The news on Wednesday, November 27

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Previously, we mentioned that for anyone who truly wishes to witness delightful changes in their life as a blessing from God and to clearly see His guidance, it is first necessary to integrate themselves into a group, category, or community moving in the right direction toward a righteous goal. This person must identify themselves as one of them.

In Arad, we praised God for recognizing the country’s present challenge, which is poverty. We are confident that if Imam Mahdi (may Allah hasten his reappearance) were to appear today, his most significant concern would be eradicating poverty. Therefore, a true believer who considers themselves awaiting his arrival must work toward this cause, just as the Supreme Leader has, for 20 years, consistently set the annual motto with an economic focus and has not designated any other topic as the main theme besides the economy.

Thus, we Aradis have chosen the best goal for humanity in the current era: the economy.

Through numerous references from the Quran, the Prophet of God, his family, historical sources, and human evidence, we have consistently demonstrated that trade is the only path to economic growth. All nations that transitioned from poverty to wealth achieved it by respecting and engaging in trade.

Hence, we, the Aradis, are the group advancing along a unified goal and a single path.

In the meantime, we observe that the majority of Aradis, by the grace of God, have beautifully adapted themselves to this grand structure and are cooperating harmoniously.

However, there remains a minority of less than 10% who claim, "I cannot align myself with the Aradis."

Yesterday, a report was submitted to the writers' team regarding numerous calls made over the past month to individuals not participating in tests, not leaving comments, and not visiting the site daily. The goal was to investigate why they were unable to engage.

The essence of their responses was: "Our mindset does not match that of the Arad members."

When we investigated further and asked, "What exactly do you mean by saying your mindset doesn’t align?"

"Does this mean you don’t like money?"

They all replied, "No, we do like money."

We asked, "Does this mean you dislike trade?"

They said, "No, if we disliked trade, we wouldn’t have pursued promotions or invested in it."

We asked, "Then what is it that makes you say your mindset doesn’t align with Arad members?"

At this point, we found that each person had a different reason.

One said, "The women here wear hijab, but I don’t."

Another said, "Some women here don’t wear hijab, and my mother insists I cannot be part of such a group unless everyone is covered."

One said, "A particular business enterprise owner spoke to me harshly."

Another said, "I reached out to a successful trader you recommended, messaged them several times, but they left me on read without responding. That upset me."

Another said, "I once joined a group of four traders, and they didn’t show much attention to me."

One mentioned, "The day I entered the office, five staff members were sitting there. Even though I arrived, not one of them stood up to greet me."

Each person gave a reason entirely different from the others.

What struck us about these reasons, after reading them, was that none of them had anything to do with economics or trade.

Not a single individual said, "I left or distanced myself from Arad due to an economic reason or because Arad’s methodology was flawed."

Nor did anyone mention a conflict with Arad’s approach to ethical or healthy trade.

Upon hearing these reasons, I was immediately reminded of this verse from the Book of God:

"Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?" Surah Al-Ma'idah, Ayah 91

The interesting point is that God considers the cause of discord, enmity, hatred, and resentment among Muslims to be solely Satan, and no one else.

This is because the word “innama” at the beginning of the verse refers to exclusivity, meaning Satan and no one else.

So, anyone who fuels this discord and enmity is one of Satan's allies. And do not picture Satan as a horned, two-headed being.

For example, suppose you went with your spouse to meet a businessman from Arad, and the spouse began saying things like: “This place isn’t suitable.

Didn’t you notice so-and-so didn’t stand up to greet you?” and other remarks of this kind that breed enmity and hatred.

Know that this very spouse is acting as Satan, and they will lead you astray.

The second point is: what exactly does Satan manifest among you?

Enmity and hatred.

So, whenever you feel enmity or hatred arising in your heart toward a Muslim, know that you have fallen under Satan’s influence.

Don’t you recite Ziyarat Ashura?

Don’t you say: “I am at peace with those who are at peace with you, at war with those who are at war with you, a friend to your allies, and an enemy to your enemies”?

This Aradi, against whom you harbor feelings of enmity and hatred, is one of the devotees of Hussain (peace be upon him), so why do you not adopt the path of peace and friendship with them?

You said, “O Aba Abdillah, anyone who is at peace with you, I am at peace with them.”
And peace means reconciliation, it means harmony.

Oh, so are you now saying: “O Aba Abdillah, I will be at peace with anyone who is at peace with you, provided they respect me, flatter me, act in such-and-such a way, and meet thousands of other conditions”?

We are the devotees of Imam Hussain, and it was agreed that we would reserve our hatred and enmity solely and exclusively for the enemies of Hussain (peace be upon him), and no one else.

So why, over trivial and insignificant reasons, do we distance ourselves from one another?

Another subtle point mentioned in the verse is the path of Satan’s scheme, which is stated as being through khamr (intoxicants) and maysir (gambling).

You’ve heard the term “khumār”, where someone is described as being in a state of intoxication, meaning their reasoning is impaired.

Wine is called khamr because it diminishes intellect.

Have you noticed that the reasons these individuals present are always in a state of khumār (intoxication) and nasha (inebriation)?

Don’t limit intoxication and inebriation to wine and drugs.

By God, this dear soul is intoxicated and inebriated. Otherwise, noble one, you came to Arad to grow your economy and trade, and you should be seeking like-minded individuals in this field.

The people of Arad are all aligned with you in this mindset.

So why are you trying to uncover some nonexistent flaw?

Let it go, my brother, my sister—these petty criticisms are baseless.

All of these are signs of intoxication, by God, which have distanced you from the truth and diverted you from the correct path of trade with an illogical and hollow rationale.

I don’t even want to discuss your reasons or provide explanations because it will create bad habits.

If I give an explanation for the first issue, like why someone didn’t stand up, you’ll come back and ask, “Then why did they do such-and-such?”

Fine, let’s assume all the people you mentioned are wrong and flawed.

Are you searching for angels, completely free of any faults or flaws?

Are you yourself infallible, that you expect to be surrounded by a group of the immaculate?

The beauty and goodness of Arad lies precisely in this: a group of flawed individuals gathering together, striving daily to reduce their faults. And because God sees this—that we are constantly working to improve ourselves—He says, “Well done, and my grace will remain with you.” And that’s it.

The second path of Satan is through “maysir” (gambling).

The word maysir comes from yusr, meaning ease, which refers to earning money through easy means.

Gambling is called maysir because the person wants to make money easily.

All these cryptocurrencies and similar ventures are examples of maysir, because the individual wants to become wealthy easily and without significant effort, whether it happens overnight or over a hundred years—it makes no difference.

As long as a person does not wish to work for their money, it falls under the definition of maysir.

Pay attention: all the reasons people give for leaving Arad have a root in this very maysir, where the person does not want to endure even the simplest difficulty.

My dear, you’ve entered the world of trade, and in trade, your customers or suppliers might treat you in a way that tests your patience and resilience.

This delicate, oversensitive behavior does not suit a trader.

You didn’t come here to be pampered and massaged.

Do you remember how, not too long ago, I used to write in a way that sometimes made you angry at certain points in the text?

God is my witness, I had no enmity with any of you. I simply wanted to shake you up.
Because if you’re shaken here, and you learn to tolerate it, you’ll grow out of these delicate, oversensitive habits.

Of course, there were some who couldn’t handle my harshness and left Arad altogether. 🤣

May God forgive me, but truly, my intention was to make you bold, to stop being so overly sensitive.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him), in a letter to Malik al-Ashtar, advises him to treat traders well and says, “They take on hardships that other people are afraid of and avoid. Whether they are traveling or sitting in their homes, they face challenges.”

So, in trade, we encounter so many challenges that it is unfair to create more difficulties for ourselves over a few simple excuses.

Though it’s good for us to treat each other with increasing kindness day by day, expecting that if one day someone doesn’t act kindly, I’ll abandon trade altogether—that is nothing but a well-worn trick of Satan.

Now, the question arises: What does Satan hope to achieve from this enmity and hatred that stems from our lack of wisdom and desire for ease?

Two things.

First, he wants to prevent us from remembering God.

And he wants to turn us away from prayer.

The question here is: When you become penniless and fall into poverty and destitution, do you truly remember God, or do you dwell on debts and your financial struggles?

When you have a bounced check and want to pray, are you focused on God, or is your entire prayer consumed by thoughts of how to resolve the check issue?

However, when a person is wealthy, how peacefully they can sit in a corner and commune with their Creator!

They can establish prayer.

They can visit the shrine of Imam Reza and spend the night in a luxurious hotel with excellent amenities, rather than settling in a filthy, foul-smelling inn.

Every day, I see the stark contrast between wealthy Muslims, who head towards the shrine from hotels like Darvish or Ghasr Talaee, joyful and full of energy, and those who come from inns where 50 people are crammed into a 200-square-meter space. These latter individuals are weary, drained of energy, and haven’t even had a proper bath. They endure constant fights and noise during their sleeping and waking hours, leaving them utterly stressed.

I have often visited these inns and seen how people have to wait in line for several minutes to use the restroom.

Now, how does one feel about visiting a holy shrine after standing for minutes in that stench? What remains of the experience of pilgrimage for them?

And how vastly different is it from a five-star hotel?

So, when we are wealthy and engaged in trade, we can bring the remembrance of God into our lives and also uphold prayer.

Poverty, on the other hand, distances a person both from God and from prayer.

And this is exactly what Satan desires—to keep people in poverty.

But the most heart-wrenching part is God’s words at the end of the verse.

“So, will you not desist?”

How profound is the sorrow of this segment of the verse.

God reveals Satan’s strategy to us, saying: O humankind, all of this is deceit, designed to distance you from Me.

Will you also distance yourself from Me?

Does it mean you are trading Me for Satan?

How tragic this is!

Imagine a father saying to his son: “My child, all those things that person said to you were baseless and meaningless; he only wanted to keep you away from me.”

Then, in the end, the father says: “And are you truly deceived by this worn-out trick and staying away from me?”

Ah, the weight of this immense pain.

Yesterday, we talked about negotiation (Muzākara), which belongs to the form of Mufa'ala (a reciprocal action verb), and the Mufa'ala form has two main uses.

First, it indicates partnership, meaning if an action is carried out by two or more people together, it is categorized under Mufa'ala. So, a negotiation is a negotiation when it involves two or more parties. If one speaks and the other remains silent, it is no longer considered negotiation.

We also said that Mufa'ala indicates multiplication and repetition, so a negotiation is a negotiation when it is done repeatedly and frequently.

We mentioned that in the meaning of negotiation, one party articulates with the tongue, while the other remembers with the heart and mind.

This means that, in addition to verbally negotiating, I also make the other person think about me even in my absence.

Imagine a business owner negotiates with someone about entering into a trade, but this person does not think for even a second about what the businessman has said about entering the trade.

Will this person enter into trade?

You are a merchant, and you negotiate with a customer, but after the negotiation, if the customer doesn't think even for a second about what you said and doesn't recall you, will they buy from you?

Therefore, it is what is meant by remembering, and sometimes it comes to the tongue, and sometimes it comes to the mind and heart.

Now, we come to a very important model of negotiation, which is message negotiation.

In the past, this type of negotiation was only through letter writing, as history attests to many such negotiations.

A merchant was asked why he didn’t negotiate with a certain person. Wasn’t that person a customer?

He replied, "Yes, but he wasn’t the right person; he had too many faults."

Please read history and see how much Imam Ali (peace be upon him) negotiated with Muawiya (may God curse him). So much so that in Nahj al-Balagha, it is mentioned that, "O Muawiya, I have negotiated and corresponded with you so much, calling you to the way of God, but you responded with misguidance. I fear that on the Day of Judgment, I will be counted among the extravagant."

From this statement of the Imam, it is clear that the one who initiated the negotiation was Imam Ali (peace be upon him).

It is also clear that whenever Imam Ali wrote something, Muawiya would reply, which indicates participation in the negotiation.

And this process was repeated so many times that the Imam says, "I fear that because of the frequency of this negotiation, God will count me among the extravagant."

This means that Imam Ali implemented all the principles of negotiation with the cursed Muawiya.

Now, if you say, "I won’t negotiate with this person because they are not healthy in character," is that person worse than Muawiya?

And are you superior to the Commander of the Believers, who negotiated with Muawiya, yet you do not deem yourself worthy of negotiating with this individual?

What kind of logic is this, dear friend?

Stop it.

Negotiate, even if it’s with the devil, because, as God knows, Muawiya was worse than the devil.

So, we have learned that in the past, correspondence was the method for message negotiation.

However, today, correspondence or faxes have become obsolete, except in certain government departments.

Even text messages are no longer widely used.

Message negotiation in our time refers to chatting on social media networks.

Currently, Telegram and WhatsApp have the most feedback for message negotiations in Iran.

For communication with foreigners, Telegram and WhatsApp also lead the way.

Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook are good platforms for finding leads and signals, but message negotiation on them is difficult. It is better to refer to Telegram and WhatsApp for such purposes.

Currently, Arad considers Telegram as the main messaging platform and WhatsApp in second place.

That’s all for today’s discussion. I will continue the talk tomorrow, God willing.

In conclusion, I urge all new and old Aradi members to join the two Telegram channels of Arad, where different and exciting messages, not found on the website, are posted.

Going forward, part of the services and business announcements will no longer be posted on the website but will only be shared in the Telegram channels. So, to not miss out on these opportunities, make sure to join these two channels.