Message of Thaqalayn : The Significance of Self-control and Self-purification ~ Shadra Institute Palopo

Message of Thaqalayn : The Significance of Self-control and Self-purification ~ Shadra Institute Palopo

Message of Thaqalayn : The Significance of Self-control and Self-purification

Mohammad Ali Shomali

It is a common idea amongst all religious and spiritual traditions that human beings should have some kind of self-control. Although we enjoy free will, we need to exercise our free will in a responsible way. In the same way that we expect others to respect our dignity and interests, we should respect dignity and interests of others. We should also safeguard our own dignity and long term interests. Thus, we cannot simply go after our whims and desires and do whatever we want. We need to have self-control and self-discipline which leads to self-purification. If we purify our hearts we will no longer need to resist our temptations and control ourselves against lower desires and lusts, since a purified person desires nothing except what is good and moral for himself and others. In what follows, we will study the necessity of self-control and self-purification.

Message of Thaqalayn "Al-Ghadir" and its Relevance to Islamic Unity

Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari Translated by Mojgan Jalali Vol. 3, No. 1 and 2 (1417 AH/1996 CE)
The distinguished book entitled "al-Ghadir" has raised a huge wave in the world of Islam. Islamic thinkers shed light on the book in different perspectives; in literature, history, theology, tradition, tafsir, and sociology. From the social perspective we can deal with the Islamic unity. In this review the Islamic unity has been dealt with from a social point of view.

Message of Thaqalayn: The Prophetic Hadiths in Al-Khisal

  Mohammad Javad Shomali

Al-Khisal (lit. traits of character) of Shaykh Saduq is one of the most valuable early sources of hadiths (narrations) from Prophet Muhammad and his household. Shaykh Saduq, Muhammad b. Babawayh al-Qummi (d.329/940), was an outstanding jurist and a prominent scholar of hadith. He was given the title ”Imad Al-Din” by Shaykh Tusi. In Al-Khisal, Shaykh Saduq has prepared a collection of traditions in an interesting way. The main themes of the traditions are ethics, manners and good characteristics. All the traditions are presented with a complete record of transmission. Furthermore, they are divided into different groups according to numbers e.g. all the traditions related to the number one are gathered in one part then traditions related to number two and so on. It starts with one and ends with one million. Al-Khisal seems to be the first on record to be compiled with this style. Moreover, Al-Khisal is a great encyclopedia on Islamic knowledge and many authoritative works on Shi'ite traditions such as Bihar Al-Anwar have cited it as a reference. The following article is a collection of traditions from the Prophet, selected from Parts One to Twelve of Al-Khisal.

Message of Thaqalayn Tawassul

Dr. 'Abd al-Karim Bi-Azar Shirazi
Translated by Sayyid 'Ali Shahbaz
Vol. 5, No. 4, Summer 2000/1421
"O you who believe! Fear Allah and seek an approach unto Him..."
(Holy Qur'an 5:35)

Over the last few centuries, the Muslims have been wracked by severe discord and hostility over the issue of tawassul (beseeching or supplicating) to Prophet Muhammad (s), the Ahl al-Bayt ('a), the Saints and the Pious, to the extent that those who reject this concept have accused its supporters of shirk or polytheism, while the upholders of tawassul have charged its opponents with enmity and aversion towards the Prophet (s) and his Infallible Household ('a). The result has led to increasing bigotry on both sides to the benefit of their common enemies who have increased their domination of Muslim lands. This article is an attempt to examine and critically study the issue of tawassul.

Message of Thaqalayn Methods of Religious Thought in Islam

By "religious thought" we mean that form of thought which is concerned with any of the problems of a religious nature within a particular religion, in the same sense that mathematical thought is the form of thought which deals with mathematical questions and solves mathematical problems. 

Needless to say religious thought, like other forms of thought, must have reliable sources from which the raw material of its thought originates and upon which it depends. Similarly, the process of reasoning necessary for the solution of mathematical problems must have a series of established mathematical facts and principles.

Message of Thaqalayn: The Geography of Qur'anic Accounts: Eight Questions from Six Scholars of the Qur'an

 

Translated by I. Rasuli Vol. 2, Nos. 2 & 3

While reading the holy Qur'an we come across the names of certain nations, places and persons such as Dhul Qarnayn Dam, Ashab-e Kahf Cave, Dhat al-`Imad, etc. The question is that is it possible to locate these places in the present natural geography or they have gone under any changes? Can we take recourse to science and rely upon the scientific method in dealing with these Qur'anic names?

Message of Thaqalayn : An Outline of Law from a Qur’anic Perspective

 

Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi

Summarized and Paraphrased by Karim Aghili

This paper is an attempt to partially delineate the salient features of Islamic law from a Qur'anic perspective. It seeks to clarify that every human society necessitates that there exist a system of rules without which there can be no public order but chaos. It also shows that in Islam, there is no separation of religion from morals, worldly affairs and from politics. Islam is an all-embracing religion consisting of a set of laws and injunctions which are requisite for the establishment of an ideal society. Therefore, all the laws and injunctions which are of a practical character and which should be applied to human society can be subsumed under the general rubric 'law.' The paper continues by discussing the sources of Islamic law and its goals.

Message of Thaqalayn Ahl-al-Bayt Its Meaning and Origin

Translated by M. Jalali  Vol. 2, Nos. 2 & 3   
The term "ahl" signifies the members of a household of a man, including his fellow tribesmen, kin, relatives, wife (or wives), children, and all those who share a family background, religion, housing, city, and country with him. "Ahl" and "al" are both the same term with the exception that "al" is exclusively used for human beings and should come before the family name, but such a condition is not existent in the case of "ahl".