Month: August 2014

Self-Conceit in a Flawed Opinion that Appears to be Correct

This is a paragraph translated from the book Jami al-Sadaat by Ayatullah Muhammad Mahdi Naraqi. In the chapter of ‘Ujb (self-conceit), the author goes into detail, first defining the spiritual disease and then expanding on it. Then he goes on to explain the different types of self-conceit a person can do and their cures. He splits the … Read more

The Devil’s Double [Book Review]

This non-fiction book by Latif Yahia is actually a really old one, published originally in 1992 in Arabic and later published in English in 2010. It’s an autobiographical account of the author who lived during Saddam Hussein’s regime and was entrusted (read: forced) with the task of being his son’s (Uday Hussein) body double. The … Read more

Imam Ali [a] Describing the Caliphate

In the famous sermon of Shiqshiqiyah, Imam Ali (as) describes the difficult situation he was in with regards to the caliphate. In one of the statement,s he makes use of a metaphor of an unruly camel. This is a translation from the book Lessons from Nahj ul-Balagha by Ayatullah Montazeri [a sharh he did on Nahj … Read more