Ask the Sheikh (ATS) – Sheikh Mansour Leghaei is a Question and Answer website on Islam, designed for both Muslims and non-Muslims around the world, with particular emphasis on people living in the West. This website also archived previously answered questions by Sheikh on various topics.
Live Interactive Sessions with Maulana Asad Jafri @ Panjtan Society of Victoria, Melbourne during COVID19 pandemic. Must Watch all 3 Sessions specially Q&A sections. Questions will also appear on screen.
Session 1: Strengthening Our Family Ties 30 April 2020. Ramadhan 1441. A short talk in the start and then Q&A just after 30mins. Total talk time 1h:1m. Some of the Questions listed below that were asked to Maulana Asad Jafri:
- What can parents and children do to better understand each others’ point of views and strengthen their bond, when there is a generation gap and sometimes personality clashes?
- How can we practice forbearance, for those who it may not come so naturally to, in easy times so we are able to cope in tough times?
- If husband and wife have personality clashes and they are not understanding each other what can they implement in their lives that can increase understanding or love for each other?
- How to politely ask parents not to do the gheebat of other siblings with them. We want to hear them but avoid gheebat?
- For daughters, who comes first in a marriage; husband or the parents, even though Allah keeps talking about parents in the Quran?
- Despite the lockdown presenting a great opportunity to seek nearness to Allah (swt) and maximising hasanat in Ramadan, teenagers I feel are not as motivated to do so. How do we motivate them?
- Youth is able to pray namaz but do not spend much time making dua, please if possible mention the importance of dua?
Session 2 : Gratitude and Mental Health 1 May 2020. A short talk in the start and then Q&A just after 27mins. Total talk time 59m:21s. Some of the Questions listed below that were asked to Maulana Asad Jafri:
- What advice can you share with new parents who want to achieve a lot during Ramadan but may find it challenging to balance parenting commitments with personal spiritual goals during Ramadan?
- How do you balance your brother who has been sent from overseas and wife and own son all living under the same roof… can’t move brother out at the moment, but wife is having trouble with hijab etc.?
- How should i make a balance between deen and dunya?
- How can we help a friend who is struggling with their mental health?
- When things constantly happen that to us seem like are going against us, how can we set our mind on gratitude rather than complaints?
- How to respectfully engage parents and older adults in the mental health discussion?
- How to practice mindfulness through salaat?
- How to rewire our thinking so that we can better manage our emotions in times of hardship and not despair?
- How can we, as a non-infallible be a good shakir to our Creator at the peak of our hardships?
- Although my parents are quite open minded, I still find it quite difficult to open up to them regarding my mental health problems such as anxiety and mild depression. How do I open up to them about these issues without them thinking that my Imaan is declining?
- What can one do if their mental health interferes with their islamic performance?
- My friend who is an athiest asked me what is the role of God in watching the suffering of people during covid-19 and why prayers are not saving the Muslims. The pandemic has strengthened her belief in the non existence of God. What can I tell her?
- If someone wants to vent out their stress but listening involves someone’s gheebat, how do we handle that?”
Session 3 : Circle of Influence 2 May 2020. A short talk in the start and then Q&A just after 31mins. Total talk time 1hr:1m. Some of the Questions listed below that were asked to Maulana Asad Jafri:
- How to control on Agression which is related to mental health under stress. Specially in family relations, When we are very angry, we say something wrong and then later regret.
- All groups of my classmates always gossip, create problems and are involved in bad things. I end up being alone at School if I don’t hang out with either of those groups. What can I do to find peace in being alone?
- Sometimes we may be stuck in toxic friendships that we recognise as toxic but are fearful that if we distance ourself or break the friendship, the friend may retaliate and bring verbal or other harm to them and their families. What can one do in this situation?
- If our friends are inviting us to their house for iftaar but there will be a number of families there and they don’t practice social hijab, which means it will be a mixed gathering. The host are likely to get offended if we don’t go or raise the hijab issue, as they consider themselves our family. How can we politely get out of that without hurting their feelings?
- Sometimes in friendships we don’t realise the true nature of our friend because it’s overshadowed by how much they do for us. What can we do and/or are there any duas we can recite to increase wisdom in us so we are able to identify the signs?
- If teenager (Baligh) kids don’t follow the religion (like not praying, not taking Hijab etc etc). How far can parents go to push them to be on straight path. Is there a certain age for the kids where Parents can give up for the sake of peace in the house?
- What can we do if we’ve been hurt by a friend, specifically, because they were not there for us in hardship, but we don’t know how they will react if we communicate this (some people flip and paint the victim as the person who is at fault). What can we do in this situation?
- How can we gain new friends with these good attributes when we have newly migrated from one country to another country? And also, what is my responsibility towards friends who are far from our place and how can we retain good relationships?
- How do you balance your brother who has been sent from overseas and wife and own son all living under the same roof… can’t move brother out at the moment, but wife is having trouble with hijab etc”
- If a non Muslim here in west would like to understand and possibly convert to Shia Islam what are the basic steps we should take to guide them and any resources, if any, we can refer them too?
- Competition, comparison and Jealousy is quiet common in our community, how do we tackle that?”
Ahlul Bayt `Aalim Network Archives
An archive of questions answered by Shi’a scholars. The Ahlul Bayt `Aalim Network was a mailing list consisting of scholars who answer questions about Islam. Since April 2001, this service is no longer available, but the archives of past questions and answers are available here. You may View the questions and answers sorted by Subject and Date at https://www.al-islam.org/organizations/AalimNetwork
