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Imam Mahdi (aj) – Idea 17: Make his absence noticable

Imam Mahdi (aj) – Idea 17: Make his absence noticable

One beautiful idea, that is expressed so eloquently in the post I’ve shared below is to make the Imam’s absence felt in our homes. This can be done by having an empty picture frame somewhere in the house, with the hope that it will be filled with his picture with us one day. Another way is to set an extra place at the table, in the hope that he will come join us for a meal one day. I’ll leave it to the post below by Zahra Jiwan on Facebook (unfortunately i could not link to it directly), to elaborate further…

“Almost every year, my family spends Shahr Ramadan opening our fasts with many other believers. This was the first year after a long time that the four of us sat on the first night of the month, looking at each other with tears in our eyes. My sister sighed, “well this is going to be one lonely Shahr Ramadan!”

We recited the Dua for the safety of the Imam, thanked him for being the medium through which we receive our Rizq from Allah, and were about to start eating. However, my sister’s words reminded me of the loneliness of Imam al Hujjah. And I began to think, we pray for the safety of the Imam on our tongue but how often do we actually wonder about where he is in ‘this moment and in every moment’? Is he alone? Is he healthy? Is he safe? Yes, the A’immah are divinely protected but, just like the Prophet, they experience hunger and thirst, they feel pain, and they fall ill.

So I got up and grabbed another plate and glass and made another table setting beside by dad.
“Who is this for?” My dad asked. “There’s only four of us.”
Overcome with a profound feeling of sadness I answered, “but there could be five. Maybe the Imam will look at us tonight. And if he does, he knows that there is always a place for him here. Our table is never full, our family is never complete – unless he is the centre of it.”

My sister responded, “but we’re unworthy to be sitting at the same table as the Imam.” We are covered in sin, and he is the closest thing to Allah, how could we even invite him to our table?”
My sister had a point, and the weight of it sat in my heart for a few days.

Yet, night after night we set the table for five. And I think all of us at some point or another looked at that empty seat thinking that perhaps it would be filled by its owner the next day.

Then came the 15th of the month, the birth of the master of the generous hosts, Imam al Hasan. I was reminded of the famous incident wherein the Imam in all of his glory, rode by a group of beggars who were sitting on the ground. They were eating torn up pieces of bread from the ground and when they saw the Imam, they said “come join us O son the the daughter of the Messenger of Allah to eat.” Despite their filth and their loneliness, the Imam descended from his steed and joined these men. Thereafter, the Imam said, “ you have invited me and I accepted, so you must do me the same honour. Please join me for a meal.” The Imam took the beggars to his home, fed them in the best of ways, clothed them in the best of garments, and relieved them of their poverty.

At that moment, I turned to my sister and said, “we’re those beggars. Yes, we are lowly, we have so little to offer our Imam in terms of our deeds and belief. But for this small act of inviting him to our table, however dust-covered it may be, perhaps he will treat us as his uncle Imam al Hasan treated those beggars. He is more noble than to leave any act of love, however small, unthanked. In return for merely remembering him like this, he will remember us and bring us into the folds of his generosity. Perhaps by inviting him to our humble table, he will one day invite us into his tent.

That empty seat brought a lot of change to our home. The conversations at the table changed as we constantly wondered, “what if he walks in right now?” The reality is, he is the eye of Allah that never sleeps. He is already listening and witnessing our every action, word, and thought. Yet something about that physical empty spot being there made it seem all the more ‘real’ for the weak-minded like myself who are still stuck in the womb of physicality.

Even after the blessed month has passed, we have made this a new tradition when we eat. And in this way, the lonely iftars resulting from COVID- 19 ended up being the most beautiful moments to anticipate the companionship of our Imam.

Why am I sharing this? For a long time I didn’t want to. It is a deeply private activity that organically grew from a few sentences here and there. I decided to share this because we deprive ourselves of the power that even the slightest attempt to connect with our Imam, in the period of his Ghaybah, can bring. Just because our Imam is hidden from our eyes, doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from him like the people of his forefathers benefitted from their Imams. Many saw the Prophet in front of their eyes day after day and yet they ignored his call, belied him, and betrayed him. And many (like Uways al Qarani) never saw him with their eyes and yet they benefitted from him immensely.

In the Quran we read, “everywhere you turn, there is the face of Allah.” (2:115)
What is the face of Allah? It is that through which Allah’s attention is sought. Friday after Friday, I moan about the absence of my Imam in Dua Nudbah and cry “Where is the face of Allah?” And the answer is clearly right in front of me in the Quran, “everywhere you turn”.

So why does it not ‘feel’ like this for us so often? If we truly believe this is true, then why do we act as if the Imam’s Ghayba means he’s exiled to an island or locked up in a box- unable to help us and us unable to connect with him, until he rises? Why do all of our discussions about the Imam revolve around the signs of his rising only, and not about how to connect with him now? Why should we not connect with our Imam in every moment of our life and not limit his dhikr to Fridays and the prayer mat? If an empty chair could bring change, imagine what our lives would be like if we found a way to connect with our Imam in everything- From saying Salam to him in the morning, giving Sadaqah in his name daily, speaking to him, reading his letters, dedicating worship to him, and teaching our children to call out his name before ours when they’re hurt or scared. We can do whatever speaks to us, the possibilities are endless.

The Dhuhur of the Imam and the Raj’a has its own beauty and greatness which is beyond description. And it is something we should yearn deeply for. But the only ones depriving themselves of companionship with their Imam in the Ghayba is us. He hasn’t left us. So why have we abandoned him?

All it takes to feel the presence of the Imam in the heart, which can be much stronger than seeing him with eyes, is the smallest effort on our part.

My family and I haven’t achieved anything. In fact, many times we find ourselves back pedalling. We’re definitely not an example for anyone. However, in this small act of putting a fifth plate on the table, the abundance of Khayr was not from us, but from Allah.”

Imam Mahdi (aj) – Etiquette towards the 12th Imam

Imam Mahdi (aj) – Etiquette towards the 12th Imam

Lots of practical ideas that we can apply with our children…

*As shared on WhatsApp*

Etiquette Towards the 12th Imam (a.s)
Sheikh Jaffer H. Jaffer – 15th Shaban 1439

10 Etiquettes that we can do daily in our life that can create a bond between us and our Imam.

1. Say Salaam to our Imam every single day. As soon as you wake up say salaam to him. Or for example in sheikh Jaffer’ s house they set an alarm every single day at 3:13 pm and when the alarm goes on the entire family says salaam to Imam Mahdi (a.s). We need to accustom our children and ourselves to say Salaam to him.

2. Every good deed that we do, we make intention to Allah( s.w.a) that we send 51% of the thawaab to the Imam of our time. The Imam should be getting more then what we are getting. We can be more generous then this if we want to. We don’t have to keep it at 51% . You can say for example I am sending 90% or 99%. That’s how we can gift to our Imam.

3. Whenever we go to Mosque, as we leave the house we need to send an invitation to the Imam that: “ Oh Imam come and join us to the program today”. Every act of sadness( wafaat) or happiness ( khushali), we want to be participating with our Imam thus we send him an invitation to join us.

4. Our homes need to be prepared for the coming of our Imam. That means nothing haram or questionable is happening in our house. Our house need to be ready all the time. It can’t be like if Imam knocks on our door and we are like give us 5 mins. Some cool things that people do to prepare for the Imam is for example on the dining table there is always a spot empty where no one sits and they say this is the Imam’s spot. When he comes, he will sit there.

5. We need to take out sadaqa all the time for the protection of our Imam and for his speedy return. We should be taking out sadaqa as often as possible specially if we are broke because we will get 10 fold if not more, back. The niyyat can be: “Oh Allah I am taking out sadaqa for the protection of my Imam and my family Qurbatan illallah”.

6. When in times of difficulty, call out the Imam, reach out to him. We sometimes forget him. We call out to Allah(s.w.a), we will say Ya Ali madad ect.. All these things are great but call out our Imam too: “Yaa Sahibaz Zamaan adrikni, help me”.

7. Visit places that he would visit and avoid places that he would avoid. We know the Imam would visit cemeteries so we go there too. We know the Imam would visit mosques, so we go to mosques. We can watch a mosque program online but our Imam might be at mosque so we need to go there to spend time with him. We might not recognize him but he is there. The Imam would visit sick people so we visit sick people. The Imam would go for ziarrat so we go for ziarrat. All with the desire to be in places where Imam would be. We should also avoid places where he would not be there. Do you see the Imam walking on the beach with everybody half dressed ? Do you see your Imam walking in places where people are not dress appropriately? So then we avoid those places too. If we look in Fiqh it says that we are allowed to go to restaurants that serve alcohol but serve halal meat – let’s elevate that: would my Imam go to that restaurant? No. Then why should I go to that restaurant?

8. Ask Allah in every single Salaat to give you an opportunity to meet the Imam. We should have the desire to meet the Imam and should ask Allah for that opportunity.

9. We need to constantly purify our hearts. All our moral vices that we have, we need to clean them out so that our hearts can recognize our Imam when he comes. The Ulamas of deen tell us that we have two pairs of eyes. The physical pair of eyes and the eyes of the heart. The eyes of the heart when they become purified it is those eyes that will recognize the Imam. It’s not the physical eyes that will recognize him because we have never seen him so how will we recognize him? It’s like talking to a person on the phone and having an image of them and then when you meet them they look totally different from what you had imagined. Same thing with the Imam we picture him this way or that way. But the eyes of the heart will actually be able to recognize him.

10. We need to reflect each and every day if we are any closer of being the servant of the Imam. To help us reflect on ourselves, we can look into the Hadith of our 6 th Imam(a.s) who, when asked by the people why he was constantly talking about Salman Farsi, said not to call him Salman Farsi but refer to him as Salman e Muhammadi . He said to them: “Do you know why I remember him so often?Because he had 3 traits: 1. Salman preferred the desire of Imam Ali over his own desires. 2. He loved poor people and preferred them over those who had wealth and riches. 3. Due to his love for knowledge and love towards those who possessed knowledge like ulemaas. He would always attach himself with those who had knowledge. These are the 3 Characteristics that makes me talk about Salman all the time”. Imagine what that means; If we had those characteristics then the Imam would talk about us all the time:)