Imam Hussein is the saviour of true Islam
By Sara

His death ensured that the Prophet’s Islam was preserved- the Islam that the shias practice. His battle with the enemy and is subsequent death should be a lesson to all mankind that Allah should always be the centre of our live. We should learn to be more spiritual and less materialistic.

If we follow in the footstep of the Imam, we would find peace of mind. In that I mean that if we truly love Allah and all that He is then we would forget this crazy world and it diversions and attractiveness. The Imam lived and died for the love of Allah, had a simple life and did not waste His time trying to get large sums of money or living a luxurious life; He ate and lived a simple life.
Yazid and his followers who were the enemies of the shias and the rulers at that time tried to entice Him with this world; they promised to spare His life which means that He could live in happiness and peace if he swore allegiance to Yazid, but the price for this was - He would have to forsake His religion- Allah and Islam. But He turned it down because He knew that eternal happiness and peace can only be found in the next world- in paradise. He was not prepared to give up His great love for Allah and the Prophet and the opportunity of eternal bliss in the next world. He lived and died for Allah- Islam.

We are all looking for eternal happiness and peace and in searching for it we keep looking in the wrong places. The majority of us have a recipe for this, the only trouble with this is that none of us has checked to see if it is halal or not. The recipe that most of us have is made by the non Muslims and they carry the same price tag as the one that was offered to the Imam.

Let’s take a closer look at this recipe, what is considered as happiness/ peace:  a good degree, preferably in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy etc. after you graduate you get a good paid job, a big house, fancy car most likely the latest audi/merc/ bmw ect. You get married to a beautiful person preferably the hottest person around regardless of their morals or ethics. You have some children work hard to sent them to the best school money can buy and kit you and your family with the latest designer wear and jewellery. Your house is full of the latest mod cons. Without all of the above you are miserable as sin. Nowhere in this recipe is any mention of Allah or Islam.

On the other hand a halal recipe for happiness is quite different. Happiness is found in loving Allah. As Muslims our top priority is salat without this we are nothing. In doing salat we are worshipping Allah. This shows that we acknowledge that He is the Supreme, the most High and without Him nothing moves. How ungrateful are those who never bow down to their creator to thank Him and glorify Him and honour Him for all that we have. How can Allah show you mercy when you have no time for Him? All that his required from us is minimum of 50 minutes prayer time in total, we can even combine our salat. Think of how many 50 minutes we spend doing ungodly things.

So here is my basic recipe for that elusive happiness and peace:
Pray 5 times a day
Salawat, read surah Yaseen in the evening and morning
Do as much zikr as possible, doesn’t have to be in a particular place or time. Anytime, anywhere will do. It could be in bed, on the way to school/college/uni/work/doing household chores ect.
Honour thy mother and thy father.
Charity in the form of kind words/a smile/politeness- please& thank you/ opening doors for others letting others through before you/ giving up your seat for others/ helping others in need if you have the means financially or otherwise.
Remember the best charity is that which begins at home.

Happiness and peace can only be achieved through educating ourselves about Islam.
We should make it our aim to learn as much as we can about Islam, we should use all the resources that are available. Remember there is no punishment in the grave for the practising scholars. So

LEARN YOUR ISLAM THOROUGHLY
PRACTISE IT PROPERLY
AND TEACH IT WISELY.