 We send our heartfelt condolences to you all on this night, the eve of Ashura'a, where we are broadcasting from the holy city of Karabala, the land where the sky wept blood and where blood could be found underneath every rock after the tragedy of Imam Hussain's massacre. After the heart of Sayyid Zaynab A.S. was broken, watching her beloved brother, she grew up with all her life after losing her mother, after losing her father, seeing her brother, not just killed, but seeing his heart break when he held Ali Azgar and Ali Azgar met his death, seeing his back break when Abu Fadr al-Abbas fell and the flag of Abu Fadr al-Abbas fell and seeing his soul almost leave his body when his son, Ali Akbar A.S., met his death and finally seeing him there on the plains of Karabala, thirsty, a stranger with no one to help him and his body covered with spears and shimmering sitting upon his chest. It is truly a feeling I cannot describe being here in the holy city of Karabala, knowing that in just a few mere hours this tragedy will fall upon us once again as it does every year. And with all the tears that we cry, with all the lamenting that we do, as you can see behind us the processions, there are so many processions going on in Karabala right now, so many millions here in Karabala. It's absolutely packed to the rim of people mostly from within Iraq who have come to pay their respects to Imam Hussain and his brother Abu Fadr al-Abbas. Amongst all this lamentation, we also need to ask ourselves what lesson are we taking today from the story of Imam Hussain, and as I mentioned in the first episode, one thing that I've tried to put on myself and one thing that I've advised all the viewers through and my guests are doing as well, inshallah, is find something in our life that we need to work on, a value that we need to work on, something, a lesson that we need to take on board in our lives and try and act out in these four to days that we have, beginning with the first of Muharram and ending with the Al-Ba'een of Imam Hussain, as we know, tomorrow is the day of Ashura but the morning does not end there, in fact it continues and intensifies until the day of Al-Ba'een, inshallah, when the millions and millions of pilgrims shall return to the holy grave of Imam Hussain to pay their respects, and today inshallah we shall be looking at how Sayyid al-Zaynab, Imam Hussain and the family of the Prophet dealt with tragedies in their lives and how we too should be dealing with tragedies in our lives, it's no secrets that especially for the lovers of Ahlul Bayt, especially for the believers of Allah, tragedy befalls us every day, every day we hear people that are losing family members, going through hard times, going through divorces, going through their business closing down or losing money becoming poor, these are things that affect us on a daily basis and if there's anything that Imam Hussain and Sayyid al-Zaynab taught us, it's how to deal with these tragedies that we face every day. So inshallah today I'll be joined by Sayyid al-Ainawab once again, where we shall be tackling this. As-salamu alaykum Sayyidina, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakil ajal, and may Allah allow for my condolences to you on this solemn and heartbreaking night, the eve of Ashura. If you can begin, not just the discussion but also lead into the mosaib and tragedy of Imam Hussain, As-salam, in the context of how we too should deal with such tragedies in our life. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, first of all I would like to offer my deepest condolences to our awaited Imam and Saviour, Sahib al-Asr al-Zaman, Adjara Allah Ta'ala Farajah al-Sharif, as he is the immediate person affected by this tragedy. I offer my condolences to Lady Fatima al-Zahra, As-salamu alayhi alayhi, the mother of Abiy Abdullahi al-Hussain, to the grandfather of Abiy Abdullahi al-Hussain, to the father of Sayyid al-Shuhada, As-salamu alayhi, and to the brother of Imam Hussain, As-salam, to the ulama, to the mu'mineen and mu'minat, wherever they may be, I ask Allah SWT to accept our mourning in this morning season and our lamentation, our cries, and our azadari, and that insha'Allah we are given another opportunity very soon insha'Allah to serve Ahlul Bayt al-Alihim, As-salam, to the best of our abilities. No doubt we as human beings Allah SWT has brought us to this world and as we discussed in the previous nights, this life that we are living now and those who have lived life before us and those who will live this life on this world after us in the next generations, they would live life as a means of test and life on this earth is not meant to be easy, is not meant to be happy and all-rosy. As it is a life full of tests and calamities and problems, we tend to face tragedies either from our own immediate circles or the circles around us and we always learn from Ahlul Bayt al-Alihim, As-salam and this should be the case in all situations, in happy days, in sad occasions, in the morning, at night, whatever you will go through make sure that you bring Ahlul Bayt al-Alihim, As-salam into your life and you join Ahlul Bayt al-Alihim, As-salam in whatever they went through because at the end of the day the whole purpose that we are living on the face of this earth is to be able to leave this world with a clean page, with a page, or with a book full of good deeds and especially the love of Ahlul Bayt al-Alihim, As-salam, we educate ourselves with the education of Ahlul Bayt so we are eventually resurrected on the day of judgment and we would be from amongst those who will receive the intercession of Ahlul Bayt al-Alihim, As-salam and specifically the master of martyrs, Abi Abdullah al-Hussein, insha'Allah. In the Ziyara of Amirul Mu'mineen, As-salam, or amongst the Ziyarat that Imam Ali, As-salam, is visited on, when you visit the shrine of Amirul Mu'mineen, one of the Ziyarat tells you to face towards Karbala and visit Abi Abdullah al-Hussein and one segment of that Ziyara whilst you are in Najaf visiting Amirul Mu'mineen, you say to Abi Abdullah al-Hussein, As-salamu alayka, Ya Sahb al-Museeba al-Ratiba. Now, we might question what is the connection between Amirul Mu'mineen, As-salam and Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. We are visiting Amirul Mu'mineen, we are in the land of Najaf. Why does the Imam, the Ma'soom, the infallible ask us to visit Imam Hussain, As-salam. And as we discussed from the beginning, and we mentioned that Abi Abdullah al-Hussein is the inheritor of the prophets and messengers. And he is most obviously the inheritor of all of the attributes and the characteristics of Rasulullah, As-salam and his father, Amirul Mu'mineen. And here the Ma'soom, the Imam, wants us to visit Abi Abdullah al-Hussein and mention the tragedies that Abi Abdullah al-Hussein went through amongst the Ziyara of Amirul Mu'mineen to say that Abi Abdullah al-Hussein is a continuation of the work started by the Holy Prophet and Amirul Mu'mineen, As-salamu alayka. And if it wasn't for the sacrifice of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein, the message of Rasulullah and the hard work of Amirul Mu'mineen, As-salamu alayka, would have, God forbid, gone astray or just gone haba' and manthura. So the Ziyara says, peace be upon you, O possessor of the perfected calamity. The everlasting and renewing tragedy and calamity throughout time. One of the brothers today was asking, why do we, every year, we mourn Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. We sit down and cry for the same masa'ib, the same tragedy is mentioned year after year in the same Majalis. As if we have memorized, we know the tragedy of Imam Hussein by heart. But why is there that feeling that, for example, in an eve like this, the eve of Ashura, Leila to Al-Ashir, Min Muharram, we feel as if the tragedy is going to actually happen tomorrow. Insha'Allah when you come to the land of Karbala one year and you happen to be here on the eve of Ashura, you will be able to feel the feeling that me, myself, and brother Nuri and the thousands of those who are rotating around the burial site of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein are feeling. It's as if the tragedy is going to fall upon Islam tomorrow. What is it? Why is that feeling there? And that is the heat that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wasallam spoke about. This heat and this love in the hearts of Mu'mineen will never die down, will never cool down, and it will extinguish and it will reach its ultimate heat on the eve of Ashura, Leila to Al-Ashir, Min Muharram. Let's try to imagine the environment or the atmosphere in the camp of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein in this very night, where the companions of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein, Bani Hashim, Ahlu al-Bayt, and specifically Abi Abdullah al-Hussein spent this night reciting and reading the Holy Qur'an and praying towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The narration narrates, they had this buzzing sound like the sound of a bee flying around one room because they were busy facing towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, focusing all of their attention and concentration towards Allah in this very night. They did not give any regards to the thousands of the members of the army of Yazid ibn Mu'awiya, who was surrounding the campsite of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein, that heat existed in their hearts and did not allow any fear to enter the hearts and the camps of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. But Lady Zainab wanted to ask a question, wanted to make sure that the companions in the camp of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein are genuine in their belief and their sacrifice and their promise to Abi Abdullah. So she asked Imam Hussain, Akhiya Hussain, have you tested your ashab, the companions and have you taken their word for what they are going to do tomorrow? And as you can hear the beating of the drums and the mu'mineen and the mu'minat chanting the slogan Haider Haider Haider. Similarly, when the companions found out that Lady Zainab is still unsure of their loyalty, Habib ibn Muzaher came to the camp and the feima and the tent of the Ansar. He went around one by one telling them get ready and come out and stand in one line. Why Habib? What has happened? Habib told them the daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib is still unsure of our loyalty. She believes or she thinks that there might be people amongst us that will leave about Abdullah al-Hussein tomorrow when the fighting gets heated. Here the companions of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein in the cross proximity of the shrine of Abi Abdullah in the muqayyim, they came out and they started chanting with slogans to make sure that they make the enemies of Ahl al-Bayt hear them and shiver from that roaring sound. Here Abi Abdullah al-Abbas bani Hashim, they came out from the tents. They wanted to know what's happening. What is happening? Here Habib says, oh bani Hashim go back to your khyam. It's just that we are practicing our stand for tomorrow. Here Lady Zainab was assured that yabnat-e-ameer al-mu'mineen. We are here and we are ready to sacrifice not only our lives but also mohjah, the blood of our hearts, our families, our women and our children are ready to sacrifice their lives for your sake. These tragedies started in the camp of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein in the morning of the 10th of Muharram when the enemies of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala specifically Omar ibn Sa'ad he brought an bow and an arrow and he directed it towards the khyma of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein and he shot that arrow and he started saying to his people bear witness and take that message to the amir, meaning Yazid, that I was the first person that shot an arrow towards the camp of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein and they followed course. They all, thousands of those who carried bows and arrows, they directed and they shot their arrows towards the camp of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. Try and imagine, started raining arrows upon the khyam of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. Arrows entered the khyam, the women, the children, the little girls and boys in the camp of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. They weren't ready for this kind of situation so the women and children came out crying and shouting because they clearly were afraid of that situation. So this was a glimpse of the situation and the atmosphere in the camp and amongst the camp of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein, the eve of Ashura, an evening like this and in the morning of Ashura. In the ziyar as we said, we read, we say, peace be upon you forever as long as I am existent and there is day and night. Oh Abi Abdullah, we amongst the thousands and thousands of the ziyar of your shrine, we renew our allegiance to you, Ya Aba Abdullah. And we say, Ya Aba Abdullah, the fact that I wasn't present, I was not present in Karbala to sacrifice my life for your sake, Ya Aba Abdullah. We will follow and we will continue your morning day and night. We shall mourn you, Ya Aba Abdullah from the morning until the night and we shall cry for you so much until our cries, our tears turn into blood. This is the cries of Imam Al-Mahdi in the evening of Ashura. How are we going to give back the love and the emotion and the sacrifice that Abi Abdullah al-Hussein sacrificed for our sake on the day of Ashura? Sayyid Zainab, the sister of Abi Abdullah Al-Hussein says, to Imam Zain Al-Aabideen, once they were ready to leave Karbala, Here, Lady Zainab promises to Imam Zain Al-Aabideen, Ya Zain Al-Aabideen, do not get worried, do not be worried. The fact that your father Hussain and his companions and his Ansar and Sahaba and his family members have been killed and martyred today, do not worry because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will send lovers and muhabbin and followers who will show love for Ahlul Bayt and they are ready to sacrifice their lives for our sake. You see brothers and sisters on your screens, images and footage of those who have dressed in black as if to say, Ya Abi Abdullah, this is our kafan. These are our shrouds and these are our swords and weapons. We have carried them and we have come out on the streets and in the vicinity of your shrine and Bainul Haramain to show and to prove not only to the world but also to you Ya Abi Abdullah that we are ready to sacrifice our lives for your sake Ya Abi Abdullah. And this Lady Zainab continues in saying and the leaders of apostasy and their promoters of misguidance shall try their best to obliterate and face it yet it shall get more lofty and sad. What were the reasons? What were the reasons that the message of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein lived on and continued days after days, nights after nights, years after years, centuries after centuries and today after 1300 and so years lovers and muhabbeen and followers and companions of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein are coming out in their hundreds and thousands renewing their allegiance to Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. What is it in this history of Abi Abdullah that renews itself year by year? It is the fact that there was a connection in this movement in this reform. There was a connection of this revolution with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the day that Abi Abdullah came out from Medina and moved towards Makkan Karbala. His intention, his sole intention was that this reform and this movement was for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There was no room for worldly desires to affect the hearts of the sole companions of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. There were exceptional circumstances surrounding this revolution because there were women and children who joined in in the revolution of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. These are exceptional situations. If you go and research and read the books of history about previous revolutions, any individual, any commander, any leader that started a revolution and revolted against any group or any community or any government, note that they did not and I repeat, any commander in historical revolutions did not bring out his women and children to be amongst his camp and caravan. But there was only one man and one man only that came out and revolted against the tyrant of his time who was an oppressor, who looted people's rights, who came out with the most tragic manner and killed innocent individuals in his community, in his nation. Abi Abdullah al-Hussein, the only leader that came out and brought his family and children to join him in his revolution and in his reform. Did he not know that his revolution, his reform, this movement is going to end with the tragic death and martyrdom of himself and his family and companions? Yes, he knew. But he still moved on because he said, We shall remember a short scenario of what happened on the day of Ashura after everyone, in the camp, all the soldiers in the Qiyam of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein went to the battlefield and fought bravely. But unfortunately, they all were killed and martyred on the planes and fell on the planes of Karbala. The only living soldier in the camp of Abi Abdullah al-Hussein in the afternoon of the 10th of Muharram in Karbala was Abi Abdullah al-Hussein himself, only. Imam Hussein came, stood by the Qiyam by the tents of the women and the children. He started calling, One of the names of this very night is Laylatul Wida. Why? Because of the 10th of Muharram and children in the camp sitting inside the tents. They were advised, do not come out. Why? Because there is a battle going on and we fear Fiola. Every time anyone wanted to leave the sons of these women, Ali al-Akbar, the brothers of Qasim, Abul Fadl al-Abbas and his brothers, every time anyone of them wanted to go to the battlefield, they would have individually come and stand by the tent of their sister or their mother or their wives and bid farewell to these women and children. But it was time for Abi Abdullah to come one more time, one last time to bid farewell to these women and children. Rushed out, they surrounded Abi Abdullah al-Hussein. One of them came, she took the cloak of Abi Abdullah and started smelling the scent of Abi Abdullah. One of them beat of Abi Abdullah and started kissing the feet of Imam Hussein, alayhi salam. One of them was saying, I'm called Abbas went to the battlefield, Qasim went and never came back, never came back, that you will go and never come back. Imam Hussein, alayhi salam, wiped upon their hearts and their heads and advised them, told them be patient, alaykum bursa, alaykum bid dua. There was one little daughter of Hussein. One little daughter of Abi Abdullah never came out to say goodbye to her father. It was little Sufkayna, little Sufkayna sat down inside her khayma. Abi Abdullah asked Zaynab, sister Zaynab, where is my little daughter, where is my little daughter Sufkayna? Sister Zaynab said, brother Hussein, she is inside her khayma. Imam went and sat inside the khayma of Sufkayna. He saw Sufkayna sitting in a position and she's put her head between her arms and her leg. Sufkayna, why didn't you come out? I want to go to the battlefield. Sufkayna said, oh father, my heart is aching. I cannot bear to see you go and never came back and never come back, oh father Hussein. In this midst, little Rukkaya came in and she saw that Sufkayna was sitting in the lap of her father Hussein. Rukkaya said to her father, Abaya Hussein, promise me we'll come back. Imam Hussein, alayhis salam, promised Rukkaya, I will see you and you will see me once again. Imam Hussein kissed them both, wiped upon their heads. The way they treat orphans is as if to say, when I am going to be killed, there will be no one to wipe their hands over your heads, my daughters. Imam Hussein came out and said, who is going to give me and bring me my horse? Here, Lady Zaynab says, I saw two sisters in front of her, she is pulling the horse. Abaya Hussein pushed his hand on the hat of Lady Zaynab and he says, Allah, my sister, to be patient when she faces calamity is on the side after me. Abaya Hussein rides upon his horse as if he wants to go to the battlefield. He hears the cries of Abdullah He says, bring me Abdullah, they bring Abdullah. He takes Abdullah to the battlefield. He says, Abdullah was facing the enemies and speaking to the enemies. Suddenly, I took out one of my three-headed arrows. I positioned it in the heart of the bow. I shot the arrow towards the neck of Abdullah. The Imam noticed the head of Abdullah till to one side and the blood is gushing out from the throat of Abdullah. He noticed the little Abdullah took out his arms and hugged Abdullah as if to say, Abaya Hussein, these people have given me the words that I was looking for. Abay Abdullah in a very, very sad and tragic way came behind the tent and dug a trench, a little grave and buried Abdullah in that grave. And he started making his way towards the battlefield. I will not read the Maqtel. I will not read the Masaib. My last is as he was going to the battlefield. He heard the sound of ladies and I'm crying out. Imam Hussein came back. He said, what is this, my sister? I am going to go to the battlefield. Ladies and gentlemen, my brother Hussein came back. Abay Abdullah, come down from your horse. Abay Abdullah, come down. Ladies and gentlemen, Abay Abdullah, Abay Abdullah, open the door for me. Oh brother, open your shirt. What do you want to do, oh sister Zainab? Ladies Zainab said, Abay Abdullah, open your shirt. Imam Hussein opened his shirt. Ladies Zainab came. She kissed the chest of Abay Abdullah. Just try and imagine the scenario. She kissed the chest of Abay Abdullah. She kissed the chest of Abay Abdullah. She kissed the chest of Abay Abdullah. This this that she gave me I have written. She says The day that our mother Fatima passed away moments before she gave me this amana. She said, I will not be present on the day of Ashura. For me to kiss my son Hussein in his chest, I want to to kiss him in his chest and smell his throat. Why the chest and why the throat? Because Lady Fatima knew that on the afternoon of Ashura, horses will trample upon the chest of Hussein and Shamr will sit on the chest of Hussein with his sword. He will behead Aba Abdullah. Labbaika Ya Hussein. Labbaika Da'i Allah. Labbaika Ya At-Shah. I waited on time, but there was a poem that I wanted to recite, inshallah. And I'd like to, before I recite this, I'd like to send my condolences and apologies to our master, Sahih Rasul Zaman, for reciting what is known as the Maqtah or the killing of Mahmoud Sayyidin Islam and the proceeding of what happened after that. As you go well aware, Sayyid Ali recited some of the most saddest moments so far. Is that this time I want you to picture? This is the poem that I want you to recite on the day of Ashura. Is that this time where everyone is gone? Mahmoud Sayyidin looks at the battlefield, Ali Akbar is gone, Al-Azib is gone, Ali Aziz is gone, Al-Bahash is gone, everyone is gone. And the Mahmoud Sayyidin Islam heads out to the battlefield, as I was narrated. They say when he fell, there were so many spears in his chest, the hadiths said, you look at all the people. They say there were about 1,700 wounds upon the body of Mahmoud Sayyidin Islam. 1,700 wounds. After all this, after all the calamity he's faced, shimmer comes and it is upon the chest of Abad Al-Azib. Sayyid Azizin stands on the tail, the hill overlooking where Mahmoud Sayyidin is, and she sees this shaitan sitting on the chest of her brother. And she tells him, I beg you shimmer, don't suffer his head. Bring yours. He sits on his chest and he watches Zainab run beside her brother. No brothers and no one. Is there any to help me? No, there is none in her hopelessness to her brother. She fled. She screams to shimmer. Leave my last weep for holding the blood that he's blurted. You sit on his chest while his back is broken. His eyes watch Zainab by her grief stricken and he watches her as he severs her same chest. She sits by her brother, massacred by his absence. His body is here, but where is his presence? Everything is broken, except his silence and nothing was left of him unless it blurted. She screams. She screams so loud. It's like her soul from her body leaps. She says my brother in the river of his own blood sleeps. She slapped her head so hard that her brother as his severed head towards the spear is left. She says, oh, head that I once adored. Oh, head that once embarrassed the moon's night. Oh, head not only are your girls left in fright, but they see your head placed on a spear-drenched blood red. It's as if my recurring you wasn't enough and neither was tearing these girls' hearts in half. We watched the spear that holds your holy head laugh. So today's grief would match yesterday's bloodshed. My eyes scarred by seeing your head on a spear. The tears I cry out blood and torches me every tear. I see the lion, the other lion's fear, with a severed neck into a spear in bed. If you don't care for him, at least care for his children. At least let his hand from their eyes be hidden. You torment little hearts of every orphan, telling them that to shimmer's sword, Hussain was fed. They killed her brother and they left him with no shroud. They raised his head and they raised as if they're proud, taking his woman captive before a crowd and they cursed his father as to your zeed they had. Zaynep says, Ya Rasoolallah. Oh, my grandfather, two of him were torn apart. Oh, my grandfather, his head from his body they part. Oh, my grandfather, nothing would have suit his heart except your kiss upon his holy forehead. Oh, grandfather, he was killed with no one beside him. He looked to the distance and he saw only them. The silence of the wind, it sang a painful hymn telling them that you're alone and alone you tread. If my father knows this how we are treated, then how is a spear with my brother's head weighted? Indeed the sword, my brother's blood defeated, but we are left to fight this sword vengeance on dread. Oh, lion of battle, she says, oh, Ababdillah. Oh, lion of battle, to which battle crawls. Oh, lion of battle, to which battle crawls. Oh, catcher of the flag, it's ever it falls. We are left paraded in Yazid's courts and halls through torture, death, and pain these women I've led after they steal his head. As they wail, they take her captive and his zaynab they steal leaving in her a wound only he could heal after they killed him, her brother they'd behead. After they'd killed him, her brother they'd behead. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa rahmatullahi. Insha'Allah we'll be joined after the break for some lamentation by Sayyid al-Hakeem. Insha'Allah we'll see you then. Ya Hussain, Ya Hussain, Ya Hussain. Ya Hussain, Ya Hussain, Ya Hussain.