The news on Thursday, January 16

1. We mourn the loss of Zaynab bint Ali (peace be upon her).

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2. Deyr-e Gachin, a heritage upon our shoulders

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3. Special Podcast for Newcomers

4. Special Article for Newcomers

5. Necessary Equipment for Trade and Export

⏰ 93 minutes

6. Foreign Offices of Arad Branding in Canada, Niger, and Burundi

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Form to Utilize Foreign Office Capacities

7. Arad Branding in 60 Seconds

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8. Presence of the Russian Representative in Iran

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9. Self-Preserving Merchants

If you remember, honestly and with a pure heart, on the very first day I introduced myself to you, and even earlier, I mentioned that the main reason for my anonymity is because I fear for my life.

I fear that because I speak openly about many topics, trouble might arise for me, and I also confessed that I don't have the courage to risk my life and similar matters, and I am extremely fond of life.

Therefore, I greatly admire all those martyrs and veterans who sacrificed their lives in defense of this land, and although I was old enough to be on the front lines of the righteous fight against the oppressors, I refrained because of my love for life.

Perhaps some of you noble ones do not have such a trait, but I certainly do.

Maybe one of the reasons I strongly favor the economic uprising is that it doesn't require me to die.

Now, why am I writing all this? Because yesterday, when I brought up an analogy from Haj Sadegh Ahangaran, and said that his nobility reminded me of him, another dear friend left a comment saying that they had also heard about him in their youth but had forgotten. Writing about this noble man has revived the memory for them.

First, let's read the comment together, and I have highlighted the main part in red so we can discuss it.

Vahid, my dear, we live in a house where my sons, my wife, and I lock the door from inside when we go to sleep at night.

You wrote this comment yesterday, and by chance, my family, who are also readers of the comments, read it. A potential World War III almost broke out because they feared they might kill me too.

I told them they don't know me.

They said, "No, every now and then, you get the idea to go to Qom for events and reveal yourself."

I said, "No, I would never make such a mistake to want to do such a thing."

They said, "Even your team in Mashhad isn't that safe. What if they expose you?"

In short, we spent yesterday with some distress.

For the love of anyone's life, please don't let these comments, which involve discussions of dying and putting your life at risk, stir us up from this side.

Now, interestingly, just a few days ago, I saw a video circulating on social media with the following story: The camera first focuses on a man about my age, and they ask him, "Are you willing to go to war to defend your country and honor?"

The man firmly says, "Yes, it is everyone's duty to defend the country," and starts making a lot of empty claims.

Then they said, "In that case, we'll register you as a defender of the shrine because we need people to go to Syria and fight."

And as they were making the story more serious, the same person backed down, faltering, saying, "Well, I said something without thinking."

In informal terms, he said, "I made a mistake."

Now, this is my saying, and all the merchants who are "life-loving."

I believe that merchants, in essence, help Islam through their business, and the words of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) to Malik come to mind:

"O Malik, do not worry about the uprising of merchants, for they are a peaceful and life-loving group."

We deeply respect all the martyrs and military fighters of the eight years of defense, the defenders of the shrine, and the defenders of security, but we do not see such courage and bravery within ourselves.

The female merchants, who are exempt from military jihad and uprising according to Islam, are also included in our group.

Some of you gentlemen agree with me, and our stance is that we remain for the economic uprising.

For those dear ones who say they are ready for military war, may God bless you for engaging in both the economic and military fields.

As for us life-loving men, along with women, we will rise only in the economic field, and surely the reward for those who rise in both fields will be greater.

Of course, if the call for jihad changes from voluntary to obligatory, the situation will change, and then it will be obligatory for all men to engage in military jihad as well. However, for now, it is recommended, and we remain occupied with other recommended acts.

10. The Honor of Muslims is Linked to Trade

God says in His book:

"And to Allah belongs the honor, and to His Messenger, and to the believers; but the hypocrites do not know." Surah Al-Munafiqun, Verse 8

I want to break this verse into three parts.

The first part is about honor.

The second part is about God, His Messenger, and the believers.

The third part is about the hypocrites.

Now, let's talk about honor.

My question to you, dear ones, is: What does honor mean?

Take a moment to think about it. When God says that honor belongs to Allah, His Messenger, and the believers, what is this honor that is exclusive to this group?

When you call someone "honored," what do you mean by it?

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Honor in the Arabic language means being invincible, and when we call someone "honored," it means there is a love in our hearts for them that can never be broken or fade away.

This is what we mean by "honor."

Now, my question is, how much honor can one retain with poverty and lack of money?

Please, let’s step out of the poetic realm and talk about today’s world.

For example there’s a boy and a girl, and they are in love. The girl says, “Your love will never leave my heart.”

Now, if this boy is without money for months or years, will the girl still say, "You are my honor, and your love has not diminished in my heart"?

If you really know such girls, please introduce them in the comments. I swear by God, we have plenty of handsome, well-built, good-natured, educated, and good-looking but poor boys in our family, and we could send them as suitors to these girls.

So, with poverty and hardship, how much honor can one maintain?

With the rampant inflation we’re dealing with, to what extent can one be considered honored and invincible in the eyes of God, the Prophet, and fellow believers while working as a laborer or an employee?

Imam Ali (peace be upon him) says to his son Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyya: "My son, I fear for you from poverty. Seek refuge with God from it, for poverty makes a person’s faith incomplete, disturbs his mind, and turns him against people."

Even an infallible Imam is concerned about poverty for his son. So for us to claim that our faith won’t be harmed by poverty is pure nonsense.

In another place, Imam Ali (peace be upon him) says: "The poor are despised, and even when they speak the truth, people do not listen to them or take them seriously."

Is this honor?

Can one truly be honored and invincible without wealth or a high status in today’s world?

This is exactly what the Commander of the Faithful said: "After me, a situation will arise where nothing but wealth will preserve your faith."

Let’s move on to the second part of the verse, which says that honor belongs to God, His Messenger, and the believers.

God and His Messenger are clear.

The focus is on the believers.

Are we among the believers?

All you need to do is look and see if you are honored and invincible among people or not.

If yes, then you possess this quality of the believers, and you need to examine yourself regarding the other qualities.

But if not, then for the sake of God, stop pretending to be something you’re not.

The opposite of "honor" is "humiliation," which in Persian means being low and insignificant.

Personally, I feel disgusted by those lowly, despised, and insignificant people who have the mark of the prayer mat on their foreheads and present themselves as so pious that it makes you want to silence them.

I see these individuals, and I am reminded of the Kharijites (a group of Muslims who were initially followers of Ali, but later went against him and broke away from him).

They were the ones who prostrated but had no true sense of honor, and no one gave them any respect.

A true believer is honored, and people respect him.

If you’ve read the book Tawhid al-Mufaddal, you would know that at the beginning of it, Mufaddal ibn Umar, one of the special disciples of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (peace be upon him), narrates what led to the Imam revealing truths about the system of creation to him, which eventually led to the writing of this book.

He says, "One day I was sitting in the mosque when Ibn Abi al-Awja, the leader of the apostates and heretics of his time, was in the mosque with one of his disciples, and they were talking.

Their words about God were so blasphemous that I couldn’t control myself and interrupted their conversation."

After a few minutes of speaking, he said to me, “If you are one of the scholars, then come, present your arguments and we will present ours, and let the others hear and judge."

He continued, "If you are one of the disciples of Ja'far ibn Muhammad (i.e., Imam Sadiq), know that I have been to his presence many times.

He is a patient, composed, kind, lovable, dignified, and noble man, who remains silent for a long time while we speak. His silence continues to the point where we think he has nothing to say, and that we have defeated him. But when our words come to an end and our arguments are exhausted, he will respond with a short but powerful proof, making all our logic crumble. Without causing us any discomfort, he opens our eyes to our ignorance, and despite knowing that we follow a different religion, he welcomes us with respect, treating us in such a way that we do not feel unwelcome in his presence."

He concluded, "If you truly follow him, go and learn from his leadership first, then come and talk to us."

I share this story to show that even among his enemies, our Imams were respected and invincible, whereas many who claim to be believers are so humiliated due to their poverty that even their families look down on them, yet they still shout their faith to the heavens.

The third part of the verse refers to the hypocrites who do not know.

What religion are these hypocrites following?

If they do not follow any divine religion, then they are infidels, not hypocrites.

If they follow the religions of Moses, Jesus, or Zoroaster, then God does not consider them hypocrites, and the Quran refers to them as "People of the Book."

According to the definition provided by God Himself, hypocrites are those who acknowledge the Prophet as the Messenger of God, meaning they are Muslims.

"When the hypocrites come to you, they say: We testify that you are indeed the Messenger of Allah." Surah Al-Munafiqun, Verse 1

Through their words, they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

Hence, they speak the two testimonies and are considered Muslims.

Based on this verse, it is clear that those who believe a believer can lack honor are in fact hypocrites.

Please, I urge you to think carefully before jumping to conclusions.

God says that honor belongs to Him, His Messenger, and the believers.

Do you understand this part so far?

Then He says, "But the hypocrites do not know."

What don't the hypocrites know?

They do not know that honor belongs to God, His Messenger, and the believers.

If someone says, "I don't believe that a believer must always be honored," be sure that this person is a hypocrite.

You may think to yourself, "Well, maybe they don’t know?"

Well, God Himself addresses this.

He says that if they don't know that honor belongs to God, His Messenger, and the believers, they are hypocrites.

In other words, if someone is truly a believer, they will know this. The reason they don’t know it is due to the hypocrisy in their hearts.

If you’d like me to come and say, "Greetings to the believers," and you respond with, "Greetings to the believing author," and we go along with this mutual praise, I have no issue with that.

However, the truth is that if anyone in our community does not recognize that honor belongs to the believers, they are hypocrites.

Now, let’s summarize.

Can someone be honored without wealth and money in this modern age?

God says, "Honor belongs to God, His Messenger, and the believers."

God is self-sufficient and free of need.

The Messenger was also a merchant, as was his father, his cousin, his wife, and even his uncles and grandfathers.

Speaking of this, let me briefly mention the grandfather of the Prophet on his mother's side.

Amina (peace be upon her), the mother of the Prophet, was the daughter of Wahb ibn Abd Manaf al-Zahri.

Abd Manaf was the patriarch of the Banu Zahrah family, and most historians believe they lived in Medina. Abdullah, who was from Mecca, met Amina during one of his business trips to Medina and liked her.

The dowry set for Amina (peace be upon her) when she married Abdullah was 1,000 mithqals of silver as an immediate payment and 1,000 mithqals of gold to be paid later.

In today's terms, this amounts to 500 million tomans in cash and 25 billion tomans in deferred payment.

In fact, this amount was considered low because Wahb, Amina’s father, believed that he should not give his daughters a very high dowry. The sum I mentioned was actually quite modest compared to what was possible for Abdullah, the father of the Prophet.

The Zahri family, to which Abd Manaf belonged, and then this wealth passed on to Wahb, were merchants in Medina.

So, we said that God is self-sufficient and free of need.

The Messenger also has such a legacy, both from himself and his wife, as well as from his entire family, all of whom lived in merchant families.

Now, what about the believers?

Should the believers who claim to follow the Prophet be like him, or should they be like others?

This is where we need to examine ourselves.

The choice is yours: you can either stay in trade or return to being a laborer or employee.