ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Horizons of Thoughts Between Declaring Al-salam & Its Application It is important to understand the remote distance between the sincerity of one who merely declares peace and verbally seeks the same for the mazur ('the visited one') and one who personifies peace in every dimension of his being and actively struggles to ensure the same for the mazur. In fact some of our traditions clearly emphasize the vital role of the practical application of al-Salam.

One of the slave women of Imam al-hasan ('a) came to him with a boquet of aromatic plants, whereupon the Imam ('a) said to her: You are free for the sake of Allah. So I asked the Imam ('a) as to why did he free her, and he said: 'Almighty Allah educated us and said: 'And When you are greeted with a greeting, greet with a better one than it, or return it… '[^65] And to let her free is better than her gift.[^66] Here is an example of how practical Salam can be.

Many of us do not realize this very important point and conjecture that we have earned ample blessings and reward for our Salams as the holy Qur'an and the sacred traditions of the Holy Prophet (s) and his infallible progeny clearly exemplify.

The Holy Qur'an says: The Holy Prophet (s) is reported to have said: When one enters his house, he must say salam, for that sends down blessings and the angels become fond of him.[^67] Should we restrict these luminant words of guidance to the realm of speech or do they portray the loftier aspects of the reality of al-Salam ?.

In fact if there is no coherence between what the tongue utters and what the heart and mind feel and what the actions portray, then how can we claim the honesty of the musallim (greeter)? ياَ اَباَ عَبْدِ اللهِ. Ya Aba 'Abdillah The word 'Ya' is an interjection employed to call the vocative (munada). In simple terms it is word used to call someone. However, lexists hold that يا'ya' is employed for a vocative (munada) who is at a far distance.

For example, if we would like to call 'Ali who is at a far distance, we say ياعلي 'Ya 'Ali!. The distance considered here was physical and spatial.