 أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وبهين أسنعين صلى الله عليك يا سيدي يا مولاي يا رسول الله وعلى أحلبيتك المذلومين صلى الله عليك يا سيدي يا مولاي مولاي يا وابنى مولاي يا أبا عبد الله يا رحمة الله الواسأح ويا باب نجاة الأمة يا غريب يا مبنوم يا عجشان كربلا ما خاب من تمسك بكم والأمنى من لجاء إليكم سادته يا ليتنا يا ليتنا كنا ماكم فنفوذ والله فوذا عذهما قال الله العظيم في محكم كتابهم كريم والقول كالحق والأستقل قائلهم أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم وعلموا أن الله يعلم ما في أنفسكم فحبروا وعلموا أن الله غفور من حبهم أمنى بالله صدق الله العليم العظيم صلى الله عليكم يجب أن نتحدث one more salawat كما ذكرتنا last night أن الناس يساعدون بشكل كبير بشكل كبير every moment when we're walking on the street we don't even have the opportunity to look up at the sky because we're always looking down at our phones we're never able to hear the words of those around us or the birds that are chirping in the skies because our ears are plugged with our headphones distraction after distraction even during the course of those moments when we have to be most fixated in terms of understanding then we are in the presence of our Creator during prayers for instance when we are praying our obligatory prayers the moment in which we should feel the most in terms of presence to Allah in reality we see that we are least in terms of presence of Allah during the course of our prayers we think about everything else except for the prayer while we're performing the prayer while we're performing tawaf around the Holy Kaaba because of the rush, because of the pushing because of the shoving, because of the hunger because of the exhaustion about what we're going to eat afterwards instead of understanding that right in front of us is the house of Allah SWT we're just a human being that is so filled with distraction and sometimes we need to just learn how to let it go and so we are taught within Islamic tradition about the importance of performing certain rituals like that of vikr like that of being in the state of remembrance of Allah SWT and being in the state of remembrance of Allah SWT it takes time to cultivate in and of itself it's not just a ritual that we perform where I state الله أكبر or الحمد لله or سبحان الله or لا إله إلا الله or any one of the أذكار that we've been taught it's about understanding that during the course of that ritual that we're performing that we have an understanding of what it is that we're reciting and that through that recitation again it's a means by which it brings us closer toward our Creator whereby we feel the presence of Allah SWT as the messenger عليه الصلاة و السلام he tells his companion أبضر غفاري يا أبا بر then worship Allah سبحانه وتعالى as though you see him for even though you do not see him he sees you and as Imam al-Husayn عليه الصلاة و السلام he states in دوة عرفة this most perfect supplication he states أخشاكا كأنني أراك أو الله ألاو for your presence to be filled in my heart to the extent that when I'm praying and that when I'm supplicating to you I see you and when that man he goes toward علي ابن أمطار and he says أو علي do you see the God that you worship to which he responds how can I worship a God that I do not see but I do not see him through the eyes of my face but I see him through the eyes of my heart when we go toward understanding the meaning of this term mindfulness these days which is super popular it speaks toward this idea of understanding where you are at a particular moment to being self-conscious of your consciousness to being really fixated at that particular moment to carry out whatever task that you're carrying out and today we see that we allow for all unique supplements or supplemental lifestyles to allow for us to be in a state of focus at a particular time when you're going to work you need to make sure that you have drunk some coffee before because you feel that yourself is a lot more alert when you've intaken some coffee and when your afternoon meeting comes again you need another cup of coffee because you know that that's the mechanism but which you are going to be in a state of focus other people they do a whole load of other unique and strange things for instance if they have a very important day they're going to have a routine the night before me when I'm giving a lecture especially an important one like these during the night I have a particular routine that I have to follow and if anything goes wrong in that routine the entire lecture is going to go wrong even though probably it won't go wrong but in my head so I cannot eat three hours before the meal I need to have the water bottle to my right hand side the other day he was on the left hand side and he saw me pick it up and he moved it to the right hand side I need to make sure that every single one of my lectures are in three different dimensions I have to begin with a certain praise and then recite one verse of the Qur'an and make sure that my preparation on the day of begins the night before where I review my notes after everyone else goes to sleep then when I wake up in the morning the first thing that I have to do is review my notes again then every time I get any free time I'm going to look at it again other people for instance before the exercise they take for instance a pre-workout shake or a supplement or whatever it might be in order that they're in a state of mindfulness and focus during the course of what it is that they're going to do it's natural we want to be in control of what it is that we are going to do at any particular moment at work taking an exam while we're exercising while we're doing anything significant that is important to our day-to-day lives and again we feel many a time that if all of those forces and all of those energies are not in the right place our consciousness for that particular task is not going to be as present as it should be and again we talk about this word presence quite a bit when we speak about this notion of mindfulness which again is not really a term that's founded within Islamic tradition but I'll get into that in just a couple of moments الله سبحانه وتعالى He says that the human being should have what is known as Basira of their own selves the Arabic language the word Basara means to see Basira when it comes toward the Quran when it comes toward the Hadith Literature is again not the sight of the eyes but it's the sight of the heart the ability to see where you are at a particular moment and have control over where you are let me give you an example when someone is very very hungry when someone is thirsty when someone is very tired when someone has a lot of stuff going on in their life that is allowing for them to accumulate a lot of stress we often react in ways that we probably don't like we get angry we get frustrated we use bad language and then we often regret many a time when we act that way and we blame it on the fact that we were tired that we were hungry that we were thirsty so on and so forth it's natural every single human being when they're undergoing these difficulties when they're undergoing these stresses they often act in a way that's unlike themselves that is a bit out of character and often times we wish that we could take that moment back and the reason why we deflect it and we say that the reason why that happened was because I'm tired was because I'm hungry was because I'm sleepy was because of all of these reasons is because we didn't have control over ourselves at that moment when it comes toward being in a state of presence as founded within the Quran and within Hadith having the seerah of your own self it's about understanding that you need to be engaged with every single moment of your life and that any time that you slip even if it's to slip there's potential for it to go in the wrong direction real fast if you lose focus for one moment when you're driving a car for one moment all of a sudden what has the potential to happen it can lead to the detriment of your own life the life of the passengers in your vehicle and perhaps please recite one more so the world الله so we go back again toward this idea that if we lose focus when we're driving for just one moment it could be detriment if we lose focus at a moment that is seemingly as trivial as just driving a car or crossing the street we're not looking at the cars that are passing us by it could be to the detriment of our own physical bodies but as we touched base last night as we touched base during many more nights that that which is far more significant than your physical is your spiritual and best if we're not in a state of consciousness at any particular moment it can lead to a lot of issues for your personal growth and your spiritual development in the eyes of Allah so again when we talk about this idea of mindfulness it's about to be in a state of consciousness to be in a state of understanding to be in a state of recognition of everything that is around you and that's how you want to pursue everything in your life because when we are focused when we are diligent when we are determined the product is going to be that much greater everyone following what I'm saying and so when we talk about this term mindfulness within Islamic tradition as I mentioned before it doesn't have one very clear term within our scripture but we have numerous sort of anecdotes and ahadith or anecd verses that speak to the importance of being in a state of presence and I want to be able to understand the idea of mindfulness in Islamic tradition in three different dimensions the first dimension is in terms of understanding what is mindfulness in Islamic tradition secondly in terms of how we can become mindful in our day to day lives and thirdly the benefits of mindfulness as explained within the Quran and the hadith literature as for the first dimension then what is mindfulness again like I mentioned there's no specific term that equivocates to it to the exact definition but we have one term within our ahadith known as مراقبة or what is known as مراقبة نفس which is amongst the most important spiritual stations that a believer has to seek toward ascending to if they really want to understand their Creator people have to go through different stages in their life and it takes a lot of time toward going through these unique stages toward again really being in the state of feeling the presence of Allah SWT someone says I really struggle with my prayers my prayers don't allow for me to feel connected to God or I don't even think about God during the course of my prayers someone might say for instance that I went for Hajj I went for Umrah I went for Ziyarat I fast during the Holy month of Ramadan but there are only certain moments during the course of all of these spiritual experiences that allowed for me to really feel a sense of connectivity maybe when I was reciting دعا جوشن عن ليدة القدر maybe when I heard the بصاعب of Imam al-Hussain maybe the first time I saw the Ka'ba maybe when I witnessed the grave of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وعاله maybe when I was making دعا on the plains of Arafat maybe one of these moments maybe none of these moments everyone connects to something differently that allows for them to really feel the presence of God but the idea is to allow for that feeling to be in a state of perpetuity remember always feeling it otherwise what's the point of this long journey of ours if we're not every single day ascending a new stage and getting to a new height then there's a lot of effort that we need to put forth more so than we are doing at this moment and so scholars have extracted and deduced from the traditions of Ahl al-Bayt علي مصرات وصرام this term again known as مراقبة نفس which comes from the root word رقيف one of the names of الله سبحانه وطعادة is الرقيف which is what which means the all aware or the all vigilant the idea that الله سبحانه وطعادة he sees us at every single moment during the course of our life and then the believer naturally then if they're in a state of understanding that Allah سبحانه وطعادة is aware of every single one of our actions and every single one of our deeds and more so even every one of our thoughts then we just be that much more careful about every single one of our behaviors and again going back toward that idea of mindfulness in a sense of consciousness of your own consciousness that you know where you are at every single moment and if you see that God is above you at every single moment then at the very least you know you have a sense of consciousness that I am a creation and that he's the creator and that every single thing that I do and every single word that I speak and every single thing that my ears hear and that my eyes see if I know that Allah سبحانه وطعادة is vigilant and is aware over every single one of those things all of a sudden it will influence our behavior tremendously which is why in the tradition إمام محمد الجواد our night إمام عليه السلام الله he gives us a little bit of insight in regards toward the meaning of مراقبة نفس again the sense of awareness over our own self he states that no O believer إمام عليه السلام saying but no O believer that there's never going to be a moment when you're hidden from the sight of your creator you're never going to be hidden from the sight of Allah سبحانه وطعادة God is going to see you at every single moment of every single day of every single year of your existence and then the إمام عليه السلام says so be so now be who you have to be because all of a sudden you just know that if that's the case then you're just going to start behaving for instance when we're kids we know certain things that we can get away with because our parents are not there when we're at the workplace many of us were adults most of us are adults all of us are shall our adults at the workplace you know that there's certain perhaps rules that you can bend at the workplace especially when your manager is not there so you can go on your phone and check your Twitter update your Instagram whatever it is that you've got to do you can extend your lunch break 15 minutes but when your boss is there there's no way in hell that you're going to go longer than an hour or 45 minutes or however long it is because you don't want to mess with that إمام الجمال عليه الصلاة والسلام he states that know that every single moment of your life الله سبحانه وتعالى is watching so just watch your back be in a state of cautiousness and the verse that I began with الله سبحانه وتعالى in chapter 2 through the بقرة verse 235 he states he states oh humanity الله سبحانه وتعالى is saying oh you who believe that know that Allah سبحانه وتعالى knows everything that is within yourself فحضروا so be careful so be wary وعلموا أن الله غفروا الحلي and this is the best part of the verse and I'm telling you my friends but Quran is so beautiful and if you just spend some time to like think about it just once in a while you'll see just the uniqueness of not only the book in them itself but about the greatness of our Lord so in the beginning of the verse God states for instance oh you who believe know that God sees everything that is within yourself so be careful all of a sudden we're careful and then الله سبحانه وتعالى and the way that he does because he is أرحم الراهيم and he is he states so number one he states know that God knows everything that is in your heart and then he states and also know that Allah سبحانه وتعالى is the all forgiving and he's the all patient think about it so all of a sudden we get scared we say oh man God knows everything that's right I forgot God knows everything I'm in trouble how about that thing that I thought or that I thought that I thought God knows that too he God knows that too and then we start to get really really worried and then we almost enter into a state of despair look at all the sin and the transgressions and the vices how many times have I prayed but I really wasn't praying I was just going through the motions how many things that I do that were good but in reality the attention behind it really wasn't all that good God knows all of those things we begin to enter into a state of fear of our own selves and then Allah سبحانه وتعالى he also gives us a promise he states and know and also know it's a command for those of you who understand the Arabic language and know that Allah سبحانه وتعالى he's also the all forgiving and he's غفور حليم غفور حليم you know what حليم means not the food حليم comes from the root word هل him means forbearance it means that Allah سبحانه وتعالى is so patient with us that he keeps on giving us opportunity after opportunity after opportunity he knows where we're done things wrong and he will never shut the door on us he'll give us another opportunity and he'll keep that door open again which is why the human being always has to be between these two states all of a sudden we become fearful that God knows everything about everything and he states that he knows everything فينفو سكوم in your own selves and then immediately he offers a sense of hope so fear and then hope and never ever ever lose sight of either one of these two a couple of years ago during محرران I gave a lecture about fear and hope as narrated with him القرآن as a tradition from the messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم in these states لا يكون مؤمن مؤمنا حتى يكون خائفا راجع that a believer cannot be a believer until he or she is between these two states يتمنى بحيث أنه يكون مؤمنا but also fearful of God's رحب and his punishment يمكنك أن تقوم بحيث أنه يكون في محرران أن في كل moment في حالنا يوجد محرر لحظة ويوجد محرر ويوجد محرر ويوجد محرر ويوجد محرر ويوجد محرر ويوجد محرر ويوجد الم الحقيقة going to lose يتنظر but eventually في المعاله سيكون ويوجد محرر واقعه تحت The same way تنتهي little bit into it and you're not always going to be successful but it's going to take time when you slip you know the mercy is there but then when you get so clingy toward the mercy and you think you're investments are all set they drop what else can you do except و Reno and York ...... And that brings me again to the second dimension of my discussion and that is in regards to exactly then how can we be a people who are mindful ? How can we be a people who really are in a state of Murakabet and Nefs or again the translation of Murakabet and Nefs being having a sense of their لديه عصاب وعصاب على نفسنا وكل حالة نفسنا مرحباً من الأشياء لكن before it أمر أن نتكلم أن لن نحن نحظر على نفسنا ونحن لا نتكلم أو نقوم باستراد أو أحاول لن نحن نحظر على نفسنا لا يوجد أحد أخرى ولك ليس فقط نحو الواقع وعندما يتأكد إلى فرطة عندما يتأكد إلى تحديد حلوك بصرها الله وستهولاً يكون يمكنه من تقاربه but you have to put into the work. and that's just how it is. You can't copy off someone's homework because when the teacher's not there this the teacher is not there and you know where to bend the rules but Allah وستهولاً وستهولاً as we just said he's always there. There's no cheating on the exam you can't take someone else's prayers you can't take someone else's fasts you can't take someone else's charity you certainly can't take someone else's night prayer. Every single one of us و يجب أن تسأل إلى مدينة تلك المدينة لنفسنا و يبدأ بأخذ المدينة لنفسنا لإتوقع أن تسأل لك أين أنت كيف أنت أنت؟ أين أنت أنت أن I lose control of myself so many times أين أكثر أن يسأل لك إفتح في أجزاء يدورك؟ أين أنت أن I can't focus on an exam؟ أين أنت أن I can't focus on work؟ تبدأ مع فتاة تخلص أنك تخلص أنك تستطيع أن تفعل it وكذلك تستطيع أن تفعل it أنت لا تستطيع أن تأخذ فقط أن تفعل هذا إلى كل أشياء your أشياء أنك تأخذ فتاة أنت لا تستطيع أن تساعدك في كل فتاة في حياتك أنت تعلم أنك مستعد when you want to focus on the meeting you drink the cup of coffee when you want to go when you want to focus on your workout you have your pre-workout supplement those are things that you diagnose and you realize how you can progress in that particular task when it comes to your relationship with الله سبحانه وتعالى when it comes to the way that we act with others or speak with others or engage with others it's not going to be fixed by a supplement it's going to be fixed by effort and diligence and a sense of real focus and understanding of who we are as a human being and the first step is to know that we're a human being with faults we're a human being that has a lot of errors we're a human being that is not void of sin which is why in one of the sermons of Imam Ali ibn al-Abal ibn al-Israam the sermon known as خطبة المتقين the sermon of the pious he states about the qualities of those who have a sense of God consciousness that sometimes people go up to them and they praise them someone comes and gives you a compliment you recite it very well you're really good at your job whatever it is someone someone says something nice about you to your face the one who has the one who has a sense of God consciousness they respond by stating that they stayed for instance أنا أعلموا بنفسي من غيري وربي أعلموا بمن نفسي that when someone comes and they offer you a sense of compliment you respond to them by saying that oh Allah that i am more knowledgeable about myself than what other people know you humble yourself someone says you're an amazing person i'm sure you are an amazing person everyone is better than what is often perceived in our mind you see someone it's their first time coming to the program you could say hey where you been like i tend to do i haven't seen you for the last five days but the assumption should never be they weren't engaged in terms of getting closer toward God or that they're not a lot closer to God than i that's arrogance that's pride for me anyone for me or anyone else to think like that so what is it that we have to be doing then we have to have good opinions of others but we have to keep a lesser opinion of our own selves and this is something that's hard to do because oftentimes we beat ourselves up and we're very very hard and difficult on ourselves and i don't mean that we should be in a state of self-deprecation whereby we feel that we are no good and that we're going to go to hell and that's it but rather that we only see there's room for improvement and how do we do that except if we are a little bit critical of who we are or in other words except if we have an accounting for our own self that takes place on occasion or in other words that if we are not amongst those who practice or we are not amongst those who are have a sense of real vigilance and understanding of who we are at any particular moment then we're never going to be able to get toward that state of real understanding and real progress so the Imam عليه الصلاة والسلام he states about these that when someone praises them they state then i'm more knowledgeable about myself than what other people know someone praises me yet they don't know the sins that i can bet in the darkness of my home they don't know what i did yesterday they don't know what thought came into my mind they don't know what i heard they don't know what i said they don't know how i abuse somebody else and Allah سبحانه وتعالى has more knowledge about is more knowledgeable about myself than even myself who knows yourself better than your creator they state these individuals who have they feel the presence of Allah سبحانه وتعالى those who work out conscious محمد عليه الصلاة والسلام don't take me by what the people say about me don't judge me about what the people say and allow for my station in their hearts in their eyes to be even better than what they think we want people to love us we want people to respect us forgive me of those sins which they don't even know about that's someone who's aware of their own self he stays in the that's surely i see myself i see myself that's what we're talking about having a sense of mindfulness i see myself between paradise and when it comes toward that second question that we want to pose in terms of how is it that we can be amongst those we retain a sense of mindfulness as taught to us by the traditions of our and bait عليه الصلاة والسلام there are three points the first one of these is that we always have to be inconsistent contemplation and reflection of our own mortality if we know that we're not going to live this life forever that again just things are put into perspective whereby we will be that much more careful with every single one of our deeds and every single one of our actions can everyone please move forward one more time and recite one more صلاة في دوما is that hot in here the first one of these points that we need to understand and that we really need to engage with is being in a state of contemplation of our own mortality ممالي عليه الصلاة والسلام and the tradition these days and that all of humanity they're in slumber everyone is asleep and when they die they will wake up everything all of a sudden makes a lot more sense when death takes place how many of you have ever had we just mentioned that three of our community members have family members they just passed away or two and one that we are recollecting their tragedy today how many of you have ever had someone in your family who has passed away most of us everyone has to deal with the reality of death one third of the Qur'an has been in a couple of nights ago is dedicated towards speaking about death and the afterlife it's a reality you couldn't do enough sin but i'll let you know that every human being she'll taste death it's a reality how come we don't like to talk about it what's more guaranteed than our own mortality once we're alive we know that that's going to be the end of chapter if we think about it once in a while everything allows for a sense of real clarity things start to make sense you know you're not living for this anymore you're living for something greater we like to deflect and we like to push it away because we don't want to have a sense of awareness of our own selves or we're not in a state of real consciousness over our own consciousness they said that one day موسى عليه السلام was walking in the deserts and he saw this man who was had his hands raised to الله سبحانه وتعادة and he was weeping and he was crying and he was making a dua to الله سبحانه وتعادة the dua of the gareek the hadith it says the dua of the one who's drowning we're taught that when someone wants to have their dua's and their supplications accepted in parenthesis they have to ask الله سبحانه وتعادة the supplication of the one who is drowning in the ocean we need to have absolutely no other hope than in god and then only through that you will find that your difficulty will be removed you can't just say oh الله come on why don't you give me this so unfair god is so unfair can't believe it you know you need to ask dua to الله سبحانه وتعادة in a state of absolute and utter desperation so موسى عليه السلام he sees this man making dua to الله سبحانه وتعادة in this way and he's crying and he's weeping and he's grieving موسى عليه السلام he's worrying about this man he says maybe i can come and help him maybe i can be the means but was just supplication as answered and at that moment موسى عليه السلام to speak with god we call him موسى كريم الله the one who spoke to god so الله سبحانه وتعادة reveals to mosa he says oh mosa but even if this man he wept until he died i would not accept anything from him he says oh الله but he's in desperation look at him why not الله سبحانه وتعادة says to موسى عليه السلام he says because every morsel of food in his body is harm the clothes that he's wearing is harm his property at home is harm meaning that he's accumulated forbidden well and that he's spent it for all of his provisions and all of his life and now he's complaining to الله سبحانه وتعادة that nothing is going well in his life and then موسى عليه السلام says so what's the way out for him he says he to think about death or he will only see the reality of the situation at the time of death everything starts to make sense when someone in your family passes away nothing else matters not your work not your school not your job not your finances not your own problems not your own stresses because you've lost someone so close to you and we wish we had one more day with that person one more conversation with that person one more interaction with that person mortality just changes things death changes things it allows for us to be centered all of a sudden doesn't matter how tired you are how hungry you are everything starts to make sense it's a number one think and contemplate about death and a hadith from mama صادر عليه الصلاة والسلام he states that nothing breaks the desires of this dunya in the same way as the contemplation of death a second step that we take that we find within the traditions of our inbait عليه الصلاة والسلام to be in a state of مراقبة to be in a state of vigilance and understanding and awareness of your own self to be in a state of mindfulness is to once in a while isolate the guys isolate the distractions by solitude to being in a state of solitude to being alone and being alone doesn't mean being alone from people it means being alone from distractions there's a difference between the two you can be with people but still connected to god because not none of the people around you are distracting you in terms of allowing for that progress for you to get closer to our which is why that one day to send that prophet was gathered with some of his companion's and they were making them in the planes of our thought that was about to give us the opportunity to go and visit our thought next year and every year during the day during the days of it is a custom of even the previous prophets who are making out بشده داود عليه الصلاة والسلام رفيد دايدر he was praying with all of these companions of his and they were supplicating and they were making الله سبحانه وتعالى صول and so forth and then داود he got up from that gathering and he left and he went by to a you know nearby pond and he sat there and he supplement and he began to supplicate الله سبحانه وتعالى on his own شبراعيل comes down to him and he says oh داود الله سبحانه وتعالى is asking why you left the gathering that you were in and came to pray over here you were their prophet pray with them engage with them communicate with them he says oh شبراعيل i wanted to be in a state of loneliness between myself and الله سبحانه وتعالى he said could you focus in that gathering he said i could focus in that gathering but i was afraid that god would not hear my voice so when شبراعيل he says what do you see in this river in this pond in this body of water he said i see some rocks i see some worms he said i see some leaves whatever it is sand he says look to the depths of it and what is the last thing that you see the deepest thing in this body of water that you see he says i don't know i see some dark rock he said under that rock شبراعيل is telling him that under that rock there's a worm and when that worm it makes داود الله سبحانه وتعالى god hears that داود and he thinks that he's not going to hear yours so again it's not being in a state of loneliness and i don't mean loneliness in that way i mean in a state of solitude solely that you are alone in a room or in a gathering or whatever it might be that you're supplicating to god in that manner it's about being in a state where you are not being distracted by your phone or by text messages or by your emails with none of that you're only focused on الله سبحانه وتعالى after you pray what's the first thing that we're taught to do within islamic tradition anyone what's the first thing that we're taught to do after we conclude our obligatory prayers 34 times الله أكثر 33 times الحمد لله 33 times سبحانه وتعالى what's the first thing that i do when i complete my prayers look at my phone how many of us do that how many of us look at our phones immediately after we finish our prayers it took two and a half minutes man talking to myself why do you need to look at your phone after two and a half minutes think about it we're so filled with distractions our lives that we never have a time alone between us and الله سبحانه وتعالى even in the moments even in the moments when we have the opportunity to connect with god unlike any other during for instance a a pilgrimage during for instance a unique spiritual experience the first thing that we want to do when we see the take selfie i remember a couple of years ago i was going for the زيارة of the عربائينة ممامن حسين عيسة i was going with the group and we were walking from نجب to كربرا and when we were getting toward كربرا my goodness i cannot stress this enough there is nothing like كربرا there is nothing like كربرا it's such a unique place it's such a beautiful place you have not been with the زيارة of the مامن حسين عيسة but الله سبحانه وتعالى قرant you that opportunity it is unlike anything else we have a حديث that states مروشي اتونا الى زيارة الحسين that persuade our followers to go and make the pilgrimage toward visiting the grave site of حسين عيسة i'm trying to do my part and allowing for myself to get that opportunity and allowing for myself to get the intercession of the مامن by fulfilling his instruction by inviting you all to go and perform this incredible visitation toward the grandson of the messenger of god عيسة رطوه سلام we were walking and imagine the first time الله و for those of you who know the experience the first time from a distance when you see the مامن حسين عيسران you recollect all of the tragedy of that which transpired on the day of عشورة and you're so overwhelmed with emotion people are crying and they're falling to the floor and they're they're they're rethinking the episode of the day of عشورة we're walking and we're walking and we're walking and someone is in tears and they're so overwhelmed with emotion like i need to capture this moment then go and they take a selfie and get بوست it on twitter man what's the need for that taking the experience that's a moment of connectivity with god and with his profit and with his family peace and blessings be upon them why do you want to ruin that moment to share it with the world you can share the experience but you can take the photo five minutes after you can check your phone to me so i talk to myself before talking to anyone else again being in a state of solitude the prophet he would often go to an amount of haram and he would go and he would make the and he would he would be physically alone because that's the way that he would feel a sense of connectivity to some people they can study in a place that's super quiet you go to the library over here anyone ever been to the library here at NYU i started my doctorate program as my daughter's first day of school is also my first day of school today i went to the library to finish a paper last week from my summer class and man i've been to a library in 10 years like an academic library i'm just sitting over there and there's nobody talking there's all these signs quiet quiet quiet quiet quiet i just like dropped the phone charger on the floor i thought someone was going to come and kill me everyone looks at me i'm sorry okay i'm whispering too loudly and i was and then i realized after like typing me i'm typing too loudly so i was like you know what forget this i can't work over here anymore so you start working in starbucks some people they like a little bit of noise it's okay that's the way that they focus that's the way that they see themselves in a state of solitude so you find what works for you is what i'm trying to say and what allows for you to be in a state of connectivity with الله and through consistent solitude through consistent أفرد of understanding where you are at a particular moment then you're going to be able to cultivate this notion of مراقبة this notion of mindfulness and thirdly and finally in regards toward those traditions that we have in regards to how we can attain the state of real awareness over our own selves is again to be in a state of meditation and contemplation and reflection and i've said this a lot over the last couple of nights i'm going to run through this super quickly what are both things that we need to be in a state of reflection about number one think about the signs of الله سبحانه وتعالى the sun the moon the stars the ocean the rivers all of these are meant to be a means by which we get closer to our god number one number two think about your own self الله سبحانه وتعالى أسف سنوريه عياتنا في الأفاق وفي أنفسهم we placed our signs within your own cells how unique of a human being are you how much potential do you have how much ability do you have know your place in this world but also think about who you are physically how come الله سبحانه وتعالى created us with ten fingers and ten toes and not eight and not seven and not eleven how come الله سبحانه وتعالى place our eyes on our face and not on our feet how come الله سبحانه وتعالى allows for us to walk on our feet and not on our force thirdly be in a state of contemplation about these verses of the whole of Quran تدمبر القرآن think about it discuss it with your friends there's something beautiful about it think about it and you'll find that again a sense of understanding will overcome you all of a sudden where you'll be so focused in all of your other life responsibilities and fourthly finally reflect and contemplate and meditate about the greatest of god's signs that's the profit and his family peace and blessings be upon them thirdly our third dimension in regards toward the benefits of this idea of the thirdly the benefits of mindfulness the first one of these benefits is that when we are in a state of understanding and consciousness over our own selves we'll just be more better in the now like we mentioned before we'll be more focused in the moment that we are in at this particular moment how many of you have lost focus during the course of the last 40 minutes while I've been speaking fair enough mashaAllah these you guys are honest you need to bring back the jokes forget this tomorrow we'll start again how many times do we lose focus how many times do we go in and out why why is that the case because it's long because it's boring because it's hot because someone's sitting next to me because someone's bothering me someone's touching me why this person is sitting so close to me there's a lot of space to the right there's a lot of space to this left why this guy always had to talk for 45 days why they've talked for an hour why can't it just be 35 minutes why can't it be something more interesting why can't it be something more engaging where's the lecture on on on on black magic anyway because we want something more but all of a sudden if we fashion ourselves to be in a state of understanding that we are in the mechness of شهداء it doesn't matter who's speaking it doesn't matter what's being spoken it doesn't matter the content because you've come here to attain blessing we get so caught up on so many things i'm not going to go to this gathering because that guy is speaking and that guy follows that مرجع and he's studied in that seminary cares man it's the mechness of الله that these spaces are sacred and when we understand that this place is sacred every moment and everything that anyone says i try to be receptive to it and if it was something silly something i couldn't benefit from okay i don't benefit from it no problem but we try and strive our best toward being in a state of understanding of where it is that we are at any given moment you're taking an exam that's two or three hours long you're sitting in a lecture you're sitting in a class and it's taking a long time or even if it's not taking a long time we often tend to lose focus but once you understand what it is that you're trying to seek you're not going to lose focus anymore you say snap out of it get it together i'm taking an exam i need to focus the professor's looking at me he knows that i'm not focusing you think that i don't know who's focusing and who's not come on man i've been doing this for a long time you got a lot of miles on me i know everyone who listens than everyone who doesn't and it's totally fine some of my closest friends don't listen half the lecture that's all right you know you are but once you understand where you are and and understand what it is that you're seeking you see the benefit you take control over yourself and then you're more there's more potential for you to make an impact moving forward keep this in the back of your mind number two the second benefit of being in a state of مراقبة نفس is that you're able to work on your flaws someone says i'm perfect i don't have any flaws well that one has the most flaws every single one of us we have an opportunity to improve some faith or some facet of our lives and when we know who we are and where we are at any moment then we also know what it is that we can improve upon are we prideful are we arrogant are we too much in love with this studio what are we attracted to that of power that of wealth that of status that of friendship that of likes on our instagram page whatever it is that attracts us that takes away from a sense of focus is consuming us in a way that we're not able to make progress or at the very least that we realize that we can make an improvement in this regard that's what it's all about it's about accounting for your own self and sitting down and thinking about where it is that you can improve on a day-to-day basis because we never want to get complacent not in our religion and not in our regular lives either not that our religion and our regular lives don't intertwine but i mean in terms of our spiritual cultivation of our relationship with the law subhanahu wa ta'ala nor with our worldly desires in this life you never want to get complacent at work why would you want to do that you want to get better you want to get to the next stage you want to be more successful you want to be the you want to be the best of the best of who it is that you are we don't want to get complacent as a community so someone says we're going to raise a hundred thousand dollars i say no we're going to change it to two hundred thousand dollars because why would we want to get complacent why would it be okay with something that we know that we can accomplish what's the point of that where's the joy in life doesn't make any sense if we're a human being then we want to strive to get better there was a companion his name was muhammad bin muslim a companion of muhammad al-baqar عليه صلاة وصرام one of our most famous narrators of ahadith he was from amongst those known as amongst those most authentic narrators of the ahadith of أهل البيت عليه صلاة وصرام he was known as the face of the shia of kufa he lived in kufa in iraq and he was the representative of alam al-baqar عليه صلاة وصرام over there he used to lecture in the grand mass give people lessons on quran and unfelt and so on and so forth and the imam عليه صلاة وصرام he appointed him to take that responsibility it is said that one day muhammad bin muslim he comes toward imam al-baqar عليه صلاة وصرام to visit him as he normally would and would take advices and you know understand what his responsibilities are and so on and so forth and muhammad bin muslim he tells imam al-baqar tells muhammad bin muslim he says you're doing a great job you're doing a great job teaching you're doing a great job now reading our traditions he said but one thing that i want you to work on it's just humble yourself a little bit all of the students and all of the authority maybe muhammad was an amazing man and maybe it was influencing him a little bit getting to his head a little bit maybe not that muhammad bin muslim was not an amazing human being again he was but the imam عليه صلاة وصرام was instructing him and telling him humble yourself a little bit that's all he told him he didn't even tell him anything else except for you doing a great job but just humble yourself a little bit imagine someone comes and they are critical of you someone not who's random but someone who's close to you a close friend of yours someone that you go to for advice for instance a mentor and they tell you you're are really really good at everything but i think that you should stop getting angry for instance i think that you should stop getting this or stop doing that in a nice way in a respectful way many times we get very very defensive who's here to tell me that who's here to tell me that how dear they say that to me the only reason why they're saying that to me is because they're jealous of me the only reason why they're saying that to me is because they're arrogant themselves because they get angry themselves so they're projecting you know there's a hadith it says that at the end of times people are not going to be able to take advice at the end of times people are not going to be able to take advice i'm not saying it's the end of time but i'm just saying we're leading there so muhammad bin muslim he goes back toward kufa he said okay mama no problem he goes back toward kufa and right outside of mestred kufa he saw a bunch of individuals who were selling dates they were poor they used to make money as they go when they take some dates from the tree and they sell those dates he goes and he says where do you get these dates from they said oh we go to this farm and we pay him this much money and we take these dates and so on and so forth and then we come here and we try to make a little bit of a profit but imagine muhammad bin muslim is the biggest scholar of kufa he's the most important man in that city he goes to that tree he picks dates himself he sits outside of the mosque of kufa and he says who wants to buy dates from me might not make a lot of sense to us but what he was doing at that moment was that he was humbling himself in front of people because again he saw himself as this highly reputable scholar someone who was much above selling dates on the street like the poor people would but he recognized that he needs to humble himself in front of himself so that's what he meant to and that's what allowed for him to understand that he needs to be more careful and more vigilant over his own soul so the benefits that we gain from this idea of mindfulness of مراقبة النفس number one we become more present in the moment that we're in and secondly that it allows for us to correct statements or issues or diseases of our own hearts and of our own souls again from the spiritual dimension so again when we talk about in summary this idea of مراقبة النفس or entering into a state of cognizance over our own selves is something that takes time is something that takes effort and when we go toward كربرا we see that إمام الحسين was more aware of his own self because of his understanding of his creator more so than anyone that we have ever seen within human history where do we get this from on the day of أشورة إمام الحسين and during the course of battle after all of his companions and after all of his family members had been killed they said that he was fighting so valiantly and so courageous and so bravely that one from the army of أمر بن صاد they call out look at this man حسين death has not even has not even entered his mind it hasn't thought about death why because the only thing that إمام الحسين on the tent of محرم was was الله سبحانه وتعالى this idea that مراقبة النفس الله was for us to see ourselves as servants of الله سبحانه وتعالى if i could ask this if he was close as well and when we come toward the day of أشورة and we come toward these personalities and these individuals and how aware of their own selves that they were amongst them of course say that سلام الله for praises continuously in perpetuity and it would not do justice toward the uniqueness of the quality and of the virtue of saying that she needs no introduction in the idea that she is the daughter of علي and the daughter of فاتمة الزهراء عليه السلام and traditionally in many communities on the sixth of the month of محرم نحن نتواجد هذه الأشخاص والأشخاص that she faced as we give her her title she's the mother of all trials and she's the mother of all tribulations but before i get there let me just put it in perspective for you on the night of the 11th of محرم زيناب عليه السلام she exiled from the tent after the battle of كبرة and she made small strides until she saw the body of Imam al-Hussain عليه السلام in the middle of the plains of كبرة how was the body of Imam al-Hussain the body that did not have any head a body that had a missing finger a body that had been trampled by the horses to the extent that the body of the Imam عليه السلام was imprinted into the ground زيناب عليه السلام she goes toward that body of her brother hussain and she tries to lift up the body of Imam al-Hussain عليه السلام from the right side and it falls to the left and she tries to pick it up from the left side and it falls from the right and she musters up the courage and the bravery and her strength and the only thing that she lifts is the chest of Imam al-Hussain عليه السلام and she called these lines she called out she says oh Allah accept the sacrifice from us she says oh Allah accept the sacrifice from us how could زيناب عليه السلام say oh Allah accept the sacrifice from us in the plural unless she was a part of that sacrifice or of offering that sacrifice before i even get to the massage my friends understand the uniqueness of زيناب عليه السلام when we come to this gathering every single one of us can say oh Allah accept this measure from us every one of you can say oh Allah accept this measure from us i can say accept this measure from us the ones who donated toward this sponsorship can say oh Allah accept this measure from us the ones who recited poetry can say oh Allah accept this measure from us because every single one of us are partners in allowing for this message to disseminate we are partners in the measure list of Imam al-Hussain عليه السلام someone outside on the park can they say oh Allah accept this measure from us no they can say oh Allah accept this measure from them but they cannot say oh Allah accept this measure from us keep this to the back of your mind زيناب عليه السلام she says oh Allah accept this sacrifice from us when someone wants to offer a sacrifice they have to have ownership i can't take your money and then give it in صدقه that's not fair that's not equitable you have to have control and ownership of it on your own so why does زيناب عليه السلام says oh Allah accept this sacrifice from us on the first dimension زيناب عليه السلام was a partner in the message of hussain which is why in one of the زيارات we say السلام عليك يا شريكة الحسين peace be upon you oh partner of حسين عليه السلام and secondly why does she say us the only one who could ever say to Allah oh Allah accept this sacrifice from us is someone who owns حسين or someone who's in a higher status than إماما حسين عليه السلام and in our ideology and in our أقيدة there is no one who is greater than حسين عليه السلام except for the prophet علي فاتما and الحسين no one else has a station that is greater than عبي عبد الله الحسين عليه السلام but on that day زيناب عليه السلام she says oh Allah تقبل مننا هذا القربان in that station and she raised the chest of Abba عبد الله because she represented أهل الكساء in their heart she represents the prophet and she represents علي and she represents فاتما and she represents حسين and she represents حسين عليه السلام in making the dua of all of them on the night of the 11th of وحره my dear friend زيناب عليه السلام she lost a lot she lost her brother محسن on the day when the door struck her mother فاتما تصحر she lost her brother إماما حسين عليه السلام 10 years earlier as that poison began to inflict his body and we'll talk more about that tomorrow night she lost her brother عبد فرل العباس عليه السلام when that arrow pierced his eye and a man came and struck his head and she lost her brother عبد الله حسين عليه السلام on the 10th of وحره but i'll leave you with this which is amongst the most tragic moments in the life of زيناب عليه السلام and for those of you who know the details of the story of كربرا my dear friends there's nothing as tragic as this moment for those of you who have been to كربرا then you take yourself back to that location known as the hill of زيناب and during these days from محرم from عشورة until the 40th there's a sign there's a banner that's hung up on that location known as till the زينابي it states السلام عليك جبال صابر peace be upon you oh the mountain of patience because you had to bear the mother of all patience because it is stated that when إماما حسين عليه السلام had fallen down from his horse what happened one by one the army of امربن صاد they were fearful to go and be the one who did the deed of severing the head of إماما حسين from his body but زيناب عليه السلام she was watching from the tent and one by one they would come to the إمام they would see the beauty on his face remembering that he's the grandson of the prophet of god and they would run back toward the 10th of امربن صاد until امربن صاد he looks towards شمر بن الجوشن and he says oh go and do the deed that you've been asked to do so the narration states that as شمر began to run toward the body of أبا عبدالله زيناب began to run up that tent and as شمر climbed on the body of أبا عبدالله زيناب she reached the climax of that hill and at the moment when he took out the dagger زيناب began to run down but at that moment she froze she wanted to go and defend her brother أبا عبدالله but from behind her she heard the calls calling out oh are on زيناب are you going to bring us water so زيناب عليه السلام she stood in the middle looking at her brother أبا عبدالله and then turning around and seeing سكينة and she wondered what should i do with this moment as the head of حسين was severed and as the children of we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى with the blessing of this night you have a grief in our hearts over our master أبي عبدالله للسلام عليه السرات و السرام to make us amongst those who follow in the footsteps أبا أبي عبدالله و يسك الله سبحانه وتعالى to make our lives resemble the life of محمد و آد محمد و يسك الله سبحانه وتعالى to allow for our deaths to resemble the death of محمد و آد محمد we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to raise us with محمد و آد محمد and to grant us their شفاءة and the barza of the next life we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to allow for for those amongst us to be aware of our own souls and allow for us to have our sins forgiven by this grief we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to grant us to feel we ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to grant us to but ask you all to recite one محمد