A formal lecture delivered at the Presidential Office on 28th May, 1987 CE. / 29th Ramadhan, 1407 A.H.
The following is a lecture delivered on the last day of Ramadhan in 1987. In that year, during the auspicious month of Ramadhan, in the basement of the Presidential Office, the congregational prayers of noon and evening were led every day by Ayatollah Khamenei. His excellency used to lecture at the beginning and end of the month. In this lecture, the discussion begins with the subject of piety and the need for constant maintenance and care. The next issue is supplication, as a means for reminding and attention. His excellency states that being unfamiliar with the language of supplications is one of the obstacles to the use of them and recommends that good translations be provided for the supplications. Then, as a sample, he translates one third of the supplication of Bidding Farewell to the Holy Month of Ramadhan from al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya. Speaking about the needs of the Islamic state to dignified people, his Holiness ends his words with the mention of the heartbreaking incident of Aba Abdillah’[1], focusing on the subject of supplication. This book, which itself is a moral message from the Supreme Leader of Iran, ends with the mention of the heartbreaking incident of Imam Husayn (as). May God accept and grant us the intercession of the Master of the Martyrs[2].
In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful
All praise is due to God, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our master and Prophet, Abu al-Qasimm al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his immaculate and infallible household, and may God curse all their enemies.[3] All-Wise God says, “Say, ‘What store my Lord would set by you were it not for your supplication?”[4],[5]
The need for constant reminding and attention
In Islamic view, man needs constant reminding and attention. Because, according to this view, man is a traveler and a striver who, if he neglects and hesitates in his moves and efforts, will not be able to reach his goal. He is a traveler or a striver who, if he constantly strives and does his best, will reach the goal at the end of time when his life is over. And that goal is the spiritual perfection and excellence that will make its effect known in the life after death. Everything is a prelude to this, and, assuredly, the life after death is the real life in the Islamic perspective. Of course, today, we cannot imagine that life and that period in our minds, but the Islamic worldview teaches us that in this period, which is called the worldly life, we have an incomplete and unfinished life: “but the abode of the Hereafter is indeed Life”[6],[7]. Life is there. Once we go there, we will see. And in that life, prosperity, joy and happiness depend on the efforts we make here. So, if we neglect, forget and are reluctant to make such efforts, we suddenly open our eyes and find ourselves in the real life with empty hands.
It is necessary to remind mankind so that he strives on a permanent basis, and carries out his assignment which forms the same strivings. And there are reminders in the religion for the human being, and truly the prophets, themselves, are reminders, “So remind — for you are only a reminder.”[8],[9] And the Holy Qur’an is a means of reminding, that in the divine book, this feature and mission of the Qur’an has been repeatedly mentioned. One of the means of reminding is the recitation of daily prayers which five times a day remind us. Another one is the preaching by which the scholars remind us. The other is supplication which reminds us to call upon and speak to God. The next is the recitation of the divine verses of the Holy Qur’an, which takes us away from negligence and similar things. So, all these methods work so that we do not fall into negligence. Since, if we forget and stumble into negligence, it will prevent us from obtaining our goal. And if we cannot obtain our goal, our situation in that promised life will be a bad one. From the beginning to the end, we have such a fate and destiny.
Piety, constant awareness and everlasting attention
Piety, which has been emphasized on so much, is that humans should be aware of themselves. They should take care not to slip away. They should not make mistakes and be ignorant of their own situation, destiny, purpose, path and duty. Like driving on a dangerous, slippery, winding road, if you show a reckless lack of care or attention, if you forget under what circumstances you are driving, you may lose your life. In the same way, piety means the constant care and maintenance that the notable people are perfect masters of, to the extent that it becomes an inseparable trait and constantly admonishes them.
In the month of Ramadhan, with supplicating, saying prayers and fasting – as hunger is seen as one of the things that gives serenity to humans – in addition to the rest of the features that are in this month, man holds an attitude of reminding and remembrance; and absolves himself from negligence.
It is not that the admonished person never commits sins and makes mistakes. Yes, he may make mistakes and commit sins. It is not like the pious person is not infected with committing sins; yes, he is. But there is a difference between the sin of a pious person and an impious one. The sin of the impious person is pretty much like walking on a slippery slope and sliding down. A sin causes another sin in its wake. He enjoys committing sins; he is fascinated by them and closes his eyes to their ugliness. The impious person is like this. When the pious person commits a sin, he finds out immediately; he knows that he made a mistake and tries to compensate for it. “When those who are Godwary are touched by a visitation of Satan, they remember [God] and, behold, they perceive Him”[10],[11]. The pious person is like that according to the Qur’an; once Satan “visited”[12] him or the minute he is insinuated by Satan’s temptations, he instantly realizes that he is in the wrong. He does not slip down a slippery slope nor relegate himself to the lowest of the low. He holds and controls himself.
The pious and admonished person is like someone who, after getting caught in a strong current and pushed across the stream, swims in the opposite direction to reach the shore of safety. A moment of negligence, desistence, sluggishness, watching here and there would drive him backwards. Indeed, that strong current in our lives comes from our instincts, our desires, our lusts and our anti-evolving human tendencies which push us backwards. If we are heedful and mindful, the minute we are pushed a little bit back, we immediately realize we are wrong, and we start swimming, floundering and proceeding to our original path. If not, if we are not pious and admonished, we are negligent of the moment we are pushed back. It is a current that pushed us; but, since we do not move and flounder, we feel truly comfortable with it. We stop and confidently place ourselves in the hands of the current. One day, we find that we are whirling in a vortex or close to the vortex core. Undeniably, we can do nothing to avoid it at that stage.
Supplication and features of the auspicious month of Ramadhan, the means for expressing gratitude
Supplication in Ramadhan and all the features that this holy month enjoys are to remind us, shield us from negligence and show us our contaminations. Amidst supplicating, saying prayers and paying attention in this month, there is an opportunity for us to review and distinguish the mistakes we are habituated with and accustomed to. Sometimes, a person has become accustomed to committing a sin, no matter what. The same can be said about our laziness, our weaknesses, and all the other shortcomings we have.
The month of Ramadhan is coming to an end today, apparently, there are not many more hours left over. We have to wait for the next Ramadhan. This chapter, the one-month chapter, is a very precious and valuable one. In these thirty days or twenty nine days, God has placed the Night of Ordainment, and truly the Night of Ordainment is an exceptional opportunity for man throughout the year. If one could take part in that night, he would achieve a lot of goodness. In the supplication of Bidding Farewell to the Holy Month of Ramadhan, not the one mentioned in al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, I will now recite a bit of it for you. In the brief supplication of Bidding Farewell to the Holy Month of Ramadhan, which is included in Mafatih al-Janan, it is stated, “And that You may include me, out of Your mercy, with those whom You allowed to obtain the benefits of the Night of Ordainment and those for whom You have decided this Night to be better than one thousand months”[13]. That is not the same for everyone. For the one whom the Night of Ordainment, either the night of twenty-third or twenty-first, is not different from any twenty-third night of any other month, there is no remembrance of God, no care, no spiritual state nor tears, not even an appeal. In complete negligence, he either falls asleep and does not even remember that it is the Night of Ordainment, or, God forbid, he gets contaminated with sins and moral vices. For such a person, the Night of Ordainment is not better than one thousand months. It is just a night and that is indeed a forfeiting night. Assuredly, the Night of Ordainment has nothing for him. The Night of Ordainment is better than one thousand months for whosoever appreciate the hours and minutes of that night and make good use of every minute of it. And therefore, we recite in the supplication: Dear God! Include us among those whose Night of Ordainment is neither turned to dust nor faded away.
Translation of some parts of the supplication of Bidding Farewell to the Holy Month of Ramadhan
This supplication in al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, which is the forty-fifth supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, is also an example of the supplications instructed to us by the infallible Imams (as), as well as including a remarkable theme on the importance of Ramadhan. I thought I would just translate part of this supplication for you. We need to get familiar with the language of supplication. This is one of our shortcomings. We recite supplications in the same way; we either do not understand their meaning or, if we do, we neither contemplate on nor ponder on them. We are reciting them; yet, our mind is somewhere else even though these supplications are all the precious books of knowledge and copies of love and affection, and there are a lot of things in these supplications that teach us something important if we paid attention.
Some interpret supplications, which is good, but when I interpret a word of a supplication with reference to twenty words, this is not the words of the Imam. If the Imam’s word can be translated to a beautiful, sophisticated and precise word, it will give us the apparent meaning of the words of the Imam. Those detailed interpretations are good for people to learn, but to understand the pleasure of the Imam’s speech, which is very beautiful, not at all, they are not good.
Some people similarly just recite and pass along. They do not understand that this supplication of Kumayl, which they recite and pass easily, is a relinquishing one, what a beautiful passage it is, whether artistically or literarily, and what themes are in it. Here, to reveal some of the themes of these supplications, I will give a simple translation of this supplication in as much time as we have. I won’t prolong it and will not translate all of it. This is how it starts:
“O’ God, O’ He who desires no repayment!”[14]. “O’ He who shows no remorse at bestowal!”[15]. I won’t recite the original Arabic phrases and will only translate them into Farsi. O’ He who rewards not His servant tit for tat or does not treat them like their own. Your kindness is a new beginning; that is, no one has any prior entitlement to it. Your pardon is a gratuitous bounty. Your punishment is justice and Your Ordainment is a choice for the best of Your servants. If You bestow, You stain not Your bestowal with obligation and if You withhold, You withhold not in transgression. You show gratitude to him who thanks You, while You has inspired him to thank You. You reward him who praises You, while though You have taught him Your praise. You cover the sins of him whom, if You willed, You would expose and You are generous toward him from whom, if You willed, You would withhold. The one whom You cover his sins is worthy of Your exposure and the one whom You are generous toward is worthy of Your withholding, but You have founded Your acts upon a gratuitous bounty, channeled Your power into forbearance, received him who disobeyed You with clemency, and disregarded him who intended wrongdoing against himself. You await their turning back without haste and refrain from rushing them toward repentance, so that the perisher among them may not perish because of You, and the wretched may not be wretched through Your favor, but only after Your prolonged excusing him and successive arguments against him, and surely, it is an act of generosity through Your pardon and an act of kindliness through Your tenderness.
It is You who have opened for Your servants a door to Your pardon, which You have named ‘repentance’. You have placed upon that door a pointer from Your revelation, lest we stray from it. You have said in Your Qur’an, “Repent to God with sincere repentance!”[16],[17]; It may be that Your Lord will acquit you of your evil deeds, will compensate for – these are the Qur’anic verses – and will admit you into gardens beneath which rivers flow upon the day when God will not destroy the Prophet (saw) and those who have faith along with him, their light running before them and on their right hands, and they say to You, “Our Lord! Perfect our light for us, and forgive us! Indeed, You have power over all things.” This is the door God has shown us in His Qur’an for repentance. He shows us that we can repent. “What is the excuse of him who remains heedless of entering that house after the opening of the door [and the setting up of the pointer]?”[18]
It is You who have raised the price against Yourself to the advantage of Your servants, desiring their profit in their trade with You, their triumph through reaching You, and their increase on account of You, for You have said in the Qur’an, “Whoever brings virtue shall receive ten times its like”[19],[20] and if one brings vice, he shall not be repaid except with its like.
Here, the Imam mentions the verses concerning the rewards of believers. Then, he addresses divine remembrance, bringing forth various Qur’anic verses. At that point, he adds:
Were any creature himself to direct another creature to the like of that to which You Yourself have directed Your servants, he would be described with beneficence, qualified by kindness, and praised by every tongue.
That is to say, you are lending money to someone, for example, then you say to the person, if you do not want to give me this money back in a certain amount of time, you should do this. If you wish not to pay back all of the money that you borrowed and had never given it back to me, you should do this; give people a second chance to put things right. If you want me to forgive the wrongdoing you have done to me; you need to do this.
“So, to You belongs praise as long as there is found a way to praise You”[21] and as long as there remains words by which You may be praised and meanings which may be spent in praise!
Similarly, he refers to the divine blessings. Then, Imam Sajjad (as) comes to Ramadhan, saying:
O’ God, You have appointed among the most excellent of those duties and the most special of those obligations the month of Ramadhan, which You have singled out from other months, chosen from among all periods and eras, and preferred over all times of the year through the Qur’an and the Light which You sent down within it, the faith by which You multiplied, the fasting which You obligated therein – and which is the means of our salvation, the standing in prayer which You encouraged at its time, and the Night of Ordainment which You magnified therein, the night which is “better than a thousand months”[22],[23]. Through Ramadhan, You have preferred us over the other communities and through its excellence You have chosen us to the exclusion of the people of other creeds. In short, the month of Ramadhan stood among us for a month. And this companionship was a very good one. And we are not sad of it, rather we feel sorrow it is parted from us [at the fulfilment of its number]. So, we bid farewell to it with the farewell of one whose parting pains us and leaving fills us with gloom and loneliness. And we are waiting for this [auspicious] month to come back to us again. And we speak to Your chosen month with these words.
At that time, Imam Sajjad (as) begins to shower the month of Ramadhan with very passionate and zealous words:
“Peace be upon you, o’ greatest month of God!”[24] and o’ festival of His friends! “Peace be upon you, o’ most noble of accompanying times!”[25] and o’ best of months in days and hours! “Peace be upon you, the month in which expectations come near”[26].
In the same way, Imam Sajjad (as) bids farewell to this sacred month, with these lines. He talks about the Night of Ordainment, supplication, prayers, the Qur’an and seeking forgiveness in this month earnestly and enthusiastically. He makes a request to God:
O’ God, preserve for us what we have gained in this month and for what we have missed in this month, treat with your clemency our deprivation, our deficiency, as a weakness and recompense for us, what we have missed.
Finally, Imam Sajjad (as) prays the month of Ramadhan will return.
This is an example of the supplications of this auspicious month that we denoted a part of it from the words of the Master of the Prostraters[27] or the teacher of supplications and remembrance at the end of this month. I believe that these supplications must be presented with good translations. Those who are capable of translating these supplications – apart from details, elucidations, interpretations, and these things – should translate them in words that are clear, expressive, eloquent and reasonably suitable, somewhat similar to Imam Sajjad’s (as) statements, and fit in with the needs of the Persian speakers who do not know Arabic. And they should also contemplate on these supplications and see how one can talk to God the Almighty.
The abandonment of sin, a necessity for observing piety
Now, at the end of these issues, I would like to say to you, dear brothers and sisters, is to appreciate and observe this source of piety that you have gained in this month. It will be lost. You have surely provided a source of piety for yourself in this month with your presence in the gatherings of the servants of God, such as mosques, congregational prayers, discussions, and so on, God willing. The atmosphere of our community is the atmosphere of attention and reminding, the atmosphere of the Qur’an, supplications and invocations; truly, the prevailing atmosphere is like this, or by attending these gatherings and breathing in this spiritual realm. Fasting has also been a huge help.
This fasting is a very valuable and precious thing. It is not necessary for the human being, like their weight, to try and see how much they have gained or lost; rather, they can understand how well the spirituality and serenity has inspired them. Of course, one feels and sees the effects of this worship in one’s deeds, behaviors, in one’s humbling and admonishing heart. But it does not mean that it is now very tangible; look at the certain amount of spirituality, serenity, and gentleness which has enriched your lives.
Observing it, in the first place, is that you should not commit sins as far as you can. One of our problems is that we are not aware of our own sins. The one who is accustomed to backbiting, for example, does not care about the sin he is committing on a regular basis. The person who is accustomed to lying does not mind committing this sin and justly acclimatizes to it. The one who is accustomed to harassing the people around him with his words, his manners, his behavior, and his own deeds does not care about it; he is accustomed to it. The person who is accustomed to various lusts – various sexual lusts, through the eyes and other ways – does not mind that he has opened himself to such a sin and plight. The one, who is accustomed to embezzling public treasury or the property of the people, does not mind what a great sin he is committing.
That is to say he does not care, not that he is not aware of it but negligence provides human beings with a fondness; one acclimatizes to sins. Primarily, he does not feel that he has sinned and keeps committing it. Once he finds out, he thinks inwardly his own sin is insignificant. The minute a person acclimatizes to a sin, he considers it inconsequential; this itself is a sin. That is to say, it is a sin – which is undeniably of the greater sins – to consider transgression and disobedience of the divine commands unimportant and say that this sin is insignificant; this is considered a sin itself.
If we wish not to sin, we should first distinguish our sin. And this is only possible by our own selves. Others are not aware of our sins. We ought to be careful about ourselves; in our day-to-day behavior. Everyone has their own type of sins. I may commit a sin that you have never committed. You may commit a sin that your other brother does not even do. Apart from the common sins that all humans often share due to carnal temptations, whether they may have committed a few or many, there are some specific sins. Sometimes idleness would be considered a sin for one person but not for another person. For instance, assume that someone is working for himself – trading, laboring, working for himself. If this person wastes away his time in idleness, it is a small and limited sin, even though it may be regarded as a grave sin with respect to the state of the needs of the community. Nonetheless, another case is one person who is doing a sensitive job for the community. His idleness makes irreparable damages; this is a grave sin. One is dealing with macro-financial issues; his disregard for financial matters is a grave sin; whereas, the disregard of the one who is not dealing with those issues of such importance and scope in financial matters is not so noteworthy. In other terms, one’s behavior, method, ethics and deeds are a lesson and a pattern for the community. For example, the behavior of us, the clergymen, is deemed as a standard in the eyes of the people; or, for instance, the brothers who wear revered uniforms of revolution[28].
… So you see, it is important to distinguish our sins. Sometimes we are not aware of our sins. Undeniably, “a believer is a mirror for his brother”[29],[30]. One brother can rebuke his brother if he sees, hears, or knows he will commit sin; yet, he should not disrepute and annoy him. He should reprimand him in a friendly way; he should admonish and reprove him in the same manner. It is good if he can reform himself as well. In short, the observance of that source of piety, serenity and spirituality mainly demands the abandonment of sin. Therefore, we must try hard to abandon sins and be cautious not to commit them.
The need of the community and the Islamic state for pious people
And nowadays, our community and our state require pure, influential and enduring people who are strong in their spirituality, whose hearts are grounded in and quenched of the divine knowledge, and whom sins have neither penetrated into nor crumbled their spirit; our state requires such people…Our community requires such people: devout, vigilant, cognizant, sincere and friendly. And if we can build a generation or our generation – meaning this generation – with Islamic ethics and Islamic education, surely the next generations after us will all move on this line, and others will learn from us.
Well, I finish my statements here. This Ramadhan, as the last Ramadhan, was an opportunity for us to hold congregational prayers, say prayers, and become reminded here every day at noon in the company of you, faithful, pious, sincere, and serene brothers and sisters. Your pure personality and good characteristics, which certainly exist among us and are to be found in our gathering, caused us to become reminded, exhilarated, spiritualized, and also provided our community environment with a delicate spirituality. It was very valuable; it was very good. Every day, we enjoyed the statements of one of the dear brothers[31]. Among these discussions, there were very good debates which was more useful this year, since subjects were pre-determined and they were prepared for. Also, we hope that these statements can be used for other purposes too.
Besides, many brothers, brothers and sisters, indeed worked so hard here during this period that I feel obligated to acknowledge them: the brothers in charge of the Law Enforcement of Tehran Friday Prayer as well as the rest of the brothers in the Friday Prayers Headquarters, who helped to set up this roof, these tents and so on, besides the maintenance men of the Presidential Office and the dear brothers and sisters in the Intelligence Protection Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who took great pains during the month to arrange things. The brothers in the Public Relations Office and all those who somehow helped and worked hard to organize and manage this building and this one-month move. Hereby, we sincerely express gratitude to all, and we hope that we have been able to make efficient use of their efforts and endeavors.
The supplication, reminding and ‘Ashura based attention
Considering supplication, I want to describe one sentence about a tragedy. On our battlefield fronts, if you have ever been to them, you have probably seen an outlandish sight at nights of operations or at nights close to an operation. Based on what we have heard of and seen a bit of, there is an identical thrilling sight. Our youth, these sincere believing brothers, these clean, bright and pure-hearted people, when they feel that they are close to their appointment with God and they may taste the drink of martyrdom or there is the possibility of ascending to the divine realm, they get strange at those nights before the operation. You would find them in a very precious and distinguished situation: supplicating, saying prayers, saying night prayers[32], remembering God, and reminding.
You would find the same scene you read about in some of the wills written by the martyrs. I read one of these wills a few days ago. I saw yes, that person mentioned about the night prayers of his brothers and friends – yet he had not talked about himself. He narrated how those nights were and how much whispers and sobs were heard from those trenches and bulwarks! This is because in the last hour of the last days, one feels that his time is coming to an end. He gets into such a devoted state. Moreover, there is the joy of meeting with Lord for those who are moving toward martyrdom.
The same thing may have been happening in the tents of the companions of Aba Abdillah’ (as), with a much higher dimension and in a double form, on the night of ‘Ashura[33]. It is quoted from one of those who wrote down and recorded the incidents:
“One night when I was passing near the tents of Husayn bin ‘Ali (as), I heard the sound of the recitation of the Qur’an, supplication, prayers and admonishment could be heard from the tents; and they were all remembering God and supplicating.”
And indeed, for that hard day, such a state and serenity were necessary.
But on the eleventh night…
If anyone had crossed through the tents, surely he would have heard no whisper and saw no such mood.
And instead of all the tents,
there was only one half-burned tent, where the children and daughters of Aba Abdillah’ (as) and the young were gathered in.
Perhaps, a faint murmur rose from them.
But most likely, this murmur was to shed tears on the loved ones and the outcries parched with thirst…
“I ask You God and call You by Your greatest, most magnificent, most dignified and most respected Name and by the blood of the oppressed.”[34]
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, bless this auspicious month for all of us and our nation.
Dear God, out of Your grace and benefaction, accept from the good deeds and goodness your servants did in this month.
Dear God, do not release us from this month unforgiven.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, if you have not pardoned us and our sins until this hour, then forgive us our sins in the few hours that are remaining.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, do not let this month of Ramadhan be a cause of regret for us.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, bestow the abundant rewards and bounties of this month of Ramadhan on our predecessors, on our parents and on our martyrs.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household,accept, out of Your grace and bounty, the supplications that proceed in this month from the lips of Your servants; particularly the supplications of the Nights of Ordainment.
Dear God, all of our people undoubtedly prayed during the month, especially during the Nights of Ordainment, for the longevity, healthiness and prosperity of our dear Imam (as); dear God, we beseech you to grant these prayers.
Dear God, our people unquestionably prayed during this month and specifically during the Nights of Ordainment for the victory of the combatants[35] and their return with honor and safety; dear God, we beseech you to grant these prayers.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, grant patience, comfort and reward to the families of the martyrs.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, solve, out of Your grace and bounty, the problems of the Islamic community and Muslims around the world.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, we ask you to familiarize us with our duties, enable us to fulfill our duties, and help us accomplish them.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, we ask you to get us acquainted with our own faults, sins, mistakes and stumbles; and enable us to overcome these mistakes, shortcoming and weaknesses.
Dear God, help and assist us on Your path.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, make the pure heart of the Imam of the Age (may our souls be sacrificed for his sake) satisfied and pleased with us. Bestow us his magnificent favor and regard.
Dear God, hasten the re-appearance and arrival of the Imam.
By the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household and by the Imam’s sacredness, put us among his eminent companions, servants, soldiers and martyrs.
Dear God, by the blessedness of Muhammad (saw) and his household, accept, out of Your grace, what we said and what we did.
Dear God, grant us our prayers and forgive our parents.
“May God have mercy on the one who recites Surat
al-Fatiha following a Salawat”[36].
[1] اباعبدالله
[2] i.e. one of the most famous epithets of Imam Husayn (P.B.U.H.) beside Hamza bin ‘Abd al-Muttalib. It is narrated that one of the companions of Imam Sadiq (P.B.U.H.), had decided to visit the graves of the martyrs of Medina, once the Imam asked her, “Why do not you visit the grave of your Master of the Martyrs?” Assuming the Imam is referring to Imam ‘Ali (P.B.U.H.), she asked, “Who do you mean by the Master of Martyrs?” He replied, “The Master of the Martyrs is Husayn bin ‘Ali (P.B.U.H.).”. (Trans.)
[3] الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ العالَمينِ، وَ الصّلوة وَ السَّلامُ عَلي سَيِّدِنا وَ نَبيِّنا اَبِيالقاسِمِ مُحَمَّد وَ آلِهِ الطَّيِّبينَ الطّاهِرينَ المَعصومينَ وَ لَعنَةُ اللهِ عَلَی اَعدائِهِم اَجمَعِینَ.
[4] The Holy Qur’an, 25:77
[5] “قُل ما يَعبَأُ بِكُم رَبّي لَولا دُعاؤُكُم”
[6] “وَإِنَّ الدّارَ الآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الحَيَوانُ”
[7] The Holy Qur’an, 29:64
[8] “اِنَّما اَنتَ مُذَکِّرٌ”
[9] The Holy Qur’an, 88:21
[10] “اِنَّ الَّذينَ اتَّقَوا اِذا مَسَّهُم طائِفٌ مِنَ الشَّيطانِ تَذَکَّروا فَاِذا هُم مُبصِرونَ”
[11] The Holy Qur’an, 7:201
[12] “مَسَّ”
[13] “وَ أَنْ تَجْعَلَنِی بِرَحْمَتِکَ مِمَّنْ حُزْتَ لَهُ لَیْلَةَ الْقَدْرِ وَ جَعَلْتَهَا لَهُ خَیْراً مِنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ”
[14] “اَللّهُمَّ يا مَن لا يَرغَبُ فِي الجَزاءِ”
[15] “وَ يا مَن لا يَندَمُ عَلَى العَطاءِ”
[16] “توبوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوبَةً نَصوحًا”
[17] The Holy Qur’an, 66:8
[18] “فَمَا عُذْرُ مَنْ أَغْفَلَ دُخُولَ ذلِكَ الْمَنْزِلِ بَعْدَ فَتْحِ الْبَابِ”
[19] “مَن جاءَ بِالحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشرُ أَمثالِها”
[20] The Holy Qur’an, 6:160
[21] “فَلَکَ الحَمدُ ما وُجِدَ في حَمدِکَ مَذهَبٌ”
[22] “خَيرٌ مِن أَلفِ شَهرٍ”
[23] The Holy Qur’an, 97:3
[24] “السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكَ يَا شَهْرَ اللهِ الأكْبَرَ”
[25] “السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكَ يَـا أكْرَمَ مَصْحُـوب مِنَ الأوْقَاتِ”
[26] “السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ شَهْر قَرُبَتْ فِيهِ الآمالُ”
[27] Ref. Sayyid al-Sajideen
[28] i.e. men in uniform (Trans.)
[29] “المؤمن مرآت المؤمن”
[30] Hadith: 8th
[31] Ref. lectures (Trans.)
[32] i.e. Tahajjud (Trans.)
[33] Ref. the martyrdom of Husayn bin ‘Ali (P.B.U.H.), the grandson of Muhammad (P.B.U.H. & H.H.), at the Battle of Karbala on 10th October in the year 680 CE. The massacre of Husayn (P.B.U.H.) with a small group of his companions and family members had a great impact on the religious conscience of Muslims, who commemorate his martyrdom every year at a ten-day carnival with sorrow and passion. (Trans.)
[34] “نَسئَلُکَ اللّهُمَّ وَ نَدعوکَ، بِاسمِکَ العَظيمِ الاَعظَمِ، الاَعَزِّ الاَجَلِّ الاَکرَمِ وَ بِاَوليائِکَ وَ بِدَمِ المَظلومينِ يا اللهُ”
[35] Iran-Iraq war servicemen
[36] “رحم الله من يقرأ الفاتحة مع الصلوات”