Activism Begins At Home

Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem.

Before embarking on being an eternal activist, perhaps we should consider what it means to be an activist. Should I be an activist because its cool to be one? Should I be an activist because my friends are activists? Should I be an activist so that I may live for a cause? Should I be an activist because I really believe in something, in a set of values and principles, in a way of life? Do I live that life at home, with my friends, with my lone self? What is it for, who does it truly benefit? What examples do I follow?

Activism is a strong and courageous endeavor. By being an activist you choose to discard fluff, do away with egos, do away with the 'me' and live your life in the way of 'we'. Your actions begin to take on more accountability because you start to represent a cause and have to fight everything that is against the cause in yourself. By being an activist you propagate a cause, a societal goal in just the way you live your life, converse, be. Everyone is an activist in some shape or form, they propagate somehthing. Some propagate conformity – conformity activists, some propagate evil - activists for evil. Some propagate the struggle for truth - activists for Haqq. Some propagate "it doesn't matter" – the actively complacent. What kind of activist are you now? What kind of activist do you want to be? What affects the self the most is one's immediate surroundings and that is the home. This sacred environment is the birthplace of true change, a change that resonates and penetrates society silently. This is the environment which is the womb of the soul after it departs the womb of the mother. This womb, the home, and the nafs have an interdependent or inter-effecting relationship – it taps you and you tap it. Focusing your energy on mending this womb, bringing change, uplifting it is where it all begins. It requires the most patience, the most compassion and is a true test as it involves the highest degree of sensitivity and emotion. Its activism boot camp.

Jihad: The Holy Struggle

I have been occassionally reading “Forty Hadith: An Exposition of Ethical and Mystical Traditions” by Late Ayatollah Khomeini (r), one of the greatest religious, spiritual and political leaders of recent times. It is a compilation of forty different ahadith (traditions) from our pious Prophet, Ahlul Bayt (household of the Prophet(saw)) and gives a brief commentary for each hadith. I cannot type the entire explaination, but I will paste the conclusion of the commentary given about Jihad or struggle.

Since the struggle of the self concludes here and man succeeds in driving off the legions of satanic armies from the empire of his soul, this land becomes the abode of angels of God and a place of worship of truthful servants of God. Thus the task of pursuing the journey towards God becomes easier, and the road to humanism is illuminated. The doors of blessings from heaven and their ascending steps are opened to him, and the doors of hell and the descending steps thereof are closed on him. God Almighty views him with mercy and benevolence and unites him with His faithful and His blessed servants. The path to divine knowledge, which is the ultimate purpose of creation of mankind and jinn, is opened to him. God Almighty guards him through this hazardous path.

InshaAllah, may we all be successful in “driving off the legions of satanic armies from the empire of his soul, this land becomes the abode of angels of God and a place of worship of truthful servants of God…” I pray that all of us reach that level one day.

Abbas Naqvi

Our Goals and Responsibilities

This story/tradition struck deep into my heart. It puts everything in perspective and give us the needed hope that we all desire.

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and the Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin.The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down; his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: “you have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t moved.” Thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

Satan said, “Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough.”

That’s what he planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. “Lord,” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord responded compassionately, “My Servant, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard.

Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that, which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done. Now I, my servant, will move the rock.”

At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just a simple obedience and faith in Him. By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves mountains.

Imam Ali (a): Your responsibility is not to reach your goals, but to try and endeavor (and to act upon your responsibility).

(source: Pearls of Wisdom 84)

Abbas Naqvi

After Shahadat

A profound and bold statement on the definitive revolution on Islamic history. Blood is but one part of the equation; it is the message that endures and changes the world...

From Ali Shariati

Yes, for every revolution, there are two visages: blood and the message. Husayn and his companions undertook the first mission, that of blood. The second mission is to bear the message to the whole world, to be the eloquent tongue of this flowing blood and these resting bodies among the walking dead. The mission of conveying the message
begins today. Its responsibility rests on the fine shoulders of Zaynab, a woman from whom mankind is to learn virtue. The mission of Zaynab is more difficult and heavier than that of her brother. Those who have the courage to choose their own death have simply made a great choice. But the responsibility of those who survive is heavy and difficult. Zaynab has survived. The caravan of the captives follows behind her. The ranks of the enemy, as far as the eye can see, are in front of her. The responsibility of conveying her brother's message rests solely upon her shoulders. Leaving behind a red garden of shahadat and the perfume of roses, spreading from her skirts, she enters the city of crime. the capital of power, the center of oppression and execution.

With peace and pride, she victoriously announces to the power and cruelty of the slave-agents and executioners, to the remnants of colonialism and dictatorship: "Thank God for all the generosity and glory which He has bestowed upon our family. The honor of prophethood and the honor of shahadat." Zaynab bears the responsibility of announcing the message of the alive but silent shuhada. She has survived the shuhada and it is she who must be the tongue for those whose tongue has been cut off by the sword of the executioner.

If blood does not have a message, it remains mute in history. If the message of blood does not reach all generations, it is as if the executioner has imprisoned the shahid in the castle of one age and one time. If Zaynab does not convey the message of Karbala to history, Karbala remains as a mere historical event; and thus the ones who need this message will be deprived of it. Thus no one will be able to hear the message of those who spoke to the generations with their blood. It is for this reason that the mission of Zaynab is heavy and difficult. The mission of Zaynab is the conveying of a message to all humanity, to all those who weep for Husayn's death, to all those who bow down faithfully to Husayn, to all those who believe the message of Husayn that, "Life is nothing except belief and jihad." The message of Zaynab is as follows:
Oh, all of you who have a covenant with this family, who believe in the message of Muhammad, think and choose. In every age and generation, in whatever land you may be, you must learn to listen to the message of the shuhada of Karbala who said, 'Those can live well who can die well.'
Oh you who believe in the message of monotheism and in the Qur'an, as well as in the way of Ali and his family, and you who will follow us, the message of our family to mankind is the art of living well and dying well. Everyone dies just as he lives.


The message of Husayn to mankind is this:
If you are men of religion, then [live your] religion. If you do not follow a religion, then human freedom has placed a responsibility on your shoulders. As a religious person or a freedom-loving person, be the witness of your time and the shahid of truth and falsehood in your age.


The eyes of the shuhada are upon us. They are conscious, alive, and present. They are the paradigms, the witnesses of truth and falsehood, and the witnesses of the destiny of mankind.

And shahid has all these meanings.

For every revolution, there are two visages: blood and message.

Anyone who has accepted the responsibility of accepting the truth, and anyone who knows the meaning of the responsibility of being Shi'ite, of being a freedom-lover, knows he has to choose in the eternal battle of history, everywhere and in every land. All battlefields are Karbala, all months are Muharram, all days are Ashura? One has to choose either the blood or the message, to be either Husayn or Zaynab, either to die like him or survive like her, if he does not choose to be absent from the battlefield.

... There is much to be said, but how can one sufficiently explain the miracle that Husayn has performed and Zaynab has completed. What I want to say is a long story, but I can summarize it as the mission of Zaynab after the shahadat: those who died committed a Husayn-like act. Those who survive must perform a Zaynab-like act. Otherwise, they are the followers of Yazid.

The Proud Are the Ugly

"Glory, Dignity, and Greatness belong to Allah; anyone who considers these attributes as belonging to himself will be placed in Hellfire." Imam Jafaar Al-Sadiq [The Seas of Illumination: Bab 130 tradition 3]

Activists, academia, community leaders, superpowers, government officials--listen up!

The greatest of transgressions human beings can ever level against their own selves (and others) is arrogance. A false sense of self-sufficiency whereby humans erroneously self-empower themselves. They have fixed false beliefs of grandiosity and greatness.

You Napoleons and Bushes--there is no room for you in this world! You have waged wars against humanity, hijacked our community centers and institutions, and oppressed the indigent and naive with your crooked sense of morality. We cannot breathe without your sanction. We cannot organize without your pardon. We cannot speak without your permission. Why? You are the most knowledgeable, the most accomplished, the most influential, the most wealthy! You are the chief, the chair, the ordained. You are noble because of your lineage, you are wise because of your Ivy schooling, you are dignified because of your heritage! You live lives of arrogance to compensate for your bankruptcy--you are bankrupt in thought, in solutions, in action, in truth. Your lives are devoid of God, because you have made yourselves into gods. Servant leaders of humanity have described you when asked about arrogance: [they] "ignorantly belittle truth and reproach those who support it" [Al-Kafi: Bab Al-khibr, tradition 10]

Now is the time for you to step down, move out, or seek refuge in your Lord. We will not stand idly in the face of your tyranny and oppression-whether it be as a head of state or head of mosque; head of household or head of church.

Ali Hassan Dabaja

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir Al-Sadr on Shia-Sunni

Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr's on the Unity

This is the last message before the Ba'athists in Iraq executed him on April 9, 1980, along with his sister Bint Al-Huda and hundreds of his supporters.

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the world, and peace and blessing be upon Prophet Muhammad, his purified family and guided companions.

O' my dear Iraqi people:

I talk to you all, Sunnis and Shias, Arabs and Kurds, at
this acute moment of your crisis and Jihadi life, because the crisis doesn't belong to one sect or group. And since the crisis is the crisis of all Iraqi
people, the brave reaction and the struggle must become the reality of all the
Iraqi people.

Since I knew my existence (being) and responsibility towards the Ummah, I have spent this existence for the sake of the brotherhood of Shias and Sunnis, Arabs and Kurds. I defend the message, which unifies all of them. And the belief which embraces all of them.

I lived with my thought and being, only for Islam - the way of freedom and the aim of all. Thus I am with you, my Sunni brother and son, as much as I am with you, my Shia brother and son. I am with both of you as much as you are with Islam, and as much as you carry this great torch to save Iraq from the nightmare of oppression and injustice.

The tyrants and their allies are trying to make our righteous Sunni sons believe that the problem is a Sunni-Shia one in order to separate them from their battle
against the common enemy.

I want to say to you, the sons of Ali and Hussain, the sons of Abu Bakr and Umar, that the battle is not between the Shia and the Sunni rule. The Sunni rule, which was represented by the guided khalafa, caused Imam Ali to carry the sword defending it in the battles of the Apostates under the leadership of Abu Bakr. We must all defend the Islamic flag whatever its sectarian colour.

Half a century ago, the Shia ulema issued their fatwas making it a Jihad to defend the Sunni rule, which was carrying the Islamic banner and hundreds of thousands of Shia went out to the battlefield shedding their blood to protect the Islamic motto. The actual rule today is not a Sunni rule although the people at the top belong historically to the Sunni branch of Islam.

Sunni rule doesn't mean the rule of a person, who has descended from Sunni parents, but it means the rule of Abu Bakr and Umar, which has been challenged by the tyrant rulers of Iraq today in all their practices. They abuse Islam, they abuse Ali and Umar together, violate Islam every day in every step they take.

O' my sons and brothers, the sons of Mosul, Bassrah, the sons of Baghdad, Karbala and Najaf, the sons of Saerra and Kadhimiyah, the sons of Amarah, Kut and Sulemaniyah, the sons of Iraq everywhere.

I promise you all that I am for all of you, for the sake of all of you, and that you
are my aim in the present and the future. Your words must unite, and your
plans must be unified under motto of Islam, for the sake of saving Iraq from the nightmare of this authoritarian rule, building a free, glamorous Iraq, brightened by the justice of Islam, and covered by the dignity of man. In this Iraq, citizens with all their nationalities and sects will feel that they are brothers and will all contribute in the leadership of their country, building their home and realizing their Islamic ideas and the dawn of our glamorous history.

Ali Hassan Dabaja