Religious Upbringing and Family

To break free from masturbation, turn to God and remember Him more often. Keep your heart and thoughts in check, and avoid dwelling on sexually arousing subjects. Guard your eyes and ears both offline and online, and keep away from bad influences. Make a habit of studying religion, staying occupied, remembering death, and reflecting on verses about Paradise and Hell. Also avoid foods of doubtful permissibility and take your plans for marriage seriously.

To remain steadfast and preserve one’s faith until the end of life, one should sincerely hold fast to the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household, entrust oneself to God, and persevere in self-examination. Staying close to the righteous and keeping away from the corrupt, avoiding settings where sin is rife, regularly reciting the Qur’an and Sūrat al-Kahf, and cultivating a close relationship with al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya are among the important ways to do so.

A pure spirit is breathed into a pure seed, and an impure spirit into an impure seed. The harmful effects of unlawful earnings are not confined to the seed; they also affect a person’s constitution and character, and become visible in outward appearance. A tendency toward base behavior and an insatiable appetite for sin are among the signs of the consequences of consuming what is unlawful.

A number of factors have contributed to young people’s declining interest in marriage, including the weakening of religious faith and belief, making marriage difficult, unemployment, poverty, the spread of sexual immorality and permissiveness, lack of hijab, easier divorce, inadequate education, mistrust, and satanic schemes.

Religious obligations are a means of drawing closer to God, and God does not impose on His servants anything beyond their capacity. The apparent difficulty of fulfilling these obligations is a test, one that reveals who truly loves God; if outward acts of worship were pleasant and easy, there would be no test. Satan and the lower self make even the lighter religious duties seem difficult and distasteful.

To live for God with sincerity, we must experience the sweetness of worship through knowledge and purity of heart. Turning away from attachment to this world and its pleasures brings us closer to tasting spiritual delights. One who truly yearns devotes all their efforts to reaching the Beloved and lets everything but Him slip from mind.

Ghusl is different from bathing: it is performed to attain ritual purity before God and requires an intention and a specific order prescribed by Him. Just as provision and healing come by God’s permission, purity too is attained only by following His laws and with His permission. The intention and order in ghusl are essential elements; without them, ritual purity is not achieved.

To help your three-year-old’s love for the Prophets and the Ahl al-Bayt endure, entrust your child to God and seek His protection for them from the evil of devils. Nourish their spiritual life with the Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet’s Household, and learn religious knowledge from authoritative sources. It is recommended that you recite the twenty-fifth supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, as well as supplications for the end times, with yourself and your child in mind.

Imam Ali’s (AS) warning against consulting women on political matters need not include women of sound judgment and experience; Dashti’s translation reflects a personal interpretation. It is possible that something was omitted in the transmission or in the manuscripts, since the Commander of the Faithful speaks the truth and would be unlikely to express such a point ambiguously.

The familiar opening “Once upon a time” may be understood, despite its ambiguity, as an affirmation of God’s absolute oneness: He alone existed, and there was no other God. This interpretation is also consistent with the hadith “Allah was, and there was nothing alongside Him,” and points to the oneness of God’s very essence.

To reflect on sin and guard against repeating it, we must revive our innate nature by pondering Quranic verses such as verse 179 of Sūrat al-Aʿrāf and praying that faith be made beloved to us and disbelief and wrongdoing loathsome. If sin feels pleasurable, we should fear that the heart may have been turned upside down, and return to God through repentance and turning back to Him.

Putting educational justice into practice is extremely challenging. When a school pressures teachers to raise pass rates and students and their families are facing difficult circumstances, teachers must weigh all the relevant considerations and act prudently, without wronging anyone.

A child’s duty when faced with unreasonable demands from parents is not to obey them in disobedience to the Creator. While maintaining courtesy and respect, a child should refrain from joining their parents in sin and should encourage them to do what is right and discourage what is wrong.

To make good use of a course in practice, first consider whether it is genuinely necessary and permissible. Then, while remaining consistent in your obligatory and recommended acts of worship and asking God to guide you toward what is best, see whether you feel drawn to the course with genuine interest and enthusiasm. If you do, go ahead; if not, let it go. It is also recommended to seek God’s forgiveness and recite Supplication 33 from al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya.

To resolve difficulties with a temporary marriage and gain the bride’s brother’s consent, it is recommended to recite Prayers 1, 2, 3, 8 and 17 of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya with sincere devotion. It is also recommended to recite the seventy-part prayer of repentance attributed to Imam Ali (AS), and to recite Surat al-Fil and Surat al-Kawthar one hundred times, dedicating the reward to Lady Fatima al-Zahra (SA).