His Eminence, Grand Ayatollah Al-Hakeem, Speaks of the Life of Imam Ali (Peace be upon him)

His Eminence, Grand Ayatollah Al-Hakeem, Speaks of the Life of Imam Ali (Peace be upon him)
2019/06/01

His Eminence, Grand Ayat0llah Muhammad Saeed Al-Hakeem, spoke to a group of students of Islamic sciences on a few aspects of the life of Imam Ali (peace be upon him), and about the hardships and tribulations he and his Shi’ahs faced, because of their steadfastness on their principles that originated from the teachings of the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny).

He spoke about Hadith al-Thaqlayn, in which the Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny) said: “I indeed leave behind amongst you two weighty things: the Holy Book, and my progeny, the Ahlulbait; as long as you hold on to both, you will never go astray.”

He spoke of the fortitude of the Shi’ahs, the followers of Amir al-Momineen (Peace be upon him) in staying upon the Truth, despite the pressures and injustices they faced. There came a point when their enemies thought they could finally eradicate true Islam, the Islam that was founded upon the divinely-ordained authority of the Ahlulbait (peace be upon them). However, their strength made them a well-known respected nation.

His Eminence spoke of other critical moments that the Shi’ahs have faced, such as the recent Baathist regime. This despotic regime turned its attention to the Seminary of Najaf and began expelling foreign students and scholars. Then it began arresting and assassinating the Iraqi students and scholars, until this city became almost empty of students and scholars, except a few who insisted on continuing their duties. The religious seminary suffered greatly and lost many great scholars. The 90s passed with its hardships, but with the fall of the regime the Seminary of Najaf has returned to its former state to play its role in the study, teaching and research of Islamic sciences, the propagation of the path of the Ahlulbait (peace be upon them) and in leading the Shi’ahs.

His Eminence concluded by praying to the Almighty to help and support the students of the Seminary to pursue their studies with sincerity to Him, and in fulfilling their responsibilities in a manner that pleases God, and that they are in their guidance of the Imam (may God hasten his reappearance), and that they see the rewards of their work in this life and the Hereafter.

Day Questions

If I invest money into the stock market or mutual funds (a collection of stocks) and keep my money in those investments for many years, do I have to pay khums on any gains even if I do not remove the money from the investments? Or do I just pay khums when I remove the money if I keep that money for over a year?

It is obligatory to pay Khums on the increase in the value of the shares if this increase reflects the increase in profits made by the company, or the increase in the wealth and capital of the company, or similar reasons. If the value of the shares increase due to incidental or arbitrary factors, such as war, increase in demand of the company products, speculation, etc. then this does not obligate Khums. If the owner of the shares sells them with a profit, Khums is payable on the profit.

The Holy Prophet said that his intercession is for those who committed major sins. He also said that whoever does not believe in his intercession does not deserve it. But according to me, I do not want to expect intercession from anyone in this world, and that is an advantage, because if you do then you will commit sins and you might not repent for that because you think that Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) will intercede for me on the Day of Reckoning. So is it an obligation to believe and expect intercession from the holy Prophet and holy Imams and Fatima Al Zahra (peace be on them) on Day of Judgment?

Intercession means to seek from the prophets and divinely appointed holy leaders the mercy of Allah and His forgiveness. It is a Quranic concept confirmed by the teachings of the Prophet and the Ahlulbait (peace be upon them all). However, a righteous devotee is encouraged to avoid sins, and if they occur, to repent to Almighty Allah and return to Him asking forgiveness and mercy. At the same time, he should ask the Prophet and the Ahlulbait (peace be upon them) to intercede and ask the Almighty Allah to grant him His mercy and acceptance. There is no doubt that joining between repentance and the intercession is more secure to obtain salvation rather than relying on repentance alone.Having said that, this does not mean that one should rely on intercession and commit sins as this leads to disregarding sins, which is one of the greatest sins that may disqualify the person from deserving intercession. Committing sins while belittling them leads to disregarding Allah's punishment and it is amongst the greatest sins. This might lead to losing the good end of this life and not dying as a believer, which is - no doubt - one of the conditions of deserving intercession. There is a difference between the desire of getting the intercession and the hope that one gets it, on one hand, and depending on intercession and committing sins because of this dependence on the other hand. The former places the person far from committing sins, whereas the latter encourages the person to commit sins and may lose, at the end, the chance to get the intercession.