Squandering of Shah's fortune once again reveals the limitation of wealth!

The plight of the Pahlavi dynasty which once was powerful to an extent that nobody could foresee that it would be rendered out of Iran, continues to this day.

Sure the Shah left a fortune of ill-gotten wealth for his children but now his son, Reza Pahlavi is in court suing one Ali Masoud Ansari for squandering most of the Pahlavi's inheritance reported to be about $25 million. Pahlavi is reported to have been forced into giving up his monthly expenditure of $ 200,000 a month and has been reduced to selling his $3 million home in Washington DC. He has also dismissed some of his bodyguards and domestic staff.

Ansari, a cousin of the former Queen of Iran, apparently siphoned off Pahlavi's cash to his secret Swiss bank accounts and apart from buying himself houses, is alleged to have sent money to his friends and family back in Iran.

He claims that Pahlavi had no idea what to do with the money he inherited after his father's death and just squandered it. A look back at Iranian history when the Shah ruled Iran reminds one of how he bled the country in alliance with some western powers. This provides us with yet another example on the futility of earning money at any cost --- by doing so we may gain affluence for a few days but with no small price to pay in this world and in the hereafter!

 ...And now a sequel to "Then I was guided"

Noted Tunisian writer Muhammad al-Tijani al-Samavi, the writer of "Then I was guided" and "With the Truthful Ones" has written another book "Ask Those Who Know" which has been published by Ansariyan Publications, Qum.

The book consists of questions which the writer has prepared for Muslim researchers, especially those who have doubts on certain issues pertaining to True Islam. He was particularly tempted to write the book because a section of the non-Shia school have been severe in their disapproval of other Muslims to the extent of calling them derogatory names.

Some scholars met the writer and asked questions about the Shias and many of his answers now make up "Ask Those Who Know". He has called upon scholars to explain to lay persons what is difficult for them to comprehend and to guide them to the right path. The author has also called upon Muslims to be united and to write under a common creed as dictated by Allah (s.w.t.), His Prophet (s.a.w.) and the Imams of the Ahl-al-Bayt (a.s.).

Handwritten copies of the Qur'an......

Old copies of the handwritten Qur'an which were discovered in Sanaa, Yemen from a room of the Grand Mosque have been restored with finances from the German Foreign Ministry. The room in the Mosque was destroyed during rains and floods that hit Yemen in 1971. The copies were written on paper and animal hides. The pages of each copy contain five to seven lines. It is believed that the copies were brought to Yemen from Mecca and Medina during the second Hijrah.

Wooing Asians

During the recent British elections Asian votes were considered fairly significant in almost 40 parliamentary constituencies although the Asians constitute only three per cent of the total electorate.

The victor, labour leader, Tony Blair and his wife Cherie joined Eid celebrations at a mosque in central London and Tory leader Michael Heseltine praised Asian businessmen for their ``fascinating sense of achievement."

Former Prime Minister, John Major, began this year by visiting the Indian sub-continent and subsequently threw a number of banquets for the Asian community.

Traditionally, the Labour used to claim almost 90 percent of Asian votes. That proportion has apparently declined dramatically in the last decade, largely because the Asians' economic profile has changed. Unlike the first generation Asian immigrants, the younger generations have either moved into business or white-collar professions.

Britain's top 100 Asian businessmen are collectively worth close to five billion pounds, according to a survey by the Asian Eye. Most Asian businessmen have moved away from traditional family businesses in restaurants, laundromats and news agencies to computing, electronic media and finance.

The Conservative Party generally represented the interests of big businesses courting the nouveau riche Asian community. The Labour Party homed in on current Asian issues like the Kashmiri self-determination