Amina Inloes

I wanted to add that it is very nice of you to take the trouble to look into what he should or should not be eating, and he is fortunate to have a supportive parent. I do sympathize with the dietary restrictions and allergies.

If it is available and affordable, and if you have storage space and can take delivery at home, halal meat can sometimes be purchased online. You may have already looked into that, but just putting it out there!

It is deeply unlikely that Ibn Saba was a real person. There are strong arguments against his existence, and the reports on him are weak and via a questionable reporter. 

It seems that these reports may have spread, despite their weakness, because they present a nice and cozy picture of early Islam, in which everyone is getting along and there is a convenient explanation for disagreement in the community by attributing it to a plot. This is desirable to those who want to see all the sahabah as perfect. However, in reality, there was a lot of fighting and disagreement during the first three caliphates, and afterwards, and the real picture is not nearly as comfortable.

The Shi'ite Encyclopedia (which is available on al-islam.org) has a very comprehensive discussion of the sources of these reports and their reliability and other factors.

Among Shi'i sources, Rijal al-Kashshi lists him as a person but rejects him. Anyway, this seems to be responding to the narrative that was popularized. As for the single mention of his name in al-Khisal in a dialogue, there is insufficient context to say anything meaningful about it, except that, were he taken as a real narrator, he would have been rejected, but most Shi'i scholars hold that he didn't exist. 

There isn't a fixed difference between Sunnis and Shi'is for determining the beginning of the month of Ramadan. However, many Sunnis follow the announcement from Saudi Arabia for the beginning of the month of Ramadan. Unfortunately, sometimes, Saudia Arabia announces the sighting of the moon at a time when it is astronomically impossible to see it. (One can verify this using astronomical software) 

Most Shi'is follow local moonsighting (or via a shared horizon; either via the naked eye, as per Ayatollah Sistani, or with the help of an optical aid, such as Ayatollah Khamene'i). Some Sunnis do this also. 

Where one is in the world also affects differences in determining the beginning of the month. (You can visit moonsighting.com to see graphs of where the moon is visible and when.)

Anyway it is fine to fast on the last day or days of the month of Sha'ban, but counting the days of the month of Ramadan is useful for observing laylat al-qadr.

It is good to pray for forgiveness regularly, as long as it does not become too much of a habit and lose sincerity or focus - tawbah should be from the heart. 

Yes (as long as you did not do anything that breaks the fast)

Yes, insofar that they believe they are doing what is most correct.

Allah is not miserly. 

Insofar as Allah has granted us an imaginative faculty and the creative faculty, it is not shirk to imagine a future that we would like, or to change our thinking (as long as it is not causing harm or something haraam).

Of course, you will still need to study for your exams! 

You are allowed to share.

It is good to see whether you are attracted to someone before marrying them (although attraction tends to be different from just specific features, such as height).

There is nothing wrong with considering height or certain traits of appearance, but sometimes people have a bias about what sorts of features they like or dislike, and this might lead to rejecting someone who you might otherwise be compatible with. So it is good to keep an open mind about what a prospective husband might look like. Someone who looks different from the idea you have in mind could be a pleasant surprise!

According to narrations from the Sh'i Imams, the "day" referred to in this ayah is the Day of Judgment.

In the Shi'i view, the "spirit" is a separate spiritual being created by Allah (not the angel Jibra'il, who would be included under the category of "angels" anyway).

The verse refers to the angels and Spirit returning towards the spiritual realm (nearer to Allah) after the destruction of the physical universe before the day of judgment. That is, currently some angels have jobs in the physical universe, but they will leave the physical universe at that time.

Hope that helps!

God's Emissaries: Adam to Jesus by Shaykh Rizwan Arastu is a nice work on the history of the prophets, according to narrations.

While there are many books of hadith, here are a couple suggestions:

Sunni hadith: 40 hadith by Imam al-Nawawi
Shi'i hadith: The Scale of Wisdom: A Compendium of Shi'i Hadith, compiled by M. Rayshahri

Happy reading!

This is what is referred to in the Qur'an as Allah sealing people's hearts (e.g. 2:7); i.e. they have gone so far towards evil that they have lost the capability to change.

However, this does not happen if we just make a mistake or do something wrong; rather, it is for people like Yazid. 

A person with their heart sealed might do something that, on the surface, appears to be a good act, but would lack the inner intention for it to genuinely be classified as one in the hereafter.