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Mosque of Kufa

Posted by | Aug 16, 2014 | , |

The Great Mosque of Kufa, or Masjid al-Kufa (Arabic: مسجد الكوفة المعظم‎), located in Kufa, Iraq, is one of the earliest mosques in Islam. It was constructed in the middle of the 7th century after the Caliph Omar established the city. The mosque contains the remains of Muslim ibn ‘Aqil – first cousin of Hussein ibn ‘Ali, his companion Hani ibn ‘Urwa, and the revolutionary Mukhtar al-Thaqafi. Dimensions Over the years, the mosque has been redeveloped a number of times. It is surrounded by a trench and once possessed an arcade of marble columns that extended 20 meters in length. It measured approximately 100 square meters with the side of the qibla organized into five aisles and the others arranged into two. According to early sources, the aisles were demarcated by masonry block columns that rose to the height of the mosque’s flat roof. Today the area of the building measures approximately 11,000sqm and features an elegant gold dome and Saffavid tile work from the 17th and 18th centuries. Twenty-eight semi-circular towers support the exterior wall; it is speculated that they date to the early Islamic period. Excavations carried out by Iraqi Department of Antiquities revealed that although these towers stretched two meters into the ground, they were being stabilized by another set of differently sized towers beneath them, that at one point belonged to an earlier mosque on...

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THE FOUR SPECIAL DEPUTIES

Posted by | Jun 15, 2013 | , |

THE FOUR SPECIAL DEPUTIES After the martyrdom of Imam Hasan Askari (A.S.) the mantle of Imamate fell on the young shoulders of Imam Mahdi (A.S.). Due to the serve restrictions imposed by the reigning Caliph, Imam Mahdi (A.S.) was forced to conceal himself from the eyes of the people. In the initial stages of the minor occultation, some very special and selected people among the Shias had the permission to meet their master whenever the need arose. They presented the problems of the Shias in the service of Imam who provided answers to them and conveyed them back to the people. Such selected people were called as special representatives, deputies, doors of Imam etc. Four persons had the honour of acquiring this elevated status and all of them hailed from and resided in Baghdad. Apart from them, there were representatives in other cities also. The shias either conveyed their messages to these representative or directely to the special ones for it to reach to the Imam. These special deputies performed innumerable extraordinary feats in the minor occultation which are preserved in different traditional and historical books. (1) The First Deputy:- Abu Amr Uthman Ibne Saeed Amri : He was from the Bani Asad clan. Due to his ancestral links he was called as Abu Amr but on the advise of Imam Hasan Askari (AS), he changed his title from...

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who are ulu 'l-amr

Posted by | Jun 15, 2013 | , |

who are ulu ‘l-amr (those vested with authority)? o you who believe! obey allah and the messenger and those vested with authority from among you; then if you quarrel about anything, refer it to allah and the messenger if you believe in allah and the last day; this is better and very good in the end. (4:59) ibn babawayh has narrated through his chain from jabir ibn abdillah al-ansari that he said: “when allah, the mighty, the great, sent to his prophet, muhammad (s.a.w.a.), the verse, o you who believe! obey allah and the messenger and those vested with authority from among you, i said, ‘o messenger of allah! we know allah and his messenger, but who are those vested with authority whose obedience allah has conjoined to your obedience? (the prophet) said: ‘they are my caliphs, o jabir! and the imams of the muslims after me. the first of them is ‘ali son of abutalib, then al-hasan, then al-husayn, then ‘ali son of al-husayn, then muhammad son of ‘ali who is mentioned as al-baqir in the torah; you will surely meet him, o jabir! when you see him convey my salam (greetings) to him. then as-sadiq ja’far son of muhammad; then musa son of ja’far; then ‘ali son of musa; then muhammad son of ‘ali; then ‘ali son of muhammad; then al-hasan son of ‘ali; then muhammad (whose...

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THE GENERAL LIFE-STYLE OF THE AHL AL-BAYT (AS)

Posted by | Jun 15, 2013 | , |

THE GENERAL LIFE-STYLE OF THE AHL AL-BAYT (AS) The other members of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS) are the perfect examples of the education and training of the Holy Prophet (SA). Their characters and life-style resemble the character of the Holy Prophet (SA). Certainly, during 250 years, beginning from the 11th year of Hijrah (the year of Holy Prophet’s [SA] demise) until the year 260 AH (when al-‘Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi’s [AS] Ghaybat al-Kubra, i.e., Great Occultation started), in their associations with people, the infallible guides, the Imams faced various situations showing their style of living in different forms. They, however, never gave up the main objective of the Holy Prophet’s (SA) policy which consisted of safeguarding the Usul al-Din (the fundamental principles of Islam for believing in) and the Furu’ al-Din (the secondary principles of Islam for action on) from undergoing changes and transformations, and the education of people, as far as possible. Within 23 years since his call and invitation to Islam, the Holy Prophet (SA) passed three phases of his life. He secretly called the people to Islam in the first three years of his al-Bi’that al-Nabawiyyah. He, then overtly invited the people to Islam in the next ten years. However, he and his followers lived under the severe tortures and persecution of the society and enjoyed no freedom of action that could make a tangible reform in...

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Imam Hassan Al-Askari (A.S.)

Posted by | Jun 15, 2013 | , |

Imam Hassan Al-Askari (A.S.) Imam Hasan ibn Ali Askari, the son of the tenth Imam, was born in 232/845 and according to some Shi’ite sources was poisoned and killed in 260/872 through the instigation of the Abbasid caliph Mu’tamid. The eleventh Imam gained the imamate, after the death of his noble father, through Divine Command and through the decree of the previous Imams. During the seven year’s of his imamate, due to untold restrictions placed upon him by the caliphate, he lived in hiding and dissimulation (taqiyah). He did not have any social contact with even the common people among the Shi’ite population, Only the elite of the Shi’ah were able to see him, Even so, he spent most of his time in prison. There was extreme repression at that time because the Shi’ite population had reached a considerable level in both numbers and power, Everyone knew that the Shi’ah believed in the imamate, and the identity of the Shi’ite Imams was also known. Therefore, the caliphate kept the Imams under its close supervision more than ever before. It tried through every possible means and through secret plans to remove and destroy them. Also, the caliphate had come to know that the elite among the Shi’ah believed that the eleventh Imam, according to traditions cited by him as well as his forefathers, would have a son who was the...

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