Salaams,

The below is a long article but too beautiful not to read…Please take a few minutes and read carefully...who knows, this reading may show up on one of our cards.

A man described what he thought to be a dream, but in that state whenone is not totally asleep. He awoke to find himself in a large room, with an entire wall full of drawers, similar to the 'card catalogs'that we had in our school libraries. The drawers were such that they went from floor to ceiling, and each had a label.

When the man walkedclose to the drawers, he stared at a drawer labeled "Missed opportunities for standing up for justice.

“Intrigued, he opened thedrawer, and read details of opportunities that he was given and the excuses he gave for ignoring them. He closed the drawer and looked around, and came to the realization that this room with endless drawers represented his existence.

Every action of his life was filedunder a category; he had indeed been 'labeled' to the fullest degree possible. He began to feel curious and decided to open drawers randomly to see what they contained.

There were some that brought back sweet memories: comforting a child,helping his aunt when she was in need, and spending Laylat al Qadr and Laylat al Bara'at in prayer. He also read cards that told of hisyearly donations to various charities and the ways in which he spent his wealth to help others.

There were also cards, however, that madehim feel ashamed and guilty, so much so that he tried to hide his face in his shirt and cower down. The file called 'Brothers and Sisters"was next to one labeled "Brothers and Sisters that I have betrayed".

Inside here, there was a seemingly never ending amount of cards withindividuals' names and the ways in which he betrayed them—primarily through backbiting. There were other drawers whose names haunted himas well: "Hypocrisy that I have practiced, “Rights of Parents that I have suppressed," Hard times I inflicted," and "Lies that I havetold."

The titles amazed him and he was shocked that some drawers had manymore cards than he expected, while others had much less. Some drawersseemed randomly labeled to him, such as "Movies that I have seen" or"Songs that I have listened to."

Only when he opened them did herealize not only how much time he spent on such activities, but alsothe quality of the material. The cards made him feel more ashamed, yet he could not help but read and open more drawers. He made his wayaround the wall and was frightened to see a drawer labeled "Curses that I have collected.

“He was afraid to open it, but felt slightly optimistic because he knew that despite his minor sins and transgressions in life, he was a generally good person. He slowlyopened the drawer and thought it was only an inch or two deep and was
relieved--until he realized that the drawer was stuck. He pulled ithard, and the drawer flung open--it was deeper than the movies drawer.

He felt sick to his stomach thinking that he was accursed, but stillbelieved that maybe there was some mistake inside. When he looked at the first card to read it, he then came to the devastating truth: Hehad always cursed the enemies of Ahlul Bayt AS, knowing the evil of the actions they committed, but he did not know that every time heindulged in an indecent act, one that those very enemies engaged in,the curses were brought upon himself.

The cards in the drawer made itseem that he was following in the footsteps of the oppressors, theunbelievers, the amoral and the misguided.

The sheer volume of cards in that one drawer made him vomit. Angerovertook him and he wanted to hide the evidence of the indecent acts. No one should ever see these cards, he thought. He instantly made aplan to burn them. But the card would not come out of the drawer, nor would the drawer fully separate from the wall.

He pulled with all hisstrength but he could not even tear a single card---they seemed stronger than metal and could not be dislodged.

In was in that momentthat he looked at a card intensely for the first time---the bottom right hand corner contained his signature, and each card was in hisown handwriting.

It was a further confirmation of the truth of the matter: his entire life was contained in this room, and there was noway to hide it from any onlooker. He had to admit that this was the
totality of his life.

As he began to cry, another drawer caught his eye, "Time spent inmasjid and ibaadat". He knew that this drawer would be the one to make him happy---he attended every function in his local mosque andthroughout the year too. When he opened the drawer though, his heart sank.

There were less than ten cards. He thought that was impossibleuntil he flipped through to read the contents. One read "Attended Friday prayer each week, but thoughts always revolved around weekendplans. Did not take lessons of khutba to heart."

On another, it was written "Prayed regularly for himself, but ignored his neighbor." Athird one said "Never once recited ziyarat for a Masoom with a pure intention." He could not control his crying now and his cheeks werefully wet.

When he dried his tears, he then saw someone else in the room. Oh no, he thought. Please don't be Him! He closed his eyes inthe hopes that the newcomer would disappear but it was to no avail.

His Imam, the Master of the Era was before him and began to open thefirst drawer. The tearful man did not want to look at his Imam's reaction to the contents of the cards. Why does he have to read these,he thought, why must he? With sadness in his pure eyes, the Holy Master looked into the man's eyes, which were lowered in shame.

TheHoly Imam stood right next to the man, but did not say anything. He
watched in silence. A few moments later, the Last Light, the Proof ofAllah SWT began to cry Crying for the weary man.

With the drawer still open, the man looked in amazement as the Imam gently pulled thecard out, read it, and signed it. The man now lost all his restraint. NO!!! He screamed.

He went to grab the card from the Imam's hand and saw His Holy Name, in crimson, written on the card, right over his own name. The Imam put the card back and continued with the next, and thenext until that drawer was finished. The Imam looked at the man with sadness as he moved on to the next drawer.

Only a short time hadpassed before the Imam was upon the last drawer, and then he said, "Our Shia are the ones whose hearts are pure of malice,deception and corruption. His words and deeds are only for the pleasure of Allah." His Holiness then left the room.

Seeing the door to the room open, the man realized that this was howit was supposed to be. The door was open because he was still living. There was still time left to do good deeds, avoid evil and accumulatemore good cards, not shameful ones.

He promised himself that the next time he was in that room with his Master; he would not hang his headdown in shame. He would reform himself and follow the path of his Masters, not of their enemies.

And so, on these auspicious days, let us remember that we are all inthe same situation as that man. To vow to reform ourselves is the best gift we can give to our Holy Master whose birth anniversary is uponus. As we pray for our desires and all else, let us seek forgiveness for ourselves and for all our brothers and sisters.

With prayers for a night and day (and life) full of spiritualfulfillment, sound thought and righteous action, felicitations to all on the birth of the Awaited Savior, the Master of the Era, Imamal-Mahdi atfs.