Once upon a time, I was by the beach. It was a windy day, and the waves were hitting the shore so hard. A mile from where I was standing, there was a ship sailing. Luckily, I had with me a pair of binoculars. I looked through them, and guess what? I saw a tag sign on the ship says “The Ship of Salvation”.
It rang a bell in my mind. I’ve heard about this ship from the Shi’ites books, and had the desire the get on board of this ship ever since. It was an opportunity I couldn’t afford to miss.
I hired a boat, and before I know it, I was there, next to the “Ship of Salvation”. I waived for them to stop and pick me up. Sure enough, someone on board threw me a rope, and I managed to get on board.
Frankly speaking, it was a huge ship, just like the ship Titanic. I was so happy to be on it. It was amazing indeed. There were so many people on board, and all have welcomed me and congratulated me for being “saved”.
I decide to treat myself by taking a tour on this ship. There were so many rooms, halls and courts onboard. So I decided to check them out.
I went through the first room, and there I found a man dressed in black guarding a safe filled with money and treasures. I was quite amazed that the overall majority of the people on board were poor, yet this man is such filthy rich. He noticed what was going in my mind, and said:
- This is my money, it is my due ‘cuz I’m a sayyid.
I didn’t quite understand what he meant by that. Nevertheless, being so happy to be on board of this great ship, I left him to check the next room.
As soon as I walked out, I heard a young girl’s voice screaming & yelling. I asked the people of what’s going on?
They said: her dad is contracting her for Mut’ah to a rich man, but she’s refusing. I didn’t care much and continued my own tour.
The next room I got in, there were lots of kids of all ages. I asked the baby sitter what are these kids doing here?
She said: they are the products of Mut’ah.
I said: Gosh, what the heck is Mut’ah?
She said: It is a form of a marriage for an hour, a night, a week or whatever. It was forbidden by the 2nd.
I asked: Well … didn’t the 2nd like "marriage"?
She said: The Prophet made it Halal.
I said: wasn’t Mut’ah a practice of pre-Islamic era, and Islam forbade it gradually like liquor?
She said: Nope.
I said: Oh ok. If this is the Ship of Salvation, I assume everything you guys say is true.
I kept on touring the Ship. But at this time, I heard the Adhaan for Friday Prayer. I went a head to perform the Prayer, but I found so many people stayed in their rooms and only few went to the mosque.
Naturally I asked them, how come you are not praying whilst you are on the Ship of Salvation?
One of them answered me saying: Friday Prayer is not mandatory before the appearance of Al-Mahdi [aj]
I said: oh ok, Jazakallah.
On my way to the mosque, there I noted so many courts written on them “Hussainiyyah”.
I asked: ummm, what are these?
And I was told: these are the Homes of al-Hussain.
I said: Does Al-Huusain have homes just like Allah?
They replied: yep.
I said to myself, yalla since Friday Prayer is not a Fard, let me enter one of these Hussainiyyahs and see what they do in there.
As soon as I walked in, I heard some people crying, others are weeping, and some are hitting their backs with chains, n others cutting their heads w/ swords.
I said to one of them, isn’t this an act forbidden in Islam?
He said: nope, only when it causes harm, but it ain't causing any.
I smiled n said Kewl, cuz after all I am on board of “Ship of Salvation”.
Then, I heard some of them saying:
May Allah curse the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd.
I said: what’s going on? Are high school grades already out?
They said: Noooooo.
I said: oh ok, what do you mean then?
They said: speak in a low breath.
I said: why? What do you mean … I’m lost.
They said: hush .. speak in a low breath.
They said: lest our Sunni brothers hear you.
I said: this ship is the Ship of Salvation, only Shi’ites on board.
They said: oh yeah, that’s right, we forgot about that. Ummm, we mean by the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, Abu Bakr, Omar and Othman.
I said: you curse the companions of the Messenger [saw] whom Allah stated He is well pleased with and repented upon?
??????????????? ???????????? ???? ??????????????? ???????????? ??????????? ???????????? ??????????? ??????? ?????? ???????? ????????? ?????? ????????? ?????? ???????? ??????? ????????? ??????????? ?????????? ?????? ??????? ?????? ????????? ??????????
The vanguard (of Islam)- the first of those who forsook (their homes) and of those who gave them aid, and (also) those who follow them in (all) good deeds,- well- pleased is Allah with them, as are they with Him: for them hath He prepared gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein for ever: that is the supreme felicity. (9:100)
????? ?????? ???? ????? ?????????? ????????????????? ???????????? ????????? ??????????? ??? ??????? ??????????? ??? ?????? ??? ????? ??????? ??????? ??????? ????????? ????? ????? ?????????? ??????? ?????? ??????? ????????
Allah turned with favour to the Prophet, the Muhajirs, and the Ansar,- who followed him in a time of distress, after that the hearts of a part of them had nearly swerved (from duty); but He turned to them (also): for He is unto them Most Kind, Most Merciful. (9:117)
They said: but they have turned apostates afterwards.
I said: these verses are explicit on His pleasure with them, have you any verses proves they’ve deserved his wrath?
They said: you don’t understand.
They asked me: Don’t you know that Omar attacked Fatimah, broke her ribs and murdered the child in her womb?
I said to myself: it sounds like a movie by Hollywood. But then I said: Where was Haidar?
They said: He does not like to get into quarrels.
I felt so embarrassed and remembered I am on board of Ship of Salvation. Nevertheless I said: ummm, can I ask a question?
They said: sure .. go ahead.
I said: if you are proud of your creed and believe it is the truth, why not openly curse the companions by their names?
They said: Oh, that is mandated by Taqiyyah.
I said: but Taqiyyah should be taken as a temporary permit, not a creed and certainly not to be 9-10th of the faith.
They said: just be quiet, you don’t understand.
I said to myself, why are you such a pain in the back? Don’t you realize you are on board of the Ship of Salvation?
I halted for a moment, and said to myself: why don’t you open the Qur’an and read few pages to relax and kick out the whims of Shaytan?
I walked toward the mosque .. and got in, and asked a brother to hand me a Qur’an.
He sure enough handed me a copy. I turned the cover page on, and surprisingly it says on: Mus’haf Othman, the narration of Hafs on the authority of ‘Asim.
I said to myself: my goodness, wasn’t it this man they have been cursing a minute ago? I turned to them and asked:
Is this “Othman” different from the one you curse?
They replied: nope, it is him the same guy.
I said: Then why are you reading his version?
They said: ummm just temporarily, until the hidden Imam comes up and bring forth the real version which contains the scandals of the companions and the real order of chapters.
I said: can we really be following truth and not have a version of the Qur’an with a Shi’ite chain of narrators? Can we really use the Nasibis’ chain of narrators?
They said: Just be quiet, you don’t understand.
I really felt so bad at this moment. But I said Aiuthubillah, and kept on going to continue my tour.
Somehow, I felt the desire to read the Hadith of the Messenger [saw]. I headed toward one of those Homes of al-Hussain, and I asked for a book of Hadith.
The people in there were taken by surprise. They said: Say what?
I said: I’m asking you for a book of Hadith of the Messenger [saw].
They said: why?
I said: I wanno read it, understand it, and memorize it.
They said: no no no
I said: what do you mean by no no no?
They said: you don’t have to, all you need to do is to make taqleed to one of the Marji3, give him 1/5th of your income, and he will teach you and tell you what to do.
I was shocked .. I mean, can’t I read the Hadith of the messenger [saw] just like I read the Qur’an?
They said without hesitation: We don’t have a Sahih Books, our books are filled with lies, myth and superstitions, let alone the chain of narrators are sucks. We have 100,000 narrations by Zurara, yet Imam Ja’far [as] says: May Allah curse Zurara. But the Marji’ knows how to deduct what is good for you out of these books.
I said: how can that be? We are the followers of Ahlul-Bayt, yet we don’t have a true Qur’an or authentic Hadith?
They said: be quiet, you don’t understand.
I said: hasbiyallah .. fine, I will find me a Marji to follow him and pay him 1/5th of my income. But how would I know who is a Marji’
They answered me: oh, you will find him wearing blacks.
Sure enough, I found at a distance a man with black outfit, I approached him and said: Are you a Marji sir?
He said: nope, I am a janitorial man. You will know the Marji’ by his headgear. He wears a black tire head turban.
At anyhow, I found me one with black turban. I approached him and said: Sayyed, can I pay you 1/8th of my income for teaching me my faith and make a taqleed for you?
He said: Nope, I will not accept less than 1/5th.
I said: look, I have a good bargain for you, I will give you 1/6th of the income.
He said: No way, the price is fixed, not negotiable.
I said: What evidence have you to take 1/5th? Was the Messenger [saw] taking 1/5th of the people’s wealth and businesses? He surely was taking 1/5th of the booties of wars.
He said: shut the hell up, you don’t understand.
I was really sad at this point. I left him, and on the way, I found another Hussainiyyah. I walked in, and saw a multitude of people sitting in listening to a lecture. I said, al-Hamdulillah, finally I found a Majlis of knowledge. I sat down and began to listen to the speaker who was saying the Imams are better than the Prophets of Allah.
I couldn’t be quiet, I said: how in the world you make a preference for the Imams over the Prophets of Allah? Are you doubting the Choice of Allah? Is al-Askari better than Khalilur-Rahman Ibrahim? Do you think al-Baqir is better than Kaleemullah Musa or the Word of Allah Isa?
The people just gave me a bad look and started to stare at me. I got scared, so I kept quiet.
He then moved on to talk about the creed of al-Badaa’. He said: The Imam after Ja’far was his son Ismael, but then Ismael died before his father. So Allah changed His mind and decided to make the following Imam Musa al-Kadhim. I was shocked, but I wasn’t able to speak out.
I left quickly, and decided to continue with my tour. I saw a ballroom lit with lights and a lot of people were in there. I approached near, and found some tombs that the people are crowling around, making circumambulation and asking the dead to answer their prayers and grant them their needs. I was again shocked. I thought to myself, I must have got in the wrong ship.
A man approached me and said, come on fellow, ask for your needs, the saints will surely grant you your wishes. They have attained a high rank with Allah and Allah does not turn them down.
But I still had my doubts, I recalled the Kuffar of Quraish and how they used to make circumambulation around their idols asking them to grant them their needs, and their belief that they are only a medium between mankind and Allah. As I looked around, I found a door to a basement. I went through a narrow hall that lead me to the basement. In there, I found a book three times the size of the Qur’an with lots of changes and distortions, as well as other books, a stick and a sword.
Suddenly, a naked man showed up. I was horrified. I said, who are you?
He said: I am Abu Salih, the Mahdi.
I checked him out again, he was smelling and looks so awful, with old piece of clothing on the ground, which I figured was his since he was two years old. I was really dead scared. I ran out, and out of my horror I stumbled with a rope was there and fell in the sea water.
I managed to keep my head above the water, and lo I saw from a distance another ship, it was written on it:
In The Name of Allah, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful.
There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The Ship of Muhammad, His Progeny and Companions.
The Ship of al-Qur’an & Sunnah
The Ship of loving Ahlul-Bayt and companions
The Ship of Loving Mothers of Believers.
The Ship of Islamic Conquests and spreading Islam.
The Ship of Fasting the Day and Praying at Night
The Ship of Those who call only On Allah.
I started to hear from distance the recitation of Qur’an, with people praying and crying to Allah.
I lifted my hands up praising Allah, and knew that was the real Ship of Salvation.
I swam my way toward that ship, and got on board. And lo it shined up, and I fell in prostration to Allah.
And I woke up. God what a sweet dream
(translated from a post on www.d-sunnah.net)
Hahaha amazing story!
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