Seerah

Al-Abbas, was the first child of Umm-ul-Banin. With his birth, Medina shone and the whole world glittered. Waves of pleasures flowed in the family of Ali (a), for the birth of their magnificent moon that would light this world with his merits, and wo...

Al-Abbas, was the first child of Umm-ul-Banin. Wit...

Undoubtedly the family relation with the great personalities is an honor and dignity, especially when such great personality is the choice of God and the seal of the prophets. Al-Abbas ibn Ali enjoyed a close relation with Prophet Mohammad (a) since ...

Undoubtedly the family relation with the great per...

It should have become clear by now that all the rulers from the Bani Umayya took over rulership by force. The first ruler of the Bani Umayya was Muawiya. He became Caliph only by force. So did his son Yezid. The house of Merwan, too, became rulers by...

It should have become clear by now that all the ru...

He ruled for over nine years. The Sunni Historians Masudi and Ibn Athir describe him as a cruel and bad king. He openly drank wine. He continued using the services of Hajjaj and let him continue with his killings. On the advice of Hajjaj he removed O...

He ruled for over nine years. The Sunni Historians...

When Yezid died, his son Muawiya became the next ruler. But he was a pious person and he was not happy with what his father and, grandfather did. He was not even ready to rule. He died within six months of his father's death. His younger brother Khal...

When Yezid died, his son Muawiya became the next r...

Merwan was succeeded by his eldest son Abdul - Malik in A.H. 65. He ruled for about twenty two years. Before becoming the ruler he was a pious person. When people came to inform him that he had become the ruler, he was reading the Qur'an. He closed t...

Merwan was succeeded by his eldest son Abdul - Mal...

In the earlier part of Yezid's rulership Imam Husain (A.S) dealt with Yezid directly. After the martyrdom of Imam Husain (A.S) on 10th Muharram A.H. 61, Imam Zainul Abidin (A.S) became the direct target of Yezid's cruelty and ill-treatment. He became...

In the earlier part of Yezid's rulership Imam Husa...

Imam Zainul Abidin (A.S) did not have to deal directly with Muawiya although he lived under his rulership for over ten years. This was because Imam Hasan (A.S) and later Imam Husain (A.S) dealt with Muawiya. However, the Imam had to go through all th...

Imam Zainul Abidin (A.S) did not have to deal dire...

The Imam's first wife was his cousin, the daughter of Imam Hassan (A.S). Her name was Fatima. She was a very pious person. She was the mother our fifth Imam, Hazrat Muhammad Baqir (A.S). It is reported that once she was sitting leaning against the wa...

The Imam's first wife was his cousin, the daughter...

* May Allah have mercy on you - know that Allah has rights against you. These rights surround you in all your movements, in your rest, in all your body parts and every thing that you use. Some of these rights are big others are small. * The greatest ...

* May Allah have mercy on you - know that Allah ha...

1) Once, one of his companions complained to him that out of jealousy some people whom he had served very well were treating him badly. The Imam gave him some advice which was: * Guard your tongue and do not speak about people whatever comes out of y...

1) Once, one of his companions complained to him t...

The "Sahifa" as we know it today is a collection of 54 Supplications, I 4 other supplications and 15 Munajat. These "Duas" can be put into two groups: The Duas that can be read on any occasion (E.g. Supplication for ones Parents, Supplication in aski...

The "Sahifa" as we know it today is a collection o...

Whenever he got a chance, the Imam would advise his followers on how they were to lead their lives. These advises or sayings are in plenty. Over and above that, the Imam gave a lengthy advice on human rights. These today appear in a book form and is ...

Whenever he got a chance, the Imam would advise hi...

Supplications ("Duas") are a kind of prayers to Allah. A person who reads a "Dua" is actually addressing Allah. In the Qur'an itself Allah tells us of the "Duas" of several Prophets such as Nabi Nuh, Nabi Ibrahim and Nabi Musa. The Prophet taught his...

Supplications ("Duas") are a kind of prayers to Al...

The only chance that the Imam had to give an open sermon was in the court of Yezid. It was very important for him to do so because all along, the people of Syria were being told lies about the Prophet (S.A.W W) and his family, especially about Imam A...

The only chance that the Imam had to give an open ...

His acts of piety did not end with only spending his time communicating with Allah. He spent a lot of his time 34 serving human beings also. He regularly visited the poor and the sick and provided for their necessities of life without their knowledge...

His acts of piety did not end with only spending h...

Several miracles were shown by the Imam (A.S) but we shall look at only two of them. MIRACLE 1 After the martyrdom of Imam Husain (A.S), the army of Yezid cut-off the heads of all the martyrs of Kerbala and removed them from their bodies. Then they l...

Several miracles were shown by the Imam (A.S) but ...

Imam Zainul Abidin (A.S) was similar to his uncle Imam Hassan (A.S) and his grandson Imam Musa Kazim (A.S) (Our 7th Imam) by showing a lot of pat, ience to their enemies. You will remember that after the events of Kerbala, he went through very bad ti...

Imam Zainul Abidin (A.S) was similar to his uncle ...

He had great love and fear of Allah. These could be seen the way the carried out his daily 'Wajib' prayers and other recommended prayers. Three things can be said about his prayers to Allah: 1) Once he set up his mind to pray to Allah, he forgot abou...

He had great love and fear of Allah. These could b...

The beliefthat our Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W W), his daughter, Hazrat Fatima (A.S), Imam Ali (A.S) and other eleven Imams (whose biographies we are going to study in this course) are all sinless and make no mistakes, is a very important part of our fai...

The beliefthat our Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W W), his...

The greatest result of the Imam's decision to lead a quiet life was: the government became sure that he was not going to be dangerous to them. They, therefore, left him alone. For example, when Muslim bin Aqaba attacked Medina in A.H. 63, he did no h...

The greatest result of the Imam's decision to lead...