In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

Sometimes the greatest knowledge can be of ignorance. The greatest virtue be stored hidden with the veils of a vice. The elixir of life kept contained within the happening of death. Perhaps that is the greatest hardship - the struggle of this life. We spend our lives looking for the beautiful within the beautiful gardens and try to find peace and solace in the remote lands of isolation. Yet what is the value of a rose within a vast garden of roses? The sweet sound of silence within a space constructed by silence? We think we are believers, with the knowledge of Being and existence stored neatly within the framework of the mind, ready to pull it in face of confrontation. We think we are invincible to the deception and guile of the damned one. We pretend not to notice the chaos and mischief that is constantly brewing deep inside our hearts. A mind full of knowledge, a heart full of filth. Can we call this being a Man still or have we moved beyond the parameters of humanity? How can one be human and still transgress those bounds which he knows if he crosses will only serve to destroy him? No other creation in the world wilfully acts towards its own destruction. Knowledge is not what we need to awaken us and stop us from treading the path towards self-destruction; we are not ignorant about our actions nor about their outcome. Then what is it that we need to stop this ceaseless cycle of destruction? We gain a few moments of respite after every transgression, vowing never to trample our feet upon the fire again. Days later we are caught in that same fire.How long can we bear to burn in our own fires before we choose to burn in His?

Peace be with you,

Zohair

In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Him, who creates us, sustains us, bestows upon us endless bounties and blessings. It is to Him that is due our lives and to Him which we must sacrifice every second of our lives.

Many things in this world appear to be negative, come to us as problems, suffering; yet within each one, the Most Wise has hidden a fruitful blessing for those who have faith and believe in His Justice and in His Mercy. It is through such a blessing, that I am contented to write again.

In the few moments that we have been given to live, if we truly realize the immense value that lies within every second that we live, we would always think twice before we were to say anything or do anything. No matter what the action may be, or how insignificant it may seem, there are always consequences.

For those who believe that by remaining silent towards aggression, occupation, killing of our brothers and sisters they will evade the punishment of a temporal government on this earth, will soon find themselves to be on the shameful end of the fence. There is no greater way of selling your faith for the love of this world then to hide under the tongue of the oppressor and enjoin in their acts of zulm and oppression, whether by action or by words.

What has Islam become today for people? Do you think it is enough to sit in a corner, pray 5 times a day, do few days of fasting, perform Hajj, and then declare yourself to be One who is Submitted to Allah? How can the prayer of one be accepted who cares not to even blink an eye when his fellow brothers and sisters are being slaughtered and massacred before their eyes?

Islam is not even in question for such people, but rather they must question their own humanness first! What kind of human is it that can watch his fellow man being butchered and oppressed in front of them and have not a word to say? The most essential feature of a human being is his ability to feel the pain of others, to feel the pain of his brother, whether it may be in faith or in humanity, to the same degree he feels his own pain. A human is one whose heart feels the pain of the thorn in his brothers foot more than his brother does. A human is ready to sacrifice all that he has if is able to relieve his fellow man from suffering and oppression. A human is one who is not afraid of losing his material possessions and is ready to dispose of all his worldly desires if that is what Justice calls for. A human feels no contentment and satisfaction while someone else is in a state of suffering. Nothing yearns in his heart more than to relieve them of their suffering and entitle them with the peace and happiness that God has reserved for all. Why is it that today peoples hearts are harder and their eyes drier than ever, when it is today that not a corner of this earth is free of suffering and injustice? Yet many dress themselves in the garbs of the 'educated' and the 'wise', ready to criticize and mock those who still establish themselves on the path of Truth and Justice, yet they themselves first forget to first put on their garb of humanity! It is only if they were to see their own child murdered in their arms, their mother beaten by soldiers, their house destroyed, all their possessions taken, then maybe they would feel a hint of sorrow.

No matter how much the oppressors and their supporters may think themselves to be immune to affliction, they shall indeed by the shameful ones on this earth, as Allah has promised in the Qur'an. Are those so called Muslims still going to enjoy the camp of America & Zionism when Imam Mahdi (AS) comes? Do such people believe the King of Martyrs, the Symbol of the Oppressed, Imam Hussain (AS) will accept them as his followers while they may curse the Yazeed of Hussain (AS), yet they don't dare curse and oppose the Yazeeds of today? Are they going to receive haven and sanctity in the hands of the unjust beasts while the sword of absolute Justice is coming towards them? Awaken and purify your hearts before such an end is to come! The first ones Imam Mahdi (AS) will kill are not going to be the disbelievers, but those hypocrites, those who thought they could run from the obligations of Islam and slumber in the nest of the oppressors.

It is with utmost sincerity I say that we must truly understand the path that we are choosing to follow. If even an ounce of injustice is upon that path, then we may also be counted amongst the oppressors on the day of Judgement, God Forbid!

It is the supplication of all believers and all lovers of Justice that may Allah bring his curse and damnation upon the Oppressors and upon those who support them. May Allah bring shame and humiliation to those who are massacring our brothers and sisters in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and in all lands wherever there may be oppressed people. May Allah save us from being amongst those who remain silent while Injustice is happening before our eyes and give us tawfeeq to be amongst those who will liberate and purify this earth of all injustice inshallah.

Ameen.

Peace be with you,

Zohair

Know that the life of this world is merely a game and a diversion and ostentation and a cause of boasting among yourselves and trying to outdo one another in wealth and children: like the plant-growth after rain which delights the cultivators, but then it withers and you see it turning yellow, and then it becomes broken stubble. In the hereafter there is terrible punishment but also forgiveness from Allah and His good pleasure. The life of this world is nothing but the enjoyment of delusion. (Holy Qur'an 57:20)

One of the greatest shortcomings in man is his forgetfullness. We are so easily taken by the world and all its pleasures that we forget about the most simple things in life. We begin to do things for the sake of doing them and lose sight of the Purpose and reason behind why we are even doing them in the first place. Once man loses sight of his purpose of existence and the goal for which he was created to strive towards, his life becomes nothing but a chaotic series of events that bring no fruition to him, but rather the more he accomplishes, the more discomfort he feels. It is for this reason why God sent us Prophets and Messengers to constantly reawaken the deadened heart of man and to bring him back to the path that forgetfullness led him astray from. It is only through following the path of the Prophets that a person can return to his pure nature and achieve the highest levels of humanity for which he was created for.

Despite the Prophets and the many divine books that God has blessed mankind with, many humans still remain aloof from the Truth and choose to dwell in misguidance and darkness. Thus through the mercy of God, he sends within every persons life many signs in hope to reawaken his spirit and reenlighten him to change his ways and return to the path God had created for him. Often these come in the form of tragedies and events of apparent sorrow and misfortune, which make man hopeless in the world and make him realize that truly this world is nothing but a source of misery for him if he is to take it as his ultimate hope. Everything, no matter how absolute it may seem, is limited and temporary in the world. At any moment we may lose the things that we cherish most. It is by this means, taking from us that which our hearts feel attatched towards, that God makes us realize how transitory this world truly is and that nothing within it absolute. Even if one were to have all the power, money, material possessions that he could desire, he would still live in anxiety whether that will remain the next day or even the next moment.

Once a person has the most beautiful rose in his hand, it begins wilting and soon is nothing more than dust, returning into the earth from which it arose. That is the reality of everything that we possess, soon it all shall be taken from us and we will be left with nothing but our own soul and the deeds that we committed. It is only through loss and despair of the world that a person whose ensnared within the tangle of the world will realize the worthlessness of the world and return to the Absolute source of Power, Wealth, Beauty, Mercy. If man were to taste only a single taste of the love of the Absolute, his heart would see the pleasures of this world as poison for itself and would be in constant longing for the Absolute. Each and every event that occurs in ourlives is a Mercy from God, yet when we look at it through our ungrateful eye, we see it in the form of a disaster or a sorrow. But if we were to look at our lives through the scope of the All-Merciful, the Most Compassionate, we would see them as nothing but blessings for our own good.  As Imam Ali  (AS) beautifully depicted this in a parable: Imagine yourself as if you are being hung by a rope deep within a well. Beneath you, there are dragons waiting for you to fall and eat you. Above you, rats are eating away the rope. On the wall there is some honey. You, ignorant of both the rats and dragon, push yourself towards the honey trying to get a lick. The rats represent time that is quickly running out. The dragons are death. The honey on the wall is the pleasure of this world.

Such an understanding is not given to everyone, but only whose hearts are opened in love towards God and towards those who God wants people to love, namely the Mercy of the worlds, Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and his Infallible Progeny, the Ahlul-bait (AS).
It is only through deep understanding of these personalities, conceiving each moment of their lives as a thousand lessons for our own life, that can we even come near of becoming the slaves of the dust beneath the feet of the slaves of them. It is through complete abandonment of our selfish and deceptive thinking, one that our nafs tries to paint before our eyes as being the truth, that can we make our heart ready to plant the seeds of their teachings. A fruit cannot be grown in polluted soil. Thus before we dwelve within the
teachings of the Quran and Ahlul-bait (AS) we must purify ourselves and make ourselves ready to become their servants and humble slaves.

Imam Ali (AS): Sober up, O listener, from your inebriety, wake up from your inadvertence, slow down your haste, and ponder over God’s words that are not reneged and that are inescapable and unavoidable. Then forsake your pride, leave your arrogance, take heed, and remember your grave and abode, because it will be your passage and destiny. You will be treated as you treat and you will harvest only what you sowed, and whatever you did will be done to you. Tomorrow, you will indisputably find only (the results of) what you did. Benefit by considering the admonition that has been provided to you. Understand what you have listened to and what you have been promised, because, through this, you will be undoubtedly engaged in one of two matters—either to obey God and follow what you have heard, or to have God’s claim instituted against you and you should submit to it according to your knowledge.

Peace be with you,

Zohair