1. Trading with the Eyes of the Heart
⏰ 1 minute
2. Special Podcast for Newcomers
Arad Branding's support turns ordinary people into successful and wealthy traders.
3. Special Article for Newcomers
4. Details of Promotion Services
⏰ 51 minutes
5. Time Management Skills in Trading
⏰ 9 minutes
6. Arad Visual Documentation
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7. Arad Branding in 60 Seconds
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8. Burkina Faso Representative’s Visit to Arad Branding's Supplying Factories
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9. Online Presentation Services
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10. Failure to Comply with Proforma Invoice Issuance Rules
⏰ 25 minutes
11. Key Factors Influencing the Success of Singapore’s Economy
⏰ 29 minutes
12. We Leave the Judgment to You.
Today, I intend to review a few simple facts that we have often heard and read, one after the other, so that we can reach a final conclusion, and I will leave the judgment to you.
You probably know that when God decided to create Adam, He said:
Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:30
Imagine a very rich and self-sufficient king in a vast kingdom who wishes to appoint a successor and representative to rule on his behalf, so that everyone who sees him will say, "He is the representative of the king."
Shouldn’t there be a similarity between the king and his successor?
If the king is rich and wealthy, is it appropriate for his successor to be poor and destitute?
Then, what is the meaning of this statement of the Lord that immediately after creating Adam, He said:
"And He taught Adam the names of all things." Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:31
It is narrated from Imam Hadi (peace be upon him) that he said:
"When God created Adam, He entrusted all of the qualities and attributes He had within Himself to Adam, so that Adam would be a reflection of Him, except for one attribute."
The companions asked: "Which attribute?"
I want you to think for a moment. Which attribute is it?
It means that when God is kind, He wants you to be kind too.
When He is forgiving, He wants you to be forgiving.
When He is beautiful, He desires that you also appreciate beauty.
When He is wise, it is appropriate for His servant to act with wisdom as well.
When He is knowledgeable, He considers it better for us to be knowledgeable.
If you look at any attribute in the Creator, He wishes for you to have it as well, because humanity is God's vicegerent on Earth and must embody all the divine qualities.
There is only one attribute that is unique to His essence, and it is not befitting anyone else, not even for His prophets and imams.
What is that one attribute?
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God has described Himself in His book as follows:
"He is Allah—there is no god except Him: the King, the Most Holy, the All-Perfect, the Source of Serenity, the Watcher of all, the Almighty, the Supreme in Might," Surah Al-Hashr, 59:23
He wants you to be a king too.
He wants you to be healthy, full of peace, harmony, and well-being.
He desires you to be a believer, just as He is.
Just as He has majesty and grandeur, He wants you to have the same attributes.
He is the Almighty, and He wants His Prophet and the believers to be honored as well.
Just as He compensates for goodness, He wishes for you to compensate for kindness too.
But when it comes to one specific attribute, He does not allow anyone else to possess it except Himself.
That attribute is “The Supreme”.
The Prophet of God said: "God has made a covenant with Himself: He will lower to the seventh heaven anyone who is arrogant, even if they are in a high position. And He will raise to the seventh heaven anyone who is humble, even if they are fallen."
So, apart from the supreme quality which is solely befitting His divine essence, we must strive to reflect all other attributes of God in our own lives.
Now, do you think such a God would prefer that I and you remain poor?
Does such a God, who is rich and wealthy, desire His servant to be poor?
Does such a pure and luxurious God choose for His servants dirty and lowly clothes?
If you saw a wealthy father buying poor-quality clothes for his child, what would you think about this father?
This is the saying of the Messenger of God, who stated: "God is more merciful to a person than seventy times the mercy of a mother and father combined."
Does such a God, who is the owner of the heavens and the earth, prefer that His servant lives in humility and poverty?
How do those who think like this judge the situation?
Have they not heard this statement of God, who said:
"Say (O Muhammad): 'Who has forbidden the adornment which Allah has brought forth for His creatures or the good things from among the means of sustenance?' Say: 'These are for the enjoyment of the believers in this world, and shall be exclusively theirs on the Day of Resurrection." Surah Al-A'raf, 7:32
Do you think God created luxury cars like Benz and BMW for the disbelievers, leaving the believers out of them?
Did He create rich foods for the disbelievers, idolaters, and hypocrites, while leaving believers to watch and suffer in their hearts?
Did He create luxury hotels and tall palaces for His enemies, while telling His friends that He would be displeased if they stayed in such places?
Verse 32 of Surah Al-A'raf says: "Say to them: Who has prohibited the adornment of Allah, which He has brought forth for His servants?"
If God allows luxury to be created, it is for the love of His believers, not for the disbelievers or idolaters.
Have you noticed the word "adornment" in this verse, where God says no one has prohibited it for the believers?
Now, pay attention to the verse before this one:
"O Children of Adam! Dress properly whenever you are at worship." Surah Al-A'raf, 7:31
If I have a high-end car and I plan to go to the local mosque, should I go in that car, or should I choose a humbler car or even walk?
God says: Come to Me with all your adornments when you prostrate to Me.
Why, O God?
So that others can see that the one who is a believer also has majesty and grandeur, and so they may be attracted to the faith. They might think, "If prayer leads to having a high-end car, we will pray too."
It is God's command that when you come to pray, you come in the best adornment.
Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) is narrated to have said: "When Abu Abdullah would pray at home, he would wear a special cloak he had purchased for 24 dinars and pray in it."
I asked him, "O son of the Messenger of God, isn’t it better to appear before God in simple, humble clothes?"
He replied, "Haven’t you heard that God said:
"O Children of Adam! Dress properly whenever you are at worship."
When you go to meet that man, which clothes do you wear? (The "man" referred to in the narration is actually Al-Mansur al-Dawaniqi, the oppressive Abbasid caliph.)
Do you choose the most expensive one or the cheaper one?"
I said, "I would choose the best and most expensive clothes."
He replied: "Do you consider your Lord the true King or that man?"
I replied, "My Lord is the true King."
He said: "Then how is it that for that man, you wear your best clothes, but when it comes to your Lord, you choose the cheaper ones?"
God desires to see His servant adorned in the finest when they stand in prayer.
The 24-dinar cloak, which today would be worth around 550 million toman, was what Imam Sadiq wore for his intimate prayer with his Lord.
There is a narration that Imam Sadiq stood in the main square of Medina and said: "I am the wealthiest person in this city. If anyone has more wealth than I do, let them come forward."
The wealthy people of Medina dared not approach.
News of this reached the governor of Medina, who was asked to come to the square to stand before the Imam. He replied: "Ja'far is one of the wealthiest merchants of Medina, and I don’t think anyone has more wealth than he does."
Have you not heard that the Prophet of God said: "The generous ones are the masters of the people in this world, and the pious are the masters of the people in the hereafter? So be generous and pious."
He also repeatedly said: "Paradise is the home of the generous."
Can a poor person claim to be generous?
Musa ibn Ja'far al-Kazim (the son of the Imam Sadiq, who was the wealthiest in Medina) had bags of gold that he would give to the poor and needy. These bags, known as "surra," contained 200, 300, or 400 dinars of gold.
Each 100 dinars, if we calculate today, would amount to approximately 2 billion and 300 million toman.
And these surras were such that if a poor person received one, they would be set for life.
In this day and age, if we see someone who was poor yesterday suddenly become wealthy, what do we say?
We say, "So-and-so has found a treasure."
In the time of Imam Kazim, when someone suddenly became rich, the people would say:
"Such and such has reached the surras of Musa ibn Ja'far."
Even to this day, this proverb is still used among many Shi’ahs.
When the usurper Caliph Harun al-Rashid, contemporary to Imam Musa Kazim, was informed that people said that the wealth of Musa ibn Ja'far was greater than his, Harun said: "What should I do?"
They advised him to go out and show people that they were lying.
Harun responded: "How can I show them they are lying when I know the truth of what they are saying?"
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