 We are in the month of Muharram, this is a sacred month, this is a month in which we should remember the struggles of the family of the Prophet ﷺ because they were in his footsteps. The struggles of the Ahlul Baytul Rasulullah ﷺ is extremely important for us as Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama'ah. This is something that is foundational in our religion and I think it's a great unifying factor, a great unifying force of all Muslims. Imam Malik Ibn Anas, radiAllahu ala anhu, his judgment on jid'al bina al-awwam that polemical discourse or debate amongst lay Muslims, amongst the lay people, he said it's haram. And you go into certain masajid or MSAs, you see people, students who have no requisite knowledge, debating in a polemical style, type of way, making taqfir of each other about Ash-Ali, Mathuridi and Sunni and Shia and Salafi and Wahhabi according to Imam Malik, this is haram, this type of discourse. Now does that mean that we can't have dialogue and we should have dialogue, right? Something like this should take place in a masjid, right? This is tasawwuf. Tasawwuf is just a technical term for ihsan, right? Ihsan is in the Qur'an. Inna allaha yuhidbul muhsineen. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves the muhsineen. The Prophet ﷺ was asked about ihsan in hadith, jibreel, sound hadith, sahib khari, what did he say? Anta'abud Allah haka anna ka taraa. To worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as though you see him and if you don't see him then no, be cognizant that indeed he sees you. To worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as if raptured in the beatific vision of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the prophetic way of worship. This is how the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ used to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as if he was standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Imagine the scene on the yawm al qiyama when the jihannam is brought near and we're going to see it with aina liaqeen according to the Qur'an. How would you stand in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala on that day? This is the prophetic worship. This is the worship, the ibadah of the Prophet ﷺ. To have this type of dhawq, Imam Qazali talks about it. He calls it dhawq, to taste of the faith. And he criticizes the formalists who are changing definitions. Even at his time, he says they're changing definitions. The word fiqh has a different definition at his time than it did with the salaf. The word fiqh at the time of Imam Qazali just meant how to make wudhu and how to make hajj and things like that. What does fiqh mean? Fiqh means the essence of the religion. It's the essence. In this sense, all of the sahaba were fuqaha in this sense. There's different types. Obviously there's a jurisprudential aspect of fiqh and that's very important. But fiqh literally means a deep understanding of the religion, to taste the essence of the religion, to have taqeeq actualize the religion. Like Hanzala, I came to Abu Bakr as-Sadiq and he said, I've become a Munafiq and Abu Bakr as-Sadiq, radiAllahu ta'ala anhu said, Why do you say this about yourself? And he said because when I sit in the Majlis of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, I have taqeeq, I have dhuq, I taste my faith. The paraphrase is what he said. I have a strong spirituality. He talks about Jannah and Nahr and I have this really strong spirituality. Then I leave his presence and it starts to wane. And I go back to how I was. I've become a Munafiq. This is what he said. And Abu Bakr as-Sadiq said, That happens to me too. Let's go ask the Messenger ﷺ and the Prophet ﷺ said, No, you haven't become a Munafiq. If you were to remain in that state, as you are in my presence, then you'd be shaking hands with angels in the street. Right? But we should have a dialogue about these things. Abu Qasim al-Junayn, Qadza Sallahu Sirrah, he said that our knowledge, ʿal-muna muqayyidun bi-kitābi la wa sunnahu rasūlihi ﷺ, he is one of the great articulators of tasawwaf, of ihsan, of Islamic spiritualism, mysticism. He said our knowledge is nothing more than knowledge that is tied to the Book of Allah ﷺ and the sunnah of his Messenger ﷺ. It's not coming out of nowhere. It's not bida'a. It's not taken from Christianity. It's not taken from Hinduism. Right? There were things that were borrowed. There's no doubt about it as far as practices go. But the ʿakīdah, from a standpoint of creed, this is based firmly in the Qur'an and sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ. So to begin, Allah ﷺ says in the Qur'an, ʿul la ʿasalukum ʿalahi ʿajran illa al-muwadadah fi al-Qurba. Allah ﷺ says, ʿul fi al-amr. This is an imperative command. Say to them, no reward do I ask of you for this, except that you love the ʿQurba. Who is ʿQurba? According to the vast majority of exigents of the Qur'an, this is a reference to the ahl al-bayt of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. We are commanded in the Qur'an to love the family of the Prophet ﷺ. In a famous line of poetry by Abu Muhammad ʿIbn al-Dulīsa ʿShāfiʿī, a great scholar, ʿahlu sunnah wa l-jamaʿah, ʿizyāʿ alabayti ʿrasūlillāh ʿhubbukum ʿfaradun ʿminalahi fi al-kitāb. Oh, family of the Messenger of God, your love is obligatory and come upon us from Allah based in the Kitāb, based in the Qur'an. Man lam yusāli ʿalaykum la ʿsalātala. Whoever doesn't send benedictions upon you in the prayer, there is no prayer for him. Imam ʿShāfiʿī considered it a rukun, a pillar of the ʿsalāt that you send benedictions of peace upon the Prophet ﷺ and his family. Or else, your prayer doesn't count. Right? ʿmujtahid ʿahlu sunnah wa l-jamaʿah. ʿAllah ʿsubḥāna wa ʿta'ālās, ʿinna ʿLlāhā wa ʿmalā'ika ʿtuhū, ʿyusallūna ʿalā n'nabī. Allah ʿsubḥāna wa ʿtaʿālā, and this demonstrates the greatness of ʿas-salāʿālā ʿnabī, of benedictions upon the Prophet ﷺ. That this is something that Allah ʿsubḥāna wa ʿta'ālā, who is Allah ʿsubḥāna wa ʿta'ālā? ʿrabbu ʿsamāwāti wa ʿal-ʿarḍ. ʿkhaliku kulli shay'in. The one who created everything is engaged in this activity. Sending blessings of peace upon the Prophet ﷺ. ʿinna ʿLlāh wa ʿmalā'ika ʿtuhū. And the angels also are sending blessings of peace upon the Prophet ﷺ. Yet there are some Muslims who say don't over-praise the Prophet ﷺ. Is it possible to over-praise? We talked about this last night. Is it even possible? Right? As one of the scholars said, one of the poets said, ʿwallāhu qad ʿathna ʿalayhi. ʿfa ma yusāwil qawla minna ʿaw yukūnu ʿthanāna. If Allah praises him, what is our praise in comparison? In the Ulema used the analogy of putting a needle into the ocean and extracting the needle. And then comparing the water and the ocean with the water on the needle. Can you over-praise the Prophet ﷺ? ʿfa inna ʿfadla ʿrasūli ʿlāhi ʿlayi ʿsalahu ʿhad. Umam Buseyri says, and the famous ode to the cloak, the burda, that there is no end to the praiseworthy attributes of the Prophet ﷺ. There's hadith regarding this. ʿubayb ʿibnu ʿkaʿb ʿrādi'allāhu ʿanhu came to the Prophet ﷺ. How much of my daily benedictions should I spend on blessings upon you? ʿrubʿʿʿan, he said a quarter of it. The Prophet ﷺ said, good, that's good, but more is better. ʿnisfahu ʿhalf of it, that's good, but more is better. Three quarters of it, that's good, but more is better. ʿkullāhu ʿall of my ʿathqār ʿis ʿas-salāʿan an-nabī. That's good. This is what the Prophet ﷺ told him. He didn't say ʿastāl ʿfur ʿallāhi ʿash-shirk. ʿbidaʿʿʿ, no. ʿkufr, no. The Prophet ﷺ is teaching his ʿsahābah. If all of your ʿathqār, all of your ʿathqār is ʿas-salāʿan an-nabī, that's good. And there's no way you can overpraise the Prophet ﷺ. Except if you say something that is categorically, that is categorically rejected in the Qur'an or in the hadith. Right? It's hadith of Tirmidī. It's quoted by our brethren all the time. Don't flatter me like the Christians have flattered ʿisa ʿalayhi ʿsalām. The Prophet ﷺ uses the particle of comparison ʿkamaa. What does ʿkamaa mean? Like they have done. So what is rejected in the Qur'an? Categorically rejected. The Christians say, what about ʿisa ʿalayhi ʿsalām? They say, he's ʿibbun ʿAllah. We don't say that about the Prophet ﷺ. They say, he is ʿAllah. That's what they say. Nobody is saying this about the Prophet ﷺ. Right? So we have to understand when he says ʿsalā ʿalayhi ʿsalām don't do to me what the Christians did but their Prophet ﷺ. What did the Christians do to their Prophet ﷺ? You have to understand what they did. That's rejected in the Qur'an. And something that is ʿdilil ʿqaṭʿī. But sending blessings of peace upon the Prophet ﷺ, that's only a good thing. The brother ʿisa ʿalayhi ʿalayhi ʿalāhi ʿasharār. It's only for our benefit. Whoever sends blessings of peace upon me once, Allah ﷺ sends blessings of peace upon him ﷺ ten times. Ten times. There is sound ʿadīth. ʿajeeb ʿadīth. The Prophet ﷺ says ʿinna ʿa ʿrāsi ʿmalakun yuballighun ʿi ʿsalāta ʿalayya ʿmin ʿummati. There is an angel. He's talking about his time in the grave, in the barzakh. That there is an angel seated at my head who conveys ʿsalām to me from my nation. He's telling you so and so is making ʿsalām to you, Ya Rasulallah. An angel. This is what he says. Sound ʿadīth of al-Bazar. This sound ʿadīth. ʿaradu bil ʿi ʿsani ʿaw kama qāla ʿalayhi ʿsalātu ʿwas-salām. Except on Friday, I can hear it with my ear. Allah is powerful. He's omnipotent. If Allah ﷻ wants to make his Nabi ʿsalāli ʿalayhi ʿsalām hear something in the grave, very easy for Allah ﷻ. ʿinna ʿla ʿala ʿkulli ʿshayin ʿqadir ʿinna ʿla ʿayu ʿsmiru ʿma yashā ʿin the Qur'an. Allah causes to hear whomever he wills. ʿtu ʿaradu ʿalayhi ʿaʿma ʿalakum ʿadīth ʿibnu ʿibban. Sound ʿadīth, ʿtu ʿaradu ʿalayhi ʿaʿma ʿalakum. Your deeds are presented to me. Yom al-Khamis on Friday. Does that mean the Prophet ﷺ judges our deeds? No, don't put words into his mouth. ʿsalālu ʿalayhi ʿsalām. This is harām. Denying what he said is also harām. Whatever he offers you, you take it. You don't deny it. You take it. This is what he said. This is ʿsahih ʿadīth. Rigorously authenticated ʿadīth that your deeds are presented to me on Thursday. If I see good, I praise Allah. And if I see other than that, I ask Allah ﷻ for forgiveness for you. He is ʿraḥmatil ʿalameen. His life does not end at death. Death is not annihilation. This is not Hinduism. Death is not... He's not... It's not over at his passing from this dunya. He continues to be ʿraḥmatil ʿalameen. Continues to be ʿraḥmatil ʿalameen. So a few ʿadīth I want to mention here with regards to love of Ahl al-Bayt. The Prophet ﷺ said, ʿaddibu ʿawlādakum ʿalā thalāth. Discipline your children upon three things or teach your children three things. He said ʿadīth ʿirmidī ʿahibbu ʿlāḥ lī mā yuqduḥ um bihi min nīʿmihi. Love Allah for His blessings upon you. If we just contemplate one of the blessings of Allah ﷻ, it will necessarily engender love for Allah ﷻ. You know, someone sees us on the street, a perfect stranger comes up to us and gives us a thousand dollars in cash. Imagine how appreciative you'd be. Here's a gift for you. I don't even know you. Here's a thousand dollars. Your heart might actually incline towards that person. You might have love for that person. So a complete stranger who just gave you some cash. You might actually love that person. Allah SWT gave you your life, your children, your parents, the air you breathe, your grandchildren, your grandparents, everything Allah gave you. Just contemplate that. It will engender necessarily love for Allah SWT. This is what the Prophet SAW is saying. Love Allah for His blessings upon you. Wa ahibbunili hubbillah. And love me for the sake of Allah SWT. Wa ahibbu ahli bayti li hubbih. And love my family for my sake. Awkama qala alayhi salatu wa salam. One of the companions asked the Prophet SAW after the latter part of that verse was revealed in which Allah SWT says, Ya ayyuha alladheena aminu sallu alayhi wa sallim utaslima. Right? Allahumma salli wa sallim ala Muhammad wa la alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. They asked him, Kaifanu salli alayk Ya Rasulullah, how do we do that? How do we send benedictions upon you? How do we pray upon you? And he said, Saykul Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala ali Muhammad. Right? So, blessings and peace upon the Prophet SAW and the family of the Prophet SAW. So, then the question arises, who are the Ahlul Bayt? Are the wives of the Prophet SAW and Mahatul Minin included in the Ahlul Bayt? There's difference of opinion. The dominant opinion, Ahlul Sunnah wal Jama'a is that yes, one of the wider meanings of Ahlul Bayt includes the mothers of the believers and there's a hadith of Zaid Ibn Arkam which makes that very, very clear because there are some people who say it only includes the wives of the Prophet SAW. Right? So, there's a hadith I want to show you or quote to you, very interesting hadith which shows the exalted status of Ahlul Bayt and identifies them very clearly. It's called Hadith al-Qisa. This is in Muslim and Tabarani. It is a sound hadith rigorously authenticated. So, we are told that it's related by Umm Salama radiya Allahatul anha which he says that the Prophet SAW was in her quarters and he was sleeping on a quisa khaybari like a sack or a cloth khaybari. And Fatima Az-Zahra alaihi salam, she walks into the room and she has some sweets or some desserts or something. Right? So, the Prophet SAW tells her, go get your husband and your children. So, she goes and gets Imam Ali alaihi salam and Ahlul Sunnah, you can say alaihi salam for Ahlul Bayt. Imam Bukhari says in Sahih Bukhari, Fatima alaihi salam. Imam Bukhari says this, it's not bid'a not kufr, nothing like that. Okay? So, go get Imam Ali. So, he comes with Al-Hasanain, Al-Hasan Imam Hussain alaihi salam. They're sitting on this quisa khaybari. This is a sababun nuzul. This is the occasion of the revelation of the verse which Allah SWT says, إنما يريد الله اليوذهب عنكم الرجزة أهل البيت ويطهيركم تطهيرا. Allah only wants to remove every kind of stain from you O people of the house and to render you pure and spotless. The Prophet SAW, he takes the quisa khaybari and he puts it over his head and over the head of Fatima and Ali and Al-Hasanain says, اللهم ها أولاء أهل البيت. Oh Allah, this is the Ahl al-Bayt. And then we're told in the hadith Umm As-Salama, right? She wants to duck her head underneath the quisa as well. And the Prophet says, أنت إلى خير, you're okay, right? So the wider meaning of Ahl al-Bayt according to the Ulama includes the wives and the sons of Abbas and Ja'far and so on and so forth. But these five are definitely from Ahl al-Bayt. Who are the five? The Prophet SAW, Imam Ali, Al-Hasanain, Fatima, Az-Zahra, Alayhim, As-Salam. This is important. Another hadith called hadith with thakalain. This is a very important hadith. This hadith is mutawatur. Mutawatur means it is the strongest type of hadith possible. Multiple attested hadith. The scholars of Al-Sunnah and Al-Jama'ah say that a hadith that is mutawatur is equal credibly and in its legislative capacity to a Qur'anic ayah, right? Denial in other words of a mutawatur hadith is tantamount to denial of an ayah of the Qur'an. Dali al-Qati'i. And this is kufr, this infidelity to deny a mutawatur hadith. They attested. Groups and groups of people report this hadith from multiple countries, which would have made it impossible to fabricate the hadith, a factual statement. You find it in Muslim Ahmad Tirmidhi. So the transmission here is from Sahih Muslim, this Rewaya, Zaid Ibn Arkham. He says it on the way back from Hajjat al-Wadaa, right, the final pilgrimage, the farewell pilgrimage of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He said they stopped at a place called Ghadir-e-Khum, which is a pond, there are some trees there and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he turns to the people and he says, I have left behind me two weighty things, two weighty things. What are they? Kitab Allahi. The book of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, which is like your lifeline or your cable extension extending from the heavens down to the earth. So the analogy is like you're in an ocean and you're drowning and someone throws you a lifeline. Kitab Allah. Hablul Mamdoodun min as-Sama'il al-Ard. And number two, itirati ahlubayti. And number two, my family, the people of my house. Now there's another hadith that says Kitab Allah wa Sunnati. Is this a contradiction? There's no contradiction. There's no contradiction. We'll talk about how to reconcile these two. Let's finish the Rewaya though, in Sahih Muslim, of Zaid ibn Arkam, radiallahu ta'ala anhu. And then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, وإنهما لن يتفرقى that these two things, these taqalain, they will never deviate from one another. They'll never be separated. They'll never contradict one another. The Ahlul Bayt will never go against the Qur'an or deviate the Qur'an. You will not understand the Qur'an without Ahlul Bayt. You will not understand Ahlul Bayt without the Qur'an. This is what it means according to the Muhaddithin of Ahlul Sunni wal Jama'a, Sunni ulama. And then he says, أَلَسْتُ أَوْلَابِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنَنْفُسِهِمْ Am I not over the believers? Don't you prefer me over yourselves? The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is saying, there's a reference to the verse in the Qur'an. النبي أَوْلَابِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنَنْفُسِهِمْ سورة الأحزاب, ayat number six, that the believers prefer the life of the Prophet over their own life. You just read about Ghazwat Uhud, the men who surrounded the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam, totally putting themselves in harm's way to defend the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam, Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas, shooting arrows, people firing arrows at the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam from short distance and sat standing in front of them, firing arrows back at them. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, اِرْمِ يَا سَعْدْ فِي دَاكَ أَبِي وَأُمِيِ. Throw your arrows out Sa'ad, may my father and mother be ransom for you. This is what he said to Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas, r.a. Imam Ali going around the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, fighting off blades and arrows, like a moth going around a flame. That's all we have to read is some of these Ghazawat of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam, and we understand what that means, النبي أولاب المؤمنين من أنفسهم, the woman who stood in front of Abdullah ibn Qami'a, this man on a horse who wants to kill the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, who had just killed Musa ibn Ghazwat-Ukhud, and now this woman, Nusaybah bint Ka'ab, she stands in front of his horse, and she's standing there with a sword in her hand. She came to the Ma'arika to give water to the Mujahideen. But then the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is under siege. So she stands in front of this armed horseman, and he won't kill her because he has the decency not to kill a woman, which is more than I can say about current rules of warfare. This man who just killed a Sahabi and now he's intentioned, he's resolved upon killing the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam will not kill a woman on the battlefield. So he starts hitting her with his sword on her shoulder to get out of the way. What are you doing here? Get out of the way. And she won't budge. She relates to the hadith. She said, I wanted to run, but I turned around and the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam is under siege. So I kept my ground. And then he brings the sword down hard on her shoulder and fractures her clavicle and she falls down. And then her son Zaid runs to her defense, says, ummi, ummi my mother, and what does she say to him? She says, go protect the Prophet. Don't worry about me. Protect the Prophet. He's angry with him. Why? The believers prefer the life of the Prophet over their own lives. You are not a complete believer unless you love the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam more than yourself, more than your father, your son, and all of humanity. All of humanity. So this is what he says, I lastu awla bil mu'minina min anfusihim, bala, bala, yes, yes. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam, he takes the hand of Sayyidina Ali, he said, man kuntu maula, fa haadha ali'un maula, hadith mutawater. If I am your master, then this Ali is your master, right? And then he says, Allahumma wali man wala, wa adi man aada, wan surman nasara, wa khdulman khadala. O Allah, befriend the one who befriends him, antagonize the one who antagonizes him, give victory to the one who gives him victory, forsake the one who forsakes him, right? This is the exalted station of Ahl al-Bait of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam, right? And this doesn't in any way take away from the greatness of Sayyidina Umar, Sayyidina Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, Khalifatul Rasulillah, Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, how much sacred knowledge was imparted to Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, the best friend of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam. Before Islam, this shows you the character of Abu Bakr al-Sadiq, that this was his companion that he chose, the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam, before the Ba'atha, before the revelation came to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam. Here we're talking about the exalted status of Ahl al-Bait. So is there a contradiction here, Kitabullah wa Sunnati, Kitabullah wa Itrati, there's no contradiction. Because according to scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa Jama'ah, the true and authentic Sunnah has always been invested in Ahl al-Bait. This is why we should seek them out, have a connection to Ahl al-Bait, have connection with Ahl al-Bait, because they are never going to be separated from the Qur'an. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam says in a hadith called Hadith al-Safina, sound hadith al-Bazar al-Mustrak al-Hakim, al-Mustar al-Ahmad, Mathal al-Ahli Bait, you can Mathal al-Safina al-Tinuh. The similitude of Ahl al-Bait is like the ship of Noah, what is the ship of Noah? This is an interesting ta'weel of the Qur'an, an esoteric interpretation, right, that you have the exoteric meaning that this was a historical event that happened with Nuh alaihi sallam in his qawm and he built a ship and there was a flood. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi sallam is comparing this to something that's going to happen in the future, a typology, a foreshadowing, that my family is like the ship of Noah. Now there's no flood here, what there really is, there's no flood of waters, but there's a flood of confusion, of kufr, of nifaq, of bida'a, right, changing the sunnah, it's all over the world. What do we do in this situation? How do we understand the Qur'an? You understand the Qur'an by attaching yourself, clinging yourself to the ship of the Ahl al-Bait. This is what the Ulama say, Mathal al-Ahli Bait, you can Mathal al-Safina al-Tinuh, whoever rides upon it and barks upon it is saved. Whoever does not is destroyed. Nassallahu alaihi wa sallamah. The true authentic sunnah has always been invested in the Ahl al-Bait, in its outward and inward aspects, in the Zahir and Batin aspects. Umma Sallamah says in a hadith, Ali and the truth are inseparable, this hadith of Ahlu sunnah wa jama'ah, Ali alaihi as-salam, Karamallahu wajah is inseparable from the truth, inseparable in another way from the Qur'an, you're never going to deviate from the Qur'an because there's two thakalain, Qur'an and Eterati, and the Eterati is the preserver of the true sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ. You follow the sunnah, you have to follow Eterati, they're synonymous, they're the same thing, the family of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said to Imam Ali, he said, Am I not pleased that you are to me as Aaron was to Moses, as Harun was to Musa alaihi salam. What was the relationship of Harun to Moses? Was his brother, was his supporter, his friend, his beloved, the preserver of spiritual secrets, of sacred gnosis, of ma'rifah, right? This is the relationship. But who was the temporal successor of Musa alaihi salam? It was not Harun, it was Yousha' bin Noun, you see? Abu Bakr al-Saddik is the temporal successor of the Prophet ﷺ and also inherited many prophetic secrets. That's why many of the Turaq of Tassawwuf comes from who? Abu Bakr al-Saddik, radiallahu ta'ala anhu. You go back 200 years ago, we're just talking about this in the car, Dr. Ahmad. You go back 200 years ago, you'll be hard pressed to find a single scholar who did not follow a madhab of jurisprudence and a tariqa of Tassawwuf. You'll be hard pressed to find one. Salahadeen al-Ayubi was in a tariqa, he was murid, the liberator of Palestine, Abu Qasim al-Junaid was a qadi in Baghdad. He was a man of Tassawwuf but he was a qadi, he was a faqih. Jalaladeen al-Rumi was a qadi in Konya. We don't have this issue, we don't have this dichotomy of spirit and law. This is Christian baggage, we don't have this issue, it's not an absolute dichotomy. The shari'a is a means by which we attain spirituality to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala and this is very very important. So, I want to tell a little bit about the story of Al-Imam al-Hussain Sayyid al-Shuhada, alayhi wa s-salam, he is the son of Ali, he is the son of Fatima al-Zahra, the one about whom the Prophet ﷺ said, Fatima tu bid'atun minni, fa man aghdabaha, fa qad aghdabani, wa man aghdabani, fa qad aghdaballah, awkama qala alayhi wa s-salatu wa s-salam. Fatima is a piece of my flesh, Fatima is a piece of my flesh, whoever angers her has angered me, whoever angers me, angers Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala, this is the state of Fatima al-Zahra. I mentioned this story the other day, a few years ago I was in a masjid and I think it was alayda tul qadras, we just prayed tarawiyah, and my daughter ran up to me and she jumped on me and I hugged her, and another brother there said, you know, back in my country, you would have been slapped on the top of your head for doing this, for showing affection to your daughter, this is against our culture, right, so really, yeah, my father would have scolded you if he saw you do this. So do you know anything about the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, that when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was sitting in a majlis and Fatima al-Zahra, who was a toddler would walk into the majlis, he would stand up, awkama Rasulullah, stand for Fatima al-Zahra, and what, kiss her on the hands and on the forehead, who's better than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, nobody, Khair al-Khalqillah, this is his love for children, this is how he manifested love for different people, so let's look at some of these blessed events in the life of Imam al-Hussain, he is the epitome of the prophetic hadith, Qul al-Haqqa wa nka namurran, speak the truth even if it's bitter, wa la atiqaf fillahi laumat ala'im, and never be afraid of those who find fault, don't be afraid of the opinions of men, those are just human beings, do what is right with Allah SWT, that doesn't mean have bad adab with people, have bad comportment with people, don't care about the feelings of people, no, that's against the sunnah, right, but don't be afraid to stand up for what is right, Imam al-Hussain did not fear human beings, imagine the unbelievable sacrifice, imagine it, did not fear human beings, he did what was right for the sake of Allah SWT, afdulu l-jihad, man qala kali mantah haqqin, and the sultan in ja'ir, the greatest jihad is a word of truth in the face of a tyrant, he epitomizes this hadith Imam al-Hussain alayhi s-salam, he was born in four hijri, he is the second son of Ali and Fatima, the ulamas say that from the neck up Imam Hassan look like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, and from the neck down Imam al-Hussain look like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi alayhi sallam, and that's in their khalq, the way they look physically. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, he makes this amazing, ajeeb statement which is in al-Bazaar and hakim in a Tabarani, it says, Hussainun min ni wa ana min hussain, we understand Hussain on min ni, Hussain is from me, right, because Hussain is the grandson of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, how do we understand, wa ana min hussain, this is unbelief subhanallah, wa ana min hussain, Allahumma ahabba man ahabba Hussainan, oh Allah love those who love Hussain, so the ulamas say that this means that they are aligned in their character, in their khalq, he looks like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam in his khalq and he has similar character in his khalq, in his inward aspect, in his virtues, in his principle, he is similar or the same as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, they also mention it means that he is the preserver of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, of his legacy and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam had intense love for his children and for his grandchildren, one time Imam Hussain, he waited, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam was praying, Imam Hussain was a very young boy, the Prophet went down into Sajdah, Imam Hussain jumps on the back of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam would not move until he was done, he kept in Sajdah, right, and then after the prayer, he jumps on the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam again and took him as a conveyance, you know, kids jump on the father's back, pretend like it's a game, you know, take me somewhere, so a man walked by and he said, ni'amal maraka bura kibdiya gulam, what a excellent conveyance you've taken, oh little boy, and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam said, when ni'amal rakibuhu, how excellent is the rider, pointing to Imam Hussain alayhi sallam? One time the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam was standing on the minbar, delivering a khutbah on Friday, and Imam Hussain, very young, a toddler following the voice of his grandfather, comes into the masjid, right, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam sees him and he descends the minbar, during the khutbah descends the minbar, and he picks up Imam Hussain, and he hugs him, and he hugs that body that would be eventually trampled upon by horses, by the army of Yazid, and he kisses the face, the face that's attached to the blessed severed head that is going to be smacked by Yazid sticks, kisses his face, he reassens the minbar and finishes the khutbah with Imam Hussain in his arms, this is the love that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam had for Imam Hussain. He used to say, indeed this son of mine, indeed this son of mine, as an adult Imam Hussain lived during a time of major tyranny, massive persecution of Ahlul Bayt. In Damascus it was instituted as part of the khutbah liturgy, you know how we say there's a certain arcane of the khutbah, right, there's certain things you have to say in Arabic during the khutbah, for the khutbah to be legitimate, one of the arcane of the khutbah of the Bani Umayyah in Damascus, and not all of the Bani Umayyah, many of them ulama, their awliya, we don't generalize, but this was the polity, this was state instituted, this is what you have to say in the khutbah or else you can't give khutbah, you can't be khateeb, what else you have to say, you have to send la'ana upon Imam Ali, this happened for 90 years in Damascus, 90 years as part of the khutbah liturgy, it's ajeeb and gharib, the nephew of the Prophet ﷺ, the one who preserves his lineage, this is what they're saying about him, this is the atmosphere in which Imam Hussein grew up, the Umayyad authorities also had these secret homeland security agents all around the empire, especially in Iraq, especially in Kufa, why in Kufa? Because Imam Ali, alaihi salam, when he became Khalifa in 656 of the common era, he moved the capital from Medina to Mauna Wa Ra, to Kufa, and it was a brilliant move, it gives him more of a central location to deal with growing problems in the north out of Syria with Umayyad, and there was this menacing group of puritanical Muslims called al-khawarij, who believed that anyone who didn't believe as they believed was a non- Muslim, and they could kill them and plunder them, puritanical fire and brimstone aqida, so eventually one of them accused Imam Ali of kufr, this unbelievable, and they made a pact in the Haram in Mecca, in the Haram in Mecca, three of them said I'm going to go kill Amr ibn al-Aas, I'm going to call Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, and you go kill Ali ibn Abi Talib, in Mecca they shook on it, in Mecca, they go the other two were not successful, but this one, Ibn Abdul Rahman al-Muradi, whatever his name is, he went into the Masjid and Kufa instructs Imam Ali and killed him. The Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith that Imam Suyuti relates in the tariq al-Khulafa, the Ajeeb hadith, he says to him that two individuals will have an extremely painful torment in the inferno in the hellfire. This hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, tariq al-Khulafa, two individuals will have the most painful torment, the fair-skinned man of Bani Thamud, who hamstrung the naqatullah during the time of Saleh, and the man, he's talking to Ali, and the man who is going to strike you here and this will be saturated with blood. Imam Ali is walking out of the Masjid according to Kitab al-Thikla al-Mut wa ma ba'da by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, he's walking out of the Masjid after praying Salat al-Fajr, and this man, Abdul Rahman al-Muradi, pounces on him, strikes him on the top of the head, and immediately his skull splits and blood pours down his face and saturates his beard, and he falls down and he screams fuzdhu wa Rabb al-Kaaba, fuzdhu wa Rabb al-Kaaba. I have triumphed, I have won, I have gained victory by the Lord of the Kaaba. You've gained victory, you were killed by this man because he understands, he's attained what? Is tishhad, he's become a martyr, alayhi salam. So Imam Hussain is in this type of environment. Now there's also an interesting hadith that's mentioned Imam Suyuti as well, that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Ya Ali, la yuhibuka illa mu'min, wa la yubghiduka illa munafiq. The oh Ali, no one loves you except a believer, and no one hates you except a hypocrite. Abu Sayyid al-Khudri, radiAllah ta'ala anhu used to say, he said, Kunna na'lifan munafiqin fil madina bi bughdahim Ali. We used to be able to tell who is a munafiq in madina because they had hatred for Ali. Aversion to Ali, aversion to Ali is a sign of nifaq. Unfortunately in some places even today you mentioned the name Ali and Muslims have a visceral reaction. Muslims, we have to be very, very careful. Some of this vapor as Sheikh Muhammad al-Nilawi may Allah preserve him, this vapor of those days has trickled down into our contemporary society regarding Imam Ali alayhi salam, that you mentioned his name and people have a bad reaction to it. So at that time you can imagine naming your son Ali had political ramifications because he's been cursed on the minbar of Bani Umayyah. They didn't even name their sons Ali. Imam Hussain names four of his sons Ali, Ali Akbar, Ali Asghar, Ali Ibn Hussain, Zain al-Abideen. Four of his sons he names Ali. So any type of behavior that was even remotely perceived as subversive by the Umayyad polity was harshly dealt with. It was Umayyad foreign and domestic policy to hunt down and kill descendants of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. How pitiful. This is their foreign policy. Hunt down the family, the descendants of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Now interestingly according to the Ulama when Muawiyah, radiya allatul anhu died and we have respect for Zain al-Muawiyah. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam met Muawiyah made dua for him. We have a good opinion of all of the Sahaba. When he died in 60 Hijri there was a difference of opinion between him and Ali. Ali was on the right ultimately that's what we believe as Ahlu Sunnah. But we don't curse anyone that's from the Ashabi Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Difference of opinion based on Ijtihad. When he died in 60 Hijri his son Yazid succeeded him and Muawiyah stipulated. According to Sunni and Shi'i tradition Muawiyah stipulated in his final will speaking to Yazid that if Al-Hasan ibn al-Al-Husayn ibn Ali does not give you bay'a let it go. Don't worry about it. Don't force the issue. It'd be extremely imprudent of you to do that. Just let it go. But Yazid has ego issues like many despotic tyrants of today. They don't want to give up power like this man in Syria. He's not going to give up. He's lost. He's not going to give it up. He doesn't want to give it up. Right? Despotic tyranny. So he's like an archetype of the Pharaoh of the Firaun. Right? So listen to what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes the Firaun and think of it in terms of Bani Umayyah and Yazid in Imam Hussain alaihi sallam. Allah says that the Pharaoh has exalted himself on the earth. He thinks very highly of himself, the Pharaoh. I am your lord most high. They say that the Pharaoh used to eat bananas all the time. Why? Because it makes you constipated. Because he didn't like to relieve himself because he thought he was God. He thought he was beneath himself to relieve himself. And he turned his people into factions and denominations. Right? This is what he does. The Firaunic methodology, the Firaunic archetype, people under his dominion. The immediate reference is to the Egyptians. He divides them up into different denominations and then sends these sheyaltine and human form into the populace to sow seeds of corruption amongst the people. This is what he does according to the tafsir. Right? Take attention away from him what he's doing. No, it's their fault. Fight amongst yourselves. It has nothing to do with me. Right? And then what does he do? Then he takes according to the tafsir, he takes one taifa, one group of the people under his dominion and he really oppresses them. Okay? So with respect to the Pharaoh, this is who? Bani Israel. Because Bani Israel is talking about what? There's going to be a savior, a deliverer. Musa A.S. is going to come. He's going to drive us out of here. He's going to defeat the Firaun. So the Pharaoh is afraid of losing his temporal power, his kingdom, his political authority. Right? So he takes the one group that he fears most rebellion from. With respect to Yazid, this is who? Ahlul Bayt, the Rasulullah. But then the Qur'an is very specific as to how he oppresses them. Yudhabi Hu'abana'ahum. He kills their males. He hunts the men and kills them. And he leaves the women alive. Now the women are dependent upon the very system that slaughtered their husbands and sons. He is of those who saw corruption in the earth. So it's just as Musa A.S. spoke truth to power. Imam Hussein A.S. is going to speak truth to power. And when I say power, I'm talking about temporal power, perceived power. We're told in the Qur'an that from the Aali Firaun, there was a believer. Now we're not talking about Asya A.S. that was his wife. The Qur'an says, Rajulun Mu'minun. Rajulun Mu'minun. Meen Aali Firaun. There was a man from amongst his family that believed in Musa A.S. And what does he say in the council? He says, Ya qawmi, lakumul mulq al-yawm, zahireen fil-arad. Today or this day, you have the mulq, apparently. Apparently you have the dominion, right? To the Firaun. But that's not bil haqiqa, bil haqiqati walillahi mulq al-samawati wal-arad. In reality, Allah SWT has the mulq. And the power is with Imam Hussein. And the power is with Musa A.S. They're not the same. Foul things and pure things. Even if the sheer numbers of the foul things should surprise you, oh there's so much of it, right? Think about Imam Hussein A.S. 70 or so people surrounded by 30,000, 30,000 armed soldiers of Yazid. Truth is truth and falsehood is falsehood. So at this time a letter arrives in Medina from Damascus addressed to the governor of Medina, whose name is Al-Walid bin Uqba. And he tells his deputy Marwan Al-Hakam, who is a notorious person that says you have to force ba'a from four men in Medina. Force them to make ba'a. And he said from two of them you're going to have a little bit of issue, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Umar. And from the other two you're going to have a lot of issues, Abdullah ibn Zubair al-Hussein ibn Ali. And he says with this last one, if he doesn't give you ba'a then bring his head back to me. Imam Hussein A.S. So Imam Hussein A.S. He asked for a delay and they say you have until Fajr time. So in the night he prepares to leave Medina, gathers his things with his family and his companions and they leave. They leave Mecca, they leave Medina to go to Mecca, a reverse hijrah, which is what the future Mehdi will do according to the Ulama of Ahlul Sunnah wal-Jama'a, that he will be a refugee from Medina into Mecca, mimicking the future Mehdi. So he stays in Mecca for four months, seeking refuge in the house of Allah SWT. And during this time a flood of letters come into Mecca from all over the Muslim world, especially from Iraq, especially from Kufa, encouraging him to be our leader. You stand against injustice and tyranny and oppression be our leader because they knew, they knew that Imam Hussein would never ever pledge allegiance to open fasiq. It's impossible, he can't do that, he doesn't go against the Qur'an. There's an interesting hadith that is graded as Sahih, that is quoted a lot by contemporary Ulama, Sheikh Muhammad An-Nidaway quotes it a lot. Interesting hadith in which it says, awwalu man yubaddilu sunnatih, rajulun bin bani umayyah. The first one to change my sunnah is a man from bani umayyah. And remember the essence or the reality of the sunnah has always been preserved in Ahlul Bayt, the itra, right. So when we talk about the sunnah we're talking about Ahlul Bayt, they're inseparable. That's how we reconcile our two hadiths. The Prophet SAW said, man tamasaka bi sunnatih, and the fa'sadi ummati, falahu ajaru, falahu ajaru, mi'ati shahid, awkuma qala alayhi salatu wa salam. Whoever holds fast to my sunnah during the time of the corruption of my umma will have the reward of 100 martyrs, 100 martyr witnesses. Holds fast to my sunnah which is never detached from itratih from the family of the Prophet SAW. They preserve the sunnah. And Bukhari al-Muslim, man raghi ba'an sunnatih, falaisa minni. Whoever turns away from my sunnah is not from me. Again when we think about sunnah we have to think about Ahlul Bayt. Whoever turns away from the Ahlul Bayt, who is Ahlul Bayt? Imam Hussain. Falaisa minni. He's not from me. Falaisa minni. Hussainun minni. Wa anna min hussain. SubhanAllah. What an unbelievable statement from the Prophet SAW. Hussain is from me and I am from Hussain. So hajj season begins and many agents of Yazid they come into Mecca as Hajjaj. They're wearing ihram and they have weapons under the ihram. Think about this. Coming into Mecca with ihram during hajj season to do what? To kill the grandson of the Prophet SAW. It's really ahajjib. And the Imam, alayhi salam, he cuts short his hajj and decides to leave Mecca. And the question why leave Mecca? Because according to the ulama the second thakal cannot violate the first thakal. The second weight, the itra, cannot violate the Quran. Inna huma lan yatafarraqa. They're never going to deviate from one another. And Allah SWT says whoever enters the sacred precincts is safe. So Imam Hussain alayhi salam in order to preserve the sanctity of Mecca, he sets off into the desert knowing his fate, knowing what's going to happen to him. And he took women and children with him. And the question is why take women and children? If you know you're going to be massacred, why do that? And the ulama say the ummah was sleeping. They needed to be shaken out of their what? Ghaffala, heedlessness, complacency. The sunnah is being changed. The family, the family of the Prophet SAW is being hunted down and killed. So imagine as our ulama say that he had only taken the men. He only took the men. Then the Yazidi propaganda, right, would have said what? Yeah, he came out and we had a flag of peace, but he attacked us because they would have killed all the men and buried them and then make up a story about it. Very easy. He attacked us and unfortunately he was killed in a skirmish. It was friendly fire. It's too bad, right? So Imam Hussain takes women and children because ultimately it was the women and children who would tell the truth about Ghaffala. It was them who would tell the truth about what happened on that day. People like Asaid Zaynab in the court of Yazid, speaking truth to power, this type of shuja'a, this type of courage. There's a poem here by Mu'ino Dina Chisdi, it's a quatrain and farsi. He says Shah has Tursayn, father Shah has Tursayn, Dean has Tursayn, Dean Panah has Tursayn. Sardad nada dasta dasta Yazid. Hussain is king, Hussain is emperor, Hussain is religion. He's the hope of religion. He gave his head, not his hand, into the hand of Yazid. Ajeem. So approximately 70 kilometers from Kufa, they come to a desert called Karbala, and the Imam and his followers find themselves surrounded by the army of Yazid. Now this is very interesting. There's hadith that mentioned this event. And these are hadith again. All of the hadith I'm quoting to you is hadith of Ahlu Sunnah wal Jama'a. And sometimes when I quote these hadith, I have to make a faith confession. I can say, oh, maybe this guy's a Shi'i or something, right? No, I'm Hanafi, I'm Maturidi, I'm Ba'alawi in my tariqa, Sunni. These are hadith in our books. This hadith in the Mustadrak of Al-Haqim, sound hadith, rigorously authenticated hadith, related by Ummul Salama, radiya Allah ta'ala anha, the Prophet ﷺ was in her quarters and he was sleeping, daj'ah, he's lying down. Istiqadah, faj'atan. And then he suddenly woke up and he was very bothered by something. And then he went back to sleep. And then istiqadah again, he woke up again, went back to sleep. And this happened three times. And she says on the third time, she says thumma istiqadah wa fi yadihi sharifa turbatun hamra. He woke up a third time and in his hand was some red soil, yuqabiluhah and he's kissing it. And she said, what is this? And he said, Jibril alayhi salam told me some devastating news that this son of mine, Imam Hussain alayhi salam, will be slaughtered in a place called Karbala and this is the dust from the place. This is Sahih hadith. Another hadith of the Musnad of Abu Ya'la, related by Abdullah Ibn Nujay, he says that he heard from his father that he was walking with Imam Ali. They were going to Sifin on the banks of the Euphrates River and Imam Ali was walking by the river and he started to shout, sabran Ya'aba Abdullah, sabran Ya'aba Abdullah, who's Abu Abdullah? This is the patron name of who Imam Hussain. So Nujay says, what are you talking about? And Imam Ali says that I walked into the room of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, one day and tears were strumming, streaming down his face. And I said, what's wrong? Ya Rasulullah. And he said that Jibril alayhi salam gave me the news that this son of mine, Hussain alayhi salam, will be slaughtered on the banks of the Euphrates River. This hadith according to the books of Ahlu Sunnah wa Jama'ah, our books. So for several days, I know I'm running out of time. I think I'm already out of time. Am I out of time? So we'll conclude inshaAllah ta'ala. For several days, the army of Yazid tried to force allegiance from Hussain by cutting off their water supply, which is a tactic of the military industrial complex of Yazid. If you don't agree with us, you're not going to eat, you're not going to drink, we're going to cripple your economy. They did this to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi salam, in Mecca, right? The muqata abani Hashim. Don't trade with them. Don't give them food. Go live in the desert. This torture and cruelty, but today we call sanctions. You don't agree with us, you're not going to eat. That's torture. No, it's a much better sanctions. It's not massacre, it's collateral damage, shock and awe campaign, this type of thing. So we don't go into specifics as to what actually happened on Yomi Ashura. We know what happened to Ali Akbar and Ali Azhar Zayn al-Abideen, al-Abbas and al-Hur and Muslim bin Aqeel before, and Zaynab and Sukena and Fatima. We know about Ibn Ziyad, Ibn Sa'ad and Shimr and all these things. The main point is that the ta'aziyah, the passion narrative of Imam Hussain is metamorphic. It's metatrends historical. It's meta-historical. In other words, the army of Yazid, according to one of the liberation theologians, is a floating signifier. Imam Hussain represents anyone who says no to tyranny and injustice, while Shimr and Yazid represent any militant thug who rapes and murders and tortures and colonizes. So we see a lot of Hussaini archetypes, Malcolm X, for example. Think about this in the 1960s, how racist people were in the 1960s. People are still racist, never gone away. Going on a television show surrounded by nothing but white Americans, grilling him on things. That's a mujahid, fisabilillah. Standing up to the racism and oppression, that's a Hussaini archetype. Martin Luther King, Hussaini archetype. Rachel Corey, this woman who stands in front of an Israeli bulldozer to protect a Palestinian home. And she was callously and barbarically killed by this bulldozer. Hussaini archetypes. Anyone who says no. Imam Hussain sacrificed his life to set a trans-historical example. Not to vicariously atone for the sins of humanity as in Christianity. No. But rather to give us an example of virtue by which to live in this life and to have success in the next life. Insha'Allah Ta'ala.