becomes a guest of the Al-

mighty” and as a result, his

breath becomes as a tasbeeh

(glorification) and his sleep

also becomes a worship.

Holy month of Ramadhan

is also a month to think

about oppressed people

of the world as the late

leader of Muslim world

Imam Khomeini (RA) an-

nounced the last Friday of

the holy month as the

Day of Qods, a day of the

oppressed people, a day

of Islam. It is obligatory

for every Muslim to raise

their voice against the

Zionist regime which is

taking benefits of atroci-

ties by the takfirees in Is-

lamic countries.

Even today, evil forces have

deployed a group to terrorize

the Islamic world in the name

of Islam. The enemies of

Islam have hired their pup-

pets to destabilize all Islamic

countries and break the

peace of the Muslim world.

Continue on page 4

In the name of the one who

designated twelve months

and made few months as

months of peace

and harmony. In the name of

the one who sent down the

guidance in the holy month of

Ramadhan for humanity.

شهر رمضان الذي انزل فيه القران هدي للناس و بينات من الهدي

والفرقان

Month of Ramadhan is the

month when Quran was re-

vealed to guide the mankind

and to distinguish between

the haqq and the batil.

We extend our congratula-

tions to the Imam of the age

(ATFS), leader of Islamic

world, our great maraje and

all Muslim Ummah on the

approaching of the holy

month of Ramadhan.

As the holy month is a month

of blessings, mercy and for-

giveness. It is the month of

revelation of holy book of

Allah (SWT) which means it

is the month of birth of

the final testament;

Quran, which is the mes-

sage to mankind. This

month is as a spring of Quran

as it is said in Hadith of the

holy prophet (PBUH).

ان لكل شي ربيع و ربيع القران شهر رمضان

“For everything there is a

season and season of Quran

is the holy month of Rama-

dhan”

This is also a month of Islamic

unity as all the Muslims of the

world become united to be

obedient to their lord and

observe the same fast and

practice compassion and mer-

cy during this month. This is

a month when all religious

practices are observed and

practiced on a greater scale,

so we can say the holy month

of Ramadhan is a month of

Islam. Holy prophet (PBUH)

also mentioned

هو شهر دعيتم فيه الي ضيافة هللا

“A month when a momin

Message from Resident Aalim

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

A Message from

Resident A’lim

1

Special Ramadhan

Programs

2

Signs of reappear-

ance of Imam AS

2

Al-Qasim Updates 4

Editor’s Note 7

Program Flyers

8

Ramadhan Timings 13

I S L A M I C E D U C A T I O N

C E N T E R H O U S T O N , T X

Wahdat Newsletter J U L Y 2 0 1 4 / R A M A D H A N — S H A W W A L 1 4 3 5

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

Forest Park

Cemetery

project is under-

way, contact any

board member

for more infor-

mation

Donate gener-

ously towards

Ramadhan Fund

Last Friday of

the Holy Month

of Ramadhan is

the Day of Quds.

Zakatul Fitra is

obligatory and

due upon every

able Muslim.

See details on

page 13

“For everything there is a

season and season of Quran is

the holy month of Ramadhan”

Holy Prophet (PBUH)

P A G E 2

Signs of reappearance of Imam (ATFS)

Special Programs in the Holy Month of Ramadhan

Alhamdulillah the Month of

Ramadan is upon us and the

excitement in the community

is growing, many of the broth-

ers and sisters have ideas that

are great, but our resources

and time are limited and we

must pool the resources to-

gether to obtain maximum

benefit. With the help of

many volunteers, in addition

to the daily program lead by

our Resident Alim H.I. Mou-

lana Shabirri (Quran recita-

tion, Salaat, Iftar, Special

Duas and programs for the

special nights of the month),

the following activities are

being organized at the IEC

during the Holy month of

Ramadan.

1) Daily Program with

visiting Scholars

a) Ramadan 1-14; HI

Hamza Sodagar (details)

b) Ramadan 15- 29; HI

Dawood Sdagar (details)

2) Ramadan Prayer

Time Table (flyer)

3) Special Children

Activities during the

program

(details)

4) Annual Holy Qur’an

Memorization &

Knowledge Contest

(details)

5) Annual Table Ten-

nis Tournament

(details)

6) Annual Ramadan

Camp (Details to be

announced later)

PLEASE REMEMBER TO

DONATE GENEROUSLY

TOWARDS THE RAMADAN

FUND.

WaSalaam

Board of Directors

Note: The program flyers are

added at the end of the

Newsletter.

ance of Imam Zamana

(ATFS) narrated to us by

the Holy Imams (ATFS) are

like a wall that cannot be

scaled by any random

claimants. History is full of

people who have claimed to

be the Imam (ATFS), but

none of them can produce

even one of the signs narrat-

ed by the Holy Imams

(ATFS). Modern advance-

ments have enabled man to

read the moon, but man is

still not capable of causing

the sun to rise from the

west. Anyone can claim to

be “Mahdi,” which is why it

As-salamu alaykum broth-

ers and sisters. My name is

Izzah Ali and I am an 18

year old college student.

The reason I want to em-

phasize my age and what I

am doing in life right now

is because I am considered

to be part of what is known

as the “youth.” We are all

gathered here today to cele-

brate our living Imam and it

is important for us to be

informed about his reap-

pearance. Today I want to

shed some light on the signs

of reappearance.

The signs of the reappear-

is necessary for us to learn

about the qualities of Imam-

e-Zamana (ATFS) and

know about the predictive

signs that will precede his

reappearance. Otherwise,

one can be easily misled by

those who falsely claim to

be the Imam (ATFS)

There are, basically, two

types of signs: certain and

uncertain. Although change

of decree is possible for

both of them, this is the

fundamental classification

of the signs.

Continue on page 5

ن ذا الذي يقرض م

قرضا حسنا هللا

فيضاعفه له أضعافا

يقبض كثيرة وهللا

ويبسط وإليه

ترجعون

“2:245. Who is

he that will lend

to Allâh a goodly

loan so that He

may multiply it

to him many

times? And it is

Allâh that de-

creases or in-

creases (your

provisions), and

unto Him you

shall return. “

W A H D A T N E W S L E T T E R

Message from Resident Aalim—continue

P A G E 3 J U L Y 2 0 1 4 / R A M A D H A N — S H A W W A L 1 4 3 5

Today, we are facing a larg-

er conspiracy of the imperi-

alists to divide and conquer

the Islamic world. The tak-

feery forces have been de-

ployed in various countries

like Pakistan, Syria and

Iraq, so that the Muslim

world remains engaged and

occupied within themselves

and is not free to think

about the Zionist regime,

while Israel continues all

inhuman acts and crimes in

Israel by kidnapping chil-

dren, demolishing their

houses, killing innocent

people, depriving the rights

of the Palestinian people in

their own homeland.

Let us stand all together on the

Day of Qods and send the right

messages through demonstra-

tion, saying “Oh Qods! we have

not forgotten you, Oh Pales-

tine, we are standing beside

you, Oh oppressed people of

the world, our hearts beat with

you.” Let us warn oppressors

that: Your days are counted and

your powers are vanishing. Oh

oppressors! we always stand

against you. We will expose

your real face and people of the

world will wake up and they

will not let you continue with

your evil plots.

As this month has many signifi-

cances, it is a month of

peace and harmony as

Quran has mentioned Allah

(SWT.) has designated four of

the twelve months as months of

peace and tolerance, the

months to stop war and blood-

shed and give a chance to the

peace. Any one picking this

time for his aggression is acting

against the command of Allah

(SWT). We can see a commu-

nity facing planned terrorism

that is exported from outside.

The people of Iraq have been

oppressed since the month of

Shabaan which was a month of

messenger of Allah (SWT) and

a month of peace and blessing.

The takfeery forces have

attacked and killed inno-

cent people and broke the

peace of the community.

This anti-human group which is

paid and fully funded by the

imperialists have started com-

mitting atrocities since last

month in Iraq.

Since their attack on this coun-

try, great maraje of the Hawza

Ilmiyah Najaf like Ayatollah ul

Uzma Sayyid Ali Sistani have

taken the lead and announced a

clear jihad against this inhuman

group of ISIL or ISIS, followed

by the support of Shia and Sun-

ni ulama from all over the

globe. All Sunni ulama, includ-

ing Jamia tul Azher of Egypt

declared this group as enemies

of Islam, but Western and Zi-

onist funded media continues

its propaganda by calling this

war as Shia Sunni conflict. They

keep calling Noori Al Maliki as

Shia prime minister and his gov-

ernment as Shia Government.

It seems that this was an origi-

nal plot of these world wide

war monger and enemies of

peace and those who are al-

ways thirsty for the blood of

human beings. Thanks God

with the blessing of our maraje

and vigilant Sunni scholars this

enemy plot has been foiled and

this takfiry group has been sin-

gled out.

As per the great marja Hazrat

Ayatullah Sistani who has said

ال تقولوا أهل السنه إخواننا بل انهم منا

و من أنفسنا

“Do not just consider ahle Sun-

na as brothers only but they are

part of us and they are our fam-

ily.”

Leader of Muslims has em-

phasized on the unity in all

his speeches and anyone

who caused disunity has

nothing to do with Shia or

Sunni but he is an agent of

enemies of Islam.

We would like to invite all Mus-

lim scholars to speak about the

unity in the holy month of Ram-

adhan and let's get together to

fail all the agendas of enemies of

Islam. We strongly condemn all

terrorist groups, including ISIS,

ISIL, Taliban or Al-Qaida and

we consider them the direct

agents of evil powers.

Dear brothers and sisters, we

hope you all enjoy a spiritual

month and have a happy Eid

with the blessings of Allah

(SWT). May Allah hasten the

reappearance of Imam of our

time so the world can witness

peace and blessings and can

change to a heaven on the

earth.

Wassalam

G.H.Shabbiri

“Do not just

consider Ahle-

Sunnah as

brothers only but

they are part of

us and they are

our family”

Ayatullah Sayyid Ali

Sistani

“Oh Qods! We

have not forgotten

you, Oh Palestine,

we are standing

beside you, Oh

oppressed people

of the world, our

hearts beat with

you”

P A G E 4 J U L Y 2 0 1 4 / R A M A D H A N — S H A W W A L 1 4 3 5

IEC YouTube

IEC Shia TV

Jafari Jobs

Muslim Congress

Forest Park Burial Site Pur-

chase Program

Donate Online

Al-Hadi School

Farsi School

Sunday School

Prayer Times

Quran Recitation

Wahdat Newsletter Archive

IEC Majalis and Duas

As part of the Week of Mahdaviat, Monday June 9

th included a Youth Barbeque as well as a

gameshow-style contest of knowledge about our Imam of the Age(ATFS).

Call for volunteers! Youth who are available this summer to volunteer with Youth pro-grams and general activities at IEC are encouraged to send an email to director.youth@iec-houston.org. Also, please like our Al-Qasim Youth Group page on Facebook to stay abreast of all up-coming events. If you have any comments, suggestions or ques-tions, please address them to director.youth@iec-houston.org.

On Saturday night, May 31st, a youth hangout was held. The

fist part of the program included community announcements and a lively discussion with HI Badiei that was open to both brothers and sisters. The youth learned about HI Badiei and took to heart his advice about preparation for the Holy Month

of Ramadhan. The second part of the night was a boys lock-in which included basketball, soc-cer, and video games amongst other things. We are excited to announce that as in the past years, this holy month of Ramadhan we will be once again having lock-ins and discussions with the visiting scholars HI Hamza Sodagar and HI Dawoud Sodagar during the weekends. Below are pictures of the event with HI Badiei:

Al-Qasim Youth Group Updates

Links to other useful resources

Signs of reappearance of Imam (ATFS) — continue

P A G E 5 J U L Y 2 0 1 4 / R A M A D H A N — S H A W W A L 1 4 3 5

First of all, let us study the certain

signs so that we shall not be mis-

guided by any false claimant. Imam

(ATFS) said: “There are a few oc-

currences which are imminent.”

Today, I am going to discuss 3 of

them:

The advent of Sufyani.

The rising of the sun from the west.

The call from the sky.

(Kamaluddin p. 652, p. 14,).

Imam Ali (AS) has narrated from

the Holy Prophet (PBUH), "It is

essential that ten things should

occur before the "hour" and there

is no other alternative: Sufyani,

Dajjal, Smoke, Depression (of land),

advent of Mahdi (ATFS), sunrise

from the west, descent of Isa (AS),

the destruction of the east, the

destruction of the Arabian island,

and the fire from Aden, which

would herd the people towards the

day of Judgment.”

(Behaarul Anwaar, vol., 52 pg. 209,)

It is mentioned in traditions that

the first sign shall be the rise of

Sufyani, who will dispatch an army

of 30,000 to conquer Mecca, and all

of them shall sink in the desert

except two. He will rule for eight

months and the reappearance of

Imam-e-Zamana (ATFS) shall be in

the same year.

In Qurbul Asnaad, a tradition is

narrated from Ibn Asbaat wherein

the narrator asked Imam Reza

(AS), "Would the rise of Sufyani be

the first occurrence?" The Imam

replied, "Yes". The narrator in-

quired about the time of the com-

ing of Sufyani. Imam replied,

"Whenever Allah wills".

Dajjal:

Dajjal will rise from the east of

Khorasan and spread corruption

and discord. His followers shall be

Turks and Jews, and they will bring

all their treasures for him. He shall

be of stunted height and his right

eye will be missing. Between his

eyes the following letters will be

inscribed: ‘kafir’ (disbeliever). He

shall be in power for 40 days in this

world. Each day shall be as long as

a month and each month shall be

equal to a year. But, the day of

Friday will be like an ordinary day.

He shall be killed by Prophet Isa

(AS), at the gate of the city of Ladd

in Palestine. After his death, not a single unbeliever shall remain on

this earth. The Holy Prophet

(PBUH) has said that whoever sees

Dajjal should spit in his face, and in

order to seek refuge from his mag-

ic, must recite Surah Fatiha.

The call from the sky:

"What is the ‘call of the sky’?" in-

quired the narrator. The Imam (AS)

replied, "At the beginning of the

day, a caller will proclaim from the

sky, "Certainly truth is with Ali and

his Shias". This proclamation shall

be understood by all the people in

their respective languages. At the

end of the day the Satan shall cry

from the earth that truth is with

Usman and his Shias. (Here, Us-

man stands for the name of Sufyani,

i.e. Usman bin Ambasa.)

In regards to the “call from the

sky,” Ali Ibne Ibrahim Qummi (r.a.),

has discussed it in his tafseer of the

50th verse of Surah Saba. It is

mentioned that Imam Baqir (AS)

said that people shall be terrified

upon hearing this cry and the earth

shall devour them. Maqatil has

written in his tafseer that from

among the signs of reappearance is

the call from the sky and it shall

occur in the month of Ramazan on

a Friday night. After this, he has

written about a universal cry. A

caller will raise a cry on the 23rd of

Ramazan, "0 People! Be aware that the re-appearance of the Imam of

the time has come to pass. "On

hearing this, all those who had

been standing shall sit down and

those who had been sitting shall

stand up.

Abu Basir asked Imam Sadiq (AS),

"What will that cry be?" He replied,

"That call shall be raised with his

name and the name of his respect-

ed father. It will say, "So and so,

the son of so and so is the Qaem

of the Progeny of Muhammad

(PBUH), Obey him..." Anyone who

is asleep at this time will awaken

and stand at once and start search-

ing for the source of this voice

inside of his house. The announcer will be the Angel Jibraeel. After

this, Imam (ATFS) shall re-appear.

The signs discussed today are con-

sidered to be certain ones. Until

these signs have occurred, one

cannot accept anyone as Imam-e-

Zamana (ATFS). History is a wit-

ness that until now, none of the self

-proclaimed “Imams” have been

preceded by even one of these

signs.

As discussed earlier, some of the

signs may be subject to

‘badaah’ (change of decree) and

may not occur. The first tradition

in this regard is from Ameerul

Momineen Ali (AS)’s reply to the

question of Saasa, who asked,

"When will Dajjal come? "Ameerul

Momineen Ali (AS) replied, "When

people will begin to forget Namaz;

usury and bribery will become

common, exchanging the religion

for worldly pleasures, breaking

relationships, following carnal de-

sires. Murder and destruction shall

be considered trifles, cruelty shall

be considered a proud achieve-

ment, false testimonies shall be

given openly, slandering will not be

looked upon as evil, sins and diso-

bedience will become rampant,

copies of the Holy Quran shall be

beautifully decorated, mosques

shall be built exquisitely, minarets

of the mosques will rise higher, evil

people will be respected, breaking

promises will not be considered wrong, the love of wealth will in-

crease so much that women will

rub shoulders with men in business,

women will ride horses, etc."

Continue on page 6

P A G E 6 J U L Y 2 0 1 4 / R A M A D H A N — S H A W W A L 1 4 3 5

one will ask the Imam (ATFS)

to show miracles, Imam (ATFS)

would oblige him. He will not

be helpless like the false claim-

ants. Hazrat Ali (AS) said in the

Khutba Al Bayan that: "From

the descendants of Imam Hasan

(AS), a person will meet Imam

al-Asr (ATFS). He will have an

army of 20,000 soldiers in his

command. He will tell Imam-e-

Zamana (ATFS), ‘O my cousin, I

am more deserving to become

Ulul Amr (authority), because I

have descended from the elder

son of Ameerul Momineen.’

Imam-e-Zamana (ATFS) will ask

him, ‘Don't you know that I am

Mahdi?’ The Hasani will ask

Imam-e-Zamana (ATFS) to

prove his claim. Imam-e-

Zamana (ATFS) will look to-

wards the sky and a bird will fly

towards him, perch on his hand,

and testify to his Imamat. Then,

Imam (ATFS) will pick up a dry

stem and keep it with himself

for a day. It will become green

and begin to flower. After see-

ing this, Hasani shall be con-

vinced and along with his army

of 20,000 pay, will allegiance

upon the hand of Imam and say,

‘You are more deserving to be

the Ulul Amr (authority).” His-

tory testifies that none of the

claimants have been able to

perform such a miracle and

even if they were asked to do

so they could not. Another

tradition found in authentic

books state that before the

reappearance of Imam (ATFS),

two signs will occur, which will

astonish astronomers. Imam

Mohammad Baqir (AS) said:

"Such a thing did not happen

from the time of Hazrat Adam

(AS) until the reappearance of

our Qaem. On the 15th of the

After studying these types of

signs we must pray to Allah to

keep us away from such deeds

so that they may not be a cause

of Imam (ATFS) being dis-

pleased with us. Undoubtedly,

Imam al-Asr (ATFS) will not

tolerate such actions and will

come to eradicate the people

who partake in these actions.

There will be good tidings for

the believers. First and fore-

most, the believers will be hon-

ored by the presence of the

beloved Imam (ATFS) and Mas-

ter, who will overcome their

difficulties and save them from

all types of injustice and atroci-

ties.

Abdul Malik Ibne Ayun says: “I

was before Imam Baqir (AS)

when he said, “Would you not

like to see your enemies fight

to death among themselves

while you remain peacefully in

your houses? Whenever the

advent of our Qaem will be,

each one of you shall be be-

stowed with the strength of

forty people and your hands

shall become so powerful that if

you were to hit a mountain it

shall cause a hole in it. The

treasures of the earth shall be

thrown open for you.” Imam

Sadiq (ATFS) said: “Until the

advent of AI-Qaem the people

shall have only two parts of

knowledge. After his reappear-

ance, twenty five parts more

shall be added to their

knowledge.”

(Behaarul Anwaar vol 52, pg.

336,).

Apart from this, it is also men-

tioned in the traditions that

after his reappearance, if any-

lunar month, a solar eclipse will

take place, and on the 25th of

the same month, a lunar eclipse

will occur.”

(Kamaluddin, vol 2 pg. 55)

Sheikh Mufeed (RA) relates:

"Just before the reappearance

of Mahdi, the earth will be

lashed with heavy rains, which

will continue for the whole of

the month of Jamadi us Sani and

ten days of Rajab.

In the end, we pray to Allah to

make the earth prepared for

the reappearance of Imam-e-

Zamana (ATFS) and give us

taufeeq to perform deeds that

please the Imam (ATFS) and

keep us away from the deeds

that are disliked by the Imam

(ATFS) and will be the cause of

his displeasure after his reap-

pearance. Give us the taufeeq

of discerning the truth and give

us the insight to recognize false-

hood and reject it. O Allah,

make the reappearance of Imam

(ATFS) certain in our life.

Count us among the helpers

and supporters of Imam-e-

Zamana (ATFS).

By Izzah Ali

Signs of reappearance of Imam (ATFS) — continue

As-salaamu ‘alaykum dear community members,

The Wahdat Newsletter reaches to a greater Houston community. The newsletter offers Classified section

at very nominal charge to community members. If you like to publish advertisement in this newsletter,

please contact Office.Admin@IEC-Houston.org or Wahdat@IEC-Houston.org.

Please note the last date to publish in the next month newsletter is the 21st of a month.

We are looking forward to improve the newsletter and your feedback is very important for us.

Wahdat Team,

Islamic Education Center of Houston, TX

2313 South Voss Rd.

Houston Tx 77057

713-787-5000

www.iec-houston.org

info@iec-houston.org

The Islamic Education Center is a spring that quenches

the thirst of those looking for true spirituality in the

desert of materialism, a huge blessed tree to rest under

its wide shadow from the heat of corruption which ex-ists elsewhere, a masjid to supplicate and pray in, a

school to learn in, a center to provide and receive ser-

vices, and eventually a place to get near to Allah

through righteous activities. We praise Allah (SWT)

for helping us to be one of the unique communities that

has been able to maintain its unity and provide services

to the Muslim community and progress year after year.

IEC SERVICES: PROGRAMS

Daily Congregational Prayers, Friday (Jumuah) Prayers,

Dua-e-Kumail, Tawassul, Nudbah, Programs on all ma-

jor Islamic occasions

COMMUNITY SERVICES

Nikah/Wedding, Imam Sajjad Clinic, Full-service Res-

taurant, IEC Library, Funeral Services, Dawah & Inter-

faith and much more.

EDUCATION

Al Hadi School (PreK - Gr. 12), Sunday School, Farsi

School, Al-Mustafa Hawza

AGE BASED ACTIVITIES

Al-Qasim Youth As-Sadiq Senior Citizens Group

Islamic Education Center

Houston, TX

Editor’s Note

Inform, Inspire and Invite the readers

towards Islam

Disclaimer: "The views expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the posi-

tion or policy of the Islamic Education Center (IEC) of Houston TX, its' Board , Wahdat or anyone else other than the

authors."

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