 When Imam Hussein A.S. left his hajj going towards the holy city of Karbala or would become the holy city of Karbala it's as if he left one sacrifice to go towards another. It's as if he left one service in the way of Allah SWT to go towards another instead. And this poem talks from the perspective of Imam Hussein A.S. as he compares his sacrifice that is going to come to the sacrifice that he left behind knowing that his day has come, the day promised to him by his grandfather the holy prophet peace be upon him. He says now my day has come and I have no one. Is there anyone to come and help me? I am Hussein of the five and the last of the fifth. I have lost so much towards Yazid Rath. From the grief that races in me I'm out of breath but know that I can't give up until I embrace death. I look right and left there is no one left and no more have left to come and help me. I stand as one in Karbala and stand before me 70,000. I stand as one and stand before me 30,000 from the size of their army. My daughters are frightened. I am with the truth and yet I am left abandoned as if to be killed lonely. I am destined. I look at the tents. My sister laments crying where are they to come and help me. I stand as a mountain and as lonely as its peak. I call out Zuhair and Borrell wishing they would speak seeking to support me. My tears like rivers they leak wishing for warmth. I place my cheek against John's cheek. Keep where are you? Where have has gone to? Why don't you return to come and help me? I wish that the son of today had not risen. By how many things today have I been shaken? Just as the earth shakes when upon it something has fallen, the fall of my brother it left my back broken. No one understands except these stained stands. I'd give him my own hands to come and help me. My eyes they yearn to see my grandfather Muhammad. I knew one that looked like him to the swords he was fed yearning to see my son once again. I look ahead but I can't recognize his body from the blood that he's bled. That is not Ali. Where is his beauty? His wounds they prevent him to come and help me. I look up at the son that perches in the sky. Oh son you've made me so thirsty that even tears I can't cry. Why does the river not rise up and quench us? Why I am strangled by the air that itself is dry? All I see is heat as with death I meet. Is there no water to come and help me? I have a pain and I swear that this pain stops time. I have a six months in my arms. I have a six months in my arms. Tell me what was his crime? His eyes so lifeless that in them I can see mine. Oh Allah I have lost too much for one lifetime. My heart into two rips as blood from his lips drips. Where is the grave digger to come and help me? The house of God held captive here in Karbala. My daughters they run around me strangled by their fear. When the limbs of this house from its body they tear. They will find the head of Hussain raised upon a spear. The Ka'ba shall fall as its women call. Where are the angels to come and help me? Where are the angels to come and help me? Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa ala Muhammadin. Peace be upon you. I am so honored to be here today in the holy city of Karbala. Presenting to you from this holy city. As I mentioned earlier inshallah will be our intention and our honor to try and bring you the atmosphere that we feel me and my guests here in the holy city of Karbala. As we know all of you are lamenting the tragedy of Muhammadin. All of you are pulling up the black cloths and holding Majalas in honor of Muhammadin. And inshallah I hope that me and my respected guests we will be able to do an ounce of justice toward this amazing experience that is the holy city of Karbala and bring towards you and quench that thirst of wanting to be here in this holy city inshallah. Over the next 10 nights I will be joined by both Sayyid Ali al-Hakeem who will be sharing his beautiful recitation and the mosa'ib with us. And I will also be joined by my respected guest Sayyid Ali al-Nawab where we shall be discussing Imam Hussein's journey from Medina to Karbala over multiple different aspects. And as we know the day of Ashura itself was a horrible day in terms of the physical manifestation of what happened. Imam Hussein lost everything. And he at the same time, as we know from this amazing story despite the fact that he lost everything on that day despite the fact that so many of his family were killed despite the fact that he himself was killed and he even lost the battle, it was him who succeeded. And inshallah today we are going to be examining and asking ourselves about the story of Ashura and its path to success and what we can learn from it. I am going to be joined today by Sayyid Ali Nawab. Salam alaikum Sayyid. Salam alaikum. Thank you so much for joining me today in this Holy City of Karbala. So before we begin, just tell the viewers and tell us what it feels like to be here in the Holy City of Karbala during the 10 days of Muharram. Welcome to the land of Karbala. It is an honor as my respected brother Nouri has said before me. It's truly an honorable experience. The atmosphere is undescribable. You won't be able to describe the beauty that you're living in. You're living in part of the paradise or you are in the paradise of holy shrines of Sayyid al-Shuhada and Master of Martyrs, Abu Abdullah al-Hussein and his loyal and lawful brother, Abu al-Fadr al-Abbas, alayhum salam. And alhamdulillah Allah has granted us once again to be amongst the zuwara and the pilgrims of the grave of Abu Abdullah al-Hussein, alayhi salam. Tonight as we all saw and noticed and experienced the changing of the banner and the flag of the domes of Imam Hussein and Abu al-Fadr al-Abbas, alayhi salam, to signal the start of the months of mourning and sadness of Ahl al-Bayt, alayhum salam, the start of the process of the companions of Ahl al-Bayt, alayhum salam, arriving one by one to the land of Karbala and eventually arriving and leading to the day of Ashura. So I pray to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala that first of all he accepts our deeds and our deeds during these nights and insha'Allah that he grants us and our dear viewers to be amongst us insha'Allah in the future. And insha'Allah of course in the future they will hopefully be joining us here but for now we'll try our best just to bring the atmosphere of Karbala toward them. Insha'Allah I'm sure Sayyid you'll contribute to that as well. So tell us before we open the topic about Ashura being a path to success just some brief anecdotes and some thoughts about the 10 days of Muharram and the journey of Imam Hussein al-Islam. Well as the best thing to describe the 10 days of Muharram of the journey of Imam Hussein al-Islam and the whole process of him rising against the tyrants and wanting to bring up or liven up the the path of his grandfather Rasulullah alaihi wa alaihi and his father Amir al-Mu'mineen he himself said in one of his famous sermons to the people of Medina if I'm not mistaken it says the whole reason for me rising up and confronting this tyrant and what he has done or his action has resulted into the changing the whole message of the Holy Prophet the whole of Islam the whole of the slogans and the Sha'a'ir everything that calls towards Islam has been changed as a result of this family so the whole reason is for me to call back people towards the path of Ahlul Bayt so the whole process the whole reason or what we can summarize that the events that led to the day of Ashura was all because that the Imam wanted to reform the message that was at the time known to be the message of Islam but it was the corrupt version of Islam as Bani Umayyad installed it amongst the Muslims so Imam Hussein rose and as a result of that he didn't please the Umayyads and they aggravated and they pushed Imam Hussein and his family until they arrived to the land of Karbala So when you talk about Ashura being a path to success as I said before if a story were to read about the tragedy of Karbala on a surface level you look at what happened on that day Imam Hussein lost everything family, friends it was an absolute horrible experience he even went through a lot of suffering himself and at the end lost his life so when someone comes forward and says you know this is a story of success this is a story of victory as per Allah of course today we can see the fact that millions of people are coming and paying their respects to Imam Hussein there is some sort of success there but in its simplest sense how can we call such a story a story of success or a story of victory? First of all let's take a step backwards and take a small historical look on the backgrounds of the event when someone comes and says why do we have to remember historical events because this is an event that happened more than 1,400 and so years ago or more than 1,300 and so years ago so why do we have to go back and remember this is history we are living in 2018 let's learn from our experiences now we don't need to go back and look at how people lived their life or what happened in history and I come and say no history forms part of the identity of a nation a nation without an identity is a dead nation and what makes that identity part of the identity is the historical events the historical figures the footsteps or the fingerprints and the landmark inventions or the sermons or the speeches or the changes that they made into those nations so going back being as Muslims and being as followers of the Holy Quran and Ahlul Bayt A.S. we always cross-reference and we take our references from the Holy Quran and Ahlul Bayt if we go back to the Holy Quran Allah SWT in Surah Ibrahim chapter number five verse number five sorry it says Allah is reminding the Holy Prophet Ya Rasulallah remind your nation remind the Muslims of who? of a previous Prophet and we sent Moses with our signs and our commands O Prophet Moses bring out your people from the depths of the darkness into light these are all references that Rasulullah was directing people to a past historical event where they kill them a continuation of that verse where they kill them who remind them who is the Prophet reminding the Prophet is reminding the Muslims reminding them of what? where they kill them here Allah SWT in the Holy Quran says O Prophet of Allah and teach them to remember the days of Allah what are the days of Allah? every day is the day of Allah but Allah SWT in the Holy Quran has highlighted some major events that has left a footmark into the history of Mankind has had its effects and no one can deny these and Allah SWT says Ya Rasulallah and that process of reminding them the days of Allah and in that reminding verily in this there are signs for such as family, patient and constant grateful and appreciative people here Allah SWT saying Ya Rasulallah remind them of a previous Prophet Allah SWT the Creator who created everything and perfected the creation is telling to his beloved messenger Ya Rasulallah remind them of a previous Prophet and how he dealt with his nation and how his nation received his message drag your people out of the darkness of ignorance into the light so here Rasulallah saying my presence amongst you is that I my duty, my responsibility is to drag you from the depths of the darkness and guide you towards the light here between brackets Rasulallah SAW says in the description of inna al-Husayn al-Masbah al-Huda wa safina tunna ja'at verily Husayn is a lantern of guidance an arc of salvation Rasulallah uses that parable to describe the position of Imam Husayn SAW and we are living the days and nights of Imam Husayn SAW so what are the days of Allah as I said every day is the day of Allah because Allah created day created night but there are specific days there are specific events that Allah SWT once previous prophets and specifically Rasulallah to remind the ummah what are these days for example the days that new development take place in the course of evolution there is a specific event that differentiates the course of Allah's creations for example the six days that Allah created the heavens, the earth this is one day or a period of geological terrestrial changes these are days of Allah because there are these are specific events that leaves exactly there are for example rise and falls of nations when a nation rises that affects the nation and that leaves marks because it significantly changes how people live and the fall of that same nation Allah SWT says Ya Rasulallah remind them of the people of Musa SAW because people of Musa at one time they were the very lowest where Firaour was depriving them of their rights and then once they obeyed Rasulullah at that time which was Prophet Musa Allah raised so the rise and fall of nations is again a day of Allah SWT the intermediary stages of the resurrection day that is a very important event as well this is one of the Iyamullah life thereafter Yawmul Qiyamah is one of Iyamullah SWT and again days of torment where Allah SWT brings down his adab upon some people for example the destruction of people of Aad and Thamud that is again a day of history for people to remember the companion of the elephant Ashab al-Feed these are events if we go back and look these are events that has important marks in the history very crucial for our time today and we learn what happened in the Ashab al-Feed how they try to attack the house of Allah SWT and Allah protected that means that anyone that wants the protection of Allah SWT has to be in the path of Allah SWT and the days of blessings for example the birthday of the Holy Prophet a Yawmullah the birth and the migration of the Holy Prophet Yawmul Qadir the battle of Badr which is a significant day for the Muslims and the rest of Ahlul Bayt Amirul Mu'mineen Fatima al-Zahra and specifically the day of Ashura because the day of Ashura was the manifestation of all the signs that were in Abi Abdullah al-Hussain which were for example the Hussaini I call it the Hussaini Conquest al-Fathah al-Hussaini or the Hussaini dignity Imam Hussain showed people how to be dignified on the day of Ashura exactly and that the fact that Imam Hussain on the day of Ashura showed people the real meaning of values and the rights so hence a historical background and the importance of remembering the day of Ashura and why the Shia the Muslims and non-Muslims some people hearing us today they might be saying okay I know this is something to do with the Muslim calendar or the Shia they've lost one of their loyal imams or their loyal figures and they sit down and remember him but when you say non-Muslims yes I say non-Muslims because this Imam Hussain in his revolution did not revolt only to save and protect the Shia the followers of Amir al-Mu'mineen or only the Muslims the followers of the Holy Quran and those who say Ashadu Allaha Illa Allah Ashadu Anna Muhammad al-Rasul no Abiyah Abdullah al-Hussain and before him the Holy Prophet brought the message and their message was a worldwide message for the whole of humanity for the whole of mankind because they wanted to save mankind from the depths of the darkness into the light so Abiyah Abdullah al-Hussain alayhi salam has a very beautiful saying on the day of Ashura when he speaks to the army of Bani Umayyah he tells them in lam yakun lakum din if you're not Muslims if you don't practice Islam wa kuntum la taqafun al-ma'ad and you don't believe that there's a hereafter yawm al qiyamah and that there is a day that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is going to judge you fa kunu a haraaran fi dunyaa at least be free men and women in this lifetime and act like a noble free man a free man is noble has characteristics of a free man so this is a summary of the historical background of why we come to Karbala why we celebrate or mourn the events of Ashura so tell me you talk about Imam Hussein saying in his last few days if you don't believe in religion or day judgment at least be free in this world and as I asked you in the beginning we speak a lot about the success of Imam Hussein and what he meant to rise up for when he says he was up for freedom can you tell us what do we mean by Imam Hussein's perception of freedom because in our modern day context freedom for us for example can be the freedom in the way we live in the world to sin, freedom to do what we want but at the same time that is necessarily freedom because we're still a slave of something so when Imam Hussein says he wants you to be free and we understand that this doesn't mean to be Muslim or to be Shi'a it means to be free what does he really mean when he says I want you to be free and from your question inshallah because we don't want to just sit down and remember historical events the whole reason that we sit down and remember the revolution of Abi Abdullah Al-Hussein is to remind ourselves and cause a revolution within us so that we go back sometimes we see ourselves being deviated we go off track so Imam Hussein alaihi salam from the day of Ashura until today and until inshallah the return of Sahab al-Asri was Zaman Adya Allah Ta'ala Farja Al-Sharif his cause and his remembrance is the cause that people come back it's a call for people to come back to the right path so when I speak about that Abi Abdullah Al-Hussein alaihi salam instructed or called called people on the day of Ashura to be free men and women what do I mean by free and as you said being free or being slave means you are slave of something something is controlled we speak about living in a land of freedom where we live but unfortunately we aren't really free people have the freedom to drink they have the freedom to do adultery and they have the freedom to cheat people as well but that's not necessary I don't see that as the freedom that Imam Hussain was speaking about at that time Ahsad Imam Hussain alaihi salam highlighted this inshallah during the next coming nights we will speak about the characteristics of Imam Hussain alaihi salam who Imam Hussain alaihi salam was and the characteristics of the enemies of Imam Hussain and what made Imam Hussain revolt against such characters because such characters they carried for example Imam Hussain says when describing Yazid when he was asked if he would pay allegiance to Yazid after the demise and passing away of Muawiyah Imam Hussain said wa mitli la yubaya on mitla someone like me Hussain from a pure lineage the lineage of prophets and messengers we read Ziyarat Waraif we say As-salamu alaika ya waritha Adam As-salamu alaika ya waritha Nuh Imam Hussain alaihi salam is the inheritor of these great individuals who left their mark in the history of mankind who doesn't know prophet Adam who hasn't read about prophet Nuh and the process and the sacrifice that prophet Nuh alaihi salam went through so Imam Hussain coming back from this lineage why doesn't he pay allegiance to Yazid Imam Hussain is reminding us all mankind all free men and women of 2018 and furthermore I did not pay allegiance to Yazid because he carried these characteristics what are these characteristics which cause Yazid to be a slave and cause Imam Hussain to say be free meaning that Yazid wasn't free Yazid was a captive Yazid was a slave to these characteristics these were and Yazid People used to ask for their rights People used to be deprived of their freedom and they used to come and ask for their freedom Yazid without any reason used to kill them and destroy them我 Yazid used to waste time valuable time which he has appointed himself to be the leader of the Muslims he has to allocate his time to see the Muslims what they need the problems so he used to use that time from the day until the night and from the night until the morning practicing sins basically and everyone knows and since today and being slave of the dunya being slave of the desires and the emotions you see he used to practice all of those listening to music until the morning being drunk dancing having made as a noble free man regardless of you being Muslim or non-Muslim he just meets any free man in the road and he said would you spend your days drunk until the morning whilst you would be able to go and use it in educating yourself and benefiting yourself and the society and this is not a normal person this is someone who used to call himself I am the leader of the Muslims they used to call him Amir al-Mu'mineen I think InshaAllah over the next nine to ten days InshaAllah we will really examine the standard of Mawin Sayyidina Islam and how it benefits us in this day and age well of course at the same time we are here ultimately to to remember the tragedy of al-Mu'mineen to remember the mosa'ib of al-Mu'mineen and to we purpose tragedy in the last seven or so minutes that we have left can you please just give us a little glimpse into the the story of al-Shura InshaAllah again we go back to Ahlul Bayt alayhum as-salam and how they used to receive the day of al-Shura we remember the saying of Imam Rufa al-Salam when he used to see the crescent of the moon citing the moon of the crescent they narrate that Imam Rufa al-Salam and say the day of Imam Hussein al-Salam has caused our eyes to be injured to shed tears and to shed blood and it humiliated our beloved which was Imam Hussein al-Salam here we go back to Imam Zaman and we pay our allegiance every day to Imam al-Mahdi al-Salam and we say we read this this portion of Ziyarah where Imam says O Imam, O Grandfather, if I was not present on the day of al-Ashura to come and stand and protect you protect your body, protect your family Today, O Imam, amongst the thousands and the millions of the Zubar and the lovers of Ahlul Bayt wherever they are they can stand towards the qiblah put their right hand on their chest and say O Imam tonight the first night of Muharram I pay allegiance to you and say my heart my ears my hearing and wabasari my sight I put it for your service if I was doing anything wrong for the sake of Imam Hussein and for the sake of the beginning of Muharram I will seek repentance and I will come back to the path of Imam Hussein In Ziyarah al-Nahya, Imam al-Mahdi al-Salam says O Grandfather Hussein, I shall lament you day and night O Hussein, I shall weep blood for the sake of your motherdom and this is who this is Imam al-Mahdi this is someone who wasn't present in Karbala he says O Grandfather I wasn't present in Karbala but I heard what happened to you and for that sake I will cry and lament for you day and night but let's go back to the day of Ashura and let's remember what Sayyida Zaynab alayhi al-Salam so in front of her Sayyida Zaynab says O Mustafa, O Brother Hussein she pointed towards the death of Abiyah Abdullah, the body of Abiyah Abdullah she was standing here in the town of Zaynabiyah and she looks at Hussein or a body lying there on the plains of Karbala she says is this the body of my brother Hussein? I can't believe it this is Hussein one day he was on the chest of my grandfather the Holy Prophet and today O Brother I see you on the plains of Karbala one day he was on the chest of Mustafa and one day he was on the face of Thara you are my brother, you are my father I swear upon you, O Mother of Zahra except that you didn't talk to me, O Light of my eyes Brother Hussein, I know how much you love our mother Fatima I say O Imam, we the lovers we the muhabbeen we have come here tonight between your shrine and the shrine of Abel Fahm and the viewers sitting at home and I know how much it hurts for you to see that the millions and the thousands of Zawar are here in Karbala visiting the shrine of Imam Hussein and how you belong to be here I say O Imam, we love you and we have affections for you the same way ladies and I'm carrying these love and affections for you Sayyidi, you loved your mother Fatima O Ximu alayk, be Ummika Zahra I swear upon you for the love of your mother Fatima look at us tonight, Ya Aba Abdullah ladies and I'm saying O Ximu alayk, be Ummika Fatima except that you didn't talk to me, O Light of my eyes and I'm hearing this voice from the body of Abbi Abdullah O brother Hussein, I'm coming back to the shrine go back to the tents O Allah, give me your heart and give me your pride If I go to Qiyam, I will memorize the ayat. May Allah bless you, O Abu Abdullah. May Allah bless you, O Hussein. May Allah bless you and your brother. May Allah bless you and your brother. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. Peace be upon you. As I mentioned, opening the show has been an honor to be sitting here and narrating to you all both the atmosphere of the Holy City of Karbala and the lamentations and the story of Ma'am Hussein, A.S. And insha'Allah after this show break, I'll be joined by Sayyid Ali Hakim who will be reciting some of the names for us and also some remembrance of the story of Ma'am Hussein. And Ashera, insha'Allah. Peace be upon you. May Allah bless you.