- Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H&HF): Whenever one of you is needy and brings that to other people, he will not be satisfied. and Whenever someone is needy and brings that to Lord, he shall give him what he wants. sooner or later.
- Imam Sadiq (As.): Whenever you had tenderness in your heart, Pray. because your heart doesn't get tender unless it's pure.
- I told to Imam Baqir (A.S): “What is the meaning of “truly, Ibrahim was awwah and patient”? He replied: “Awwah means (the one who is) praying (to) and wailing (for God) a lot.””
- “Two people, who have acted alike, enter the heaven, but one of them sees the other one in a higher place. Then, he says: O’ Lord! How come has he a superior place in comparison to me while we acted alike? God the Almighty replies: “because he asked Me (whatever he needed) and you did not do that”.
- “The most knowledgeable person to God is the one who asks more from Him”
- “Whoever prays a lot, the angels say: This voice is familiar (to us) and this is the supplication which is accepted and this is the need which is provided”
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The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his Household):
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وَ لَوْ عَرَفْتُمُ اللَّهَ حَقَّ مَعْرِفَتِهِ لَزَالَتِ الْجِبَالُ بِدُعَائِكُم
If you knew god the way you should’ve known, Mountains definitely will be moved by your supplications. - Crying out of fear of God is the key to his mercy, it’s a sign for his acceptance and it’s a door to answering [supplications]
- Pray to God and believe in his answeres. But understand that God won't accept prays from an unwitting oblivious heart.
Ibrahim b. Ali al-Kaf'ami
Who is Kaf’ami?
Taqi al-Din Ibrahim b. Ali al-Amili al-Kafʿami (b. 840/1436 - d. 905/1499) was between Shi'a scholars of the 9th/15th century. He lived in Jabal 'Amil, Lebanon and his lineage reached Harith al-Hamdani. Due to his expertise in many sciences of his age, al-Kaf'ami had miscellaneous and amazing works, and biographers have spoken a lot about him. Al-Misbah and al-Balad al-Amin are one of his best works and writings in ziyara and supplication.
Birth and Lineage:
Taqi al-Din, Ibrahim b. ALi al-'Amili al-Kaf'ami was born in Kfar 'Ayma city of Jabal 'Amil in 840/1436. Aqa Buzurg Tihrani has mentioned the date of his birth in 828/1425.
sHis lineage reached Harith Hamdani, one of the nearest companion of Imam Ali (as). At the end of his Misbah, al-Kaf'ami have introduced himself a descendant of Harith. His birthplace, Kfar 'Ayma city is near Jebchit and today, only some ruins are left of this abandoned village.
Al-Kaf'ami Family :
There are some great famous scholars in al-Kaf'ami family. His first teacher was his father, Shaykh Ali al-Kaf'ami who gave him permission to narrat hadiths and is considered between his sources of hadiths. Shaykh Ali al-Kaf'ami was on of the scholars and mystics of Jabal 'Amil who sacrificed his life and children to Islam and Shia. His children were:
-al-Shaykh Taqi al-Din Ibrahim al-Kaf'ami, author of al-Misbah, etc.
-al-Shaykh Shams al-Din Muhammad al-Jaba'i al-'Amili (d. 886/1481) who was also an Islamic scholar and the great grandfather of al-Shaykh al-Baha'i and thus both al-Shaykh al-Baha'i and al-Kaf'ami were descendants of Harith.
-al-Shaykh Jamal al-Din Ahmad was also a Shia author and wrote Zubdat al-bayan fi 'amal shahr Ramadan. it appears that, Shaykh Jamal al-Din passed away before Ibrahim al-Kaf'ami who has quoted from in his book.
Teachers and Students:
Al-Kaf'ami had many teachers which have been listed in references of rijal and biography. Three of his most famous teachers were:
-Ali b. Hasan al-Kaf'ami, his father who gave him permission to narrate hadiths.
-Sayyid husayn b. Musa'id al-Husayni , author of Tuhfat al-abrar fi manaqib al-a'immat al-abrar.
-Sayyid Ali b. 'Abd al-Husayn al-Musawi al-Husayni, author of Raf' al-malamat 'an Ali (a) fi tark al-Imama.
In the books of rijal and biography, there is no mention of his students.
Woks:
in his 65 years of his life, al-Shaykh Ibrahim al-Kaf'ami wrote many scholarly books and treatises in different fields such as mysticism, spiritual journey, literature, poetry, history, supplication and ziyara. When mentioning the works of al-Kaf'ami in A'yan al-Shi'a, Sayyid Muhsin al-Amin has listed the names of 49 books, the volume of some of which is more than 1000 pages.
-Junnat al-aman al-waqiya wa jannat al-iman al-baqiya or Misbah of al-Kaf'ami. The cause of naming this book as Misbah is that this book is written in the same style as al-Shaykh al-Tusi's Misbah al-mutahajjid, and thus is named as Misbah, but to be distinguished from al-Shaykh al-Tusi's Misbah, it has been named Misbah of al-Kaf'ami.
-Al-Junnat al-Waqiya is a summary of Misbah.
-Al-Balad al-amin wa l-dar' al-hasin which is among the biggest books of al-Kaf'ami and much more voluminous than Misbah, even though it is similar to it in content.
-Nihayat al-arab fi amthal al-'Arab in two thick volumes which, according to great scholars, is the best book in the field.
Misbaḥ, al-musamma bi-Jannat al-aman al-waqiyah wa-jannat al-iman al-baqiyah.
-Majmu‘ al-ghara’ib wa-mawdu‘ al-ragha’ib
-Muhasabat al-nafs, wa-yalih kashf al-ribah ‘an ahkam al-ghaybah al-Shahid al-awwal
-Muhasabat al-nafs al-lawwamah wa-tanbih al-ruḥ al-nawwamah : Arabic written by al-Kaf'ami. The book concerns self-examination or self-interrogation (muhasabat al-nafs). The author tries to encourage readers to purify their souls by appealing to Qur'anic verses, hadiths, wisdoms, literary pieces, proverbs, and poems.
- Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya with the handwriting of al-Kaf'ami is one of the oldest manuscripts of Sahifa which was taken out of Iran and lost many years ago; but was finally recognized in the Indian peninsula and was moved to Qom in Iran and was then published. In addition to the 54 supplications of Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, this manuscript has four more supplications.
Poems and Literary Speeches :
Al-Kaf'ami was also knowledgeable in literature, poetry and speech-making. Talmasani, the Sunni scholar praised al-Kaf'ami for his Qur'anic speech. One of al-Kaf'ami's famous literary works is a poem about the Day of Ghadir, names of that day, praising merits and values of Imam Ali (a) which is known as ode of Ra'iyya.
His Demise:
Al-Shaykh Ibrahim al-Kaf'ami lived in Karbala and had willed to be buried there, but toward the end of his life, he had a journey to his birth town and passed away at the age of 65 in Kafar 'Ima in 905/1499-1500.
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