One interpretation, according to Martyr Motahhari, is that when Imam Hussain (pbuh) was martyred, he was both protesting and at the same time encouraging what is right and forbidding what is wrong. He rose up against an oppressive ruler, because the ruler was committing oppression, acting.....
Read More »Why Does the Imam al-Mahdi Not Write a Book to Guide People during the Occultation?
At present we are living in the period of Greater Occultation which is the period of “general deputyship”. That is, guidance of the Shiites is an obligation as well as a responsibility of the grand jurists and prominent religious scholars who bear the necessary qualifications and the...
Read More »Does Imam al-Mahdi (aj) Have a Spouse and Children?
Although it is possible for the imam (as) to have a spouse and children, and such a matter is in no way in conflict with his occultation, nevertheless, there isn't any substantial hadithic reasoning that proves anything regarding this subject. It can be said that just as how Allah (swt) wished for...
Read More »Is it Mandatory to Know the Imam of the Time?
It is mandatory to know the Imam of the time, that people are not helpless in the matter of discarding the obedience of the true Imam, that the one who dies without knowing the Imam of his time will die a death of...
Read More »The Characteristics of Those Who Wait Imam Mahdi (A.S.)
The utopia of those who wait possesses many constituents, one of which is knowledge. It suffices for the significance of knowledge that it counts as the criterion of deciding what is invaluable or worthless. With knowledge one can acquire supremacy, and without it one will have no...
Read More »What Non-Muslims Say About Imam Ali (A.S.)
Imam ‘Ali bin Abi Talib was the successor to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon them both. This is a collection of short quotations about him from a wide variety of notables belonging to other faiths, including academics, writers, philosophers, poets, politicians, and...
Read More »Who Was Imam Ali (ʻA)?
Nevertheless, the various dimensions of thought and character of the first Imam of the Shi’a have not been understood as much as they should, and most of the sources have confined themselves to providing just a historical review of...
Read More »The Condition of the ‘Alawīs during the Time of Imam al-Hādī (‘a)
During this time period, the ‘Abbāsid government sought to create enmity against the Alawīs in the wider society, and therefore, scatter the Alawī forces. Whenever the government felt the smallest potential danger from the...
Read More »Fatimah in the Qur’an and the Sunna
Fatimah (s.a.) had been extolled and praised in the Book of Allah and in the Sunna of His prophet. She was one of the shining suns that undertook the mission of Allah and took on the values, principles and aims of Islam. She struggled for the sake of Allah and in the way of Islam until the...
Read More »Twelve Infallible Men: The Imams and the Making of Shi’ism
Twelve Infallible Men focuses on the role of narratives of the imams in the development of a distinct Shiˀa identity. During the tenth century, at a critical juncture in Islamic history, a group of scholars began assembling definitive works containing accounts of the...
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