Vol.

2 Issue 5
The Truth
A Weekly Bulletin Thu. Feb. 1st 2007

A llah is He Who created the heavens and the earth and sent down water
from the clouds, then brought forth with it fruits as a sustenance for
you, and He has made the ships subservient to you, that they might run
their course in the sea by His command, and He has made the rivers
subservient to you. And He has made subservient to you the sun and the
moon pursuing their courses, and He has made subservient to you the
night and the day. And He gives you of all that you ask Him; and if you
count Allah’s favors, you will not be able to number them; most surely man
is very unjust, very ungrateful.
Holy Qur’an (14:32-34)

Word of Wisdom “The ink of the scholar is more holy than the
blood of the martyr.”
Prophet Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Him and His Purified Progeny)

“A wise man first thinks and then speaks and a fool speaks first and
then thinks.”
Imam Ali (AS)

Article Alcohol
The prohibition of alcohol is questioned in the
minds of many people. Unfortunately, many youths, high school stu-
dents, college students, and other adults enjoy the short term benefit of
alcohol to justify their intake.
Those of us who only know to stay away from drinking alcohol should
now know why. Let us take a look at this medically. A doctor was asked
questions, and he answered accordingly.
Q: Doctor, can alcohol help increase appetite?
A: Alcohol is not a prescribed appetizer and could cause acidity,
ulcers and vomiting of blood on the long run. Lack of appetite should
be checked and treated by a doctor. Alcohol is not a known appetite
stimulant.
Cont’d on P. 2
Inside . . . The Message of Devotion
“O People! The Messenger of Allah has said: If
anyone witnesses an oppressive ruler who permits that which has been
forbidden by Allah, breaks the divine covenant, opposes the Prophet’s
Sunnah and regulations, and treats Allah’s servants through sinful acts
and oppression, but does not express his opposition by actions or words
towards that ruler, then Allah would have the right to place him in [...]
Cont’d on P. 6
 The Truth, Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Vol. 2 Issue 5
Cont’d From P.1
Q: Can alcohol help you sleep well?
A: A reasonably healthy human being does not need any substance
to sleep. Insomnia (lack of sleep) can be transient due to mild stress
and would get solved by itself, in due course of time. Alcohol should
not be used as a crutch, or for support. Severe Insomnia should be
treated by a doctor. Also Alcohol is not a prescribed sedative. However,
it does help you sleep through various mechanisms; one of them is by
decreasing anxiety.
Q: Does Alcohol improve confidence before activities?
A: Alcohol could allay anxiety temporarily but it is not a confidence
booster and might interfere with performances.
Q: It is necessary to drink alcohol after a hard day’s labor?
A: Absolutely not. It is better to drink half a glass of milk after a hard
day’s labor.
The World Health Organization
(W.H.O.) had reacted to claims that
moderate drinking may be good for
health, with a stern reminder that
alcohol consumption causes some of the
world’s most serious health problems.
“There is no minimum threshold
below which alcohol can be consumed
without any risk,” says Dr. Hans Embald,
director for the WHO program on
substance abuse.
Recent campaigns which emphasize possible health benefits such as
the prevention of heart disease - are “not based on rigorous scientific
research” and are “to a large extent inspired by commercial purposes”.
“Alcohol is the second largest killer after tobacco, and is the cause of
more deaths that are illegal drugs put together,” Embald said.
“Alcohol produces dependence, causes cancers and chronic liver
diseases and can contribute to accidents and to social problems that
may result in violence or crime,” the WHO statement says. Promoting
its moderate use for health reasons is “insufficient and unwise.”
Relating this topic to Islam, the Holy Prophet (P) said: “After the
divine ban on liquor through my word, it is not permissible to enter into
marital relations with one, who drinks liquor, or to credit his statement,
or to accept any testimony from him, or to entrust him with any charge
under an impression of his integrity, for then God will not guarantee his
faith nor reward any one for it.”
Thus alcohol is a poison and its evil effects are so great, [...]
Cont’d on Next Page
 The Truth, Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Vol. 2 Issue 5
Cont’d from Previous Page
[...] that every courageous man and woman should help eliminate its
use within society.
References:
Dr. Abbas M. Vakil. Ja’fari Magazine. Alcohol. Vol. 7, No.1
Islam and Medicine. Ja’fari Magazine. Vol. 7, No. 1

Letter A Message to consider as a warning!

My Dear Slaves, Servants, and Soldiers:
I first would like to greet you with my curse that I wish all calamities
to come your way. I hope that your life is filled with misery and look
forward to seeing you fall in all your good works. If you are wondering
who I am, then think again. I am your eternal enemy but at times; seem
to be your friend through your excessive desires. I am the devil, your
worst nightmare.
If you would like to know what I do, I will gladly inform you. Maybe
this message will knock some sense into you, for you to avoid me-- but
you seem to fail many times. All you have to do is read on and take this
message as a reminder of who I am. I am out there to destroy your
relationships with your friends. I am the one who laughs when you cry
and cries when you laugh. I am full of smokeless fire and I am out there
to burn you out. I make your works fail and I try to cause you conflicts
in everything you do. I am out there to get you! But yet, you sometimes
take me as a friend, by falling in love with this world, and forgetting the
Hereafter. I am out there to make sure you forget God and obey me. As
you forget God, you have joined me in Hell. I do not want to feel lonely
in Hell, so I plan to fill Hell with people like you.
All that pride, self-conceit, back-biting, envy, jealousy, injustice to oth-
ers, anger, impatience, and disrespect to yourself and others are only a
few of my poisonous snares for you. I love to sit back, watch your life fall
apart, and I appreciate the fact that you enjoy such evil at your desirous
times. You begin to sound like me and, immediately, you become one of
my soldiers. On Judgment Day, I will be your ‘two-faced’ friend and I will
manage every attempt to drag you into Hell with me.
I wonder what you are thinking right now. Are you scared? Are you
confident to avoid me? If you are scared, then this message has awak-
ened the flaws and weaknesses in you. This is your chance to become a
morally better person. But there is only one cost-- if you fail, you will be
charged with the fine of Hell. If you are confident to avoid me, then the
tests which come in future days will show how strong you are by your
good actions. Remember, I am always there to drive you mad but, it’s
up to you if you want me to.
Don’t forget to smile!
Yours Painfully,
The Devil
 The Truth, Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Vol. 2 Issue 5
Ashura Imam Husayn (AS): The End of a
Tragedy or the Beginning of an Uprising?
When certain seasons of worship come around, like the months of Ra-
madan and Muharram, it is very important that we re-evaluate ourselves
to see what blessings we have gotten from them. Were they in propor-
tion with the power of the season? Have we preserved these blessings?
How can we best invest these blessings after the season is over? Many
people are pleased with the condition they have at the time, without
worrying about what will come after the season. The Devil is eager to
take away whatever the believer has earned at the first possible oppor-
tunity. Are we aware and cautious about that?
The movement of Imam Husayn (AS) was a method for dealing with
one’s own soul and with others, for he wanted to teach us a lesson about
servitude at every stage of his blessed movement. We see him depart
from the safety of the Divine Kaaba when he saw that it would please his
Lord. We see him exposing his family to capture when he saw that his
Lord willed for them to be captured. He exposed himself to the greatest
forms of insults and tortures when he saw that his Lord willed for him
to be killed. His sister Zainab summarized all of these lessons when she
confronted the oppressor of her era saying: I didn’t see anything which
was not beautiful. God willed for this group of people to be killed, so
they came out to be killed, and God will gather you and them together
to be judged. So wait and see who will be victorious on that day!
The principle of dialogue through speaking is the well-known method
of explaining the messages of the Prophets (AS), and this is what was
referred to when Almighty God said, {And each nation had its own War-
ner.} But the corruption of the leadership sometimes reaches the point
where warning and explanation are not sufficient to put an end to the
greatest falsehood: the corruption of one who corrupts the entire nation
by his actions – because the people follow the religion of their lead-
ers. So it would be necessary to establish
a movement beyond explanation and
dialogue, an unusual movement in
which blood is sacrificed. This
movement would awaken the
nation from its depths, to
see the corruption of the
leader’s soul, after it had
neglected the corruption
of the leader’s deeds!
And thus the rule of the
Umayyads [...]
Cont’d on Next Page
 The Truth, Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Vol. 2 Issue 5
Cont’d from Previous Page
[...] (Sufyani Branch) collapsed shortly after the killing of Husayn
(AS). His revolution was considered the source of all revolutions, which
arose throughout the nation, likes which hadn’t been seen before the
killing of the Chief of Martyrs (AS).
We notice this year and every year the spread of the Majalis of Imam
Husayn (AS) all over the world. This revives our sense of hope that there
is still a heart beating in the body of this nation, a heart which draws
its blood from the pure blood that was spilt at Karbala. All of that is by
the blessing of the commemoration of one of the Imams from the chain
of the Holy Family of the Prophet (AS), so how many more blessings
would there be if the last in this chain were present? We can imagine
how much the hearts which thirst for justice would welcome this Imam
after they lost hope in all the theories which promised to bring human
happiness.
One of the lessons of Karbala is connecting between the highest de-
gree of chastity and the defense of the religion by whatever power and
means the individual is given. Thus we see Zainab (AS) who observed
Hijab and shyness like no one else. Ali (AS) would even try to keep her
shadow from the view of outsiders by extinguishing or turning down
the lights when she was visiting the grave of her grandfather the Holy
Prophet (P). However when the time came, she was the tongue speak-
ing in the name of the sacred law even in the presence of the Imam of
her time, Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Sajjad (AS). There is a saying that Islam
owes its existence to Muhammed but its preservation to Husayn. While
this is correct, we could also say that the origin of the reform movement
was Husayn, while its preservation belongs to Zainab.
There is a great likeness between Prophet Ibrahim (AS) and Husayn’s
(AS) sacrifice of God. God made the hearts of the people incline to-
wards both of them. What we notice amongst those who gather for the
remembrance of Husayn (AS) and establish his mourning is something
truly amazing! Just as we see people who don’t follow the sacred law
throughout the year attracted to perform the Hajj, we see the same
group showing a loyalty towards Husayn (AS) which is not in propor-
tion to their nature. This shows us that there is divine control over the
hearts, and it appears that the movement during these two seasons of
Hajj and Muharram are an answer to the prayer of Ibrahim (AS). The
reason for loving the family of the Prophet (AS) in their valley of martyr-
dom is no less than the reason for loving the family of Ibrahim (AS) in
their valley of barrenness!
Whatever we have done during the days of Muharram is a divine les-
son, in which God tests us for the heat of love for Husayn (AS).

Cont’d on Page 7
 The Truth, Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Vol. 2 Issue 5
Cont’d From P.1
[...] the status of the oppressive ruler (the hellfire). 
A part of sermon by Imam Husayn ibn Ali (AS)
Pure worship, freedom, justice, piety, bravery, and all other humane
characteristics manifested in Imam Ali (AS) and his progeny were a re-
sult of true monotheism, absolute obedience and sincere attention to
Allah. In deciding between options, the Holy Imams (AS) always chose
the option most favored and preferred by Allah.
The best example of their pure intentions and obedience to-
ward Allah can be seen in the rise of Imam Husayn (AS) against
Yazid from the Umayyad Dynasty: a religious movement and a rise
against tyranny.
When Imam Husayn (AS) migrated from Medina to Mecca and from
thereon decided to move to Iraq, some of the Islamic scholars became
concerned. They remembered the prophecies made by the Messenger
of Allah about his grandson, and thus knew that Imam Husayn (AS) was
moving towards his martyrdom. Observing the situation of the society
and the fear within people from the Umayyad dynasty, the scholars had
no hope in this mission of Imam Husayn (AS). They remembered how
the people of Kufa had betrayed Amir al-Mu’minin and his son, Imam
Hassan ibn Ali (AS) hence, the future was clear. In their certainty that
Imam Husayn (AS) would be martyred, great people like Ibn Abbas
have said: “We didn’t doubt that Husayn (AS) was going to be killed
in Karbala.”  In another statement Farazdaq sent a warning message
to Imam Husayn (AS): “Their hearts are with you but their swords are
against you.”  The above clearly indicates that although people knew
that righteousness and truth were with Imam Husayn (AS), their fear
from the Umayyad Dynasty and weak hearts prevented them from
standing up for righteousness and truth.
The rise of Imam Husayn (AS) was completely apart from personal,
political, or tribal matters, for the Imam knew that the end of this jour-
ney is martyrdom. Imam Husayn (AS) was indeed a servant of Allah. He
is the one who told his brother, Muhammed Ibn Hanafiyeh, in a well-
known letter: “I am not leaving the city to revolt or to oppress
anyone, nor to run injustice against what is right. I am rising to
resurrect the community of my grandfather Muhammed (P); I
want to invite people to good and forbid them from evil. I want
to follow the path of my grandfather the Messenger of Allah
and my father Ali Ibn Abi Talib (AS)…” 
Cont’d on Next Page

 Maqtal of Khaarazmi, vol. 1, p. 234

 Tarikh Tabari, vol. 4, p. 290, Tadhkiarah al-Khawas, p. 250
 Maqtal of Khaarazmi, chapter 8, p. 160
 Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 44, p. 329, Nafas al-Mahmoom, chapter 9, p. 38
 The Truth, Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Vol. 2 Issue 5
Cont’d from Previous Page
Hence, Husayn (AS) was not seeking political power, wealth, or the
like. He was obeying Allah by rejecting to pay allegiance to Yazid, who
openly violated the laws of Islam by drinking and committing innumerable
acts, too evil to be mentioned. He was submissive to Allah’s will to leave
Medina and Mecca; and he was obedient to rise. Therefore, Husayn’s
(AS) intention was only to please Allah and to accomplish his duty, which
was to raise Islam back from the dead and breathe a new life to it by
his martyrdom.
(Selected from “A Light from the Greatness of Imam Husayn” by Grand Ayatullah Saafi Gulpaygani, with minor changes)

Cont’d from Page 5

The Holy Prophet (P) made it one of the tests of true faith. At the
same time it is a claim against us, because after we get these divine
blessings, the judgment against us is swifter than if we hadn’t partici-
pated in them. The one who receives these blessings is not like the one
who does not, and the one who has knowledge is not like the one who is
ignorant. Is it enough to emerge from this season with tears and crying
without seeing an important change in our lives?!
One of the important lessons of Ashura is to be careful not to come to
a bad ending in our lives. Some of the companions of Ali
(AS) participated in killing Imam Husayn (AS). There are
many people like this in history who have been cursed
by the Imams (AS) and who were once their com-
panions! All of us have to beware of the hidden
seeds of major corruptions, especially in the
area of our beliefs, as one of the signs of
the end of time is mental corruption.
Some of the causes of this are
committing major sins, com-
panionship with corrupt people,
profiting from what is forbid-
den, taking the material world
over religion, finding pleasure
in the fancy words which the
Devil distributes to his friends, as
the Holy Qur’an says, {The devils
inspire their followers to argue with
you.}

“Husayn is the Guiding

Light and Ship of
Salvation”
Holy Prophet (P)
 The Truth, Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Vol. 2 Issue 5
Sayings
The Holy Prophet (S.A.W .) said:
• O’ Fatimah! Every eye shall be weeping on the Day of Judgment ex-
cept the eye which has shed tears over the tragedy of Husayn (AS) for
surely, that eye shall be laughing and shall be given the glad tidings of
the bounties and comforts of Paradise.

Imam Redha (AS) said:

• (to one of his companions) If you desire to be rewarded equally to
those martyred along with Husayn (AS), then whenever you remember
him, say: ‘Oh! If only we could have been with you, Sayyedi! A great
victory it would I have been’!

Imam Sadiq (AS) said:

• Whoever recites poetry about Husayn (AS), weeps and makes others
weep, because of that poetry, Allah makes Paradise incumbent upon
him and forgives his sins.
• Whenever we (and our miseries) are mentioned and, as a result, some-
one’s eyes pour tears, Allah shall make his face strictly forbidden upon
hellfire.
• The pilgrim to Imam Husayn (AS) returns from it, without a single
sin.

Imam Sajjad (AS) said:

• Indeed, I have never thought of the martyrdom of the children of Fati-
mah (AS) without having been choked by tears.

Imam Ali (AS) said to Ibn Abbas:

• Once, Issa (AS) happened to pass by Karbala, he sat down and be-
gan to weep. His disciples who were observing him, followed suit and
began weeping too, but, without comprehending the reason for that
behavior. They asked him: “O’ Spirit of God! What is it that makes you
weep?” Issa (AS) said: “Do you know what land this is?” The disciples
replied: “No.” He then said: “This is the land on which the son of
Prophet Ahmed (S.A.W) shall be killed.
Prepared by: Ali Al-Talibi

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