Hajj, in its mystical depth, is a battlefield where the seeker confronts the most persistent enemy—the ego. The journey begins when one steps out of the comfort of familiar surroundings and enters the vast horizon of divine presence. Ihram is the first strike against the ego’s illusions: by removing the layered garments of identity, status, and pride, the pilgrim enters a state of spiritual equality where the self loses its false crowns. In this sacred simplicity, the heart begins to taste freedom from the chains of self-worship.

As the pilgrim moves through the rites of Hajj, each act becomes a symbolic confrontation with the ego’s demands. Tawaf teaches the soul to displace the self from the center and replace it with the Divine. Sa‘y between Safa and Marwah mirrors the inner tension between purity and yearning, discipline and surrender. In Mina, the burning desire of the ego is challenged, and through Ramy al-Jamarat, the pilgrim reenacts the timeless battle against inner arrogance, temptation, and pride. Every stone cast is a declaration: I will not bow to myself.

In illuminating this struggle, Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) presents Hajj as a form of spiritual combat. He said:

Arabic Narration (Imam al-Sadiq عليه السلام):

«الْحَجُ‏ جِهَادُ كُلِّ ضَعِيفٍ»

English Translation:

“Hajj is the jihad (struggle) of every person who is unable (to fight in physical combat).”

This profound statement reveals that Hajj is, at its core, a battlefield of the heart. It is a struggle against the tyranny of the ego, a journey in which the pilgrim learns to defeat self-importance, entitlement, pride, and inner resistance. When the seeker emerges victorious from this inward jihad, the soul steps into a new freedom—no longer a servant of the self, but a servant of the Truth. This liberation is the true triumph of Hajj, and the deepest meaning of worship.

Hajj, in the mystical perspective, is a journey from earth to the heavens—a movement from the scattered world of multiplicity to the serene shore of divine unity. In this sacred passage, the human being separates from home, habits, and attachments to transcend the confined “self” and encounter the Infinite Truth. Ihram marks the beginning of this new birth; a moment when the seeker, clothed in two simple white garments, strips himself of social roles and worldly possessions and stands unveiled before the One Reality.

The next step in this monotheistic ascent is Tawaf—an act that outwardly appears as circling the Kaaba, yet inwardly symbolizes the heart’s rotation around the Absolute. With each round, the pilgrim breaks another circle of ego-centeredness and moves closer to making God the center of his existence. In the mystical tradition, Tawaf is a reminder that the universe has only one true axis: the Divine. Everything other than Him is merely a shadow and a sign.

Along this loving journey, the words of Imam al-Sadiq (peace be upon him) offer a deeper illumination. He said:

Arabic (original narration):

«إِنَّمَا أُمِرَ النَّاسُ بِالْحَجِّ لِيَرِدُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ تَعَالَى فَيَطْلُبُوا الزِّيَادَةَ»

English Translation:

“People were commanded to perform Hajj so that they may come before God, the Exalted, and seek closeness and increase from Him.”

This narration reveals that the essence of Hajj is an encounter of the heart with God—not an ordinary journey, but an ascension toward divine unity. In this path, the seeker learns to let go of everything other than Him, so that only He remains. And that is the most beautiful mystical meaning of Hajj.

The termالرجعه means „return‟ in Arabic, and it signifies the return of a group of human beings after their death and before the Day of Resurrection to the world anew,synchronized with the occurrence of 

the universal movement of Mahdi, the Promised, and this fact is neither inconsistent with logic nor mind.

 From the Islamic viewpoint and the other Divine religions, man‟s essence consists of his abstract soul, so-called „his self‟, which continues existing eternally after his body is annihilated.

 Furthermore, God, the Almighty, as also specified in the holy Quran, is Omnipotent, and no one is able to circumscribe His Omnipotence.

 This brief introduction clarifies that the issue of returning, based on logic, is feasible, because the „returning‟ of the people sounds much easier than their creation for the first time. The Creator, who has created them with no means, is able to return them anew to the world.

 Listed below are just a few examples of „returning‟ in the previous nations, presented in the holy Quran:

واذ قلتم ياموسي لن نومن لك حتي نري هللا جهرة فاخذتكم الصاعقه و انتم تنظرون. ثم 

* بعثناكم من بعد موتكم لعلكم تشكرون

(And remember when some of you said, “O, Moses! We will never believe in you until we see Allah manifestly”. Then, the thunderbolt seized you while you werebeholding and waiting for some responses. Then, We raised you to life after you were dead, so that you may come to your senses and become 

thankful.)

 In Ale Imran Sura, verse no. 49, it says about Jesus Christ:

 و احي الموتي باذن الله

(And will bring to life the dead by Allah‟s leave.)

 The holy Quran endorses the possibility of mass „returning‟ and approves its occurrence after man‟s death. In the following verses, the holy Quran refers implicitly to the returning of a group of people after their death and before the occurrence of the Resurrection:

و اذا وقع القول عليهم اخرجنا لهم دابه من االرض تكلمهم ان الناس كانوا باياتنا ال يوقنون

** و يوم نحشر من كل امة فوجا ممن يكذب باياتنا فهم يوزعون

(And when our command comes against the disbelievers, We shall bring out from the earth a gigantic beast to talk to them; because they had no faith in our Revelation and Signs. On the

Day that We shall gather from every nation those who disbelieved in our signs and miracles; they shall be kept in ranks.)

 Now to clarify the discussion on this issue, consider the following

points:

1- The Islamic commentators are of the opinion that these two verses allude the issue of Resurrection; but the former declares one sign of the pre-Resurrection. As Jalal Ul Din Soyuti in his commentary book „Dor Ul-Manthur‟ narrated from Ibn Abi Shibah from Hazifah, the appearance of the gigantic beast is one of the incidents, occurring before the Resurrection *

.

2- There is no doubt that, the whole human beings and not a special group will be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection. In this regard, the holy Quran says:

** ذلك يوم مجموع له الناس

(This is a Day on which the people will be gathered.)***

 And in Kahf Sura, verse no. 47, it notes,

و يوم نسير الجبال و تري االرض بارزة و حشرناهم فلم نؽادر منهم احدا

(And remind them of the Day that We remove the mountains

*

 Dor Ul-Manthure, vol.5, p. 177, in the commentary of Naml Sura, verse no.82

** Hood Sura, verse no. 103

*** Dor Ul-Manthure, vol. 3, p. 349 has interpreted this day as Doomsday.

and set them in motion; and you can see the earth utterly leveled. And We shall gather all mankind together, and We will not leave out any of them.)

3- The following verse specifies the resurrection of a particular group of men, and not the whole. It says,

و يوم نحشر من كل امه فوجا ممن يكذب باياتنا...

(On the Day that We shall gather from every nation those who disbelieved in our signs and miracles; they shall be kept in ranks.)

 This verse is quite explicit about the resurrection of some human beings.

Conclusion:

 The three above-mentioned points explicitly reveal that „the resurrection of those disbelieving the divine signs occurs before the happening of the Resurrection, because man‟s resurrection on the Day of Resurrection includes the whole people‟.

 This explanation proves that our claim is true, and this phenomenon is known as „returning‟.

 With regard to this fact, the Prophet‟s Ahlul-Bait (a.s) as the authentic commentators of the Divine revelation has had some remarks, including: Imam Sadeq (a.s) said,

ايام هللا ثالثة يوم القائم عليه السالم ويوم الكرة و يوم القيامة

(The Divine days are three: the Day of Imam Mahdi‟s Rising, the Day of Returning, and the Day of Resurrection.)And somewhere else, he said,

ليس منا من لم يإمن بكرتنا

(He who believes not in our returning to the world is not of our disciples.)

 Now, consider the following points:

1- The philosophy of ‘returning’:

 Reflecting on the motives of „returning‟, two ultimate goals of this phenomenon are clarified; first, the demonstration of Islam grandeur as well as the disgrace of unbelief, and second the reward of thebelievers and pious as well as the punishment of the unbelievers and sinners.

2-The salient distinction between ‘returning’ and

‘metempsychosis’:

 It is noteworthy to say that from the Shia point of view the issue of „returning‟ is not affiliated with the theory of metempsychosis, because the latter is based on the negation of Resurrection and considers the worldly life in a continual circulation; each circle is the repetition of the previous one.

This theory is based on the supposed passing of the soul at death into another body, either human or animal. Therefore, if the soul belonged to a pious man in the past, it will be passed to a body that enjoys the time and vice versa. This passing of the soul into another body is considered as his Resurrection! while those believing in the issue of „returning‟ believe in Resurrection and conceive not the occurrence of metempsychosis feasible.*

 They believe that only a group of men return to this world before the Day of Resurrection and then turn back to their eternal abode after the Divine interests are achieved, and they will be resurrected once again along with the others, and one‟s soul is never passed into another body after it is separated from the original body.

Why is the Shia a small minority if it is rightful, and why do not the generality of the world Muslims believe in it?

The answer :

 One cannot distinguish between the wrong and the right

way via the scant or large number of their followers. In the

world today, the number of Muslims in proportion to the

non-Muslims is one fifth or sixth, and the majority of the

Far East inhabitants are idolators, cattle-worshippers, etc.

 China with more than one billion population is considered

as the center of atheist communism, and the idolators and

cattle- worshippers cover the major parts of India, which

consists of nearly one billion people.

 As a consequence, the majority is not always right. The

holy Quran often blames the generality and, on the contrary,

praises the minority. For instance,

 والتجد اكثرهم شاكرين

*

(You will not find in most of them any gratitude.)

 ان اوليائه اال المتقون ولكن اكثرهم ال يعلمون

**

(No man can be its custodians, except the pious, but most of

them do not understand.)

 وقليل من عبادي الشكور

***

(But very few of my worshippers are greatful.)

 Therefore, the scant or large number of one‟s followers

makes the realistic man neither afraid nor proud. This calls

for one to refer to his mind and rensoning.

*

 Araf Sura, verse no. 18

**

 Anfal Sura, verse no. 34

***

 Saba Sura, verse no. 13

Once upon a time, someone addressed Imam Ali (a.s) and asked

him, “How is it possible that your opponents in Jamal battle be wrong

while they are in majority”? And Imam replied,

ان الحق و الباطل اليعرفان باقدار الرجال ، اعرؾ الحق تعرؾ اهله، اعرؾ الباطل

تعرؾ اهله

(The right and wrong are not recognized with the mumber of

their followers; you will know who is right if you recognize the

truth, vice versa.)

 It is obligatory for a Muslim to analyze this issue via research and

reasoning and applies this Quran verse, which goes

* والتقؾ ما ليس لك به علم

(And do not involve yourself with that which you have no

knowledge of) that in order to enlighten his way.

 From another angle, it is clearly evident that the Shia is less than the

Sunnite in number, i.e., if any precise census is taken, it will be

revealed that one fourth of the world Muslims are Shia, and they have

settled in different regions throughout the world.**

 Besides, there have been some famous scientists, writers, poets, etc.

counted among the Shia. Worthy to mention that the founders of the

Islamic sciences have been mostly from the Shia, for instance,

 Abul Asvad Dueli, the founder of „Syntax‟

 Khalil Ibn Ahmad, the founder of „Prosody‟

 Maaz Ibn Moslem Ibn Abi Sare Kufi, the founder of „Arabic

Grammar‟

 Abu Abdollah Mohammed Ibn Imran, Katib Khorasani

(Marzbani), one of the heralds in „Rhetoric and Elequency‟ *

, to

name just a few. For further study on the abundant works of the

Shia scientists and learned, refer to the worthy book „Al-Zariah

Ela Tasanif El-Shia (A study on the Shia writings); also for further

information on the great Shia figures, refer to „Ayan Ul-Shia‟. The

history of Shiism can be referred to in „the history of the Shia‟.

*

 Asra Sura, verse no. 36

** For further study, refer to Ayan Ul-Shia, vol. 1, p.194

* Refer to „Tasis Ul-Shia ( the Shia oundation ), Seyed Hasan Nasr.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has condemned Israel’s "total neglect" of the deaths of civilians and destruction caused by its military aggression in Gaza, warning that there are “strong reasons to believe” war crimes have been committed in the Palestinian territory.

Guterres made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Reuters on Wednesday, drawing attention to the widespread destruction and loss of life, which he said could be the result of a disregard for civilian safety and international law.

“I think there was something fundamentally wrong in the way this operation was conducted with total neglect in relation to the deaths of civilians and to the destruction of Gaza,” he said, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The UN chief noted that Gaza was destroyed as a result of the war, while Israel failed to achieve its declared objective to "eliminate" the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

The human cost of the ongoing genocidal war has been catastrophic, with more than 70,000 deaths reported in Gaza since October 2023.

When asked whether the occupying regime’s aggression could amount to war crimes, the UN chief responded, “There are strong reasons to believe that that possibility might be a reality."

Israel’s UN envoy Danny Danon criticized Guterres for his remarks, accusing him of moral failure for not visiting the occupied territories in the wake of October 7, when Hamas launched a retaliatory attack against the regime.

However, Guterres had been blocked by Israeli authorities from visiting. In October 2023, then–foreign minister Israel Katz, now the minister of military affairs, confirmed that the UN chief was barred from entry.

The world body has long complained of obstacles to delivering and distributing desperately-needed aid in Gaza, blaming impediments on the Israeli regime and lawlessness.

Two months into a US-brokered ceasefire deal between Tel Aviv and Hamas, rights groups and ceasefire monitors say the regime's genocide in Gaza has continued, causing further deaths and destruction.

Press TV’s website

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy has kicked off a large-scale exercise in the Persian Gulf, showing advanced defensive and offensive capabilities enhanced by artificial intelligence.

The IRGC Navy began the exercise on Thursday, emphasizing enhanced intelligence readiness and demonstrating the unwavering spirit and resistance of its sailors to confront any threat.

During the exercise, naval units conveyed their firm message by issuing warnings to American ships present in the region.

Advanced air defense systems including Nawab, Majid, and Misagh were also deployed in electronic warfare conditions. Using artificial intelligence, these systems were able to identify flying and naval targets in a fraction of the time and hit them with high accuracy.

The exercise, codenamed Shahid Mohammad Nazeri, takes place across the Persian Gulf, the Nazeat maritime zone – Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Siri islands, the Strait of Hormuz, as well as the Sea of Oman.

Nazeri was the commander of the elite commando units of the IRGC Navy. He is widely recognized in Iran for his direct involvement in the capture of 10 American sailors – nine men and one woman – who wandered into Iran’s territorial waters on January 12, 2016.

The drill conveys a dual message: peace and friendship to neighboring countries, and a clear warning to enemies that any miscalculation will face a decisive response.

Iranian and American naval forces have had a long history of encounters in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Strait of Hormuz since the 1980s.

The Iranian Navy frequently conducts large-scale drills in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, demonstrating its capabilities and signaling deterrence against foreign powers.

Chief Commander of Iran’s Army Major General Amir Hatami, during a meeting with members of the Parliament’s Planning, Budget and Accounting Commission on Thurday, reiterated that Iran has “not wasted a moment” in enhancing its defense capabilities.

Hatami underlined that protecting the Islamic system is inseparable from safeguarding Iran’s independence and territorial integrity, declaring that “the least harm to the Islamic system is harm to the independence and territorial integrity of our beloved country, Iran."

Addressing long-standing tensions with the United States and Israel, Hatami said hostility from global arrogance has persisted since the victory of the Islamic Revolution and has grown in scope and intensity over time.

He referred to the recent 12-day war in June, stating that Iran was engaged in negotiations with the United States when it was suddenly attacked by Israel with US support.

On June 13, Israel launched an unprovoked war against Iran, assassinating many high-ranking military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians.

More than a week later, the United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

In response, the Iranian Armed Forces targeted strategic sites across the occupied territories as well as the al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest American military base in West Asia.

According to Hatami, the aggressors aimed to destroy Iran’s nuclear, missile, and defense capabilities and to assassinate key commanders as part of a broader effort to overthrow the Islamic Republic.

Hatami asserted that Iran “won the war” because its adversaries failed to achieve their objectives.

He said that Israel views Iran as an existential threat, adding, “Since the war, we have not wasted a single moment in strengthening our defense capabilities and enhancing our military readiness, and we have made becoming stronger our top priority.”

Press TV’s website 

Palestinian communities east of the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank have been left without water after violent Israeli settlers targeted a key water facility.

The Sunday assault on Water Well No. 6 in the Ein Samia area, near the village of Kafr Malik, brought pumping operations to a complete halt, depriving dozens of towns of a crucial daily resource.

The water authority in the holy occupied city of al-Quds confirmed that the well, one of the region’s most important groundwater resources, supplies up to 12,000 cubic meters of water daily, roughly 17 percent of the total output of the al-Quds District’s water utility.

The repeated attacks on Ein Samia, including the destruction of surveillance equipment and tampering with critical infrastructure, have raised serious concerns about deliberate efforts to undermine Palestinian water security.

The Israeli regime and its settlers have markedly scaled up their brutal attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023, when the regime began a war of genocide on the Gaza Strip.

Since the start of the genocide, the regime's forces have killed 1,086 Palestinians throughout the occupied territory, including 223 children, and wounded more than 10,662 others, while over 20,500 have been detained. 

As of the beginning of November, 9,204 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons, including 3,368 without charge.

At least 98 Palestinians have lost their lives in Israeli custody since the start of the Gaza war.

Addressing the issue of the settler violence on Saturday, Gaza’s Hamas resistance movement vehemently denounced the ongoing attacks, describing them as a calculated escalation and a deliberate strategy by the Israeli authorities to intimidate and forcibly displace Palestinian communities.

Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi stated that the daily assaults, theft of property, and unrestrained actions of settler groups across the West Bank, coupled with the Israeli army’s sustained offensives in the territory’s northern areas, exposed the depth of “terrorism” being executed under the explicit political guidance of the regime’s extremist administration.

Press TV’s website

A Palestinian man has been killed in an Israeli drone strike near the so-called yellow zone in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, in breach of the ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas and the occupying regime.

Medical sources in Gaza reported that the young man, Muhammad Nasr Siam, was killed by gunfire from an Israeli drone east of the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, on Monday.

The so-called yellow line in Gaza demarcates the area where Israeli forces are permitted to stay as per the ceasefire agreement. This operational boundary, set by the Israeli military, has become a restricted movement zone since the US-brokered ceasefire took effect last month.

Israeli artillery also targeted the eastern part of the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman cautions about the implications of the Israeli regime’s rampant incursions into Syria and Tel Aviv’s territorial ambitions in the Arab country for the broader West Asia region’s security.

Esmaeil Baghaei was speaking at a press conference on Monday, identifying the issue as a “shared regional concern,” and underlining the importance of stability as a region-wide imperative.

The official explained that Syrian security was inseparable from that of the wider West Asian stability, singling out the continued Israeli “acts of aggression” and the recent appearance of senior Israeli officials inside Syria’s occupied parts.

“One of the key, shared anxieties among regional nations is the continuation of attacks by the Zionist regime against Syria,” Baghaei said, adding that Tel Aviv had pushed deeper into the country “over recent weeks.”

Baghaei underscored that “the issues in the region are all interconnected,” naming “tragic [Israeli-manufactured] crises” in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon as cases in point.

Last year, the regime backed up increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout Syria by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group with airstrikes targeting the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure. The HTS-led militants topped the government of President Bashar al-Assad as a result.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.