Lessons From Lady Fatimah Al-Ma'sumah (peace be upon her)

In the name of Allah, the Ever Merciful, the Especially Merciful

What lessons can we take from Lady Fatimah Al-Ma'sumah, peace be upon her?

Not much is known about the details of her life.

However, what is certain is that she spent it worshipping Allah, the Exalted, with utmost sincerity and humility... to the extent that by the age of just 27 years, she had acquired such a magnificent status before Allah, the Exalted, that Imam Al-Sadiq, Imam Al-Kazim, Imam Al-Ridha, and Imam Al-Jawad, peace be upon them, have all praised her and mentioned her virtues.

In fact, the title Al-Ma'sumah, meaning 'the immaculate one' or 'one free from sin', was given to her by none other than the eighth lantern from the household of the holy prophet (peace be upon him), Imam Ali ibn Musa Al-Ridha, peace be upon him.

Furthermore, Imam Al-Ridha, peace be upon him, is also reported as having said:

'Whoever visits Ma'sumah in Qum is like one who has visited me',

And from other traditions it may be concluded that one who visits Imam Al-Ridha, or any of the Divinely chosen leaders, peace be upon them, is like one who visits the messenger of mercy, the best of creation, the holy prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, himself.

How is it possible for an individual to gain such a level of nearness to Allah, the Exalted, that visiting her is equivalent to visiting the holy prophet, peace be upon him?

The answer isn't so difficult; let us look at the Qur'an...

Allah, the Exalted, is 'the light of the heavens and the earth' and the more we purify ourselves, the closer we become to this light. In fact, 'Allah is the Guardian of those who believe; He takes them out of the darknesses and into the Light' (Qur'an 2:227), and Allah, the Exalted, reveals about the Qur'an to the beloved prophet, peace be upon him,: '...a book which We have revealed to you that you may take mankind out of the darknesses into the Light by the permission of their Lord...' (Qur'an 14:1). So the closer we become to Allah, the Exalted, the more radiant we will become, the more His light will enter us, until we become utterly submerged in the oceans of His radiance.

So how do we achieve this?

For me, this is the greatest lesson i take from the life of Lady Fatimah Al-Ma'sumah, peace be upon her...

No magnificent incident is attributed to Lady Fatimah Al-Ma'sumah, peace be upon her, such as the sacrifice of Ashura which is attributed to Imam Al-Hussain and Lady Zainab, peace be upon them. Sometimes we learn about such a magnificent event and while it increases our love and respect for the personalities which shone out in the midst of such oppression and cruelty, it also creates a distance between ourselves and them, because we are unable to relate to them. After all, how many of us can see ourselves facing such great tribulation in our own lives? What i sometimes forget is that the reason such personalities shone so brightly in the midst of such difficulty, was because of what they had been doing in the days, months and years before the day of Ashura.

So, Lady Ma'sumah, peace be upon her, may have led a very 'ordinary' life.
And that is exactly the point!
This is what matters. These seemingly insignificant moments that are passing us by... what we make of them. How we use our time, when 'theres nothing to do', when there's no big event going on, these 'normal days'... this is our capital! And, like Lady Ma'sumah, peace be upon her, by using these 'normal' moments to worship Allah with sincerity, we too may enter into the oceans of light and radiance that are right before us.

You and i may reach a position where the Imam of our time greets us by saying,
'Peace be upon you, Oh son of the messenger of Allah'
or 'peace be upon you, Oh daughter of the messenger of Allah'

Never tell yourself you can't do it. All you need is within you.
May Allah shower you with His love, light and mercy.

WasSalaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh

Ego

In the name of Allah, the Ever Merciful, the Especially Merciful

Salaamun Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa barakaatuh, dear brother and sisters
Before i departed for the holy city of Hannover ;) a dear brother asked me to write some of my thoughts on a topic that i should not be writing about... Anyway, i agreed, so here it is!

After meeting a man of God and my heart being moved by the utter humility emanating from his presence, and after speaking with him, i thought i would share some of the things we discussed.

i asked him: what is the purpose of Dhikr i.e. the practice of repeating Allah's names?
Firstly he said: that is a good question. What do you think?
i really wasnt interested in my own opinion so i said: i think its to gain nearness to Allah! So let me tell you what he said...

Placing his hand on my shoulder, he said: this isn't you - this physical body is not who you are. Your reality is something else. Your reality is in Allah's presence. Engaging in Dhikr is way of reminding ourselves of our true reality ('Dhikr' literally means 'remembrance').

If Allah is closer to me than i am to myself, then why do i not sense His presence much of the time?

Because we are covered. We are covered by our egos. The ego is a veil that presents us from realizing Allah's presence.

Does Allah intend for us to have egos? It doesn't make sense to me that Allah gives me an ego and then says: don't have an ego! Why would He do that?

Yes. Allah does want us to have egos. The ego is from Allah. It is a misunderstanding that we should kill the ego. We shouldn't. We need to have an ego to survive in this world. The holy prophet (s) had an ego, but he always controlled it. The ego is like a wild horse. It needs to be trained. When you are its master, you can take it and steer it wherever you like. Otherwise there is a danger that it will destroy us.

We come into this world with a purpose. And we are given physical bodies because we need them to be in this world. We (souls) use these material bodies to worship Allah, and thus reach a higher stage of realization and nearness to Allah. This body is your 'Buraaq'. Like a horse, this body also needs to be maintained. It needs food, water, sleep etc. The desire that causes us to pursue these bodily needs is called the ego.

 The problem arises when we don't control the ego, and allow it to control us.