Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Chapter 16: Re-appearance of Imam Mehdi (as)

There is no confusion or difference of opinion among the Muslim scholars about the ar rival of Imam Mehdi (as) before the Doomsday. In a hadith, unanimously accepted by all Muslims as an authentic one, the Holy Prophet (sws) stressed that Imam Mehdi (as) will cer tainly come before the commencement of the Doomsday.

The Holy Prophet (sws) said;

"If there were to remain in life of the world but one day, Allah (swt) would prolong that day until He sends in it a man from my family and my household. His name will be the same as my name. He will fill the earth with equity and justice as it was filled with oppression and tyranny." Shia and Sunni ahadith about ImamMehdi( as).

There are more than 3000 ahadith of the Holy Prophet (sws) and Holy Imams about Imam Mahdi (as) recorded by Shia scholars. Also, there are more than 70 books written by renowned Sunni scholars about Imam Mahdi (as). For example, Hafiz Muhammad ibn Yusuf ash-Shaafi, a renowned Sunni scholar, has written a book, "Al- Bayan fi Akhbar Sahibi'z Zaman," in two volumes, in which he has recorded the traditions regarding the coming of the Holy Imam.

The other books written by Sunni scholars inwhich they have recorded hundreds of traditions about the Imam Mehdi (s) are:

Al Masnad of Ahmad bin Hanbal (d.241AH)

Sahih Bukhari (d. 256 AH)

Sahih Muslim (d.261 AH)

Sunan of Abu Dawood (d.275 AH)

Sahih Tirmidhi (d.279 AH)

The above most famous books are considered by all Sunni scholars as the most authentic books. As mentioned in the brackets, the authors of these books died either before the birth of Imam Mahdi (as) or shortly after his birth.

Difference of opinion between Shia and Sunni about the appearance of ImamMehdi( as)

Both Shia and Sunni are united in their basic belief that ImamMahdi( as) will cer tainly rule the whole world before the occurrence of the Doomsday.

But, there is a strong controversy among Muslims on the issue of occultation (Ghaibat). Sunni scholars believe that Imam Mehdi (as) will be born anytime before the day of Qiyamat and will rule the world. Whereas, all Shia scholars have a strong belief based on Quran and hadith that Imam Mehdi (as) was born in 255 AH, and is still living in concealment as the Imam of his time, and will reappear by the order of Allah (swt) at His appointed time.

He has a title Imam ul-Asr, meaning the Imam of the period.

Briefly, ImamMehdi( as) is the son of the 11th Imam, Hazrat Hasan al - Askari and Bibi Nargis. He is our 12th and the last Imam. He was born on 15th Shaban 255 AH / 869 AD in Samarra, Iraq. He lived under hisfather 's care until 260AH / 874 AD.

As a normal trend of Imamat, just after the martyrdom of his father, Imam Hasan al - Askari (as), he became the Imam in 260 AH. He then by the Allah's Command went into occultation (ghaybah) immediately.

The occultation (period of ghaibat) of Imam Mehdi (as) is divided into two par ts.

1 - The minor occultation( ghaibatu'l -sughra ), which occurred from 260 AH / 872 AD to 329 AH /939 AD, lasting 70 years.

2 - The major occultation( ghaibatu' l- kubra ), which occurred from 329 AH / 939 AD and is still in process.

No one, except Allah (swt), knows the length of the major occultation. Even the Imam himself does not know about the time when his occultation will be over. No one, except Allah (swt), knows the exact place of Imam's residence. However, there are some reliable narration and reasonably trustworthy clues to form a hypothetical opinion about his station.

Philosophy of the occultation

It is important to do extensive research on the hadiths to know correctly about the purpose of occultation, and the way Imam Mehdi (as) would re- appear.

It is not as simple as we think that our Imam is just living somewhere in hiding, does hajj ever y year, helps people or Ulema and will reappear on any Friday to establish an unparalleled Islamic government after killing all the Kafirs by his sword.

There are some important questions concerning the occultation of the Imam which need rational explanation.

1 - What is the Divine scheme and purpose of keeping the Imam alive but totally invisible to the public?

2 - What is the daily routine of the HolyImam ? Is he just helping the Ulema occasionally, passively observing the daily performance of the Shias, attending and helping the people in their desperate need and that'sall ?

What would be the productive turnout of his hundreds of years stay inoccultation ? 3 - How will the Holy Imam, on his arrival just as one single person, destroy the giant nuclear powers of the time by a conventional weapon - thesword ?

eg . China alone has about 2 million troops on active duty, 600,000 people in reserve and about 1 million in its armed militia uses as a military draft. The combined armed forces of these nations that are trained to fight both in air and on land have more than 10 million troops on active duty.

We know that Muslim countries are not united to raise a strong army for the Imam nor they are technologically equipped to assist him in any other useful way.

How the conventional sword would match with intercontinental ballistic missiles, atomic bombs, artillery shells, mines, torpedoes and many other kinds of strategic nuclear weapons normally used in worldwars ?

We know that the United States alone has a war machine that could launch its forces within minutes of a warning and strike anywhere in the world.

4 - According to Sunnis belief, Imam Mehdi will be born before the Doomsday and will destroy the evil Empires of his time. Does it mean that the Imam will conquer the giant super powers by some supernaturalmeans ? But it has never happened in the whole his-tory of prophethood. Even the Head of all prophets, the Holy Prophet (sws) did everything from the scratch to the establishment of Islamic government in normal and natural way.

These are indeed some valid and useful questions which need satisfactor y answers to strengthen the unshaken belief in the re-appearance of the Holy Imam (as).

According to my research, Imam is not just idly sitting and waiting for Allah's command to come out from the hidden place. I believe, Imam must have a full scheme of work and a broad Divine agenda to follow up during the long period of occultation. But whatis that Divine agenda and his scheduled occupation all through the long duration of his concealment?

The rational explanation of this question will convince the unprejudiced Muslim minds, the grave repercussion of the misconceptions they have about the coming of Imam Al-Mehdi (as). The Sunni believe that Imam's birth will take place in future. This misconception jeopardizes the basic Divine objective of sending the Imam before the end of the world. There is a precise purpose of occultation.

However, our explanation may or may not be absolutely correct as there are many things beyond the range of our perception.

A powerful Empire behind the iron curtain.

We know that all the prophets were sent by Allah (swt) to guide the mankind in natural way. They all were human beings. They all lived in a natural way like other ordinary human beings. Our 12th Imam is also living in occultation in conformity with the normalsunnah of the prophets and his eleven predecessors.

The Holy Prophet (sws) and all 11 Imams (as) had married women and had many children from them. Despite the very short life span of the Imams, and mass killing of saadat, a great number of sayyed exist today.

The 12th Imam must also have married many women. The Holy Prophet (sws) was granted by Allah a special provision of marrying more than 4 wives at a time because of some good reasons. We don't know if our living Imam is also having such provision of mar rying many wives at a time to raise a large population of momineen.

In any case, viewing his extremely long life span, we can genuinely imagine a large population of people in his generation. He must be living with millions, if not billion, of people from his own long chain of generation progressed in more than 1000 years. This population must be steadily increasing day by day in the dominion of the Holy Imam.

This is not merely a hypothetical guess work. There are some remarkable clues in suppor t of the speculation that there exists a powerful invisible country somewhere in the world. There are reliable traditions repor ted by great Shia scholars about the huge number of inhabitants living in a group of islands known as the JAZIRATUL KHADHRA (The Green Island).

These islands are totally cut off from the rest of the world by a large sea known as Bahrul Abyadh (WhiteSea ) .

There is a long story narrated by Muhammad bin Ali Alawi Hussaini, repor ted in an authoritative book Al - Najmus Thaqib. In this story, a reliable person tells in full detail, how he happened to visit these islands totally governed by the Imam Zaman (as). He told that there are large cities in these islands, highly developed and advanced. The names of these cities mentioned in the book are as follows:

(1) Mubaraka. (2) Raequa. (3) Sophia. (4) Zaloom. (5) Panatis. There are also some other authentic repor ts confirming the existence of a huge empire of Al-Mehdi( as).

There are also some other reports by Non-Muslim news agencies disclosing the mysteries of these islands. These reports got a blaze of publicity throughout the world. International magazines, newspapers, radio and television gave substantial coverage to these repor ts. The encyclopedias and World Books have also endorsed these repor ts in full detail. We are giving here a report from the World Book Encyclopedia.

"There is a group of islands, known as Bermuda Triangle, in the southeastern coast of Florida where many ships and airplanes have disappeared. However, commercial and military crafts cross this area safely every day.

Many people believe the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle have taken place under mysterious circumstances. Only a few captains or pilots radioed distress messages. The first recorded disappearance of a United States ship in the Ber muda Triangle occurred in March 1918, when the U.S.S. Cyclops vanished.

On Dec. 5, 1945, a squadron of five US bombers disappeared, and a sea-plane vanished while searching for the aircraft." There are many other reports confirming many other such incidents of this nature occurred in this area.

These islands cover about 1,140,000 square kilometers area which is bigger than France, Germany, Greece, japan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and many other countries of the world. These reports show that a powerful system is working in this par t of the world which can capture, destroy or jam the most advanced ships and aircraft of the world. Also, there is a lot of talk going on for years about the mysterious unidentified flying objects (UFO).

What is the reality of theseobjects ?

Scientists define these objects as something unidentified that has no obvious explanations. It means that these objects are the product of such highly developed technology that the world's top scientists can not understand them and, therefore, they are not able to identify them. Indeed, in such circumstances, any kind of scientific explanation is out of question. Let us see first what these unidentified objects are?

Here is the full report from the World Book Encyclopedia. "People have reported aircraft, missiles, satellites, birds, insects, and weather balloon. Investigators can explain all but a small percentage of UFO repor ts. The remainder may be due to an unknown phenomenon or merely to limitation in human perception, memor y, and research.

In 1952, the United States Air Force, in a program called Project Blue Book, investigated about 12000 UFO reports to determine whether UFO's were a potential threat to national security. In addition, from 1966 to 1968, the Air Force sponsored an independent study of UFO's by scientists at theuniversity of Colorado. The Colorado scientists advised the Air Force that further study of UFO's was not likely to produce useful information concerning a security threat. As a result, the Air Force ended Project Blue Book in 1969.

Many people throughout the world believe that UFO's are spacecraft from other planets. Accounts of encounters with alien visitors have appeared in numerous books, newspapers, motion pictures, and TV programs. Some people have even repor ted that they have been abducted by aliens".

Reviewing and analytically judging all these international reports viz., the Bermuda Triangle, Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO), and authentic narrative accounts of many religious people recorded in reliable books such as the one by Muhammad bin Ali Alawi in his book 'Al - Najmus Thaqib' about the Jaziratul Khadhra, ( the Green Island ), we can rationally arrive at some useful conclusions.

1- That these groups of islands, Green Islands or Bermuda Islands, may be occupied and governed by the Holy Imam Al- Mehdi (as) and his people, where he has established a powerful Islamic government.

2- The Imam's country is totally invisible and is protected and monitored by computerized electromagnetic devices that produce intense light beams.

There are some highly sensitive clockwork equipments, which can accurately ascer tain the identity of all the passing ships and airplanes. As repor ted above, they allow many ships and airplane to go while stop some in accordance with the programmed instructions to divert them to the desired destination for reason not known to us. Some pilots who were allowed to escape say that they believe the country has highly developed technology which can easily destroy orinterfere all kinds of ships, airplane, radar and electronic navigational systems.

3 - The Imam's country, behind the iron curtain, is immensely developed in science and technology.

They have highly advanced aircrafts, missiles, artillery shells, satellites, and many other kinds of nuclear devices. According to the UFO reports, they have powerful long range-bomber aircrafts which are designed to launch an attack from great distances on specific targets in any par t of the world.

The peculiar birds and insects (UFO's objects) witnessed by many people may be these long-range bomber aircrafts. Quran has mentioned these kinds of ballistic missiles sent by Allah to destroy the big army of the elephant which came from Yemen under the command of Abrahah Al-Ashram to frighten the Muslims and to destroy the Kabah at Makkah. .

"Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the companions of theelephants. Did he not make their plot goastray ?

And He sent against them Flights of Birds. Then He made them like an empty field of stalks of which the corn has been eaten up by cattle." (105:1-5)

These few samples of Imam's world, i.e., the UFO's, have demonstrated the fact that the so- called Super Power of this world and their allies are far behind in scientific and technological advancement. The scientists of this world can not even understand the level and standard of Imam's technology. This is why they call these technological products unidentified objects, meaning something beyond comprehension.

As mentioned above, several teams of specialists from different countries have made all possible efforts to know the origin of these flying objects. We know that different kinds of satellites such as weather, communication, navigation, space and earth observation satellites are constantly monitoring the world from space in all sides and at all times.

The US military satellite - often called as "Spy Satellite"- can detect the launch of missiles, the course of airplane in air and the movement of any kind of flying object. But despite this tight security of the planet, no one knows from where these different kinds of flying objects are coming. Out of frustration, some scientists said that they may be from any other planet. But the unmanned space crafts have already confirmed that there is no possibility of any kind of life in any of the planet.

Thus, we believe, the 12000 flying objects (UFO's) seen in different par t of the world may be the military maneuvering from the Imam's war depar tment. This gives an image of the imam's war machinery, which is certainly much superiorthan the combined military power of the whole world. In fact, it is not even the 1% of Imam's military strength.

When Imam will reappear, his new kind of weapons will repeat the performance of his great grandfather 's sword - THE ZULFIQAR. The whole world will surrender to him.

This is a rational explanation of what Imam has been doing during the occultation, which is a period of more than 1000 years, and how the Imam will defeat the strong nuclear powers of our time in natural way.

UFO's reports, which can not be denied, are a mystery for the non-believers and non-Muslim scientists because they have no ground to imagine a powerful country on this earth. But for us, it strongly connects us with our belief that Imam is alive and is fully busy in preparation of his reappearance to overthrow all the powerful Un-Islamic governments and their allies.

4- The whole population of the Imam's country is solely true Muslim. They are all the true followers of Ahlal -Bayate. The country and its all sectors are fully governed by the Holy Imam and his appointed Deputies.

There may be hundreds of highly advanced universities with vast laboratories and workshops, big industries and nuclear plants, space platform and manned orbiting habitat etc., all fully equipped and embellished with highly sophisticated and computerized tools. In these places, great scientists of all disciplines must be working under the supervision of Imam Al-Mehdi (as).

Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (as) got a little oppor tunity and limited time to do some work. But even then he had produced 4000students, among them were great scientists such as Jabir bin Hayyan, Father of Chemistry.

Imam Muhammed Al- Mehdi (as) has been given a full oppor tunity and enough time to develop an ideal world in all respect. So he must produce thousands of great scientists, fuqha and scholars in every discipline of knowledge.

The modern scientific and technological revolution, which has stunned the world, is just 200 years old. It was not supervised by good and matured leaders. It can never compete with the 1000 years old scientific revolution, fully guided and supervised by the Holy Imam.

Thus, there is a strong possibility that from the beginning of the occultation, the Holy Imam Al-Mehdi has been working to develop a great powerful Islamic government, ideal in all respects, perfect in every sphere, in some part of the world. No one can surely know that place as everything belonging to the HolyImam( as) is hidden.

It is mentioned in the Holy Quran that a time will come when the righteous people will take over the power and government of the world, where they will govern the whole earth in accordance with the perfect laws of Islam.

"We have written in the Scripture after the message had been given: The righteous amongMy servants shall inherit the earth. Verily in this is a message to those who serveUs ." (21:105 ) The development of such an ideal government during the long period of occultation is an exciting and remarkable achievement of the Holy Imam (as). Ever since man has inhabited the earth, no such country has existed to lead a perfect social and intellectual life filled with happiness in its true sense.

When the Holy Imam Al-Mehdi will reappear, his absolutely perfect and ideal world which he would have established during the period ofoccultation, will convey the Divine message to all mankind - this is the kind of peaceful and ideal world Allah's messengers were planning to make for you.

This was the Divine purpose of keeping the Imam in concealment. This is what Allah Subhanahu taala wants to show the inhabitants of the earth before the Doomsday. The Divine message is apparent in the wordings of the hadith, that if there were to remain in life of the world but one day, Allah would prolong that day until He sends in it a man from my family and my household.

This is a rational explanation of Shia belief that Imam Al-Mehdi's birth has taken place and he is alive and will re-appear to restore unprecedented peace and tranquillity in the world in a natural way. The Sunni belief that his birth will occur in future to bring peace and order in the corrupted world fails to explain the means and mode of his revolution.

Nevertheless, though these conclusions are in good agreement with our belief in the existence of our living Imam in occultation, and also in conformity with the true understanding of the Holy Quran and ahadith, but nothing can be said with cer tainty and the whole idea about the Imam's powerful Kingdom is a guess network.

Does identifying the residence of Imam invalidate the purpose of occultation?

The Ghaibah of Imam has a Divine scheme that no one should know the whereabouts of the Imam. Some one can argue that if we know precisely where Imam is living then the purpose of occultation is not served.

But our guess-work of pinpointing a specific place of residence for Imam does not invalidate the philosophy of occultation. If our assumption that Imam is stationed on these islands is true and if the wholeworld realize his presence there, even then they will not be able to see him, to approach him, or to reach him by any means. This is the purpose of Ghaibat of Imam which is fully preserved.

Al -Imam al- Hujjaah AI- Mehdi (as) said:

"Rest assured that no one has a special relationship with Allah. Whoever denies me is not my follower. The appearance of the Relief (al-faraj ) depends solely upon Allah ; therefore , those who propose a certain time for it are liars.

As to the benefits of my existence in occultation, it is like the benefit of the sun behind the clouds where the eyes do not see. Indeed my existence is an amnesty for the people of the earth. Pray much to Allah to hasten the Relief, for therein alsolies the release from your sufferings."

This statement of the Holy Imam has made it very clear that everything regarding the Imam's occultation i.e., where he is staying, what he is doing and when he would reappear is an absolute secret and if anyone claims that he knows about it accurately and with cer tainty then he is a liar.

So, I want to clarify once again that whatever I have said is merely a guess work which may or may not be true. But the rationality of my guess work can clear the self-caused mystification, confusion and astonishment whichis always disturbing the minds of our youths and of the people who have seen the UFO's objects and disappearance of several airplanes and ships. There can be no other possible explanation of the unidentified objects which is a proven reality.

Chapter 17: Stages of Human Existence

The spectum of human existence

In the above sketch, human essence from womb to tomb and thereafter, has been drawn to explain the various events that happen one after the other.

This precisely shows that our stay in this physical world is extremely shor t in comparison to the pre-birth and after-death existence. We have lived millions of years somewhere in some form before we were conceived in mother 's womb and will live millions of years somewhere in some form when we will be thrown into the ear th's womb.

From there, we will rise to proceed to the final destination which will be beyond the limits of time. The Holy Quran invites to think that, how this shor t stay in this physical world, is going to shape our endless and eternal life.

Womb to Tomb and thereafter

The following chart has been prepared with the help of the Holy Quran which gives a precise record of events that occur from womb to tomb and thereafter. The Quran has described these stages in various places which are easily understandable to men of average intellect. It has been simply summarized in a map to show that these facts are in strict accordance with what has been discovered by scientists and what will be discovered much later on.

Science progresses by observation, experiments, and exploration. But Unfor tunately in many cases, these accurate modes of perceptions are flawed by wrong interpretation. An honest researcher in science can testify these clearly-defined stages of human existence.

From this self-explanatory map, a man of rational thinking can easily arrive at the following conclusions.

1 - Allah Subhanahu taala has first created the souls and kept them in a specific place.

2 - The soul was introduced in an organic body after the process of fertilization. The body with soul stayed in themother 's womb for 9 months from where it arrives in the physical world at the time of birth.

3 - The life in the physical world is an infinitesimal por tion of the actual life.

4 - Death is not the end of life but the beginning of the second phase of the eternal life. Death separates the body from the soul.

5 - After experiencing death, the departed soul of every man and woman continues to live in a place which is conditioned in accordance with his/her performance in the world. This intermediate place which is a bridge between the first physical world and the second meta-physical world is known as the Barzakh.

6 - The stay in Barzakh may be pretty long but definitely not permanent. The soul will remain at this station from the time of the death until the end of the world / beginning of the new world, i.e., the day of Qiyamath / the resurrection day.

7 - The world will end at a definite time which only Allah knows. The entire universe and everything in it will be annihilated. Thereafter i.e., after the execution of the Qiyamah and total annihilation of the universe, Allah will then resurrect the entire human race that has ever existed anywhere and at any time for final judgment. This will be the most impor tant day for every soul.

PARADISE

Allah (swt) created all the souls and housed them altogether in a place known as Alam-e-Arwah and asked the whole bulk of souls - Am I not your Lord All souls responded, saying, Yes!you are our Lord.

Single diploid cell resulted from fusion of a male and female gamete. The zygote divides, and specialized cell lines develop which eventually results in offspring.

Every man and woman who was born in this world will acquire the final and eternal life which he or she will spend in a place known as Jannat or Jahannum.Phases of life.

As the map of life shows, we have various stages and phases of life.

1 - Life before birth.

2 - Life in this world.

3 - Life after death.

4 - Life after resurrection.

Chapter 18: First Phase of Our Existence -LifeBefore Birth

We have come in this world from the body of our mother as a new born baby. But our appearance in this world as a new living species is not the first stage of our existence. We were created by Allah Subhanahu taala much before our birth . Before our birth, we all were living somewhere in the universe as individual souls. This is what Quran and ahadith tell us about the origin of our existence. The Holy Quran says:

"When your Lord brought forth descendants from the loins of Adam's children, and made them testify concerning themselves (saying) AM I NOT YOURLORD ? they replied:we bear witness that you are.....(this he did so ) so that you should not say on the Day of Judgment that we had no knowledge of this." (7:172)

This verse of the Holy Quran reminds us about a pact that was made between us and our Lord before our birth, that none other than Him is our God.

This confirms that we had an existence and conscious life before our birth .

Those who don't believe in Quran will instantly reject this piece of infor mation i.e. pre-birth existence, on ground that it can not be testified on the basis of scientific experiments. But there are many things which scientists believe but they can not prove them by experiments. At least all scientists believe in some realities which are totally beyond the limits of experimental verifications.

Thus, it is true that we can not prove our pre-birth or after-death existence by any experiment but the incapability of proving it by experiment is not the valid ground to deny these facts.

We now know about the development of embryo during the various stages of the pregnancy (i.e., many facts about pre-birth developments) which no one could have imagined hundreds years ago. Similarly we can never know many facts of our life that occurred before our birth or that will take place after our death. This shows the necessity of Divine books and Prophets which are the only reliable source of such information.

There is also a hadith of the HolyProphet( sws) in which he has told us some impor tant facts of pre-birth existence.

The Holy Prophet (sws) said:

"The souls are (like) an army joined (in the world of spirits) whichever souls knew each other (in that world) are attracted towards each other (in this world) and whichever remained distant and indifferent (there)are disinterested to each other (in this world)". In another hadith, Imam Jafer as-Sadiq (as) says:

"Verily, Allah established brotherhood between the souls in the (worldof ) shadows (souls), 2000 years before the creations of their bodies."

Similar hadith is also present in the Bukhari, in which the Holy Prophet said: "In their previous existence souls lived together as a community. Those who were spiritually close to each other there, remain close to each other here also, i.e., in this world. Those who were at distant from each other there, also have little affinity for each other here."

The essence of this hadith is that before our birth we all humans were living as SOULS somewhere in the universe. Like in this world, some souls developed relationships with some other souls and the force of that attachment remains effective and we revive that relationship whenever we happen to meet them in this world.

The truth of this hadith is witnessed by all of us. i.e., we feel a sor t of deep admiration and likeness for some people and also a kind of repulsion with some other people.

In actuality, all souls have been created by Allah Subhanahu taala as an isolated singular. But after birth, we find ourselves associated with each other as parent-offspring and their derivatives.

Thus, we can extend our speculation on the basis of these ahadith, that the blood relationships that are formed after birth in this world such as brother-brother, brother-sister, sister-sister, parents-children have their roots in our souls.

i.e., souls which have developed deep love and affection for each other in the first world are implanted by Allah in genes to revive that former intimacy in this world. Otherwise, there is no any other good reason known to us to justify why there is always intense love and affection in these relations.

What is Soul

Every living creature has two important components in itself which makes him a living species.G Organic body.

G Soul.

Many scientists do not believe in the existence of Soul.

Organic body

As far as the organic body is concerned, scientists have discovered a large number of secrets about it. They have studied almost the whole body and its composition with the help of powerful microscopes. They can now explain the function of the body from its smallest parts through its largest ones.

So there is no doubt in the existence of body as it is clearly visible and understandable. But scientists do not know many facts about the body and therefore can not answer many basic questions such as;

G How the different organs of the body work?

G Why a dead body can not move, when the same body was amazingly doing incredible things just before the death?

G What goes out from the body which makes it totally inert and motionless immidiately after death?

G Why the same atoms and molecules which are present in the body do not show life in other substances? There is not a single peculiar or unusual atom or molecule in the human body.

So what makes the living and non-living things different from eachother ? Scientists will never be able to understand all such questions unless they approach the last Prophet of God.

The Soul

As far as soul is concerned, we have very little knowledge about it. It is because, soul is totally invisible and beyond the reach of any powerful microscope. This is the reason that scientists do not recognize the existence of soul and declared it outside the scope of science. If we can not see or detect anything by our powerful instruments that does not mean that it does not exist.

Many tiny creatures such as microscopic insects, bacteria and viruses are invisible. But after the invention of powerful microscope, we can see them now and have no doubt about their existence. Today, majority of the ordinary people have not seen these microorganisms but still believe in their existence. It is because they trust the scientists and accept their observations.

Those who do not accept the reality of soul argue that they can not understand anything of this nature. But they should realize that soul is not the only secret of nature which they cannot fully comprehend.

There is an unending list of things in the universe about which scientists have either ver y little knowledge or know nothing. Soul is just one of them.

Similarly invisibility or incomprehensibility of soul is not the valid reason to deny its existence. The nature of soul is such that no scientist can detect its presence with the help of any powerful microscope or any other type of instrument.

Quran and ahadith are the only source of knowledge about the soul.

That is why we say that scientists can never discover the complete picture of anything unless they accept the leadership of Prophets and Imams. Just as students can not seek knowledge by books only but desperately need the help of professors and teachers, scientists also can not seek knowledge about the universe from their observations without the guidance of the Prophet and Divine book.

Quran has enlightened us about the Soul by giving the following information.

"They put questions to you about the SOUL, say: the Soul is an order of my Lord, you have been given, but a little knowledge." (17:85)This verse of the Holy Quran educates us, how to deal with the mysteries of the universe such as soul.

From this verse of the Holy Quran, we can infer the following impor tant points:

1 - There are many natural facts and phenomena which scientists and scholars will never be able to comprehend and Soul is one of them.

2 - The Soul is a Divine Command.

3 - The Prophet (sws) has not told much about the soul because scientists can not understand the Prophet's explanation due to their limited knowledge. This means that the basic nature of the soul is unimaginable and man can never conceive it. Thus, the whole picture of the soul is beyond the human perception. For example, we can never know about the feelings of the man after his death. We can not know whether the dead person can hear or not. But the Holy Prophet disclosed this secret which no scientist or philosopher can correctly do. It is narrated that during the battle of Badr a number of the prominent leaders of Mushrakeen were killed.

The Prophet asked his companions to throw the bodies of the dead mushrakeen into a ditch near the battle field. Then the Holy Prophet (sws) himself went to that well and addressed the dead.

"We have found that what Allah had promised to us has come true. Have you also got what He promised toyou ?"

Some companions of the Holy Prophet said: Prophet of Allah!do you talk with those who have been slain and are dead? Do they hear what you said? The Holy Prophet replied; Now they hearbetter than you.

From this tradition and from many other traditions, it becomes clear that in spite of the separation of body and the soul after death, the soul does not totally break its relation with body with which it was attached for years.

4 - As we know very little about the nature of the Soul, we can not say with cer tainty about actuality of such things as;

a - where in the body soul lives,

b -does it live in the brain or is spread everywhere in the body.

However, there is no doubt that we all have soul in ourselves and our body is a vehicle or tool of the Soul.

As the entire organs of the body work under the full command of the organic brain, the brain itself is dictated by the Soul.

SOUL -- Brain's network -- Organs of the Body

All scientists believe without any difference of opinion that each and every organ of the body strictly follows the instructions of the brain. The brain does give instruction to special organs to perform work and only then they do cer tain kinds of work.

But SOUL is the master control center of the brain. Imam Ghazali, a renowned Sunni scholar of the 11th century beautifully expressed this fact in a very simple manner. He said;

Body is just a vehicle for the soul as a horse is for the rider; it is the soul that deter mines our journey in this life, just as the rider guides the travel of the horse in the land. Accountability, therefore, is for the rider, not the horse.

This is also clear from one of the hadith of the Holy Prophet (sws) in which he said; Actions will be judged according to intentions.

The intentions are always formed by the souls, and actions are simply their manifestations. The brain is only an instrument that brings the intentions into actions. The other par ts of the body are the means that carry out the function.

Judgments, intentions, planing, decisions, don't have any location within the cells of the brain nor can they be traced out in the hear t or any other part of the organic body.

The brain simply takes commands from the Soul and executes it through its army (appropriate organs of the body) solely for the pleasure of the Soul.

Thus for our every action and thought, the Soul is solely responsible. The rewards and punishmentsis also for the Soul only. Quran says;

"On that day we shall seal their mouths. There hands will speak to us, and their feet will testify to their misdeeds." (36:65)

"When they enter hellfire, their eyes and ears and the skins on their bodies shall give witness against them on account of the sins they have committed. They will address their skins asking them, why do you give witness against us? They will receive the answer: the Lord Who gave speech to all things andWho first created you has given speech to us too, certainly you will return to Him." (41:20-21)

This means that all our organs which were used by the Soul to seek itspleasure, will testify against our Soul and will speak on how they executed or performed the commands of our Soul.

Thus all kinds of pains and pleasures are experienced by the soul through the network of brain. This is why the Soul is absolutely responsible for all our actions whether good or bad.

Chapter 8: Polytheism - Shirk

The antonym of Tawhid is Polytheism. Polytheism or Shirk means to consider anyone god other than the true God. It is the most heinous and unforgivable crime. Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (as) has said: Among all sins, Shirk is the most sinful act. Kinds of Shirk or Polytheism.

There are many kinds of Shirks, but the Holy Prophet (sws) has classified them into two main categories, which are as follows.

1 - Shirk-e-Akbar.( Major Shirk - Open and apparent Shirk )

2 - Shirk-e-Asghar.( Minor Shirk - Concealed or hidden Shirk )

SHIRK-E-AKBAR OR MAJOR SHIRK. [OPEN SHIRK]

Major Shirk or Shirk-e-Akbar means explicitly open polytheism. Definition of Major Shirk.

Major Shirk is of two kinds.

1- To associate anyone with Allah Taala as His part.

2- To associate Allah's attributes to someone as his own.

Associating Allah with someone or something as His par t means, to believe in more than one God. i.e., two, three, and many separate gods or two, three, or many inseparable gods. Associating Allah's attributes to someone or something means, giving His attributes, like His knowledge or His might, to anyone else. Or considering or por traying anyone like Him.

He believes in many gods, separate or inseparable.

He associates anyone in anyway with God as a par t of Him.

He portrays anyone in anyway possessing supernatural powers like God.

He portrays or characterizes any Prophet or Imam or a leader as God or like God or a part of God.

All such people are known as polytheists or mushriks. It is impor tant to know more about all kinds of Shirk in order to refrain from them completely.

Idol worship - Believing in many gods. It is the most apparent kind of Shirk. All religions in which people worship many gods or idols or anyone other than God or associate God with anyone, are polytheistic religions. The followers of these religions are Mushriks.

There are many religions which practice idol worship.

Zoroastrians believe in two gods - god of evil (darkness) and god of goodness (light). Buddhists do not believe in God. But Buddhists worship the statue of Gautam Buddha as their god. So do the followers of Jainism. They both are polytheistic religions.

In Hinduism, there are three main gods, and traditionally 33 million other gods and goddesses. In order to call themselves monotheistic, they say that behind all these gods, there is also a single spiritual entity called Brahma.

Christians also believe that God is present in three forms. This is known as trinity i.e. they believe that in one God there are three Divine persons - the Father, the Son, and theholy Spirit or holy Ghost. This means that Christians divide god into three par ts, Father - Son - Holy Spirit, and unite them together to make one single god. They use paintings, statues, and other art to depict their sacred figures and stories from the Bible.

In Eastern Europe and the Near East, worshipers give special reverence to icons (images of Jesus Christ or the saints).

Christians known as iconoclasts opposed the use of images because they considered it idolatry. But other Christians argued that such images (icons) are merely symbols to help worshippers think of God.

A dispute called the iconoclastic controversy raged between the two sides during the AD 700's and early 800's. The iconoclasts destroyed the pictures and statues in many churches. A similar disagreement over the use of images broke out between Protestants and Roman Catholics during the 1500's in which Protestant destroyed many statues and images which were being worshipped by the Catholics.

The ancient Greeks and Romans had polytheistic religions. They assumed sky, stars, sun, planets, moon, and many other things as gods and used to worship them. They named each day of the week and month by their god such as Sunday (sun), Monday (moon).

The ancient Egyptian people considered their kings( Pharaohs ) to be living gods. In the Shinto religion of Japan, gods are thought to reside in par ticular trees, rocks and streams.

Before World War 11( 1935 -1945 ), the Japanese people honored their emperor as god. On September 2, 1945 Emperor Hirohito who was considered and worshipped by Japanese as their god, officially surrendered and announced his defeat. Thousand of Japanese were weeping seeing their god in such a humiliated condition. On Jan. 1, 1946, Emperor Hirohito renounced all claims to the divinity (god) that for merly had been claimed for him. The constitution of 1947, which he approved, changed him from sovereign to "symbol of the state"

The Gallis or Ghullat (extremists), among Muslims, form another group of Mushriks. They are also called Mufawwiza. They believe that Allah has delegated His powers or entr usted all affairs to the Holy Imams. According to them, the Imams give life and death, and they also give us sustenance. According to all Shia Ulama, any person who has this belief or similar views about Imams is a Mushrik.

Islam considers all such religions as polytheistic and believes in the absolute oneness of God. Quran has rigorously condemned all these religions and tells that the followers of these religions will be severely punished.

Thus, all religions, except Islam, are polytheistic religions. Islam is the only religion which strongly believes in pure monotheism (i.e., absolute oneness of God).Associating God with someone. Another kind of Major Shirk is:

G to associate Allah with someone as par t of Him,

G to consider anyone like Him,

G to give Allah's attributes to anyone else,

G to include anyone in the worship of Allah.

Imam Jafer Sadiq (as) has said;

"If someone performs an action for Allah, and includes in it the pleasure of a human being, then the doer of that action is a Polytheist".

All Shia Ulama agree, as stated by an eminent Shia scholar of Iran, Sultan'l-Wa'izin Shirazi, who is well-known for his monumental book, The Right Path, also published in English with a title, Peshawar Nights, that offering in the name of other than Allah, or to include anyone in the offerings being made in the name of Allah, is not allowed in Mazhab -e- Ahlal- Bayit. He further writes in the same book at page number 40 that;

"If we make an offering not in the name of Allah, but for someone else, whether he be dead or alive, or if we include him with the name of Allah, even if he is an Imam or his son, the offering is not valid If this is done knowingly then it is evident polytheism as is clear from the verse "and not join anyone in the service of your Lord" (18:110) He further adds,

"All Shia Jurists agree that to make an offering in the name of any person, including Prophets or Imams, is wrong. If it is done intentionally, it is polytheism. An offering must be made in the name of Allah.Although, we are allowed to do it wherever and whenever we like. For instance, if someone takes a goat to a particular place of worship or to the tomb of an Imam and sacrifices it in the name of Allah alone, there is no harm in it. But if pledges to make an offering in the name of the Prophet or an Imam, or some other person, it is forbidden."

Portraying anyone like God.

The third kind of Shirk is to por tray anyone as God. This type of Shrik is the outgrowth of inferiority complex and scantiness. Many grand personalities, powerful kings, and great saints were worshipped as gods by their people.

Krishna, popularly known as Lord Krishna, Ram Chanderji, Gautam Buddha, Firaun, Namr ud,were all human beings. But people worshipped them because they were highly impressed by their character, or wealth, or power.

Nusairi call HazratAli( as) their god because of his extraordinary personality. Apparently it seems that they have raised the status of Hazrat Ali (as) by calling him god. Some ignorant Shia poets also, under this false impression, refer Hazrat Ali ibn-Abi Talib (as) as the god of Nussairi in their poetry. But in actuality, they commit a big sin of degrading the Holy Imam and putting his sacred name in the list of gods( people of much lower rank )mentioned above. Thus, whenever we find any great personality and his incredible achievements, we must appreciate him, but we must glorify Allah, as He is the one who gave him power, talent, energy, opportunity, and finally success.

Portraying Prophets or Imams as gods.

All Muslim scholars, Shia and Sunni, without any difference of opinion, consider it a major Shirk [Shirk-e -Akber].

A Muslim becomes Mushrik if he por trays any of the Prophet or Imam in any way or in any form as God or like God or part of God. In the articles of Islamic acts, Ayatullah al-UzmaAs- Sayyid Abul Qasim al - Khui, (and all other marja as well) describes Ghulat as a kind of Shirk and Kufr, and writes;

"Those who believe one of the holy twelve Imams to be God or say that God has penetrated into him are Kafirs."(ar ticle 107)

Imams have cursed those people who give them Divine attributes and call them in a way as some body is calling God.

During the time of Hazrat Imam Jafer Sadiq (as), some one attributed some false hadith to his father, Hazrat Imam Muhammad Baqir (as), in which various aspects of divinity were attached to the Imams, notably Amir ul- Muminine Hazrat Ali(as). The people who were spreading these fabricated ahadith were the followers of Mughir bin Said and those of Abi Khattab Muhammad bin al-Assadi.

When Imam Jafar Sadiq (as) heard about this, he said; "May Allah curse Mughira bin Said as he used to tell lies against my father, May Allah make him taste the heat of burning iron, May Allah curse those who say about us what we do not say ourselves, May Allah curse those who try to make us away from the servitude of Allah, Who created us, and to Him is our return and in His hand is our control".Rijal al-Kishi. Precisely, according to the teaching of the Holy Prophet (sws) and his Ahlal Bayit (as), if anyone knowingly or ignorantly commits any of the followingact , then he has committed a major Shirk.

To consider any Prophet, or Imam, or a leader as an Independent Power.

To portray the Prophet, or any Imam as god or like a God.

To give the Prophet, Imam, or anyone, attributes of Allah or Divine titles which make them to look like a God.

To associate anyone of them with God in His Power of Execution.

All of the above mentioned acts are just the same but different kinds of major Shirk. Muslims must abstain from all such acts with full determination as the Shirk is an un-forgivable crime. The Holy Prophet of Islam and his Ahlal-bayithave taught us to believe that Allah has created everything when nothing existed. Thus, creating, giving sustenance, granting bounties, death, life, health, wealth, sickness, all in all are under His control.

Amirul Mu'mineen Ali ibn Abi Talib(as) wrote a lengthy letter to his son Imam Hassan(as) advising him to ask Allah alone in all desperate situations. Imam Ali (as) writes:

" In all your affairs resign yourself to your Allah, because you will thus be resigning yourself to a secure shelter and a strong protector. You should ask (dua) only from your Lord because in His hand is all the giving and depriving. Seekgood (from Allah) as much as you can...." Letter no 31 Nahjul Balagha.

Muslims should take extreme caution while praising the Prophets and Imams. The magnitude of their greatness is certainly unimaginable and their status is beyond our praise, but they all were human beings and we mustn't depict them as God or like a God or give Allah's attributes to any one of them.

Quran reflects:

"They (Christians) have taken their rabbis and monks as Lords besides Allah, and also al- Masih, son of Maryam, though they were ordered to serve one God only. There is no god but He, Exalted be He above those whom they associate with Him." (9:31)The teaching of monotheism is that their is no god but Allah, Who has no par tner. There is none like Him. It is basically impossible that there could be anyone like Him. If anyone is like Him then it means that there are two gods which is impossible.

Divine Warnings to Mushriks.

Quran has explicitly warned all the inhabitants of the planet earth that all kinds of Mushrikeens (polytheists) will straight go to the Hell-Fire and will remain there for ever. Allah has made His Paradise haram for them.

"Allah has forbidden to him (mushrik) the paradise, and his abode is the fire." (5:72) Quran has also made it very clear that The Most Merciful Allah may forgive our other sins but will definitely not forgive the sin of Shirk.

"Surely Allah does not forgive those who associate other gods with Him, and forgives what is besides that to whomsoever He pleases; and whoever associates other gods with Allah, is guilty of a heinous sin". (4:48)

Quran also informs that all prophets and wise men have condemned Shirk and have advised their followers not to commit this heinous crime. "And Luqman said to his son when admonishing him: My son, associate none with Allah, for to associate others with Him is a tremendous wrong." (31:13) Quran has announced that Mushriks have been driven out from the human community.

Islam considers the Mushrik, the outcast of the human race. They are officially not allowed to enter the sacred places like Makkah, Madinah and all mosques. There are special security posts at all entry points of Makkah and Madinah for screening.

"O Believers: Know that that the idolaters (Mushriks) are unclean. Let them not approach the sacred mosque".....( 9:28) Muslims are not allowed to marry Mushrik man or woman.

"Do not marry Mushrik women until they become Muslims. A Muslim slave woman is better than a Mushrik woman even though she allures you. Nor marry (your girls) to Mushriks until they become Muslims. A Muslim slave is better than a Mushrik, even though he allures you. Mushriks invite you to the Hellfire. But Allah invites you by His grace to the gardens of (BLISS) and forgiveness." (2:221)

Islam considers Mushrik, the most discarded persons.

"The adulterer should marry only an adulteress or a Mushrik and the adulteress should marry only an adulterer or a Mushrik. Muslims are not allowed to marry such persons." (24:3) Quran admonishes Muslims not to socialize with Mushriks and follow their lifestyle. However, Islam allowsto have business relationships with extreme caution.

"If you were to obey them, you shall indeed become polytheist (Mushrik)". (6:121)

The reason Quran discourages mingling with Mushriks is, because they have been infected by Satan and will transmit the satanic germs to all those who will freely join them. "(Satan has) no authority over those who believe and put their trust in their Lord. He (Satan) only has power over those who befriendhim, and those who serve other gods besides Allah (i.e., Mushriks)". (16:99-100) Three Staunch Enemies of Shirk [Polytheism].

All the 124,000 Prophets, their successors, associates and the true followers effectively preached Tawhid [Pure Monotheism] and exhaustively fought Shirk [Polytheism], but THREE out of them will be remembered as the Heroes and Men of admirable exploits in the histor y of mankind.

The three Champions are:

1- Hazrat Ibrahim (as).

2- Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (sws)

3- Hazrat Ali (as).

Hazrat Ibrahim (as) embarked a historic war against the Shirk and idolatry. He alone destroyed all the idols which were being worshipped by his whole nation. Quran has quoted many of his beautiful scientific speeches which he gave to his nation denouncing the Shirk and idol-worship.

Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (sws) waged a grand and heroic war against all kinds of polytheism and taught pure and absolute monotheism, "There is no god but Allah, Who has no partner ".

Thousands of people rejected Shirk and accepted his message of Tawhid in his life time, and billions of people, since then, have followed his teaching of pure monotheism. He is the Hero of the Heroes.

HazratAli( as) destroyed all the 360 idols which were placed in the Kaaba. He made the historic announcement that no Mushrik is allowed to enter in the vicinity of sacred Kaaba. The Divine Order of Exclusion, declared by him,are enforced till today and will remain valid until the entire human race rejects polytheism and becomes Muslim.

One of the titles of Hazrat Ali (as) is Killer of Mushrikeens

MINOR SHIRK OR SHIRK-E-ASGHAR. [CONCEALED SHIRK]

The Holy Prophet and the 12 Imams have tightly sealed the Islamic faith to leave no way for penetration of shirk. Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), a Scottish essayist, historian and great philosopher, writes in his famous book, 'On Heroes and hero-worship', that Prophet Muhammad (sws) has dismantled all man-made gods when he acquired the highest position and claimed that he is a human being.

The Holy Prophet made extensive effor ts that Muslims should never commit Shirk like the nations of the previous prophets. But despite his great effor ts of crushing Shirk, he expressed his fear that his Ummah will commit Shirk-e-Asghar. He, therefor, specifically cautioned about the Shirk-e-Asghar. The Holy Prophet (sws) said;

"Abstain from minor Polytheism. The worst thing which I fear for you is your hidden polytheism; so rise above it since among my followers polytheism is more secret than the creeping of the ant on a hard stone in the dark night."

What is Shirk-e-Asghar ?

Shirk-e-Asghar means hidden Shirk. A person commits Shirk-e-Asghar, when he says in words that there is no god except Allah, but his thoughts and action doesn't reflect his belief. The most apparent example of Shirk-e- Asghar, as mentioned by the Holy Prophet (sws), is Al-Riya (show-off). Riya means to do any work with the intention of the Ibadat (i.e., to please Allah) but in actuality to show the people or to please and gratify anyone else.

The Holy Prophet (sws) said;

"One who offers the ritual prayers in an ostentatious way is a polytheist. One who keeps the fast, or gives alms, or performs the Hajj to show the public his righteousness or to earn good name is a polytheist."

The Holy Quran warns

"Whoever hopes to meet his Lord, he should do good deeds, and not join anyone in the service of his Lord". (18:110)This verse shows that the fundamental ar ticle of faith is that man should do obedience and worship Him alone, and not include anyone in worship, or associate anyone else with God. In other words, if a person offers prayers or performs hajj or does any good act merely to show the public, then it is Shirk. If anyone intends to pray to a created being, he is a polytheist. Other examples of Shirk-e-Asghar are:

1- Lack of trust in Allah.

2- To depend on material resources.

3- To consider anyone other than Allah as his sole helper or savior.

4- To rely on secondary causesthat completely divert the attention from Allah (s.w.t).

In fact, all the above kinds of Shirk are interrelated and have emerged due to the weak Imaan and poor knowledge. Aperson who has no strong faith in Allah, will always build his hopes and fears on secondary causes. He thinks that power lies intrinsically in secondary causes. This is also a kind of polytheism.

Secondary causes means, the apparent source. For instance, the sun, air, water and plants are the basic source of life. Without them, living beings can not survive. It is a truth, which no one can deny. But if one considers them the first cause or the original source of life, then this is polytheism.

But if we believe that the power of the Sun and beneficial proper ties of air, water and plants are by the Power of Allah (swt), and that they are simply the means of life fixed by Him to enjoy His benevolence, then this is not polytheism. It is rather a form of worship. To pay attention to the signs of Allah (swt) is a prelude to attending to Allah (swt). A reference has been made in the verses of the Holy Quran to the fact that we should ponder in the creations of Allah (swt) to build up our faith in Him.

Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq (as) has beautifully explained, how to avoid this kind of Shirk. He said, if anyone saves your life and you feel obliged to thank him immensely (which is also necessary) thendon't say that, it is you who have saved my life. Instead of this, Imam said, you should say, I am indeed grateful to Allah that he saved my life through you, I pray Allah to give you full reward of your service.

This means that we must thank the person who makes himself available to offer help, but we must realize in the bottom of our hear t that the real source of help is Allah Subhanahu Taala, who made him available and capable to help me.

This is applied to all kinds of help and favors whether small or big. Thus, whenever, we seek help from anyone, be he a Prophet or Imams, we must bear this fact in mind that the help will come from Allah and that the entire matter depends on Allah's will. In other case, if we ask help from anyone, even the Prophet or Imam, which diver ts our attention from Allah (swt), then cer tainly it is a Shirk which has been strictly forbidden by The Holy Prophet (sws) and Imams.

All Shia ulamaa and scholars believe that if anyone considers the Prophet or Imam as being Allah or partners in His-self, or ignorantly portrays them like Allah, he is surely a Mushrik. Whenever we call our Imams for help, as they are alive by the grace of All-Mighty Allah, we consider them precisely the means of approaching Allah Taala. We seek the help of Allah Taala through them as they are the chosen ones. We never ask dua from them, but we ask dua from Allah through them. It is just like as we approach a doctor for some medical assistance, knowing that he has good knowledge and experience, but we never consider him God or like God, who can save us by his own power. However, if anyone does so, then he is a Mushrik, whether he does it knowingly or unknowingly.

It is very important to read the duas of our Imams who have educated us that we should always ask help from Allah and how to seek help from others without committing Shirk.

Amirul Mu'mineen HazratAli( as) says in his sermon no - 225 in Nahjul Balagha; "O Lord! You are the best Companion of those who love you; and the best source of remedy for all who place reliance onyou .... and if hardship and difficulty assail them, You alone are their refuge."

What is Shirk and What is notShirk ?

Some Muslims accuse Shias of committing Shirk, and call them Mushrik. They charge Shias on the grounds that they portray Imams as god. Of course if anyone does so then he is definitely a Mushrik. But this is definitely not true that Shia madhab portrays Imams as gods. They do a basic mistake in analyzing the Shia mazhab. They have formed their opinion about Shia mazhab from their observation of some Shia practices and not from the authentic books which truly describe basic faith of Shia madhab.

If one wishes to determine the faith of a community, he should not rely on uninformed people of that community or unconfirmed reports or unreliable books.

For example, a vast majority of Muslims in the world are uneducated, and many educated Muslims are not practicing Muslims. An ignorant non-Muslim can form a wrong opinion about Islam from this surface observation. He can wrongly conclude that Islam does not give importance to education. But the truth is just opposite. Islam considers education as the basic requirement of being a Muslim, but Muslims have not fulfilled this prerequisite condition, and it is their unforgivable sin, for which Islam can never be blamed.

Similarly, if Sunnis wish to know about Shi'ism, they should not end up their research on their surface observation. Sunnis must know that if they see any ignorant Shia doing something against the basic teachings of Quran, then it can not be the teaching of Shia mazhab or learned Ulema. The Shia mazhab can not be blamed for someone's performance who just claims that he is Shia. Also Sunnis should not just believe what they hear from unreliable people about Shia mazhab. The Quran clearly warns on this issue:

"O you who believe! if an evil-doer comes to you with a report, look carefully into it, lest you harm a person in ignorance, then feel sorry for what you have done." (49:6)Now let us analyze the allegation which says that Shias por tray Imams as gods. Can any normal person get confused if someone por trays Imams as gods, when Imams have made themselves an open book which everyone can read without any problem.

All our Imams have left for us a treasure of sermons, Duas, and hadiths which are more than enough to guide us and to keep us on the straight path. Only those can go astray who deliberately ignore the teachings of the Imams and do exactly what Imam has advised not to do.

No one can show any hadith or statement of Imam which says that Imams have advised their followers to ask dua's from them in a manner as one asks dua from God, or to praise them as one glorifies God.

Imams knew their noble position and status and for this reason they left a large number of duas so that no body should confuse the Imams with God due to their greatness. Here are some of the Duas of Imams which clearly show that Imams have left no room for the penetration of Shirk.

Munajat of Imam Ali (as)

All Shia and Sunni must read this dua of Hazrat Ali (as) in which Imam Ali(as) has made it very clear that, it is Allah alone and none other then Him, Who deserves to be worshipped, and all including the Prophets and the Imams approach Him for anything and ever ything, they need in this world and hereafter.

Translation of the Munajat of ImamAli( as)

1- O Allah, I am asking for your protection against the day when nothing like wealth or children will be of use and only that person will benefit who will come with a pure hear t.

2- And I am asking for your protection against the day when a wrongdoer will be biting the back of his hand in regret and will be saying, 'Oh, I wish I had chosen the way shown by the Prophet of Allah.

3- And I am asking for your protection against the day when sinners will be known by their faces, and will be taken by their hair and feet.

4- And I am asking for your protection against the Day when a father will not ser ve instead of his son nor will a son be punished instead of his father for anything, since Allah has promised thus and His promise is true.

5- And I am asking for your protection against the Day when apologizing of the wrongdoers will not do them any good and because of that they will be cursed and will be put in the evil abode (of Jahannum)

6- And I am askingYou for your protection against the day when nobody will have control over anybody and the power will belong to Allah (alone) that day.

Imam continues

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Master and I am the Slave,

and who else can be merciful to the Slave except the Master?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Owner and I am the one Owned by You. Who else can be merciful to the Owned except the Owner?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Mighty and I am the Low, who else can be merciful to the Low except the Mighty?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Creator and I am the Creature,

who else can be merciful to the Creature except the Creator?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Glorious and I am the Miserable,

who else can be merciful to the Miserable except the Glorious.

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Powerful and I am the Weak,

Who else can be merciful to the Weak except the Powerful?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Wealthy and I am the Poor,

who else can be merciful to the Poor except the Wealthy.

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Bestower, and I am the Beggar,

who else can be merciful to the Beggar, except the Bestower?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Living, and I am the Dead,

who else can be merciful to the Dead except the Living.

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Eternal, and I am the Transient,

who else can be merciful to the Transient except the Eternal.

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Permanent, and I am the one

Short-lived, who else can be merciful to the Shor t-lived except the Permanent?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Provider, and I am the Blessed,

who else can be merciful to the Blessed except the Provider?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Generous, and I am the Miser,

who else can be merciful to the Miser except the Generous?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Free, and I am the Afflicted,

Who else can be merciful to the Afflicted except the Free?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Great, and I am the Insignificant

Who else can be merciful to the Insignificant except the Great?

My Lord, O my Lord, You are the Leading, and I am the Straying,

Who else can be merciful to the Straying except theLeading.

My Lord, O my Lord Youare the Nourisher, and I am the Nourished,

who else can be merciful to the Nourished except the Nourisher?

My Lord, O my Lord,have mercy on me by Your Kindness, and be pleased with me by Your generosity and Your magnanimity and Your grace. O, the Generous, and Beneficent, O the Almighty and the Benefactor, by Your Mercy, O Most Kind.

After reading these duas of Ameer ul mumineen Hazrat Ali (as), no one but a mad man can call him god. Imam, who is the greatest and the most perfect man, has shown the depth of his humbleness and submission to Allah Subhanahu taala. He has beautifully demonstrated the truth that his greatnesslies in his servitude to Allah.

All Muslims without any difference of opinion consider Shirk a major sin. But there is a serious controversy among the Muslims over the issue of identifying the Shirk. There are many things which some Muslims consider Shirk while they are not Shirk. It is a pity that Muslims do not settle their differences rationally and honestly in the light of the Holy Quran. Let's discuss some of these controversies and misconceptions about Shirk which have caused a serious tension among the Muslims.

Is touching and kissing of the sacred objects aShirk ?

Is it Shirk to touch and kiss the iron bars and walls of the shrine of the Holy Prophet(sws), or the doors and walls of the shrines of Holy Imams, and the Taboot, Alum, and Tazia, of Imam Hussain ? Some Muslims consider the above acts as Shirk and do not allow the Muslims to do that in places which are under their control. Other Muslims consider such acts as an expression of deep love, respect and commitment.

Let us analyze it rationally in the light of the Holy Quran.

There are certain specific acts such as Sijda, Ruku, and Dua, which we solely do in front of Allah, to show our total submission to Him, and to seek all kinds of help from Him. Of course, all such acts have been strictly prohibited by the Holy Prophet (sws) and Holy Imams (as) to do for anyone other than Allah.

But touching and kissing are the common ways of showing love and affection for a thing or a person. We kiss and touch the Holy Quran and Hajar al Aswad. We kiss the hands of our parents. We kiss our children and others we love. No one says that it is a Shirk. Then, why is kissing and touching of the sacred objects being interpreted as Shirk? In fact, kissing and touching are the actions which are exclusively for the humans or material things and definitely not for Allah as He has no body, and He is not confined to any particular place.

Thus, kissing and touching the sacred material objects with emotional feelings is not Shirk. We very greatly love The Holy Prophet (sws) and the Holy Imams (as) but find no way to express our feelings, as they are not physically present among us. Hence, we kiss and touch with warm feelings of reverence to anything linked to them.

Thus, kissing of or touching Alam, Taboot, Tazia, and walls and doors of the mausoleum and Holy shrines of the Prophet and his Ahlal-bayait (as), is an expression of love and respect and definitely not shirk.

However, if anyone does not express his love for Imams in tradiditional manner as many Shias do, there is nothing wrong in it. The most impor tant thing is the true love with commitment of following the footsteps of the Holy Prophet (sws) and the HolyImams( as) and the real understanding that they are the staunch suppor ters of Tawhid and the mighty enemies of the Shirk.

Is visiting the Graves of Imams aShirk ?

Some Sunni Muslim brothers unknowingly charge Shias of committing Shirk when they visit the graves (Roza-e-Muqaddas) of the Holy Imams. The word Ziarat-e-Rauzai-Muqaddus of Imams, itself significantly shows that this par ticular act can not be a Shirk as the Rauza belongs to a person who is buried there. Ever yone knows that aperson who is buried, can never be a God but definitely a human being. Allah is free from birth and death and anything concerning birth and death solely belongs to a creature and not the creator.

Thus, Ziarat or visits to the graves of Imams is a strong proof in itself that we do not consider Imams as gods or a part of God.

Apart from this, if Sunni brothers sincerely and honestly read the whole procedure of Ziarat, they will not find any trace of Shirk but will witness the declaration and affirmation of Tawhid at each and every step of the Ziarat.

The prescribed instructions for a person doing Ziarat are as follows;

G When the pilgrim reaches the ditch ofKufa, he stands there and recites the following: Allah is Most Great, Allah is Most Great, the possessor of Greatness, Sublimity, and Eminence. Allah is most great, the possessor of Greatness, Holiness, Glory and Grace. Allah is Most Great above that which I fear. Allah is Most Great. He is my suppor t, on Him do I rely and in Himlies my hopes, and toward Him I return.

When the pilgrim reaches the Gate of Najaf, he shouldrecites :

Praisebe to Allah, Who guided us to this. We would not have been guided if Allah had not guided us.

When the pilgrim reaches the Gate of the sacred Courtyard, he should recite, after praising Allah: I bear witness that there is no god except Allah, the One. He has no par tner. I also bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and His Prophet. He brought us truth from Allah. I also bear witness that Ali is a servant of Allah and brother of the Prophet of Allah.

Allah is Most Great, Allah is Most Great,Allah is Most Great. There is no god except Allah, and Allah is Most Great. All praise is due to Him for His Guidance and His suppor t to respond to what He has revealed on the way to Him.

When the pilgrim reaches the gate of the mausoleum, he should recite:

I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, the One. He has no par tner with Him....... When, after having asked permission of Allah, the Prophet, and the Imams, the pilgrim reaches the inside of the mausoleum, recites various Ziarats which contain salutations to the Holy Prophet and the Commander of the Faithful. After Ziarat, he offerssix rak'ats of ritual prayers , two rak'at for the Commander of the Faithful and two rak'ats each for the Prophets Adam and Nooh, who are buried in the same precincts.

People must know that this salat is like another salat in which each and every action is solely for Allah Taala. This salat also is a mere confirmation that we believe in none other than Allah as the creator of the universe and everything and everyone.

This is the whole description of the visits of the sacred places which Shias perform solely for the pleasure of Allah Taala. Is there any element of Shirk in the whole performance of this great ibadat? Every honest Muslim will acknowledge that it is a pure Ibadat of Allah as from the time a pilgrim sets his foot on the soil of Najaf until after he offers his Namaz-e-Ziarat, he is constantly busy in the remembrance of Allah.

How to prove the oneness of God at school level. If there are two gods, then there should be two different types of major systems gover ning the mechanism of creation in the universe.

If there are three gods then there should be three different kinds of systems. And if there are many gods then we should find plenty of systems. But scientists have confirmed that they have seen only one system throughout the universe. Let us analyze the working mechanism of the creation.

Atom is the smallest indivisible and invisible par ticle of matter. It is a unit of matter. Scientists took 400 years just to know the secrets locked inside the atom. Still a lot of secrets are not yet disclosed and scientists are trying day and night to know them. Every atom in the universe is a complete sign of Divine creation. They all have a great organization, beauty and purpose in them.

Now we know that everything is made up of atoms. All objects consist of atoms. The billions of things we see around, natural or man-made, living or non-living, visible or invisible are made up of atoms. They differ widely from one another only because they are made up of different kinds of atoms or they have different arrangements of atoms.

Scientists have arranged the known atoms (elements) in the periodic table according to their atomic numbers. The atomic number is the number of protons in the nucleus of the atom. It is a religious belief of all the scientists, that all atoms, which constitute billions of different kinds of natural and synthetic compounds, have the same basic structure. i.e., all atoms have one thing in common - they all have electrons (negatively charged par ticles) that whirl around the nucleus and protons (positively charged par ticles) and neutrons in the nucleus (core of the atom). They all follow the same rule of chemical combination to form billions of different kinds of substances.

Thus, when all atoms in the universe which are the basic raw material of ever ything that exist in the universe, have only one kind of machinery i.e., common working mechanism, it convincingly proves that they all have one and only one origin of creation. This scientific observation which is not disputed by any atheist scientist is a clear proof of oneness of God.

Thus Tawhid is a scientific belief of all scientists, when they are in their experimental labs, be they Christians in their Churches, Jews in their Synagogues, Hindus in their temples and atheists or polytheist in their imagination.

Quran also gives a very strong proof that why there should be only one God.

"Had there been other gods in heavens or earth besides Allah, there would have been confusion in both". (21:22)

Thus, a beautiful harmony in Nature and a perfect orderliness in the universe acknowledged by all scientists of the world is a strong proof of absolute oneness of God. "Say: I only call upon my Lord, and I do not associate anyone with Him". (72:20)