UNDERTHESHADEOFAHLULBAIT

This is probably the most heart-rendering chapter of Karbala. When Imam Zainul abideen was asked about the most difficult time he faced in the entire event of Karbala he said Asham! Asham! Asham. Imagine the lonely Imam digging the grave in that dungeon which Imam described as a place which neither protected from heat nor cold while Zainab was holding the body. This grave was meant for his 4 year old sister Sukaina bint a-lHussain about whom Hussain (A.S) had said "that house is not worth living in which there is no Sakina". That darling child of her father and beloved of her uncle Abbas ibn Ali who asked Hussain not to take his body back to the tents as he cannot face Sakina who was sure that her uncle will definitely come back with water and had gathered all children around her in anticipation. We cry for you O! little princess of our's. We promise you that although Abbas was unable to bring water for you on that fateful day we will forever try to quench your thirst by

I was taken aback the other day when I read about the outburst of Shiekh al-Oreifi a Riyadh based Wahabi shiekh against Ayatollah Sistani. This is totally un called for. First of all I don't know whether al-Oreifi knows anything about Ayatollah Sistani other than what is reported in the media. What I want to bring to the notice of everyone is the level to which the dialogue and discorse in the muslim world has descended to. There have been two major consequences of the emergence of the Wahabi school 1) violence and 2) intolerance. I remember the days when I used to discuss religous matters and matters of differences with my Sunni brotheren The atmosphere used to be charged but one always made sure that amidst passionate discussions one strictly adhered to Islamic ethics of disagreement. At the end of the discussions we were left with no bitterness. The atmosphere was one of mutual respect if not love. The approach was "I give my point of view and you produce yours without any

This is a humble request to the mourners of Aba Abdullah (A.S). I recently saw a blogspot meant to "expose the shias" which aims at depicting shias as some people outside the fold of Islam and carrying out acts which as per the author not only violate laws of Islamic Sharia but also violate the laws of basic humanity. I know that these are basically Wahabi elements who are rabidly anti-shia and I agree to the fact that no amount of persuasion and decent talk is going to change them. Should we completely ignore them? Yes we should ignore them we need not reply them but I feel that self-introspection is still needed. We need to be sure that we donot do any act which brings disrepute to the name of Imam Jafar Sadiq (A.S). Among the many pictures shown there majority show mourners without clothes with blood spilling everywhere from their body. I know this has become a very sensitive issue especially after the fatwa of Ayatollah Khamnei regarding Kuma Zani. My request to my brothe

The Holy Prophet (SAWW) said, " O! God grant Muhammad and his progeny infallibility and sustenance according to their needs and give the enemies of Muhammad and his family , wealth and progeny" (Al-Kafi) Does'nt this prayer of the Prophet (SAWW) appear strange. The holy prophet is praying for the material benefit of his and his family's enemies. What is the logic behind this? This hadith points to a very important aspect of the life of Prophet and his Ahlul Bait. They always preferred to live at the brink. They never accumulated wealth and they prayed for mere sustenance. This should also be the approach of those who are the shias of the Ahlul Bait. Thus whenever you see a very rich person who professes to be the Shia of Imam Ali be very cautious in accepting this claim It is not to say that it is impossible but at least he lacks this characteristics of the Ahlul Bait. We are weak people who always want to achieve and accumulate riches for future use not knowing that

The events which took place in Karachi on the day of Ashura when a suicide bomber martyred more than 40 people commemorating the martyrdom of Aba Abdillah (A.S) is indeed a sad event which naturally made the momineen all over the world sad. This is not the first time this has occured. This is the continuation of the same event which took place in Karbala 1370 years ago and even before that. This is a result of jeoulsy and envy. When Imam Hussain (A.S) addressed the army of Umar Saad and try to made them realise his merits both in terms of lineage and actions they readily agrred to it but they said "We accept all this but we fight you and kill you out of the jeolusy we feel for your father, the Commander of Faithful Ali-ibn-Abitalib (A.S). This is therefore the crux. Whenever you go to buy something say apples from the market you selct the best and reject the others thus you divide them into two groups called in Urdu language as " chunnay huway" and " chatay huway