Just To Be Thankful

Last night, on the eve of the birthday anniversary of Imam Reza (AS), I had an intention to visit his holy shrine to do a big ziarah. Due to some problems, however, I had just a little time to go to the holy shrine. I had no time even to make wudu, or recite the salat of ziarah; I just stood in a courtyard and began to talk to my Imam. I passed all salaams my relatives and friends had asked me to deliver to their beloved Imam.

What caused me burst into tears, however, was reminding all the blessings Allah (swt) had bestowed upon me and most I did at that holy place was to give thanks to Allah (swt): for me to be destined by Him to live in Mashhad; for letting me to attend the holy shrine even for a few minutes and passing the salaams of some broken hearts to their Imam; for letting me, and all Shias, have such a kind Imam ...

Alhmadulillah!

The First Eid

There is a tradition here in some areas of Iran called 'The First Eid', held by a recently died person's family as a reminder at the first Eid (Islamic happy occasion) after his/her departure. The event represents the family's grief at an Eid when they were expected to be happy.

How sad if we were to hold a 'First Eid' for the recently martyred Hazrat Fatimah Al-Zahra (AS), since her First Eid would be her own birthday anniversary!

The Miracles of A Word

Not just a 'word'; it's a 'world'. I mean 'Fatimah', the word that has brought so many blessings to mankind, including myself.

For me, this word has been a 'miracle'. Six years ago, as a university student, I was blessed to make an Umrah pilgrimage. As I had a great love for Lady Fatimah (AS), I always prayed that if Allah is to bless me with a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, He would do this during her martyrdom anniversary. Soon it was time for me to leave Mashhad for Tehran for a flight to Jeddah. However, I was sad because I was leaving Mashhad just at her martyrdom anniversary evening. I supposed, therefore, all my dreams of being in Medina at my favourite time ruined.

There's not an exact date narrated for the martyrdom anniversary of our beloved Lady, and the two most popular narrations suggest the date to be 75 or 95 days after the Holy Prophet's departure.

As a result of something unknown, known to me as one of the Lady Fatimah's miracles, we had a 13-day delay for the flight, so we could be in Medina just a few days before her martyrdom anniversary, according to the most popular narration.

Another miracle was the Saudis' tolerance with our holding great nightly mourning Majalis behind the walls of Baqee', a holy cemetery, though destroyed by Wahhabis, where the graves of four Shia Imams and the possible grave of Lady Fatimah (AS).

Four years ago, while just got married and looking for a good job, I was introduced to a newspaper to work for as a translator. I was asked to search for an English article on her character to translate as we were approaching Lady Fatimah's birthday. Being unaware of Internet search tips then, I just typed the word 'Fatimah' in Google search. In addition to other resources, the word opened Converts to Islam to me. This was my first ever introduction to revert Muslims. Finding no interesting material on Lady Fatimah (AS) to translate, I was attracted to read the 'conversion stories' on that site. Sister Zaynab's story, though not detailed, was much interesting to me, so I decided to contact her (the webmaster in fact) to know more about her reversion. This led to an interview which was published in the newspaper and was interesting to many.

As my contact with Sister Zaynab continued, I got much interested, and of course specialized, in revert Muslims. Since then, I have been in contact with several new Muslim brothers and, mostly, sisters and many interviews with and articles by them have been published and appreciated by many. Add to these finding a good job in another newspaper and proving myself as an influential person in communicating with Muslims outside Iran. These are just the blessings I can remember at the moment and I consider all these nothing but miracles of Lady Fatimah (AS).

Fatimah: don't regard it just as a 'word'; it's a 'world'.

Let Me Not Ruin You!

There was a sinful situation I was involved in for a while; one I was going to be drowned in step by step. Whenever there was a 'signal' from Allah's side to avoid involving more and more, there were 'justifications' from my side not to follow.

On a Sunday night, the tomorrow of which I would be at the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (AS), I stopped involving in the situation. To be honest, I had much internal conflict though I knew I did the right thing. I just feared the 'consequences'; I thought it would ruin many things.

The next day at the Holy Shrine I was worried I might spend my whole blessed day thinking on this. But quite miraculously, I was surrounded by events I had not enough time to think on that concerns. As an example, I met an old university friend after some years and began talking to him for a long time.

It was just the last minutes of my service when worries of the 'consequences' came to me again. Thinking on this for some minutes, I was made known that I was worrying about ruining 'myself', not any other thing. Getting this, I had tears in my eyes and said to Imam Reza (AS), 'My dear Imam! Let me ruin myself, but not ruin you. Let me break myself before ruining your reputation ...

Norooz Gifts

Iranian New Year begins in March 20, the very beginning of spring here. The New Year holidays are known as 'Norooz', literally meaning 'the new day'. As Iranians, we have a tradition to give gifts to our beloved during Norooz. Here are my gifts as a 'Pigeon of Haram', an honorary servant to the pilgrims of Imam Reza (as). Photos by my dear friend Mohsen Bakhshandeh.

INTENTIONS ONLY!

Whenever you look into the Zarih (burial chamber/cage) of Imam Reza (as), you will see lots of money as well as pieces of jewellery donated by pilgrims. On certain occasions, they collect the money and move it to a place to be added up.

Some servants are blessed to participate in a certain ceremony dedicated to this. There’s a big table servants sit around and begin their work. The ceremony is special in that once in a while, one starts reciting a ziarah, du’a, or a piece of poem in praise or remembering the grieves of the Prophet Muhammad (as) and the Ahl-ul-Bayt (his infallible progeny). Listening to this, the servants usually shed tears of both joy and grief while adding the money up.

Once being blessed to attend the ceremony, I noticed the money collected varied from a 50 rial coin (which costs nothing here in Iran) to very valuable notes, cheques and even foreign currencies. No one knew who had made the donations, the value of which depended on the INTENTIONS. Certainly there were very poor to very rich people behind the donations, but it was as if you could see a sign which read INTENTIONS ONLY at the door. Only Allah (swt) can judge the real value of the money donated according to INTENTIONS; perhaps a single 50 rial coin, or even a ‘sigh’ by one with no property to donate is preferred to millions of rials donated just to show off!

The Best Deed

On a Monday, when at the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (as) for a voluntary service, with a deep snow in Mashhad, we were asked to shovel the snow away.

At noon, while sitting in line waiting for saying my zuhr (noon) prayer in congregation, I had an urge to weep, which is normal at holy places. The sound of the muezzin echoed in my ears, reciting at the moment HAYYA ALAA KHAYR-IL-AMAL (Make haste towards the best deed). I suddenly remembered a hadith by Imam Ja’far As-Sadiq (as) saying, 'The best deed is to do good to Fatimah (as) and her children' (Ibn Shar Ashoob, Manaqib, v.3, p.326). I wondered if our shovelling away the snow for the pilgrims of Imam Reza (as), a descendant of Hazrat Fatimah (as), would be accepted as doing good to her and thus the best deed. Thinking on this, I burst into tears hoping my service to be accepted, Insha’Allah.