 Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh dear respected brothers, sisters and viewers. Eid Mubarak. Many of you will be at home celebrating amongst your friends and families. Some of you may have gone to your local mosques or centres. Some of you might even be just watching a lecture for example on the event of Qadir. We are once again joined by our esteemed guest Dr. Sayyid Amman Akshwani for another episode of Live in London, which we'll be discussing the topic as I'm sure many of you would have guessed by now, the topic of Qadir. Sayyidina As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Wa alaikum as-salam wa rahmatullahi. Eid Mubarak. Eid Mubarak to you, the greatest Eid for us to celebrate and it's an honor to be here. Of course. Eid Aqadir is an event where I guess this year revered as the announcement given to the ummah of the successorship of Imam Ali alayh as-salam once the Prophet dies. Why is it so many people don't know about this great event? Congratulations to all the viewers out there on this wonderful occasion. The greatest Eid and the religion of Islam no doubt being Eid al Qadir. It's interesting that you pose this question. Why is it that we can come here and celebrate and there are 300 million of us who are celebrating this, which is not a small number. But when you're looking in the Islamic world, people will ask the question that there are many out there who may not be celebrating Eid al Qadir or may not even know anything about a place called Qadir Khom or any announcement in relation to Imam Ali ibn Amit al-Alih as-salam. And I find that there are a couple of reasons that could be looked at. First and foremost, we are a community that does not read. Let's be very frank about this, be you. Shia be you, Sunni be you of any school in the religion of Islam today. We are a community that originated as a community of Iqra and today is a community of La Naqra. We were originally a community of readers but today we're a community and have been for a long time people who don't read. There are people out there who simply believe in one narrative of how Islamic history developed and how Islamic history originated and many of them are not taught whatsoever. Anything else and you find that these people hardly ever will go out to read as in their content with just praying and fasting. They come in the holy month of Ramadhan, will turn up to the mosque and you'll find that some of them for example in Muharram will come and show their respect to Imam al-Qusayn as-salam. But there are many out there who will not read about exactly the details of what took place in the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his family. There are many Muslims out there who probably have not picked up a book on Islamic history either this year or last year or in some cases the whole of their lives. In some cases some don't know what to read so there isn't that guidance of what to read as well but generally we're a community that doesn't do much reading and we're a community that's more content with an external image of what religious is. Secondly I think that there are people out there who haven't been taught what happened on the day of Ghadir and purposely have been victims of it being hidden from them. I remember recently Raghia Omar had done a documentary on the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his family and he talks about the final sermon of the Prophet in the last days of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family and he brings about exactly the same narrative that everybody else does that there's a final sermon that's delivered at Hajj and that's it this is the final sermon people get emotional about this sermon and you look on YouTube or you look on Facebook you see all the comments there's only one or two people who say but don't you know what took place at Ghadir Khom. There are Imams out there who know what took place at Ghadir Khom and even if they have a different interpretation of what took place they find it difficult to even discuss that there is a recognition of the position of Ali at an oasis by the name of Khom they don't want to discuss it any further so you find that there are people out there who know about Ghadir but have purposely hidden it from their communities that same community has often wondered is it conceivable that the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his family would leave this world without making it clear who his successor was the man who wouldn't leave his house without making clear who his successor was the man who wouldn't leave Mecca or Medina if he went to battles like Honein or Tabuk without making sure that people knew who the successor was is it conceivable that he would leave the whole religion without them knowing who the leader was he's the final Prophet of God and his final messenger and his greatest messenger but who's the one who will lead the affairs of the Ummah but these Imams of the mosques many of them have hidden not even what we believe took place but hidden the general narrative of an incident that is one of the most authentic incidents in Islamic history now people may differ as to what the conclusion is of that incident but there's no doubt when it comes to Tawatur when it comes to this unbelievable number of narrations that surrounds it when it comes to authenticity you will not come to an incident like the incident of Ghadir Allama al-Amini may Allah bless his soul in his phenomenal work known as al-Ghadir a 20-odd volume work which I recommend to every reader out there if you want to see Ghadir mentioned in all of the sources of all the schools of Islam and what took place and every generation that has mentioned what took place at Ghadir Allama al-Amini may Allah rest his soul in al-Ghadir the voluminous work is called al-Ghadir makes it clear so the second category of people are those who sadly have been the victims I remember of the eye in the Qur'an chapter 2 verse 159 God withdraws his mercy from those who have concealed the truth that has been revealed and there are people out there who purposely conceal then there's a third group of people who say yes Ghadir took place but it was nothing more than that there was a difference of opinion between Khalid ibn al-Walid and Ali ibn Abi Talib over some of the spoils of Yemen in the period just before and so the holy prophet decides on this really hot afternoon that I'm gonna raise the hands of Ali in front of all of you those of you who are going ahead I'm gonna tell you to come back and those of you who are still on their way will wait for them please everybody get your saddles together I want to make an announcement Ali is my friend and that's all it is now when someone sees this they think to themselves that well that's not a celebration that's not an aid so either we don't read either the truth has been concealed or either people put a narrative on it because of the fact that they in no way whatsoever want there to be a contradiction to occur what do I mean if there is a clear announcement about Ali where the whole Muslim Ummah is to be halted where those who have gone further on have to be called back where those who are still to come we have to wait for them then what does that say about those who took leadership later on so that catch 22 that type of difficult situation some people want to shy away from discussing hadir because okay if Ali is announced which rationally you'd expect the holy prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family to make a clear announcement to his ummah there's no need for your saqifahs and your elections later on you'd expect there to be a clear statement if then we admit that something did take place then what does it say about those who assume leadership later on but one thing is clear and that is this issue about who exactly is the leader of the muslims after the holy prophet peace be upon his family is so important that in london in 2017 we're still discussing it it's inconceivable that the man who came to guide mankind would have just left it of course just a reminder to our viewers you can phone in to wish myself a need mubarak and also the doctor as well the number to phone in is 0203 515 0199 one question that i won't purposefully put towards you say it is what books would you recommend the people to read given that the ummah doesn't read much i'll leave that to one of the viewers to call in inshallah inshallah so you mentioned the importance of this eid why is it so important then to appoint him as an imam well i think the religion is a 23-year-old religion therefore being a 23-year-old your religion it's a religion which is young a religion made up of people who've converted some sincerely some definitely not so sincerely the quran is a book that has a chapter called the hypocrites they are buzzing around medina uh it's you know you can look at other religious books but to find a chapter called the munafiq gives you an indication that there are hypocrites everywhere there's albu sofyan waiting in the wings and his children and they've got the help of a few romans to come and support them as well there are people who want this religion destroyed therefore you can't certainly leave this religion 23 years old just leave it and say okay guys you who were a bedwind 10 years ago you who've buried your daughter alive you who've slapped your sister before you came to islam you who've killed several people at the battles before you became muslim i'm gonna trust all of these to be the ones who look after the religion the prophet muhammad peace be upon his family worked tirelessly to ensure that the revelation of the quran was protected whoever succeeds him has a major role and that's the protection of the interpretation of the quran from falling into the hands of those people who had bitten us in their heart towards the prophet muhammad peace be upon his family because for all you know if the wrong people get into power then you're gonna have people who are gonna make sure that certain interpretations of certain verses of the holy quran are gonna suit their agenda like i guess what we have today with isis and isis is mini school compared to some of the hearts that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala decides to begin chapter 63 of the holy quran by saying that these hypocrites come and say to you are the messenger of god we know that you are the messenger of god and we tell you that these hypocrites are liars so this is fundamental for us to celebrate on the first reason because that guidance given to us that this religion is secure in the hands of ali son of abu talib it's a monumental blessing on mankind human beings yearn to be like ali ibn abu talib alaihi salam you yearn to be like him you admire him non-muslims admire him how many Sikhs and Hindus and Christians have written praise of ali believe you me i ask you find me non-muslims who have written praise of other companions of the prophet muhammad peace be upon his family the odd line or two and people are proud of george dak wrote a whole book called the voice of human justice and he's a Lebanese christian ali ibn abu talib is that human being people yearn to become a philosopher stroke soldier stroke warrior stroke man of literature stroke father stroke husband stroke leader at war what else do you yearn to become when people say to me what do you say at the beginning of your lectures what's that line i say all praise is due to Allah who allowed us to be of those who held on to the guardianship of ali ibn abu talib alaihi salam i don't hold on to ali ibn abu talib alaihi salam because ali is the son-in-law of the prophet muhammad i couldn't care less if he's the son-in-law of the prophet muhammad that's not why i revame i'm ali ibn abu talib alaihi salam the prophet muhammad had son-in-laws this way father-in-laws this way this way this way that's not what's important to me ali ibn abu talib alaihi salam when i look at him i find the most immaculate human being a person who every human being looks at as an exemplary figure and the human being has a yearning for perfection and a yearning for the perfect otherwise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wouldn't appoint messengers he'd let us be the ones who choose our leaders Allah chooses adam as his caliph Allah chose Noah Allah chose Abraham Allah chose david Allah chose sulaiman Allah chose ibrahim Allah chose ismail musa ishaq and so on isa god chooses them why because he knows if i leave it in the hands of these guys they're gonna pick who they want who's gonna suit my business interests who's gonna give me a big position who's related to my tribe who who who when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chooses someone that choice is a day of aid for me the announcement from rasul Allah sallallahu alaihi wa ta'ala on that day of qadi that's a day of aid for me but secondly and importantly you notice the imams of Ahlul bayt alaykum say pray as much as you want fast as many days as you want without recognizing the willaya of imam ali alaihi salam all of it is null and void now what does that mean i can't deny there are people out there who pray and fast who are wonderful human beings in our religion but are they praying and fasting according to the guidance of those who the prophet peace be upon his family said i leave behind for you namely the quran and the ahlul bayt alaykum salam or are they praying and fasting according to the guidance of the odd iraqi or the odd palestinian or the odd egyptian scholar who come randomly 150 years after the prophet Muhammad dies who are you taking your guidance about prayer and fasting from do i take my guidance from the very man who smelled the smell of revelation when it first dawned on the prophet peace be upon his family or do i take my guidance from someone who tells me if a black dog walks past you and sallay your sallaz batil i have to ask myself these questions sincerely so imam sallam alayhi salam mentions pray pray is the size of mount uhud without the willaya of imam ali alaihi salam there's no point not because i have some attachment to imam alayhi salam because of the odd war the odd battle it's because i find that the very teachings of the quran are embodied in that one man and walla it's a day of eid because until today if you ask muslims in the world what's the one issue that separates sunni and shia what's the one issue it's related to ali is the aleem nabi talib the rightful success of the prophet as number one or number four is the same it's an issue until now 1400 years later still being discussed it shows you just how important this issue was and you think that i'm gonna go to my grave believing that my prophet leaves guidance political and spiritual in the hands of guys who 10 12 years ago one was a drunkard and the other had slapped his sister and the other one had come from gambling habits and the other one had killed at badr and uhud i'm not gonna that's i will never accept that so it's a day of celebration for a number of reasons and one of the most important is that the blessing of having ali nabi talib as my spiritual and my political leader because you know some people came and said that ali nabi talib and the imams are our spiritual guides but others are our political guides but what does that say about those political guides if you've chosen others for spirituality what does that say about the spirituality of the ones you've chosen politically in ali nabi talib as you have perfection in spirituality and political guidance as you mentioned on the imamat show as well he's the only man in history one thing that i've amongst the many things that i've learned from you is he's the only man within islamic history to say ask me before you lose me whereas the other for don't you know there's no there's no one since the time of the prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family who has that line ask me before you lose me so it's a it's a it's a day of blessing when i know that that man's my leader because the person who leads your religion leads your group of people leads a business you need to make sure that that person has the answers to yeah i don't want to go to someone who says if it wasn't for ali i'd be perished if it wasn't for my two years with jaafar al-sadaq i'd be perished let there not be a day where abel hasan is not next to me to help me i want to go to the purest source that was raised by the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and his family so you mentioned a couple of points back that the prophet waited for the people to reach up to him and he called the ones at the front to come back which makes me wonder what actually took place at qadir khom you know what was the event that took place is it even mentioned in the books of for example ahla sunnah because you mentioned this mentioned qadir well the word khom you can find clearly mentioned in sahih muslim very clear mention of sahih muslim there's a famous narration that the prophet stops at khom and if you want you can google or in the sahih muslim search engine online type the word khom k-h-u-m-m that's the name of the area of course qadir is that oasis now until today people say the prophet's final sermon was in hajj was at hajj then what happened at khom why stop at khom who tells you to stop at khom and he does not speak of his own will he speaks of revelations from his lord i don't know why you would stop at khom but one thing i do know is that you wouldn't stop unless your god your lord guided you in sahih muslim that narration is clear zaid bin arqam reflects that when they stopped at khom the prophet made it clear to the people that he's about to return to his lord and he tells them i leave behind for you two weighty things hold on to them you will never go astray the quran and my ahlul bait my ahlul bait my ahlul bait and that some ask the question are your wives part of your ahlul bait and he mentions that the ahlul bait refers to those who cannot accept charity and then they ask him ya rasul allah ya rasul allah why your ahlul bait and he mentions the sons of ali and jaafar aqeel and abbas now there are other books which narrate even further this whole incident as i mentioned allam al-gadir allam al-ameenin al-gadir mentions every reference from every school in slam which narrates the whole incident the holy prophet peace be upon his family is on his way back from hajj now naturally there are some who've gone further ahead from him and there are others who may still be behind you know when you're coming back from hajj a hundred thousand out of you you're not all going to be going at the same pace but there is something that he has to announce which makes him say to his companions those who've gone ahead of us go call them and we'll wait for those who are coming behind us now what are you going to say to them we are of the belief of course in the shi'i school and allam al-ameenin mentions all of the sunni narrations as well which say that surah five verse 67 was revealed ya ayyuh al rasul baligh ma'unzila alayka min rabbik wal lamta fa'alfa ma'aballakta rasalata wa Allah yasumuka min an-nas our messenger of Allah preach what has been bestowed upon you from your lord if you do not do it your message is incomplete ya Allah 23 years hold on salah had already been discussed aqeemu s-salah wa aatu zaka zaka has been discussed khums has been discussed had he's just been shown to the people with luqman's story for example nahi an munkar has been discussed enjoying the good and forbid the evil that's been discussed jihad has been discussed you find for example all of these have been discussed what's left fasting's been discussed we know shahram an adhan al-adhi anzila fihal oran kutiba alaykum al-siyam kama kutiba al-adhi an-naqablaka that's all been discussed what is left that in surat al-ma'idah surah five verse 67 Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells the holy prophet preach what's been bestowed upon you if you don't your message is incomplete ya Ras wait everything's been discussed what is left that god also tells him if you don't do it your message is incomplete hold on but i explained to everyone to haid i explained to everyone my nubuwa i explained to everyone qiyam i explained to everyone salah haid zaka i've explained everything what's left that i have to announce otherwise the whole religion is incomplete which shows imama is not post muhammad imama is part of islam some try to say imama is a political position calafa is a political position we believe as much as tawheed nubuwa and qiyam is part of the pillars of this religion imama is part of the pillar of this religion because it is discussed before the death of the prophet peace be upon him and his family so the holy prophet peace be upon his family gathers everybody and as i said no muslim denies this incident took place they may deny the interpretation of the sermon but no one can deny that in a hot afternoon 18th of the hajjah 10th year after hijrah just after hajj when everyone thinks that's the final sermon he stops at khum and no one can deny that the holy prophet peace be upon his family asks everybody to gather the saddles and then begins this sermon not a five minute sermon mind you it's a couple hour sermon 100,000 people and he wants everybody to pass the message to everybody so everybody can hear he says is my lord is your master my lord is my master then he asks them a question don't i have a greater authority on you than you have over yourselves they said to him yes whoever i have a greater authority now this ali has a greater authority or Allah be a guardian to whoever takes ali ibn abiyat alayhi salam as his guardian and be an enemy to whoever takes ali as an enemy and be a helper to whoever helps the cause of ali ibn abiyat alayhi salam and finish off whoever tries to finish the teachings and guidance of imam ali ibn abiyat alayhi salam and then at the end he says and withdraw your mercy from those who show hate to ali ibn abiyat alayhi salam tell me if imam ali and khaleed nwaleed supposedly had a skirmish or a problem over the spoils of yemen which begs the question how do i trust these companions if they're having fights around me how do i trust them with leadership after i die when half of them don't like each other but that's for another day they showed their true colors at jama and sofiyan if that was the case would i raise this man's hand in front of a hundred thousand people just to make this announcement and say okay everyone go home i am making clear to my community an announcement that when i pass away this is the man who will be your spiritual guide in the same way you took me as awla now he's awla therefore when this takes place hassan bin thabit comes he recites his famous poetry and you have the companions one after the other coming to congratulate imam ali alayhi salam so this is known as the incident of qadir and it was to make clear that don't come later on and say i never left behind for you a guide and if there's no someone missing from here tell them what took place it's normal sometimes you're not at a battle you go home you tell the rest of the community this is what took place this happened this happened it's normal so that is known as what took place the gist of the sermon and the announcement that was made so you mentioned the word mola there you know i've had discussions at uni for example where people come at me and say mola could mean friend or brother or i read even on the website today someone had termed it as love i don't know how what would you respond to people regarding the word mola and it's true meaning arabic there is a concept known as what's the kareena what's the context like english if i say that alexander was the lion of the seas doesn't mean literally is an animal in the sea known as a lion it means he was someone brave in the seas i have to see is the usage metaphorical is the usage literal what's the context of the usage before he said man konto mola the kareena was surah 33 verse 6 and nabiyu awla bil mu'mineena min anfosa him therefore the word mola you're right it has 20 odd meanings could be friend could be love could be slay could so many master so many meanings but the holy prophet peace be upon his family is the king of the clearest guidance and the most simple guidance and so the holy prophet before he says man konto mola says he quotes surah 33 verse 6 nabiyu awla bil mu'mineena min anfosa him the prophet has a greater right or authority than the believers have over themselves you know what that means that means when some companions are trying to make excuses that they're not going to go to the battlefield they want to ask their parents first if they should go to the battlefield or no the quran revealed the verse your parents are nothing when the prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family asks you something be a be enter what umma when fc and so on and so forth so when it comes to the word mola i see many people say mola just meant that he put his hand up in front say that he's my friend no he uses a word which Allah has used for him he now uses it for Ali this is very important Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala had used the word awla for the holy prophet and nabiyu awla bil mu'mineena they accept yes so the word mola's context is the word awla and everybody knew the word awla as being the one who is first and has the right of authority over all of you so why didn't the prophet just use the word imam and just settle it once and for all rather than having to use anyone who asked that question why doesn't the holy prophet peace be upon his family use the word imam as someone who has not seen the way Allah describes his prophet in the quran Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when talking about authority in the quran uses different words sometimes the prophet is known as rasul do you agree yes sometimes the prophet is known as nabiyu do you agree yes sometimes the prophet is known as khaleel as ibrahim sometimes the prophet's authority is known as wali does not Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describe his prophet in the quran with the authoritative word wali in chapter five verse 55 inna ma wali yukum why don't you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala why you use the word wali yukum inna ma wali yukum Allah wa rasul you know the famous ayah that your wali is Allah and his messenger why put the word wali there why don't you why does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala just say and the Allah the messenger are those who are your authorities why the stress on ensuring the word wali yukum why when you're talking about the prophet having authority why wasn't the word nabi enough why did you have to say nabi yu ola bil mu'mineena min anfosa him it's as if there's a double stress on that authority that we know he is a rasul he's your wali as well we know he's a nabi but he's ola as well al nabi yu ola bil mu'mineena min anfosa him so therefore here when rasul Allah sallallahu wali uses mankuntu maula he's saying to all of them all of you accepted me as your wali you accepted me all as ola you heard inna ma wali yukum you heard an nabi yu ola okay well if all of you know these terms are referring to my authority in chapter 5 verse 55 and chapter 33 verse number six mankuntu maula fada aleyhum maula Allahumma wali manwala Allah subhanu wa ta'ala will be a guardian for whoever takes ali as his guardian therefore when the muslims are hearing these terms if rasul Allah mentioned imam people want the word imam to be mentioned where in the quran does Allah subhanu wa ta'ala for example continuously refer to his prophet as an imam for the people of the ibrahim nabi ibrahim aslam how about rasul Allah rasul Allah you find his authority mentioned nabi rasul wali ola therefore rasul Allah is using the same authoritative terms in describing ali's position now that in the same way you people recognize me as your wali inna ma wali yukum Allah wa rasul and his prophet in the same way you read the ayah in the quran an nabi yu ola nabi al mu'mineena min anfusihim like wa aize mankuntu maula whoever i am the master of whoever i am the first in authority over whoever i am a guardian over fada aleyhum maula so rasul Allah is using what Allah has used with the terms of authority to back up his point with the context from the quran going on the topic of the quran you mentioned chapter five verse 67 which was regarding convey the message on to people otherwise your message isn't finished that comes after chapter five verse three which is we've completed religion for you why is why does that come after that verse i i never knew the quran was a book that was in order i'm surprised that you're asking me about the order of the quran the quran is a book whose first chapter al-fatiha is arguably the fifth chapter to be revealed to the prophet peace be upon his family you're giving me a question which seems like one who has come from a biblical reading where you begin with the whole creation of man as a biblical narrative the quran is not a book of historical narrative surah al-baqarah is the second surah of the quran do you agree yes third surah is which one al-amran both of these are revealed in madina they weren't in Mecca if the quran was about order of revelation the first surah should be which one iqra al-aq second surah qalam third surah you got muzzamil mudathir al-fatiha these are all the early surahs if you're looking at order of the life of prophets i'd say barring the story of use if every prophet's story is jumping from one place to another if you're looking at the order of revelation of laws you can't tell from the quran about order of revelation of laws allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in his wisdom has placed certain verses at certain places we go to the seba minnazul to see when the revelation was one thing we do know is that the last verses of the quran were in surah al-maida and a couple of surah al-baqarah insha'Allah we're going to take a short break say adna to our respected viewers at home don't forget you can ring in on the number which is 0203 5150199 we're going to take a short break and insha'Allah after the break we'll be back discussing more on the topic of adil qadir and also looking through your questions via whatsapp facebook or you can ring in as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh dear respected brothers sisters and viewers welcome back to part two of live in london with our esteemed guest dr. saeed amman akshwani tonight's topic is the topic of adil qadir aid mubarak to those who have joined in since the break if you'd like to put your questions to saeed please call in on 0203 5150199 that's 0203 5150199 and insha'Allah we'll do the best we can to put you in touch with dr. saeed amman as-salamu alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi saeed in the first half we talked about the event of qadir this is an event that happened i don't know roughly 1400 years ago why is it important to care if it was ali's hand that was raised or if it was someone else's it happened so long ago some people say who cares what would you reply to that i'd say i'd say tragedies occurred in islamic history because of those who did not take the guidance of the holy prophet peace be upon him and his family from his lord that day there is no doubt the repercussions are many and the sermon in nehjul balaqa known as shak shakia imam ali ibn abu talib alayhi as-salam makes it clear the innovations that occurred because of those who did not take the guidance of the holy prophet peace be upon his family i don't deny that there are muslims out there in the world who are sincere who are thankful who are people of humility but there's a difference drinking from tap water and drinking from the springs of aviyah i don't mind if you drink from tap water you're more than welcome but there's nothing like that which has come from the pure spring and that there are muslims out there who have drunk from tap water and have got to the love of the holy prophet peace be upon his family but it's not like when you've tasted from the supplications of and the knowledge of and the wonderful mind of ali ibn abu talib and the ahl al-bayt alayhi as-salam we have a call on the line Sayyidina as-salam alaykum as-salam alaykum wa alaykum as-salam how are you brother aid mubarak and your family inshallah i would like to firstly express my heartiest congratulations to you and all the women in on this auspicious occasion thank you my name is shabir aza i'm calling from new jersey and my question is is akida more important than amal does belief supersede action thank you very much brother thank you my beloved friend say shabir aza may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless him and bless his family well i would hope that our akida would lead to our good deeds the person who claims to be a follower of imam alayhi as-salam is someone who would try their hardest to live the life of imam alayhi as-salam you find that the ahl al-bayt alaykum as-salam constantly make it clear that we have a responsibility those of us who have taken on the willy of imam alayhi as-salam have a major responsibility to provide and give the best image of the teachings of imam alayhi as-salam as imam as-salak and others mentioned that we should be a source of adornment in our actions for the family of the prophet peace be upon them is it enough for a person to say that i love imam i love imam alayhi as-salam but not follow the teachings of imam alayhi as-salam and the quran always brings one's faith alongside one's good deeds how many times you read therefore if i have held on and claimed to have iman next to iman should always be shouldn't just be a case of you know what i love imam alayhi love imam alayhi but i'm not the ones who make any effort to try and wake up in the morning to remember the man who died in the morning you know fejar prayers is never easy for any of us to wake up i'm groggy half the time when i'm waking up for fejar but at the same time you think to yourself well you know what there really is freedom in worshiping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala i don't have to do it out of fear of hell or because i want heaven but to be thankful to my lord in the morning now that's a true sign of a person whose aqida is a alawi shiai aqida that he follows the teachings of the man as well as follows him in action as well so they really should go hand in hand speaking of the man imam alayhi as-salam you mentioned qadir was the event where the prophet raised his hand and declared him as the imam or the leader of the people was that the first time this had happened or had it happened previously throughout the 21 23 years there's a number of positions imam alayhi as-salam has before qadir where he's on a different class to any of the other riffraff that surrounds him you have a lot of bedwins around him you have a lot of ex-thugs ex-murderers and yes they joined the religion of islam it's not the same as someone who's brought up in the prestige and the class and the dignity of imam alayhi as-salam and from the very young age you find surah 26 verse 214 of the holy quran ismillah rahman raheem wa-ander ashira takal aqrabin warn your nearest relatives that the holy prophet peace be upon his family is known in the famous incident of da'wat al-ashira when he invites his nearest relatives to tell them the open propagation of the religion his prophethood that his position given to him by Allah swt and he makes it clear that whoever accepts me will be my successor after me every other successor in the history of the religion of islam was not there that day and in some cases hadn't even become muslim and imam alayhi as-salam at that time was how old imam alayhi as-salam when that day was in his teens and yet subhanallah you find that he stands up i accept i accept and then the prophet says that you are my brother and my successor and my vice-gerent after me that was at a very young age then you find for example that there are certain merits given to ali ibn alayhi as-salam that no one else shares no one else has ever been described with the line ali is to me like erin was to moses except that there is no prophet after me no one has been described as the nefs of the prophet muhamma sallallahu alaihi waal the self of the prophet muhammad peace be upon his family and i'm not surprised when i see sufi chains which take imam ali ibn alayhi alayhi as the highest in their tariqa when it comes to the spiritual axis of this religion he is known as the nefs of muhammad sallallahu alaihi waal that's the highest position you can be in in the religion of islam you've got to be a very low human being to not appreciate when you have a jewel like ali ibn alayhi as-salam i do often wonder if ali ibn alayhi as-salam had belonged to another religion would he have been treated as barbarically as we treated him not only was there an insult of making him forth but then the injury to add to the insult and the insult added to the injuries was that they started to fight him in wars like jamal and safine having seen everything he had given to the religion of islam so it's called nefs he is known ali is to me like erin is to moses the prophet did not say by anyone he is to me like this prophet was to this prophet and he has the ultimate honor of the incident of the cloak and the grace poured upon him and hassan and hussein and fatama in the famous verse of tatheer narrated in muslim and tirmidhi where um salama and haisha the wives of the prophet peace be upon his family mentioned how ali fatama hasa hussein were under the cloak with the holy prophet peace be upon his family and the eye was revealed in nama yuridullah li uthafa and so on so all of these highlight either a clear announcement of successorship from a young age infallibility spiritual heights which no one can reach and being to the prophet muhammad like erin was to moses and there are so many more merits that we could give that it's unbelievable how anyone could take anyone but ali as success of the holy prophet peace be upon his family i think one of the lines in the sermon actually that was coming across today was that the holy prophet alayhi salam and his speech said there are numerous virtues of ali that i if i was to speak to about them now i don't have enough time to explain them all to you we have another caller on the line said now salam alaykum id mubarak to you id mubarak my brothers what's your name and where are you calling from please um my name is jobber i am from kingdom of Bahrain but i'm currently studying in the u.s. mashaAllah what's your question please um first of all say dammar i have the highest amount of respect and gratitude towards you and your lectures and the fact that you have this level of intellect at a young age is very admirable um i believe you're a role model for our youth thank you thank you my question um has to do with it willaya um and the question is why didn't Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala just mentioned imam ali's name alaihi salam in that verse and that might have avoided division and bloodshed among uh muslims thank you very much thank you very much thank you job and thank you for your kind words i really appreciate words from uh our youth and all those who have the love of ahlul bayt may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala strengthen them all it's an interesting question that why does imam ali alayhi salam why isn't his name just mentioned in that eye and that will stop all division reality is jobber on the first level those who look for the truth will find it i remember looking at the eye and the quran chapter nine verse number forty you find that this eye is about the cave the two who were in the cave i asked jobber one question if you were to ask millions in the world today who's the second in the cave uh you'll find them straight away saying abu bakr if you ask them his name is not in the eye could Allah not have made it clear why does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say thani ith name yes the quran has a teacher that teacher tells us who an eye is revealed about the books are there and if a person is going to be unbiased he'll look at books from both sides yes now when you're looking at that eye a chapter nine verse number forty you say thani ith name could not Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala have mentioned other names of people the munafiqun ya Allah why don't you just mention who they are the hypocrites in the quran why doesn't God just say one two three four five six other hypocrites or this hundred other hypocrites or these 20 other hypocrites why don't you just mention them ya Allah why don't you mention for example other companions who did good deeds that sometimes there's an eye in the holy quran and the only companion who got a mention was zaid no other companion every other companion was not mentioned therefore when you come to this eye my dear brother jabar on the first level there are many narrations about imam halibna bi talib alayhi salam being the one who gave away his ring and in sunni and shia literature secondly even if halibna bi talib's name wa Allah if it was mentioned throughout the quran the hatred of badr and hunayn in the hearts of those who saw what he did as a youth would still have meant that they would have tried to burn that same quran muawiya did not put the quran on the spear that's without ali's name muawiya when he fought ali at safheem he put the quran on the spear there was a few qurans that were put on the spears that's without imam ali his name inside it what would have happened had imam ali then time is named inside likewise not every specific detail is put in the quran it's a salah my lord i ask you a question ya Allah salah you tell me as one of the pillars of my religion why did you not tell me salat al-maghrib is three where did i find salat al-maghrib is three i found it in hadith salat al-ashas how many ruk'a four where is it in the quran could not Allah what's clear from that ayah is will ayah is being transferred from Allah to the prophet to those who believe now we can't all be awliya Allah we're not all authority on each other there has to be a specific one who the ayah is referring to someone who's given away zakat while in a state of ruk'a there's not gonna be a million people in the mosque of the prophet that day saying hey anyone want zakat while i'm in ruk'a it's specifically in honor of someone if someone tells me alladina amin was a plural that means the whole muslim community so Allah is saying i'm your wali the prophet Muhammad peace be upon his family is your wali and all of you are the wali of all of you and i hope all of these answers and there's many more that's what inshallah it's quite weird saying his name's job and my name's job here it's an honor i think if you're putting the question to me or you meant it's an honor that we have many jobbers thank you very much may Allah bless the soul of jaber we have another caller on the line as well aslamu alaykum alaykum aslam brother how are you alhamdulillah how are you brother eid mubarak to you and your respective family thank you very much you're welcome and say it as well my name is sayyid riyadh and i'm calling from jersey sayyid riyadh may Allah bless you inshallah inshallah may Allah bless you too sayyid i have a question what is the difference between being a muhaib a lover imam ali and a shia of imam ali what is the criteria differentiating the two ahsan sayyid riyadh may Allah bless you and bless maulana abidi and the other brothers in america muhaib of imam ali ibn abii talib alayhi as-salam can be many there are muhabbin of ali who believe in him as the fourth khalifa but they love even those who fought him they'll make excuses for the enemy and they'll make excuses for him shia of ali alayhi as-salam is a prestigious position and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us one day that position at the moment we're trying to be the true shia are the likes of salman and abudar the likes of maitham and kumail the likes of hujar bin adiyya and amr bin hameq al khuzai their prayers they're fast they were people constantly with the relationship with the holy quran your habee bin madahars and muslim bin awsajahs people who had memorized verse after verse of the quran and the nights they were in supplications but they were also people of charity they were people of forgiveness they never closed the door of forgiveness people who constantly sought to help god's creation knowing that that was a service to the creator and that's why you find imam al askari alayhi as-salam talks of different merits of the shia imam al baqar talks of the different merits of the shia imam amir al mu'mineen in the khutbah of the muttaqeen talks of the different merits of what a muttaqi is and a true shia is you find that for example they'll mention there are those who begin every act with bismillah ar-rahman ar-rahim there are those who'll perform ziyarat al arba'een there are those who for example will recite 51 units of salat a day me and you i can just about get to 17 with salat al layl you add 11 with the nawafi they'll get to 51 i don't know how many of us have even come near that so ammuhib al lavar of ali alayhi as-salam is someone who appreciates imam ali bin abit abu alayhi as-salam but if for example aisha fights imam ali then you'll say listen i love aisha and i love ali i love mu'awiya and i love ali or i won't make a judgment on mu'awiya if he fights ali or they'll for example come and say that we love ali but you people have exaggerated his position but the person who has found the true love of ali is someone who follows imam ali bin abu alayhi as-salam a true shia follows him in all his actions in every way possible and dissociates from his enemies going back to the topic of aid al qadir why didn't the prophet make that announcement at Hajj why did he do it at qadir was it to do with the yamanites coming in or was it to do with iraq what's the purpose of picking khum like you said to iraq i don't think there were were there any iraq Muslims at the time i don't think there were i don't think there were iraq Muslims as such at the time maybe six years later kufa is established as a you know instead of being a garrison town a place where people are able to actually live and that's established why sa'abinabi waqas that's 17th year after hijrah so i remember someone saying well if he stops at qadir how about the people of kufa they won't hear the message i don't think there were any Muslims from there at the time yaman yaman had just just just accepted the rich of islam because of alibna bi ta'ab alayhi salam khail bin walid had not done the best job there and imam alibna bi ta'ab alayhi salam they've just accepted so it's look at iraq and yaman as geographically not the people who necessarily are gonna hear about it i don't know about iraq but you know yaman have just come into islam um and why does he stop at qadir khom well why does he make a announcement at da'wah al ashira why does he go to ta'if why does he go to madin on the night of hijrah i'm gonna ask his lord his lord is the one who guides him yes his lord his lord is the one who teaches him and so when his lord tells him this is the best place this is the place everyone's leaving and even those who've gone ahead call them back and even those who haven't come you find a way for them to come you know sometimes people say well if you had done a hajj everyone's together well at the end of the day even if everyone's not together we'll call them all back what's the problem people are yearning to have a drop of water from the holy prophet peace be upon his family and sometimes in life there are certain people you need them to hear the message we've had a question come in from a brother who's asking did imam ali moved the islamic capital from madinah to kufa if so why well he moves the the capital from madinah to kufa because of a number of reasons he has you know loyal supporters in kufa who have been you know vociferously outspoken for a few years while they lived in kufa especially those who were originally from yemen who some later on become part of what are known as the shortat al khamis or the police the thursday police and then you have of course muawiyah as a major threat you know muawiyah is in charge of syria palestine lebanon jordan kufa strategically would be somewhere a bit better and it seems the ground is somewhere which is a bit easier for him than the many enemies who now were surrounding mecca and madinah we have another caller on the line said as-salamu alaykum aid mubarak to you and your respected family inshallah inshallah thank you yes brother what's your question um in our ahadith we have two days of well being the night inshallah thank you go aid al ghadir on the 18th of the hajja is remembering and is honoring the wilayah of imam ali alayhi as-salam and on the 9th of rabi al awwal we are honored to be remembering the imama of the final imam of the imams of al-bayt imam al-hujjaj allah farajah so back to the topic of qadir again the prophet lifts up imam ali's hands declares him as the leader as you rightly mentioned the so-called caliphs come one by one and shake his hand congratulate him i guess everyone then goes home or continues on their journey how then does abul bakr become caliph if he's literally just walked up to imam ali alayhi as-salam and congratulated him on becoming the successor of the prophet how does that how does one comprehend well i'd say you know if you're looking at abul bakr and amr's behavior in the last days of the holy prophet peace be upon him and his family is life it's very interesting to say the least they don't join osama the 18 year olds army and um they say that why should we be on under the command of someone who's younger than us and then in the incident of the pen and paper when the prophet asked for a pen and paper to write that for which is umma will not go astray umar is known to have clearly said that you are delirious the quran is enough for us to which ibn abbas later on comments Thursday what a Thursday and talks about how emotional it was the behavior and how the prophet actually asked the companions to leave umar then makes an interesting statement when the prophet dies that anyone who claims muhammad is dead i'll kill him uh he's returned back to his lord like moses is gone and will return like moses so i don't know it's it's it all paves the way for an election that takes place arguably the messiest election mankind has ever witnessed of course you can't say this because people then call you sectarian i don't i don't want to be sectarian problem is as a shia anytime you discuss history eventually you're going to get called sectarian because you're dealing with other schools where you know discussing history and being proud of history sometimes a rarity but um it's a wishy washy election there's skirmish between the ansar's and abu bakar umar and those who are claiming the muhajir should rule a lot of the companions are absent so i don't know how that's an election so yeah it's eventually become caliph after that election so going on the pen and paper point as an example um you know we mentioned for example within university debates within debates for example at speaker's corner on these youtube videos these days a lot of people say if a successor was chosen by the prophet why then would he want a pen and paper to write something down if it's already made clear what's the pen and paper for what would you it's a very simple answer in islamic law there is um a will where you talk about all your material belongings and where they are to be uh given and who's going to execute that will and who's going to inherit what you have and that was all in the hands of imam aleem abu ta'ala to execute the will of the holy prophet peace be upon him and his family pen and paper incident is regarding what is regarding a piece of advice for the community it's not obligatory you become a father in your last days you can tell your community that i or you can tell your sons i'll give me a pen and paper i'll write for you that where you will not go astray i want to give you advice yeah interesting that qastalani in his shahab bukhari believes that the names of the successes of the prophet was to be written that's his interpretation of why he wants a pen and paper but for me that's not my concern if the prophet muhammad peace be upon his family wants to give you advice and you want to call him delirious you can meet your lord on the day of judgment and explain why you thought the greatest man to have ever walked on the face of this earth uh was delirious at that moment um but when umar says the quran is enough for us he gives us an indication of what he thinks may have been written yeah does imam ali at any point attest his appointment either on the day of qadir or afterwards of course imam aleem abu ta'ala and a number of occasions we have an allaam al amini in al qadir has referenced all of them where he mentions be it at the beginning of battle such as the battle of jamal mentioning and reminding the people of the day of qadir um and on other occasions where he meets certain companions who are still alive and reminds them were you not there on the day of qadir how could you remain silent now and you find the narrations are all present in our literature and what about when it comes to the other imams or the other ahl al bayt al-aslam regarding the event of qadir have they passed down certain i don't know obligatory actions or recommended actions we could partake on such a day well imam al-sadaq aleyhi salam when he'd go past a certain area people would say to him that we see there's a emotion on you in this area and says this is the land of qadir this is the area where my grandfather ali ibn abu ta'ala was announced as the guardian of the believers after the death of the holy prophet peace be upon his family he also mentions that it's the greatest aid in the religion of islam which no doubt it is um i find no more joy in my life than uh honoring the celebration of of aid al qadir and we are told of uh recommendations people being in supplications fasting on such days uh performing qusul on such days repenting back to god on such days uh no doubt there are recommendations from the ahl al bayt about such a day i guess we've now gone through that imam ali's become a successor or a leader after the holy prophet peace and blessings be upon him and his progeny how do we view imam ali aleyhi salam within shi'i thought do we view him as a arab sort of leader or personage or a mystical guide what's our understanding of such an individual the second greatest creation of god the greatest creation of god and shi'i thought is the prophet muhammad peace be upon his family and the second is ali son of abu ta'ala alayhi salam there are certain lineages god chose to guide man to actualizing their potential to achieving the highest levels of dignity and humility and honor and to be known for their forbearance and for their wisdom god chose the family of imran god chose the family of abraham and god chose the family of muhammad salallahu alaihi wa ala for us we don't revere ali and hassan hussain because they're the children or grandchildren of the prophet peace be upon his family in the same way allah sultanate on the quran said that allah astafa adam and noohan wa ala ibrahim wa ala imran ala ala alamin the riyat and both of them in both the same way god said i chose adam noah the family of abraham the family of imran likewise god chose the family of muhammad peace be upon him as the family of wisdom the prophet muhammad himself says you want to look at the knowledge of adam the patience of noah the forbearance of abraham the wisdom of moses look at the face of ali alayhi salam therefore to us imam ali alayhi salam is the gate to the city of the knowledge of the holy prophet peace be upon him as family i personally do not lose any sleep if you don't take ali imam as your imam i really don't and i tell you what ali imam does not lose anything if you don't take him as your imam it's your loss it's your loss you can debate me all day and say to me mola means this mola means that i know very well that when i looked at everybody's surrounding the prophet muhammad peace be upon his family there's one person who's on a different class my dear brother say javer some people can't appreciate class you can't do anything about it some people are not meant to appreciate some people will never appreciate class there are some people if they see a farari they can appreciate there are others they just can't appreciate they'll appreciate riffraff bedwind thugs they'll appreciate this guy used to slap his sister the other used to bury girls alive they'll take from a person who's met the prophet a couple years suddenly narrates god knows how many that's their level of appreciation some people cannot appreciate class because they don't have that class so even if you tell him all day imam ali imam so some people just don't know class when they see it when it comes to imam ali imam alayhi salam therefore for us the very manifestation of god's names on earth can be seen in the imams of ahlul bayt alayhi salam and the fountain head of all of them who every sunni every shia every sufi every salafi every every has to love in the year 2017 is ali imam alayhi salam there are other companions people don't like ali imam alayhi salam is loved by all and goes to show you his prowess that how much history tried to delete his name how much history was envious of his lovers he remained so high what does the poet say says if it wasn't for your prostration i would have said you created the heavens and the earth and if it wasn't for your prostration i would have said Noah's ark was in your hands and if it wasn't for your prostration i would have said you're the one who put the spirit into christ and if it wasn't for your prostration i would have said that you taught Gabriel they may have raced you and won the race for caliphate but i'll tell you what in bedar ohad and hunain they were far from winning that race so you find imam ali imam alayhi salam no doubt the levels that he achieves in his life is not the levels of arab riffraff and chabs you're talking the highest class which christians and hindu's and Sikhs and people around the world until today look at his personality and character knowledge and literature and wisdom and i feel sorry for the one who has not drunk from the spring of ali imam alayhi salam inshallah inshallah we can always learn to keep his message alive we have another caller on the line said salam alaykum asalam alaykum and to you too brother uh did you please share your name and your question with us inshallah thank you um my name is uh said kamman ali and i will question maybe a lot of context but uh it keeps bothering me and i keep thinking about it that uh the the islamic text for example uh like nijal belaza was written seven hundred years after the martyrdom of hazat ali and it is such a nice nice piece of literature you know every single word you you just believe that it cannot be said by any other personality but hazat ali how it became possible after so many hundred years to kind of collate and collect every single word has at least said in his life and you know make it a book like nijal belaza obviously there's no doubt about uh the the the the the context and the things which was said but how it was possible and how truthful is that basically thank you brother thank you very much nijal belaza was not written 700 years after the martyrdom of imam ali it's written a few hundred years after the martyrdom of imam ali so anyone who thinks that this is some you know some text that's written for example in the eighth century or something no within a few hundred years of the martyrdom of imam ali asalam the great sharyf al-radi had compiled the sermons of imam ali of nabi talb asalam especially for their wonderful arabic nijal belaza translated as the peak of eloquence and so you find that there were earlier texts where these sermons had been so he had access to earlier works collects them from the earlier works and compiles the nij but certainly not 700 years within i would say a hundred years of the fight of the occultation of the 12th imam you've got the beginning and the gathering of nijal belaza sharyf al-radi and his great brother sharyf al-murtaza may Allah bless their souls were great scholars and sharyf al-radi compiles the nij we have a few minutes left before the end of the show say and they're just back to the last point you made where you read that wonderful poem to a nonshi of someone else from another different school of thought they might come to those words and think of them as shirk or extreme or qalat what would your response be to that let them i'm not going to lose any sleep i see people out there debating you know if you don't want ali as your first imam and you prefer to him as the fourth caliph and you prefer to go to sleep in the night wondering on the day of jemal whose side you would have been on and make excuses for everyone and then do it if you can't appreciate ali ibn abitab aley salam i'm not going to lose any sleep over that it's not hard to appreciate imam ali ibn abitab's wisdom knowledge foresight vision there are proverbs and with quotes of wisdom from ali ibn abitab aley salam that people who have never heard of islam fall in love with i myself when people ask me about for example some of the tattoos what tattoo you have i mentioned a quote of imam ali for example brothers in faith equals in humanity wow who said that you mentioned for example when he talks about his love of god to kumail what sprinkles in you overflows in me you've got other quotes of imam ali other pieces of poetry the supplications of imam ali aley salam alone i defy anyone if you get me a hundred thousand sahaba on the day of judgment all i want is ali i'm confident if i have imam ali ibn abitab i don't want no other companion i don't want nobody i'll go with imam ali ibn abitab aley salam on the day of judgment you can have a hundred thousand companions if one of those companions has a supplication like kumail or a munajat like his munajat his whispered prayers or the shabani or others anything you want i'll give you and like kumail said to hajjaj to hajjaj bin yusuf al-thaqaf before he killed him when hajjad said leave abu turab and i'll let you go and he said show me a way better than abu turab so if someone out there looks at me and says you people are too extreme shia you love ali too much yes i do i do it's 2017 i do you you believe in what i believe you're more than welcome and if you don't believe in why i believe lakum deena kumail you can follow your own way i'm not gonna lose any sleep but i sitting here don't know 0.1 percent of ali ibn abitab aley salam and this is the love that i have for him imagine i had one percent of understanding of his knowledge and his sermons and his sayings and so on there are poetry piece of poetry of ali and arabic the mind cannot come near there are sermons the whole sermon without alif tell me who can give a whole lecture without using an arabic word that does not have alif every arabic word you think of if you begin a lecture alhamdulillah alif subhan Allah has done a whole sermon without a letter with a door who could do that therefore i feel sorry for you oh you who sees ali as one of a number of companions i feel sorry for you who has not drunk from the wonderful spring of ali inshaAllah god keeps the love of ali in all of our hearts i wish we could keep talking about this topic but our time has come to an end i'd like to congratulate you again on the and i'd like to congratulate you know the umma out there on the of course on this wonderful celebration inshaAllah on monday we gather to celebrate in our show on aid al-mubahala that should be a wonderful discussion inshaAllah inshaAllah and to our respected viewers watching us from home again eid mubarak to you and your respected families thank you for tuning in to another episode of live in london with dr. Sayed ammar nakshwani inshaAllah you will join us on monday night where we'll be looking at the event of mubahala please do keep us in your prayers and we look forward to joining you again soon assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh