UNDERTHESHADEOFAHLULBAIT

One of the commonly levelled charges against Shias is that they "worship graves" of their Imams. This is one of the many serious charges levelled against shias by their opponents. These charges broadly fall into three categories:- 1) Those charges which are outright outageous and have no basis like the one that Shias believe that prophethood was meant for Imam Ali (nouzbillah) and was given to Holy Prophet as aresult of mistaken identity on part of Gibrael. 2) There are other charges which don't have any basis but represent a distortion of a belief or practice to twist it to your own understanding. 3) There are some charges which do actually have some basis based on practices carried out by some people who are ignorant about the etequettes of these practices. Regarding the allegation under discussion the first thing we have to ascertain is what is the factual position? It is a fact that in Shia Islam visiting the grave of the Holy Prophet (SAWW) and Imams is highly r...

Personally I have no problems with Wahabis. There are so many viewpoints in Islam and I don't think taht there is any problem with this. It is natural that every sect thinks that it is the original Islam. There are Shias with multiple sub-sects like Ithna Ashrite, Zaidis, Ismailis, Bohras; there are sunnis with hanafis, Malikis, Shafis, Hanbilis. In India there are the Barelivis and Deobandis; there are Sufis; there are Ahmadis and all of them claim to the original Islam. Why shoul we therefore worry about Wahabis? As I said ideally we should not be concerned as they can be taken as one amongst so many. However this is not so because of the basic difference of approach and methodology, Wahabis or Salafis as they prefer to be called, have all the right to have their ideology but what is worrying is their method. Their methodology has following characteristics: 1) Takfiri Tendency: The Wahabis openly profess takfir on anyone who does not accept their interpretation. They label other...

There have recently been un-precedented upheavals in The Middle East and it seems that there is a wave engulfing the whole region a sort of virus. How does it effect us? Middle East traditionally has been a region with the greatest "democratic defecit" in the world. It is ruled by hereditary monarchs or dictators who almost invariably remain head of states till death or disability makes them absolutely functionless. Everybody is hailing it as a healty sign of reform and change. There is a definite need of reform and change in the region but it is easy said than done. There are vested interests and powers who are working behind the scene to infleunce the outcome according to their interests. What one would like is that the region emerges from this choas with stability and systems responsive to the needs of the people as well as needs and interests of the Muslim Ummah at large. As of now it does not appear to be so. The systems in Egypt and Tunisia have remained the same with a...

I don't know whether it is only my imagination but somehow I get a feeling that I may be nearing my final exit and it is really worrying that I don't find myself prepared and ready for it as yet. If one does not find oneself ready for the meeting with his Lord then one can be sure that things are not going right for him and the same thing applies in my case. Things have not been right and it has been a failure and a missed opportunity. I don't know what to do now. I may not have the time and the opportunity to set things right now. However I feel that we as Shias of the Ahlul Bait are a blessed and lucky lot because of the presence of the Holy Imams of the Prophet's Household and off course the personality of Imam Hussain (A.S) stands out prominantly. He has been called by the Holy Prophet as "Misbah ul huda wa Saffinat ul Najat" (the lamp of guidance and the ship of deliverance). I looked at Karbala to see if I had any hope and suddenly one character in the ...

We prepare to commemorate the martyrdom of the grandson of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and they prepare to kill us. We just want to cry for Imam Hussain (A.S) and they want to prevent us from doing so. How does our crying effect them? If we are commemorating an event which is not recent and does not concern them then why are they angry with us? They say Karbala was merely a poltical battle between two persons and has no religous significane. O.K then why are you afraid? What makes you so uneasy? If few thousand mad people are commemorating an event which took place more than 1400 years ago and insist on crying, hurting themselves beating their chests how is it harming you? Just leave them alone, and they will fizzle out. Yesterday a 20 year old suicide bomber blew himself up in Kohat killing 20 people most of them shia women and children at a bus stop. What did you tell this 20 year old suicide bomber and how did you motivate him to do what he did? What danger did these women and children ...

The recent fatwa of Ayatollah Khamnaei pronouncing " cursing of companions and wives of the Prophet as haram" is something unprecedented. The full impact of this fatwa in the Shia World is yet to be known, however the Sunni world has been quick to react with none other than the Chancellor of Al-Azhar (whose picture is posted above with Ayatollah Khamnei) describing it as a "blessed fatwa" which has come at an appropriate time and will help to "prevent seeds of sedition" being sown between various Islamic sects. What is the background of this Fatwa? The fatwa was issued in reply to a question written to Ayatollah Khamnaei by scholars and intellectuals of Al-Ihsaa in Hejaz (so-called Saudi Arabia). It comes in the backdrop of statements of a till recently little known shia cleric from Kuwait Yasir al-Habib who in a function in London which he organised to "celebrate" the death anniversary of Umul Momineen Aisha bint Abibakr openly accused her and s...

The current situation in Kashmir is causing lot of pain, sadness and distress in me. Being a father myself I can feel the pain of the parents of those young ones who are being killed daily mostly teenagers. No words can be enough to condemn this brutality. India is such a vast country with so much of resources there is no doubt that these killings are entirely preventable if sensible mob control strategies and techniques are used. The problem here is of the mind-set of the para-military forces. They are behaving as typical occupying forces like the zionists. They consider these stone-pelting youths as enemies and seccionists and retaliate. It is possible that sometimes they use firearms in self-defence when they are in real danger but this is no excuse you should be trained to tackle such situation and prevent such situation. The problem is again one of mindset because you don't find any real need of making sure no one is killed. I was making my mind to give my view point on this w...