 ويا عبرتان كل مؤمنه ما خابا والله من تمسك بكم وأمنى من لجاء والتجاء إليكم يا ليتنا كنا معكم سادتي فنفوز فوزا عظيم قال الله تعالى في محكم كتابه الكريم وقوله الحق وهو أصدق الصادقين أعود بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وكذلك جعلناكم أمة وصطا لتكونوا على الناس شهيدا ورصحت للجap ومولايا عبد الله الرضيع ورصحت للجap ومولايا عبد الله الرسيد ورصحت للجap ومولايا عبد الله الرحن بعد أنهف الإسلام والتسلول الأرابينا those who embraced the religion of Islam were known to be as one unit and one family every Muslim brother, every Muslim believer and every Muslim Mu'min and every Muslim Mu'minah are recognized to be brothers and sisters in faith الله سبحانه وتعالى within the holy Quran states بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم إنما المؤمنون إخوة the مؤمنين the believers are brothers and in a very famous line of poetry علام إقبال لا هوري states أضح الإسلام لنا دينا وجميع الكون لنا وطنا he says that this entire universe belongs to one family who attributes itself to the religion of Islam meaning Islam is color blind Islam does not see our color our nation our nationality our language but those who attribute themselves to Islam become brothers in faith and this was the task of Rasool الله his major task was to be able to bring the Abyssinian Bilal and the Persian Salman and the Qorashi Hamza and to bring them into one family and to turn them into brothers and this was not an easy task for they all had different cultures and different rituals and they came from different backgrounds and of course by living amongst one another they at many times experienced the culture clash and as Islam was expanding as new nations and nationalities embraced the religion of Islam this culture clash would even become greater amongst the Muslims and even after the demise of Rasool الله صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم as Islam reached the shores of many different countries this culture clash could have become greater and greater but Rasool الله chose to eliminate this culture clash through his art Rasool الله did not come to abolish cultures but Rasool الله came and he honored what was good within every culture and Rasool الله came to eliminate from the life of Muslims that ritual or culture which was against the Islamic teachings and of course the Arabs within their culture they had certain good things part of their culture had some good teachings and good rituals amongst the good rituals and practices and the Arabian Peninsula before the birth of Islam was the fact that the Arabs chose to honor their guests the Arabs chose to honor their guests so if a person received a guest then he is ought to do everything in his hand to honor that guest and Rasool الله came and not only blessed this notion but he made this notion he made this principle an Islamic principle therefore Rasool الله and a very famous tradition states الوافو حبيب الله the guest is the beloved of Allah يأتي برزقه he comes with his own sustenance يأتي برزقه ويخرج بذنوه بأحل الدار and when he leaves he leaves with the sins of the household forgiving their sins another that was part of the Arabian culture was أشهر الحرم the sacred months the month of Rajab the month of the Qaeda the month of the Hajjah and the month of Muharram those 4 months out of the year the Arabs would not engage in war they would not engage in battle there would be peace in the Arabian Peninsula and Rasool الله came and he not only honored this practice but he made it an Islamic practice and Allah SWT speaks of أشهر الحرم within the Holy Quran another part of the culture of the Arabs was generosity and they were known for their generosity and Rasool الله not only came and he honored this practice but Rasool الله told them that this practice is embedded within the teachings of Islam as well Rasool الله in a very famous tradition stated جواد أو الكريم أو السخي the generous قريب من الله is close to Allah وقريب من الناس and he is close to the people وقريب من الجنة and he is also close to paradise and on the contrary وأما البخيل فبعيد من الناس and the Meisner is away from the people وبعيد من الله and he is away from Allah وبعيد من الجنة and he is far away from paradise and another tradition Rasool الله says أن السخي يدخل الجنة ولو بعدحين the generous will enter paradise even after a long while of interrogation eventually Allah will give him the ultimate resting place paradise وأما البخيل فيدخل النار ولو بعدحين and the Meisner will never see paradise and in fact Rasool الله says the Meisner not only does not enter paradise but he cannot smell the scent of paradise بل لا يشمر احتها Rasool الله and a very famous tradition teaches the youth to become generous many of us depend on the generosity of our fathers Rasool الله says no teach yourself the habit of generosity the habit to depart from your wealth depart from the worldly belongings so he says a young man that is drowning in sin drowning in sin أن الشاب السخي المرحق بالذنوب he's fatigued himself with sin it doesn't get worse than that but if he is generous أحب عند الله is more beloved to Allah من الشيخ البخيل العابد قائماً ليلة صائماً نهارة he is more beloved to Allah than an elderly that has spent all his nights and prayer and all his mornings and fasting and أحل البيت became the personification of generosity أحل البيت illustrated and defined generosity to us a lady comes to فاطمة الزحراء on the night of her wedding and she said to her يا بنتة رسول الله I want to come to your wedding but I don't have a dress would you be able to give me a dress أن رسول الله أن فاطمة الزحراء حجس وارن her brand new wedding gown wedding dress so she said yes wait she went inside and she gave her the brand new dress then she went and she wore her old dress when رسول الله was prepared to come and see his daughter to take her to the wedding he saw that فاطمة is wearing the old dress so he said فاطمة what happened to your new dress you said oh father I gave it away to a poor girl who came asking for it رسول الله said why didn't you give her the old dress فاطمة says father Allah in the holy Quran says لن تنال البر حتى تنفقوا من ما تحبون you will not reach piety and righteousness unless you give from what you love the most what you love the most and a tradition فاطمة الزهراء calls on to Salman she says Salman come Salman comes السلام عليك يا بنت رسول الله she says و عليك السلام يا عم she greets him back saying oh uncle Salman go and find my husband so he said to her why would your husband be in the masjid is there a problem she said no علي يبنع بيطالب was the official custodian of Fedek and you know Fedek was in the hands of اهل البيت for 10 years in the hands of فاطمة الزهراء for 10 years before the demise of رسول الله the official custodian of Fedek was whom امام علي and last year I calculated the revenues of Fedek what is equivalent in our time today $2.4 million a month was the revenue of Fedek امير المؤمنين was the official custodian so he would go and take the wealth from Fedek so he said to her يا بنت رسول الله so he's gone to Fedek maybe he has not returned she said yes I know he's back but when Ali collects the revenues of Fedek those who have loans come to him and he gives them those who want to purchase new homes they come to him and he gives them the orphans come to him and he gives them the poor come to him and he gives them and he has nothing now to bring home so he's shy go and tell him to come back to Fedek this is the generosity of امير المؤمنين a person comes to Medina he looks around everywhere everywhere asking for food asking for money nobody gives him until a man tells him you see that home go to that home you will find what you need here don't waste your time he said whose home is that that is the home of Hussein ابن علي so he went and he knocked at the door of Hussein Imam Hussein came while he was coming to open the door he said who is behind the door he said يبن رسول الله I am a man asking for money so Imam Hussein said hold on he went back he got him the money 100 gold in dinars and he cracked the door he didn't open the whole door he said to him خذها خذها take it فأني إليك معتذر and I apologize this is all I have خذها فأني إليك معتذر وعلم بأنني عليك ذو شفقها and no that if I had more I would have given you more this was Hussein ابن علي couple of years ago when I was in Houston I was invited to visit one of the mega churches in America where Pastor Joel Osteen speaks he preaches probably some of you have heard him so I went there I met with him and as he was giving me a tour of the mega church he said to me that we raise $2.4 million from the basket from the donation basket every month we raise $2 million from the donation basket people coming in and out throwing donations and we also get another $2-2.5 million from outside donations outside our church and then he took me to an area a huge area and there were boxes and in the boxes it was Christmas time in the boxes there were toys game boys food shoes clothes and I said to him what are those boxes he said we will purchase different things for children we put them in those boxes and we ship them to Iraq to the poor people to Iraq but yet we call ourselves the followers of Amir al-Mu'mineen he is the commander of the Mu'mineen he is the commander of the faithful and we call ourselves the Mu'mineen the faithful yes of course many may Allah bless them they are generous but unfortunately when we don't have anything left you know when we have the shoe that we've worn and it's it's ripped up and the pants that's wrinkled and for example things that we don't need and we happen to go for a ziara so we say let's take this for the poor kids there we give it to them the poor people instead of giving this salvation army we take it too Amir al-Mu'mineen you are the generosity and yet we have to learn from Amir al-Mu'mineen generosity and we have to know that Allah SWT the money that we spend for him does not decrease from my wealth not just for Allah any money that is spent and seeks the pleasure of Allah SWT and that's a vast category whatever seeks the pleasure of Allah will not decrease for my bank account this is something I have to understand I have to live with every day Allah saw excuse me Abraham once was gone with his sheeps he was a shepherd so he saw a man he was standing and he was saying الله مرزقني مرزقني مرزقني مرزقني so Abraham said this man all the way in the desert must really come here for dua he's not showing off Abraham had a thousand sheeps so he came to me he said listen I saw you doing this dua and I have decided to give you half of my wealth take 500 of them the man said thank you then again he raised his hands he said Allah give me from your risk Abraham again he felt this man has iman so he gave him he said to him again take another 250 the man continued Allah give me more again he gave him another half until the story says the tradition states that Abraham was left with two sheeps so he said to the man you know what he can have everything I don't want it the man turned into the angel and he said to him you have passed the test of Allah Allah doesn't need your wealth Allah doesn't need your money Allah tests your love for him versus the money and for us many of us let us go and examine our hearts do we love more do we love Allah more or the banjis so another ritual that Islam came and emphasized on that was part of the Arabic tradition was generosity but the Arabs also had bad rituals and bad practices that رسول الله had to come and fight and eliminate among some was the fact that they would bury their daughters alive one of the famous companion says Allah gave me ten daughters ten nine of them I buried them at birth the 10th one I was traveling so I came back and my wife said to me that the child was born I gave it to my brothers and they buried her he said 15 years after that incident one time I went home and I saw a beautiful young girl next to my wife I said to her who is this girl she said this is your daughter 15 years ago my brothers my family took her and they never killed her so she is alive today and she's come home aren't you proud to see her he said yes I'm very happy to see her in fact tomorrow I'm going to take her on a little trip to show her the city he said the next day I took her I took her and I went out to a remote location I began to dig a grave she said to me what are you doing father he said to her hold on you'll see he said after I dug the grave I threw her in the grave and I began to shuffle back and I saw her begging for her life pleading for mercy and all I could do is just to bury her alive this was part of the rituals of the Arabs also Allah came to fight that another bad ritual within the Arab society was their disrespect for women women were not just second class citizens they were treated worse than slaves sometimes worse than animals and Islam came and said the women that are inherited women would be inherited so if a man dies and he leaves back a house he leaves back cattle he leaves back wealth also his woman will be inherited by his eldest son his eldest son inherits his stepmothers the women that were inherited now inherit the women that have no opinion and have no own society now can go and seek education طلب العلم فريقة على كل مسلم و مسلمة they can go and seek education in fact رسول الله chose a representative of women to represent the entire Muslim woman and the delegation of Najrah when he went to meet the Christians قلت عالة و ندعو ابناءنا و ابناءكم و نساءنا و نساءكم and on that journey and that delegation he took فاعتمات الزحرات to represent the Muslim woman and amongst the bad rituals and practices within the Arab culture was the superstitions were the superstitions within their cultures and of course superstitions belong to every culture and they exist until today for example in the Persian culture there are superstitions in regards to guests they say if you get a guest at home and this guest is taking too long you know instead of half an hour hour, two hours, three hours so if you want to get rid of the guest for the guest to leave so when you sprinkle some salt in their shoes and this is supposed to have some magnetic waves to get the guest out of the house so when they come and they are about to leave if you want them to come back and reach their home safely reach their home safely and then return to you as guests you pour water behind them but if you want them not to come back and not to make it home safely and you take a small pebble and you throw it when they leave this pebble is meant to be an email to عزرائيل likewise there are many superstitions for example in the Araqi culture the Araqi is in the time of Nikah when the Nikah is being recited they say that you have to open your hands you can't keep your hands like this because if you keep your hands like this then there is going to be a divorce and many other superstitions in many cultures and I don't even have time or else the whole lecture will be gone if I went to the superstitions in your culture Islam came to tell us that Allah سبحانه وتعالى wants you to be aware wants you to be an alive ummah wants you to become one unit Allah in the holy Quran Chapter 2 verse 143 says we have made you one ummah meaning that you have to look beyond your cultures and you have to become one and today when we go to our community in America the followers of Ahle al Bayt we see one community belongs to the Araqi and one belongs to the Lebanese and one belongs to the Pakistanis and one belongs to the Snajaris while we have to be able to open our doors and welcome everyone and tell you this not just to other Shi'a not just to all Muslims but we have to open our doors for all people to know Imam Hussein for all nations to know Imam Hussein Imam Hussein doesn't just belong to us Imam Hussein belongs to the world but we have not introduced him the way we should I remember several years ago from UCSD University of San Diego a group of students went to visit the Islamic center there in San Diego where my uncle was and they came and they saw that it was Muharram so they saw everything is black after he spoke he gave them an introduction about Islam, answered their questions the professor said Imam we would like to ask you why is everything black so he said we are in the time of morning in the time of Ashura they said please elaborate so he said this is my best opportunity I spoke of the day of the 10th of Muharram from the beginning to the end he said when I reached the story of Abdullah Al-Razi' the infant he said every one of them were crying he said when they left one of them came he was Hindu he said to me I would like to come back and speak to you so he said he came the next day and the following day he came for a month and he came for 2 months and after that he came and he said Imam Sayyed I am ready to embrace Islam I am ready to embrace the Madhab of Al-Muhammad I said to him what would you like your new name to be he had a Hindu name so he said what would you like for your new Muslim name to be he said I would like my new Muslim name to be Anwar al-Hussain the light of Hussain because the light of Hussain illuminated my life illuminated my soul a Christian poet in Lebanon always always all his poetry when he spoke of bravery he gave the example of Ali when he spoke of generosity he gave the example of Ali when he gave the example of honesty he said Ali so the Christians went to him they said what type of Christian are you everything is Ali Ali Ali so he wrote this famous line of poetry he says don't say that the the shia exaggerate in their love for Ali لا تقل شiaة هلات علي ان في كل منصف شعية for in every month and just human being Ali must reside لا تقل شiaة هلات علي ان في كل منصف شعية then he says جلج للحب في المسيحي حتى the love of Ali has boiled in the heart of the Christian جلج للحب في المسيحي حتى صار في حبه شعية يا سماء الشهدي he says the love of Ali has boiled in my heart so much that's with my love for Ali I have become a shia then he says يا سماء الشهدي imagine he says oh sky's witness ويا أرض قرري and oh earth be a witness إنني قد ذكرت علي that I have mentioned the name of Ali therefore our responsibility is to be able to take اهل البيت to others open up our doors to others and that is why I have chosen to examine this ayah tonight chapter 2 verse 143 and it has many messages many important messages number one why does Allah وجعلناكم أمة وصطا we have made you the middle umma what does the middle umma mean number two how do you respond to those who ask us of Islamic extremism number three the dangers of extremism within the shia school of thought number four we will examine the story of علام المجلسي and the Jewish man number five we will examine the Islamic clause in regards to witnessing number six the dangers of accusation and number seven who are the ultimate witnesses صلى الله عليه وسلم الله سبحانه وتعالى says we have made you the middle umma the central umma what does this mean the scholars of Tafsir have stated that the middle umma means an umma that leads the middle route that does not go to extremes especially in issues in regards to religion and today unfortunately Islam is being represented by a cult of extremists by a group of extremists a recent study of a German university states that the Wahhabi school the Wahhabi sect is the fastest growing sect amongst the Muslims today and of course the Wahhabi sect was founded by whom محمد ابن عبد الوحاب and محمد ابن عبد الوحاب was inspired by whom ابن تيميا a hate-mongering animal a person that bluntly disrespects رسول الله he said for 40 years I taught in Medina I never visited Muhammad he holds on to his stick and he says my stick today is more beneficial than محمد because I can actually use this stick while محمد is dead this is ابن تيميا and after ابن تيميا came محمد ابن عبد الوحاب and now their school of thought unfortunately has been spreading rapidly last year one of the Iraqi officials told me on the 10th of محرم on the 10th of محرم we got a man with a explosive belt a strapped bomb and close to the shrine of امير المؤمنين on the 10th of محرم he wanted to explode himself and kill the innocent people he said they caught him they defused the bomb then they began to beat him obviously so he began to cry they said why do you cry are you scared you are going to kill yourself he said no I'm not scared I was fasting today on the 10th of محرم I was fasting and I wanted to have my breakfast my افطار with رسول الله now I can't killing innocent people in the shrine of رسول الله his brother on the 10th of محرم he wants the breakfast with رسول الله couple of years ago I went to كربلا and I went to visit the orphans so I went and I saw a group of orphans four orphans the eldest one was a girl 11 years old and the youngest one was maybe a 6-7 months old kid an infant so I said to the girl tell me your story how did you become orphans he said say it we used to live in بغداد and we got a death threat my father got a death threat to evacuate to leave بغداد because we were شيعة and my father also was the خادم in the حسينية he was خادم in the امان بارغة he would serve there so they kept a special eye on him making sure that he leaves so that the door of the حسينية is shut so she said my father didn't care and one day they went inside the حسينية and they shot him dead so she said we were very scared the next day my mother was taking us to school and they came in the middle of the street and they shot my mother dead in front of our eyes she fell in the street she said I ran back to the house to my brothers to my siblings and I called my uncle I said my mother has been shot come she said it took him some time to come it was مغرب by the time you went to the location I saw that the dogs had attacked the body of my mother she said say it I had to see that with my own eye she said when I came home and my infant sibling the six month old kid he would see my mother and he would cry and until now he scarred this is the result of the teachings of the Wahhabi school of thought and today now you just heard the people being murdered in Pakistan receiving death threats on the phone if we are asked in school if we are asked by employer if we are asked by a friend what about the Muslim extremists we tell them chapter 2 verse 143 الله speaks against extremism but we also have extremists too huh we also suffer from extremism several years ago I was in a community and after my lecture they began matem so I saw a young man he took off his shirt very big guy he took off his shirt and he turned around كنت أردت أن أردت أنه يوجد ثلاثة تلاثة على أعلى وكان هذا المشكلة one tattoo said 50 cents and the other one Tupac and he was wearing a golden earring I'm not kidding you and in the time of Matem he was beating his chest very heavily Afterwards, he passed next to me so I held his hand I said to him brother the earring that you're wearing is gold it's a golden earring do you take it off in the time of Salah because your Salah is not going to be accepted he said say it I don't pray I said you don't pray he said no I don't pray I said but you just did two hours of Matem your chest is almost bleeding he said yes that's enough isn't that enough say it isn't that enough رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم سد إني تاركن فيكم الثقلين I am leaving 280 things amongst you the Quran that sometimes we neglect we do not recite we do not understand وعطرتي and I have left my family amongst you but not for us to make Imam Hussein who we want him to be I want Imam Hussein to be what I desire what I desire for him to be someone that I come 10 nights for and I do Matem and then he's going to take me by the hand but Allah everything is going to go smooth we are not what Imam Hussein wants us to be we want Imam Hussein to follow me I don't want to follow Imam Hussein I want Imam Hussein to be who I want him to be but I don't want to be what Imam Hussein wants me to be and this is very dangerous this is a dangerous notion that may exist in some communities and amongst different individuals and we have to know that رسول الله إمام الصادق especially and the time of his death when he gathered his companions his friends what did he tell them what did he tell them لا تنالوا شفاعتنا our شفاعة does not reach home لا تنالوا شفاعتنا المستخف بصلاة those who do not give importance to their salah importance to their salah and their other واجب activity صلاة fasting حج many people time of Hajj comes it's wajib for you to go this year this year you have enough money you have to go no say it this year it's very busy I can't leave the business حج حجاب many sisters they think that they have the time of the day they can wear the hijab in 10 years from now what's the purpose of hijab when you're 60 years old when you become 78 you don't have to wear hijab but that's when they choose to wear hijab because now the hijab at that age is a form of beautification therefore we have to seize the opportunity and we have to understand the fact that we have to be what Ahl al-Bayt want us to be and we do not make Ahl al-Bayt what we desire for them to be another notion that sometimes may exist in our community it's the fact that when people become religious they think that they should isolate themselves from the world they think that they have to boycott everyone excommunicate everyone why because I am religious now I should not affiliate myself with those people they're not religious they're not as religious as I am so there is no reason for me to associate with them I have my own group Allah speaks against this notion in the Quran Allah says وَلَوْ كُنْتَهْ speaking to Rasool Allah وَلَوْ كُنْتَهْ فَضْظًا غَلِظَ القَلْبِ لَمْفَضُّ مِنْ حَولِكِ يا رسول الله if it wasn't for your beautiful akhlaq for your beautiful morals for your attractive personality you would not have attracted all of those people around you you attracted them with your akhlaq now Rasool Allah attracted many people with his akhlaq because the people that were Muslim didn't need to be attracted but those who saw him from the outside needed to be attracted to him amongst them was who مصعب ابن عمر مصعب ابن عمر was 16 years old he would come with his father to Medina in business trips he would leave his father and he would go and stand and watch the Prophet that's all he did watch the Prophet he heard about Muhammad, Muhammad, Muhammad so he would go and he would stand and watch him how he spoke how he dealt with people how humble he was how he always smiled how attractive his personality was and مصعب began to think about Islam then he began to interact with Muslims then he came to Rasool Allah and asked him questions and then he finally decided that he's going to embrace Islam so he came one time with his father on the business trip he went to Rasool Allah and he said to him يا رسول الله I am ready to embrace Islam أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأشهد أنك محمد رسول الله مصعب returned to his father who was the richest man in his time and he was the only son inheriting all his father's wealth and مصعب was also engaged to the most beautiful girl in his time and the richest girl as well his father told him مصعب either Islam or the inheritance and the girl choose and مصعب was infatuated with the love of Islam the love of Rasool Allah he said to him I will never leave Islam his father traditions say his father stripped him off his clothes he took away everything that this young man had and he threw him in the street companions say we were sitting with Rasool Allah Rasool Allah said go and wait on the borders of Medina this young man is coming without clothes go and give him clothes they said who is this man who is the man that's coming Rasool Allah didn't say his name he gave his attributes he said a man that Allah سبحانه وتعالى and his prophet have taken over his heart رجلا قد شغفه حب الله وحب رسوله they went and they found the young مصعب بن عمر they gave him the clothes they embraced him and he became one of the most beloved companions to Rasool Allah he was the ambassador of Rasool Allah to many different states therefore Rasool Allah's attractive nature his أخلاق were part of propagating his message and now we live in the days of عشراء the days of محرم it's not the time of celebration of course but Christmas is close and I'm not asking anyone to celebrate I'm not asking you to go to a Christmas party and I'm not asking you to go to a New Year's party but you have non-Muslim neighbors 10 million Muslims if every Muslim neighbor was kind to his neighbors today the people would not think what they think about Islam give them a gift honor them when they travel look after their meal when they travel look after their home be kind to them be generous to them invite them over smile on their face change their paradigms towards Islam with your attractive personality العلامة المجلسي was seen by one of his major students after his demise so he said to them علامة what happened he said to him منكر النكير came and they said to me tell us your good deeds so I said to them بحار الأنوار 110 وليومs of the words of أهل البيت so they said after بحار الأنوار they showed me a very small position and paradise I said this is the position of paradise after بحار الأنوار he said yes this is it he said I listed another book a small bit of elevation he said I gave him another one another one another one and he said I was not satisfied with the position they were offering me they said do you have anything else he said no I don't have anything else he thought and moments later he said well I have something I can share with you but I don't know how much that's going to help they said what is it he said one time I was in أسفحان I came out of my house and I saw a couple of people beating up some guy so I went I said what's going on they said علامة this is a Jewish man we've given him loans he's not giving the money back so we're beating him he pays the money so the علامة said do you have the money the Jewish man said no I really don't have the money they have to give me some more time so he said I told the guys I told the men that I will pay on his behalf so I took them to my house I paid their debts and I told the Jewish man come and pay me whenever you have time this is what I've done suddenly he saw a boost elevation to a grand position in paradise when we think of Islam and when we have Islam we should not think that this Islam should eliminate us from other people should create a gap between us and other people it should only bring us closer to other human beings it only should make us more merciful and compassionate to other human beings that Allah سبحانه وتعالى states وجعلناكم مؤمة وصطى لتكون شهداء على الناس so that you become witnesses upon the people now we all know a witness in Islam has to be just and if a witness is not just and is not just and is not just what do we do we believe him huh no if he is not just we do not believe him why Allah in the Holy Quran states يا أيها الذين آمنوا إن جاءكم فاسق بنبأن فتبينوا إن تصيب قوما بجهالة فتصبحوا على ما فعلتم نادمين all you believers if a wicked man or a woman unpious man or unpious woman comes to you with a piece of news please give me your undivided attention this is probably the most important part comes to you with a piece of news investigate and ask before you accept it for that will lead if you do not do that it will lead you to regret why was this verse sent down this verse was sent down when Rasool Allah told a man by the name of Waleed to go and collect the Islamic taxes from Bani Mustaleq a tribe known as Bani Mustaleq Waleed went at the borders of Bani Mustaleq and he returned Rasool Allah said يا Waleed why did you return he said to him ya Rasool Allah those guys are not Muslim anymore they don't even pray they don't go to the masjid they've gone back to the Jahiliya and I went to them I said to them give me the taxes they wanted to kill me so I ran away so the muslim said if that is the case then we have to go fight them Rasool Allah said hold on there's no reason for you to fight he sent another man خالد بن Waleed he said to him go and investigate خالد went he reached Bani Mustaleq he said they have a masjid they're praying their 5 daily prayers and he said to them I am the messenger of Rasool Allah I'm here to collect the taxes they gave him the taxes he went to Rasool Allah he gave it to Rasool Allah this verse was revealed يا أيها الذين آمنوا إن جاءكم فاسق فافاسق a wicked and unpious man comes to you with a piece of news فَتَبَيَّنُوا أسْق أنتظر لا أصدق every rumor that we hear some people every rumor that they hear they believe every type of witness they hear they believe and they start having different paradigms about people so if someone comes and tells me you see that guy he's not a good guy I say really okay he's not a good guy so I start treating him in a different way without even knowing the whole story someone else comes and tells me you know what this guy did he did such and such act so I believe him I say well that's good so I start making judgments about this person this person for example so we have a paradigm about different people around us and our community and 90% of them could be lies could be rumors and not only that if we only believe them and that was enough that's good but then we actually spread this accusation and rumor did you know that this person did and this did this and this or really who told you well this person told me are you sure I know for a fact 100% الله سبحانه وتعالى says in the holy Quran إن السم what you hear والبصر what you see والفؤاد where you judge and your tongue كل أولائك كان عنه مسؤولة will be asked why did you treat this person according to a paradigm that you had that was wrong why did you treat him in this specific way why did you say what you said to him why did you act the way you acted with him did you investigate did you ask when the verse says we have made you witnesses upon the rest of the nation let me ask you a question now I can be a witness onto my family you can be a witness onto your family maybe you can be a witness onto your friends as well but can you be a witness upon the whole Ummah can you observe the whole Ummah can any Muslim anywhere in the world say I am an observant of the whole Ummah I am a شهيد I am a witness onto the entire Ummah no one no one can do that except one person إنا أنزلناه في ليلة القدر وما أدراكما ليلة القدر ليلة القدر خير من ألف شهر تتنزل الملائكة والروح فيها بإذن ربهم من كل أمر every year in the night of Qadr every record every act every decision is revealed is descended on to earth to whom they ask Imam Ja'far ibn Muhammad نصادق المتفسير of this ayah and he says he says نحن الشهداء we are the witnesses upon the Ummah رسول الله ويلة القدر the acts and the destiny of the Ummah would come to him and then أمير المؤمنين and then Imam Hassan Imam Hussein Ali ibn al-Hussein Muhammad ibn Ali Ja'far ibn Muhammad until Imam Al-Mahdi today he is the witness upon this Ummah and in the day of judgment they will be witnesses الله will ask for witnesses and al-Muhammad will rise they will say oh Allah some people they observed our love some people observed our tradition some people observed our teachings and others did not and we have to be thankful we have to be thankful that they are a Shaheed and they are a witness to this gathering and you're endeavor to be here and you're sacrifice to be here and you're solidarity with Ahl al-Bayt because they are the true witnesses وَالْفَاطَمَةُ زَهْرَاءْ صَلَوَاتُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهَا was pregnant with Imam Hussein tradition say that when she reached the last days before her labor فاطمة زهراء would cry tremendously she would weep the first day she cried and she cried until she fainted أمام أمير المؤمنين وانت رسول الله يا رسول الله أدرك ابنتك فاطمة come to your daughter Fatima she's cried until she fainted رسول الله came يا فاطمة why were you crying why were you crying so much she said أبتا هذا الجنين يخاطبني ويقول أنا العطشان oh father this infant in my stomach speaks to me every day and he kept repeating أنا العطشان I am the thirsty I am the thirsty oh father will he be the thirsty one رسول الله told her فاطمة إنه نعم هو العطشان فاطمة yes indeed he will be the thirsty one the next day فاطمة زهراء again she cried and she wept until she fainted رسول الله comes to her he says to her يا فاطمة what occurred what's happening she said to him يا رسول الله هذا الجنين يخاطبني ويقول أنا الغريب I am the غريب يا رسول الله will he be lonely رسول الله she said فاطمة إنه نعم هو الغريب the third day فاطمة cries again رسول الله comes to her he says to her يا فاطمة what happened she said يا رسول الله هذا الجنين today tells me أنا الشهيد I am the murderer will he be a murderer يا رسول الله رسول الله says فاطمة إنه هو الشهيد he is the murderer one فاطمة then فاطمة says oh father will I be there to cry for him رسول الله says فاطمة you will not be there will his father أمير المؤمنين be there his father will not be there يا فاطمة will his brother حسن be there to cry for him his brother حسن will not be there يا رسول الله will you be there I will not be there then he says then فاطمة says يا رسول الله then who will cry for my son وصول الله تلزر فاطمة سيأتون مؤمنون جيلا بعد جيل ينصبون المآتم على ولدك الحسين حرارة في قلوب المؤمنين لا تنطفق أبدا he says oh فاطمة there will be مؤمنين believers generation after next they will come to this world and they will do the مآتم for your son حسين they will shed tears for حسين and Allah has placed a special fire in the hearts of those believers for your son حسين we say to him سيدي يا أبا عبد الله يا سيدنا توجن واستشفعنا وتوسلنا إلى الله وقدمناك the third time for those who are ill for those who have حاجات for those who have troubles in their family for those who choose this night to be a night of transformation in their lives يا وجيها عندها يا سيدي يا أبا what occurred tonight in the tense of المحمد it is the last night when حسين is amongst his family it is the last night when حسين is amongst his beloved companions الله أكبر on a night like this إمام حسين شد turned off the lights and the tense and he said to his companions he said every one of you that's present here tonight every one of you that is in those tense tomorrow this army will annihilate every single one of us I will shut the lights I will turn off the lights whoever wishes to leave leave take the night as a good secretive way for you to leave for me not to see you after a while إمام حسين turned on the lights and he saw every one of those men the 72 men standing in front of him saying to him يا أبا عبد الله يا رسول الله what will we tell your grandfather tomorrow on the day of judgment what will we tell your mother فاقمه then tradition state that شمر لعنه الله came near the tense of إمام حسين and he called out the name of أبا الفضل عباس إمام حسين ستهم أبا الفضل do not ignore him do not speak to him إما أبا الفضل عباس went to him and he said to him what do you want to tell me he said to him يا أبا الفضل I have amnesty for you I have amnesty for your brothers come and leave حسين no one will touch you he said to him خذلتك أمك how can I leave the grandson of رسول الله أمان لي ولا أمان ليبن رسول الله you are giving me amnesty for the son of رسول الله then إمام حسين went to the tent of his sister زينب الله عكبار saying his goodbye to his sister زينب at night like tonight we remember that infant of إمام حسين we remember that infant that he took him on the tenth of حرام he came and he said his goodbyes to زينب زينب says يا أبا عبد الله before you leave in the day of حرام before you leave come and take this six months your old infant come and get him some water إمام حسين took the infant عليون الأصغار he took the infant عليون الأصغار وضع ماما of his grandfather and the sword of his father أمير المؤمني دنبا للكبا so people if the children if the elders have committed a crime what is the crime of this infant take him and give him a drink of water they said to him يا أبا عبد الله let us go and ask عمر ابن ساعد they went and they told him عمر ابن ساعد حسين is here asking for water for his infant what should we do عمر وانتني you walk out unto حرملا حرملا came اهتهم حرملا do you see hushain he said yes do you see the baby in the hands of hushain he said yes he said I want you to hit the arrow in the neck of the child I'm hussain holding on the infant سادي اللين بسهم عناعد hussain raised the baby وقالت him, oh at the sacrifice of Hussein then he took the blood of the baby he threw the blood of this child to the skies and he did not return then Hussein put this baby under his aba الله أكبر he put the baby under his aba going towards the tent of the woman going towards the tent of Zain يقولوا أن أم خسين كانت مرحباً لتذهب إلى رباً لتعطيها حساناً لذلك فقرأت إلى تنتة وقرأت بها 7 وقت وقرأت بها 7 وقت لا تعلم ماهي ستخبره لذلك زيناب أخرج من تنتة يا عبا عبدالله هل أنت أعطيهم موارد هل أنت تنقلت بها عبدالله أعطي عباً لزينا لقد أخذت أباً إلى أمه إلى أمه الله أكبر قرأت إلى أبا قرأت إلى أبا كانت بحقائي وقامبانياً وقام بعمل أمام حسين أن أمام حسين ينقلوا بأخذها قال أن أمام حسين يذهب أخذت برأة لأباً لأباً ثم يخذت أبا كامتا بحسين now he comes to his sister Zaynab he says to her Zaynab bring me my horse Zaynab comes to him she comes to him holding on the ropes of the الجناح she says to him أرأيت أختا أرأيت أختا يدمت لأخيها فرس المنور بلاحمن وكفيل يا حسين هل ever seen a sister give a horse to her brother that's not going to return him حسين sat on the horse he wanted to march towards the enemies suddenly he heard a cry coming from the tents what was the cry all the lovers of Zaynab tonight with Zaynab let us raise our voice مام حسين stopped and he came down from the horse he says Zaynab what do you need she said to him أرأيت أخي فرس مدينة مام حسين look towards مدينة she said حسين lift up your shirt حسين lift up his shirt حسين she kissed حسين on his chest she looked towards مدينة she said oh mother this is the amana that you asked of me this is the amana that you require أكبر this is a day of عشورة and after the day of عشورة let me remind you what happened to this 6 months year old infant when they gave water to the women suddenly they saw this child's mother running towards the grave of علي علي and my child they call attack the camp of حسين they attack the camp of أبا عبدالله amputating the heads of أع المحمد one of the ملاعين saw that he has no head on top of a spear what did he do الله أكبر ساعد الله قلبك يا أبا for the grave of that 6 months year old infant those who want to cry with حسين those who want to reach their voices أبا عبدالله all of us علي جانام علي جانام علي all of us all together علي جانام شيعتي ثم عذب ما إنفذ كروني أو سمعتهم بشهيد أو قتل فندبوني علي جانام بر مشاركر بلا بر دلا بر مشاركر بلا بر دلا بر بلا علي جانام