4/18/09

advice of imam ali

Kumayl ibn Ziyad Nakhaei says that once Imam ‘Ali put his hand in his hand and took me to the graveyard. When he passed through it and left the city behind, he heaved a sigh and said “Kumayl, these hearts are containers of the secrets of knowledge and wisdom and the best container is the one which can hold the most and what it holds, it can preserve and protect in the best way. Therefore, remember carefully what I am telling you. Remember that there are three kinds of people: one kind is of those learned people who are highly versed in the ethics of truth and philosophy of religion, second is the kind of those who are acquiring the above knowledge and the third is that class of people who are uneducated. They follow every pretender and accept every slogan, they have neither acquired any knowledge nor have they secured any support of firm and rational convictions. Remember, Kumayl, knowledge is better than wealth because it protects you while you have to guard wealth. It decreases if you keep on spending it but the more you make use of knowledge the more it increases. What you get through wealth disappears as soon as wealth disappears but what you achieve through knowledge will remain even after you.Oh Kumayl! Knowledge is power and it can command obedience. A man of knowledge during his lifetime can make people obey and follow him and he is praised and venerated after his death. Remember that knowledge is a ruler and wealth is its subject.Oh Kumayl! Those who amass wealth, though alive, are dead to realities of life, and those who achieve knowledge, will remain alive through their knowledge and wisdom even after their death, though their faces may disappear from the community of living beings, yet their ideas, the knowledge which they had left behind and their memory, will remain in the minds of people.”Kumayl says that after this brief dissertation, Imam ‘Ali pointed towards his chest and said, “Look Kumayl! Here I hold stores and treasures of knowledge. I wish I could find somebody to share it with me. Yes, I found a few, but one of them, though quite intelligent, was untrustworthy, he would sell his salvation to get hold of the world and its pleasures, he would make religion a pretence to grasp worldly power and wealth, he would make this Blessing of God (knowledge) serve him to get supremacy and control over friends of God and he would through knowledge exploit and suppress other human beings. The other person was such that he apparently obeyed truth and knowledge, yet his mind had not achieved the true light of religion, at the slightest ambiguity or doubt he would get suspicious of truth, mistrust religion and would rush towards scepticism. So neither of them was capable of acquiring the superior knowledge that I can impart.Besides these two I find some other person One of them is a slave of self and greedy for inordinate desires, which can easily drag him away from the path of religion, the other is an avaricious, grasping and acquisitive miser who will risk his life to grasp and hold wealth, none of these two will be of any use to religion or man, both of them resemble beasts having appetite for food. If sensible trustees of knowledge and wisdom totally disappear from human society then both knowledge and wisdom will suffer severely, may bring harm to humanity and may even die out. But this earth will never be without those persons who will prove the universality of truth as disclosed by God, they may be well-known persons, openly and fearlessly declaring the things revealed to them or they may, under fear of harm, injury or deaths hide themselves from the public gaze and may carry on their mission privately so that the reasons proving the reality of truth as preached by religion and as demonstrated by His Prophet may not totally disappear. How many are they and where could they be found? I swear by God that they are very few in number but their worth and their ranks before God are very high. Through them God preserves His Guidance so that they, while departing, may hand over these truths to persons like themselves. The knowledge which they have acquired has made them see the realities and visualize the truth and has instilled into them the spirit of faith and trust. The duties which were decreed as hard and unbearable by them. They feel happy in the company and association of things which frighten the ignorant and uneducated. They live in this world like everybody else but their souls soar to the heights of Divine Eminence. They are media of God on this earth and they invite people towards Him. How I love to meet them Oh Kumayl! I have told you all that I have to say, you can go back to your place whenever you like.”

4/5/09

Birth of Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS)

The sun of the existence of Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) arose from the lap of his mother Umm Farwah on the 17th of Rabi’ al-Awwal, 83rd year Hejrah, in the city of Madinah. Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) has the same birth date as that of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (S). Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) has three titles; they are as-Sadeq, al-Fadhel and at-Taher. His father Imam Muhammad al-Baqer (AS) was much happy and pleased by the birth of his son.His mother, Umm Farwah, was the granddaughter of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, who was one of the companions of Imam ‘Ali (AS). Imam ‘Ali (AS) repeatedly said about him that, “Muhammad is my spiritual and moral son.” Asma bint ‘Umays was the mother of Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, and she was considered to be a pious woman. She was continuously in the service of Hadhrat Fatemah az-Zahra (SA) and took pride in it. After the martyrdom of her husband Ja’far ibn Abi Taleb in the Battle of Mu’tah, Asma bint ‘Umays married Abu Bakr as-Seddiq and after his death, married to Imam ‘Ali (AS).Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) said about her mother, “My mother was one of the pious, faithful and devoted women.” Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) was 15 years of age when his grandfather Imam as-Sajjad (AS) was martyred and 34 years old when his father Imam Muhammad al-Baqer (AS) was martyred. Consequent upon the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (AS) the government of Bani Umayyah was shaken which turned the people into their enemy and pessimist about them. This opened the avenue for the formation of the Bani ‘Abbas government. The gap in between these two powers opened the way for the propagation of Shi’ah ideology and school of thought. Imam Ja’far as-Sadeq (AS) could, through a learning movement, propagate the teachings of Islam in such a way to extend and make it reach all the people in the World.

through a research and finding;

khalid mohd ismath @ khalid islamboli
KMNS

hadith today

God’s Prophet, Muhammad (S) has said:“The wisest men are those who treat the people with kindness. The strongest men are the ones who best quench their anger.”

Berpolitik tidak kena mengena dengan akhirat? -oleh DATO DR HARUN DIN-

SOALAN: Ada pandangan mengatakan masalah berpolitik dalam mana-mana pertubuhan politik adalah masalah duniawi dan tidak ada kena mengena dengan akhirat. Perkara dunia habis di dunia, itulah realitinya. Oleh kerana itu tidak timbul soal parti politik mana harus diikut, mana yang harus ditolak, semuanya sama, apa pandangan Dato? - MOHD MUNIR, menerusi e-mel
JAWAPAN: Tidak. Sama sekali tidak begitu. Islam adalah panduan hidup. Islam adalah cara hidup. Islam yang sebenar adalah yang tidak memisahkan di antara urusan dunia dan urusan akhirat.
Kedua-duanya berjalan serentak. Ianya bergandingan antara satu sama lain. Dunia adalah jambatan ke akhirat, apa yang anda lakukan di dunia ini, akan diambil kira di akhirat.
Itulah yang disebut dalam firman Allah (mafhumnya): "Maka sesiapa berbuat kebajikan meskipun seberat zarrah, nescaya akan diberi balasan di akhirat. Dan sesiapa yang berbuat kejahatan, meskipun seberat timbangan zarrah, akan diberi balasan di akhirat." (Surah al-Zalzalah, ayat 7-8)
Ayat ini mengisyaratkan bahawa kerja-kerja manusia di dunia ini hanya ada dua jenis sahaja. Sama ada kerja baik atau kerja jahat.
Kerja politik pun demikian juga. Ada politik baik dan ada politik jahat.
Kerja politik adalah kerja besar dan berat. Guna dan kesannya juga amat besar.
Ada orang yang seluruh hidupnya dihabiskan dalam berpolitik, siang dan malam berpolitik. Maka rugilah dia jika Allah tidak mengambil kira perjuangan dan pengorbanannya itu, jika ia melakukan politik yang baik.
Dan, tidak adillah kepada Allah SWT jika dibiarkan orang yang melakukan politik jahat itu terus bermaharaja lela dan tidak dibalas di akhirat.
Kuasa politik adalah kuasa yang menentukan hala tuju negara. Rakyat akan terbawa ke dalam penghidupan yang diwarnakan orang politik yang diberi kuasa oleh rakyat.
Jika politik yang mementingkan parti dan kroni, maka untunglah yang mendapat habuan, manakala yang lain-lain akan menderita.
Jika politik yang jujur serta ikhlas, berjuang untuk mengajak manusia memartabat dan melaksanakan hukum Allah, melaksanakan perintah Allah sesuai dengan tanggungjawab manusia sebagai khalifah Allah di muka bumi, maka akan untunglah insan yang akan mendapat ganjaran di akhirat. Sekiranya politik itu zalim, yang berkuasa menindas rakyat dan mementing diri sendiri serta sanggup melakukan kezaliman, penindasan dan sebagainya, maka tentulah ada pembalasan di akhirat, atas perbuatan yang melanggar tatasusila dan undang-undang kemanusiaan yang wajib dipelihara.
Meskipun sudah ada penjelasan dalam media massa tentang Islam itu sebagai suatu cara hidup yang lengkap dan tidak berpisah antara urusan dunia dan akhirat, tiada pemisahan itu dalam Islam, namun kekeliruan masih ketara.
Saya cadangkan bagi mereka yang meragui tentang hakikat ini, merenung kembali kepada ikrar dalam solat kita hari-hari yang dibaca dalam doa iftitah (mafhumnya): "Sesungguhnya solatku, ibadatku, cara hidupku dan matiku, semuanya dilakukan untuk Allah, Tuhan sekelian alam."
Setiap kali solat kita membuat pengakuan mutlak bahawa seluruh hidup kita semuanya kerana Allah, tidak ada yang lain hanya semata-mata kerana Allah.
Berpolitiklah untuk Allah, bukan kerana dunia. Meskipun urusan di dunia, tetapi hendaklah kerana Allah. Berpolitik melalui jalan yang diredai Allah.
Jika anda terbabit dengan politik yang menentang hukum Allah atau politik yang hendak dicapai itu bukan untuk memartabatkan agama Allah, maka ianya berlawanan dengan sifat manusia yang dijadikan sebagai khalifah Allah.
Oleh yang demikian, anda akan mendapat balasan yang setimpal dengan apa yang anda lakukan.
Penderhakaan terhadap Allah adalah suatu jenayah agama yang amat besar. Allah mengingatkan kita dengan perintah-Nya seperti firman-Nya (mafhumnya): "...Dan sesiapa yang menderhakai Allah, maka sesungguhnya dia berada dalam kesesatan yang amat nyata." (Surah al-Ahzab, ayat 36)
Jika sudah sesat maka Allah menyatakan lagi (mafhumnya): "...Dan sesiapa yang menderhakai Allah dan Rasul-Nya, maka sesungguhnya disediakan di akhirat kelak neraka jahanam yang kekal mereka di dalamnya buat selama-lamanya." (Surah al-Jin, ayat 23)
Oleh kerana itu, berpolitiklah dengan politik yang betul, bukan main tangkap muat atau terikut-ikut atau terpengaruh dengan pujukan ahli-ahli politik yang tidak berpendirian. Anda ada panduan yang boleh menentukan sendiri politik yang sebenar, mana yang memberi keuntungan dunia dan di akhirat, atau pun sekurang-kurangnya anda akan memperolehi keuntungan di akhirat jika anda berpolitik untuk memartabatkan Islam sebagai agama yang suci murni. Wallahu a'lam.