Issue 1, Vol.

1, Number 2 - Sunday, 18th January, 2015

Women in Islam
- Imam
Khomeini (ra)

Editors: Syed Yasir Abbas & Dr. Ameer Ali Badami

Quran

Page 4

Don't lose your

Orientation
- Ayatullah
Khamenei (dz)

Page 3

Page 2

The Awakening
The Goal of 'Arif
- Martyr Mutahhari (ra)

Published in: Bangalore, Complimentary Copy

Live & Die for Allah by Sayyid Saeed Akhtar Rizvi

"Say, Indeed my prayer and my worship, my life and my death are for the sake of
Allah, the Lord of all the worlds." (Quran, 6:162)

"Say, Indeed my prayer and

my worship, my life and my
death are for the sake of
Allah, the Lord of all the
worlds." (Quran, 6:162)

Hadith

Imam Hussain (as) in Dua

Arafah says:
O lord what has he lost who
has gained you, and what has
he gained who has lost you!.

Quote

Focus your attention on God

so that the hearts of the people
will focus on you"
- Imam Khomeini (ra)

This is the ideal Islam. A true Muslim surrenders to the love of Allah. All his
actions are motivated by one thought only: God would be pleased by this work,
so it must be done. Not only the external rituals and rites, but also his emotions
and thoughts are submerged by love of God. He lives for Allah, and he dies for
Allah.
The tragedy (of Karbala) is the perfect example of the way a Muslim should keep
the love of Allah and His religion above all things.
To begin with, Imam Hussain (a) had not refused to submit to Yazid for any
worldly reason. He made it perfectly clear in his will which he wrote at the time of
departure from Medina. He writes: I am not leaving Medina for any worldly motive:
I am leaving it so that I may establish the way of my grandfather (the Prophet) and my
father (Ali); and so that I may exhort people to become righteous; and may dissuade them
from evil.
This will explain in prose what Imam said in poem while he was proceeding to
Iraq. He was frequently heard reciting these lines: If the religion of Muhammad (s)
cannot be saved except by the sacrifice of my head, Then, O swords, come and take it.
And to save the religion of Islam, Imam Hussain (as) sacrificed not one, but 72
heads. These sacrifices were made without any remorse, without any sorrow. On
10th Muharram, when every passing moment brought a new hardship for this
small caravan, Imams (as) face was radiating more and more content and
pleasure. He was happy that his offerings were accepted by Allah.
It was this unblemished love of Allah which prompted Imam (as) to say in the last
moments of his earthy life: I left and forgot everything in Thy Love: Allah! And I
made my children orphan, so that I may see Thee, They have minced my body by their
swords. But my heart is oblivious of these tortures; it is not inclined but towards thee. O
Allah
Thus Imam Hussain (as) showed how can a man live for Allah; how can he die for
Allah. This death is not death; it is eternal life, as God has said: And do not call
those who were slain in Allahs way dead. Rather they are living, but you are not aware.
(Quran, 2:154)

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Page 2: Muslim Ummah

The Awakening, Issue 1, Vol. 1, Number 2

Mission of the Pen

- Imam Khomeini (ra)

That pen is worthwhile which awakens the masses. Pens
make martyrs and nurture them. The pen can be more
creative than the blood of the martyrs. The pen is itself a
weapon; it must be in the hands of the virtuous and the
scholarly persons.
The pen you hold in your hand, as well as your tongue, are
in God's Presence. Make every effort to use your pen and
tongue for the exaltation of Islam, the country and the
nation. If pens become active for God and His people,
machineguns would retreat. Make effort by pen and tongue
to push machineguns aside and make the arena available to
pens, sciences and knowledge. In this world if pens work
for God and His people, machineguns will withdraw and if
they don't work for God, they shall be making
machineguns.
That pen is humanistic that writes with fairness. That pen is
a free pen that does not plot. Man has benefited and
suffered losses by pen more than by anything else. Men of
pen and speech should try to call the people to unity. Your
great responsibility today is the pen in your hand.

Don't lose your Orientation

- Ayatullah Khamenei (dz)

"The one who is aware of the developments of his time is not

exposed to ambiguities." [Usul al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 26]

Just like the battlefields... On a battlefield, you are under

the artillery and mortar fire of the enemy from all angles.
Different types of bullets are fired from different angles,
and they whistle past your head. Sometimes you even
lose your orientation and cannot tell whether the fire is
coming from the enemy or it is friendly fire that is aimed
at the enemy's strongholds. That is a mortal danger. It is
very dangerous for a soldier to lose his orientation and
confuse his comrades with the enemy soldiers. If a soldier
cannot identify the position of the enemy and his
comrades, he may open fire on his own comrades,
believing that he is trying to kill the enemy soldiers. That
is very dangerous. Some of us open fire on our friends
and imagine that we are fighting the enemy. Some of us
are unaware enough to forget that creating religious
conflict is the enemies' plot to keep different
denominations of Islam busy with one another. As a
result of lack of vigilance, Shia and Sunni Muslims focus
all their efforts on fighting one another. That is a very
regrettable situation, and that is what the enemy wants.

Proximity amongst Islamic Schools of Thought: A necessity for Muslims in the Contemporary Era
A very important and immediate need
of the Muslim world is to achieve
proximity among different schools of
thought in Islam. It is necessary for all
Muslims to unite by focussing on the
true teachings & values of Islam based
on the Holy Quran, the Prophets (s)
Sunnah, & the enlightening teachings of
the religious leaders.
Necessity for Achieving Proximity

First Point: From the 19th century

onwards, there existed in the Muslim
world 2 main attitudes amongst Muslim
scholars with regards to the West:
1- A positive attitude that of those who
were
fond
of
the
scientific
developments & advances pursued.
They described the way of progression
& success to be in following the
Western political, social & cultural
philosophies and theories.
2- A non-positive attitude which
stressed going back to Islams glorious
past and guarding Islamic identity by
using all aspects of Islam. This was a
reaction to the decline of Muslims and
losing their dignity and grandeur.
We can see that after the World War II,
the first approach permeated the
Muslim world, and many Muslim elites
and politicians followed the West and
organised their social, political and
cultural lives based on the Western
approach.

world, so it can carry out its planned

policies in order to dominate the
world. Thus, on the basis of this
proposition, the theory of Clash of
Civilisations was devised at the
dawn of the 21st century. After the
collapse of Soviet Union the German
chancellor, the French PM and the
NATO chairman in 1995 concurred
Islamic
Fundamentalism
that
threatens the West the same way
communism does. And also, the
Second Point: From the early 16th former American president officially
century,
Western
civilisation announced before the U.S. Congress
surpassed other civilisations and that we should focus on Islamic
categorised all the other societies from Fundamentalism instead of the
primitive to advanced civilisations & Soviet Union.
in this category considered itself to be
the pinnacle of civilization. As time In order to present this theory as a
passed,
Western
civilisation, viable threat, the West needed to
especially the liberal democracies in convince the people all over the
the
and
particularly
the West, not only humiliated others world
but also needed a foreign state to Westerners that Islam is not only a
and threat to the West but also a great
show
their
pre-eminence
prominence. Thus, after World War II, threat to humanity.
the Cold War emerged between the
Eastern and Western blocs. In that Third Point: To prove the threat of
final decade of the twentieth century Islam to the West, some politicians
after the collapse of the Soviet Union, pursued another policy which was to
this conflict ended as well. But still the cast divisions & fractions between
by
amplifying
the
West needed an imaginary foreign Muslims,
jurisprudential
and
enemy and to present this imaginary theological,
differences
amongst
enemy as a threat to its existence to historical
keep its internal vigour and the aim of Muslims and inciting their religious
achieving sovereignty over the whole emotions against one another.
During the final 2 decades of the 20th
century, the attitude of going back to
the Islamic identity and its revival
strengthened and led to extensive
movements. A wave of revival spread
across the Muslim world from E. Asia
to N. Africa and particularly with the
victory of the Islamic Revolution in
Iran, this wave impressed itself upon,
and bewildered, many in the world,
especially those in the West.

The Awakening, Issue 1, Vol. 1, Number 2

A True Story: Mother's love for her martyred son

Stranger: Mother, where are you

going?
She Said: I'm going home my son.
Is it close by? asked the stranger.
She Replied: No, its on Boulevard
Aboozar
Stranger: Come I'll drop you in my

car.
She said: I don't want to bother you,
thanks.
Stranger: What trouble, please come.
She came and barely sat, stranger asked
her - why trouble yourself to come so far
away from home to Behesth e Zehra at this
old age?
She replied: My only child was Martyred
in Sacred Defense and is buried here and I
come here to visit him, I used to visit him
every week now that I'm old I come here
only whenever I can.
Stranger's throat started to choke by
suppressing his tears at her plight, he then
asked her - by what means do you come
here?
She said: I come here by Metro Train or
Auto Bus.
Stranger asked her: Then why are you
walking back home?
She replied: With the only money I had, I
bought flowers and placed it over his tomb
and I was left with no money to buy a
ticket so I was walking back home.

Salutations of Allah be upon all mothers of martyrs.

Sayyida Nusrat Beygum Amin

Sayyida Nusrat Beygum Amin was one of the most outstanding female
jurisprudents and theologians of the 20th century. After being given the
permission of ijtihad by prominent scholars, thus entitled mujtahidah, she in turn
granted permission of narrating hadith of ijtihad to future renowned female and
male scholars. For example, she gave permission of narrating hadiths to the grand
Ayatollah Marashi Najafi. In addition to her academic scholarship, Mujtahidah
Nusrat Amin displayed firmness in her movement against the emergence of
modernism and false propaganda against Islam when she rose against the
misleading ideologies promoted by Reza Khan. In a generation bombarded with
celebrities that entice todays youth to overlook true exemplars, Mujthidha Amin
is an example of a woman with notable achievements in which people can apply to
their modern lives.
Mujthidah Amins Works: Her works reflect her refined soul. According to a
quote from one of her relatives, She did not have any slip of the pen when she took pen
to write and this signifies unseen divine assistances to her. She wanted to remain
unknown and signed her books with the pen name of Iranian Mujthidah or
Isfahani Mujthidah. She wrote numerous works among which a tafsir--e-Quran
was also completed. Tafsir Makhzan al-Irfan: This book is a comprehensive
commentary of the Quran published in 15 volumes in Farsi. After writing a
commentary on the first two sections of the Quran, Mujthidah Amin continued
writing a commentary until the last section (the 30th juz) as she feared having a
short life, & she finished that commentary near the end of her life. This way, this
noble mujtahidah became the only female exegete of the Islamic world who has
written a complete commentary on the Quran from the beginning until the end.

Page 3: Women's Corner

Women in Islam
- Imam Khomeini (ra)

"Islam not only approves rights

for women; rather, it is itself the
founder of women's liberties in
all its dimensions of their
existence."
"The woman has a great role in
the society; she represents the
realization of human ideals."
"No occupation is more
honorable than motherhood."
"The woman's role in the society
is above that of man because the
women and ladies, in addition to
their being an active stratum in
all dimensions, they rear and
train all the active strata in their
laps. "
"May the mercy of God be upon
the mothers who send their
brave youth to defend the truth
and take pride in their
martyrdom!"
"The mother's lap is the greatest
school in which a child is
educated."
"Whenever I see the respected
ladies who, by their decisive
will, are ready to endure all
sorts of hardship; rather, to
attain martyrdom for the sake of
the objective, I feel assured that
this path will lead to victory. "
"The woman is the only being
that can deliver individuals to
the society by whose blessings
the society, nay the entire
societies are drawn to endurance
and lofty human values. "

Page 4: Spirituality

The Awakening, Issue 1, Vol. 1, Number 2

The Goal of 'Arif

Outcomes of living a life

of piety
- Mohammad Ali Shomali
Complete Support: One of the
outcomes of living a life of piety
and having a pure and pious heart
is that we will be given complete
support by Allah (SWT).
He will listen to us, will give us
what we want, and will be our ears,
eyes and hands. In the well-known
divine saying (hadith-i qudis) of
qurb-i nawfil, we read:
"None of My servants can seek
proximity to Me by that which is
dearer to Me than things that I've
made obligatory on him. Then, with the
performance of nawfil he continuously
attains proximity to Me, so that I love
him. When I love him, I will be the ear
with which he hears, the eyes with
which he sees, and the hand with which
he strikes. If he calls Me, I will answer
his call, and if he makes a request, I will
grant it."( Al-Kfi, vol. 2, pp. 352 &
353.)
Perfect knowledge: There are many
hadiths which indicate that one of
the results of having attained
spiritual nearness to God is to be
endowed with great knowledge of
the realities of the world, including
many mysteries that can never be
known through ordinary methods
of learning and teaching. On the
topic of the servant who has
attained proximity to God, Prophet
Muhammad (S) reports Allah
(SWT) as saying:
"I will love him when he loves Me and
I will make him loved by My creation,
and I will open up his inward eyes to
My glory and grandeur, and I will not
hide from him [the knowledge of] the
select of My creation. So in the
darkness of night and in the light of
day, I will tell him secrets, so that his
conversations with creatures and with
his companions will be cut off. I will
make him hear My words and the
words of My angels and I will reveal to
him the secret I have hidden from My
creation."( Bihr al-Anwr, vol. 77, pp.
28 & 29.)

- Martyr Murtadha Mutahhari (ra)

The 'arif desires the Real (God) not for the sake of something else, and he
values nothing above his knowledge of the Real, and his worship of Him is
because He is worthy of worship and it is a worthy way of relating himself
to Him; it is not out of desire (for rewards) or fear (of chastisement).
The meaning of this is that in terms of his aims the 'arif is a muwahhid. He
seeks only God, yet his desire of God is not on account of His gifts in this
world or in the Hereafter. Were such to be the case, the real object of his
desire would be the gifts, God being only the preliminary means by which
the desired gifts are sought. In such a case, in reality, the final object of
worship and desire would be one's own self; for the purpose of seeking
those gifts is the pleasure of the self.
However, the 'arif desires whatever he desires for the sake of God. When he
desires the gifts of God he does so because they are from Him, and are His
favors. They represent His Grace and Magnanimity. So, while the non'arif seeks God for the sake of His gifts, the 'arif seeks the gifts of God for the
sake of God.
Here the question may arise, if the 'arif does not seek God for the sake of
anything, then why does he worship Him? Is it not true that every act of
worship must have a purpose? Ibn Sina's passage contains the answer. He
states that the goal and motivation of the 'arif's worship is one of two
things. One is the inherent worthiness of the Worshipped to be worshipped,
meaning that one worships God simply because He is worthy of worship. It
is rather like someone who upon noticing some admirable qualities in a
person or a thing praises that person or thing. If asked what motivated him
to utter such praise, or of what benefit was it to him, he will reply that he
sought no benefit from his praise, but simply saw that person or thing as
being genuinely deserving of praise. This is true of the praise accorded to
the heroes or the champions of each and every field.
The other motivation of the 'arif's worship is the worthiness of worship
itself. It bears intrinsic nobility and beauty of its own, for it is a connection,
a tie, between oneself and God.
Thus it has a worthiness of its own, and there is no reason why worship
should necessarily entail desire or fear.

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