On the 18th of Zil Hajj, Prophet Mohammed (SAW) appointed Imam Ali (AS) as his successor and our Imam. As Prophet Mohammed (SAW) knew that he would soon pass away, he made sure to tell us who we should follow, saying, “For whomsoever I am the Maula, Ali is his Maula.”
On this day, Prophet Mohammed (SAW) gave a speech, during which he said,
“Verily, I am leaving behind two precious things among you: the Book of God and my household (Ahl al-Bayt), for indeed, the two will never separate until they come back to me (on the Day of Judgment).”
He told us that we should follow BOTH things. We cannot leave either one, otherwise we will go astray.
To illustrate this, I have two activities.
NO SEPARATION
Materials:
- 2 key rings
For this activity, you will have to connect the two key rings to each other. No matter how hard you pull, you cannot separate the two rings. In the same way, the Ahlul Bayt (AS), our Imams (AS) are connected to the Quran. They cannot be separated.
BALANCE
Materials:
- Foam Blocks
For this, you will have to build a balance. You’ll have to play around with your blocks to determine how your particular blocks will stay together – this is what worked for me.
On one side, label the block “QURAN” and on the other side, label the block “AHLUL BAYT.” [Do as I say, not as I do – I labeled mine “Imams,” but looking at the Hadith, “Ahlul Bayt” would be a better label.]
When you remove the block from one side, the other side will collapse. This illustrates how we must give importance to both things – if we abandon one, the other is not enough.