.

When we go for a trip we always look for a friend to be with us so we can be together and create the best moments.
> What are the signs of a friend that can help us through this journey?

For this week we brought up a revayat from Imam Sadegh(PBUH), where He advises one of his companions for choosing a friend:
If you make your brother(partner) angry for 3 times and he doesn’t reply to you with bad words, choose him as your friend.

- May Allah help us to find the best friends -

take care

امام حسن(ع) می فرماید:

I am surprised by the people that think about the food that goes into their bodies but they don’t think about their spiritual matters and the food for their soul. They save their stomach from harmful food but they allow bad thoughts to enter their mind.

Some saying of Imam Musa Al Kazim (A.S):

“He is not from us one who gives up his material world for his religion or his religion for the life of this world.”

“Never bother to learn something not knowing which does not do you any harm, and never neglect to learn something whose negligence will increase your ignorance.”

” The most high-ranking people are those who disregard the worldly pleasures completely.”

“Plants grow in plain, not rocky, lands. In the same way, wisdom will grow in the hearts of the modest, not the arrogant, because Allah has made modesty the instrument of the mind and made arrogance the instrument of ignorance.”

The Prophet has said:

The wisest person is one who gives whatever they thinks is good to others and not give what they think is bad.

This Hadith by the Prophet is telling us to look after others and want the best for them. If you help others out, then they will help you out.  In the play that was performed by our group for the occasion of Fatimyeh (see the recap for The Forgotten Affliction), when Hazrate Zahra went to give her wedding dress to the poor person, she remembered the ayah from the Quran that commanded her to give her best of things to the poor, not things that she did not want.  The ayahs was located in Surah Ale Emran, Ayah 92:

You can never extend virtue and righteousness unless you spend part of what you dearly love for the cause of Allah (SWT).  Allah knows very well whatever you spend for his cause.

It is very easy to give up what you do not want, but a true mujahid of Allah (SWT) gives up ALL that he has for His sake.  We hope that we will be able to develop this quality within ourselves.

Salam to All,

We continued on the topic of Dua.

> At the beginning of class we had another 20 question, test? Luckily it was the 19th question which Ali Oskooi got the Word: توحید The Oneness of Allah

> After that we mentioned a few points of the Month of Rajab and how important Dua is in this Month

> We are all young and healthy with no diseases and disabilities, Alhamdolellah, so Dont we have to thank Allah for all these blessings?!!

Imam ALI’s Revayat

> What should we ask for ourselves from Allah in Dua – What was the smartest request?

> Special Offers from Allah in this Month =رحمت خاص الهی

> We ended our discussion with a Revayat by Imam Sadegh(PBUH) which will talk about it more on the upcoming weeks:

اَلقلبُ حرَمُ اللهِ فلا تسكنْ حرَمُ اللهِ غيرَاللهِ

قلب حرم خداست، غير خدا را در حرم خدا ساكن مكن»

> > > What was the meaning of تسكنْ ?